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For a 70+ year-old man, Woody Allen knows how to reinvent himself and keep us on our toes. These last few years, he's really upped the ante as he broke out of New York -- tennis, journalism, brotherly intrigue, and vacation romance. But while he might have gone back to Manhattan and back to his beloved May-December theme with Whatever Works, this is not a slip back into a New York state of mind. Word hit last month that Allen's next project would be an ensemble piece, with Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins leading the cast. And now his next London-based project is getting even better.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Nicole Kidman has signed onto the cast, which also now boasts an international array of drool-worthy actors -- Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto, and Naomi Watts. THR points out that this mixes Spain, India, Britain/Australia, Austrailia, Britain, and USA. While an international cast is notable, I wonder if this is some hint towards the theme of this yet-untitled, plot-under-wraps project.

Then again, Woody likes to keep us guessing, so anything is possible. I just hope it has the same sort of bright whimsy as Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Production kicks into gear this summer, so we should hear more then.

As soon as the name of an old icon enters the wind, it's only a matter of time before another Hollywood group gets a whiff and starts up a competing feature, or mind-melds with an international subconsciousness and starts one up unknowingly. Just last month, word hit that Ernest Hemingway was getting a biopic, and now THR's Risky Biz Blog says another is on the way, and they already have a star in mind.

It appears that Andy Garcia is cooking up a feature called Hemingway & Fuentes that he'll write and direct, and Anthony Hopkins is tentatively attached to star as Papa. Garcia hopes to grab Fuentes, and Annette Bening might sign on to play Mary Welsh, Ernest's final wife. Hilary Hemingway, niece of Ernest, is teaming up with Garcia to write the script, which will revolve around Hemingway and his friend, Gregorio Fuentes, captain of the writer's beloved fishing boat, Pilar. But Fuentes is also a little something more than that -- some rumors say that he's the man who inspired The Old Man and the Sea.

Like the other project, this feature will focus on Papa's later life, but Garcia says it will be an historical drama, rather than a biopic, delving into Hemingway's psyche, his relationship with Fuentes, and his deep love of fishing. I'm happy to see so much attention being paid to the writer, but it's an incredible shame that it's all being focused on his struggles with depression and subsequent suicide. There are a million other stories to be told -- from his writing adventures overseas, stateside, and in Canada, to his crazy collection of wives, the war, how he was raised (which gives a lot of insight into his writing), and his times in places like Key West.

At least it will be interesting to see how Hemingway's male friendships evolve into different features.

It seems like an entire lifetime ago since Josh Brolin popped up in Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda. That's the pre-superstar life, before he dazzled grindhouse audiences with his Dr. William Block, and critical audiences with Llewelyn Moss. But now he's returning to the Allen fold.

Variety reports that Brolin and Anthony Hopkins have signed on to star in Allen's next film. But of course, in this early stage, both the title and the plot are being kept under wraps. (Which may be a smart move considering all the kerfuffle over his Vicky Cristina retitiling.) All we know is that it's an ensemble cast, and will shoot in London this summer.

Since Allen went back to his classic May-December theme for the upcoming Whatever Works, I can't help but wish that he decides to do the same for Brolin and Hopkins. It would be a new way to take Woody's ever-prevalent romantic urge and sass it up a bit. And come on -- Brolin and Hopkins would make for one heck of an interesting couple, or at least one that could really rock some classic Allen wordplay. A modern day Annie Hall!

It won't happen, but we should find out what this new one is all about once production gears up.

I was originally going to start out this post by going off on those studios that habitually change dates on their releases and wait until the last minute to do so. Instead, I'll try to remain positive and emphasize one particular studio that has given us a head's up on the shuffling of their 2009 slate: Universal.

Of utmost priority is director Joe Johnston and star Benicio del Toro's take on The Wolfman, which has been bumped back from this spring to next November (not unlike The Box). Usually, such shuffling might seem like a bad thing, but about six more months to polish what I'm guessing are so very many special effects sounds like a fair enough compromise (which isn't to suggest that Oscar-winning make-up wizard Rick Baker didn't do a fine job the first time around). Also moving back is Ridley Scott's Nottingham, now pushed to a TBD date in 2010.

We've got two portrayals of U.S. Presidents vying for Oscars this year: Josh Brolin as W in W. and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon. I've yet to see either one, though I did see Langella in the Broadway play, which I hear the movie faithfully replicates. On the eve of W.'s release, it seemed like a good time to get a discussion going on Best Screen Presidents, real or fictional. Here's my list, which is surely missing some obvious choices -- but that's part of the fun.

1. President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) - The Contender
For the past couple of elections, pollsters have asked people which of the two presidential candidates they would rather "have a beer with." Inevitably it is pointed out that the person you would rather have a beer with is frequently not the person you would want to run the country. Jeff Bridges's President Jackson Evans, though, wins at life: he's the guy I'd want to have a beer with, and the guy I'd want running the country. Seriously, I would vote for Jackson Evans over either John McCain or Barack Obama. He's charming, and funny, and a bit of a jerk when called for, but he stands up for what's right and gives the best Rod Lurie Speech to date. My favorite movie president -- though for the record, I think The Contender is only pretty good.

Maybe it's because this was my first summer writing for Cinematical, but it's felt like an exceptionally intense movie season: the event movies just kept coming, and many of them wound up having real traction. There was a lot to watch and a lot to talk about. It's barely ended, and in just a couple of weeks, Telluride and Toronto officially kick off the fall -- and "Oscar season". I'll sleep when I'm dead, I guess.

One of awards season's most formidable contenders -- already slated for the familiar December platform release -- is Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, based on the acclaimed West End and Broadway play about journalist David Frost's famous televised interviews of post-resignation Richard Nixon; the ones where Nixon delivered the infamous line about how "if the President does it, it's not illegal." There's a well-crafted trailer for it over here, (trailer link removed at request of studio) and yep: we're in Oscar mode.

I saw the play with Frank Langella as Nixon and Michael Sheen as Frost, both of whom reprise their roles in the film. The show was great but very much a stage show, deriving a lot of its power from the foreboding set and the hugeness of Langella's Nixon impression which, from the looks of the trailer, remains very much intact. It worked great in the theater, but I'm worried it might overwhelm the film. I liked Anthony Hopkins' take on Nixon in the Oliver Stone film, where he basically said to hell with the impersonation and did his own thing.

News broke in May that Anthony Hopkins was heading an all-star adaptation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. But as I mentioned then, this is one of two Lear projects on the way -- the other being a theater version starring Ian McKellen. This was going to be shown in the UK, but according to CNN, it's also hitting stateside on PBS next season.

Here's the kicker -- McKellen stripped down to his birthday suit for the role. Considering the kerfuffle that followed one slipped Janet Jackson nipple, one would think that there'd be a nice blur applied to Sir Ian's bits. However, PBS president Paula Kerger says: "Let's talk about this in January. It's what I think about it and what the FCC will allow." And as for what she thinks: "It's powerful. His entire performance is quite powerful."

Powerful or not, I'm sure there would be quite an uproar if his nudity was shown on a public station, even if it fits with the King's decline into madness at the hands of his evil daughters. So, I doubt that we'll get an unedited version of the play, but maybe there will be an unrated DVD that can go head to head with Hopkins. And, would Anthony go that far for the role?

I'm still trying to decide who I like more as Lear. It's probably McKellen, but Hopkins did a great job in Titus, so anything is possible. Who do you prefer?

When it comes to Shakespeare's tragedies, King Lear never made the short list of personal favorites. Maybe it was Cordelia, one of the biggest doormats in dramatic history, or maybe a play about madness and aging isn't best served to high school students. But, as long as there are actors who want to sink their teeth into lines like, "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport", then the mad king will live on. The Guardian has now confirmed that Naomi Watts will be joining Keira Knightley and Gwyneth Paltrow as the 'daughters Lear' in the big-budgeted version of Shakespeare's classic play, also starring Anthony Hopkins.

The story of Lear centers on a mighty king dividing his estate among his three daughters: Cordelia (Knightley), Regan (Paltrow) and Goneril (Watts). When Cordeila is unable to blow enough smoke up the royal butt, she is disowned, and the lion's share of the throne goes to her sisters. But we all know about 'fatal flaws' in Shakespeare, and it turns out that Regan and Goneril are hardly the loving daughters they claimed to be.

The project was announced back in May at Cannes, with a projected budget of $35 million. Most of that is expected to go towards the epic battle sequences that occur when the kingdom descends into the family feud to end all feuds -- not to mention $35 million can buy an awful lot of tights.

King Lear is expected to start production early next year and should arrive in theaters in 2010.

When it comes to sifting through all actors responsible for portraying the most powerful man on the planet, there's no shortage of options. John Travolta did a great Bill Clinton impersonation in Primary Colors and Timothy Bottoms delivered a near-perfect imitation of George W. Bush in both D.C. 9/11: Time of Crisis and That's My Bush! Neither one comes across as particularly flattering, so presidential nominee Barack Obama has chosen a safer bet: At a recent party in Los Angeles, Obama revealed that he prefers Jeff Bridges' conflicted commander-in-chief in The Contender. Granted, he may have said this simply to keep his audience happy -- in this case, Contender director Rod Lurie, one of the attendees who was willing to plop down $28,000 for the event. "'I just plugged your movie," Obama told Lurie, according to a report the director sent to Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeffrey Wells.

Still, when you're under the kind of intense scrutiny that Obama currently endures, Bridges actually seems like a pretty safe choice. Choose Anthony Hopkins in Nixon and it sounds like you're endorsing the bad guy. Choose Kevin Kline in Dave and you come across as disingenuous. Choose Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove and somebody will call you incompetent. Bridges, on the other hand, plays a fierce leader bound to his moral convictions. Of course, Obama also expressed sympathy over Lurie's short-lived television show Commander-in-Chief, which featured Geena Davis as the first woman president. Perhaps it's no coincidence that he and Hillary have publicly made amends.

William Shakespeare. He's the guy to go to for stories, either as old-English recreations or complete reimaginings. We've had a million tales of Romeo and Juliet and other classics like Macbeth, Hamlet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. We've gotten a stunning look into pulpy Will with Julie Taymor's Titus. We're still not getting a big-screen Coriolanus (argh!), but we are getting more King Lear.

The Telegraph reports that a new $35 million feature adaptation of the famous play has been announced at Cannes. Anthony Hopkins (who happened to play Titus in Taymor's film) will play King Lear, Keira Knightley is set to play his youngest daughter, Cordelia, and Gwyneth Paltrow has been tipped to become Regan, the middle sister. (Goneril, the oldest, hasn't been cast yet.) Talk about a sweet Shakespeare cast! This will pit Hopkins against Ian McKellen's work in a Channel 4 adaptation of the play (one that has Sir Ian in the buff), but I imagine he'll hold his own quite nicely.

If you need a Lear refresher -- this is the tale about King Lear's decision to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters -- the size of each split determined by how wonderfully they praise their father. Cordelia refuses to continue the dishonest flattery, and gets disowned. Not surprisingly, her crappy sisters become cold to their supposedly cherished father, and Lear begins to see the error of his ways. The adaptation is said to feature "epic battle sequences" of the wars that follow.

I'm digging the cast so far, but who should play Goneril? Julianne Moore?