Just got back from the Sony offices here in New York, where Cinematical managed to sit down with Jim Sturgess (star of 21), as well as Ben Mezrich (author of Bringing Down the House, the book 21 is based on) and Jeff Ma (who Sturgess' character is based on). I have to say we all had a pretty damn cool conversation, which we'll post on the site at some point before the weekend, but in the meantime check out what Sturgess had to say about Spidey.

Now, remember back when we told you how Across the Universe director Julie Taymor was directing a Spider-Man: The Musical, with music and lyrics from U2's Bono and the Edge? Well, at the time, Taymor said she was interested in Sturgess playing Spider-Man, with Evan Rachel Wood playing Mary Jane. Not only is that true, but apparently Sturgess and Wood have already performed the roles. He says, "We actually have done a workshop for it, which is how this all kind of started. [Taymor] asked me and Evan to come down and do this workshop that she was doing, so it was a chance to work with Julie again and Evan again and, yeah, at that point I didn't know much more about it. We just did two weeks, and we kind of hung out with Bono and the Edge and sung songs about Spider-Man. As a young actor and musician, it was an incredible experience to be involved in that."

He continued, "We then sort of did a rough performance of the play -- like a read through where we sang through the songs and stuff. As ridiculous as it sounds, it's going to be an incredible piece of work." Cinematical asked Sturgess whether that meant he would be starring in the musical, to which he replied: "Um, I don't know. I haven't spoken to Julie since, and I don't know when she plans to do it. It's a timing thing, I guess. I don't know how long it's going to be before it comes to the surface."

More Spidey after the jump ...

I can't help but wonder if Kevin Spacey managed to score a 2 for 1 deal on the film rights to a Ben Mezrich book. 21 hasn't even hit theaters and Spacey has already picked up another property from the non-fiction writer. Variety reports that Spacey, in the form of Trigger Street Productions, has acquired to film rights to Mezrich's book, Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, From Wall Street to Dubai.

Rigged is the story of John D'Agostino, an Italian kid from Brooklyn who graduates from Harvard. After scoring a lucrative job on the Merc Exchange, he meets up with another ambitious young trader with shady connections to the Middle East. The two come up with a brilliant and dangerous scheme to revolutionize oil trading ... and of course make a butt-load of cash along the way. This is a common theme in Mezrich's books: the talented wunderkind led astray by corruption and greed. It also probably explains why Rigged is being touted as this generation's Wall Street.

Spacey's production house is already working on an adaptation of another of Mezrich's books, Ugly Americans: The True Story of the Ivy League Cowboys Who Raided the Asian Markets for Millions. This might be a little off topic, but what is it with this guy and the long titles? In fact, all of his books are like this (21 was originally known as Busting Vegas: The MIT Whiz Kid Who Brought the Casinos to Their Knees). Of course, this is probably why a name change will be in order for the big screen.

At this point, I'm starting to think that it's contractually obligated that if either Kevin Spacey or Kate Bosworth appears in a film, the other automatically gets a part. OK, so maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but you can't deny that the two seem to really enjoy working together. Yahoo Movies is now hosting the trailer for their latest collaboration, 21, the real-life story of six M.I.T students who develop a foolproof plan to win at Black Jack. The film is based on the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich (and I guess I don't have to explain why they chose to go with the new title 21 -- I doubt Sony wanted their audiences getting the film confused with a C-grade Queen Latifah comedy).

The story centers on a group of M.I.T math students who along with their 'mentor' come up with a new system of "counting cards" -- if you haven't read the book and don't mind a little math in your light reading then I would definitely recommend it. Although I wouldn't recommend trying out their system, unless you don't mind the idea of getting roughed up by pit bosses.

The film was directed by Robert Luketic, who isn't exactly a household name, but is probably best known as the director of Legally Blonde. The book was adapted for the screen by Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire) and Peter Steinfeld (Analyze That). Joining Spacey and Bosworth are Laurence Fishburne in what looks like the role of a casino boss (better known as "the Heavy" in the flick) and Jim Sturgess as the newest member of the gang. 21 is set for release on March 28th, 2008.

Although I've never watched the show myself, according to its recent Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series Drama, as well as the outstanding coverage provided to us by our sister site TV Squad, Heroes is a pretty popular program with you folks at home. And, part of that popularity is due to Masi Oka's performance as Hiro Nakamura -- a "Tokyo nonconformist computer/anime enthusiast who develops a way to pierce the space-time continuum and move back in time through sheer will power," so says the show's official website.

Well, the CGI artist-turned-actor (did you know he was a CGI artist on films like Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the Star Wars trilogy?) is now making his way to the big screen (and in front of the cameras for a change), as Oka is in talks to co-star in the Kevin Spacey-produced 21. Based off Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House, film will tell the true story of how six M.I.T. whiz kids traveled to Vegas hell-bent on coming up with a way (mastering the art of counting cards) to take back with them as much money as they could. Robert Luketic will direct (now that he's officially done with Dallas) and Jim Sturgess will star in the lead role. Oka can also be seen in the upcoming Balls of Fury.

It's been awhile since Kevin Spacey first latched on to Ben Mezrich's novel, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, after reading an excerpt from the book in Playboy magazine. Spacey picked up rights to the book last year, deciding to produce and star in the true-life story about a bunch of MIT kids who, well, took Vegas for millions. Actually, the students won the money by mastering the art of card counting -- instead of working the strip as prostitutes -- in case you were wondering.

At the time, Shawn Levy was interested in directing after Brett Ratner (who was originally tapped to direct) left the project to helm X-Men 3. However, Levy was bounced and now Robert Luketic will be helming with principal photography beginning this February in Boston and Las Vegas. In order to separate itself from that Steve Martin/Queen Latifah comedy, as well as to shorten things up, the film will now be called 21 and Spacey has found his co-star. Jim Sturgess, who recently crossed over to big screen work after starring in several small screen projects, has landed the lead role and will play an MIT student who travels to Vegas in order to learn how to scam the joint. Spacey will act as his mentor. Peter Seinfeld and Allan Loeb penned the script, and there's currently no word on a release date.