Si!: Will Ferrell will star in the Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre (“House of My Father” in English). Yes, the movie — produced by Ferrell and his Gary Sanchez production company — will really be in Spanish with English subtitles. “We are just thrilled he is on board and are moving full steam ahead since we have one month to teach him Spanish,” producer Darlene Caamano Loquet said. [Risky Business/HR]
Two More Enter Dragon: Robin Wright and Stellan Skarsgard are both in negotiations to star in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher’s adaptation of the Stieg Larsson novel. Wright would play Erika Berger, publisher of fashion magazine Millennium and “occasional lover” of journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig). Skarsgard would play Martin Vanger, a suspect in the disappearance of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, we still await the appearance of the actress who will play the titular Girl. [Deadline, Variety]
Trio Detaches: William Petersen (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), and Lucy Liu have joined the indie drama Detachment, which also will star Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, James Caan, and Marcia Gay Harden. Directed by Tony Kaye, the film centers on a “normally detached substitute teacher” (Brody) who becomes invested in the community at his “troubled school” and grows close to a homeless teen working as a prostitute. Peterson will play a Vietnam vet teaching history, Hendricks will play a teacher and potential love interest for Brody, and Liu will play a school psychologist. Sounds a lot like Half Nelson but with a teenage prostitute and Joan Holloway. [HR]
Sparks Fly: After a spirited bidding war, Relativity has acquired the rights to Nicholas Sparks’s upcoming novel Safe Haven. The book is said to revolve around “a young North Carolina woman determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships. As she begins to fall in love, she struggles with a dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her.” You can count on lots of kisses in the rain, handwritten letters, and old-fashion parents. [HR]
In the Rough: Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) will be starring in From the Rough, a story inspired by Dr. Catana Starks, the first female head coach of a NCAA Division 1 men’s team. Henson will play a fictionalized version of Starks named Cassandra Turner, a woman who “parlays a successful stint as coach of the women’s swim team at a historically black college into a shot at building the men’s golf team.” [HR]
Traveling Pants: MTV has given the green light to I Just Want My Pants Back, a drama pilot based on David Rosen’s book that will be directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity). The “youthful romantic dramedy” is set in New York and centers on a 22-year-old and his friends who “grapple with dating, romance and becoming adults.” So Liman has journeyed from a project about a guy who wakes up with no memory of his entire life to one about a guy who wakes up with no memory of the previous night. [Deadline]
