Is there anyone out there who doesn't, in some way, love Rudy? The 1993 football film was a feel-good tale of a kid with the pressure of life on his shoulders, whose dream of playing football trumped his athletic skills, struggling grades, and the fact that he was much smaller than the other players. It was also Sean Astin during his early-90s film collection -- a Sgt in Memphis Belle, fiesty Billy Tepper in Toy Soldiers, and harborer of an Encino Man. Le sigh... Anyway, Rudy director David Anspaugh is dipping into the sports once again, with the sport that brought him lots of cred when he helmed Hoosiers.

Variety reports that Screen Gems has tapped him to direct the Charles Murray and Chris Parker-penned Phenom, the basketball movie I briefly mentioned in March when Stomp the Yard actor Chris Brown sign on to star. (The young actor had been trying to get Antoine Fuqua to direct the film, but who can argue with this choice?!) The film focuses on Brown, "a standout high school basketball player who goes pro after the media discovers he's the illegitimate son of the NBA's best player. Father and son are on a collision course as their teams meet on the road to the playoffs." It sounds like it could be a comedy, but this, like Rudy, is a listed as a drama. The production also stars Henry Simmons (Dad?)and Vanessa Williams (Mom?), and will cook up next year after Brown finishes his current concert tour. Are you ready to see Anspaugh's world of sports again?

Having ranted my fingers off under a coffee high over some Jessica Simpson/Grease casting rumors, I'm going to try and calm down with some less-incendiary casting nibbles from Variety:

• Ugly Betty co-star Vanessa Williams has signed on for a role in Paramount Pictures' NowhereLand. Unfortunately, there's no word on who she will play, although IMDb says her character is called Lori Struthers, but that doesn't help too much. The film, which has Eddie Murphy dipping into his daughter's fantasy world to fix his work issues, already has Nicole Ari Parker signed on for his estranged wife. The flick is currently filming, so we'll probably hear lots more about it soon enough.
• He's been Spawn. He voiced Doomsday in one Justice League series, and the Green Lantern in another. He's currently taking a stab as Gamble in The Dark Night, and now Michael Jai White has also signed on to star in an indie action movie called Blood and Bone. While it's got a 2007 date over at IMDb, Variety says that it has just started lensing in LA. I guess he's already finished shooting his part of the latest Batman then. Whatever the case, he might just be an example how how you can do hero projects over and over without having to stick to just one.
• Finally, there's a new role on the way for Jordi Vilasuso, who you might have caught in his stint as Tony Santos on The Guiding Light, or Eddie Zarouvian in Fashion House. Now the actor has signed on to play Diablo in La Linea. That's the picture I told you about in September that already has guys like Danny Trejo, Joe Morton, and Ray Liotta. Centering on assassins, drug cartels, and Tijuana, Vilasuso's character is a "homosexual drug lord." That's gotta be tough with all the testosterone surrounding this pic.

So this weekend I went to my parents' house and decided to watch the SAG awards with my 2-year-old son, Harrison, my stepdad, Bruce and my Mom. A little background: My son has been sick all week and now I am sick and all I wanted to do was go to bed and ask my mom to put Harrison to sleep for me. However, I came to watch the SAG awards, and watch the SAG awards I did. But I'm not that excited about it, especially after last week's Golden Globes. I couldn't help but wonder why this was so important to me. I mean -- yes, fashion is my life -- but why is it that I don't even care who wins any of these awards? I just want to see what they are wearing.

Not to mention I spent all weekend isolated in Orange County with my parents and my little boy just sick and in a bubble. I forgot all about the competitive world of clothes while losing myself in family and Disney movies. All that said ... this is what I have to say about the SAG awards ... WOW! How much fun was it to watch these women in their dresses? I was hard pressed to find a least favorite. But I am committed to popping a judgmental eye into my head like a dirty old microscope and seeing what I can dig up. So don't fret my fellow droogies, I will throw someone under the bus before my jjjittery cold-medicine-filled fingers stop typing, and hopefully will give a few of you (or at the very least PRsucks) something else to be pissed off about.