When news of The Last Station first hit all the way back in 2006, it sounded pretty darned irresistible -- Anthony Hopkins as Leo Tolstoy, Meryl Streep as his wife Sofia, and Paul Giamatti as Tolstoy's supporter, Chertkov. Now, as much as I enjoy a good performance by Hopkins and Streep, I'm happy to say that there's new casting for the film, that's finally heading towards production, and still has Giamatti attached.

Variety reports that Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren have now signed on to star. Anthony is great and all, but he's no Plummer. Based on Jay Parini's novel from 1990, the film will follow the final year of the famous writer's life -- when his wife's extravagant demands clash with his "philosophy of poverty," and he flees to the house of a station-master for some peace as he dies.

So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively. Unofficial casting bites, though, include a lot of other big name actors. Jeffrey Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Colin Powell, Tommy Lee Jones is supposedly being sought for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Duvall has been rumored to be the choice for Vice President Dick Cheney and now both Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones are being named as potentials for the part of Karl Rove (who Giamatti may have already channeled for his character in Shoot 'Em Up).

There's all sorts of re-teaming going on for the upcoming flick Duplicity. First it was re-joining Clive Owen and Julia Roberts, who starred together in Closer. (And I can only hope that her role will be more like that, and less like the more popular, flamboyant Julia roles.) Now Variety reports that Paul Giamatti is getting in on the action. He was, of course, the thorn in Owen's carrot-eating side in Shoot 'Em Up, and worked with Julia a few times, with a teeny role in My Best Friend's Wedding, and voicing one of the characters in The Ant Bully.

Once you get a little taste of liberty, like he has with the HBO miniseries John Adams, some Duplicity is only natural. Giamatti will play "an industrialist engaged in a fierce game of corporate one-upmanship against a rival titan," who will be played by Tom Wilkinson. Owen and Roberts, meanwhile, are "spies-turned-corporate operatives" who are getting in each other's pants. Topped off with the fact that this film is coming from Tony Gilroy, whose pen is behind flicks from The Cutting Edge and Dolores Claiborne to Michael Clayton and the Bourne series, this is an interesting looking drama.

There is no word in the latest piece on the production schedule, but earlier reports had it slated to begin this month. Meanwhile, in another piece, Variety notes that Rick Worthy has also signed on, in an unspecified supporting role.

Here's another entry in the Good Sundance Movies with Rotten Titles category: Pretty Bird. The directorial debut of Paul Schneider (he wrote All the Real Girls and acted in movies like Elizabethtown, The Family Stone and The Assassination of Jesse James), Pretty Bird has nothing to do with birds. The closest the film comes to "birds" is the jet-propelled "rocket belt" that causes all sorts of problems for everyone involved. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Curtis Prentiss (Billy Crudup) is one hell of a schmoozer. He may not have many talents -- heck, he's not even all that smart -- but Curtis does have some very strong social skills -- and he seems like he could easily sell ice cubes to an Eskimo if he had to. Prentiss pops in to visit an old college friend named Kenny (the excellent David Hornsby), who is more than happy to invest in Curtis latest venture: a rocket belt. Kenny throws a whole lot of cash Curtis' way, and then the duo decides that they need an actual engineer to get this project "off the ground" -- and to that end they hire an out-of-work (and hot-tempered) rocket expert named Rick Honeycutt (the hilarious Paul Giamatti).

We see guns and violence everywhere. It's on the television, on the big screen, in the papers, in the books. It's always referenced in discussions about sex -- a nipple here, or a butt-cheek there, sexiness almost always gets leashed while violence frolics with its comfy reign. But every once in a while, someone steps in to do something about it. Usually, it's due to the sensitivity of a recent violent act. (Columbine stopped lots of projects, September 11 kept movie ideas at bay for a while, and so on, and so forth.) This is no exception. Variety has reported that posters for Shoot 'Em Up are now under fire themselves.

The ads have been banned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, due to rising gun crime in the country. The ads in question -- the first shows Paul Giamatti chatting on a cell phone while pointing a gun, and is teamed with the text: "just another family man making a living." Nice. The second has Clive Owen leaping through the air with guns in his hands as Giamatti holds a sniper rifle. (I presume it's the one to the right.) It seems that the ASA got 55 complaints from the public that "the ads glamorized and glorified gun crime." Well, that's obvious. "Many complainants believed that the posters were offensive and insensitive toward families directly affected by gun crime, in particular the family of Rhys Jones, the 11-year-old who was killed in a shooting incident in Liverpool in August."

Now, I just wonder what they think of that racy clip that made its way online earlier this year...

Whether or not you're going to enjoy Fred Claus pretty much boils down to one easy question: Do you like Vince Vaughn? If you find Mr. Vaughn's on-screen fast-talking, swagger-walking good-man-but-bad-boy shtick irritating or tedious, Fred Claus will be as enjoyable as a heaping plate of undercooked salmonella-laced turkey. If you find Mr. Vaughn to be a lively, animated figure who livens up pedestrian material with his mere presence on-screen, you'll find Fred Claus a well-intentioned, family-friendly, big-and-shiny holiday comedy.

And while Fred Claus is hardly a one-person show -- it's got a nice, deep back bench of supporting players that keep things moving along in the right key -- it would be hard to deny that star (and producer) Vaughn is the quarterback of the team. Grafting modern family dynamics psychology onto ancient folklore, Fred Claus opens with the youth of the Claus boys, as young Frederick attends the birth of his new brother Nicolas in an unnamed semi-medieval Euro-style thatched hut home. Nicolas is a lovely baby, and grows to be a kind and gentle child; so kind and gentle, in fact, that Fred can't help but look a little shabby in comparison. We then zoom forward an unspecified number of years, as our narrator explains that the attainment of sainthood freezes you and your whole family in time. Santa is ageless; so is Frederick ...

I'm sure Jerry Seinfeld and the other people involved with his latest film had hoped it would BEE number one (oh God, that joke was a cry for help, please call my parents), but the top spot went to Ridley Scott's American Gangster. Seinfeld and company still can't complain too much about second place as $39 million is hardly chump change. Last week's number one movie Saw IV hung in there as well, shearing the limbs off the competition for the second week. Here are the final numbers:

1. American Gangster: $46.3 million.
2. Bee Movie: $39.1 million.
3. Saw IV: $11 million.
4. Dan in Real Life: $8.1 million.
5. 30 Days of Night: $4 million.
5. The Game Plan: $3.9 million

The holiday box office season is truly upon us with high profile releases and Christmas themed movies hitting theaters. Here's what's coming out on Friday.

Fred Claus
What's It All About: Santa's black sheep brother Fred gets bailed out of prison and comes to the North Pole to help make toys for the Christmas holiday. Vince Vaughn stars as Fred and Paul Giamatti plays Santa.
Why It Might Do Well: The teaser trailer that came out last year with footage that probably isn't even in the movie was hilarious. Vaughn seems to be playing a variation on his characters from Wedding Crashers and Old School, and he was pretty funny in those roles, and I'm dying to see what Giamatti can do as Santa. If nothing else, the sheer number of theaters this one is opening in will put it in the number one spot.
Why It Might Not Do Well: I tend to bristle when Christmas displays start showing up in stores right after Halloween, and I'm probably not the only one. Might it just be too early for Christmas cheer?
Number of Theaters: 3,400
Prediction: $34 million

Lions For Lambs
What's It All About: Tom Cruise plays a Senator on the rise who crosses paths with an idealistic professor played by Robert Redford and a reporter played by Meryl Streep. Redford directs this film, which is the first drama for Cruise in six years.
Why It Might Do Well: A cast this stellar will definitely get people's attention.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Rottentomatoes.com is only giving this a 38% rating, with critics using words like "talky" and "clunky."
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $11 million

Ladies and gents, boys and girls (of at least 18 years of age)... it seems like just 13 days ago we were announcing the winner of a trip for two to India for our Darjeeling Limited contest. And we quite enjoyed it. So here we go again: Welcome to another International Edition of Insert Caption. This time we're sending the writer of our favorite caption for the photo below from the new holiday comedy Fred Claus on a trip for four from New York to Finland, courtesy of our friends at Warner Bros. and the Finnish Tourist Board.

As you probably know, the great country of Finland is home to Nokia, the Savonlinna Opera Festival and Renny Harlin. It's also home to Santa Claus (played in the film by Paul Giamatti; Vince Vaughn is his black-sheep brother) and Santa's Village, where the winner of our trip will get to tour during a six-day, five-night stay. While in all likelihood Paul Giamatti will not be there to greet you, Santa will be, and perhaps you'll even be able to whisper a wish into his ear. So give us the funniest, most clever, jolliest caption you've got. The winner will be announced at the launch of our next contest, Wednesday, November 21 @ 4 PM EST Monday, November 26 @ 6 PM EST. Just bookmark this link and come on back. Good luck!

Read the official rules for this contest

Winners from last week's 28 Weeks Later contest:

1. "Oh my God, the dining room window faces New Jersey!"
-- Matthew B.

2. "Catherine knew she would have a small part in this film, but making sure wall didn't fall over wasn't in her job description." -- Joshua B.

3. "Still struggling in her Mime classes, Jill resorts to practicing on a window." -- Anthony G.

See full image and read all captions

Trumbo, director Peter Askins' new documentary about the life and work of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, began life as a series of letters archived by Dalton Trumbo's son Christopher; it then became a two-person play. On-screen -- where it's become one of the breakout documentary surprises of this year's Toronto International Film Festival -- the story mixes archival footage and interviews with brand-new readings of Trumbo's letters by a cast of true talents -- Paul Giamatti, Joan Allen, Donald Sutherland, Michael Douglas, Josh Lucas, Liam Neeson, Nathan Lane, David Strathairn, Brian Dennehy and Donald Sutherland. Trumbo isn't just a misty look back at a long-past Hollywood -- the issues of free speech it raises are relevant today, as demonstrated at the public screening where an audience member asked if, in light of the actions of Stalin's Russia, the House Un-American Activities Committee was perhaps justified in their attack on 'The Hollywood Ten.' ... Cinematical spoke with Askin in Toronto about the transition between stage and screen, finding his film's impressive cast, his thoughts on the blacklist and much more. You can download the entire interview right here.

I've been told by a couple of people who've read The Nanny Diaries and seen the film that the latter is a pale, scrubbed imitation of the book -- to which I reply, 'when was that ever not the case?' I've never read The Nanny Diaries, but I enjoyed the film for what it was -- a jelly-lensed portrait of the awful egomania that exists in that biosphere known as the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Be warned -- this film rarely takes a step that's not telegraphed 20 minutes in advance, but that doesn't mean that the presentation isn't solid, the direction focused and precise, and the acting serviceable in the case of Scarlett Johansson and more so in the case of her two, older co-stars -- Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti, who reunites with his American Splendor team here. Linney and Giamatti play Mr. and Mrs. X -- the cheeky, pointless anonymity was granted to them in the book -- a couple of Manhattan blue-bloods who hire Johansson's naive student character as a live-in nanny for their young son, ridiculously named 'Grayer.'

Johansson meets Mrs. X in Central Park, when a slip of the tongue causes her to be swamped by dog-walking UES housewives who think they've happened upon the Rolls Royce of nanny applicants, as opposed to someone who 'barely speaks English,' as one mother complains in the film. She's soon moved into the house and is essentially performing the role of surrogate mother for the precocious Grayer while his mother attends to more pressing issues, like her husband's possible infidelity and finding the right Burberry jacket to put on. Directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini handle this opening act of the film with ease, quickly getting us into the fun stuff without going too far in making Johansson's character a poor Cinderella or another far-out character archetype. Instead, she's just a typical college-aged kid who has absolutely no idea where she's going in the world and thinks she can put off the big decisions for a few more months with some easy nanny work. She doesn't realize she's essentially sold herself into indentured servitude.

Well over a year ago I covered a Bloody-Disgusting report that said Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti might be playing Colonel Parker in Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-tep sequel. And then I pretty much forgot about the whole thing. But those non-stop movie freaks over at Rotten Tomatoes recently spoke with the actor during his Shoot 'Em Up press tour -- and he actually had something to say about status of Bubba Nosferatu and the Curse of the She-Vampires.

Well, first Mr. G expresses some affection for Coscarelli's earlier films (you go, Paul!) but then he sort of blames the delays on the most unlikely of people: Is Bruce Campbell the one holding up Bubba 2? Say it ain't so! But here's what Giamatti had to say: "Bruce Campbell was waffling around about whether he wants to play Elvis or not again. So that's the problem ... I'm playing Colonel Parker, which will be great, but you gotta have Elvis and you really want him playing Elvis, so hopefully we can get him to do it. If not, I'm sure they will try and find somebody else but I think it's contingent on whether he'll do it or not. It's a great script, a completely insane script. I would love to do that because I love [Bubba Ho-Tep]. It's a great movie."

The first Bubba flick earned a lot of praise on the genre festival circuit before hitting DVD and becoming an overnight cult favorite. Based on the short story by Joe Lansdale, it's the story of a forgotten old Elvis Presley (Campbell) who teams up with John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) to rid their nursing home of an evil soul-sucking mummy. Very weird, very fun. And if this is true about Mr. Campbell weighing his options, I'd like to offer one piece of advice to the square-jawed cult hero: Bruce, do the flick!

The immensely popular 2002 novel The Nanny Diaries had two writers, so it's only fitting that the movie version has two directors. Husband and wife team, Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, who were Oscar-nominated for writing 2003's American Splendor, have adapted the book, which tells the story of a young woman, played by Scarlett Johansson, who puts off some major life decisions by deciding to take short-term work as a nanny in the rare air of Manhattan's Upper East Side, where housewives carry business cards, children are treated as well-groomed fashion accessories and the husbands are rarely seen. I recently had a chance to speak with Berman and Pulcini about the special challenges of bringing this book to life as a movie -- anyone who's read it knows that it's a very interior, non-cinematic tome that even goes so far as to withhold the names of key characters from the reader. (Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti are credited as Mrs. X and Mr. X in the film) Here's the interview.

RS: Is this a world that you have first-hand experience with, or just a good story that came your way?

SSB: Well, we live in New York City. We live on the West side, we live across Central Park from the Upper East Side, which is really close, but like, you need a passport to get there. It's a whole other universe away. So, in a weird way, we were familiar with the world, because we would walk around and see women dressed in Burberry jackets with little dogs in matching Burberry jackets. We would see the world, but we were outside observers. It wasn't a world that we were intimately included in.

RS: So when you sat down to adapt this popular book, how much freedom did you give yourself to take it in new places, to make it your own?

RP: Luckily, we had a lot of freedom, because there had been other writers on the project before us, and the studio had come to the decision that it wasn't the easiest book to adapt. Even though it was immensely popular, it was very interior. It was very much a catalog of great details and observations, you know. So how do you open that up, cinematically? So I think they kind of welcomed our approach, and I know the writers have seen the movie and they're very happy with what we've done with it.

I cannot remember the last time I was so excited for an action flick as I am for Clive Owen's new gun-crazy movie Shoot 'Em Up, which relies on the premise: "Violence is one of the most fun things to watch." As you might remember from our previous coverage, Owen plays a guy who helps keep Monica Bellucci and her baby safe from the maniacal Paul Giamatti. As Owen describes it in the first trailer: "I'm a British nanny, and I'm dangerous." Now, the film's official website has got a new rated-R trailer for the movie, which you have to enter your name, birth date and zip code to check out. Don't we all hate that part?

It's worth it. Where the first spent a bunch of time on flashy introductions and transitions, this lets the over-the-top and wonderfully unbelievable action speak for itself. Since it's R, we also get to see the action when it hits the bedroom -- and I mean both sexually and with a shower of bullets. Remember that scene in Spider-Man 2 where Peter rolls on the floor with Mary Jane to keep her safe when the cafe is under attack? Imagine that, but with a naked Owen and almost-bare Bellucci upping the ante. This time around, you can also see the many Bugs Bunny references as Owen chews on carrots and gets called a bunny. You wouldn't think someone could make Bugs impressions and carrot-eating look tough, but Clive pulls it off. Luckily, the wait to see it is almost over -- the movie finally hits theaters on September 7.

Let me just start off by saying, I actually really like Vince Vaughn. But for some reason, the airbrushed, "kinder and gentler" Vaughn in the four new posters for the comedy Fred Claus is just creeping me out. The story centers on Vaughn as the no-goodnik brother of the Santa Claus, who tries to mend some familial rifts by helping out with the family business. Paul Giamatti plays the big guy in red, with Vaughn (obviously) as the black sheep in the family. The cast also includes Rachel Weisz, Miranda Richardson, and Kevin Spacey. Claus was directed by The Wedding Crashers', David Dobkin from a script by Dan Fogelman, and this is Dobkin's third film with Vaughn; their working relationship began back in 1998 with the black comedy Clay Pigeons, so they seem to enjoy working with each other.

Claus is set for release on November 9th, sandwiched between a couple of other high-profile family films -- Jerry Seinfield's Bee Movie, and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium starring Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman. Last November, Erik had given us news of the teaser for Claus, and I will admit, it looked like it had the potential to be pretty funny. There were no actual scenes from the film mind you, but the deadpan shtick that Vaughn and Giamatti provided seemed like it might be an antidote to the toothless comedy of most holiday movies. Combined with the solid cast, and Vaughn and Dobkin's track record, I'm thinking maybe this won't be another lame holiday offering. Unfortunately, the elf/ninja joke showcased in one poster also has me thinking otherwise.

According to JoBlo, Paul Giamatti and Emily Mortimer have signed on to star in the indie comedy Pretty Bird for Paul Schneider who, from the looks of it, will make his directorial debut on the film. Up until this point, Schneider has primarily done work as an actor, starring in films like Elizabethtown, Live Free or Die and The Family Stone. Giamatti, who's been dabbling in drama as of late, returns to a quirky comedic role which sort of reminds me of his take on Harvey Pekar in American Splendor. Pretty Bird finds him playing a lovable loser who attempts to invent a rocket belt in hopes that it will make him famous. In order to make it work, he enlists help from some of his friends -- only they succeed, and subsequently begin to turn on one another. Giamatti will produce the film along with his wife Liz.

The always-enjoyable Mortimer will play a girl named Mandy; the Director of Marketing for their rocket belt operation. How does one go about marketing a rocket belt in this day and age? I'm not exactly sure, but I do know that the film will shoot in New Jersey this August -- which means my original question will have to become even more complex: How do you market a rocket belt in New Jersey? Giamatti will next show up on screen as a badass villain in Shoot 'Em Up, opposite Clive Owen. Based on the trailer (in which Giamatti looked absolutely nuts), I'd say it will be one of his more fascinating roles. He'll also appear next to Vince Vaughn in Fred Claus later this winter. Mortimer, on the other hand, can next be seen playing a (real-life doll?) in the upcoming Lars and the Real Girl.