It might seem like Maria Bello is a strange replacement for Maggie Gyllenhaal. She might not be the last person I'd pick to take over (that honor might go to someone like, say, Jessica Simpson), but she's also not someone I would think of. However, it completely fits in this case. Gyllenhaal was set to have a small, flashback role in the upcoming adaptation, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. She was going to play the title character's mother in the flashbacks. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that Bello is in final negotiations to take over the role, as Gyllenhaal backed out due to changes in scheduling.

Considering the fact that Pippa Lee is being played by Robin Wright Penn, Bello is a great fit. She looks more like the other actress, and is a bit easier to buy as a relative. As for Gyllenhaal -- the scheduling doesn't interfere with other work, but rather, her family time. She's chosen to spend this time with husband Peter Sarsgaard and their child while he films that lascivious UK movie, An Education. Or, maybe she's just keeping an eye on things to make sure that sexual education doesn't jump off the set? (I kid!)

You might remember that back in October, a new project started to gear up called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Based on Arthur Miller offspring Rebecca Miller's upcoming novel (that she adapted and will direct), the pic will focus on "a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown."

I was ouching just at the thought of sensual exploration leading to a nervous breakdown, but now I have two reasons: along with the added cast just posted by The Hollywood Reporter, it's been confirmed that Robin Wright Penn is the wife, and Winona Ryder is the younger woman. For frak's sake, there's only a handful of years between the two women. Are they planning to age Wright Penn, or do they just think she looks that much older?

Anyway, adding to the tasty cast is Keanu Reeves, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alan Arkin, and Monica Bellucci. Arkin will, of course, play the husband who leaves Wright Penn in the dust, and Bellucci will play his first wife -- so he's a dude who loves those May-December romances. Gyllenhaal will get the honor of appearing in flashbacks as Pippa Lee's "diet pill-addicted mother." Julianne Moore is some "lesbian novelist." And finally, Reeves gets to explore Wright Penn's sexuality. Now it all makes sense -- fool around with Keanu and you'll go crazy!

Once everyone finishes up their current gigs, production will kick into gear this April in Connecticut.

When Brad Pitt ditched his starring role in State of Play last Wednesday, it seemed like for once a production was hitting snags that have nothing to do with the writer's strike. Not true; it turns out Pitt's departure was due to a script problem, specifically that Pitt thinks it needs some more work and Universal disagrees, and so State of Play has become yet another victim of the strike. But unlike other strike-affected movies, such as Pinkville and Shantaram, State of Play may not be going into a development hibernation. According to Variety, Universal is attempting to woo Russell Crowe to fill Pitt's shoes and keep the movie on track. Crowe would have to make sure he can squeeze this film in before his March start on Ridley Scott's Nottingham, while the studio would have to make sure that Crowe doesn't mind problem scripts. If the actor doesn't get cast, though, Variety points out that both Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp seem to be available thanks to the strike (same goes for Bruce Willis I think).

Obviously, Universal is hoping to get this movie made no matter what, because it needs to have something in the can once the strike has left us with a release void. Yet despite the strength of its cast, which includes Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman, the studio has to understand that if the script is problematic, the outcome may be a disappointment. It's worth pointing out that the plot of State of Play, which deals with politics and journalism, sounds superficially like the recent remake of All the King's Men, which had a stellar ensemble yet failed anyway. State and Play may be nothing like that film, but regardless it does remind me enough to foresee a failure. Anyway, we should hear definite word on whether or not Crowe takes the part early this week. We should also hear definite word, though probably not this week, on whether or not Universal plans to sue Pitt over his exit. The case will certainly be interesting to follow, because it could change the way in which Hollywood deals with A-list talent and pay-or-play contracts.

Three of Hollywood's most beautiful and talented actresses -- Winona Ryder, Robin Wright Penn, and Julianne Moore -- are teaming up for a comedy/drama called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. That title makes it sound like a sitcom doesn't it? According to Variety, the story "centers on a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown." Explore her buried sensuality? OK, now this sounds like something you'd see on Cinemax.

Rebecca Miller will direct the film, which will be adapted from her upcoming novel of the same name. The book's release date is listed as October 5th, 2008, and filming is scheduled to start this April. Maybe they're going for a simultaneous release? Miller also wrote and directed The Ballad of Jack and Rose and co-wrote the snoozefest Proof, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow. The Variety article doesn't give many plot specifics, but I'd imagine Ryder plays the younger woman and Moore's the one having the "very quiet nervous breakdown?" And perhaps she "explores her buried sensuality" with Penn? Wishful thinking? Here's hoping Ryder is bringing up the comedy side, I thought she was hilarious in The Ten.

With the men in place -- Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Jason Bateman (who was added just the other day) -- State of Play has finally gotten to its female stars. They are: Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, and Robin Wright Penn. How do they fit in? Well, as you might remember, Play is about a congressman (Norton) whose lover is murdered, and a newspaper that is investigating the story. McAdams is the "reporter in the middle of a career-making story," Mirren will be her "steely editor" (played in the original miniseries by Bill Nighy), and finally, Wright Penn will be the congressman's estranged wife. Pitt is an ex-campaign manager for Norton's character who leads the investigation, and Bateman is a fellow lead reporter.

I think it's a pretty safe bet that this will do well -- it's a great cast without being so star-studded that it drowns in its own celebrity. Step by step, Rachel McAdams is solidifying her spot in fame -- and it's surprising to see just how few big films she's been in. Instead of just picking whatever (as seems to be Bateman's plan), she's been spacing out the work and selecting certain roles, which seem to be paying off. Next up for her: a period drama called Married Life. Helen Mirren, well, she's been taking the world by storm lately, and proving that women shouldn't be put out to pasture after hitting 40 or 50 -- even though, for some reason, she decided to take part in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. And finally, there's Robin Wright Penn, who has kept under the radar for the most part, but selects a pretty varied collection of films from The Singing Detective to Hounddog. In less than two months, we'll see her in Beowulf.

Okay, you twisted my arm -- I'll see the movie. Actually, I was planning on seeing it anyway -- I'm intrigued by how Robert Zemeckis keeps inching forward in his quest for photo-realism in the CG world. The Holy Grail of that being, obviously, faces. The faces of the characters in The Polar Express were aptly described by some as being like 'death masks' which probably frightened little kids more than wowed them, but you can't make an omelet, right? Based on the little bit I've seen of Beowulf -- on a small computer screen, mind you -- it looks like Zemeckis is still wrestling with that same problem. The faces don't seem to have a lot of life in them, but maybe it's such a technical challenge that inching forward a little bit at a time is the only way to go. Zemeckis, has, however, found a good trick for misdirecting us away from the faces -- shots of Angelina Jolie's naked breasts. The international trailer for Beowulf is being hosted over at ComingSoon.net, and it's mostly the same as the other trailer we recently saw, except that this one has a shot of Angelina from behind, a couple of her from the side and one of her straight-on naked from the belly-button up.

Speaking of Angelina, someone really needs to talk to her about the accents, because the voice she's sporting in this film seems like Dracula again, which is exactly what we heard in Alexander and even a bit in A Mighty Heart. When I spoke with her at the press day for Heart she talked about working with a voice coach and how some accents were more challenging than others, and I have no doubt she's talented enough to broaden her accent range, but she probably needs someone to tell her that it's necessary. We've heard Transylvanian Jolie -- let's hear something else.

After reading the ancient tale of Beowulf in school, let's just say that the old line from Annie Hall pretty much sums it up for me. So, the new animated film from Robert Zemeckis doesn't have to do much to improve my opinion. The Dutch film site Film Focus now has a first look at the billboard and three posters for the film. But, unfortunately there is not all that much to see. Although even I can recognize Angelina Jolie at 20 paces -- plus the pose seemed to have a touch of Tomb Raider. Based on the medieval epic about a warrior king, the film has an all-star cast that includes Ray Winstone as the warrior Beowulf, Robin Wright Penn, John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins, and Crispin Glover as the monster Grendel. The script was written by author Neil Gaiman who definitely knows his way around a mythical battle.

Zemeckis seems to have been bitten by the animation bug in general, having just set up an animation shop at Disney for a series of animated family films that will probably be a little more kid-friendly than what he has in store for Beowulf -- Grendel's looking pretty creepy and Jolie's curves seem to be venturing into Jessica Rabbit territory. The 3-D film was set to premiere at the Venice film festival before WB announced that they were bowing out of the festival because the film was not finished yet. Hopefully Zemeckis can keep the film on track for release on November 16th as promised.

[via Ain't it Cool News]

Looking over Robert De Niro's last several films, it's easy to say "Man, what just happened?" However, knowing he's re-teaming with director Barry Levinson (Wag the Dog) on an adaptation of Art Linson's very funny memoir (What Just Happened?) is enough for this writer to, finally, throw a little excitement behind an upcoming De Niro film. Joining an already fantastic cast are Catherine Keener and Robin Wright Penn; the two females will star alongside folks like Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart and De Niro. Also, Bruce Willis and Sean Penn will make an appearance as themselves.

The film (and book) revolve around a fading Hollywood producer (De Niro) who's struggling to get a movie made, while doing his best to survive the absurd Hollywood politics that surround his every move. Keener and Wright Penn will play the two women in De Niro's life; the latter will take on the role of his ex-wife, while the former will play a studio head with whom our producer is courting. Shooting is scheduled to begin this week in -- where else -- La La Land. "Inside Hollywood" films are often a tough sell because the majority of people out there don't work in Hollywood, and don't get the jokes ... nor do they care. Instead of watching a screenwriter complain about how many drafts he's contracted to write, folks would rather the character throw a script across the room ... only to watch all 100 pages smack an unsuspected visitor upside the head. Needless to say, if Levinson and De Niro can capture a little (or a lot) of Wag the Dog in this film, then we're in store for the type of comedy that desperately needs to make its way back onto the big screen.

This film is instantly recognizable as an Anthony Minghella film in one respect -- it centers on characters who are pathologically determined to sweep something under the carpet, even if they have to stomp up and down on that 'something' to keep it under there. Like his brilliant Hitchcock-opera, The Talented Mr. Ripley, which never used the word 'gay,' no matter how many bodies stacked up like cordwood at the expense of Ripley's psychotic self-denial, Breaking and Entering centers on an up-market London couple -- the wife is so up-market she's 'half-Swedish' -- who also suffer greatly for having no 'word' that sheds light on their dilemma. Robin Wright Penn and Jude Law play the possibly un-proud parents of a high-functioning autistic child who is aggressively weird, excels at a flip-heavy style of gymnastics and knows that she will never, under any circumstances, be disciplined by her happening liberal parents, even when she throws things. They are resigned to just sit and age at an accelerated rate while she backflips across the kitchen table.

The impossible situation at home leads Jude Law's character to grab at a hobby when one is dangled in front of him. As a city planner, he has boldly moved his family to King's Cross, an urban location that passes for 'inner city' in London. He plans to sweep it into the 21st century with an expensive-looking urban renewal plan. Soon, his office becomes the repeated target of a gang of professional burglars who take everything not nailed down, right down to his little toy-soldier men on special order from Japan, that he uses as stand-ins for people in his scale model of the future, burglar-free King's Cross. Unable to accept the irony, Jude begins an amateur stakeout routine, waiting around outside his office at night in an SUV for the thieves to materialize, so he can accost them. It's somewhere around this point that the screenplay begins to drag the characters into directions they would never go, and towards people they would never interact with, so they can ultimately make decisions they would never make.

The New York Times reported yesterday on a series of short films being produced by Glamour (gotta love that British spelling) magazine, based on "true stories" submitted by readers, "by and about women." Aw. The series -- financed entirely by Cartier, to the tune of about $2 million -- is called "Reel Moments" (Did I mention "aw"?), and will actually have a 10-city theatrical run starting in October, in addition to being available on the magazine's website.

In an effort to increase the profile of the series, Glamour has signed some notable female names to direct, among them Jennifer Aniston and Bryce Dallas Howard; Robin Wright Penn and Jamie-Lynn Sigler will star in two of the films, and both will appear for free. Aniston in particular is excited about the opportunity, and the fact that so many women are involved. Though not "a bleeding-heart anything," she wants us all to know that she thinks more women should be directing. Because, she says, "I think I like women. I support women." Good to know, Jen. Thanks for sharing.

Profits from the films, such as they are, will be donated in part to FilmAid International, "a nonprofit group that introduces women in underdeveloped countries to film."

[Edited 8/2 to correct the names; thanks, Stu.]