I'm not sure where that Three Men and a Baby reference came from, but here are the latest casting nibbles from Variety:

• The indie film Timer has just gotten two sexy television faces. Emma Caulfield, everybody's favorite vengeance demon from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Michelle Borth, the young, dysfunctional girlfriend Jaime on Tell Me You Love Me, have both signed on to the film. What it's about -- well, that remains to be seen. Maybe someone who keeps time at track meets? The latest version of Clockwatchers? Time travelers? Take your best guess. In the meantime, Emma also has a comedy coming out this December called Why Am I Doing This? about two best friends (one Asian, one Black) who try to make it in Hollywood. Borth, well, she'll have season two of Love Me coming in the summer, I imagine.
  
• Meanwhile, Ray Prewitt, who played Tim in that Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman pic Where the Heart Is, has signed on to the cast of Brothers. This will re-team him with Portman, who joined the project back in October. To refresh your memory -- the film is about two brothers -- the guy (Tobey Maguire) who gets sent to Afghanistan and has a family with Portman, and the black-sheep brother (Jake Gyllenhaal) who looks after the family while his brother is gone. It's a love triangle, so you can guess what happens after Jakey comes to town to do the right thing. The film is based on Susanne Bier's Danish film.
  

For those of you who have been wanting to see what happens after Leon, aka The Professional, you'll have to keep waiting. While I wouldn't be surprised if one day Luc Besson rethinks things, as he sometimes does, for now he has no plans or interest in a sequel to the film, and Natalie Portman has now joined the team-o-disinterest. She recently spoke to MTV about the possibility, and says: "I would work with Luc Besson again, in a second, but [not on a sequel]." I can't blame her, as it's always risky business to try and match the quality of a well-loved and praised classic. But I'm betting the rationale is different for her follow-up -- that she won't be taking part in any more Star Wars either: "I spent ten years working on these films. It's time to let it continue on its own."

But that's not all the actress said. She also explained: "When something works, you don't touch it. You try to create something new that's positive." That makes sense and all, but for some reason, she only seems to apply that to sequels. As MTV brings up -- she's about to begin filming the remake Brothers, which she joined back in October. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire as brothers -- the latter is the marine husband of Portman, who goes off to war just as his brother, Gyllenhaal, gets released from jail. So Jake's character takes care of his brother's family, and things get sticky.

Perhaps she makes an exception when a remake is based on a foreign film, and is different from the original. She says of the project: "I did [see Brodre], but I'm not going to study it. I think it's a very different movie." Are remakes only okay if they're a lot different than the source? I would think in that case, we're not actually talking about a remake, but about an "inspired by" film. But what about you? Are you equally apprehensive or against both, or do you find yourself favoring one over the other?

I'm probably one of the biggest Doug Liman supporters -- even if I do get crap for loving Mr. & Mrs. Smith -- so I get excited about every new project announced with his name attached. I'm even looking forward to a new Knight Rider TV movie (possibly pilot) I just read about that Liman will helm for NBC. He says that it will have a tone somewhere between The Bourne Identity and Smith, and will featuring a morphing KITT. Even if I didn't like Liman's work, I'd be curious. Liman also called the original Knight Rider "the Shakespeare of our generation." But I hope he was joking.

According to Variety, the director has another movie on the fast-track at Dreamworks that will star Jake Gyllenhaal. The untitled project (being called "Untitled Moon Project"), will be Liman's first attempt at outer-space science fiction, and its plot will focus on a private expedition to the moon to set up a Lunar colony. As much as I can tell, this will also be Gyllenhaal's first time costumed in a space suit, which should bring him back to his glory days as the Bubble Boy.

Liman co-wrote the original script for the project, along with his cousin, writer-director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly). However, it's now being re-written by author Mark Bowden, who wrote the source material for Black Hawk Down and Joe Carnahan's in-development Pablo Escobar movie, Killing Pablo. Liman, Alli Shearmur and Simon Kinberg will produce the film, which will presumably begin shooting as soon as Gyllenhaal is done with Brothers.

When you have Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire starring opposite one another in a movie together, you know there needs to be a woman who can handle two of Hollywood's hottest actors (one of which is Spider-Man, might I add). And Variety tells us that Natalie Portman has been chosen to be that woman. The three beauties will be starring in Brothers, to be directed by Jim Sheridan, based on Susanne Bier's 2004 Danish-language film. If that triple threat billing doesn't get asses into seats, I don't know what will. David Benioff wrote the screenplay (for the remake), while Ryan Kavanaugh, Michael De Luca and Joni Sighvatsson will produce. Shooting will begin early next month.

The film revolves around two brothers; while one (Maguire) is sent to fight in Afghanistan, the other (Gyllenhaal) -- who's being pegged as "the black-sheep brother" -- is left home to care for his brother's wife (Portman) and child. Unfortunately, as messed up as he may or may not be, when your brother looks like Jake Gyllenhaal, I wouldn't expect things at home to remain kosher ... if you know what I mean. They're describing this one as a love triangle, so I'm sure things will heat up between Portman and Gyllenhaal while the girl's poor husband is off searching caves on the other side of the world. This seems like it's going to be one of those films that just hurts when you watch it. Not only is the wife screwing around, but she's doing it with your oddball brother? Ugh. I imagine I'll want to throw something at the screen about halfway through. Currently there's no release date set, but I imagine we'll see this arrive in theaters next fall.

There was a time when Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire were rivals, so to speak, both hot names attached to the web of Spider-Man. Whenever it seemed like Tobey would leave, Jake's name would slide into the buzz. While we will probably never get to see what Jake would be like as a spider, which is unfortunate, both actors are now looking to be Brothers. Variety has reported that Relativity Media is remaking Susanne Bier's Danish war drama, and the actors are both in negotiations to star.

The original, which starred Connie Nielson, Ulrich Thomsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, came out in 2004 and centered on a man who is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission, and his black-sheep brother who becomes the caretaker for his brother's wife and child. If the negotiations work out, Maguire will play the military brother, and Gyllenhaal will be the one who takes over the familial duties. The original won a number of accolades including a number of audience awards from festivals like Boston, Creteil, and Sundance. David Benioff (Troy and Wolverine) is adapting the film, and the plan is to begin shooting it in the beginning of November. While foreign remakes are so darned overdone, it'll be interesting to see Maguire and Gyllenhaal play off each other. Are you ready for a little Jake and Tobey?

In case you haven't noticed, I can get pretty vocal about my skepticism. One thing I often complain about is the immigration of talented foreign filmmakers, who come over and make disappointing English-language debuts. I won't name names this time around, but you know it is common. Now, the great Dane Susanne Bier announced her own debut long ago, and the film, Things We Lost in the Fire, is actually due next month and it could actually be decent (even with Halle Berry). Then there's her English-language screenplay debut (co-written with Jeffrey Hatcher), The Duchess, which is being directed by Saul Dibb and which stars Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. That will probably be pretty good, too. But her newly announced second film in English, well, that could be awful.

According to Variety, Bier has signed to helm Lost for Words, a romantic comedy or something about a movie star who falls in love with a Chinese actress and her female translator. I'm not sure if its a love triangle thing or a threesome thing or what, but it was scripted by Jamie Curtis, who co-wrote Spice World, so it is sure to be hokey. Now, I make no secret of the fact that I love Spice World. Doesn't matter, I still think this is going to be bad, if only because of my skeptical prejudice. The movie has some more British talent involved, too; it will be produced by Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis, along with Mr. Bean's Holiday (and Hot Fuzz) producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

In her native Danish language, Bier last gave us After the Wedding, which was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year. She's also the director of festival hits Open Hearts (aka Dogme #28) and Brothers, both of which are being remade into English. Zach Braff (Garden State) is tackling the former while Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father) is helming the latter. We'll just have to wait and see what translates better, her films or her filmmaking skills.

Considering that Jim Sheridan has made some great films over the years, it's a relief that the last film we'll get from the Irish director won't be Get Rich or Die Trying. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Sheridan is in talks to direct a remake of the Danish wartime drama Brothers for Relativity Media. The original film was released in 2004 and starred Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Connie Nielsen. The story focused on two brothers whose close relationship is tested when the younger brother goes off to war in Afghanistan.

Writer David Benioff has been chosen to pen the remake and will work off the original script from the film's writer/director Susanne Bier. Plus, a serious family drama might be a nice counterpoint to the Wolverine flick that he has been working on. Benioff has done some good adaptation work in the past with 25th Hour, which bodes well for the project. Sheridan is probably best known for his films with Daniel Day Lewis and the partnership seemed to work well for both. Day-Lewis won an Oscar for My Left Foot, and Sheridan was twice nominated for In The Name of The Father and Left Foot. Word is that having Sheridan's name attached to the project will help land a few A-list stars for the film in the coming weeks. So while she might not be A-list, since Nielsen's stint on Law and Order: SVU looks to be wrapping up, at least she already knows her lines.

• Doogal - A saccharine, cheap-looking CGI import from Britain about a lazy, cowardly, sugar-addicted pooch (with a mullet cut) who must find a way to save the world from an icy death is not the follow-up to Hoodwinked that Disney escapees Bob and Harvey Weinstein hoped for...or we asked for. At least they've got the swell Over The Hedge in theaters this week. Formerly titled The Magic Roundabout and re-dubbed (Doogal, that is. Not Over The Hedge.)

• Duma - With most arthouse films rated "R", it is always a pleasure when one comes along that culture mavens can take their kids to, and The Black Stallion director Carroll Ballard's latest nature trek -- a visually lovely adventure -- certainly does fit that bill. It is about a 12-year-old South African boy (Alexander Michaletos) who must return his pet cheetah to the wild, encountering and overcoming a number of obstacles along the way, the biggest one being our initial reluctance to accept its premise.