For many, Chiwetel Ejiofor is the guy from Love Actually or Serenity, but for me, he's Okwe from Dirty Pretty Things. He completely charmed and impressed me, and every time I see his involvement in something, the news becomes a little more interesting. On the heels of the upcoming films Tonight at Noon, Redbelt, Toussaint, and Three Way Split, Coming Soon reports that the actor has signed on to star in Pete Travis' Endgame -- a feature-length thriller about the end of Apartheid in South Africa -- a gig which will also have him starring with William Hurt.

The site had found out about the film back in February, through a discussion with the director. Travis said that it "is a true story set in South Africa about the secret talks that brought down the Apartheid regime, and it's a political thriller dealing with the politics of South Africa at that time, but it's equally a story about hope and about two men who hate each other at the beginning of the movie, because they're enemies, who basically have to learn to trust each other or otherwise, the future of their country is in jeopardy." Ejiofor will play President Thabo Mbeki, but there's no word on Hurt's role. I have a feeling he'll hit this gig out of the park.

When I first saw the headline, I thought Marc Forster was remaking the 1995 Pauly Shore classic. But no, fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your position), he is sticking to more serious fare. According to Variety, the director of such melodramatic films as Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland is now attached to an adaptation/remake of the British miniseries The Jury, which first aired in 2002. The original, written by The Queen's Peter Morgan and directed by Pete Travis, is about a murder trial involving a Sikh student charged with killing a classmate. Like a modern, more expansive version of 12 Angry Men, the miniseries focuses primarily on the members of the jury and the process through which they reach their verdict -- though apparently (I haven't seen the miniseries), The Jury bears no resemblance at all to Reginald Rose's play nor either of the films it spawned.

Rather than hiring Morgan to rewrite his own script -- the Oscar-nominee is pretty busy these days -- Fox 2000 has gone with Beau Willimon, who Forster himself recruited based on the playwright's well-received political drama Farragut North. While it seems that Willimon is inexperienced in writing for film, he presumably has a lot of time to work on The Jury, since Forster will next be directing the latest installment of the 007 franchise, tentatively known as "Bond 22". Whenever The Jury gets made, we should expect that it will follow in the tradition of other UK minis-turned-features like Traffic and the currently-in-production State of Play. It will probably have a cast of heavies and a lot of Oscar promise.

It has been over a year since anything solid has been heard about the political thriller Vantage Point. Plus, most people (myself included) probably missed the casting news about the film the first time around. But, here we are a year later, and Sony Pictures is hosting a full theatrical trailer. And, when I say full trailer, I really mean it, since it manages to give away some pretty crucial plot elements. The story centers on a political conspiracy involving Mexico and the U.S. and it unfolds "Rashomon-style" with the different people present at an assassination attempt, each providing their own version of the events. It looks like the trailer has been up and running on the film's official site for a little while now, but there is not much else on the site other than the chance to register for updates.

The film was directed by newcomer Pete Travis, who until now was working in television, and this is also the first feature for the film's screenwriter, Barry Levy. The all-star cast includes; William Hurt, Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, and Sigourney Weaver. With the film's political subject matter and heavy-hitting cast, it seemed like a prime release for the fall season. Instead, Vantage Point is set for release on February 15th, and will be competing for box-office against the family film, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and the sci-fi teen drama Jumper. But, it's not like they are going to be competing for the same audience anyway, so maybe Point has a shot at ruling the box office after all, at least for that week.