Proof may have failed to wow audiences, but it looks like math is coming back to the big screen, mixed with science, adventure, and intrigue. No, I'm not talking about 21, but rather a new adaptation that's on the way. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Lionsgate films have picked up the film rights to Stuart Gibbs' debut novel, The Last Equation.

It's all based on "the mystery surrounding Pandora, Albert Einstein's last equation. It had the potential to solve the world's energy problems, but it so drastically simplified the process of harnessing atomic energy that it essentially made it possible for anyone to create atomic weaponry. Because of the risks, Einstein either hid or destroyed the equation before his death." Zoom forward to the present day. The government gets the help of a fugitive criminal (Snake Plissken!) and a math genius (John Nash!) to find the equation ... dum, dum, dum ... before it falls in the wrong hands. What is it about bad guys that makes them the only savior when potentially terrible things happen?

Lionsgate's Mike Paseornek says: "Stuart Gibbs has written a novel that has everything you need for a first-rate action-thriller, starting with an ingenious premise about a mathematical formula that could either save the world or destroy it." It could be good, it could be bad. All I know is that I'd like at least a little camp to it. The world needs a new, great good bad guy.

The life of Albert Einstein has been pretty hot cinematically, at least as far as potential productions go. Whether they'll all hit the big screen, that remains to be seen. First up, there was a project that had Danny Glover and Ben Kingsley tackling Al's story. Then there's the production Giovanni Ribisi mentioned during a junket, that he was set to star in. (He jumped the gun just a bit, and Vincenzo Amato is starring in that film from Italian director Liliana Cavani.) After that came word that Walter Isaacson's book, Einstein: His Life and Universe, would be getting feature treatment. But there's also a Brit television movie and now, one more to add to the mix.

Variety reports that Hero Pictures International has picked up the rights to Roger Highfield and Paul Carter's The Private Lives of Albert Einstein, which will be adapted by Oscar-winner Ron Bass (Rain Man). Published back in the '90s, the account traces the famous icon's personal life, fame, and death, showing some of the less-flattering aspects of Einstein's life -- "an adulterous, egomaniacal, and misogynist side," according to Amazon. Bass, who has also written films like Waiting to Exhale and Mozart and the Whale, says: "It's inspiring to be chosen to tell the story of Albert Einstein. I look forward to delivering my script as soon as possible after the WGA strike concludes." Now, will Giovanni get stab number two at Al? Or, do you have any better ideas?

For those who were confused, irritated or just plain disappointed with the ridiculous Yahoo Serious comedy Young Einstein, you'll be happy to know that everyone's favorite physicist is getting a legitimate early-years biopic soon. According to Variety, Lionsgate has purchased the worldwide life rights to Albert Einstein, which kinda sounds like they now own the guy and could make a clone army (that probably wouldn't be so bad). Lionsgate has also bought the rights to Walter Isaacson's book Einstein: His Life and Universe, which was the first biography to dip into the genius' private archives. Isaacson will also serve as a consultant on the film, which also gained access to Einstein's correspondence and papers, which are currently owned by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The story will focus on Einstein's life from about 20 to 40, at which age he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. The film will apparently show the man as a rebel who challenged existing scientific theories but will also deal with personal and romantic plots.

All I can say is, it's about time. But this is me, a total geek who wears Einstein t-shirts. Of course, this is also me, the guy who is really bad at science and has never really read much on Einstein's actual work. I'm mostly interested in his personality, which is why I'm excited to see him get a decent biopic. As far as I can tell or remember, there hasn't ever been a good Einstein movie -- even if you have a guilty spot for Yahoo Serious, his movie was by no means about the real genius. Aside from Serious, we've seen Walter Matthau play the guy in I.Q. and Michael Emil sorta play him in Insignificance. According to the IMDb, there are at least three Einstein biopics in the works, one of which is probably Lionsgate's. One of them is about the friendship between Einstein and Paul Robeson, played by (last we heard) Ben Kingsley and Danny Glover, respectively, and another is being directed by Liliana Cavani with Vincenzo Amato (The Golden Door) playing the lead (I guess Giovanni Ribisi jumped the gun when he said he was cast in that film). There's also a British TV-movie in the works with Andy Serkis as Einstein.

Actor Giovanni Ribisi chose Tuesday's press junket for the upcoming thriller Perfect Stranger to announce that he has been cast as a young Albert Einstein in an upcoming biopic to be helmed by Italian director Liliana Cavani. "I don't know if I should say, but I will, finally, talk about it," Ribisi said. "Einstein. I'm going to be doing Albert Einstein, with Liliana Cavani, who did the Charlotte Rampling film from the 70s, called The Night Porter. It's great and the script is really great, and I'm really excited about it." Ribisi said the film will begin shooting "in July, I think, and there's another movie called The Stanford Prison Experiment after that." The Einstein biopic will be shot in Italy and in Barcelona and "at Princeton, of course," Ribisi said.

"It's a movie that focuses on his relationship with his first wife, Mileva Maric, and I guess it's from the inception of that relationship to the end of his life," Ribisi said, adding that the role of Mileva had not been cast yet. "It's still sort of at the incipient stage," he noted. When a reporter asked, jokingly, if Ribisi's Einstein would be played as "twisted," Ribisi joked back "Yeah, he's gonna be a weirdo, dude. Einstein The Weirdo. I suggested that, and they were like, 'no, just Einstein.'" No further details on the project emerged, but with the start of filming already apparently approaching, expect more details very soon. Cinematical will keep you posted.

At Cannes supporting Bamako, a film on which he served as executive producer, Danny Glover is also taking the opportunity to talk up other projects in which he's involved, a couple of which will probably get a fair amount of attention in the US. All produced by his Louverture Films, which currently is focusing on "global African experiences and people from the global south," the upcoming films address a wide range of subjects and themes.

Among the higher-profile projects, the first to go into production is likely to be Toussaint, a drama that will be Glover's directorial debut. The movie will tell the story of "18th century Haitian revolution hero Toussaint L'Ouverture," and features a cast that is a virtual who's who of African American Hollywood. According to Glover, names attached to the project include Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Mos Def, though he didn't say who would play the title role. The film will shoot in South Africa ("as a commitment to supporting filmmaking there"), starting either late this year or early in 2007.

In addition, Glover will star in an untitled film about the relationship between Albert Einstein and Paul Robeson. Playing Einstein will be Ben Kingsley; both actors will also be producing the film. According to Glover, the men were not only friends, but also political allies: They "formed part of the campaign in 1948 which tried to persuade U.S. President Harry Truman to make lynching a federal crime," and subsequently were investigated by the FBI. Screenwriters for this project are currently being courted; there's no production timeline as of yet.