Time to play catch up with a couple of indie distribution deals that were completed during the past few days.

In the warm afterglow of Cannes, IFC Films acquired one more title to add to their stockpile, according to The Hollywood Reporter: Italian crime drama Gomorra. Directed by Matteo Garrone, the film is based on a best-selling book and follows five separate stories. "Set in the provinces around Naples," wrote our own James Rocchi, "Gomorra's a sweeping, stirring drama that has the shoot-and-loot tension of the best crime cinema but also has the scope and serious intent of great drama." Gomorra won the Grand Prix at Cannes, which is unofficially considered the "runner-up" prize. IFC plans a theatrical release and will also make it available day-and-date on its video-on-demand service; they are also seeking a cable TV deal of some sort.

Months after it debuted at Sundance, indieWIRE says that Sean McGinley's comedy-drama The Great Buck Howard has finally secured distribution from Magnolia Pictures. Cinematical's Scott Weinberg thought it "might be the most affectionate look back at old-school entertainment since Peter O'Toole boozed his way through My Favorite Year" and called it "a smoothly, strongly appealing comedy." Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt star as an ex-lawyer and a publicist, respectively, trying to help magician Malkovich make a comeback. Magnolia plans a fall theatrical release.

In The Great Buck Howard, Colin Hanks (King Kong, Orange County) plays the newly-hired road manager to the title mentalist and performer (played by John Malkovich); Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, Dan in Real Life) plays the publicist assigned to Buck's not-quite-comeback tour. Hanks and Blunt spoke with Cinematical at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival about working opposite Malkovich, the wonder and terror of show business, and the gap between their on-screen romantic scenes and the off-screen preparation for them. As Hanks explains, "At one point (The Great Buck Howard's writer-director Sean McGinley) had us rehearse (romantic scenes) on a dirty floor in an abandoned office, and I remember thinking 'Yeah, I don't know if this is going to do anything ... I don't know if this is going to help us.'"

This interview, like all of Cinematical's podcast offerings, is now available through iTunes; if you'd like, you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:

Ever since her star-making role as Meryl Streep's proudly ambitious assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, Emily Blunt has been very much in demand for both big studio and smaller independent pictures. Currently she's a Sundance darling, showcasing her work in two films playing at the festival: Sunshine Cleaning, in which she's teamed with Amy Adams as sisters who become crime scene cleaners, and The Great Buck Howard, in which she plays "a fiery publicist hired to stage the comeback of a lifetime," according to the program notes.

Now it looks like she's set to play the gal pal of a rather hirsute fellow. Back in December, Scott Weinberg first passed on a report that Ms. Blunt had been (almost) hired to play Benicio del Toro's girlfriend in Mark Romanek's version of The Wolf Man, based on a script by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven). MTV News spoke to her at Sundance, and she confirmed on Saturday that she has been cast and will begin filming in February.

I very much agree with Scott's description of Ms. Blunt as "mega-hot and seriously talented," and the romantic pairing of her with Mr. del Toro looks like a powder-keg of dynamite ready to explode. I look forward to witty banter being exchanged between the couple -- Emily with her pitch-perfect diction rolling bon mots off her tongue, as Benicio mumbles something incomprehensible in return. What a great contrast that will be when Benicio goes all lupine on her! Brilliant casting, I say. The only drag? We'll have to wait until February '09 to see the results.

Odds and ends from Tuesday:

• Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers has been selected to open the 19th Tokyo Film Festival, beginning October 21. The WWII epic is one of two films Eastwood is directing based on the famous battle for the island of Iwo Jima. Flags will be told from an American perspective, while Red Sun, Black Sand will be told from the Japanese POV. Of the 15 films screening for competition, only five were announced. They are: The Art of Crying (Peter Schonau Fog), The Exam (Pu Jian), Forgiveness (Udi Aloni) OSS 117, Cairo Nest of Spies (Michel Hazanavicius), and The Rocket (Charles Biname). Currently, no release date has been set for Red Sun. Flags of our Fathers will debut here in the States on October 20.
• Emily Blunt is saying goodbye to boring old Prada assistant and hello to super-stardom. The actress is in negotiations to star in The Great Buck Howard, alongside folks like Tom Hanks, John Malkovich and Colin Hanks. In the pic, a magician named Buck Howard (Malkovich) looks to revive his career when he takes on an assistant (Colin Hanks) fresh out of school. However, the assistant's father (Tom Hanks) isn't so crazy about his son's new job. That's right folks, real-life father and son will be playing father and son on screen for the first time. Oh joy! Can I get an 'awww' from the crowd? If Blunt signs on, she'll take on the role of Howard's self-assured publicist who is hired to promote a magic show that could potentially put our hero back on the map.
• Looks like someone doesn't want to pay the people responsible for getting him gigs. Variety reports Wesley Snipes is being sued by UTA (United Talent Agency) for over $1.49 million in commissions they claim were never paid. In 2002, the two parties apparently entered into an oral agreement in which Snipes agreed to shell out "10% on any gross sums or any other consideration" the actor received. Now, I'm no lawyer, but I can't imagine an oral agreement is as strong as, say, a signed contract. Seeing as this is ending (or beginning) with a lawsuit, I imagine Snipes has conveniently erased any and all oral agreements from his memory.

Well, this is odd - The Prestige hasn't even hit theaters, and yet there's another magician movie about to go into production. Based entirely on the news that The Great Buck Howard was just fully financed, it would be appear that magicians just might be Hollywood's next penguins (which works out remarkably well, given how similarly they dress and everything). Howard, based on a script by the film's director, Sean McGinly, is a comedy about a fading superstar magician who hires a new, eager assistant; understandably, the assistant's father is less than happy with his son's career choice.

Already cast as the assistant is Colin Hanks (who was inexplicably charming in the generally crappy Get Over It) and his father will be played by Forrest himself, Tom Hanks. Oh wait - I get it! It's his real dad! Playing his dad! Why, that's fantastically clever! Sigh. In negotiations to play the magician is Kevin Kline, whose presence would raise the film's potential rather dramatically - for some reason, the thought of him playing a washed-up and, presumably, grumpy magician makes me think of Soapdish, which is a very good thing.

The movie starts filming this summer in New York.