Director David Yates—who helmed the final four Harry Potter films—is having a bit of trouble getting a post-Potter project off the ground.  He was initially attached to direct the small-scale drama Your Voice in My Head with Emma Watson and Stanley Tucci attached to star, but was subsequently forced to drop out of the director’s chair for personal reasons.  After briefly flirting with a large-scale adaptation of The Stand, Yates then moved on to a reimagining of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan as his next project.

The filmmaker has been developing Tarzan since last summer and recently set True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard as his lead.  We learned last month that Jessica Chastain was circling the Jane role, but now Warner Bros. is putting the brakes on the project due to budget concerns.  Hit the jump for much more.

It appears that Warner Bros. and director David Yates may have settled on who they want to play Jane in the upcoming Tarzan adaptation.  Word on the project has been fairly quiet since Yates committed to it as his next project after helming four Harry Potter films back-to-back.  Last November, it was reported that Alexander Skarsgard was the frontrunner to tackle the title role in the film, with Samuel L. Jackson being eyed for a supporting role as a an ex-mercenary who helps Tarzan save the Congo from a warlord.  Now word comes that recent Best Actress nominee Jessica Chastain is being eyed to tackle the role of Jane in the film.  Hit the jump for more.

We just recently learned that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows director David Yates had finally settled on Warner Bros.’ Tarzan adaptation as his post-Potter project, and now it appears that things are moving rather quickly on the film.  At the time, we heard that Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), and Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) were in the running for the titular lead role, with WB also interested in Tom Hardy should the actor spark to the idea.  Now it appears that a frontrunner has emerged in the form of the 6’4″ Swede Skarsgard.  Hit the jump for more.

Director David Yates has understandably taken his time in choosing his next project after helming four Harry Potter films back-to-back, but it appears that he’s finally made a decision.  We learned this past June that Yates was interested in Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, but at the time a few other directors were eyeing the project and no official discussions had taken place.  Now Yates has officially committed to Tarzan as his next project, and he’s already meeting with actors to fill the iconic titular role.  Hit the jump for more.

It was bound to happen some day.  Star Wars: Episode VII is becoming a reality now that Disney has purchased LucasFilm, and set a release date for 2015.  George Lucas has gracefully bowed out of the director’s chair, and given the reigns over to producer Kathleen Kennedy, although it remains to be seen how much influence he’ll have over future Star Wars films.

But since the director’s chair is open and we all love pretending we’re Hollywood executive, let’s play Suggest!  That!  Director!  This is the fun part since we have no idea what the story will be and who would be appropriate for that story.  However, we do have a vibe of what a Star Wars movie is, or at least what a Star Wars movie should be (i.e., the originals, not the prequels).  So who’s the right director to make a worthy successor to the original movies?  Hit the jump for my suggestions.

The most successful film franchise of all time will be available on home video in one nifty box set early next week with the release of the Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection, and a devoted fan has put together a rather impressive video retrospective to mark the occasion.  Titled “Mischief Managed,” the video goes through all eight film adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s wondrous series, with scenes accompanied by the franchise’s various scores.  It’s a great watch for Harry Potter fans, but it’s also interesting to see the different directors’ visions back-to-back.  The story gets dark quite fast, but it’s neat to see it progress from the colorful, faithful touch of Chris Columbus on the first two films, to Alfonso Cuaron’s inventive and playful twist on Azkaban, to the bombastic Britishness of Mike Newell’s Goblet of Fire, and finally David Yates’ grounded yet haunting stamp on the final four films.

Hit the jump to watch the fan-made video retrospective.  The Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection will be available on September 7th.

Could Tarzan become the next Snow White?  Hot off the heels of “The Great Snow White Race of 2012,” it appears that another possible Tarzan film has been thrown into the pile of gestating adaptations.  Constantain Films is currently in production on a 3D animated iteration of the “man raised by apes” story starring Kellan Lutz, and now it appears that three high profile directors are eyeing a separate Tarzan project at Warner Bros.  David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter films for WB and Generation Kill’s Susanna White are said to be interested in the new Tarzan pic scripted by Adam Cozad (the Jack Ryan reboot).  Hit the jump for more. [Update: Gary Ross was previously reported to be in the mix but representatives say that he is not pursuing this project.]

Director David Yates took a much deserved rest following the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, as he had directed every Harry Potter film since The Order of the Phoenix.  Late last year he settled on his first post-Potter project, a promising drama based on Emma Forrest’s memoir Your Voice in My Head.  The book chronicles Forrest’s troublesome and self-harming behavior, as well as her relationship with her psychiatrist.  Yates lined up Potter star Emma Watson to take on the challenging lead role, and in an inspired bit of casting Stanley Tucci entered talks to play Watson’s ailing psychiatrist.  Sadly, Yates has just exited the project.  Hit the jump for more.

What does one do after directing four highly successful films in one of the biggest franchises in movie history?  For David Yates, director of the last four Harry Potter movies, the answer is: sign a first-look deal with the selfsame studio.  Variety reports that Yates signed the deal under the Wychwood Pictures banner.  Priority for Yates at the moment is Your Voice in My Head, an adaptation of the Emma Forrest memoir that has Emma Watson and Stanley Tucci attached. Forrest is writing the screenplay for the picture, which chronicles her dealings with a failed romance after the death of her psychiatrist.

Coming off a dazzling turn in The Hunger Games, Stanely Tucci is gearing up to show off his dramatic chops in director David Yates’ follow-up to four Harry Potter films. Variety reports that Tucci is in talks to star opposite Harry Potter alum Emma Watson in the adaptation of Emma Forrest’s memoir, Your Voice in My Head. Watson stars as Forrest, a young girl who attempts suicide after a bad breakup, only to be saved by a terminally ill psychiatrist. Tucci would play the psychiatrist if he signs on. We had previously heard that the psychiatrist role caught the eye of a number of high profile actors, including George Clooney and Tom Hanks, but apparently Yates decided to go with Tucci in the end. Hit the jump for more.

Though the Harry Potter franchise has come to an end, a reunion of sorts is already in the works. David Yates, who directed the last four Potter films, has chosen the drama Your Voice in My Head as his next project, and now he’s in discussions with Emma Watson to star. The film is based on the memoir by Emma Forrest and centers on “a young woman who attempts suicide before being saved by a New York-based psychiatrist who’s dying of cancer.” It’s some pretty heady stuff, and I commend Yates for choosing a small, intimate character drama as his follow-up to the massive Potter franchise. Hit the jump for more, including who Warner Bros. is looking at for the male lead and the possibility of Ralph Fiennes or Bryan Singer directing the studio’s Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game.

Director David Yates was understandably a bit tired following the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Having directed the last four films in the franchise, the director told Steve quite a while ago that he planned on directing a small-scale feature after Harry Potter in order to decompress. That “small feature” has now been revealed as an adaptation of Emma Forrest’s memoir Your Voice in My Head. The book chronicles Forrest’s troublesome and self-harming behavior, as well as her relationship with her psychiatrist. Hit the jump for more, including Yates’ thoughts on the project.

Warner Brothers did what they could to drag it out, but after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the Harry Potter franchise is finally closed. Perhaps not for good – author J.K. Rowling has got her new Potter-centric website, and she may get bored and write another adventure in that universe. But no matter if it comes back or not, for performers Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint Potter will be part of their legacy. They spent ten years playing Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. And no matter what they do, they are as stuck to this as Sean Connery is to James Bond.  Continued after the jump.

Earlier today, it was announced that David Yates (the man behind the last four Harry Potter movies) is set to helm a feature film adaptation of the beloved British time traveler series Doctor Who. Yates himself said that the Who movie is two to three years away from coming to fruition, and he recently told Steve that he plans on helming a smaller film next year. While he didn’t reveal the projects that he’s currently mulling over, Warner Bros. is apparently trying hard to get him to commit to The Imitation Game. The project was announced earlier last month, with Leonardo DiCaprio “very interested” in starring. Hit the jump for more.

David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter movies, is set to helm a big-screen adaptation of the popular and long-running TV series Doctor Who.  For those unfamiliar with the series, it follows an alien known as The Doctor who goes around with a human companion on mostly episodic adventures across space and time.  The Doctor is a “Time Lord” who travels in the TARDIS (which looks like a 1960s-style London police box), and he can be incarnated in different forms (i.e. new actors) up to twelve times and TV show is currently on the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith).  However, Yates says his version will not follow the current TV series and will be a completely fresh approach.  It’s a smart move because you don’t risk angering fans of the TV series, or forcing newcomers to catch up with a show that’s been on and off and back on the air from 1963 to 1989 and rebooted in 2005.

Hit the jump for more details on the movie.