the industry

Rosie Perez, Craig Ferguson, and Arsenio Hall to Play Crayons

We Colored This City: The most famous people starring in any of today’s announced projects are Rosie Perez, Craig Ferguson and Arsenio Hall, who’ve just joined the all C-list cast of The Hero of Color City, a CG-animated feature about a group of crayons fighting to save their city. Exodus Films (Igor) will produce and has already partnered with Simon & Schuster to publish a series of kids’ books around the film. [Variety]

Pitt’s Dreams: Paramount is set to tell the story of Linda Trest, a Missouri reporter who helped uncover a con man impersonating a cop. An unemployed trucker, Bill Jakob, was helping cops make drug busts in a meth-addled Missouri town when Trest outed him as the con man he was. Brad Pitt’s Plan B is producing in a clear sign that Pitt is still kicking himself every day for devoting his life to a frivolous profession like movie stardom, instead of a more noble one like journalism. [HR]

A Blast: The Discovery Channel has given the green light to a thirteen-episode series that spotlights demolition blasts around the world and explains the science behind them. The Detonators will focus on two experts who introduce viewers to the blasters behind the demos and give a behind-the-scenes look. Things to be blown up include urban skyscrapers, massive steel bridges, giant stadiums and your head. [HR]

The Butler’s Tale: Columbia Pictures has picked up the rights to a Washington Post article that tells the story of Eugene Allen, a black butler who worked in the White House for 34 years. Allen began as a pantry man in 1952 when the country was still rife with racism and served until 1986, befriending presidents along the way. In the article, Allen and his wife are awed that a black man could be elected president. You know what? Read it. We dare you not to cry. [HR]

Unlikely Partners: Robert Schwentke is set to direct New Line thriller Venus Fixer. Schwentke’s credits include Flight Plan and the upcoming Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana lovefest The Time Traveler’s Wife. Venus Fixer is based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor who works for the American military to track a serial killer in postwar Berlin. His partner is a German cop he’d been friends with before the war. Think of it as a more somber Bad Boys. [Variety]

Who’s Looking Out for You?: The true story of Collene Campbell is coming to the big screen, thanks to a deal with the Collective and Three Friends Productions. The film will tell the story of how Campbell dealt with the murder of her son, brother, and sister-in-law by devoting her life to the fight for a Victims’ Bill of Rights. Her dream came true earlier this month when California passed Proposition 9. Now she’s to be given an “Erin Brockovich–style movie,” only with considerably less cleavage, presumably. [HR]

Rosie Perez, Craig Ferguson, and Arsenio Hall to Play Crayons