Seth Rogen Makes Cancer Movie Mandate Pictures and Seth Rogen are making a comedy about cancer. “I’m With Cancer” is an autobiographical comedy written by Will Reiser about his struggle with the deadly disease and focuses on a 25 year-old who learns he has cancer. Rogen will have a supporting role in the film as well as producing with his writing/producing partner Evan Goldberg (“Superbad” and “Pineapple Express”) and Ben Karlin (“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”). Reiser who was a producer on “Da Ali G Show” will be executive producing the film. No director or leading actor has been chosen for the project yet.

		Foxx is a Law Abiding Citizen According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jamie Foxx is in the final negotiation stage to star in a thriller called “Law Abiding Citizen”. Foxx would be starring alongside Gerard Butler in this Frank Darbont directed film about an assistant district attorney (Butler) who is at the centre of a vigilante plot lead by a man (Foxx) who’s wife and daughter’s murderer is freed from prison. Butler is producing the film with Alan Siegel and Mark Gill. Robert Katz and Neil Sacker are executive producing.

Eric Bana to Star in Armoured Variety reports that a remake is being made of the French heist movie titled Le Convoyeur. Millennium Films is in negotiations with Eric Bana to star in the film re-titled “Armoured” and F. Gary Gray (“The Italian Job”) to direct. The film is about a man who gets a job working for an armoured car company and with his co-workers takes part in a heist but his colleagues don’t realize his motives for taking the job. The film is written by David Ayer and Kevin Walker and is set to begin shooting in April.

		Helen Mirren has Lead Role in Tempest “The Tempest”, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, has cast Helen Mirren in the lead role. Director/writer Julie Taymor has added Mirren to a cast including fellow Oscar winner Jeremy Irons and Djimon Hounsou, Russel Brand, Ben Wishaw, Felicity Jones and Alfred Molina with Geoffrey Rush in negotiations to join as well. Mirren will play the role of Prospero originally an exiled duke-turned-sorcerer whose character has now been re-worked to fit Mirren. The movie will revolve around Prospero, now Prospera, her daughter Miranda (Jones) and a shipwrecked crew of enemies including Trinculo the jester (Brand), The King of Naples (Irons) and the drunken butler named Stephano (Molina). On the island there will be a slave named Caliban (Hounsou) and a spirit named Ariel (Wishaw). Filming is set to begin in November in Hawaii.

		Oscars Allowing Movie Ads The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just changed its ruling on showing TV commercials for movies during the Academy Awards show. This will be in affect with the next Oscars. This will be a perfect opportunity for the studios to display their best upcoming films, none of which are nominated, to a movie loving audience worldwide. The Academy will also be allowing only brand new, not previously aired commercials during the show and each distributor is limited to one. The awards will air on February 22nd.

Monaghan, Rodriguez cast in 'Fortuna' The Hollywood Reporter announced that Dominic Monaghan (“Lord of the Rings” and “Lost”) and Freddy Rodriguez (“Planet Terror & “Six Feet Under”) will be starring in a film called “Fortuna” about the elimination of middle class resulting in extreme wealth and extreme poverty. In order to reduce poverty, the wealthy come up with a game (Fortuna) where one in a thousand wins a lotto and joins the upper class but little did they know that it wasn’t as simple as it sounded. “Fortuna” will be writer/director Barthelemy Grossman’s English film debut. The film will take six weeks to film and production begins in November in Bulgaria.

		Johnny Depp Received Biggest Payday Ever Johnny Depp is officially the highest paid actor in history after signing on for the fourth instalment of “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Depp is reported to be earning somewhere between $56 and $61 million to star in this film. An insider said “It’s a hell of a lot of money for one movie but there’s only one man who can play Captain Jack Sparrow — and that’s Johnny Depp. Pirates just wouldn’t be the same without him, so they were more than willing to smash the record books to land Depp again.” Depp has taken the title from Tom Hanks who is being paid $29 million for the upcoming “Da Vinci Code” sequel. Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom who were in the previous ‘Pirates” films are not expected to return for this film.

		Whitaker Plays Armstrong According to Variety, Forest Whitaker will be directing and starring in “What a Wonderful World”, a biopic about Louis Armstrong. The film will follow Armstrong’s life, from poverty in New Orleans to a career as a trumpet player and singer. "Armstrong left a monumental mark on our lives and our culture," said Whitaker, "He lived an amazing life and, through his art, shifted the way music was played and would be heard after him, not just here in the U.S. but all over the world." The script will be written by Ron Bass, and Oscar Cohen who was Armstrong’s road manager will be the executive producer. The project will begin in the summer in Louisiana.

Cronenberg to Direct 'Matarese' Rumour has it that David Cronenberg (“Eastern Promises”) is in negotiations to direct “The Matarese Circle”, an adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s book of the same name written in 1979. Denzel Washington is attached to star in this film about two intelligence agents, one American and one Soviet, who have to work together to annihilate a group called the Matarese who has infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. government. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (“Wanted” and “3:10 to Yuma”) have adapted the screenplay with Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Nick Wechsler and Jeffrey M. Weiner executive producing. Filming is set to begin in the spring.

		There’s no Stopping Tina Fey After the recent rave reviews of her dead-on impersonations of the Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live”, Tina Fey, the creator/star of “30 Rock” has just signed a book deal reportedly worth somewhere in the $5 - $6 million range. There aren’t many details on the book just that it’s not going to be a memoir but most likely a non-fiction collection of humorous essays. The book will be released by Little, Brown and Company.

		Alice Casts Hathaway and Bonham Carter According to the Hollywood Reporter, Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” directed by Tim Burton has just signed on two more member for its cast. Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter have both signed on for roles in the film. Bonham Carter will be the Red Queen (Queen of Hearts) who is best known for saying “off with their heads” while Hathaway will play the Red Queen’s sister, the White Queen, who is banished from the monarchy. The White Queen needs Alice to find and kill a creature known as the Bandersnatch. Johnny Depp has already been cast in the role of the Mad Hatter with Mia Wasikowska as Alice. Bonham Carter has worked with Depp and her partner Burton many times in films including “Sweeney Todd”, “Corpse Bride” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.

Steve Carell Signs Deal With Warner Bros. Steve Carell signed a three-year first-look deal with Warner Bros. and formed his own company with partners Vance DeGeneres and Charlie Hartstock. It’s called Carousel Productions and its offices will be on the Warner Bros. lot. "My idea was to partner with friends of mine, people I trusted, with whom I share a certain sensibility," Carell told Variety. Not related to the deal, Carell has also signed on to do a sequel to “Get Smart” which originally starred Carell, Anne Hathaway, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp and earned $224 million worldwide.

		'Chihuahua' is Top Dog This weekend boasted eight new films at the box office and had “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” in top spot with $29 million making it Disney’s biggest October opening ever, beating out reigning champion “Ladder 49’ from 2004. “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” is about a spoiled Hollywood Chihuahua named Chloe, voiced by Drew Barrymore, who has to try and fend for herself in Mexico. Holding onto second spot in its second week was Shia LaBeouf’s thriller “Eagle Eye” bringing in $17.7 million. Third place at $12 million went to “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. “Nights in Rodanthe”, a romantic drama starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane grossed $7.3 million bringing it into fourth spot and leaving fifth to a western called “Appaloosa”, directed by Ed Harris and starring Ed Harris, Renee Zellweger and Viggo Mortensen, which brought in $5 million this weekend for a total of $5.5 million.

		DreamWorks and Paramount Make Split Official Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks have officially split away from Paramount Pictures after making an agreement which was secured by Viacom general counsel Michael Fricklas and Paramount’s vice chairman Rob Moore with DreamWorks’ David Geffen and attorney Skip Brittenham. Spielberg will take his DreamWorks Company and partner up with Reliance BIG Entertainment without David Geffen. DreamWorks and Paramount have already signed up together on about 40 projects and now as part of the agreement DreamWorks will take the lead on 15-20 projects leaving Paramount with the decision on whether or not they want to co-finance and co-distribute the films. Paramount chairman and CEO, Brad Grey said, "We have had a great run with the DreamWorks team both creatively and financially. In particular, it has been a true honour working closely with a storyteller of Steven's talent and stature.” And Spielberg’s comments, "Brad is a friend and I am pleased to be able to continue to work with him and his team with whom we have shared many successes. And I have a very special thanks to David Geffen for his far reaching vision that has made it possible for me to steer this new course. His advice and wisdom have always been right on the money. He is a friend for life."

Kevin Bacon Prepping Series For Showtime According to Variety, Kevin Bacon is preparing a series for Showtime titled “The Booths” about a man who would commit the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. “The Booths” will revolve around actors/brothers named Edwin, Junius Brutus Jr. and John Wilkes Booth and focuses on their dysfunctional relationship before Lincoln’s assassination. John Wilkes Booth became an extreme defender of the South and shot Lincoln in 1865. Bacon would be the executive producer for this series and has had several projects outside acting in the past including directing and producing “Loverboy”, and directing episodes of “The Closer”. No production schedule has been announced for “The Booths”.