the industry

Tom Hanks, Reporting for Duty

Major Tom Hanks: Mattel is getting in on Hasbro’s toy-line-to-movie adaptation action: Major Matt Mason, an action figure retired in the seventies, is being developed as a Tom Hanks vehicle. Mason, an astronaut that lived in the space station, was a popular tie-in to the pre-moon-mission hype and, apparently, a big part of Hanks’s youth: the actor came to the pitch meeting with a bunch of his old Mason dolls. New surefire movie-pitch strategy: discover the obscure beloved childhood toys of Hollywood stars; suggest big-screen adaptation. [Variety]

Buds: The HBO movie The Special Relationship — about that everlasting bond between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair — will star Dennis Quaid as the former prez, Julianne Moore as Hillary, and Michael Sheen, for the third time after The Deal and The Queen, as Blair. It’ll mark the directorial debut of Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan, who also wrote this screenplay. Sounds like a solid cast, although it could all go wrong with a few aging-makeup miscues. [HR]

Ginsberg v. Ginsberg: Jon Hamm has joined the cast of the indie Allen Ginsberg flick Howl, revolving around the obscenity trial that stemmed from the titular Ginsberg poem. It’ll feature Hamm as defense attorney Jake Ehrlich, the real-life inspiration for Perry Mason (eh, what?). For the record, this is not that Jesse Eisenberg–Allen Ginsberg movie; this one stars James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, and a bunch of other people, and has been around longer. Indie Allen Ginsberg movie fight! [Variety]

Ginsberg v. Ginsberg: Jon Hamm has joined the cast of the indie Allen Ginsberg flick Howl, revolving around the obscenity trial that stemmed from the titular Ginsberg poem. It’ll feature Hamm as defense attorney Jake Ehrlich, the real-life inspiration for Perry Mason (eh, what?). For the record, this is not that Jesse Eisenberg–Allen Ginsberg movie; this one stars James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, and a bunch of other people, and has been around longer. Indie Allen Ginsberg movie fight! [Variety]

Love Story: Robert Pattinson is in talks for Memoirs, another romantic drama from his Twilight studio, Summit. Originally written by Will Fetters and now getting that Hollywood rewrite magic from Rachel Getting Married’s Jenny Lumet, the movie revolves around a new relationship that is threatened as both partners deal with family tragedies. Also, just to be safe, Robert Pattinson’s gonna play a vampire in this one, too. [HR]

Pinto in Gear: Freida Pinto has signed on for Julian Schnabel’s Israeli-Palestinian conflict film Miral. The film tells the story of Hind Hussein (to be played by Palestinian actress Hiam Abbas), a woman that founded an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 creation of Israel. It’s unknown who Pinto will be playing, although we feel it’s a safe bet it won’t be Hussein’s quirky, no-man-having, relationship-advice-toting best friend. [Variety]

Tom Hanks, Reporting for Duty