With the wacky sounds of a Very Merry Unbirthday, I will always believe that the wonderful Ed Wynn is the Mad Hatter. Oh, how I love that insane, toy-making tea party man. But I guess if I had to deal with someone else taking on the role, there's probably not much better than Alan Cumming. (He's practically channeling Wynn in the picture to the right.) The Hollywood Reporter has posted that the zany actor is producing a new flick called Hatter, along with the film's writer James Killough and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels executive producer Angad Paul. Not only that, but he's re-teaming with X2 co-star Rebecca Romijn to do it.

The pic is said to be based on the Mad Tea Party scene from Alice in Wonderland, although I'm not quite sure how that is. In such a strange casting move (she said tongue-in-cheek), Cumming is going to play Matt Hatter -- "a hedonistic fashion designer," while the ex-Stamos will be his adversary, Alice Allyson -- "a journalist who knows about his shady past." So far, it sounds like all they took from the scene are spoofs on the names, unless they're going to throw in some sort of bizarre tea party into the middle, or perhaps an unbirthday.

This is also looking to be a new running theme for Cumming -- taking on classic characters/people. He's got his stint as Glitch in the television miniseries Tin Man, and just voiced Hitler in the upcoming Jackboots on Whitehall. But that's all we have for you right now on this weird Wonderland redo; however, we should have more information soon, as the production is set to film in the spring of 2008. On top of all this, Cumming will receive the Golden Apple Award at this year's Big Apple Film Festival during the opening night screening of his film, Suffering Man's Charity, on November 14 at Tribeca Cinemas in NYC.

A few casting tidbits from Wednesday:

• For his follow-up to last year's Brick, director Rian Johnson has nabbed Oscar winner Rachel Weisz to star in The Brothers Bloom, with production scheduled to begin in February. Story surrounds a pair of veteran con men who decide to take on one last job (wow, a surprise twist for a con flick, huh?) by swindling a mysterious millionaire (Weisz) out of some loot. Last we heard from Johnson, he described the film's general style as "[owing] more to the earlier part of the [20th] century than the later." With Weisz onboard, we expect the two con men roles to be cast in the coming days.
• Rebecca Romijn and Keith Carradine have joined the cast of Lake City, a project that recently brought on Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity and singer Dave Matthews. In the pic, Garity plays a man who reunites with his estranged mother (Spacek) when "deadly circumstances threaten their home." (Are we looking at high mortgage payments here or what?) Romijn will play a cop romantically involved with Garity, while Carradine was lucky enough to nab the part of gas station attendant.
• Scott Speedman is set to play Liv Tyler's boo in Strangers, an upcoming suspense thriller to be directed by Bryan Bertino. Tyler and Speedman will play a couple forced to fight for their lives when three masked strangers (one of which will be played by model Gemma Ward) break into their remote house in an attempt to prove that even hottie models have a dark, sadistic side. (What? No one mentioned the name Naomi Campbell.)

In today's X-update we hear from Rebecca Romijn, who returns to the X-franchise as Mystique. Rebecca recently chatted with Sci Fi Wire regarding her optimism for the third flick, and the merits of Ratner as a director. According to her, Ratner brings a completely different style to the table (nothing unexpected there), bringing a much higher level of energy to the production."Bryan sort of quietly orchestrates how the scenes work, and Brett is very exuberant and over-the-top." She adds that she is looking forward to seeing the film put together for the first time just like the average American moviegoer – because of the large amount of computer generated effects and the like being inserted into the film after shooting, Rebecca says she has no solid idea of what the final product will look like. As for her own parts, she says that her role in the third film is roughly the same size as her roles in the previous two, accurately noting that with a primary cast in the double digits, it is tough for anyone to grab large amounts of screen time.

I'm eager (although in a somewhat hesitant and negative sense) to see what Ratner does with the film. I enjoyed the first two as fun popcorn flicks, but like most fans I have some serious reservations for the third installment in the franchise. I guess we'll find out on May 26, neh?

Probably the best part of this quickie interview IESB did with Rebecca Romijn was when Robert Sanchez asks her about the difference between Brett Ratner and Bryan Singer. She immediately does this thing with her face like, "Okay, how do I make this guy look good right now?" Finally, she divulges that the two are very different. Ratner, according to her, has a "tremendous amount of energy" combined with a ton of enthusiasm, while Singer is quiet and more detail oriented. Not sure if that's a good thing, but I'm going to officially declare a tie in Round 1 of Ratner vs Singer.

As far as her role as Mystique goes, she wrapped shooting about two months ago and wouldn't quite say that this script was the best of the three, but did note that there definitely was a lot going on in it. Gee, ya think? With over seven thousand characters, I figured it would be fairly quiet and tame. Remaining quiet on plot details, she also let out that Mystique would face some heartbreak in the film, but that it doesn't necessarily have to do with love. Regarding her presence in a 4th X-Men, Romijn stated that she only signed on for three and that this one was it...for now. Last but definitely least, when asked whether she will be involved in the upcoming Punisher sequel, she didn't think so. What a shame.