FILM NEWS: DiCaprio Enslaves in "Django Unchained," the Travolta's become the Gottis's, and more

• Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained as the owner of a plantation where he sexually tortures female slaves while forcing the male ones to engage in death matches. Samuel L. Jackson is expected to play the house slave and secondary villain. This isn't the first time Tarantino's wanted DiCaprio to trade his halo for some horns. He originally wanted him to play Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, but ultimately cast Christoph Waltz. Thank god!...or whoever one thanks for Nazi casting.

• Wow! This upcoming Gotti biopic just turned into some weird family activity for the Travolta's. John will play John Gotti Sr., his wife Kelly Preston will play Victoria, and their daughter Ella will play their daughter Angel Gotti. Portraying a mob family is certainly a unique way to bond. 

• I think MAYBE Mark Wahlberg got encouragement from Matthew McConaughey's performance in Lincoln Lawyer, since he fancies himself a good enough actor to convincingly play an attorney. I would laugh at the thought of it, but considering the plot of the crime drama adaptation When Corruption Was King is that the Chicago mob's most trusted attorney turns state witness and takes down the organization, I think he's the perfect man for the job. Looks tough enough to roll with the mob, but earnest enough to not be corrupted by it.

• Apparently, Jesse Eisenberg did so well testifying in The Social Network that Scott Rudin wants him for the true life story The Terrorist Search Engine, about a "controversial counterterrorism expert witness Evan Kohlmann, a 20-something man who made testifying at terrorism trials his principal source of income. He helped convict 23 defendants in federal courts and Guantánamo Bay tribunals with his expert witness testimony. An FBI agent nicknamed him 'the Doogie Howser of Terrorism.'"

• On some distant planet, Emile Hirsch can pass for Penelope Cruz's son. But on this planet, they'll star in Sergio Castellitto's dramatic adaptation of Venuto Al Mondo's novel Twice Born, which is "the story of a woman who returns to Sarajevo with her son in tow and revisits the tumultuous past she shared with his late father." I hope whoever plays her husband isn't one of those cardboard robotic emoters. I vote for up-and-coming Mexican actor Demián Bichir ("Weeds" and A Better Life) or Edgar Ramirez (Che), unless of course her husband is American. Then maybe Matt Damon.

• Marion Cotillard has signed on for the period drama Low Life, where she'll play an Ellis Island-bound immigrant who is coerced into becoming a prostitute by a charming sleazebag (Joaquin Phoenix) to pay for her sister's medication. Jeremy Renner might play the sleazebag's cousin, "a magician who sweeps the young woman off her feet and is her best chance to escape the nightmarish life." It sounds slightly Oscar-worthy. Of course, nutbag Phoenix is in it so I'll wait for the trailer before deciding.

• In Clive Owen's next thriller Cities, the film will "interweave stories of a New York hedge fund manager, a young London couple looking to buy their first home, and a Mumbai cop fighting corruption. The action is set against the Dow Jones all-time stock market high." It's like the financial version of Crash.

• Matthew McConaughey is continuing his career remodel by signing on for the drama The Dallas Buyers Club, the true story of "a Texas electrician who lives an extra 6 years after smuggling illegal AIDS drugs into the country after his doctors gave him six months to live." Hilary Swank is also starring.

•  OMG! Demi Moore's getting back into the strip club...but as a customer this time. She'll play a temptress alongside Alex Pettyfer and Channing Tatum in Magic Mike, the fictionalized biography of Tatum's pre-Hollywood exotic dancer past. 

• Nanette Burstein will direct the romantic drama conversation-starter Unforgiving World. It's a remake of a French film about "a newlywed couple working at the same architectural film who end up vying for the same life-changing position. Then it takes a Sliding Doors approach, showing the outcomes of who gets the job in parallel storylines." After seeing Alex's girlfriend take the job he gave up for her on "Grey's Anatomy," and learning that Luke's ex-partner and ex-fiance took the job he gave up for her on "Rookie Blue," I've started to wonder if falling in love in the work place is such a great idea, so this film peaks my interest. Plus, I love when plot lines split.