Well, we have some good news and some bad news to report during this glorious summer weekend. Which do you want first? Since I always pick the bad news first, we'll go with that: Apparently, Quentin Tarantino is having some trouble getting some of his potential Inglorious Bastards cast members to sign on the dotted line. Not only has David Krumholtz dropped out (and replaced by Samm Levine from Freaks and Geeks, so says AICN), but unfortunately the same has happened with Simon Pegg.

Over on his MySpace page, Pegg has told fans that he will no longer be co-starring in the Tarantino WWII flick, but will instead (and here's the good news) reunite with Nick Frost for a film called Paul (first reported wayyy back in September of 2007). This time, however, Edgar Wright will not be behind the camera, as Pegg said Superbad's Greg Mottola has taken over directing duties. Paul will follow two comic book geeks (Pegg and Frost) on some sort of road trip across America. No word yet on who'll be replacing Pegg in Bastards, though I can name more than a few Brits who'd do a bang-up job.

The full cast for Quentin Tarantino's WWII flick Inglorious Bastards is starting to come together. Not long after Variety announced that Brad Pitt was officially onboard to play a "Tennessee hillbilly who assembles a team of eight Jewish-American soldiers to take on the Nazis," word has come out that Simon Pegg, David Krumholtz and Nastassja Kinski are all in talks to join the picture. The Office's B.J. Novak is already in talks as well, and he and Krumholtz sign on, they'll be playing "Pitt's underlings." Pegg, on the other hand, would be playing a British lieutenant. Kinski, who's being looked at to play a German movie queen (and is actually German -- go figure!), would become one of the only females in this male-dominated cast.

Personally, I'm a fan of all these folks, though I'm still holding out for a few Tarantino regulars to pop up at some point. (I'd also like to offer up Cinematical's Scott Weinberg for a role. He's a good Jew, that kid.) Tim Roth should definitely nab a role before casting is all said and done, though I'm not so sure there's something for Michael Madsen. I've got the script sitting on my desktop (haven't read it yet), so if you've managed to take a peak, who else do you think would fit in here?

David Krumholtz is doing what everybody in comedy should be doing right now: aligning himself with Judd Apatow. Krumholtz has not one but two deals going with uber-producer Apatow, the man who directed The 40 Year-Old Virgin and this summer's Knocked Up (which I just saw and is near perfect.) Krumholtz will write and star in Attorneys at Raw, and will play a slimy record producer in Walk Hard. Attorneys at Raw will be produced by Apatow, and is said to be a comedy about two young attorneys who decide they want to become rappers. As long as Jamie Kennedy or Matthew Lillard doesn't play the other guy, that could be funny. I dig the title. We've given you lots of Walk Hard news lately, it is the mock biopic of fictional singer Dewey Cox, starring John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Kristen Wiig, and David Koechner. That film was written by Apatow and Jake Kasdan and is being directed by Kasdan.

Even if you don't know Krumholtz's name, odds are you know his face. He had a memorable scene singing "Luck Be a Lady" in his tighty-whities in Slums of Beverly Hills, played a great stoner in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and will next appear in Live!, a mockumentary with Eva Mendes. He also stars in the CBS drama Numb3rs, which I h3ar is pr3tty n3at. Krumholtz has worked with Apatow before, on his short-lived television classics Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. I imagine his role in Walk Hard will be a spoof of his role as Milt Shaw in Ray, although I'm not sure anyone will make the connection.

According to Production Weekly, David Krumholtz has found a way to spend his summer break from Numb3rs. Originally slated to be hanging out in Paris with Michelle Williams and Woody Allen, the actor suddenly found himself with a whole lot of free time when Allen dumped that project and headed back to London. Now, though, word comes that Krumholtz has landed on his feet, albeit with a slightly smaller budget: He's going to star opposite Eva Mendes in Live!, an indie thriller from Oscar-winning short-subject documentary director Bill Guttentag.

The movie is a mockmentary that follows Medes' character, an "ambitious president of [television] programing," as she tries to raise ratings with a reality show in which people play Russian Roulette for a "Yay, you're alive!" prize of $5 million. Gee, think someone's seen 13 (Tzameti)?

The movie begins filming in LA later this month.

[via MovieWeb]

Oops. Michelle Williams? David Krumholtz? Cancel those Paris plane tickets, and never mind about that job. Look at this way -- now, instead of counting your money and adding "Starred in a Woody Allen movie" to your list of accomplishments, you can go look for work! Ah, the struggles of life in Hollywood. It turns out, you see, that Allen's mysterious (the people at Variety are hilariously pleased with themselves for uncovering the fact that it was going to be about "Americans in Gaul." Gee, ya think?) Paris project isn't actually, um, happening any more. According to elusive insiders, the budget was getting out of control, so Woody just punted and ran back to London, his new favorite city in all the world.

Now, instead of filming in Paris, Allen is going to shoot a third film in London (Match Point was filmed there, as was the upcoming Scoop) before heading off to Spain next year, where he has already agreed to mount a production. (He's 71, by the way. How is he more active than I am?)

Mmm ... odds and ends:

• Electric Entertainment has signed a distribution deal with MGM which, while it normally wouldn't matter to anyone at all, is worth mentioning because it means that MGM will distribute Flyboys, an oddly under-the-radar, $60 million WWI flick that stars Jean Reno and the prettiest bad actor around, James Franco. Thanks to the deal, the movie should be in theaters this fall.
• Everyone is very excited this morning about the news that David Krumholtz (aka one of the guys in Numb3rs who isn't Rob Morrow) has signed on to appear in Woody Allen's next movie. You remember that one -- it's got Michelle Williams in it, and doesn't have a name or a plot. Rest assured, however, that Krumholtz will be doing whatever it is Allen tells him to do in Paris. This much we know.
• Since they're actually building a cast for it, it's starting to look like third-time lucky for Paramount's Shooter. After it failed to get off the ground the two times they tried before (with Keanu Reeves and then Robert Redford each in line to star - I bet they were never cast in the role before or since), the studio announced it again last month, this time as a collaboration for Mark Wahlberg and Antoine Fuqua. Variety reports today that Kate Mara has joined the cast, playing the love interest of Wahlberg's pissed off ex-sniper; production is due to begin this summer.
• Tyrese Gibson just isn't getting the scripts he wants, apparently. To correct matters, he threw together a spec called To Each his Own and, what do you know, sold it to Screen Gems. Gibson will star in the film (It's about "two friends in conflict" -- could that not be the summary of say, 86% of all the movies ever made?), and also co-produce it through his HQ Pictures.