Just when you think the cast is gathered, three movies grab even more actors:

• You'd think that the likes of Rupert Everett, Emily Watson and Colin Firth would be enough for the walls of St. Trinian's to hold, but now there are even more names swimming around in the school full of infamous girls. First, we've got Toby Jones, who voiced the infamous house elf, Dobby, in the role of the bursar. Then we've got a collection of other school staff to be played by Anna Chancellor and two Imagine Me & You stars -- Celia Imrie and Lena Headey. Finally, the cast list has been topped off by some students -- model Lily Cole and Gemma Arterton (Or is there an Arteton as Variety lists?). Between this film and Jackboots on Whitehall, it seems all the tasty British actors are getting work!
• After pairing Jared Padalecki and Peter O'Toole in the Thomas Kinkade biopic The Christmas Cottage, Lionsgate has gotten Marcia Gay Harden to sign on as the painter's mother, Maryanne. At the rate of a new cast member every few days, we should have a full cast in no time! This role is a pair of comfy acting shoes for Harden, who won an Oscar for her role in Pollock, and has played a stressed out mom in many a movie. Hopefully Maryanne isn't the high-nerves of her Casa de los Babys character. Then again, no one can pull that attitude off like Harden. Well, except maybe Elizabeth Perkins. Could you imagine them snarking it up together!?
• Finally, remember Katherine Heigl's upcoming eternal bridesmaid movie 27 Dresses? It's about a poor woman who suffers the fate of the bridesmaid 27 times, and then finds insult added to injury when she has to do it again when her sister gets engaged to the man she loves? Well, Malin Akerman, who last played Liane in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, has signed on to play the tow-headed actress' sister. While you probably aren't very familiar with Akerman, you should be soon enough. She's got five movies on the way, two of which have already been completed -- Heavy Petting and The Brothers Solomon.

He might not have gotten an Oscar for his role in Venus (robbery!), but Peter O'Toole is continuing to rack up the roles, so maybe his chances aren't over with quite yet. Or, so I hope! His next films are this summer's Neil Gaiman adaptation Stardust, and a voice role in Ratatouille. Then, he's also got Love and Virtue, an adventure based on the legends of The Song of Roland and Orlando Innamorato, and Fenice, La. Hopefully the 74-year-old actor won't work himself into the ground because now he's in negotiations for another -- The Christmas Cottage.

Last month I shared news that Lionsgate was looking into the film, which would tell the story of painter Thomas Kinkade, by means of one of his pieces of art (The Christmas Cottage). Kinkade began painting to help his mother, who was about to lose the family home, and the film will focus on his transformation as he becomes an artist whose company now boasts billions of dollars of revenue in artwork and products. According to TOMB, O'Toole is in final negotiations to take the role of Glen Weissler, one of the painter's mentors. Production will begin later this month, filming in Vancouver and Whistler, with a plan to release the film next Winter -- of course, just in time for Christmas, and possibly Oscar season if the film is good enough. There's no word yet on who will play Kinkade, but hopefully they'll cast someone who can hold his own against O'Toole.

Nibbles for you:

• In January, Erik reported that Obi Wan's brown cloak from the Star Wars movies was going on the auction block. While bidding didn't explode past the approximately $100,000 starting price, it did make its mark, selling for $104,000 to an anonymous telephone bidder. Did Mr. Lucas slide his own bet in, using the Dark Side to keep others from bidding the price up? Good lord, you could buy an island for that! Personally, I would've grabbed Terry Jones' metal helmet from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That went for what seems like a paltry $19,300 in comparison.
• Sicily has a new funding program for films, budgeted at $9.2 million, that is going to help two premiere foreign filmmakers, and Oscar nominees, make their next features. Michelangelo Antonioni will use his funding to make Aquiloni sull'Etna, translated as North Winds on Mt. Etna, while Wim Wenders will use his share to make Palermo Story. First, props to Antonioni for making a feature at 95, and second, I hope this Wenders film doesn't get swallowed for years like Land of Plenty did.
• When you can't find adaptation inspiration in literature or television, where do you turn? Well, Lionsgate and the Firm think you turn to art. Thomas Kinkade's painting, The Christmas Cottage, will be the source for the feature, and the aim is to release it as Santa rolls around next Winter. The movie, which was written by Prairie Home Companion collaborator Ken LaZebnick, will use the painting to discuss the artists life -- he began painting when his mother was about to lose the family home. I can't blame the studios for wanting a piece of this -- Kinkade's company claims they sold $1.7 billion of his artwork at retail, and $2.4 billion in licensed products. I guess he's not starving.