Kristen Stewart Cast In Joan Jett Biopic

Kristen Stewart has been tapped to portray influential rock n' roll star Joan Jett in the upcoming biopic The Runaways, after the 1970's all-female band.

Written and slated to be directed by Italian music video director Floria Sigismondi, the pic will follow the rise and fall of the band that changed perceptions of how successful an all-girl hard rock band could be. Jett will executive produce, and the movie is looking at a 2009 start date that will work around the shooting of the Twilight sequels that Stewart is already attached to.

After the dissolution of the Runaways, Jett went on to form the Blackhearts and scored with hits such as "I Love Rock N' Roll" and "I Hate Myself For Loving You." She continues to record and tour today.

Stewart's been on my list of young guns to watch (and remains one of my favorite actors) since 2002's Panic Room, but it was the 2004 Showtime movie Speak where I really saw her come into her own as an actor. While I'm happy about the success of Twilight - and I'm not bashing the movie - but here's hoping that The Runaways will give her a little something more to do than pine whilst looking nauseous.

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Sneak A Peek At Season 5 Of Lost!

Check out the above video for a 2-minute sneak peek at the upcoming season of Lost. The two-hour season premiere will air on ABC on January 21, and it looks like the show is back up to its usual games of mystery and intrigue. The show is set to wrap up after the 2010 season, and anyone who's a big fan should head on over to Collider for a great transcript of an online roundtable with showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse (though be aware that there are major spoilers for people who haven't finished Season 4).

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Thor Closing In On Its Star?

IGN talked with Kevin McKidd at the premiere of Punisher: War Zone and the Rome and Journeyman actor confirmed that he's still in the running for the leading role. They reported earlier that McKidd had said Marvel was looking to cast him in a supporting role, leaving Thor's shoes to be filled by a younger actor, but it looks like things have changed. McKidd's done period work before, and done it well, so I think he'd be a good fit for the role (especially working with a director like Kenneth Branagh). But would Marvel trust the keys to one of their next big franchises in the hands of a non-A-lister? They do seem committed to a higher standard of quality for their films, though, so it doesn't seem unfeasible that they'll get whoever they think can play the role best. We'll keep our eyes out for more Thor updates and let you know how things unfold.

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Film Independent's Spirit Awards Nominations Are Out

December means the start of the awards season for Hollywood, and the nominations for the Spirit Awards are now up over at The Hollywood Reporter. Rachel Getting Married, Ballast, and Frozen River lead all nominees with six nominations apiece. All three were nominated for Best Feature, alongside Wendy and Lucy and The Wrestler. One notable film missing from the list of nominees is Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, which has been earning high marks from critics and doing strong business at the box office. Many more awards will be handed out before the February 21 broadcast of the Spirit Awards (taking place, as usual, the day before the Oscars inside a tent on the beach in Santa Monica), though, so Slumdog should be seeing some love from other groups at some point this month.

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Another Day, Another Bit Of Wolverine News

The upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine just can't seem to resist trickling out more and more details. Today we find some new pictures which you can check out in full over at Superhero Hype. The movie certainly looks like it'll be spanning a wide number of locations and possibly even time periods. Expect some more news or pictures being released in the coming days, leading up to the trailer's premiere in front of December 12th's The Day The Earth Stood Still.

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Guillermo Del Toro Stop-Motioning Some Witches?

We mentioned a few weeks ago that Guillermo del Toro was planning a full-length stop-motion film, and it looks like we may have the first details about that project. First, some background: A couple years back, it was reported that Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron were planning a collaborative adaptation of Road Dahl's "The Witches," with del Toro scripting and Cuaron possibly directing. The Dahl story was first adapted into a film in 1990 by Nicolas Roeg, starring Anjelica Huston. That version seemed to have been pretty well-received, although it did change bits of the story to make it more family-friendly, so a Cuaron-del Toro team up for a redo seemed like it had room to grow its own legs. But then, we didn't hear anything again for some time.

Now, Empire has scored a chat with Cuaron and broken the news that not only is the project still alive and well, but that del Toro has in fact already written a script and will be taking on directing duties. Cuaron will produce, and the article seems to imply that the newer take will be darker and more faithful to the original than Roeg's 1990 version. And all of it will be in glorious stop-motion animation! Can't wait to see how this one turns out, though who knows how long it will be until we see it given the sheer number of projects del Toro has taken on as of late. I was a big Roald Dahl fan as a kid, and was among those shocked (though not entirely unpleasantly) to learn of his much more graphic catalog of work geared towards adults. The Witches seems like one of those works that straddle a middle ground; it'll be interesting to see how it's brought to life.

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Shia LaBeouf Associating With John Grisham

Shia fans will have more than just the upcoming Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen to look forward to. Variety is reporting that Paramount Pictures has purchased the rights to John Grisham's new legal thriller, The Associate, and has tapped LaBeouf to star in the film. He will play a graduating law student who runs into trouble when he's manipulated into a job at a prestigious law firm handling a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. The book comes out in January.

This will be a nice chance to see LaBeouf in something other than a blockbuster. All gossip page chatter aside, I think he's actually quite a talented actor with a lot of room to grow (and possessing the unlikeliest leading man name). Hopefully this film finds him something meatier to chomp into than, say, explosions and giant robots (though I do enjoy explosions and giant robots).

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Updates From Nottingham

Nottingham, the re-telling of the Robin Hood story that Ridley Scott will be directing Russel Crowe in, has some new details. We had heard the story would find Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham as the same person, and now we're hearing more about how that will be done. In an interview with MTV, producer Brian Grazer let spill the details surrounding the character confusion. It's a bit of a spoiler in terms of how the movie will start, so those who don't want to know any plot points should go no further.

"Grazer said “The two role confusion is that what Robin Hood does is he sees Nottingham in battle very early in the movie and Nottingham dies. And Robin Hood takes over the identity of Nottingham. Thats how it plays out.” Grazer went on to call the film “an origin story” for the characters."

So there you have it. I'm always up for revisionist tellings of traditional tales, and with Hollywood pumping out so many remakes, I'd rather have it be a fresh take as opposed to just a new cast with shinier toys. And now the story just seems to be getting more and more interesting, and with Scott and Crowe involved, I'm expecting good things.

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Buscemi and Macdonald In Scorsese's HBO Drama Pilot?

Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald are in talks to join the cast of HBO's Martin Scorsese drama pilot Boardwalk Empire.

The pilot, written by Sopranos scribe Terence Winter, is based off of Nelson Johnson's book, which follows the rise of Atlantic City, N.J. in the 1920's. Buscemi would play Nucky Johnson, a businessman running a liquor distribution ring during the Prohibition era. Macdonald would play Margaret, an Irish immigrant who married the wrong man to leave her parent's house.

This looks like it could be interesting - Buscemi is always reliable and has been Emmy-nominated for his TV work before, through his guest stints on The Sopranos and 30 Rock; Kelly Macdonald was excellent in her Emmy-winning role in the HBO/BBC movie The Girl In The Cafe (definitely worth checking out) and has been gaining steam with her performances in No Country For Old Men and Choke. Plus, it's Scorsese. How could you not be at least a little intrigued?

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What Doesn't Kill You Trailer Hits

The trailer for the Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke crime drama What Doesn't Kill You has hit the nets.

The buzz for this one has been overwhelmingly positive, with critics placing it in the The Departed and Gone Baby Gone echelon of excellent Boston crime dramas. The film is based off the life of first-time writer/director and ex-con Brian Goodman, and follows two childhood friends from the rough streets of South Boston as they try to make their living without landing in jail. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and has many a reviewer calling it the best performances of both Ruffalo and Hawkes' respective careers - high praise, considering some of the work these actors have done in the past. Oscar buzz has been minimal thus far, but distributor Yari Film Group is just ramping up its campaign.

Oscar buzz or not, I'm excited to see it. The film co-stars Amanda Peet and opens in limited release on December 12th.

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First Image of Wolverine's Gambit Online!

The first picture of Gambit from Wolverine has been scanned in from the Empire article.

I've always loved Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, a character who was always going to be tough to nail in a live action adaptation, and I think Friday Night Lights alumni Taylor Kitsch LOOKS great as Gambit, both from the image here and his short appearance in the Comic Con footage that leaked back in the summer. The character has always been a fan favorite so I hope he gets it right in the performance, too - though I have infinite faith in my boy Tim Riggins!

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Four Christmases Wraps Up Weekend Box Office

The Vince Vaughn-Reese Witherspoon holiday comedy Four Christmases debuted at the number 1 spot over the Thanksgiving weekend, raking in a healthy $46.7 million over the five-day weekend.

Christmases grossed $31.6 million over the Friday-Sunday frame, while Baz Luhrmann's highly anticipated epic Australia opened at number 5 with $14.6 million from Friday-Sunday and $20 million over the full five days. Transporter 3, the other big opener this weekend, finished with the number 7 spot and $18.5 million from Wednesday through Sunday.

Disney's Bolt actually saw a 1% growth from last weekend, finishing very strongly at number 2 with $36 million for five days and $26.6 million for the weekend. Twilight easily crossed the $100 million mark with $39.5 million for five days and $26.4 million for the three days, winning the number 3 spot and a cumulative $119.6 million, but saw a 62% drop-off from last weekend.

Gus Van Sant's indie biopic Milk, starring Sean Penn, bowed with a healthy $1.38 million across 36 screens, and Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire continued to perform well with $1.36 million across 49 screens.

Box Office Mojo has the full weekend chart here.

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