A new adaptation (I refuse to use the word remake here) of Fahrenheit 451 has been in the works for ten years now. I was very excited by the news that Mel Gibson was planning it as a Braveheart follow-up, as it seemed like that would mark a new and serious phase of his directing career. I wish that was something I could have been right about.

Frank Darabont was the next one to take it on, and he's been attached to it since 2001, rewriting Terry Hayes' script and being delayed by everything from Indiana Jones IV, Mission Impossible III, The Mist, and Law Abiding Citizen. SciFi Wire caught up with Darabont at the Saturn Awards, and the director / writer declared that it was really time to get on with it already ... and that it might actually get underway this time, depending on whether or not the Big Name Actor he wants signs on.

"Fahrenheit is the thing I'm trying to get up next, which is casting-dependent, so it's one of those. I'm out to somebody at the moment, fingers crossed, because, boy, do I want to make that movie. I'm not giving up. I'll die in the traces before I don't make that movie ... It's not one of those movies that are vastly expensive by any contemporary standard, but money is still money, and it's of a price that requires somebody that will justify that investment. This is definitely going to be more than The Mist, so those other considerations do come into play."

You can go crazy wondering just who that Big Actor who can pull in the money and box office might be. Could it be someone that rumors have long attached, like Tom Hanks (Darabont's pick for years), Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise? Or could we be looking at someone newly bankable, like Johnny Depp?

You know things are bad in Hollywood when a production gets shut down just three days before it's supposed to start filming -- and when the production in question stars Brad Pitt and is directed by Steven Soderbergh. The last three movies those guys made together all had the word Ocean's in the title. What gives?

Well, according to Variety, Columbia Pictures chair Amy Pascal found the latest script revisions for Moneyball so different from what she'd originally greenlighted that she pulled the plug on Friday. Filming was supposed to start in Phoenix on Monday. This is the equivalent of canceling a flight while the plane is accelerating down the runway. Those script revisions must have really been something. Maybe Soderbergh had decided to turn it into a four-hour biography of Pancho Villa.

Moneyball is based on a nonfiction book that uses the 2002 Oakland A's baseball team as a case study for examining how less wealthy teams can compete with richer ones (like the Yankees) by hiring players whose statistics in certain areas -- but not the ones usually considered, like batting averages and RBIs -- indicate they'll perform well. Yes, it's a book about statistics. You can see why a movie would be a hard sell to begin with. But the book was a bestseller, appealing to baseball fans (who tend to love statistics) and readers who enjoy a good underdog story. Pitt was to play A's manager Billy Beane, whose theories about which players would be most valuable went against conventional wisdom but were ultimately vindicated.

The version of Inglourious Basterds that played to mixed reviews at Cannes won't be the version we see, for better or for worse. Quentin Tarantino is heading back into the editing bay next month, and giving the film an extra scene or two. (And nothing is harder to write about than a film you and the rest of the moviegoing world hasn't even seen, so bear with me here.)

The director admitted to Variety's Anne Thompson that he felt overfiddling had hurt Death Proof, so he deliberately put Basterds on a Cannes deadline -- but it was one that was so tight that he had to rush "a dripping-wet print" to the festival. As a result, Basterds was 19 minutes less than he needed to retain final cut.

So, he's adding footage back in. One is a scene that he filmed, but hasn't yet assembled that introduces the characters of Michael Fassbender and Diane Kruger's more thoroughly. For those of us who didn't get to see the film at its Cannes debut, that means little. But if you read the script, it comes before the La Louisiane sequence. However, if you're hoping to see Maggie Chung as Madame Mimieux, you'll be disappointed. The scenes between Mimieux and Melanie Laurent's Shoshanna Dreyfuss won't be restored as Tarantino feels they don't add to the narrative.

But the final edit might rest on audience approval. Tarantino's going to be doing some test screenings "outside of California" to see how the film plays to the people, and will fine tune it from there -- but hopefully not to the point of Death Proof fiddling ...

Steve McQueen's widow might think that Daniel Craig would be the perfect actor to bring her husband back to life on the big screen, but it doesn't look like that's the direction Christine Peters and Michael Cerenzie are going with their adaptation of Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel. In fact, if rumors are true, they're looking for the man who was once rumored to be remaking McQueen's classic Bullitt -- Brad Pitt.

The Examiner says the actor is about to sign on to play McQueen in the biopic, which will kick into production later this year. They seem fairly happy with the news, stating: "The casting might work, Pitt resembles McQueen and shares the late actor's love of beautiful women, fast cars, and motorcycles." Me, I'm not so sure.

It all comes down to "the pretty." McQueen definitely had looks himself, but he was one of the men considered sexy for rugged strength and charisma, not for perfectly balanced, superstar features. He was the man you might dig in spite of yourself -- which is why McQueen's widow made a pretty good call with Craig. But Pitt ... is he too pretty? Too much of a looker and too little of the rugged machismo? While I've no doubt that he can handle the acting, could Mr. Jolie bring to life that "it" that made Steve McQueen so damn cool?

Nothing like a little war movie to bookend a day at the Cannes Film Festival. Lines began forming at the crack of dawn to see the first screening of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds this morning, and, still, many were shut out. (Erik Davis rounded up the first reactions from those who did manage to gain admittance.) Evening brought the glamour, as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie led a parade of celebrities down the fabled red carpet for the black-tie and gown gala presentation. As a cherry on top, Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell screened at midnight.

Films Sold. Amazingly -- or maybe not, when you consider all the free publicity it's already accrued -- Lars Von Trier's highly controversial and divisive Antichrist sold to IFC Films. The company says they will release the same version as the one screened in Cannes, according to indieWIRE. Specific release plans were not announced, but expect it this fall, in order to capitalize on the buzz. Also, I suggest a poster highlighting Willem Dafoe's previous, religiously-titled movie: "From The Last Temptation of Christ to ... Antichrist!"

Much less controversially, IFC also picked up Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, which the company describes as the director's "most accessible, crowd pleasing film." More details at indieWIRE.

Key Screenings. Competition: Alain Resnais' drama Wild Grass, starring Mathieu Amalric (the reviews so far, collected by David Hudson at IFC's The Daily, range from reserved to rave). Un Certain Regard: Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's supernatural-tinged drama Nymph (Todd Brown at Twitch reviews), Luc Mullet's Land of Madness. Directors' Fortnight: Axelle Ropert's The Wolberg Family (a small town mayor's obsession with his family), Ho Tzu Nyen's Here (a middle-aged man deals with life as a patient in a medical institution).

How soon is too soon for a hard sell? Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (sic) doesn't open in theaters in the US for three more months, but it will have its world premiere in competition at Cannes next week (May 20). Tarantino has been busy promoting it everywhere from American Idol, where he served last month as a guest "director," to the New York Times, where he mentioned in passing, "I have a half-written prequel ready to go if this movie's a smash."

That's a big "if." Will people turn out to see a funny -- and likely to be extremely violent -- World War II movie in the dog days of August, even with Brad Pitt? Inglourious Basterds takes place in "a Quentin period world," according to production designer David Wasco, in which "a band of Jewish-American soldiers [go] on a scalp-hunting revenge quest against the Nazis," as the NYT describes the plot. Reportedly, 70% of the dialogue will be in French and German with English subtitles. One of the actors playing a Nazi, Daniel Brühl, considers the film an out-and-out laugh fest: "If a comedy is intelligent and has depth, it's a very legitimate way to talk about Fascism in Nazi Germany."

But what about a prequel? "Once the Basterds get through with Europe," Tarantino says, "they could go to the South and do it to the Kluxers in the '50s. That's another story you could tell." Another possibility is a shelved subplot following "African-American soldiers stuck behind enemy lines." His first hurdle is getting past the notoriously prickly Cannes critical corps. The rest of us can pass judgment in August.

Not many movie-going summers have had the good sense or fortune to formally kick themselves off with the likes of Hugh Jackman and his razor-sharp jazz hands, but as these are the times in which we live in, it's a clear indication that we're in for about eighteen weeks of spectacular spectaculars worth gulping down popcorn and guzzling down pop* with.

Eugene's already shone the spotlight on a fair amount of smaller titles worth your while, so our staff tried to keep the focus on that which we haven't seen, those spectacles for which we're most excited and least likely to text during. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls: sit down and shut up, because these are the seven movies that we're fairly f**kin' pumped for.

(*Okay, I pretty much never call soda that, but you get the idea.)

Ah, the Croisette. I can feel the sun on my face, the wind in my hair, the gentle crash of the waves reverberating through my ear canal... oh, wait. None of that rings a bell, because I've never been to the Cannes Film Festival.

But those who have seem to love it, and with a lineup like this year's, it's not hard to see why. As we recently mentioned, the fest will open with Pixar's apparently awesome Up, and showcase the latest from Quentin Tarantino (Inglorious Basterds), Ang Lee (Taking Woodstock), Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon), Pedro Almodovar (Broken Embraces), Ken Loach (Looking for Eric), Lars von Trier (Antichrist), Alejandro Amenabar (Agora), Michel Gondry (L'epine dans le coeur) and Park Chan-wook (Thirst), among others.

Yes, there's more. Sundance hit Precious (formerly Push) will make an appearance, as will SXSW fave Drag Me to Hell (to see all those tuxes and gowns jolt from their seats might qualify as an entertainment all its own). The 62nd Festival will run from May 13th to the 24th, and Erik, Scott: you still totally have time to send me, and I still totally have time to get a tux, and to update my passport, and to learn French... Just think about it.

Back in November, Brad Pitt and Paramount fell hard for Paul Pope's Battling Boy, which they snapped up before it had even hit store shelves. The book isn't due to be published until 2010, but according to The Hollywood Reporter the film adaptation already has a screenwriter: Alex Tse, who is fresh off Watchmen and busy penning scripts for Ninja Scroll and Zack Snyder's adaptation of The Illustrated Man.

Battling Boy centers on the wee offspring of a god, whose dad urges him to leave their immortal mountaintop home and descend to Monstropolis, and rid the city of its plague of monsters. Considering the city is the size of a continent, this might take him awhile. The monsters aren't your cute and cuddly Monsters Vs Aliens type either, but according to Pope are "horrible, Grimm's fairytale, Beowulf-ish monsters, awful things. Child-stealers. Plus some of the vampires and mummies and wolfmen we remember from the old black and white Hollywood horror films." If you'd like another glimpse at the book, Pope did celebrate Battling Boy getting optioned by publishing some additional artwork on his blog.

There's not much more to go on, and no indication as to whether Pitt might take the role of Senior Deity, so we'll have to sit tight and wait for the book. Clearly though, Pitt and Paramount have been studying their comic book movies -- if Tse can adapt Watchmen, he can probably do a fair job at adapting anything graphic novel you throw at him.