It was over a year ago that news first surfaced about Richard Curtis' (Love Actually) rock 'n' roll comedy, The Boat that Rocked. But at the time, there was no cast in sight. Well, we've waited long enough, and now it looks Curtis has finally found his stars. Variety reports that Rhys Ifans and Kenneth Branagh have signed to star in the musical flick for Universal and Working Title Productions.

The story is set in the wild and heady times known as the 1970s. The two men will play pirate radio DJ's who run their station from a leaky boat out at sea. When an American woman comes to visit the deejays, she falls for her boyfriend's pal (Ifans) and chaos ensues. Joining Branagh and Ifans is January Jones (best know as the depressed hausfrau on TV's Mad Men) as the beguiling American gal.

Curtis wrote the script himself and will also direct. The story has been described as "Animal House meets Titanic," which probably isn't the most likely pairing of styles, but what can you do? Ifans has made a name for himself in ensemble comedies playing characters that are a little -- shall we say, 'out there'? Branagh, on the other hand, might not seem to be the obvious choice for a comedy, but if you have seen A Midwinter's Tale, then you know that he has a few giggles up his sleeve. So in the end, it seems that the two actors make a good fit for the seemingly 'wacky' flick. The Boat that Rocked is set to start shooting in early March on location in London.

Over at Hollywood Elsewhere, Jeff Wells goes off on an eHarmony article about movies that make guys cry, specifically for including Love Actually, which Wells calls "repulsive." Leaving aside for the moment the more pressing question of why Wells happened upon an article on eHarmony to begin with, the list actually does include a few films that are definite tearjerkers, but some of them are over-the-top obvious -- Brian's Song, The Natural, Rudy, The Pride of the Yankees, Rocky (Seriously? Who cries at Rocky?) and Old Yeller, the most stereotypical "it's okay for guys to cry over this one" film ever.

The list loses some credibility points with me for including sapfests like Love Actually and Terms of Endearment, but overlooking Once -- when they play "Falling Slowly" for the first time, I bawl my eyes out -- but moderately redeems itself with the inclusion of Schindler's List, To Kill a Mockingbird, and my all-time fave cry-your-eyeballs-out flick, The Iron Giant. I guess it's true (however much it may be a stereotype) that guys and chicks are moved to tears over different things.

Those Weinsteins don't waste a minute! IndieWIRE reports that the Weinstein Company has bought the Toronto International Film Festival entry Boy A before it even screens there. The deal was finalized Friday; the film premieres Saturday. Talk about beating the rush.

Based on a novel by Jonathan Trigell, Boy A is a drama about a young man released from prison after spending most of his life there for a serious crime he committed when he was a child. The director is John Crowley, his second theatrical feature after 2003's ensemble comedy Intermission, which played out like a violent version of Love Actually. Boy A's cast includes Andrew Garfield, Peter Mullan, Katie Lyons, and Shaun Evans.

The Weinsteins' luck has been bad the last couple years, with very few hits and a lot of box office flops. But one thing they've generally been good at is sniffing out winners at film festivals. Buying Boy A before it even premieres suggests they spotted a good one and didn't want to risk someone else grabbing it -- that, or they're getting desperate. Hopefully we'll have some insight from our crew members in Toronto after the film screens there.

Most American audiences know Chiwetel from his small part in Love Actually; he played the groom to Keira Knightley's blinding ultra-white toothy smile. Americans who don't know him from that probably know him from playing the antagonist in Serenity, where he almost single-handedly managed to outshine Nathan Fillion and crew. He played the lead in last year's Sundance hit Kinky Boots, where he literally walked away with the entire film. If you haven't seen Kinky Boots, I can't recommend it enough, last year I found myself liking it despite the predictable storyline and the hit-you-over-the-head message. This guy has so much charisma that he should be marketing and selling what's left over.

Although classically trained as a Shakespearean actor in the UK, his first film role was in Spielberg's 1997 Amistad. Since then he's also been seen in Dirty Pretty Things, She Hate Me, Four Brothers and Melinda and Melinda. He had four major film roles in 2005, and so far this year he's been in both Inside Man and Children of Men, which isn't too shabby. He has four big projects lined up in 2007, including two that pair him with Don Cheadle, and he can be seen in HBO's Tsunami: The Aftermath on Sunday, December 10.

Chiwetel ("Chewie," to his friends and Han Solo) is one of those actors who can be difficult to describe. He really has a commanding screen presence, but he doesn't have the forced "I'm the star!" quality of someone like Russell Crowe. He's more quiet and imposing without chewing up the scenery. He's played both a a cross-dressing drag queen (is that redundant? Like, a drag queen who dresses like a man? I think I just confused myself) and an interstellar bounty hunter in equally convincing and different manners. It's hard to be the Scene Stealer when you're not someone who tries to completely fill the screen with your presence, like Alan Rickman and Parker Posey do pretty well, but Chiwetel (I know that sounds like I'm on a first-name basis with the guy, but it sounded better than typing Ejiofor over and over) pulls it off in every role he's been in so far. Here's hoping he'll keep his streak running.

Besides, when's the last time we've been rooting for someone named Chewie that wasn't covered in fur?