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There is an actor I didn't mention in my For Love of Unknown Actors post last July, one who is criminally underused and under appreciated on the cinematic scene, and who has acted in over 60 films -- Elias Koteas. I've had him on the brain for days, ever since THR's Risky Business Blog posted a piece called "Put Elias Koteas in your movie, now" on Friday.

These words sent me into a Koteas tailspin: "He's the kind of actor that lives so close to the skin of the character that he gives off those blurry heatwaves you see above a hot blacktop." This. I've been enamored with the actor since his second feature film in 1987, the John Hughes romance Some Kind of Wonderful. And while he's been in an impressive array of films since, usually finding more of the spotlight in Canadian features like Crash and Exotica, I doubt mainstream audiences know him as anything but that kinda-familiar bald guy, or Casey Jones in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I love all the fleeting, cinematic glimpses of Koteas, but my favorite always remains the first I ever saw: Duncan in Some Kind of Wonderful.

It's been eons since we've gotten a Peter Bogdanovich tale. Aside from some TV work and his Tom Petty documentary in 2007, there hasn't been a big-screen feature since he dug into William Randolph Hearst's dirty laundry with The Cat's Meow in 2001. And before that, The Thing Called Love in 1993. No finishing Orson Welles' The Other Side of the Wind (he stated last month that he didn't think editing the film would ever be possible), and no code cracking. But finally, The Hollywood Reporter posts that he will write and direct an adaptation of Kurt Anderson's novel Turn of the Century.

If anything should reinvigorate the feature career of the man who helmed Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show, and Mask, and bring in a new audience, this is it. The book is a modern social satire oft-compared to Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. Written in 1999, the novel follows the MacTiers in the year 2000, "a Manhattan power couple with three kids who are managing their troubled marriage in a world where BarbieWorld has opened in Vegas and Charles Manson's parole hearing is live on TV." George has produced a series called NARCS, which mixes real drug busts with snappy scripts, while wife Lizzie is a software entrepreneur who created a "force-feedback technology," which is part of an alternative history game that senses fear. "Dinner time!" is announced room to room via e-mail, Lizzie's guilt over voting for Rudy Giuliani leads her to hand out $5's in penance, and there's a Jimmy Smits/J-Lo revolution in Mexico.

Bogdanovich isn't the first name I would think of to helm a technology-ridden modern satire like this, so I'm dying to see what he makes of it. Should things continue as planned, the film will shoot next spring in New York.

For the love of God please make that new Muppet movie a rock opera!!!! Arrrrrrgh!

Okay, now that that's out of my system, it's time to explain why I just had that little outburst. See, MuppetsStudio has released another classic rock song with a Muppets edge. Oh, yes! First it was the brilliance of "Bohemian Rhapsody," and now -- "Beaker's Ballad." No, it's not some random original song, but rather the ol' meeemer sharing his rendition of "Dust in the Wind" -- Kansas' 1977 hit. Unfortunately, Beaker's memeing is no match for Lynn Meredith's vocals, and the harsh, cruel internet world is ready to pounce. It seems that they only like silent (pun alert!) memes.

If we can't get Jason Segel to switch his upcoming movie to a Muppet rock opera, maybe we can at least get a faux concert documentary from the MuppetsStudio? It could be the fan event to challenge Rocky Horror! I imagine I'm not the only one who would stand in line to hear these guys go through all the classic greats.

Meanwhile, in related news, The Playlist managed to nab a description of the new Muppet movie based on a script that's dated October 2009 that their source calls a "solid attempt at recapturing what made "The Muppet Show" and the first two Muppet movies so great" Check out the film description from The Playlist and the hilarious video after the jump.

When we hear a ridiculous rumor, it's quite easy to become either incensed at the sheer audaciousness of the claim, or laugh it off as too stupid to be true. Take this latest goodie: Cinema Blend reports that a source at Universal Pictures claims that since audiences are expecting more from their movies, the studio wants to tap into the franchise pile for 3D magic, and are "strongly considering" a remake of Jaws "in hopes of dazzling younger audiences with new special effects."

The notion makes sense. If there's one movie that would look downright gorgeous in Real D 3D, it's Jaws. However, folks, that's not all. That same insider claims that Tracy Morgan has been considered for the role of Richard Dreyfus' Matt Hooper, but it's "uncertain" whether he's still in the running. To hedge their gossip bets, Cinema Blend states that this is a new source and could be hooey just as much as it could be truth.

It's easy to shudder when thinking of a comedic Jaws led by Morgan, because the thought sounds downright terrible, but let's back up. See that shark up there with the super-visible robot metal in his mouth? That's the big beast of Jaws 4. After that monstrosity of moviemaking, is it really that ridiculous to imagine Morgan facing off against a 3D shark?

It's either the stupidest, most moronic rumor of the year, or a sad reminder of where Hollywood is heading in the future. You make the call ...

On this Tuesday, lots of female casting bites are hitting the net:

First, Rachel Weisz has found her next gig. Variety reports that she's signed on to star with Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts in Jim Sheridan's Dream House. Craig and Weisz play a couple who move from Gotham to a New England town, and then discover that a mother and her two children were murdered in their new home. Watts plays the neighbor who knew the family, and Toronto is standing in for New England as production kicked off on Sunday.

And the rest of the goodies come from a post over at Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Cate Blanchett has signed onto Hanna, the Saoirse Ronan film that just cast Eric Bana. There's no mention of who she will play, but the film focuses on a CIA-bred killer 14-year-old girl "hellbent on finding her father, and uses the survival skills she learned from him on anybody who gets in her way."

Amber Tamblyn, meanwhile, has grabbed a starring lead opposite James Franco in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours. You know -- the story of the man who got his arm caught whilst rock climbing and had to saw it off himself to survive. Tamblyn will play his girlfriend in memories that get him through the ordeal.

Finally, we've got our Jane Eyre. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) has signed, after circling the production last November with Michael Fassbender. As for the Fish Tank star, there hasn't been official word following last year's announcement, but he seems to be signed on, which probably means a no-go for Wuthering Heights and Andrea Arnold. But it does allow him to get his May-December groove on again, moving from a young character named Mia who falls for him in Fish Tank, to all-out romance with the next youngin' Mia in Jane Eyre.

I was glad I opted to watch the opening night shorts program at this year's Sundance Film Festival because it was packed with four fantastic short films. One of those (arguably the favorite of the bunch) was an animated film called Logorama, written and directed by the French duo of François Alaux and Herve de Crecy. Now nominated for a Best Animated Short Oscar, Logorama takes place in a world full of corporate and brand logos (in which roughly 2,500 appear), and it follows a few different stories that all intertwine with one another. Honestly, it's bloody brilliant, and I guarantee it'll be the best thing you watch all week.

At Sundance, a bunch of us wondered how these guys could get away with making something like this without facing hundreds of lawsuits, and then we wondered whether legal matters would ever stop it from existing in some form online. Perhaps someone with a law background could chime in here, but in the meantime you simply must head after the jump to watch this film. My favorite part is the Joker-esque Ronald McDonald, but it's also the tiniest details that truly make this film a work of art. You may normally not pay attention to the short film categories at the Oscars (partly because they're not as widely distributed as the feature films), but after watching Logorama I think you'll be rooting for it come March 7th.

Check it out after the jump and let us know what you think.

It's a bird, it's a plane ... it's Warner Bros. asking Christopher Nolan to pretty please resurrect their Superman franchise and do something cool with it! According to Deadline Hollywood, Nolan has been asked to come in and sort of "mentor" the next Superman movie, and it won't be a sequel to Superman Returns, but instead the beginning of a brand new franchise. Furthermore, DH says Nolan probably won't direct -- especially since David Goyer, Jonah Nolan and Chris Nolan are all busy planning and writing the next Batman installment as we speak -- so what will he do, exactly, when it comes to the new Superman? That's not clear yet, and DH stresses that the film is still in its real early stages of development (ahem, I think they're bringing him in to lay the groundwork for a Justice League movie, but we'll see ...)

Still, knowing Nolan is somehow involved in the rebirth of Superman should at the very least breathe some excited life into a franchise that a lot of folks have kinda lost faith in because, let's face it, the fans feel Warner Bros. had lost faith in it, too. One insider told DH, "We know what we don't want to do. But we don't know what we want to do. We learned a lot from the last movie, and we want to get it right this time." Obviously Nolan has success in rebooting a DC Comics franchise, as evidenced by the work he's done with Batman. But Superman is a different beast all together, and one imagines they'll start with trying to ground the franchise a bit more with a freakier set of villains and perhaps a more relatable, down-to-earth storyline. Not that we need Clark Kent making MySpace references for 120 minutes, but I could see them focusing more on the burden Superman is carrying -- that "weight of the world" angle -- and less on his little romance with Lois Lane.

What do you think? What would you like to see them do with the new Superman?

Beware the arrows this week; we're just six sleeps away from Valentine's Day, that time of year when Cupid's bow sprays the populace with love bug-laced arrows. Or, more accurately, that time of year when jeweler's make you feel like a stingy fool if you don't spend your life savings on diamonds, when rose prices skyrocket, and every business preys on those who itch for a little of that dirty word called "romance."

Some may lead you to believe that it is the practice of romance that is a dirty, woman-centric desire on the big screen, but let's face it, folks -- we all love a little love. Boys, girls, men, and women. It's in almost all of our films, and is the basis of most of our favorite stories, from straight-forward romantic comedy and drama to action, sci-fi, and every other genre out there.

The menace seems to be in the word. Merely uttering romance breeds slights like "chick flick" and "crap," and inspires many a moviegoer to place one foot outside the door. But it's the 21st century, and it's time for a little evolution.

While all thoughts were swarming towards Superbowl showdowns and commercials, the lovely and venerable James Spader celebrated his 50th birthday. I'll let that sink in for a moment. 50 years... Half a century. To the younger folks that might not seem like such a shocker, Spader being nothing more than that overly talky, whisky-drinking dude from Boston Legal, who got particularly kinky with Maggie Gyllenhaal not too long ago. But to those whose first forays into cinema included the likes of Pretty in Pink, Mannequin, Less Than Zero, Wall Street, and Sex, Lies, and Videotape, it's a pretty big thing to wrap your head around.

What might be most impressive or surprising, more so than Spader's age, is that he is such an absolute and quintessential part of '80s Hollywood for only a very small handful of films. There are many men and women who graced the screen over and over during that decade, but it took exactly one role to make him famous: Steff in Pretty in Pink -- rich, suit-wearing, and holding enough charming sleaze to fill a football stadium. He ruled the high-school-jerk legions, and even if you weren't a fan of John Hughes' Molly Ringwald world, you knew about Spader's sleazy slick nature.

It's either this year's The Wrestler, or the film equivalent of that nasty drunk at the bar who's just slowly making the biggest ass of himself with each passing minute. In the works for 10 years now, Mitch Glazer's Passion Play has just wrapped production and star Mickey Rourke sat down for a brief chat with Entertainment Weekly in which, among other things, he calls Megan Fox "probably the best young actress I've ever worked with" and at the same time bashes one or both of his Wrestler co-stars by saying "there wasn't much chemistry there." Oh Mickey, what will you say next?

In Passion Play, Rourke plays a down-and-out trumpet player who looks to a young winged angel for redemption in 1950s Los Angeles. On Fox's character, Rourke notes, "She has wings, so she was sort of an oddity trapped in a carnival act. She's been a prisoner her whole life, and she has no understanding of trust. She's very vulnerable and delicate." It's not hard to see similarities with Rourke's character in The Wrestler, but he tries to distance himself from that film and its story (in an odd way) by criticizing the lack of chemistry on set and then noting: "As far as the redemption is concerned, it's almost fate. It's not so much that my character is seeking redemption, it's almost like it falls in my lap by accident. And I try and hold on to it as much as I can."

Check out the rest over at EW. Passion Play will most likely debut at some point in 2010.