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Sometimes the movie business seems like a giant game of Jenga doesn't it? Just when you think you have a solid little tower on your hands, boom! Some jerk yanks out the support beam and suddenly you're looking at a bunch of wood. But one of the hottest spec scripts in Hollywood right now has gotten one very high-profile block added to the pile. The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog is reporting that Christian Bale has unofficially "attached" himself to star alongside Mark "Say hi to your mother for me" Wahlberg in the thriller, Prisoners.

There aren't many details about Aaron Guzikowski's script, but here's the official synopsis so far: "After his 6-year-old daughter and her friend are kidnapped, a small-town carpenter butts heads with a young, brash detective in charge of the investigation. The father is a Bible-reading, deer-hunting survivalist. The cop, meanwhile, can't wait to get to the city. Feeling failed by the law, the father captures the man he believes responsible and begins to torture him in a desperate attempt to find out what he did with the girls, whom he's convinced are still alive." When Wahlberg first signed on, there was no mention of his role in the film, but I'd like to play fantasy casting director if I may and suggest Bale as the bible-thumping survivalist and Wahlberg as the cop?

While to most of us he will be forever be remembered as the charming 'workaphobe' Peter Gibbons in Office Space, Ron Livingston has played a variety of roles over the years. Even though his latest attempt at TV stardom did not work out as planned, there is still plenty of work for him in the movies. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Livingston will join Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana in The Time Traveler's Wife. The novel, by Audrey Niffenegger, is an unconventional love story about a librarian with an uncontrollable disorder that causes him to travel spontaneously through time. Bana will play the time-traveling librarian and McAdams will play his long-suffering wife. As is the case with most of Livingston's film roles, he will be playing best friend and sidekick to Bana's "dashing librarian."

New Line has signed Robert Schwentke (Flightplan) to direct The Time Traveler's Wife, and the script has been adapted by Jeremy Leven and Bruce Joel Rubin. Rubin was responsible for writing Ghost, one of the highest-grossing romance films of all time. New Line is probably hoping to recreate a little of that magic for this romantic flick. Monika Bartyzel let us know about some rewrites that took place back in January, which usually is not an encouraging sign. But as Monika pointed out, the project has been in development since 2003, so rewrites are probably par for the course by now. Plus, fans of the novel are likely relieved to know that the studio isn't rushing to adapt the challenging novel -- between jumping timelines, characters and events, it could not have been an easy script to write. It looks like the wrinkles have finally been worked out, and the production is ready to start shooting in Toronto this September.

While Jan de Bont might not be having the best luck with his other projects, it looks like his next far-fetched action title, Stopping Power, is moving along nicely. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Jason Isaacs (aka Lucius Malfoy) and Melissa George (30 Days of Night) have joined John Cusack in the action thriller. Cusack stars as a single father whose family RV is hijacked by a criminal on the run while vacationing in Germany. To save his daughter, he is forced to act as a 'decoy driver' for the escaped con, becoming embroiled in a high-stakes police chase. George is set to play Cusack's girlfriend, and Isaacs will play the criminal. That's not much of a surprise; Isaacs' resume is littered with "bad-guy" roles. Plus, if anyone can handle over-the-top villainy, it would be Isaacs; if you don't believe me, take another look at his performance in The Patriot.

Back in May, Scott Weinberg told us that de Bont was promising Stopping Power would include a 51-minute chase scene. Remember de Bont before the lifeless Tomb Raider films and the lame remake of The Haunting; this was the same director who brought us Speed. So the man does know his way around "vehicular action." The original draft of the script was written by The Hitcher scribe, Eric Red, but has reportedly undergone some rewrites from Richard Shepard (The Matador) and Skip Woods (Swordfish). With casting now in place, the production is ready to start shooting in Berlin this September. Stopping Power is scheduled to hit theaters in 2008.

So the last we heard from the famously talkative Kevin Smith regarding Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the casting of Rosario Dawson as one of the co-leads was pretty much a done deal, at least in Smith's head. Well, what a difference a few weeks can make. The MTV Movie Blog reports Dawson will not be reuniting with Smith for his comedy about two old friends who go into the amateur porn business and have absolutely nothing to do with Jay or Silent Bob along the way. MTV spoke with the actress about her upcoming rape drama, Descent, and when asked about Zack and Miri, Dawson said, "It's going to be a really interesting film. I don't think I'm going to be a part of it. He wrote it for me, but I'm just signing on to do [Eagle Eye] and that's going to be shooting from November to March".

Dawson will be joining Shia LaBoeuf and Michelle Monaghan in Eye, a political thriller that originated with Steven Spielberg about a family mistaken for terrorists and forced on the run. MTV also spoke with Eagle Eye director D.J. Caruso about Dawson's role in the thriller, but would only say that she would be playing a character named Zoey. News of Dawson's no-go on Zack and Miri has already hit the View Askewniverse, but so far there has been no official comment from the man himself. Smith had planned on starting production on Zack and Miri late this fall before heading off to helm his first horror flick, Red State. So, could this mean that Zack and Miri will be delayed while Smith searches for a new lead? I wouldn't worry; Smith has proven time and again that he is a master at thinking on his feet.

It definitely seemed that Peter Jackson was taking his time with casting his big screen version of Alice Sebold's bestseller, The Lovely Bones, but we're now one step closer with Variety reporting that Irish actress Saoirse Ronan has been cast as Susie Salmon, the victim of a brutal crime at the hands of a local serial killer. The story revolves around the 'ghost' of the young murdered girl who watches her family and friends grieve from her spot in a 'personalized afterlife'. Ronan only has a handful of credits, and most of them are in television, but she has been busy this year with the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel Atonement with Keira Knightley, where she plays a vindictive girl who falsely accuses a man of a crime. Ronan is also set to star in the Fox Walden fantasy film City of Ember, based on the novel by Jean DuPrau.

Last month, James had news of an excerpt from Jackson's script, and based on that, it sounds like Jackson has been putting his time to good use since the collapse of the live action Halo film last year. In May, he began shopping the project around before he finally settled on Dreamworks; the studio had been trying for years to secure the film rights to the novel, so the deal seemed to work out for everyone. Already signed to play Ronan's parents are Ryan Gosling and Rachel Weisz, so, the only missing piece of the puzzle seems to be the role of the young girl's murderer. Bones is set to start shooting this October, so I would expect to hear at least one more casting announcement soon, so stay tuned.

New Orleans is filling up with cast members for Black Water Transit and the latest one to be added is Aisha Tyler. The list already includes Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Dorff and American Dreams star Brittany Snow, and no longer includes Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, who were attached and then dropped out. There's a limited amount of information available on the plot but the story is known to take place in post-Katrina New Orleans and revolves around a man -- maybe Fishburne? -- who is on a crusade to release his drug-addicted son from jail. IMDB describes the film as being about the convergence of law enforcement, criminals and lawyers over an illegal shipment of weapons into America as one man tries to find a safe harbor for his family's illegal firearms.

So in other words, it's about the relationships between cops and criminals. Black Water Transit is written and directed by Tony Kaye who gave us American History X -- thank you for that, Mr. Kaye. As for Aisha Tyler, I have to confess that I'm amazed by her work. I always found her to be terribly annoying as the Talk Soup host, but she's gone about building up an impressive resume since then. Also, we know that she will be playing a police detective, à la her roles in CSI and 24.

Maybe it's just me, but there's certainly something a little bit off about this newly-released Iron Man cast photo. I don't know, it's just not what I was expecting -- the picture itself (featured to the right -- click for a larger version) seems to have this whole Sci-Fi Network vibe that just doesn't jive with me. As if EW was previewing a new television series, and not one of next summer's blockbuster movies. Nevertheless, this is the first image that features all of the primary cast members -- in character -- and reminds us that, while it's just another comic book adaptation, this isn't just another comic book cast.

We have Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), Gwyneth "I'm back everyone!" Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane (aka Iron Monger)and Terrence "I'm what Cuba Gooding Jr. could've been" Howard as Jim Rhodes. Directed by Jon Favreau (who I never in a million years thought would be helming this kind of film back when he was chugging beers in PCU), Iron Man follows, what EW calls "a playboy billionaire weapons manufacturer who becomes a born-again do-gooder in high-tech duds after a brush with death forces him to reevaluate his life." I think that's a fancy way of saying -- dude creates a funky suit and decides to kick a whole lot of ass with it. This photo comes hot on the heels of a major rumor circulating that suggests Samuel L. Jackson is filming a top secret role in Iron Man as fellow comic book character (and Stark acquaintance) Nick Fury. No official word on that yet (but ComicCon is only a month away), so stay tuned. Iron Man hits theaters on May 9, 2008.

I can't be the only one who saw this title of the film and thought of the old joke about "master debaters," but that is probably not the best association to make when you are talking about a family film. Variety reports that Kimberly Elise has signed on to the period flick The Great Debaters. The movie is the second directorial effort from Denzel Washington and centers on a small East Texas debate team that challenged Harvard's famed team to a debate. The film is set in the 30's, which will probably add an extra "feel-good" element to it, as its sure to be not only a story of triumph over adversity, but some deep-seated discrimination. The cast also includes Nate Parker (Pride), Forest Whitaker and Washington who will play the coach of the debate team. Elise is set to play Whitaker's wife and the mother to the team's star debater.

Elise must have had an inside track on the role since one of the film's producers is media queen Oprah Winfrey, who gave Elise one of her first big-screen roles in the adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Elise has already worked with Washington on The Manchurian Candidate. After shooting has finished in Louisiana, Elise will return to work on the international drama Red Soil. The Great Debaters is set for release in 2008.

While we all know that the notorious director Uwe Boll likes to act a little nutty now and then, I don't think anyone could have seen this coming. Boll is attempting to auction off a role in his new film Far Cry on eBay. This is just the latest in a series of console-based entertainment that Boll just can't seem to stay away from. Up for grabs is an undisclosed role for the low price of a little over $3000, but you will have to cover your own travel and accommodations. The film is based on UBI Soft's first-person shooter game about an ex-special forces agent for hire stranded on a mysterious island out to rescue his client; the plucky female photojournalist Valerie Constantine. So far, the only casting we have from the film was the rumored addition of Til Schweiger, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Whether the auction is a desperate attempt for publicity or a genuine casting crisis, when it comes to Boll nothing should surprise us. One of his latest films (and there does seem to be an awful lot of them), Postal, managed to offend just about everyone with a gag about 9/11. So in the history of Boll's publicity stunts, auctioning off a movie role might not seem so bad, right? But here's where it gets a little embarrassing: so far Boll has pulled in zero bids. It almost makes you feel sorry for the guy, but then I remember that Bloodrayne 2 teaser and the feeling passes.

[via Kotaku]

To fans of conscious Hip-Hop, the name Common is already a familiar one. But now, the fledging actor has landed a new high-profile role. MTV Movie News reported that he has signed to star alongside Angelina Jolie in the film version of the comic book Wanted by Mark Millar and J.G Jones. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (Night/Day Watch) the film also stars Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland).

Common, aka Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. has also been attached to the Ridley Scott crime drama American Gangster and previously took on some hit-man duty in Joe Carnahan's Smokin' Aces, which should come in handy for Wanted since the plot revolves around a young man (McAvoy) who discovers his family history is entwined with a group of notorious assassins. Common will play The Gunsmith, a character with a knack for you guessed it, guns, saying "I'm basically this dude that's a master at shooting guns. I'm training this gentleman that's coming in, who really has certain abilities but doesn't know it; I'm training him on how to be what he should be." The last news we had from film were some reported sightings of Jolie on location in Chicago taking some Vipers for a test drive, but it looks like the production is moving forward with this latest round of casting -- so we might see a Spring release in 2008 after all.