It's taken several years, but it looks like Mike Newell's screen version of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's classic, Love in the Time of Cholera, is finally coming together. Back in February, New Line had screenwriter Ronald Harwood hard at work on the script, and quickly signed Javier Bardem to star as "Florentino Ariza, more antihero than hero, a mock Don Juan with an undertaker's demeanor, at once pathetic, grotesque and endearing." With that fantastic casting move under its belt, the studio went mostly quiet for a while (Benjamin Bratt and Giovanna Mezzogiorno were both brought on board during that time), presumably working on the boring parts of pre-production that the trades don't report.

Now, though, the casting department is back at work, and John Leguizamo (YAY!), Hector Elizondo and Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro have all signed the dotted line and agreed to take part in the film; production kicks off in a couple weeks in locations from England to Columbia Colombia, and the movie is due out some time next year.

Edit: ARG. The country name has been corrected, sorry. Some day we will get it right the first time.