• Laz Alonso, who played Zeke in Stomp the Yard, has picked up yet another big-buzz role. He's already got gigs in projects like Miracle at St. Anna and Avatar. Now he's also nabbed a lead gig in the upcoming, fourth installment of The Fast and the Furious. In this sequel, Brian (Paul Walker) gets a place on a druglord's racing team to catch the guy in the act. Alonso is going to play "an intimidating street racer" named Fenix who works for the druglord. I'm more interested in the other roles, but this should give Laz some solid mainstream recognition.
• Meanwhile, Bree Turner, who has been picking up background roles for ten years now (starting off with little bits in films like My Best Friend's Wedding and The Spy Who Shagged Me), has picked up another romcom role. She's going to appear in the upcoming Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler film The Ugly Truth -- this is that comedy where Heigl listens to her chauvinistic co-worker Butler, and takes on his tests to try and find love. I keep wishing this project would fade away, but no such luck.

Before I even start, I just want to say that at no point am I going to take any cheap shots at Michelle Rodriguez about her driving habits -- and believe me, it isn't easy. Instead, lets just focus on what she does best, playing bad a** chicks. Coming Soon.net reports (via Rodriguez's web site) that she will be returning for the latest installment of The Fast and The Furious franchise.

For those of you out there who don't know your cheesy car flicks, Rodriguez starred in the first film back in 2001as Letty, the girlfriend to street racer Vin Diesel. Like most of the original cast, she was nowhere to be seen in the later sequels. But this time around, it looks like director Justin Lin is going back to the beginning and reuniting Diesel, Paul Walker, and Rodriguez.

The story will focus on Brian (Walker) and Dominic (Diesel) teaming up to stop a drug kingpin known as Braga. So where do the cars come in, you might ask? I mean, this is a Fast and Furious movie after all. Well, our two heroes vie for a spot on the criminal's team, in a snazzy Nissan, with a plan to catch the man red-handed. (Just a couple of weeks ago, we got our first look at Diesel and Walker on set.) Rodriguez is also still doing some post-production work on James Cameron's Avatar, so I would guess that it won't take long to wrap up her part as Letty before she heads back to finish up the sci-fi blockbuster. The Fast and the Furious 4 is scheduled for release summer, 2009.