the industry

Spielberg Trying to Helm Helm

Secret-Agent Man: Steven Spielberg’s next film might be Matt Helm, a secret-agent flick based on a 27-book series written by Donald Hamilton and set during the Cold War. Helm was in development at Paramount and DreamWorks before the companies split, but is currently owned completely by Paramount; the studio, interested in launching a Helm franchise, must first decide if it’s willing to pay out the big bucks for Spielberg’s services. Weakening Spielberg’s position in the face-off? Brett Ratner is totally available. [Variety]

Prison Break: Paul Haggis will write and direct The Next Three Days, the adaptation of the French thriller Pour Elle, with Russell Crowe in negotiations to star. Crowe would play a man whose wife is arrested for a murder she claims she didn’t commit and who must figure out a way to break her out. He’s got, like, three days to do it, though, so it shouldn’t be that big a deal. [HR]

Playgirl?: Diane Keaton will star in a half-hour comedy for HBO as a feminist icon who tries to restart the movement by launching a sexually explicit magazine for women. Series creator Marti Noxon has some insights on the issue, thanks to the fact that her mother “came out as a radical feminist and a lesbian” when she was 12. One of those brilliant insights? “We’ve came a long way since the Kinsey report; women are more sexual now.” [HR]

Bourne-ing Around: Ron Howard will direct The Parsifal Mosaic, an adaptation of a non-Bourne Robert Ludlum book. The plot revolves around a CIA operative who thinks he witnessed the execution of his lover after she was outed as a KGB double agent. Also in the works: another Bourne movie, another non-Bourne Ludlum book adaptation, plus that Bourne rip-off Spielberg might do (see above). Hooray! [Variety]

Renner On: Jeremy Renner may join Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Affleck (also directing) on The Town. He would play a member of Ben Affleck’s character’s bank-robbing crew. We wonder which ex-president he’ll be? [HR]

Filed: House creator David Shore will oversee a remake of The Rockford Files for NBC. The original ran from 1974 to 1980 and starred James Garner as an ex-con turned private eye who lived in a trailer in Malibu. What’s not to like? [Variety]

Spielberg Trying to Helm Helm