RICHARD GERE is to hoof and win hearts in a remake of Japanese crit-hit "Shall We Dance?". The 1996 original was a stately romance about a buttoned-down businessman who takes dancing lessons and falls for his teacher.
The retooled US-ified version will be a romantic comedy, with a high-profile actress expected to be announced as Gere's tutor shortly. Perhaps Ms Roberts might care to cut a dash with Gere for a third time? Who knows? Probably Peter Chelsom, who directs. Tom Hanks was originally attached to the project.
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STEVEN SPIELBERG is keeping himself busy. The Beard has just signed to direct Jim Carrey in a remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty".
The 1947 comedy - a vehicle for Danny Kaye and adapted from the James Thurber short story - was about a timid mother's boy who lives out swashbuckling adventures in his mind. Eventually, life gets a chance to emulate imagination.
Production on "Mitty" is expected to start before next spring, which could be bad news for the long-delayed "Indiana Jones 4", as Stevie's supposed to be filming both that and the Tom Hanks comedy "Terminal" next.
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NO! NO! NO! In the name of all that's holy - NO! Make him stop, please, make him stop... John Travolta is in negotiations to star in a remake of the James Stewart classic "Harvey".
The whimsical 1950 comedy starred Jimmy as Elwood P Dowd, a light-hearted heavy drinker, whose best friend is an invisible six-foot rabbit.
An utterly charming, funny and sweet fairytale, the adaptation of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play features one of Stewart's finest performances. It can't be improved upon. Certainly not by the ego behind "Battleship Earth".
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CLINT EASTWOOD isn't slowing down. Despite the utterly abysmal "Blood Work", the one-time Man With No Name can still find work.
He's currently in post-production on crime drama "Mystic River", after which he'll move on to produce and direct a biopic of Neil Armstrong.
The first man on the moon is, according to ol' squinty, "a private man who shared a profound experience with the rest of the world."
The movie - based on the upcoming biography "First Man: A Life of Neil A Armstrong" - will obviously include his moon-walking, but will also focus on his experiences as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. There's no word yet on a star.
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SCOTT HICKS - director of the overrated "Shine" and the dull-as-cement "Snow Falling on Cedars" - will next helm "Five Dollars More".
The drama is a road trip story, about a man who reunites with his grifter father for a "cross-country odyssey". Actors are tbc.
FRESH FROM THE critical success of "The Good Thief", Neil Jordan is to team up with Steven Soderbergh on a thriller.
Jordan will direct the untitled project, about a New York private investigator and a prostitute, while Soderbergh will produce through Section Eight - the company he owns with George Clooney.
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COLIN FARRELL will be joined by Robin Wright Penn in "The Home at the End of the World".
The adaptation of Michael ("The Hours") Cunningham's novel will also star up-and-coming theatre actor Dallas Roberts, who'll play one point of a love triangle, also involving Farrell and Wright Penn.
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PIERCE BROSNAN/JULIANNE MOORE romantic comedy "Laws of Attraction" has hit a snag, with director Michael Caton-Jones dropping out.
"Creative differences" were cited as the reason for the split, and the producers are desperately seeking a new helmer so they can hit their 16th June start date.
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"THE LORD OF THE RINGS" star Billy Boyd has been talking up Russell Crowe's "Master and Commander".
The seafaring epic, directed by Peter Weir, has had its release put back from the summer to November, in order to be a player at next year's Academy Awards.
Boyd, who plays helmsman Barrett Bonden in the pic, tells BBCi Films: "I think it will be an amazing movie. It's Peter Weir, and the rushes that I saw just looked beautiful. Every frame is like a painting."
"Russell's character is the captain of the ship and he's also very artistic," Boyd adds. "He plays the violin and he just likes to disappear for a while and play violin with his friend the doctor [Paul Bettany], who plays the cello.
"They play this music and there are lots of nice comic moments. Russell could play the violin for real. One night we were up at his house having dinner with Ron Howard and he played it."
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VETERAN THESP Carl Reiner has been talking "Ocean's Twelve".
"It's going to be shot in Europe, starting in February 2004," he revealed to BBCi Films. "It will film in Rome, Vienna, and Amsterdam, and all the [original] 11 will be in there, plus one."
"I don't know who number 12 is. They won't tell me, because they're afraid I'll tell you and you'll tell everybody." He's right. We would.
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THIS IS GETTING BORING. Another comic book adaptation: Marvel Comics' "The Gargoyle". Never heard of it? Us neither.
Anyway, writer Jonathan Hales ("Attack of the Clones", "The Scorpion King") says his script has "actually very little connection" with the short-lived page-turner about a human soul tapped in a Gargoyle's form.
Rather, Hales told Variety, it's "a mother/son tale" about a young boy who shares his secrets with a gargoyle atop his apartment. Then some curse thingy is lifted and the gargoyle springs to life and sets about trying to find a talisman which will return him to human form.
