Thanks to Bourne, the spy-fi genre is alive and well and every studio is on the lookout for a franchise of their own -- even Disney. Variety reports that super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer (along with the Mouse) has purchased the screen rights to David Ignatius' spy thriller, The Increment. Ignatius is an associate editor for The Washington Post and Increment will be his seventh novel. An adaptation of his 2007 book, Body of Lies, has already finished shooting with Ridley Scott at the helm, and Leonardo DiCaprio starring as a CIA agent hot on the tail of a terrorist.

The Increment centers on a "shadowy, elite group of British undercover intelligence operatives who are conscripted by a CIA agent to help a weapons scientist defect from Iran." Early reviews of the manuscript praised the story, citing the wealth of facts about the CIA and the international intelligence community. But insiders were shocked that Disney would want the property considering the amount of 'hot button' issues in the book, like Islamic politics and an invasion of Iran.

Ignatius' novel has not even been published yet, so it's very early days for the adaptation -- and leaving plenty of time for Disney to water down the story. In the meantime, look for Body of Lies to arrive in theaters on October 8th, 2008.

Looks like Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio are quite fond of one another, as both men have decided to team up once again on a new thriller called The Low Dweller. This script is being touted as a cross between The History of Violence and No Country for Old Men, and when the latter flick wins an Oscar for best picture -- well, you bet your you know what this is gonna be a hot property. And indeed it is; apparently, the script comes from some "twentysomething working as an insurance salesman in Pennsylvania," so says The Hollywood Reporter. Dude was just a random guy, plugging away on a spec script, and, whaddya know, it sparked up a huge bidding war between Warner Bros. and Sony before Relativity Media came in and swiped it up for a crisp $650,000 against $1 million.

Not bad for an insurance salesman from Pennsylvania.

According to HR, the film is set in Indiana during the mid-1980s, and it "centers on a man (DiCaprio) trying to assimilate into society after he's released from jail, only to find someone from his past pursuing him to settle a score." They add that another male character and a female love interest are also involved in some way. Sounds like it could be good, but then again that description doesn't give you all that much. Scott and DiCaprio just wrapped up Body of Lies, and each will now head to another project (Leo on Shutter Island and Scott on Nottingham) before returning for this one.

He's been fighting his young look for years, but it looks like Leonardo DiCaprio has finally gotten to a place where he looks older and more experienced. Perhaps that's due to the furrowed brow he's sporting in the picture above. The image is from his current film, Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, and it leads me to wonder if he practiced that furrowed look to age him, and how long it will be before he and Josh Brolin play brothers. (See the bearded resemblance?)

The film is based on David Ignatius' novel about a CIA agent sent to Amman to collaborate with Jordan's special intelligence and track down an Al Qaeda bad guy who is scheming an attack on America. DiCaprio plays the agent, Russell Crowe plays his boss, and Carice van Houten plays his ex-wife. No release date has been set for the film, but it shouldn't take too long to hit screens.

[via Empire Online]

So while I wouldn't necessarily pair the rough and tumble director Ridley Scott with the world of high fashion, Fox must see something in the pairing that I don't. Variety reports that Fox 2000 is putting together a vehicle for Scott to direct that is based on the life and murder of Maurizio Gucci (head of the famous Gucci fashion house). The project had been wasting away at Paramount before Fox finally picked it up through The Devil Wears Prada producer, Carla Hacken.

The famous house of Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci back in 1906. By the time the 70's had rolled around, the company was in serious financial trouble and there was infighting and bad blood running rampant in the family. Maurizio was the grandson of founder Guccio and had managed to retain 50% of the business after the death of his father. He allied with his cousin Paulo, and the two finally turned the company around. It was Maurizio who had hired a relatively new designer at the time, Tom Ford, to help revive the label in the 90's. On the eve of his big debut though, Maurizio was gunned down outside his apartment building. In 1998, Maurizio's ex-wife was convicted of the murder (she was later retried but her conviction was upheld with a reduced sentence).

Fox has already lined up Charles Randolph (The Interpreter) to begin working on the script as soon as the writer's strike is over. According to Variety, the story "chronicles the wild and glamorous story of the Gucci family in the 1970s and '80s". Scott is currently shooting the drama Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe on location in Morocco, before heading off to work on the revisionist Robin Hood flick, Nottingham. So since Scott has plenty of work left to do and a script has yet to be written, it could be awhile before Scott and company can get this project underway.

I wish turkey day was turkey month, but since we all have to work and don't want to end up looking like Mr. Creosote, it's time to get back to work. Elizabeth Berkley is soon going to play David Caruso's ex on CSI: Miami, but that's not the only casting news coming out of the weekend:

• His name might not be on the tip of every tongue, but you've definitely seen John Michael Higgins around. He's been in a ton of stuff, the best of which rests on the plate of Christopher Guest. He was Michael McKean's lover and dog-show helper in Best in Show, a New Main Street singer in A Mighty Wind, and finally, For Your Consideration's Corey Taft, who said: "In every actor there lives a tiger, a pig, an ass, and a nightingale." Now Variety reports that he's got a role in Jim Carrey's Yes Man. Unfortunately, there's no word on who he'll play, but hopefully it'll be a decent gig and not just a brief blip.
  
• Ah, Simon Baker. The Aussie actor has made People's "Most Beautiful" list, and most recently, he's tried to whisk Anne Hathaway away from Adrian Grenier in The Devil Wears Prada, and starred with Winona Ryder in Daniel Waters' Sex and Death 101. According to Variety, he's now joining Alfred Molina and Hope Davis in The Lodger -- a Hitchcock remake that first geared up back in 2006. While they're not saying who he'll play, I imagine he'll be the lodger, since the only other younger man on the cast list thus far is Donal Logue, who is already playing Bunting.
• He usually pops up on television a lot, and in movies you've probably never heard of, but now Vince Colosimo has nabbed himself a role in a bigger-buzz feature. Variety reports that he has a part in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies, which already stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Carice van Houten. The movie, which is currently filming, is about a former journalist who was injured in Iraq, who then somehow gets hired to hunt down an Al Qaeda leader. Colosimo is playing some dude named Skip.

I have a favor to ask of Ridley Scott: please, sir, can you stop announcing movie projects until you're in the middle of shooting Monopoly? That's the only one I really want to see you committed to right now. So, just finish up with Body of Lies, then begin production on Monopoly, and then you may announce other gigs, including this new project, Stones, which The Hollywood Reporter now tells us you're set to direct. Sure, the film sounds really interesting -- its a supernatural thriller that deals with ancient landmarks like Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids -- but how can you be thinking about mystical places when you need to be concentrating on Rich Uncle Pennybags and how you might integrate the thimble and scotty dog into your board game adaptation.

Yes, the American Gangster director has too many films in the pipeline. And Monopoly isn't even one of the projects listed on the IMDb, which shows only the Robin Hood-based Nottingham and the Cormac McCarthy adaptation Blood Merdian as being lined up after Body of Lies. Other Scott-attached projects we've written about in the past include Child 44 and Gladiator 2, but those were both a long time ago. We know Scott has confirmed involvement in Monopoly, so where's the greenlight? Doesn't Hollywood know how huge this thing will be? Oh well, I guess we can take a little peak at what this Stones thing is all about. Scripted by Matthew Cirulnick (Paid in Full), the movie features the destruction of ancient religious structures throughout the world and the revelation that they are all tied together, with Stonehenge being the central site, and that they all retain supernatural powers meant for a specific purpose.

The Hollywood Reporter confirms that following Body of Lies, Scott will head straight into Nottingham, while Stones will have to await the end of the Writers Guild strike, because Cirulnick has not finished writing it. The trade also mentions another mythical project written by Cirulnick titled Elysium, which deals with Greek mythology, and going by the title, I presume it focuses on the afterlife.

Have you seen Black Book yet? It's on DVD now, and with Ryan and I raving about it and especially its star, Carice Van Houten, all year, I hope you got the hint. It's really worth seeing. And once you do check it out, you'll understand why we are so smitten by Van Houten. And you'll understand why Hollywood can't get enough of her these days, casting her opposite many of the most prestigious actors, such as Tom Cruise, who she's linked up with in Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, both of whom she's appearing with in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the Dutch actress is confirmed to play opposite Jude Law in Repossession Mambo. She will play wifie to Law in the film, which is a sci-fi thriller about a guy who can't afford his most recently installed artificial organ. Directed by Miguel Sapochnik, a former storyboard artist who worked on Trainspotting, the film is said to also star Alice Braga, who actually plays Law's love-interest in the form of an ex-wife he reunites and goes on the lam with.

So then is Van Houten just a minor character who is left behind? That's what it sounds like, and if you look at most of these American roles she's getting they're either labeled simply as wife or love-interest. Considering all that she got to do in Black Book, it seems Hollywood could be missing the boat on why she's worth casting. If Van Houten does end up wasted or underused in these roles, it wouldn't be the first time a young European actress came into flavor and was then miscast. I'm thinking mostly of Audrey Tautou being put in The Da Vinci Code, of course. I have to admit that after falling in love with her in Amelie, I gradually grew out of my crush by watching the rest of her available films, none of which featured her in quite the same way. For Van Houten, I've already gone and looked at one of her earlier films, and was similarly disappointed -- though it could have been the fact the movie, Minoes (aka Undercover Kitty), is only available here in a terribly dubbed version. All I can hope is that I won't ever see her in a worse movie than that, but with Hollywood's track record of late, such hopes are really difficult to hold on to.

You may have noted my mention of a playwright named Beau Willimon last week. If not, it was in a post about a remake of the British miniseries The Jury, which Finding Neverland's Marc Forster will direct. I pointed out that Forster actually handpicked Willimon to be the screenwriter of that project after reading the guy's play Farragut North. The political drama is set to open on Broadway early next year with Jake Gyllenhaal starring and Mike Nichols directing, and I figured that eventually there'd be a movie in the works, possibly with that prestigious duo re-teamed for the big screen version. But no, it seems Gyllenhaal and Nichols just aren't good enough for Warner Bros., who owns the film rights. Instead they've cast some guy named Leonardo DiCaprio for the lead and are hoping to sign on some old television has-been named George Clooney to direct.

According to Variety, the project is also being produced by DiCaprio's company, Appian Way (The Aviator), and Clooney's company (with Grant Heslov), Smoke House (Leatherheads); both companies apparently teamed up after reading the script (were they at the same party as Forster?) and then together brought the thing to Warners. In the film, DiCaprio will play a young idealist working on a presidential campaign who ultimately ends up resorting to bad tactics like backstabbing and trickery. Basically, it sounds like the sad story of the common politico who still thinks there's room for Mr. Smith's out there, only to wake up and discover the real world of Washington. But as much as it sounds familiar, or obvious, or otherwise trite, it seems the play is somewhat autobiographical, as Willimon based it on his experience working on Howard Dean's 2004 campaign. Certainly the film would be a great timely release for 2008, but right now the film, which Willimon is adapting himself, doesn't have a clear start date. Hopefully Warners can grab DiCaprio as soon as he's done with Ridley Scott's Body of Lies and Clooney as soon as he's done with the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading for a just-in-time Fall opening.

It's a fact I can attest to -- when she walked into the roundtable room for Black Book, every guy shut up immediately, which is pretty rare. But anyway ... some Dutch movie website is reporting that van Houten has cemented her latest leading role in an A-list project, landing the female lead in the crime drama Body of Lies, starring Leo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. (An early pic of the film, which is shooting right now, appeared over at Hollywood-Elsewhere on Friday.) For all I know, this movie website could be the Dutch version of Star Magazine, but JoBlo got someone to translate it and they seem to think it's legit. Either way, I'm starting to wonder -- does van Houten have a publicist? Her last starring role, as poet Ingrid Jonker in the film Smoke and Ochre, was first reported in Time Out, of all places, and now this.

It was also recently reported that van Houten's march to the top will bypass the Bond franchise -- Paul Haggis came out and admitted there was no part for the actress in the upcoming installment. I can't imagine what he's thinking, but then again, I muttered the same thing to myself the whole time I was watching Crash. Perhaps van Houten simply felt Bond was beneath her at this point -- she's already landed a leading lady role in Valkyrie for next year, and now she'll apparently be sidling up to Leo as well. Why would she need the stigma of being a Bond girl? As far as I'm concerned, she's the new Garbo -- the best new star to be found in the last ten years, at least.

If you're a movie producer or production company worried about the eventual success of your movie (and really, who isn't?), you can be pretty sure that if you cast Leonardo DiCaprio in your film, you're probably going to be ok. However, if you feel you need a little extra insurance for some reason, you might want to try and snag another superstar to add to your roster. It would appear the producers of the upcoming Body of Lies are doing just that.

How, you may wonder? Well, according to Variety, they not only have DiCaprio starring in their film, Ridley Scott directing a script by The Departed scribe William Monahan (featuring an in-progress polish by Steve Zaillian) but now they've formally enlisted Russell Crowe to co-star with DiCaprio as well (which Erik Davis first mentioned as a possibility yesterday when the film was being called Penetration). Crowe, who's work with Scott stretches back to their first teaming on Gladiator, has worked with the director several more times on films such as A Good Year, the recently completed American Gangster and the upcoming Nottingham (which I mentioned to you a while back).

Obviously, Crowe likes to work with Scott and I'm confident the producers of Body of Lies couldn't be happier about him coming aboard their film -- except maybe when they have to write that big check. Although, that won't be coming right away, because according to the article, Crowe hasn't quite signed on the dotted line just yet. Instead, he's waiting for that aforementioned Zaillian script polish before committing to the film 100%. Still, with Scott as the director and Monahan and Zaillian being the kind of screenwriters who can deliver in a big way, I'm sure its just a matter of time before the producers of Body of Lies get to part with all that cash.

I'll admit I was surprised as the next person to hear about the possibility of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie that was not being made by Martin Scorsese. Variety has reported that DiCaprio is in talks to star in Body of Lies for Ridley Scott. The film is based on the novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, with a story that focuses on a CIA agent who's sent to Amman to work with Jordan's intelligence force in helping to track down an Al Qaeda leader who is planning an attack against America. The script is being adapted by William Monahan who also worked on The Departed, so it looks like DiCaprio could have at least one familiar face around on the film. Monahan has also worked for Scott before as a writer for Kingdom of Heaven and is working with DiCaprio on an American remake of Confessions of Pain.

DiCaprio is still negotiating his deal for the project, since he has a pretty packed schedule to try to fit this in. We have already had word that DiCaprio was re-uniting with his Titanic co-star Kate Winslet in the Sam Mendes film Revolutionary Road, and talks are still in progress for Scorsese and DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street (among their other project ideas.) Luckily Scott is still scouting locations in the US and in the Middle East, so Leo has some time to figure out his schedule for the next year or so.