Even though I hated his Miami Vice movie, I still consider myself a fan of Michael Mann's work, and I continue to look forward to whatever he delivers next. And it looks like his next will be something to really, really look forward to. Variety reports that Mann will direct a film noir about a Hollywood murder investigation and that Leonardo DiCaprio is expected to play the detective. The project, which was packaged by CAA, is currently being shopped around to the studios with a script written by John Logan.

The film will take place in the 1930s on the MGM lot and will apparently feature cameos from people like Judy Garland and Bugsy Siegel (people playing them, anyway). The plot will likely follow the detective as he is hired by the studio to clean up a scandal involving a starlet who may or may not have murdered her husband. The only other part of the script that has been revealed is that there will be a major shootout that takes place in the Trocadero nightclub on Sunset Boulevard. Despite the fact that no studio is yet confirmed (New Line has been revealed to have bid, but too low), the film will start shooting in February.

There can never be too many period noirs set in Hollywood, which had a lot of interesting scandals during the golden era, but after the failure of The Black Dahlia some studios may be hesitant to think there's a chance for another L.A. Confidential. Still, with Mann, DiCaprio and Logan teamed up -- they all worked together on The Aviator, which Mann produced -- it will be difficult to lose with this film.

If there was any part of Judy Garland's life that wasn't tumultuous, I've yet to hear about it. Recently, Sidney Luft, the producer Garland was married to from 1952 to 1965, passed away. Luft was credited with not only kicking Garland's career back into high gear, but, according to Garland, occasionally using her as a punching bag. Luft produced three films during his career, including the Garland vehicle A Star is Born. The couple had two children, Lorna and Joey. Lorna also went on to acting, her latest films being My Giant and 54. She would later write about the hardships of growing up with her (in)famous mother, who died when Lorna was sixteen.

Despite the best efforts of preservationists, the Los Angeles Unified School District is going to procede with a plan that will level most of the famed Ambassador Hotel and build an elementary, middle and high school on the land. The Ambassador is a significant footnote in Los Angeles history; a few early Oscar ceremonies were held in its nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove; and the hotel played guest in its day to everyone from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Albert Einstein. Most infamously, the hotel's pantry was the site of the 1968 assasination of Robert Kennedy, an event which, as we reported last week, will soon be dramatized by Emilio Estevez.

Interestingly, the Los Angeles Conservatory has struck a deal with the LAUSD, to keep all of that history-stained architecture from getting thrown out for the handball courts and standardized tests.  The pantry will be removed from the site for preservation elsewhere, and the Grove – the site of oodlees of rumored Hollywood debauchery, as well as the recording of one of Judy Garland's comeback records – will be restored and re-incorporated into the new building as a school auditorium. Sounds like exactly the right venue for fire drills and safety assemblies.