When you look at Eric Bana's resume in Hollywood, you probably wouldn't expect him to show up in a big, splashy comedy. But, back home in Australia, Bana was known for the funny; he's just never had the chance to show it stateside ... until now. CHUD reports that Bana is in talks with Judd Apatow to star in the Untitled Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler Project. According to CHUD's source, Bana would play boyfriend to Leslie Mann.

Just a few days ago, Eugene brought us our first glimpse of the film's plot. Now we know that the flick will focus on the world of stand-up comedians (and for some reason, all I can think of now is Punchline ... but with stand-ups who are actually funny). The project had been on our radar since March, but beyond the good news that Apatow was actually going to direct this time, there wasn't much to report.

Bana is currently wrapping up work on Star Trek and the romantic weepy, The Time Traveler's Wife, before heading off to his next couple of projects. First up is the animated story, Mary and Max, about the friendship between a young girl and a recluse. Then he'll star alongside Terrence Howard in Factor X, a thriller about the BTK killer. At this point I'm starting to hope these Apatow rumors are true, because it looks like Bana could use a laugh.

The Untitled Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler Project is expected to arrive in theaters (with or without Bana) on July 31, 2009.

And by "Judd Apatow's" I mean "directed by Judd Apatow," not "containing Judd Apatow's name buried somewhere in the credits." We wrote about Untitled Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler project back in March, when all we knew was that Apatow would be collaborating with Sandler on a movie also starring best bud Seth Rogen and wife Leslie Mann (Sandler, of course, is a former roommate). This week, Rogen revealed to MTV that the movie will be a dramedy with him and Sandler playing a pair of stand-up comics, and Sandler confirmed, expressing mock frustration that he's going to have to come up with an act -- something he hasn't done in a decade -- to promote the film next year.

Apatow was a stand-up comic himself in his pre-television days, so I'm sure he has some insight into what I've always thought must be one of the most nerve-wracking jobs imaginable. I think Sandler brings a lot of baggage to the Apatow brand, since Sandler movies have traditionally targeted a very different audience. Next weekend's You Don't Mess with the Zohan, produced and co-written by Apatow, looks like it's being perceived as a "Sandler film." If Apatow wants to bring his fans from The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up back to the theater, his minions are going to have to be very careful marketing the new film. Though, if you can get the Apatow fans and the Sandler fans to show up...

Back in March, Jessica shared a script review for Robert Rodriguez's next film -- not the still-suffering Barbarella, but rather Shorts -- a quirky family adventure movie. Now, finally, we've got the cast in place. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jon Cryer and James Spader have jumped on board, joining William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, Jimmy Bennett, Kat Dennings, Trevor Gagnon, Leo Howard, Devon Gearhart, Jake Short, Jolie Vanier, and Rodriguez's super-cute offspring, Rebel Rodriguez.

The descriptions of the movie on THR and the script review are a little different, but the basic gist of the film is about a magic rock in a suburb where everyone works for the Black Box company. Kids find this rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes, and go a bit nuts with it before the adults get their hands on it and things get even crazier. Bennett plays the protagonist, Toe Jackson, Cryer and Mann play his parents, and Dennings plays his older sister. Spader, meanwhile, plays Mr. Black, and Macy plays "the father of a germphobic genius," which I imagine makes him Dr. Noseworthy. If Robert pulls this off with the same spark that Spy Kids held, this could be one fun flick.

Per usual, Rodriguez is involved in many aspects of the film -- he wrote it, is producing with ex Elizabeth Avellan, and will be director of photography, editor, and visual effects supervisor. According to Variety, production is just gearing up in Austin.

Recently, I watched the old Judd Apatow series Undeclared. It was both a blast from the past and a reminder that Adam Sandler used to be pretty darned popular. He gets knocked a lot these days; but really, he is still around and kicking. However, the big question is: What happens when you team him up with the super-popular Apatow? They're already testing that question with the upcoming Don't Mess with the Zohan, and now Variety reports that the two are teaming up again.

This time, Apatow has written a currently untitled comedy that will star Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann, and will be a co-project between Universal and Sony. While production is set to begin later this year, Judd is keeping the plot under wraps. Argh! That's so annoying.

Since we can't talk about what the movie will be about, other than to muse about what sort of movie would require that trio, what do you think about this Sandler/Apatow pairing? At the very least, it looks like Sandler is now one of Apatow's talent pool.

I don't know why everyone keeps referring to 17 -- the Zac Efron movie in which a 40-year-old guy is suddenly a teen again -- as Big in reverse. Or, as The Hollywood Reporter writes today: "turns the concept of Big on its head." I guess nobody remembers the George Burns-becomes-Charlie Schlatter comedy 18 Again! Either that or it's simply easier to reference Big because it's a million times more well-known. Anyway, there's another movie 17 will make people think of: Back to the Future. Apparently, Efron's character (aka Matthew Perry's character as a teen) becomes the object of a crush -- from his own daughter! Playing the poor girl, who obviously doesn't realize her own Electra complex, is Michelle Trachtenberg. Also joining the cast, which includes Leslie Mann as Efron/Perry's wife and Trachtenberg's mom, is Melora Hardin ("Jan" on TV's The Office) as a high school principal.

So here's what I find strange about the new plot revelation: how is it the daughter doesn't recognize her own father as a young man? Hasn't everyone seen photos of their parents from when they were younger? At least with Back to the Future, in Lea Thompson's defense she hadn't yet birthed Michael J. Fox, and she had no way of ever having seen his face before he traveled back in time and became the object of her desires. In both scenarios, it is pretty gross to think about seriously. According to the main plot synopsis for 17, the reason Efron/Perry enrolls in high school is to be closer to his kids (hey, another movie this reminds me of: Mrs. Doubtfire). I guess he truly gets his wish in a terribly sick sort of way. Production on 17 begins this month.

Friday night I got the opportunity to attend a talk with three of my writing heroes: "The Jack Oakie Celebration of Comedy in Film featuring Judd Apatow, James L. Brooks and Larry Gelbart." James L. Brooks is one of the major reasons I started writing. I saw Terms of Endearment when I was a little kid and sobbed like...that little kid in Terms of Endearment. I have seen Broadcast News fifty times, and consider it perhaps the finest romantic comedy ever written. As Good As It Gets is a modern classic, I loved I'll Do Anything, and even have a soft spot in my heart for Spanglish. Oh, plus The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and the guy has been with The Simpsons from day one! No further questions, your honor.

Brooks' incredible skill of seamlessly blending laughter and heartbreak clearly made a huge influence on Judd Apatow (although from reading all the articles about him, you'd think Apatow invented the practice). Like Brooks, Apatow did a lot of television work (the classics Larry Sanders Show, Freaks and Geeks, and Undeclared), and lately he's written and directed two of the best film comedies of the decade -- The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

Larry Gelbart wrote Tootsie (with Murray Schisgal) -- one of the greatest screenplays ever penned, comedy or otherwise. That script earned him an Oscar nomination, as did Oh God! He earned Emmy nominations for writing, producing, and directing episodes of the classic sitcom M*A*S*H, and his writing career spans more than 50 years.

These three dudes on one stage, plus little cameos from the likes of Garry Shandling, Leslie Mann, and Jonah Hill. It was quite a night. Apatow kicked off the evening by sharing that he had been in that very theater as a boy, to see Steven Spielberg's notorious flop 1941. "I thought this was about comedy," quipped Gelbart.

It really is a testament to the writing talents of Judd Apatow that he could take such a simplistically "sitcommy" concept like "slacker slob unexpectedly impregnates an upwardly-mobile young hottie" and turn it into such a warm, witty and frequently drop-dead hilarious motion picture. Clocking in at well over two glorious hours in length, Knocked Up is yet another brilliant little winner from the man who brought you The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared -- thereby proving that network television's loss is cinema's massive gain.

Seth Rogen, generally known as a scene-stealing "support" performer, delivers a star-making turn as Ben Stone, a pot-smokin' web designer who shares a house with four over-baked buddies. But when a chance encounter with a girl way out of his league turns into a night of drunken sex, Ben discovers that he's about to be a daddy -- and to say that the guy's unprepared for the responsibility would be a stunning example of understatement. As the beautiful Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) grows ever rounder, moodier and more hormonal, Ben turns from a funny-yet-irresponsible pothead into a very funny-yet-slightly more responsible pothead. Meanwhile, Alison's sister and brother-in-law struggle with their own marriage and Ben's buddies struggle with the idea that one of their crew has grown up.