Just after we headed into our new century, Bernard Schlink had a selection of short stories published called Flights of Love. One of the tales published in the collection was The Other Man. Just like its title suggests, the story is about a love triangle of sorts. After a man loses his wife to cancer, he receives a letter from her lover. What would seem like a huge blow to an already-mourning man actually does him good. The two men begin a correspondence, and the widower finds comfort in his letters to the other man.

Now Variety reports that writer/director Richard Eyre (Notes on a Scandal) has adapted the story with Charles Wood, and has put together quite a cast to star -- Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Antonio Banderas, and Romola Garai. Sure, it's way too early to make any real judgments, but I'd be beyond surprised if this doesn't work itself into one hell of a film. However, I'm a bit curious about the plot. The story's layout sounds decent, but Variety describes the film this way: "the story of a husband who starts to suspect he's not the only man in his wife's life, and sets out to track down his rival."

If this is how the film will play out, that means he doesn't find out post-death, and that it's more a story of tracking down the other man than bonding, or finding comfort with him. On the other hand, a synopsis on IMDb says it's "the story of a widower's slowly-developing revenge against his late wife's secret lover," which "reveals to him his own compromises and failings." Who knows?! I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Production will get going next month, appropriately on Valentine's Day, in the UK and Italy.

On behalf of fans of vampire movies everywhere, I certainly hope we can chalk this one up to just a silly rumor. Bloody Disgusting is reporting that United Artists is pushing to snap up the rights to the fourth novel in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, The Tale of The Body Thief. According to BD's sources, "here's speculation on my behalf, but UA = Tom Cruise, right? Might we be seeing Tom Cruise back as the Vampire Lestat?" The casting of Tom Cruise as the Vampire Lestat in Neil Jordan's 1994 adaptation of Rice's bestselling novel, Interview with The Vampire, caused an uproar among fans (and the author for that matter). Rice had been quoted as saying that Cruise was, "no more my Vampire Lestat than Edward G. Robinson is Rhett Butler".**

The story of Body Thief picks up with Lestat who has made a deal with a "body thief" to get the chance to switch bodies and to live like a mortal again. This would be the third attempt to make an Anne Rice book into a film, the last being the disastrous Queen of the Damned with Aaliyah and Stuart Townsend as Lestat. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Townsend's Lestat wasn't too bad all things considered. He definitely had the Lestat pout down pat, something that Cruise could just never quite pull off in Interview. Not to mention Cruise's avoidance of the obvious homoerotic content to the original story -- although kudos to Antonio Banderas and Brad Pitt for being the only two actors in that film to even hint at a little vampire on vampire action.

As we all know, Cruise's relationship with Paramount ended badly back in '06. Now that Cruise is calling shots at UA, could Tom be planning to "ruin" yet another Anne Rice property? Until we get some kind of official word on the project, lets just keep our fingers crossed that Cruise is going to leave the fangs to someone else this time.

**Rice did eventually back-track and reverse her statements once she actually saw the film and Cruise's performance.

If you wondered when it came out if there needed to be a third Shrek film, all you need to do is ask the kids. Adults may be growing tired of the clever plays on modernity -- mascot contests, bubblegum-blowing teeny-boppers, endless takes on modern store names made to sound "fairy-taleish" -- but kids never seem to tire of the toilet humor that permeates the Shrek series.

The advantage of making a film with ogres and a donkey at the center is that you can acutally (kind of) justify the endless stream of projectile vomiting and fart jokes, and my own kids, at least, never seem to tire of them. And when you have the film on DVD, well, they can rewind to watch the baby spewing green-pea vomit out of the baby carriage over, and over, and over again. So, rejoice, parents, Shrek the Third is here.

Actually, for a third film in a series, Shrek the Third isn't a terrible effort. While it's not as strong as the first two films (the second was surprisingly good for a sequel) and at times it feels that the filmmakers are really reaching by stretching the franchise to support a third film, if you compare it to, say, the dreadful Happily N'Ever After, it's pretty tolerable. Any time you can find a kids' film that the adults in the household can stomach watching multiple times, that's a good thing -- but you might want to make sure to have Shrek and Shrek 2 on hand as well.

When the production for The Code gets into swing this month in Bulgaria, there will be more than a Morgan Freeman thief-like mentor and a younger Antonio Banderas crook. Variety reports that Radha Mitchell has signed on to star with the duo in the upcoming caper drama, which will be brought to us by director Mimi Leder and screenwriter Ted Humphrey. Unfortunately, they're not saying what her role is. Will she play Banderas' wife? Someone in the Russian mob that Freeman's character owes? The person the duo will rob to get that money? Who knows.

Mitchell made a name for herself in films like Phone Booth and Finding Neverland before heading Melinda and Melinda, Woody Allen's dual-story movie trek. Now she's got a handful of movies on the way that definitely hit some different themes. First up is a B movie named Rogue, which has her taking a cynical American writer on tour of the Outback when they get attacked by a crocodile and end up in some sort of horrific Gilligan's Island scenario. After that she goes back in time for The Children of Huang Shi, a period drama about journalist George Hogg who saved a group of orphaned kids, with help from a nurse and partisan fighter, during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937. Then things get lighter with Luke Wilson's Henry Poole is Here, and then darker again when she co-stars in The Seed -- about a "killer [who] returns from the past, forcing a young detective to return to a case that took her mother's life years before."

I guess that once you hit the age of 70, it's hard to not get that indelible stamp that says you're ready for movies about kicking the bucket, or playing the mentor figure over, and over, and over again. Even after playing the ultimate spiritual mentor, God, Morgan Freeman is jumping into another flick where he'll play an experienced man with a younger recruit. This time around, according to Variety, he's signed on for Mimi Leder's caper drama The Code, with Antonio Banderas.

This will reunite the actor and director, as Freeman starred in her 1998 film, Deep Impact, as the hole-making president trying to save a million Americans. This time around, the feature is a little more self-serving. Code, based on a script from Ted Humphrey, is about an old, "veteran thief who recruits a younger crook, played by Banderas, to help him pull off one final job in order to repay his debt to the Russian mob." Granted, Freeman's age isn't completely pigeon-holing him. I'm sure many an actor, especially those who get stuck in horror typecasting, wouldn't mind playing many different kinds of mentors and leaders. Not every man could jump from a stint as Lucius Fox to a tasty role as Nelson Mandela. As for Banderas, it should he a nice reminder that he can do more than fluffy dance films or kid flicks. Production begins this month in Bulgaria.

Variety is reporting that director/choreographer Rob Marshall and uber-producer Harvey Weinstein have started putting together a cast for Nine, a film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. Javier Bardem was just offered the role of director Guido Contini, who "experiences a creative and personal crisis as he tries to balance all the women in his life." The musical was inspired by Federico Fellini's classic 8 1/2, and the Contini role was originated onstage by the great Raul Julia. In its recent Broadway revival, Contini was played by Antonio Banderas. I love Bardem, but I have to wonder why Banderas isn't reprising his role here. He played the part in 2003 and he still looks like a million bucks, so the reason can't be that he's gotten too old. Curious.

Regardless, the real appeal of this film is going to be its women. If Marshall gets his first choices, this will be one beautiful cast. Marion Cotillard (Russell Crowe's love interest in A Good Year) is set to play Contini's wife. Penelope Cruz, whom I never thought too highly of until her terrific work in Volver, is in talks to play Contini's mistress, Carla. Marshall hopes to sign his Chicago co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones to play "the director's muse." Zeta-Jones isn't signed yet, but judging by what she told MTV's Movie Blog last month, she's a done deal. Said Jones, "I'd read the phone book with Rob Marshall. To put a musical in a director's hands, for me it can only be [him]." Marshall is also trying to get Sophia Loren, one of the sexiest women of all time, on board to play Contini's mother, who comes to Contini as a ghost. Michael Tolkin, best known for adapting his novel The Player for Robert Altman, is adapting the script. I'm no fan of Marshall, I thought Chicago was insanely overrated, and Mem-Snores of a Geisha was agony to sit through. Still, I dig musicals and it'd be great to see all of these gorgeous women on the big screen at once.

It looks like we're getting another big-budget musical from the Weinsteins -- probably not a bad idea, since the last one they made won six Oscars. Variety recently reported that Rob Marshall has signed to direct the film version of the Tony Award winning musical Nine. The musical debuted in 1982 with Raul Julia and beat out Dreamgirls that year for Best Musical. In 2002, Antonio Banderas took on the lead and *won a Tony for Best Male Performance. The story was inspired Federico Fellini's 8½, and centers on an aging director suffering from his romantic entanglements and a creative dry spell. This is the first project for Marshall with the Weinsteins since Chicago, and he was eager for another film after Memoirs of a Geisha, saying, "I began looking intensely at (other projects), including remakes of movies, originals and Broadway musicals." Marshall will also help with the choreography for the film along with John DeLuca.

The project is still looking for a screenwriter, and casting has yet to begin -- there is no word on whether Banderas will return. Marshall warned that "This one needs to be created specifically for the talent involved, to suit their strengths, casting will be a big issue here, and if commitments complicate things, it will be 2009." We're not quite sure what that means since any movie that he started prepping now wouldn't likely arrive in theaters until 2009 anyway, but I'm sure the Weinsteins won't mind waiting, since it seems that their reputation at the box-office could use a little help.

*Correction: Banderas was nominated but the award went to Harvey Fierstein.

With Grindhouse all wrapped up and set to debut a week from this Friday, Robert Rodriguez can finally move onto his next film: a sequel to the highly-successful Sin City. Frank Miller has already completed the script, which will based off the story A Dame to Kill For, and the entire crew is currently gearing up to begin production sometime this summer (we think). While there's still no word regarding Angelina Jolie's involvement as, well, the dame to kill for, Rodriguez is now dropping a few other big names into the mix -- Johnny Depp and Antonio Banderas. According to the director, Depp (who starred in Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico) wanted to play Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro) in the original Sin City, but was too busy shooting The Libertine at the time. Needless to say, Rodriguez wants him to play a bigger role in the Sin City franchise -- but that role won't show up until Sin City 3.

Yes, Sin City 3. Rodriguez told MTV that the third film will revolve around the Sin City story Hell and Back, focusing on a main character named Wallace (to be played by Depp?) who is drugged repeatedly and, subsequently, wanders through the film hallucinating. (So, it's kind of like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ... but in black and white.) While no deal is in place yet, Rodriguez feels confident that Depp will take the role. As far as Banderas goes, there was no word whether he would fit into part 2, part 3 or both; the actor really wants to take on a role, any role -- going so far as to say he'd play the hunchback. Seeing as Rodriguez and Miller are apparently planning two Sin City sequels at the same time, one wonders whether they will be shot back-to-back. According to IMDb, both films are currently scheduled to be released in 2008, though I imagine the latter would roll over into 2009 in order to establish a little bit of breathing room between the two. Thoughts?

Way back in November, we brought you the very first look at the teaser poster for this summer's sure-to-be blockbuster Shrek the Third, and now we've got another first: the unveiling of the brand-spanking-new theatrical poster featuring more than just Shrek's ears and green crown-topped chrome dome. Double-click on the image below for a larger version.

The third installment in the lucrative CGI franchise finds King Harold (John Cleese) on his deathbed and Shrek (Mike Myers) and Fiona (Cameron Diaz) poised to ascend the throne of Far Far Away. But as you may have gathered from Shrek's expression in the above poster, ruling a kingdom isn't exactly in our ogre hero's wheelhouse -- so Shrek, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) set out on a quest to find the rightful heir to the throne: a rebellious teen named Artie, aka the once and future King Arthur, aka Diaz's erstwhile boyfriend Justin Timberlake. As Shrek, Donkey and Puss labor to bring 'Sexyback' to the kingdom, Fiona must defend Far Far Away from another coup attempt by the metrosexual Prince Charming (Rupert Everett). Shrek the Third barrels into theaters May 18.

Watch the trailer | Get more about the movie | See photos

Once again, scattered boos could be heard following yet another press screening in Berlin -- this time, for the film Bordertown. Like pic's main character, some would think I'm imagining such evilness; but it is real, it is happening and it is in poor taste. If there's anything I've learned within the past 24 hours, it's that you should never be afraid to speak your mind -- to tell the truth -- no matter who awaits you on the other end, determined to bring you down. And that's exactly what journalist Lauren Fredericks (Jennifer Lopez) intends to do when she's sent to Juarez, Mexico by her Chicago Sentinel editor (Martin Sheen) to investigate a series of murders that are taking place within the small, seedy bordertown.

An opening title graphic explains that American corporations are taking advantage of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) by opening large American-owned factories (or Maquiladoras) right across the border, hiring Mexicans (mainly women) to work long hours (sometimes in 24-hour shifts) for little money in order to produce mass quantity (one computer is produced every seven seconds). Some might call it "slave labor," while the American government probably just views it as a major convenience. Needless to say, for a long time now women factory workers (who often work and travel late into the night with little to no protection) are being kidnapped, raped and, in most cases, murdered. To this day, the Mexican government has done very little to try to prevent these atrocities from occurring.