Kate Holmes, wife of Tom Cruise, may step on to Broadway in “All My Sons” with John Lithgow and possibly Dianne Wiest.

Holmes more than likely will draw the box office and make a name for herself as a theatrical actress.

I am very excited for her, and “All My Sons” is one of my favorite Miller plays.  “Sons” is most definitely contemporay for current events.

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Kevin Kline will star in his very first all French-speaking role, starring with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).”

He spoke some French in “French Kiss” with Meg Ryan. The story focuses on Bonnaire who plays a hotel maid captivated by a romantic couple playing chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel where she works. A doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.

First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”Filming begins Tuesday on the isle of Corsica. Then, shooting proceeds to Paris.. Kevin Kline cast in French-speaking roleBy Gregg Goldstein March 27, 2008Kevin Kline (Getty Images photo)NEW YORK — In his first French-speaking role, Kevin Kline will star with Sandrine Bonnaire and Jennifer Beals in Caroline Bottaro’s drama “Joueuse (Queen to Play).”Bonnaire plays a hotel maid captivated by a romantic couple (Beals and Francis Renaud) playing chess while staying at the Mediterranean island hotel where she works. The doctor (Kline) whose house she cleans reluctantly becomes her mentor in the game, leading her to a chess tournament and initiating major transformations in her life.Kline courted Meg Ryan as a Parisian in “French Kiss,” but this is his first role in a French production.

“He speaks good French, better than John Malkovich,” said Michel Feller, who is producing the film with Dominique Besnehard for Mon Voisin Prods. and Blue Print Film’s Amelie Latcha.

“Joueuse” is a France-Germany co-production with France 2 and Studio Canal, with the participation of Canal +, CNC, Eurimages, Cinecinema, Telemunchen-Concorde and the Collectivite Territoriale de Corse. Jean-Philippe Laroche is the executive producer.

First-time feature director Bottaro adapted the screenplay from Bertina Henrichs’ novel “The Chess Player.”Principal photography began Tuesday on the isle of Corsica. Shooting continues there through April 26, followed by Paris-area filming from April 29-May 14.Kline is repped by CAA, WMI and the Hofflund Co. Bonnaire is repped by Artmedia. Beals is repped by APA.

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The movie “When in Rome” appears to have cast its entire principle players with the final casting of Will Arnett, who is mostly packing his bags as I write this. “When in Rome,” a romantic comedy starring Kristen Bell that Mark Steven.Arnett joins Josh Duhamel, Jon Heder, Anjelica Huston (a favorite of mine) and Dax Shepard in the story pivoting on a love-starved New York curator (Bell) who steals magical coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome but soon finds herself in a bizarre situation when she is pursued back to New York by a band of aggressive suitors whose coins she took according to Hollywood Reporter.

Arnett will play an Italian artist who becomes one of the suitors, following Bell to New York.

The movie is scheduled to begin shooting in April.

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“The Longer,” once again, will return to the big screen. A 1930s radio show that led to very popular movie serials, television show, comic strips, toys, novels and more gets resurrected by the “Pirates of the Caribbean” team for Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

According to Hollywood Reporter, The story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish. The gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.Remakes have been worked on in the past without the predecessors’ success. As explained by Hollywood Reporter: “Ranger” has not enjoyed success in modern times. The character’s most recent shot at the big screen, 1981’s “The Legend of the Lone Ranger,” failed so badly that the film’s star, Klinton Spilsbury, never worked in Hollywood again. In 2003, WB Network aired a TV movie that served as a backdoor pilot, but it also bit the dust.

Part of the problems are the character’s tropes — wearing a mask, using only silver bullets, a creed that includes not killing your fellow man, the exclamation “Hi-yo Silver, away!” — which can seem musty to today’s audiences.

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Looks like director Oliver Stone has cast the majority of the Bushes: James Cromwell to play George Herbert Walker Bush and Ellen Burstyn to play former first lady Barbara Bush while Josh Brolin to play George W. Bush and Elizabeth Banks to play Laura Bush. It looks like the movie is on track for a November 2008, presidential elections premiere. If not then, at least, it will premiere when Bush is still in office. Originally, the film was called “Bush” but is called “W.”

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Tobey Maguire is working on an adaptation of “Afterburn,” a comic book published by Red 5 Comics. Maguire would produce through his Maguire Entertainment banner, along with Original Films shingle.The story is a sci-fi adventure set against the backdrop of a postapocalyptic Earth, whose Eastern Hemisphere was destroyed by a massive solar flare, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation and fallout. The focus revolves around a group of treasure hunters who for the right price extract such objects as the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone and the Crown Jewels while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates along the way.It’s unbelievable how many actors are leaning toward more superhero roles: Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey, Jr. and Ed Norton to name a few.

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From the producers of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up comes a comic look at one guy’s arduous quest to grow up and get over the heartbreak of being dumped—if he can only make himself start Forgetting Sarah Marshall. 

Struggling musician Peter Bretter (Jason Segel, Knocked Up, How I Met Your Mother) has spent six years idolizing his girlfriend, television star Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars).  He’s the guy left holding her purse in paparazzi photos and accidentally omitted from acceptance award speeches.  But his world is rocked when she dumps him and Peter finds himself alone.  After an unsuccessful bout of womanizing and an on-the-job nervous breakdown, he sees that not having Sarah may just ruin his life. 

To clear his head, Peter takes an impulsive trip to

For anyone who has ever had their heart ripped out and cut into a billion pieces comes a hilarious, heartfelt look at relationships—featuring Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, Bill Hader and Jack McBrayer.  Part romantic comedy, part disaster film, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the world’s first romantic disaster comedy. 

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Reported by Variety.com, Paramount Pictures is in negotiations with Sam Raimi to lead a franchise revival of Jack Ryan, the Tom Clancy-created CIA analyst character who drove four hit movies for the studio.

Raimi would develop and direct a series of films.

The plan is to feature Ryan at a younger, more formative point in his career than previously depicted. One invention the studio is considering is to set the film in the present, with the action triggered by a global threat. Raimi will start shooting after he completes the Universal horror film “Drag Me to Hell.” Paramount wants the Ryan movie ready for release in summer 2010.

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If you did not get to experience the film “Atonement” in theaters, you’ll now be able to pick it up on DVD when it is released this Tuesday, March 18th.  In the film, we are introduced to 12-year-old Briony Tallis.  She’s not only got an overactive imagination, but she’s also a bit of a busybody - two flaws that eventually lead her to commit a fatal sin that will haunt her until her own death.

One afternoon, Briony spots the housekeeper’s son, Robbie Turner, who also happens to be her crush, in a confrontation with her older sister, Cecilia.  What is unique about this scene is that we are first given a look at the situation from Briony’s viewpoint, and then cleverly, we get to see it again from the perspective of the participants - her sister and Robbie.  This is employed in another scene, where Briony walks in on the two making love in the library.  This method helps us as viewers realize pretty early on that Briony tends to see more than there really is, or something entirely different from what is actually happening.
After the confrontation, Robbie pens a heartfelt note to Cecelia, but accidentally encloses in the envelope a more lewd version that was supposed to end up in the trash bin.  Not realizing his mistake, he gives the sealed letter to Briony to deliver to Cecilia.  Briony’s curiosity gets the best of her, and she quickly opens the letter, shocked by the contents. The contents of the letter, for the era (1935 England), were pretty shocking, at least for a  young girl.   As she tells her cousin, she believes that Robbie is obsessed with sex and a danger. She calls him a “sex maniac”.

That very same day Briony walks in on Robbie and Cecilia having sex in the library before dinner.  This does absolutely nothing to squelch young Briony’s idea that Robbie is a sex maniac.

Not to long after, on a hunt for her missing twin cousins, Briony comes upon an adult male sexually assaulting her cousin, Lola, in the dark shadows.  Briony incorrectly believes that Robbie was the offender, and her “eyewitness” account was all that was needed to have poor Robbie hauled off to prison.

This single act changes everything in at least two lives.  Instead of spending his time in prison, Robbie is offered the alternate choice of fighting in the war.  This is what he chooses. Cecelia too makes life altering choices- choosing to leave her wealthy family and taking a job as a nurse.

I won’t tell anymore details, as that ruins the fun of it, but I would recommend seeing “Atonement” if you haven’t already.  It won 2 BAFTA awards, including Best Film and Best Production Design, as well as 1 Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score.  In total, it was nominated for 14 BAFTAS and 7 Oscars.

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