Sandra Bullock in Negotiations to Join Ryan Reynolds' Animated Comedy Project

Pals Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds are poised to reunite on screen.our editor recommends'Green Lantern's' Ryan Reynolds Gets Punked By the Muppets (Video)EXCLUSIVE: Sandra Bullock Reuniting With 'Proposal' DirectorMeryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Oprah Winfrey Attached to Michael Patrick King Project Though Bullock's deal has not closed, the former Proposal co-stars are in talks to lead the voice cast of And Then There Was Gordon, from Reynolds and Allan Loeb's production shingle, Dark Fire, and 20th Century Fox TV. The news comes one week afterDark Fire sold its first project,Guidance, a high school set buddy comedy starringMad Love'sTyler Labine,to Fox. In this case, the animated comedy project is about an ordinary child surrounded by brainiac siblings. It received a presentation order from Fox, home to Sunday evening's animation domination block of such shows as The Simpsons and Family Guy. Reynolds and Loeb would co-write the script as well as executive produce. Joining the pair as EPs are Bullock, Steven Pearl and Jonathon Komack Martin. Both Bullock and Reynolds are repped by CAA. Related Topics Ryan Reynolds Sandra Bullock The Proposal FOX TV Development

Wachowskis' 'Cloud Atlas' Finally Taking Off In September

By Sterling Wong As ambitious big-budget projects get shut down or postponed indefinitely, one high-concept movie will finally begin shooting in less than a months time...but only with a reduced budget. The Wachowski brothers and German director Tom Tykwer start work on "Cloud Atlas," the adaptation of David Mitchells prodigious novel, in mid-to-late September in Germany after a delay in financing negotiations. The films budget had been touted as somewhere around $100 million to $120 million in the past, but producer Stefan Ardnt confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that it will be "definitely lower" than that. 'Cloud,' which stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Hugo Weaving, spans several centuries, from 19th century Australia to a post-apocalyptic Hawaii, and follows six distinct yet ultimately interlocking storylines. The expansiveness of the saga undoubtedly presents the directing trio with the complicated challenge of bringing it all onto the big screen in coherent fashion (and with less than a 14-hour running time). Ardnt is confident the trio has worked out a solution, saying, "Many have called the novel unfilmable, but Tom [Tykwer] and the Wachowskis have found a way to tell these stories in an amazing, linear and very cinematic way." The Wachowskis and Tykwer have come up with a savvy method to split directing duties: They will shoot this sci-fi epic in parallel with two separate teams. Were guessing the Wachowskis will be bringing their forward-looking "Matrix" vision to the futuristic parts of the film, while Tykwer will take charge of the period storylines. With the reality of a weak global economy and lofty, big-budget fare like "Cowboys & Aliens" underperforming at the box office, it seems like the way to go forward for high-concept projects is to reign in the spending and go creative, as the Wachowskis and Tykwer will be doing. We'll find out how this project ends up looking next year, as the trio is aiming for a Summer 2012 release.

History in Their Eyes (La historia en la mirada)

A Filmoteca Unam/Coordination of Cultural Distribution/Director General of Film Activities presentation. (International sales: Filmoteca Unam, Mexico City.) Produced by Jose Ramon Mikelajauregui. Executive producer, Guadalupe Ferrer. Directed, written, edited by Jose Ramon Mikelajauregui.Quantum physics may be easier to follow than Mexico's early 20th-century power struggles, but vet documaker Jose Ramon Mikelajauregui's "History in Their Eyes" manages to view these national cataclysms through the intriguing prism of newsreels shot between the crucial years of 1907 and 1917. Using pithy subtitles to explain the images (or their historical context, pic is largely an amalgam of restored film lensed by the Alva brothers, one of Mexico's earliest doc units. The 2011 Ariel award will boost its visibility, but this remains specialist material. Beginning with footage of President Taft meeting with Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz at the El Paso-Juarez border, this feature-length montage gradually traces an exceptionally bloody period in which a dizzying string of legitimate democratic victories (Francisco Madero's electoral defeat of Diaz), murders (most dramatically, Madero's), coups and civil wars mark Mexico's revolutionary period. Among the splendid visual highlights are shots of a major Mexico City street subsequently named after Madero, Mexico City after a 1911 earthquake, and fierce warfare in the desert. Inserted sound effects, however, are a poor artistic choice.Camera (B&W, widescreen), Salvador Alva, Guillermo Alva, Eduardo Alva, Carlos Alva; editors, Hugo Mendoza Cruz, Mikelajauregui; music, Eduardo Gamboa; archival research, Carlos Martinez-Assad. Reviewed on DVD, Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 2011. (In Los Angeles Latino, Guadalajara film festivals.) Running time: 79 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

'True Blood' Star Alexander Skarsgard in Talks to Join Thriller 'The East' (Exclusive)

Jason Kempin/Getty Images True BloodstarAlexander Skarsgardis in talks to joinBrit MarlinginThe East, a thriller Marling co-wrote with herThe Sound of My VoicecollaboratorZat Batmanglij, who is directing. While plot details are hazy, the story revolves around a female agent who infiltrates an eco-terrorist group. The title of the movie refers to the group's name. PHOTOS: True Blood's Dark, Sexy New Style If a deal comes together, Skarsgard would play the leader of the group who seeks revenge against unethical corporations.Michael Costiganof Scott Free Prods. is producing the movie, which is eyeing a tentative Nashville shoot in October and November. Fox Searchlight, which released Marling'sAnother Earthand is openingSound of My Voice, will likely distribute the film. STORY: 'True Blood' Season 4 Spoilers: Episodes 7-10 Revealed Skarsgard, who stars onBloodas the vampire Eric Northman, has slowly been building a solid feature career. He stars as the villain inRod Lurie'sStraw Dogs, which opens Sept. 16, as well asMelancholia, the latest pic fromLars von Trier. Also in the can is Universal's big-budget sci-fi action picBattleship, set to unspool next summer. VIDEO: 'True Blood' Eric Vs. Bill: Sookie Makes a Choice The actor, repped by CAA and Principal Entertainment, is currently shooting the indie dramaWhat Maisie KnewwithJulianne Moore. Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com Twitter: @Borys_Kit True Blood Alexander Skarsgard

'Harry Potter' Alternate Ending: Is The Way It Must Have Ended?

You will find many arguments for a number of alternate being for that "Harry Potter" franchise, however the folks at The Way It Must Have Ended come up with probably the most natural and convincing one we have seen yet. Okay, therefore it begins off virtually just like the finish of "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" but makes two notable exceptions. To begin with, it ditches the epilogue, so you are welcome for your MTV Movies Blog editor Josh Wigler. Second -- and, it's understandable, SPOILER ALERT should you still haven't seen the filmOrstudy the ultimate book -- it brings Snape back in the dead, and that is really all we are able to request for inside a "Harry Potter" alternate ending. In the end, the Products professor did not win MTV's Harry Potter World Cup to be boring or lame. The recording puts forth a number of good points, though, about plot holes within the series, so following the jump we undergo and provide individuals at HISHE their proper due for his or her amusing video. Valid Point: Snape Should not Have Left He or she must have experienced Voldemort's inevitable unfaithfulness coming, in the end. The recording raises the great point that Snape most likely must have were built with a support intend to avoid the most evil wizard ever from offing him. In the end, he's Severus Snape. Valid Point: In Which The Eff It's Time Turner This really is that plot hole that will get raised over and over and again: if J.K. Rowling raised time travel, why on the planet did not she apply it several book?! We love to the HISHE utilization of it, though. One dying just is not enough for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Valid Point: Don't Send Your Children To Hogwarts Before Harry Potter was delivered to Hogwarts and began causing damage to the "normal" wizarding school year, still it wasn't a secure spot to send children to college. I recieve it, the wizarding world is much more harmful than our very own, but seriously, there's Aragog, the Whomping Willow and harmful mermaids all about the campus grounds. So why do parents keep delivering their kids back?! Valid Point: They Ought To Have Wiped out Voldemort Off To Start With This dates back towards the time turner device: why did not someone off Voldemort to start with. Like Dumbledore could not have experienced that certain coming. Valid Point: A "Harry Potter"/"The almighty From The Rings" Mix Over Is Lengthy Past due Or at best we're able to really make use of a Dumbledore/Gandalf buddy cop web series. Someone, please access it that As soon as possible. What have you think about this alternate ending for "Harry Potter"? Inform us within the comments below or on Twitter!

Matthew McConaughey Heads Up Strippers in 'Magic Mike'

Back in May we reported that director Steven Soderbergh was tackling 'Magic Mike,' a story about a male stripper who befriends a young dancer and shows him how to hustle both on stage and off. The film is based on Channing Tatum's pre-acting life as an exotic dancer, and Tatum is set to star as Magic Mike, the older man. At that time, Soderbergh had picked 21-year-old newcomer Alex Pettyfer ('I Am Number Four,' 'Beastly') for the role of the younger man, meaning that he would, essentially, play the young Channing Tatum while the real Channing Tatum would play his mentor. Now Matthew McConaughey is set to join the production as Dallas, a former exotic dancer who now owns and operates Xquisite, the club where Magic Mike works. This dramedy is certainly shaping up to be a trifecta of shirtless delights, setting up an impossible benchmark for any actresses inclined to take on female leads opposite those hunks (though experienced movie stripper Demi Moore is rumored to be taking a role). Nick Wechsler and Gregory Jacobs are producing with Tatum and his 33andOut Prods. partner Reid Carolin, who's also writing the script, according to Variety. McConaughey, meanwhile, is having a career resurgence since 'The Lincoln Lawyer': He's finishing Lee Daniels' thriller 'The Paperboy,' next stars in Richard Linklater's 'Bernie' and William Friedkin's 'Killer Joe,' and just joined 'Mud' as the title character in up-and-coming young director Jeff Nichols' film about a fugitive befriended by a young boy. Does 'Magic Mike' sound like a male 'Burlesque' -- or do you think there's more here than meets the eye?

Teenage Cave Man

Robert Vaughn stars as a white 25-year-old teenage caveman with styled hair who seeks to discover what is in the uncharted jungles beyond his tribe's campsite. It is against the Word (and the Word is the Law), but he breaks it anyway. Soon he discovers a strange creature which kills with its touch.

Bryan Cranston Adapting Crime Thriller Home Again with Breaking Bad Producer, Will Direct

The insanely busy Bryan Cranston, whose upcoming slate includes Contagion, Drive, Total Recall, John Carter, Rock of Ages, Red Tails, World War Z, and Argo, has revealed plans to direct his own adaptation of David Wiltse’s novel, Home Again. The crime thriller/mystery drama follows an ex-FBI agent who returns to his family in small town Nebraska only to become caught up in a murder investigation. Speaking with reporters from the set of Total Recall, Cranston described his Home Again adaptation (which will reportedly be re-titled for the screen): “It’s basically a very strong father-son story, and a murder-mystery. An FBI agent who suddenly quits the department and takes his son and his wife and moves back to his hometown of Cascade, Nebraska, to rekindle family values and pay attention now. He’s been working for the FBI for years, so he’s been home sporadically. And his son is now sixteen, very sensitive, and looks upon his father like sort of a stranger… And then there’s a murder that happens in the little town that they move to, which kills [the father’s] whole stance on, ‘Things are better in these small towns!’ And then things unravel, and basically, the father and son come together at the end and save each other emotionally and literally.” Cranston, who previously wrote, directed, and starred in the feature Last Chance in 1999, is developing the project with his Breaking Bad producer Mark Johnson and says filming could begin as early as next year. Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston Will Write and Direct a Mystery Drama [Hollywood.com]

Justin Lin Ditches Highlander Remake

Summit requires a new director.... There are only able to be one? Appears like there should be yet another - a minimum of within the Highlander remake pointing department, as with-demand megaphone guy Justin Lin just leaped from the Summit film. Lin, who last introduced the planet the shining majesty of abs, sweat, cars, bloodstream, guns and Rock which was Fast Five, has made the decision he simply will not possess the time for you to bring the McCloud clan to the giant screen, since he's busy with not just a sixth Fast & Furious outing, but an agenda to craft a brand new Terminator. Speaking of, he told The Playlist yesterday that he's already had a casual sit lower with both James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger about this particular project.... Summit is searching to obtain Highlander moving as rapidly as possibly, likely therefore it might have another potential fantasy franchise ready to go when ever the Twilight cash cow stops moving out its milky vampire dollars. Having a script from Iron Guy co-authors Art Macum and Matt Holloway (that has since experienced some tinkering by Twilight veteran Melissa Rosenberg), the film will once more chronicle the key, mysterious fight between immortals that's been fought for hundreds of years and can only finish when only one remains. Although the original movie is not exactly the most wonderful piece of content, it had been enough to spawn four sequels and believe it or not than three TV series, so there's clearly something towards the concept...

Dana Delany: I Would Love to Return to Desperate Housewives

Dana Delany, Desperate Housewives ABC announced Sunday that Desperate Housewives will end after this season, which begs the question: Which characters are returning to Wisteria Lane to say goodbye? When discussing the series' demise with reporters, Housewives creator and executive producer Marc Cherry said he had already started thinking of ways to bring back familiar faces. "I have an idea for the last episode, in which I want to pay homage to everyone who's been on the show," he said. Marc Cherry: The end of Desperate Housewives is "bittersweet and lovely" Dana Delany, who played Katherine Mayfair for two years before leaving to star in ABC's Body of Proof, tells TVGuide.com she would love to bring closure to her character. Katherine ran away to Paris with her girlfriend, Robin (Julie Benz) in the middle of Season 6. "I would love to come back for one episode just to sort of wrap things up with Katherine," she says. "I want to know that she's happy. A happy lesbian. Wouldn't that be nice?" Delany says she's been dying to talk to Cherry since news broke that the long-running drama would be going off the air. "I was as surprised as everybody. I figured that show had quite a few seasons left in it because it's still really getting good ratings," she says. "But we have not heard the last of Marc Cherry. I think he has a lot of things to come." Do you want Dana Delany to return to Desperate Housewives?

Lack of depth taxes TV news

Given the U.S. government's near-default as Democrats and Republicans bickered over the debt ceiling, much has been made of the country's political dysfunction. Yet the roles of two key elements in that sorry equation -- a lazy media and ill-informed electorate -- remain unexplored.Underlying the economic debate are two key convictions: the need for government services, and near-religious resistance to paying taxes. Seldom, however, does broadcast media bother connecting the two -- or the inherent contradiction of asking government to function properly without adequately funding its operation.Politicians on both sides have every reason to pander and parse words. The broadcast media's unenlightening role, however, can be traced to various factors that include: a desire to be liked, which prevents them from addressing the public's lack of sophistication; a predilection toward verbal jousting, placing combat above the drudgery of fact-finding; and a beaten-dog mentality against unleashing fresh accusations of media bias.A CNN/Opinion Research survey neatly captured the public's two-faced approach to politics, concluding, "Americans have a split personality when it comes to cutting the nation's budget deficit." Simply put, respondents favored reducing the size of government but also widely rejected slashing major programs.In other words, "Fill that pothole and don't touch Medicare, but for God's sake, don't raise my taxes."While politicians invariably present only the argument that benefits them, the media ought to lead their audience to contemplate tradeoffs and sacrifices -- the intrusiveness of airline security, say, vs. fear of terrorism. Where does the public place its thumb in balancing the two?Alas, most of the time, we get half the story. And one can posit that the derided naivete of the Tea Party -- political novices whose intransigence weighs heavily on the current process -- stemsin part from this long-standing failure to frame complex issues in more than bumper-sticker platitudes.Admittedly, hardened ideologues will tune out information that doesn't reinforce their views. The question is what's on the menu for those in the middle who are presumably open to sobriety and sanity, but at risk of starving in the midst of a digital media buffet.For its part, CBS News is pushing the idea that there's an underserved appetite for hard news -- hoping to expand the journalistic heft of "60 Minutes" to "The CBS Evening News" with "world-class original reporting every weeknight," as the promos state."There's a hunger in America for really good broadcast journalism" by genuinely fair brokers, CBS News chairman Jeff Fager told reporters at the TV Critics Assn. tour.Clearly, the role Walter Cronkite occupied in the CBS anchor chair has been diluted by ceaseless waves of information and a cable space that magnifies braying from the shrillest of voices. Interviewers like Ted Koppel -- who could punch holes in hollow arguments and still remain respectful -- have given way to either intemperate partisans or neutered vessels like CNN's Wolf Blitzer, who blandly serves up dueling talking heads who essentially describe the same object as a bicycle and fire truck.Who's right? Hey, who can say, but we're out of time, thanks for your insights.Perhaps that's why the most lacerating honesty frequently falls to comedians and nontraditional observers such as "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart or HBO's more pugnacious Bill Maher. Although Stewart has made an art of skewering the media, Maher House Speak chides the public for its ignorance, recently challenging Americans to "come out of the closet" and admit their unspoken love for socialism by embracing programs like Medicare and Social Security.Information-age technology, meanwhile, has become less a hoped-for panacea than merely another toy -- often used in ways that obscure more than illuminate. Is it really a breakthrough, for example, to substitute Twitter comments for man-on-the-street interviews? Interviewed on his network Current TV, former Vice President Al Gore joined in lamenting the debased nature of public discourse. "There was a massive change in the way political conversation in our democracy takes place," he said. "What we have now is a lot of bad decisions that are based on flawed premises and illusions."If only there was some way to distinguish "flawed premises and illusions" from reality -- starting with the fact there's no such thing as a consequence-free tax cut.Accomplishing that would begin with the kind of big-picture analysis that yields not just more ambitious news, but a better-informed public. Contact Brian Lowry at brian.lowry@variety.com

Red Hot Chili Peppers to hit cinemas

The Red Hot Chili Peppers will launch "I'm With You," their first album in five years, with a release-date live presentation of the album from Cologne on Aug. 30 that will be screened in more than 450 theaters nationwide.Hi-def digital satellite presentation by National CineMedia Fathom and BY Experience will feature the L.A. quartet performing the entire album in sequence, plus greatest hits from the band's multi-platinum career. Event will be the only time the Chili Peppers will play the set in its entirety."I'm With You" drops Aug. 30 via Warner Bros. Records. It's the funk-rock unit's first release since the two-CD "Stadium Arcadium" in 2006, which sold more than 2.3 million copies domestically and 7.3 million worldwide.Scheduled dates on act's 2011 tour will encompass stadium shows in South America in September and Europe in October and December.NCM Fathom has been involved in high-profile theatrical concert events including screenings of dates by metal's "Big Four" (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax), Phish and Eric Clapton's Crossroads Festival.Company mounted Thursday's U.S. screenings of the "Electric Daisy Carnival Experience" pic. The AMC and Regal chains yanked doc from their screens after a massive disturbance at last week's Hollywood premiere (Daily Variety, Aug. 1, July 29). Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Here's Your First Look at Constantine Maroulis in Rock of Ages

You’ve already seen Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sebastian Bach in character on the set of Adam Shankman’s upcoming Rock of Ages, but this pic is sure to get you really excited for the musical adaptation. Constantine Maroulis — who originated the Rock of Ages lead role of Drew on Broadway, and earned a Tony nomination for his performance — officially has a small part in the film as well! When it came to the big screen adaptation, Shankman decided that the 35 year-old would not be a convincing 20 year-old and cast Diego Gonzalez Boneta instead. But he did give Maroulis a cameo role as a slick ’80s record exec. Here is the first photo of Maroulis in character flanked by the director (left) and the film’s producer Matt Weaver. Shankman Tweeted the photo last night. [@adammshankman via Deadline]