the industry

MTV to Remake, Desecrate Teen Wolf

Scott Howard Car Surfs Again: MTV has ordered a pilot presentation of its Teen Wolf remake, a project first announced in January. As could be expected, it sounds like they’re trying to make it palatable to Twilight fans — according to MTV’s Liz Gateley, the update will be a “dramatic thriller” centered around two semipopular friends (one of whom is a teen wolf, of course) and will feature a romance. We were all set to ineffectually rage against such sacrilege, but really, this is the only thing that’s going to get us to watch MTV again. [HR]

Keanu’s Crime: Keanu Reeves will star in Henry’s Crime, a romantic comedy scripted by Anvil! The Story of Anvil’s Sacha Gervasi. It will also be the first production under Company Films, the firm Reeves runs with Stephen Hamel. Reeves will play a generous man wrongly accused of robbing a bank in Buffalo. The movie will mark Keanu’s highly anticipated return to comedy, which he hasn’t done since either 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give or 2006’s The Lake House. [Variety]

De Mornay — On Fire: Rebecca De Mornay will star as the villain in Mother’s Day, a remake of the 1980 Troma cult classic. In the update, De Mornay plays the matriarch, known only as Mother, of a deranged family that returns to the house they grew up in to torture its current residents. And if you don’t think director Darren Lynn Bousman is excited, you don’t know Darren Lynn Bousman: “Every time you look at [Rebecca], she is on fire, and to take her to this level, which is like her role in Hand That Rocks the Cradle times a thousand, is exciting.” [HR]

More Words: We suppose this was inevitable: Showtime has green-lighted nine episodes of The Real L Word: Los Angeles, which is exactly what it sounds like. The L Word creator Ilene Chaiken is exec-producing, saying, “Even though we concluded our sixth season of The L Word on Showtime this past March, I believe we are not nearly finished telling our L Word stories.” ”Also,” she did not add, “I am totally out of ideas.” [Variety]

Mega Millions: Brandon T. Jackson and Natari Naughton have joined the cast of Lottery Ticket, a comedy directed by music-video vet Erik White, who is making his feature debut. The film stars Bow Wow as a dude trying to make it through a weekend in the projects while holding on to a winning lottery ticket; Jackson and Naughton play his helpful buddies, and Ice Cube is involved somewhere as well. [Variety]

Fantastic III: Producer Akiva Goldsman is overseeing a reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise, which will presumably not bring back any of the previous cast members or the director, though no decisions have yet been made. Michael Green (Heroes, Green Lantern) is writing the script. Why? Because apparently Fox holds the rights to Fantastic Four in perpetuity (as it does with X-Men, Silver Surfer, and Daredevil), but only for as long as they continue making adaptations, after which they’ll go to Disney, which bought Marvel yesterday. Better clear out more space on your misbegotten-comic-book-movie DVD shelf! [Variety]

MTV to Remake, Desecrate Teen Wolf