Here's a few casting nibblets from Variety for your weekend:

First up, there's the wonderful Hugo Weaving. I could watch that man in just about anything -- whether he's Elrond, purring through wordplay with V, making the name Smith sound cool, or having cross-dressing adventures in the desert. Now he's grabbed a part in Glendyn Ivin's The Last Ride. Set in Australia, the film follows an "emotional road trip seen through the eyes of a young boy accompanying his father on the lam." Yeah ... sounds like Priscilla without the divine wardrobe, but with Weaving, I don't mind. Production begins this summer.

Meanwhile, moving across the globe and way, way up, we've got Tia Carrere in Winterpeg, er, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She's signed on to Dana Lustig's Wild Cherry -- the flick I told you about last month. It's about a girl who is ready to give up her virginity to her football-playing boyfriend, only to find out that he's just dating her to add her to the team's "bang book." So, she decides to get revenge with other girls in the school. Carrere will play "an exotic high school history teacher who becomes a sexual mentor for her femme students." I wonder what action Tia will guide them to take...

In yet another case of similarly themed battling films, Variety reports that there's a new comedy on the way called Wild Cherry. This is just 11 days after we learned that Overture was going for the Freshly Popped story about a teen girl who is looking for the right guy to take her virginity. Did everyone see Juno and become inspired with thoughts about awkward teens having their first forays into sex?

Whatever the case, Rob Schneider, Tania Raymonde, Kristin Cavallari, Rumer Willis, and Ryan Merriman have signed on for the ensemble comedy, which was written by Chris Charney and will be directed by Dana Lustig. In this story, it's a bit less meat-factory hunting. Schneider is starring as the dad of a high school senior who is looking to give up her virginity to her football-kicker boyfriend. However, she then finds out that he's only dating her for his team's "bang book." Of course, that ends the talk of cherry popping, and she decides to get revenge. Taking a cue from the Greek play Lysistrata, the girl and her friends plan some payback, which I imagine means an all-out sex boycott for all of the "bang book" using jerks of the school.

It sounds like it could be a fun flick, a rarity for Schneider, but I still don't get this current cherry obsession. Regardless, the film heads to Winnipeg on May 7 to begin production.