Is it just me, or does it seem like Vin Diesel can't catch a break when it comes to sci-fi movies? Twitch is reporting that Diesel's latest, Babylon A.D., has undergone a serious edit and the film has been reduced from a running time of 160 minutes to a mere 90. Just so we have this straight, it looks like Fox has cut the film pretty much in half. It had been reported that two distinct versions of the film (one for European audiences and one for the US) were going to hit theaters, but now we'll all be getting the same version since a 90-minute cut was submitted to the UK's BBFC for certification.

Babylon A.D. was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, and it centers on a young woman who has been infected with a virus that could wipe out humanity. Diesel plays a mercenary who's been charged with escorting this walking time bomb from Russia to New York City. Joining Diesel is Michelle Yeoh as a butt-kicking nun and Mélanie Thierry as Aurora, the futuristic 'Typhoid Mary'. Originally the film was expected to be a dark action flick (what else could it be with Kassovitz at the helm?) but according to Twitch, the film is now aiming for a PG-13 rating.

To be honest, I'm always a little surprised that Steve Zahn managed to carve out a dramatic acting career. I can't help but think 'Studs' whenever I look at him, but since Rescue Dawn I'm not the only one who discovered that Zahn can handle the 'grittier' side of life. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Zahn has signed to star alongside Timothy Olyphant (Hitman) in the psychological thriller, A Perfect Getaway.

David Twohy will direct from his own script about a honeymooning couple who become the targets for a pair of killers. Zahn will play the husband and Olyphant (true to form) will play one of the violent psychos. There is no word yet on the partners for each of our leading men, but it's not like its going to be all that difficult to fill the parts of 'Frightened Wife" and "Psycho Killer". Twohy made his name as a screenwriter and has made some good and some not so-good movies. Twohy has directed in the past, but with the exception of Pitch Black, there isn't much to recommend some of his previous endeavors.

Zahn already has three other films in various stages of production. First up will be two comedies, a baseball flick titled Calvin Marshall and then a romantic comedy with the very unfunny title of Management. A Perfect Getaway is set to start filming on location in Puerto Rico and Hawaii starting at the end of this month, but there is no word of a release date. Stay tuned to Cinematical for any news that comes our way.

Well, for those of you out there who are fans of Jason Statham's Transporter franchise, I've got some good news for you: Variety reports that Statham has signed to star in a third installment! He will reprise his role as the butt-whooping mercenary driver/delivery man Frank. The film will be produced by EuropaCorp, who were behind the first two flicks. However, there have been some personnel changes for the film; the previous director for the last two films, Louis Leterrier, has been replaced by Hitman's 2nd Unit director, Olivier Megaton -- which might not exactly be a step up if you consider the reviews for that particular cinematic gem. Joining Statham in the cast is Prison Break's Robert Knepper, who judging by some of his creepy performances will probably star as the bad guy in this scenario.

The first two films in the franchise were written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, but the two have not been confirmed to pen the new script. Just like for the first two films, Besson will not be pulling any directing duties, but will be involved as a 'hands-on' producer. There is no word yet on the story, but I'm sure that Besson is keeping in mind that the franchise has a running box-office total of $130 million, so it shouldn't take long to put one together. Transporter 3 will shoot for 16 weeks on location in Russia and France starting sometime in March or April. There is no release date so far, but let's be honest, we aren't dealing with Citizen Kane here so it shouldn't take long before Transporter 3 hits theaters.

Question: Do we really need a third one?

Here's a dirty little secret: sometimes film critics don't want to see movies. It's true. When we start out, ambitious and full of energy, we'll sit through any old thing, but after a while, when the formulas begin to wear on you, you can smell a turkey from watching the trailer. Sometimes you can smell a stinkbomb just from the title alone. I thought, for fun, I'd go over some titles I haven't seen and give you an idea of what might go through a critic's head. Of course, some of this is self-justification for not being able to see every single movie that comes through town. Frankly, it's impossible for one person to do, and so we resort to a porcupine-like defense, just in case anyone asks us about a movie we haven't seen: "It looked terrible."

Here's one: How to Cook Your Life (1 screen). What is that? Without even looking, it sounds like a bunch of actresses on a single set with too much dialogue, probably a lot of violin music and tears. And what could it mean? Why would I want to cook my life? It sounds painful, doesn't it? (It's really a film by the German director Dorris Dorrie about trying to equate cooking with Zen philosophy.) Then we have Hitman (9 screens), which irritated critics to no end, but seems to have pleased a fair number of moviegoers. Question: how many hitman movies have you seen in the past five or ten years? Is there an actor working today who hasn't played a hitman? What kind of brass cojones must it have taken to actually use the title "Hitman" on a middling, forgettable piece of work like this one?

You know, for a movie that probably isn't the best idea to begin with, a lot of people certainly seem to be lining up to work on it. Just days after rumors swirled that Rob Zombie would be taking over the Conan remake for Millennium/Nu Image, now Doomsday director Neil Marshall has also been added to the list of possible directors for the fantasy update.

Rumors of Marshall's involvement first surfaced over at IGN, where it had also been confirmed by one of their sources that Zombie was in talks with the producers. That same source then threw Marshall's name on the list. Marshall joins John McTiernan, Zombie, and Hitman director Xavier Gens as possible candidates to direct. It has since been confirmed that Zombie will not be taking the reins, and instead is off working on the biker flick Tyrannosaurus Rex. According to IGN, Gens has also been in talks with the producers, but so was Zombie and look how that turned out.

The production has struggled since the beginning; first there were battles over the rights to the franchise, and after a few false starts, Millennium/Nu Image was left standing and they are now the proud new owners of the film. Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have been allowed to work on the script during the strike thanks to an agreement between Millennium and the WGA. IGN also reports that Millennium/Nu Image will not be choosing their director until the script has been completed. By then who knows how many more names will have been added to the list. Conan is tentatively scheduled for release in 2009.

[via Comics2Film]

Columbia Pictures has just issued a press release announcing Olga Kurylenko as the new Bond girl (and Bond's leading lady) in Bond 22. According to the release, Kurylenko will play "the dangerously alluring Camille, who challenges Bond and helps him come to terms with the emotional consequences of Vesper's betrayal." The Ukranian actress is probably best known for her part opposite Timothy Olyphant in the recently-released Hitman. See the full press release below (which, in case you were wondering, clearly states that Gemma Arterton will be playing a fellow MI6 agent).

"Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions Ltd, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios announced today the start of principal photography on the eagerly anticipated 22nd James Bond adventure. Daniel Craig reprises his role as 007 in the film which is directed by Marc Forster and follows the success of Casino Royale, the latest and highest grossing film in the series.

Starring alongside Craig is an impressive international cast led by the critically acclaimed French actor Mathieu Amalric as the sinister villain, and the Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko who plays 007's leading lady. Returning to Bond 22 (working title) from Casino Royale are Judi Dench in her role as M, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis. Newcomer to the Bond franchise, Gemma Arterton, will play the role of MI6 Agent Fields.

Commenting on the announcement, Wilson and Broccoli said, "We are fortunate to continue in the Bond tradition of attracting the finest international actors for our starring roles. Mathieu in the role of Dominic Greene, a leading member of the villainous organization introduced in 'Casino Royale,' will be a powerful counterpart to Daniel's portrayal of Bond. Olga Kurylenko will play the dangerously alluring Camille, who challenges Bond and helps him come to terms with the emotional consequences of Vesper's betrayal."

More after the jump ...

Now here's an interesting on-screen duo. Bloody-Disgusting reports that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Viggo Mortensen are in talks to join the cast of Vanikoro, which is based on a true story, was written and will be directed by Hitman helmer Xavier Gens. Vanikoro (which is not to be confused with Bryan Singer's Valkyrie -- what's up with all the 'V' titles?) tells of the real-life French explorer La Perouse who, in 1788, found himself in the middle of a shipwreck on the island of Vanikoro. Apparently there were two ships that got wrecked, and the survivors of the second ship found a way to salvage enough parts to re-build a smaller ship and sail away. However, two survivors remained on the island into the early 1800s. Those two survivors, we're guessing, would be played by Mortensen and Hoffman. Then again, neither is French ... so who knows?

Gens, who I feel received a bad rap after Hitman debuted to a very lackluster response back in November, spoke about Vanikoro to BD at the Toronto Fest (where he premiered the much buzzed-about horror flick Frontier(s)) and -- get this -- said Vanikoro was like Peter Jackson's King Kong meets Cannibal Holocaust. Throw in Mortensen and Hoffman, and that's a movie I want to see. Gens was also recently rumored to be among those being considered to direct a new updated Conan film, though I imagine fans would rather him stick to stuff he wrote; stuff he controls. It shall be fascinating to watch how all this pans out.

Exec #1: "OK, so we bought the rights to this hot (old) video game. We need a story."

Exec #2: "What's the game called?"

#1: "Hitman."

#2: "OK, so it's a movie about an assassin. This stuff writes itself."

#1: "Yeah, but how much action should we put in there? Action scenes are really expensive, you know..."

#2: "Hey, I got it. Instead of going the 'action route' let's try something different. Let's focus more on those "plot" scenes from the video game that I'm just sure everyone watches, despite the fact that you can press ENTER and skip over 'em at any time. They're mostly dialog!"

#1: "Great, get me a young French director who'll do whatever we say, a screenwriter who hasn't written a flick in five years, and a lead actor who couldn't possibly be a worse fit for this 'hitman' guy. And go easy on the action scenes."

#2: "Cool. Production starts tomorrow. The marketing team has the trailer all set to go."

I'm sorry, but when you go to a restaurant and order, say, peanut butter and jelly, you'd be justifiably annoyed if the sandwich showed up without the peanut butter. You'd probably demand a refund if you purchased a cat with no spine ... and it would definitely be cause for alarm if you bought a porno mag that offered only two naked pictures. But when it comes to Hollywood action pics, we're completely inured to the scam by now: Generate just enough flashy action to fill a two-minute trailer, and that's really all your movie needs. Once you get the people into the cinema ... who cares? They already paid their money, right?

Variety reports that Timothy Olyphant has signed for the comedy heist film, High Life. Based on the play by Lee MacDougall, the story centers on four hapless criminals in a heist gone wrong. The play premiered in Toronto in 1996 and went on to win a DORA award. Olyphant will star as their leader who is ultimately brought down by his incompetent partners. In the original play, the four friends were hopeless morphine addicts, but I'm going to take a guess and say that the new script might gloss over that particular element -- but it will all depend on just how dark this comedy wants to get.

Gary Yates has already been signed to direct, and also co-wrote the script with MacDougall. Yates is French-Canadian by birth and most of his credits are in Canadian television -- although he has already written and directed his one heist film titled Seven Ways Lucky, so the experience might come in handy. MacDougall is an actor as well as a playwright, but considering his biggest credit to date is in Cheaper by the Dozen 2, he might be better off sticking to writing.

Joining Olyphant in his band of fun-loving criminals are Joe Anderson (Across the Universe), Stephen Eric McIntyre (The Lookout) and Rossif Sutherland (Poor Boy's Game). With Hitman due for release in the coming weeks, in between re-shoots for the video game adaptation (you can also read Cinematical's interview with Olyphant about some of those Hitman rumors here), Olyphant has already finished work on the Iraq war drama Stop-Loss with Ryan Philippe. Then it's off to do some video game voice-over work for Turok. Plus, High Life has already begun production, so it doesn't look like Olyphant is going to have any down time in the near future.