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The producers of the upcoming horror-thriller Born -- the team includes Clive Barker and Guillermo del Toro, among others -- have reached out to Bloody-disgusting.com to clear up rumors that the cast that was locked back in June had dropped out of the project and torpedoed its prospects for getting made. Well, the rumors were partially right -- Jennifer Connelly has flown the coop, presumably because of a scheduling conflict with her next big payday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, opposite Keanu Reeves. Her husband, Paul Bettany, is still on board with the project, though, so take heart. The producers also told BD the film is currently prepping for a February start date, although there was no mention of what actress has stepped in to take Connelly's place. Seems like they'd already have that taken care of, if the film is indeed ready to roll.

Born is being directed by Daniel Simpson, whose only prior credits are two short films, and the story revolves around a couple who settle down in an English town to raise their family only to find their "perfect life" shaken up when the husband's claymation art starts to come to life and terrorize them in some way. The film was written by Simpson, along with Barker and Paul Kaye, and was originally supposed to go back in August. Very little info on the delay had leaked out until now. Connelly is currently in pre-production for Earth, stepping into the role of Helen that was previously played by Patricia Neal in the 1951 original. Stay tuned for further developments.

We could really use a new adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It could be a faithful film, which would have certain relevance in a time when genetic research and other culturally debated scientific progresses, medical or not, continue to mark us as a God-aspirant species. Or it could be an updated or altered adaptation, to make the relevance more obvious. I think James Whale's films about the doctor and the monster are terrific, and we already have the greatest variation -- Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein -- but I'd personally like to see a new take on the original novel. Well, according to JoBlo, the guy who would most like to take the reigns on that idea is Guillermo Del Toro. During a visit to the set of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, JoBlo's Jason Adams quoted Del Toro as saying he "would kill to make" a faithful "Miltonian tragedy" version.

Apparently when Kenneth Branagh tried to do this 13 years ago with his Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, there was an unshot version of the script by Frank Darabont. Del Toro claims that draft was, according to Adams, "pretty much perfect." I admit I never bothered with Branagh's film. I'd rather watch "Johnny 5" play the monster than Robert DeNiro (or at least watch the robot read the book, as he does in Short Circuit 2). So, I can't directly say what didn't work about the adaptation. All I know is that it seems to have been pretty much disregarded by everyone. That said, I'm also not the biggest Del Toro enthusiast in the world. I'm not going to exclaim that he needs to make this and that he would deliver the best Frankenstein ever. I would, however, love to see him make the attempt.

Real life husband and wife Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany have signed on to star in the psychological thriller Born, which will be directed by Daniel Simpson and produced by Guillermo del Toro, Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Clive Barker, in an exec producer role. I love it when a married couple decide to play opposite one another on the big screen, especially as lovers because it adds an extra layer of "real" to the whole thing. I just wish it wasn't Connelly; I've had a crush on her my entire life (probably the only reason I watched Career Opportunities more than ten times) and at one point was convinced she was waiting for me to get just a tad older before finally making her movie. Nevertheless, Bettany got there first. Damn him.

In the pic, both will play a married couple who are looking to settle down in a nice English town to raise a family. However, all hell breaks loose when Wallace and Gromit show up to wreak havoc. Okay, it's not exactly Wallace and Gromit, but Bettany's character is a claymation artist, and when his characters begin to act out a nightmare that actually comes to life, then that's when -- as they say -- the plot thickens. Simpson, who will make his directorial debut on Born after helming two shorts (one of which utilized claymation), wrote the script along with Barker and Paul Kaye. It will also mark the first project for the Los Angeles-based finance and production shingle ClearVision Media Production Group. Personally, I think it will be wild to watch live-action fused with creepy claymation -- I imagine not many feature films have explored that territory yet. Currently, there's no word on a production or release schedule; del Toro, Gordon and Levin are also hard at work on Hellboy II.