Officer Statham: Jason Statham will star in Blitz, reuniting the actor with Lionsgate UK, the production company behind The Bank Job. He’ll play a no-B.S. cop tasked with tracking down a serial killer targeting police officers. And, for once, we are actually disappointed this is not a dubious adaptation of no-narrative-having source material. [Variety]
Dr. Death: Susan Sarandon and John Goodman are joining the cast of HBO’s Al Pacino–starring Kevorkian flick You Don’t Know Jack. Goodman will play Neal Nicol, a medically trained lab technician who assisted Kevorkian multiple times, and Sarandon will play Janet Good, an activist with the Hemlock Society who is one of Kevorkian’s staunchest supporters and, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, one of his patients. By the way, good morning! [THR]
To the Max: Joe Roth will produce a Max Steel movie for Paramount Pictures. Steel, a Mattel action figure introduced in 1999, is a 19-year-old extreme sports athlete who is made superhuman after being infected by nanobots and is then recruited as a spy by a secret agency. Apparently Steel is successful in the U.S., but is truly a hit in Latin America, where Mattel has flooded the market with straight-to-DVD animated features. So, basically, Steel is the Morrissey of action figures. [Variety]
Barking Crime: Hong Kong Phooey, a seventies Hanna-Barbera cartoon featuring a dog whose job as a police station janitor conceals his true identity as a blundering crime fighter, is getting a live-action/CGI remake, with Family Guy’s David Goodman writing the screenplay. According to Wikipedia, “Although Phooey appears to be the only anthropomorphic dog in the entire city where the series is set, no one ever connects his two identities.” [THR]
Praise Showtime: Six Feet Under producer David Janollari and Dirty Sexy Money creator Craig Wright are teaming up on Revelation for Showtime. The series concerns an unconventional minister who moves to a Texas church with his two teenage children after his wife dies. Wright, a former minister, will provide that behind-the-pulpit voice that has so long been missing from television. [Variety]
Keith Lives Life: Toby Keith’s next album American Life is half done (the title track is already charting on Hot Country Songs) and will be out in the fall. It’ll feature ballads, truck-driving songs, and a Wayman Tisdale tribute, and will be followed by Keith’s first ever tour of Europe where, according to Toby, “They like beer. They like a good time. They like to kick back and do what they do, so there’s no difference.” [Billboard]
