'Captain America' Casting Madness and Guy Ritchie Scabbards King Arthur

Plus Kevin Macdonald finds a 'Murder Mystery'

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Wednesday, March 10th 2010 at 3:44 AM

Captain America Casting Whirlwind: The movie blogs erupted all day Tuesday with rumors John Krasinski had come out as the frontrunner to play the lead role in The First Avenger: Captain America based on an earlier list of candidates. Well, guess what, it wasn't true. Instead, now Chris Evans (Fantastic Four) is the frontrunner alongside Mike Vogel (Cloverfield) and Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy). However, it appears to be quite a commitment, a nine-picture commitment in fact, the follow-up film in the deal is said to be The Avengers. The First Avenger: Captain America is still set for a July 22, 2011 release with Wolfman director Joe Johnston helming the pic. [Heat Vision / Deadline / Fox 411]

Krasinski is Set for Something Borrowed: John Krasinski ("The Office") may not be starring as Captain America, but he is in negotiations to join Ginnifer Goodwin in Alcon's romantic comedy Something Borrowed for director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door). The story is based on Emily Giffin's 2005 debut novel centering on a Manhattan attorney (Goodwin) who becomes involved with her best friend's fiance following her 30th birthday. Alcon has already picked up Giffin's second book, "Something Blue," with the expectation of making a sequel and Krasinski has apparently already signed a two picture deal. [THR]

Guy Ritchie Eyes King Arthur Story: Guy Ritchie is expected to direct Sherlock Holmes 2 some time in the next year or so, and there has also been talk of him directing the DC adaptation Lobo for Warner Bros. and now it seems the studio that also distributed Ritchie's RocknRolla is continuing to keep him on lock-down attaching Ritchie to a King Arthur project as director with Trainspotting scripter John Hodge penning the screenplay based on Thomas Malory's 15th century collection of Arthur legends, "Le Morte d'Arthur." The story will focus on King Arthur assembling his knights, which would put this in the early parts of the book as what some have described as a Magnificent Seven in armor. No word on production plans. As for Sherlock Holmes 2, Jude Law speculates he'll be back as Watson "sometime this year" based on what he's hearing. [Variety]

Macdonald Lines Up Murder Mystery: Kevin Macdonald (State of Play) is set to direct Murder Mystery penned by Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt. The film revolves around an American couple honeymooning in Europe who are implicated when they witness a murder and wind up embroiled in interna-tional intrigue. The picture will be shot on location across Europe, and that the film is now casting. Next for Macdonald is The Eagle of the Ninth starring Channing Tatum and Vanderbilt recently penned the next Spider-Man film for Columbia Pictures. [Variety]

Salles Captures Our Wild Life: Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) is set to direct Our Wild Life for New Line/Warner Bros. from a script by Jeff Stockwell (Bridge to Terabithia). The film is based on the life and work of Daphne Sheldrick, an animal conservationist in Kenya who devoted her life to sheltering elephants from war and poaching. She also was an expert in animal husbandry for infant elephants and rhinos. Nick Cassavetes was attached to direct but was let go last summer. Cassavetes later sued New Line, claiming he was booted after delivering a full rewrite of the script. [THR]