Helen Mirren replaces Bette Midler in HBO's Phil Spector biopic...

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Helen Mirren has replaced Bette Midler in HBO Films’ Phil Spector telefilm.

Midler was forced to bow out of the project, written and directed by David Mament, as it was already in production after suffering a herniated disc that may require surgery.

Oscar-winner Mirren (The Queen) will play Linda Kenney Braden, a defense attorney who represented the producer during his first trial for murder, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Al Pacino will play Spector.

Barry Levinson will executive produce alongside Mamet and Pacino. The cast includes “Arrested Development’s” Jeffrey Tambor, who will play Bruce Cutler, an attorney on Spector’s defense team.

Mirren won an Emmy in 2005 for HBO’s miniseries “Elizabeth I;” her television work also includes her Emmy-winning performance in the 2006 telefilm Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act, where she reprised her role as Detective Jane Tennison.

NBC is rebooting the “Prime Suspect” series this fall with Maria Bello stepping into the role made famous by Mirren.

David Strathairn joins Steven Spielberg's Lincoln project...

...and The Hollywood Reporter has the story:

David Strathairn has been cast in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.

Strathairn will play William Seward, who served as Lincoln’s Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. Seward was a passionate abolitionist and fiercely loyal to Lincoln as he served in his cabinet during the Civil War.

Strathairn joins the previously-cast Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field on the DreamWorks Studios picture. Day-Lewis will play the titular character, and Field his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln.

“Throughout his career, David Strathairn has consistently delivered performances of strength and character. That's why I am so pleased that he will portray the Secretary of State, who became such a dominant figure in Lincoln's ‘team of rivals’ cabinet," director Spielberg said.

Playwright Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s best-selling book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. The book focuses on how Lincoln worked with his former rivals during his presidency.

Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy are producing. Filming is expected to begin this fall in Virginia. Disney’s Touchstone Pictures distribution label is eyeing a fourth-quarter release date in 2012.

Strathairn won an Emmy for his work in HBO’s Temple Grandin, and was nominated for an Oscar for 2005’s Good Night and Good Luck. Upcoming projects include The Whistleblower with Rachel Weisz.

-Joey's Two Cents: The cast just keeps on getting better and better...thoughts?

Barry Levinson and Al Pacino have a film planned together before their Gotti movie?

Deadline says yes:

Before Al Pacino and director Barry Levinson re-team forGotti: Three Generations, the duo will first reunite on an adaptation of the Philip Roth novel The Humbling, which has been set for a fall start and will be financed by Avi Lerner's Millennium Films/Nu Image. It is just the latest in a period of extreme productivity for Levinson, some of it directly attributable to the acclaim he got for directing Pacino's Emmy-winning turn as Jack Kevorkian in HBO's You Don't Know Jack.

The Humbling revolves around Simon Axler (Pacino), a famous stage actor in decline who is revived when he retires to his upstate New York farmhouse and takes up with a much younger woman. It has a script by Buck Henry, Michal Zebede and Levinson. Levinson will be looking to quickly cast the young female lead, the actor's agent, and several other eccentric characters you would expect in a Roth novel. Levinson committed to this movie after completing production on the low-budget eco-horror film The Bay, which he shot on hand-held cameras and which Lionsgate will release. He just spent time at the Cannes Film Festival to help stir interest in the offshore rights of the Gotti movie; and he's right now in China, heading the jury at the Shanghai Film Festival.

I caught up with Levinson at Cannes, where he was uneasy about the idea of having to hawk a film (Gotti) that he and his Bugsy co-writer James Toback are giving a page one rewrite. He was completely sparked to be shooting a variety of films, from horror to documentaries (he helmed for ESPN's 30 for 30 series The Band That Wouldn't Die). But industry players who passed by us in the Majestic Hotel seemed intrigued at his chance to create a major new Mafia movie, and one prominent figure even volunteered to join a preliminary cast that includes John Travolta (Gotti Sr.), Joe Pesci and Pacino, whom Levinson recruited.

"Let me give you something hot," Harvey Weinstein said as he walked up to our table. "I'm going to play Meyer Lansky in Barry's Gotti movie. It's a flashback, Gotti having a dream sequence. C'mon, Barry, I'll wipe Pacino and fucking Travolta off the screen. They will be trembling, I'm telling you." Then, Harvey bounded away, off to acquire what seemed like every hot film being shopped at the festival last month.

When Weinstein passed us, Levinson mused, "That hadn't occurred to me, a time travel Mafia movie." But then again, he inherited a lot of baggage and will face a lot of decisions on a Gotti movie that so far has been a series of photo ops including a press conference with director Nick Cassavetes (who dropped out a week later), where actors like the troubled Lindsay Lohan were set in one role and then another, and might not even be in the movie when it gets made. It's up to Levinson to figure out how to turn a press stunt into a meaningful film. He'll preside over a script overhaul, and he won't lock in cast until that happens. But he loves Travolta for the Gotti Sr role, and took it upon himself to recruit the mob movie icon Pacino to play the role of Aniello Delacroce, the veteran mob soldier who took a shine to young Gotti Sr and became the father figure that Gotti Sr never had because he didn't connect with his own father. I've been a bit skeptical about the project, from its financing by unproven backers to the idea of Gotti Jr holding sway in what goes onscreen. Levinson, though, said that it is Junior's input so far that makes him optimistic this can be exceptional. By no means, he said, will he gloss up the criminal misdeeds of the Gotti family.

"I wouldn't have done it had I not talked with John Gotti Jr," Levinson told me. "In order to rewrite it, I want the specificity he brings into the personal life of the Gotti family. To have those insights from someone who was that high up, gives us an opportunity to develop a piece of material that feels like something new. There's plenty about Gotti we know from the public record, but he can provide the shadings and the mechanics we don't know. He's not telling me the story of John Gotti Sr, but rather the story of the last famous don and the son who follows in his footsteps, comes into power and ultimately decides, I don't want this. How do you get out of that life? It was the end of the Mafia as we know it and here was this guy, trying to breaking the cycle, saying, 'I want to have a life that's not this life.' "

That sounds like a sympathetic portrait for Gotti Jr and a notorious crime family, but Levinson said I am looking at it wrong: "I never approach a movie on the basis of, who's sympathetic, who's the hero? For me it's always, is this a fascinating enough character to hold my attention as a moviegoer? Without question. Did I look at Bugsy Siegel as a hero? Absolutely not. In the beginning of that movie, we showed him kissing his wife goodbye, going downtown to have sex with some woman who was not his wife, going to a bookie place and shooting a guy in the head, when he could have had someone else do it but wanted to do himself. Then he gets on a train, headed for L.A. That's the first five minutes and the intention was to make you say, 'My God!'

"If this script comes out like I think it will, we could have something fascinating," he said. "There have been some great films about mobsters, seminal pieces, and what you need is to reevaluate this for this particular time. The Godfather in the 70s almost single-handedly redefined mob movies for its time. You can look at these landmark pieces, and I think we have a way here to tell a story we haven't quite seen before, because of the insight and different way of seeing that life that nobody has gotten before."

The array of documentaries, HBO telepics, horror films, a mob saga and now Philip Roth has Levinson enjoying himself as much as he ever has in his long career, most of which was spent developing studio projects at the leisurely pace they take. The changes in the studio business have made him more proactive and have revived him and made him scrappier. "The language and economics of film are constantly changing, and if you go at it right, you are able to play in a lot of areas beyond theatrical movies," he said. "This transition that's going on, I've found it to be exciting and challenging, and I think we're going to see a continuing evolution in film language because of all that is happening. You want to be open to what might inform you and be open to change and growth. Or you get stale, bored and complacent." Levinson and Pacino were repped by ICM.

-Joey's Two Cents: I'm less than optimistic for the Gotti movie, but I have an open mind...thoughts?

Aaron Sorkin's project about John Edwards may be evolving...

...as The Wrap points out:

Two decades after Aaron Sorkin's famous lawyer drama "A Few Good Men" scored at the box office, it looks the writer might have to return to the courtroom with his forthcoming John Edwards' drama.

The two-time presidential candidate was indicted by by a grand jury in North Carolina on Friday. He faces charges that he violated campaign finance law during his 2008 presidential campaign and used that money to hide an extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter.

Entitled "The Politician," the film is an adaptation of campaign aide Andrew Young's memoir of his time spent at Edwards' side.

It now looks like Sorkin may have found the setting for another "You can't handle the truth" moment. Edwards makes his first appearance in federal court in Winston-Salem, N.C., this afternoon.

The man who drew deep support from within the movie industry faces six counts — four centering on illegal payments, one involving conspiracy and one regarding false statements.

Sorkin attended a 2003 fundraiser for Edwards at the home of Dennis Hopper, according to the Hollywood Reporter. His entertainment industry supporters included Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Jackson Browne.

-Joey's Two Cents: Edwards was a politician I followed closely and I dig Sorkin very much, so this is an extremely interesting project to me...thoughts?

Could Martin Scorsese be looking to make a movie about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor?

Deadline seems to think so:

Paramount Pictures is finalizing a deal to develop a feature about the romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as a directing vehicle for Martin Scorsese. The film will be produced by Julie Yorn, Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff of Krasnoff Foster Productions, and Scorsese through his Paramount-based Sikelia banner. They are assembling the resources to tell Hollywood's most famous star-crossed love story.

They've optioned Furious Love, the book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger that was published by HarperCollins last year. At the same time, the producers have a rights agreement with Burton's estate, and a pledge of cooperation from his widow, Sally Hay Burton, to make his library available as a resource. The filmmakers have also reached out to the estate of Taylor with the same hopes. A screenwriter will be hired shortly.

I'm told that Paramount made the book deal as other parties pursued the book, with other suitors including Oscar-winning Black Swan star Natalie Portman and The King's Speech Oscar-winning scribe David Seidler. All this for a book that got 100 passes when initially shopped for a movie deal by the author's reps, Justin Manask and David Kuhn. Film interest in the book--for which Taylor made available many of the love letters Burton wrote to her over the years--grew when Taylor passed away in March and reports focused on the relationship between Taylor and Burton.

The movie isn't a Hollywood biopic. It focuses on a torrid and tempestuous romance that is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Taylor and Burton fell hard for each other on the set of Cleopatra, not long after Burton replaced Stephen Boyd as Marc Antony. Just as Cleopatra and Antony were a combustible match, onscreen chemistry between Taylor and Burton soon became something more. Taylor was 29 and had already shocked the world when she got together with her fourth husband, singer Eddie Fisher, who left his wife Debbie Reynolds to be with Taylor. The 36-year old Burton was married to Sybil Burton when he got to Italy to shoot the film. While movie star couples are now used to being haunted by paparazzi, it was a new phenomenon when the romance between Taylor and Burton became a worldwide scandal that had reporters and photographers haunting their every step. The Vatican condemned their affair because each was married. Taylor and Burton divorced their respective spouses, married in 1964, and divorced in 1974. They remarried the following year, only to divorce the second time in 1976. Though both moved on, they never got over each other, doomed, perhaps, by so much passion that it became too volatile to be together.

Scorsese has long been interested in Hollywood lore. He spent years developing a feature about Dean Martin and is currently working on a movie about Frank Sinatra that he will direct at Universal. Scorsese most recently directed Hugo Cabret, his first 3D film. He's repped by WME and Rick Yorn. The project was brought into Julie Yorn by exec Patrick Walmsley.

-Joey's Two Cents: I wouldn't normally be too interested in this project, but if Scorsese sees it as worthy, I'll go with it...thoughts?

A biopic is in the works of the boxer who inspired Sylvester Stallone to write Rocky?

Indeed it is, according to Variety:

Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber and Christina Hendricks are set to star in boxing drama "The Bleeder," helmed by Jeff Feuerzeig.

Pic, which Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Intl. is shopping to buyers in Cannes this week, is based on the true story of former New Jersey heavyweight boxer and womanizer Chuck Wepner who boxed 15 rounds with Muhammad Ali and inspired Sylvester Stallone to pen "Rocky."

Feuerzeig, who won the 2005 Sundance documentary directing award for "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," co-penned the script with Jerry Stahl.

Mike Tollin and Carl Hampe are producing, with Amritraj and Matty Beckerman serving as exec producers.

Pic is being financed by Linda Zander's Maxar Pictures which was advised in the deal by Philip Fier of Focus Advisory Services, who will also serve as exec producers.

Hyde Park's sales slate includes Sony's "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D," toplining Nicolas Cage; spy thriller "The Double," starring Richard Gere and Topher Grace; Jason Statham starrer "Echelon"; and Paul Rudd starrer "Our Idiot Brother."

-Joey's Two Cents: Could this be Schreiber's big Oscar role? Perhaps...thoughts?

Barry Levinson steps in to direct the John Gotti biopic?

Apparently so, according to Variety:

Barry Levinson is ready to return to crime, as the "Bugsy" helmer is in negotiations to direct Fiore Films' mob drama "Gotti: Three Generations."

Nick Cassavetes was previously onboard to direct before scheduling issues with his indie drama "Yellow" forced producers to release him from his contract.

John Travolta is set to play John Gotti Sr.., and Mafia movie fixture Joe Pesci will co-star as Gotti deputy Angelo Ruggiero.

Lindsay Lohan signed on to play John Gotti Jr.'s wife Kim Gotti as part of a two-pic deal with Fiore on April 20. Ella Bleu Travolta will also appear in the film, which focuses on the relationship between Gotti Sr. and his son, who chooses to turn his back on the mob code he grew up around.

Fiore Films acquired life rights last year from John Gotti Jr., the son of the late head of the Gambino crime family. Deal marked the first time a member of the Gotti family agreed to tell their story on the bigscreen.

Production is expected to begin in the fall, with a theatrical release in late 2012. The film will be shot in New York, and ICM is repping worldwide rights to the project.

Levinson recently directed Al Pacino in the HBO telepic "You Don't Know Jack," which earned the helmer an Emmy nomination. Levinson's Lionsgate thriller "The Bay" is currently awaiting release, and the Oscar-winning filmmaker is also attached to direct a political thriller about the Oklahome City bombing titled "O.K.C."

-Joey's Two Cents: It's always nice to see Levinson directing, though this project strikes me as a potential disaster. Fingers crossed for a success...thoughts?

Jeremy Renner is trying to make a Steve McQueen biopic...

...according to The Hollywood Reporter:

Jeremy Renner continues his march toward Hollywood domination.

The two-time Oscar nominee, who has been on an upward trajectory since starring in best picture winner The Hurt Locker, has formed The Combine, a production company he will run with partner Don Handfield. And the company is hitting the ground running, developing a Steve McQueen biopic that will serve as a starring vehicle for the actor.

James Gray, who wrote and directed We Own the Night, is attached to write the McQueen screenplay, which will be based on the two books by Marshall Terrill: Portrait of an American Rebel and The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon. Video director Ivan Zacharias is attached to make his directorial debut on the project.

Renner and Handfield will produce the McQueen project with Hurt Locker producer Greg Shapiro, Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver (one of the producers of Black Swan), and Zacharias’ producing partner Nick Landon.

CAA packaged the project, repping Renner, Grey, Zacharias and the producers, and will also rep the North American distribution rights.

Renner seems like a great fit for the iconic '70s star, with the right rugged looks and all-man attitude (even if his reputation isn't as messy as McQueen’s). But the project is in the development stage and Renner, who’s become one of the most sought-after and busiest actors in Hollywood since his back-to-back Oscar nominations for Hurt Locker and The Town, has plenty on his plate to keep him occupied until it’s ready.

With Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol already in the can, he is currently in Berlin shooting Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters for Paramount, after which he will segue to Marvel’s The Avengers, which just got under way in New Mexico with Joss Whedon directing. He's also weighing an offer to star in The Bourne Legacy for Universal, which would shoot in the fall, and then he may next go into Sheldon Turner's By Virtue Fall in February. Additionally, he just signed on to lend his voice for Fox’s latest installment of the Ice Age animated franchise.

With Combine, Renner and Handfield, an actor-turned-filmmaker, are trying to create entertainment from an artist-based perspective. According to sources, “the company will provide a framework to create, develop and support the vision of actors, writers and directors across all platforms.”

-Joey's Two Cents: I think he's great for the role, so let's hope it comes together...thoughts?

Robert Pattinson could be playing Jeff Buckley?

The Playlist reveals that he's met with Buckley's mother about the role:

We guess the producers behind the upcoming Jeff Buckley biopic aren’t laughing anymore. Earlier in the year, a report popped up in the U.K. press that Robert Pattinson was being considered to take on the role of the late singer. When we reached out to one of the producers on the film at the time they denied those rumors saying, “I did see [the U.K. report], it’s pretty funny.”

Well, it looks like there is actual movement happening on that front (though he’s probably just one of a handful of young actors taking meetings). In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer (via Bleeding Cool) Pattinson revealed, “I met his mom [Mary Guibert] who’s really great.” As for whether or not he’ll get the part, it’s too early to tell. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s really not up to me. I love Jeff’s music. He was amazing.”

Earlier this month, it was revealed that the long-gestating biopic was finally moving forward with Jake Scott (”Welcome To The Rileys”) directing. The film will use David Browne‘s book “Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley,” as a resource and will have a script by Ryan Jaffe (”The Rocker”) with full access to Buckley’s catalog of music to tell his tragic tale.

There’s no word on if the actor who lands the part will attempt to emulate Buckley’s voice or if they’ll lip sync but Pattinson—who has penned songs for the “Twilight” films as well as “How To Be”—is quite aware he’s not in Buckley’s league when it comes to music. “I don’t really think I can sing like Jeff,” Pattinson said. “He was unique. Also, I can’t play guitar like him either. It would involve quite a lot of work. If someone just imitates Jeff’s voice, it wouldn’t be right. It’s always about the script. You have no idea how it’s going to represent someone.”

The production is gearing up to shoot this fall, and we’re sure more pretty faces will begin to leak as possible candidates for the film.

-Joey's Two Cents: He would never be my first choice, but I don't think this is some type of cataclysmic mistake or anything...thoughts?

Sally Field is finally confirmed for Spielberg's Lincoln film?

Indeed, and here's the press release to prove it:

Two-time Academy Award winner Sally Field will star as Mary Todd Lincoln, wife to the 16th President of the United States, in DreamWorks Studios’ “Lincoln” to be directed by Steven Spielberg. The announcement was made today by Spielberg and Stacey Snider, Co-Chairman and CEO of DreamWorks Studios.

Sally Field joins Daniel Day-Lewis, who has been cast to play Abraham Lincoln in the Spielberg film.

"I'm excited to be working with Sally for the first time,” said Steven Spielberg. “I've admired her films and she has always been my first choice to portray all the fragility and complexity that was Mary Todd Lincoln."

“To have the opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis and to play one of the most complicated and colorful women in American history is simply as good as it gets,” said Sally Field.

Based on the best-selling book, Team of Rivals, by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the screenplay has been written by the Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Award winner, and Academy Award nominated writer Tony Kushner. It will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg.

It is anticipated that the film will focus on the political collision of Lincoln and the powerful men of his cabinet on the road to abolition and the end of the Civil War.

Sally Field is a two-time Academy Award winner as Best Actress in a Leading Role for her roles in “Places in the Heart” and “”Norma Rae.” Field won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama or Comedy Special for her role in “Sybil.” She won her second Emmy for her guest starring role on the long-running drama, “E.R.” Her other film credits include “Steel Magnolias,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” and “Forrest Gump.” Field currently stars in the ABC series “Brothers & Sisters” for which she won an Emmy in 2007.

Doris Kearns Goodwin won her Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time, the story of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the home front in World War II. Kushner's prize was for his play Angels in America, which later became an Emmy Award-winning television special. He had previously worked with Spielberg on Munich for which he was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Filming is expected to begin in the fall of 2011 for release in the fourth quarter of 2012 through Disney’s Touchstone distribution label.

-Joey's Two Cents: She'd been attached for a while, so it's good to see her definitely aboard...thoughts?