John Carney has been actively pursued by Fox 2000 to direct their upcoming comedy Town House. The director of Once -- that Sundance mega hit (and winner of the Audience Award) which tells the love story of two musicians in Dublin -- has said yes to helm the film, written by Doug Wright (Quills). Carney's current repertoire of work is both self-written and directed, so this will be his first directorial project penned by another writer.

Town House is a comedy that, according to Variety, centers itself around a man who is the son of a deceased rock legend. The man is a recluse who maintains his social anonymity by selling his father's mementos and eventually their home -- the town house in which he lives after running out of things to pawn off. This catapults the character into a life altering self-realization, all while attempting to be funny at the same time. The screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by author Tish Cohen. The book itself has received rave reviews and is said to have been "film ready" for quite some time. Lots of books are "film ready;" it's just a matter of finding someone who's ready to actually make the film. Shooting will begin in January, but the cast has yet to be announced. I'd love to see the sequestered main character as Ryan Gosling (a spin off of his character in Half Nelson?), or maybe Clive Owen -- since I wouldn't mind seeing him in everything. Read

If you like snakes, creepy goblin people and Freddie Highmore, then you'll love the teaser trailer for The Spiderwick Chronicles. The recently-released trailer gives us a sneak peak into Highmore's -- the magical child from Finding Neverland -- role as the title character in this adaptation of the children's lit favorite. Highmore is joining a more or less all-star cast that includes Mary Louise Parker (one of my favorites), Martin Short and Nick Nolte -- I've missed him, haven't you? The film is being directed by Mike Waters who is responsible for Freaky Friday and the brutally funny Mean Girls.

The Spiderwick Chronicles is a series of stories about a young boy who acquires some great responsibility thanks to his possession of an eerie book found in his new home. The boy, Jared (Highmore), his twin brother Simon (also played by Highmore) and sister Mallory -- played by Sarah Bolger -- set out on a series of adventures with the strange beings who reside at the Spiderwick estate. Those beings, Jared, and his brother and sister all get into a series of mishaps that they have to get themselves out of.

Based on this trailer, the film and its creatures will look incredible and have a visual similarity to Highmore's recent film Arthur and The Invisibles. As for Highmore, he's been showing the kind of talent normally displayed by older, trained actors, which is why he's consistently a joy to watch on screen. The prodigy actor and the rest of the talented cast will be seen in February of 2008 when The Spiderwick Chronicles makes its way to theatres. Read

New Orleans is filling up with cast members for Black Water Transit and the latest one to be added is Aisha Tyler. The list already includes Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Dorff and American Dreams star Brittany Snow, and no longer includes Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, who were attached and then dropped out. There's a limited amount of information available on the plot but the story is known to take place in post-Katrina New Orleans and revolves around a man -- maybe Fishburne? -- who is on a crusade to release his drug-addicted son from jail. IMDB describes the film as being about the convergence of law enforcement, criminals and lawyers over an illegal shipment of weapons into America as one man tries to find a safe harbor for his family's illegal firearms.

So in other words, it's about the relationships between cops and criminals. Black Water Transit is written and directed by Tony Kaye who gave us American History X -- thank you for that, Mr. Kaye. As for Aisha Tyler, I have to confess that I'm amazed by her work. I always found her to be terribly annoying as the Talk Soup host, but she's gone about building up an impressive resume since then. Also, we know that she will be playing a police detective, à la her roles in CSI and 24.

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Have you ever flown to another country and pretended to be someone that you're not? No, of course not, but Nicole Kidman is about to in the film Monte Carlo, from writers Tom Bezucha and Maria Maggenti. The film is about three school teachers who tire of living on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and decide to pose as upper class ladies during a trip to Monte Carlo. An 'adventure of a lifetime' type of situation then follows, of course.

The film is an adaptation of the novel Headhunters, by Jules Bass, and Kidman will not only star, but produce as well, through her Apartment 3B shingle. The script is expected to stay rather close to the book aside from where the women come from and minus one woman from the original cast of characters. In the book, the women end up falling in love with their male equivalents -- wealthy imposters. Whether this twist makes it into the script's final draft isn't known, but expect a complicated love story in any case.

Tom Bezucha has also come on board to direct the romcom; you'll remember that he wrote and directed this past winter's The Family Stone -- an amazing family story that is both funny and heart wrenching. The ending almost made me cry as much as Terms of Endearment. Monte Carlo is, of course, still in the script development phase at this point, with Bezucha having apparently just turned in the first draft. As for Kidman, we recently forwarded on to you some pictures of what she's up to right now -- filming scenes on the high seas for Australia.

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Steve Alten's mega-shark tale is apparently dead in the water. It's been quite the journey for this property: Alten wrote the book Meg years ago and has babied it into becoming a workable film script ever since. First, Disney purchased the rights to make the film, then New Line purchased it from Disney, and as it turns out, New Line really doesn't want it anymore and will allow their ownership to expire come October of this year. Although a major setback, Alten presumably won't allow New Line to bite the head off the project completely.

Early news of Meg, the movie version, was brought to you by Scott Weinberg back in January. He's read the book -- I haven't; I already have a hard enough time getting in the water and can't stop reading Murakami -- and according to him, the book , "could make for a pretty slick movie!" He also noted that he wasn't sure if the extravagant budget would see the film all the way through production or if the entire project would sink. It apparently sunk. In Alten's announcement, via Moviehole, he seems somewhat beaten, declaring that New Line treated the project like an "unwanted stepchild," but his heart is still attached to seeing his book on the big screen one way or the other. As he says, "The MEG movie WILL HAPPEN and it is better to wait and do it right with the right team than accept mediocrity." I personally can't wait to see the film actually happen. If it's done right, I'll never go in the ocean again without a harpoon and a floaty. ReadRead

Do you consider yourself a Deadhead? Then you'll be glad to know that the 'behind the scenes' antics of your favorite band are coming to the big screen. Home Before Daylight, a book written by two of The Dead's roadies, Steve Parish and Joe Layden, is being adapted by Michael Grais. Grais will also be producing the film and Bob Weir (guitarist for The Grateful Dead) is in full support of the project. Grais is the guy who was also responsible also for the story of Jerry Lee Lewis in Great Balls of Fire starring Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder. He apparently has a special affection towards The Grateful Dead, telling Variety that his first experience with the Dead was as an usher in 1970 where the band -- known for hours upon hours of improvisational tunes -- "played all night."

The script is currently in the making -- Parish and Grais have been working on it together for the last month in the San Francisco area, which was of course the stomping grounds of the band. The story library that Parish and Grais will have to choose from must be vast, seeing as how the band kept going strong well into the mid 90s. There's been no talk yet about casting for the band members -- I think Jack Black very well could find his way in there somewhere. Jerry Garcia, perhaps?

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I never thought in all my days that I'd hear someone say they were unimpressed with Oliver Stone's body of work. Stone is the creator of some of my favorite films. I have great love for JFK, Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon is one of the best war films of all time. But Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is apparently unimpressed. Stone recently asked Ahmadinejad to allow him to document his life, but Ahmadinejad declined the offer.

Stone, of course, previously directed two documentaries about the controversial Cuban leader Fidel Castro, despite that leader's cool relationship with the United States, but Stone's friendly approach to Castro apparently wasn't enough to convince Ahmadinejad. He seems to recognize that, as a whole, Stone's films have a disaffection for some of America's foreign policy choices but he still considers the filmmaker as part of the overall problem -- "part of the Great Satan" to be exact.

What would sway the Iranian president's decision? Perhaps if Stone could secure some Iranian filmmakers the right to create a documentary on President Bush and the CIA he may accept his offer. Whether Stone has the power or desire to do any such thing, who knows, but if any director should be allowed to take on the responsibility of profiling such a controversial subject as Ahmadinejad, it's Stone. Read