I don't know about you, but when I hear "skiing and snowboard actioner," I think "Michael Madsen." Clearly I'm not the only one, because he's been signed to star opposite Eric Lively in Deep Winter, a film about "childhood best friends who want to be the first to ski a peak in Alaska." Alrighty then.

Does anyone else find this news a bit ... disconcerting? First of all, for some reason the though of big, lumpy Michael Madsen on a snowboard or skis sort of freaks me out. Second, when I read about this casting, I figured he'd be playing the Big Bad in some sort of stupid, snow-borne thriller. But no -- unless key information is being withheld, it actually sounds like a nice buddy movie, about Madsen and his pal. Aw. It would be awesome of this worked out well -- sort of a throwback to those nice, non-violent days when he was the dad in Free Willy.