What do Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and David Cronenberg have in common? The first two are considered the founding fathers of psychoanalysis; the latter will be making a film about them. According to ScreenDaily.com, Cronenberg's next project "will be an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play The Talking Cure, re-teaming him with Crash producer Jeremy Thomas."

Hampton's play, which premiered in December 2002, is set in the early 20th Century and centers on Jung, portrayed on the London stage by Ralph Fiennes. A review by Lizzie Loveridge at CurtainUp says that Hampton "looks at the issues which initially united these two pioneering psychiatrists and that which eventually divided them and took them off into other areas of investigation." The narrative then plunges into the relationship between Jung and an 18-year-old Russian woman who was his first patient. The CurtainUp reviewer felt that the 2 hour and 25 minute play "tells us more about Jung's affairs than his ideas."

Cronenberg always seems to be shuffling priorities on his projects, dependent on financing and other factors that are probably out of his control, but the combination of Cronenberg and psychoanalysis sounds potent, a great match of filmmaker and subject, and probably a welcome change of pace for the director after A History of Violence and Eastern Promises. Producer Jeremy Thomas has an excellent track record; in addition to Crash, he and Cronenberg worked together on Naked Lunch. No word on casting yet, but Fiennes previously gave an excellent performance in Cronenberg's Spider, so I imagine he would be first in line to recreate Jung on the big screen.

One of the great things about an art history education is that it can lend to the appreciation of bad movies. Take, for instance, the "Terracotta Army", which I happened to learn about in an introduction to art history class. The ancient statues are featured prominently in the second Mummy sequel, titled The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. And since my class made me interested in the statues -- figures of warriors and horses that were buried near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in the Shaanxi province of China -- I am actually somewhat interested in seeing this movie, even though I'm neither a fan of the first two Mummy movies nor of director Rob Cohen, who took over the franchise from Stephen Sommers. Whether or not you too are familiar with the statues, you can see the ones reproduced for the movie in a great looking photo over at Cohen's blog (yes, he's blogging the production). Of course, if you are a cynic like myself, you will dismiss the coolness of the pic and continue your skepticism until the movie is released (and you'll probably not see it). But if you are also an artsy fartsy dork like myself, you might curiously attempt to at least see the movie for free when it arrives in theaters, if nothing else than to see how the art is presented on screen.

In other Mummy 3 news, Maria Bello, who has replaced actress Rachel Weisz as the character of Evelyn, spoke with SCI FI Wire recently about the role. She told them the character is the same person but she's now portrayed differently, as a "bad-ass action chick". For this, Bello had to train in the martial art of wushu, as well as in kickboxing, sword fighting and rifle shooting. Also, while rehearsing for the movie, she got a black eye from the butt of a Winchester. Those of you who thought she was sexy all beat up in that staircase scene in A History of Violence (I know you're out there) may hope she gains some more sightly bruises -- real or applied with makeup -- for the actual filming. As for me, I preferred Bello in the more-innocent cheerleader scene, so I'd rather its only the bad guys who get the bruises -- though as I said, I'll mostly just be looking at the reproduced art work. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will be in theaters August 1, 2008.

• Capote - Truman Capote spent five years researching In Cold Blood - the book that would be his last - and sophomore director Bennett Miller's film is a telling and rather literate fly-on-the-wall dramatization of that time. The biggest appeal is Philip Seymour Hoffman's bravura Oscar-winning performance as the eccentric author, which he takes beyond mere affectation and into full-on obsession as Capote's research into the 1959 murders of a Kansas family consumes him in every way. It is nice to see professional seether Catherine Keener in another nice-gal role, here as Capote friend and soon-to-be To Kill A Mockingbird scribe (Nell) Harper Lee. Miller and writer Dan Futterman (adapting Gerald Clarke's book) do not quite commit to a direction for the story, and humanizing killer Perry Smith (a dependable Clifton Collins Jr.) is time unwisely spent, though Hoffman, who also produced, sees that we remember the film for other reasons.

Dustin Hoffman cruises up to present the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, looking cool. He hasn't changed at all. He must have gotten into Dick Clark's secret youth potion. He gives some props to the losers, which probably doesn't really help make them feel better. But thanks anyhow. If Brokeback wins this it probably won't win Best Picture. The nominees are:

Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
Dan Futterman, Capote
Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener
Josh Olson, A History of Violence
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Munich

Let's see who the winner is...

Yup, it's Brokeback Mountain. This is the second minor award for Brokeback Mountain. Annie Proulx is there, but the stupid cameraman pans to Ang Lee instead of her. Okay, so either Brokeback is going to pull a Return of the King and sweep everything -- or it's gonna get shut out on Best Picture and Best Director.  If Crash wins Best Original Screenplay it could still be a toss-up. Munich is getting totally shut out so far - not a good night for Spielberg.

Novelist Dennis Lehane, whose Hollywood career once seemed to have begun and ended with the successful adaptation of his Mystic River, has seen his star rise rather dramatically over the past few months. It's already been announced that Ben Affleck's directorial debut, Gone, Baby, Gone, is based on a Lehane novel (from Clint Eastwood to Affleck - I'm sure he's so proud), and now comes the news that Oscar-nominated A History of Violence scribe Josh Olson has written and will direct Until Gwen, a film based on a short story by Lehane. The story, which Olsen describes as "one of the best...I've ever read," is "a dark crime drama that explores a relationship between a father who is a con man and a son who has been raised on the edges of society." Among other things, the story deals with the issue of identity, which is one of the reasons for Olsen's interest.

Olsen's screenplay is already finished and has won praise from Lehane; the movie is about to star casting and will shoot later this year with a budget of less than $10 million.

Recent reports indicate that David Cronenberg will follow up A History of Violence - arguably his most well-received picture to date - by making his first ever film on American turf. The project is called Maps to the Stars, and is being described as "darkly comic drama about Hollywood excess and intrigue." Hold off on that "Boy, that sounds just like..." reaction for a second, though, because Cronenberg is way ahead of you: "It is not," he says, "a satire like The Player." Just so you know.

Since Cronenberg has actually never worked in Hollywood before, he'll be relying heavily on the film's screenplay (by Bruce Wagner, who wrote Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills and I'm Losing You, which Cronenberg executive produced) for "a genuine look at Hollywood culture." Despite taking aim at an incredibly easy target, the director insists that he "won't fall back on some cliches or simplistic sloganeering, because the culture and what it reveals about Western culture and the rest of the world is very complex." Jeez, alright already. The man is clarifying so much before he even gets started that even he's sounding a little worried.

Cronenberg will steel himself for the border crossing and start shooting in LA in the fall.

After six ballots, the 55 film writers who make up with National Society of Film Critics chose Capote as the best film of 2005. In the second spot was A History of Violence, followed by a film that has received little notice this awards season, Wong Kar-Wai's 2046. Capote star Philip Seymour Hoffman also received top honors for his work as Truman Capote, just beating out The Squid and the Whale star Jeff Daniels for the honor. The gay cowboy, er, sheepherder, himself, Heath Ledger, finished third.

Refreshingly, apart from that whole Capote thing, this group of critics didn't really follow the 2005 awards trends, and ended up giving their prizes to a fairly diverse group of people and films. Other major winners were David Cronenberg, who took home the best director award (for A History of Violence), and Reese Witherspoon, who was named best actress for Walk the Line. Additionally, the rarely-mentioned pair of Ed Harris (A History of Violence) and Amy Adams (Junebug), won the supporting awards, while Noah Baumbach picked up yet another screenwriting nod for the hilarious, acerbic The Squid and the Whale.