Not much is known about Homefront, except that it was written and produced by Sylvester Stallone and stars Jason Statham.  The action-thriller now boasts the addition of James Franco to the cast in a villainous role opposite Statham.  While the logline of the film is your typical fare you’ve come to expect from a Statham movie, Franco’s role as a cutthroat meth tycoon adds a bit more interest to the picture.  Homefront, directed by Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls), will be produced through Millenium Films.  Hit the jump for more on this developing project.

With Smallville all wrapped up, the lovely Kristin Kreuk found herself without a show. But thankfully, her longtime home at The CW found something to keep her around on the small screen as Deadline reports she has been set to take the lead role in the network’s new adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, a modern-day, procedural twist on the classic tale. In this new version, the potential series will follow Catherine (Kreuk) as a tough-minded NYPD homicide detective haunted by witnessing her mother’s murder nine years ago and the killers’ quick demise at the hands of a Beast. After years of searching, Catherine finally finds the Beast, Vincent Koslow, the survivor of a military experiment that went disastrously wrong, and becomes the protector of his secret life as a superhero.

We already know Jennifer Levin and Sherri Cooper (Brothers and Sisters) are attached as the head writers, to produce alongside Paul Witt, C. Anthony Thomas, Ron Koslow, and Bill Haber. Now Gary Fleder (Runaway Jury, Don’t Say a Word) is slated to direct the pilot. The concept is intriguing, but using the Beauty and the Beast title seems like a bit of a gimmick since not much beyond the pilot will resemble the original series or the classic tale. The question remains as to who will play the Beast. Stay tuned.

Fresh off the news that Leonardo DiCaprio is eying the plum role of former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s Hoover, Risky Business brings word that the actor may bed another A-list director in one Oliver Stone, now in talks to direct Travis McGee.  DiCaprio has long been attached to the project, and his Appian Way shingle is producing with intent to establish a franchise.  Mcgee is an adaptation of The Deep Blue Good-By, the first in a series of 21 John D. MacDonald detective novels that sorta-gumshoe and “self-described beach bum” McGee.  In fact, other reports suggest the adaptation will adopt the novel’s infinitely better (if less epynomous) title.  Robert Schwentke (Flightplan) and Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls) have been rumored for various iterations of a McGee movie, but it looks like Stone is the frontrunner now for what would be his follow-up to this September’s Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.

You’ll find me gushing over DiCaprio’s immaculate track record with Oscar-caliber directors as well as a plot synopsis for Macdonald’s Good-By after the break.

Gary Fleder (Runaway Jury, The Express) has signed on to helm Protection.  Produced by John Davis (the upcoming Gulliver’s Travels and Marmaduke), the thriller, “centers on a college professor who investigates the disappearance of his wife and daughter and who must confront authorities at the Witness Protection Program to find them.”  Oh, those rascally folks at the Witness Protection Program.  Always up to no good, protecting witnesses, and what not.

Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard) will rewrite the spec script from Allan Loeb (21). [Variety]