FILM NEWS: New Transformers Actress, Justin Bieber's 1st Role, Three Musketeers Cast, and more

• For all of you haters who knocked Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It, brace yourselves cause you'll never believe what she's directing next. She's rumored to be interested in directing Surrender Dorothy, the sequel to The Wizard of Oz. "The story follows the great, great granddaughter of Dorothy who has learned to use the power of the magic slippers to keep the Wicked Witch of the West from taking control of not just Oz but Earth as well." Funny thing is, that's not the only Oz-related film that's in the works. Robert Downey Jr. is rumored to be attached to star in Oz The Great and Powerful, which will focus on the wizard himself.

• Shia Labeouf is one lucky bastard. With Megan Fox dropping out (or getting kicked off) of Transformers 3, Michael Bay is on the hunt for a new fiery vixen. In the lead is the current Hollywood beauty Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia), and filling out the list are models Brooklyn Decker (tennis champ Andy Roddick's wife), Bar Rafaeli (Leonardo DiCaprio's girlfriend), and Miranda Kerr (Orlando Bloom's girlfriend). So basically, no acting experience is either required or expected. I wonder if they have more pull depending on who they're sleeping with. If so, Rafaeli's got it in the bag.

• In other Transformers 3 casting news, McDreamy, I mean Patrick Dempsey, is rumored to be playing a villain. I don't think I can take him seriously with that hair.

• It would seem that Zoe Saldana has found a comfortable niche. After Star Trek, Avatar, and The Losers, she's signed on for yet another action film—this time, in the lead role. She'll star in Luc Besson's "drama" Columbiana, which is about a "stone-cold assassin who commits contract killings for her uncle's company by day. On her time off though, she commits vigilante murders in the hope of finding the mobster responsible for her parents' murder which she witnessed as a child in Bogota, Columbia." It could be the turning point for her—moving from "main hot girl" to leading lady.

• Looks like Gary Marshall is trying to insert a teen plot into New Years' Eve, the upcoming semi-sequel to Valentine's Day, by adding none other than teen sensation Justin Bieber. Given that the film is set to premiere in December 2011, I find it hard to believe that we'll all still be in a Bieber trance a year and a half from now. Dear God, I hope not.

• They've already assembled the cast of the Three Musketeers remake. The heroes will be played by Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) as D'Artagnan, Ray Stevenson (The Book of Eli) as Porthos, Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) as Athos, and Matthew Macfadyen (Pride & Prejudice) as Aramis. Joining them as the villains are Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) as Cardinal Richelieu, Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale) as Rochefort and Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) as Athos' former flame Milady de Winter. Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean) is also in negotiations to play the Duke of Buckingham but hasn't been confirmed yet, and Juno Temple (Year One) is in negotiations to play the Royal Highness.

• There's going to be a remake of the 1985 cult classic Fright Night and you'll never guess who's staring in it. "The story follows Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), a young man who is convinced his new neighbor Jerry Dandrige (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. [Toni] Collette will play Yelchin's mom, who at first disapproves of the new arrival but changes her attitude when she meets the magnetic man and doesn't believe her son." Yelchin, Collette, and Farrell—what a strange, yet intriguing, mix.


• While we're on the subject of Farrell stepping out of his brooding-action-badass comfort zone, he's also signed on to play a jerk in the upcoming Seth Gordon comedy Horrible Bosses, alongside Jason Bateman, Jamie Foxx, and Jennifer Aniston. The film is about three friends who conspire to murder their awful bosses. "The three bosses include a master manipulator, a sexually aggressive dentist (Aniston), and a weaselly scion (Farrell). Bateman plays a hard worker who gets passed over for a promotion. Charlie Day's ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") character, who works for Aniston, plays a guy who gets innocently caught in the worst possible places and times." We know Farrell can do dark comedy (In Bruges), but we'll soon find out if he can do commercial comedy.

• Jessica Biel will be getting another shot at impressing the masses in a period piece when she stars alongside Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) in the romantic biopic Vivaldi as his protege singer and muse.

• Channing Tatum is going back to comedies again, taking a supporting role in Vince Vaughn and Kevin James' next film Cheaters. He'll play Winona Ryder's tattooed-and-pierced lover, who's putting a crimp in James' marriage. Tatum is also dipping his toe back into Oscar-worthy dramas, starring in What's Left of Us, an adaptation of Richie Farrell's drug detox novel High on Crack Street.

• They've filled out the cast of Scream 4. While the original actors Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox have already signed on, the producers needed to find some young blood to attract a new audience. Ashley Greene (Twilight) will play Campbell’s cousin Jill who'll be the heroine of the movie. Hayden Panettiere ("Heroes") will play her best friend and the Randy/film geek of the movie. Lake Bell ("How to Make It in America" and What Happens in Vegas) plays a police officer who knew Sidney (Campbell) in high school. And Rory Culkin (i.e. the hot Culkin brother) will play a potential love interest for Jill.

• They're remaking Judge Dredd (in 3D of course). It'll ignore Sylvester Stallone's 1995 version and go back to the comic book's premise and style.

• Every now and then something cool comes out of net-wide appreciation. French filmmaker Patrick Jean's semi-animated short Pixels swept the web earlier this month, featuring several 1980s video game characters (Donkey Kong, Tetris, Space Invaers, Frogger, and Pac-Man), transforming everything in the world into pixelated video game versions. It's really cool, and apparently Adam Sandler thought so too, since his production company is planning to turn it into a feature film along the lines of Ghostbusters.