• After completely revamping its executive slate this spring, Paramount is finding themselves in the middle of their biggest summer in 11 years -- and it's all thanks to projects spearheaded by Sherry Lansing and Donald DeLine, the studio heads that the new regime pushed out. Meanwhile, Brad Gray is straining his creative accounting muscle to try and make Hustle and Flow seem like less of a bomb.
  • A.J. Jacobs has sold the rights to his Esquire article, "My Outsourced Life", to Jay Roach's Everyman Films. Roach's one-time assistant Larry Stuckey will write the script, and Roach may or nmay not direct. The article chronicles chronic gimmickster Jacob's experiment in letting personal assistants manage his life via phone from India.
  • Brian Grazer is spearheading a project at Universal about yakuza, the Japanese mob. Brothers Aaron and Matthew Benay are writing the script, about an American orphan raised by Japanese criminals, who rises to the top of the ranks to become a serious badass. No casting has yet been announced, but this sounds like exactly what I'd like to see from a post-Mysterious Skin Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
  • Justin Chang went to see Supercross: The Movie so that I wouldn't have to (thanks, dude). The verdict? "Completely disposable yet rousing on its own crude, testosterone-saturated terms."
  • Judd Apatow on his directorial debut, The 40 Year Old Virgin: "It's so strange to find an idea that hasn't been done already on The Simpsons."