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Bit by very slow bit, we're learning more about Roman Polanski's next film. Current legal woes might have him occupied, but the world of casting moves on. Variety reports that Tom Wilkinson and Jim Belushi are rounding out the cast of the director's next film, The Ghost.

The feature (previously covered here and here) follows an ex-British Prime Minister who shacks up on an island and writes a memoir while his aide drowns, "triggering political and sexual intrigue." At one time, it was going to be Brosnan as the ex PM, and Cage as the writer. Now, things have changed, and Variety notes that the cast consists of Wilkinson and Belushi, plus Kim Cattrall, Ewan McGregor, and Olivia Williams. I imagine that Ewan is taking over the writerly gig, but it still sucks -- it would've been nice to see Cage putting aside his action and getting creative once again. I guess we'll still have to wait.

Nevertheless, Polanski's film should prove intriguing. Production begins next month in Berlin. Think Polanski will have his legal issues figured out by then?

It was just last year that Christopher brought us the news that Roman Polanski had selected Richard Harris' novel, The Ghost, as his next big film project. So even though it took some time to get name actors to sign on the dotted line, the wait is over now that MTV reports that Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage will star in the political drama.

Ghost is the story of a writer hired to complete an autobiography of a soon-to-be ex-Prime Minister (with Brosnan playing the PM, and Cage as the writer). Through the course of the interviews, the ghostwriter uncovers some troubling secrets from the Minister's past that put our writer friend in some high-stakes danger. Rumor has it the original idea for the book was loosely based on former PM Tony Blair, but I would assume that any similarities were kept well in the realm of fiction.

I was pretty bummed when Roman Polanski ditched Pompeii, his planned epic about the city buried by a volcano in the 1st century CE. Fortunately, the Oscar-winning director of The Pianist has found another project to move ahead with. According to Variety, Polanski will next film an adaptation of Robert Harris' new novel, The Ghost. Presumably a much smaller film than Pompeii, which was also to be based on one of Harris' novels, The Ghost will center on a ghostwriter penning the memoirs of a former British prime minister. While working on the book, the guy uncovers secrets "that put his own life in jeopardy." Polanski said this is the political thriller he's been looking to direct for awhile, pointing out that the novel is full of suspense. Harris, however, makes it sound a little more quiet; he admitted the book mostly takes place in an oceanfront house during the middle of the winter, although he said this is "classic Polanski territory."

In many ways, this sounds like just another conspiracy movie, but I assume it won't be so simple coming from both Harris, who also wrote Fatherland and Enigma, and Polanski, who has made a career out of directing better-than-average thrillers. According to the synopsis in the book's Publishers Weekly review, The Ghost deals with more topical themes, such as al-Qaeda, and the former prime minister is described as being clearly modeled after Tony Blair. The review also mentions the book's cynical tone and gallows humor, which I hope translates well to the film version. The adaptation will be written by both Harris and Polanski and will be produced by The Pianist's Robert Benmussa and Alain Sarde. They expect to begin filming next fall.