You know who wants Brad Pitt for their movie?  Everybody.  Vulture reports that Warner Bros. wants Pitt to star in Doug Liman’s All You Need Is Kill after deciding to put the kibosh on Liman’s far more expensive sci-fi heist flick Luna once co-fiancier Skydance dropped out.  All You Need Is Kill is based on the manga by Hiroshi Sakurazaka and it doesn’t have a bad premise: “A young Army recruit who, despite being killed in the first day of intergalactic alien invasion of Earth, is continually resurrected Groundhog Day–style to the day before he was killed.”  So you have the same worthwhile thematic ground as Source Code and Johnny Got His Gun—the soldier we can’t let rest in peace.  There were reportedly some third act problems where the protagonist “dispatches aliens in the same rote way as a twelve year old who’s played too much XBox 360,” but those problems have reportedly been resolved to the studio’s satisfaction.

Hit the jump for why this kind of interest is irrelevant for someone of Pitt’s stature.

Opening in late August is director Troy Nixey’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.  Based on the 1973 telefilm, the remake was written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins and “the story follows Sally (Bailee Madison), a young girl who moves to Rhode Island to live with her father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the 19th Century mansion they are restoring.  While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own.”  Here’s the trailer.  In addition, I saw the movie at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival and thought it was really well done and it’s definitely recommended.

The day after the premiere I got to sit down with del Toro and Holmes.  While I was going to hold the interview until closer to release, with both revealing they’ll be at this year’s Comic-Con, I figure it’s better to post it now.  During the interview we talked about making the film, how there are no cheap scares, and what’s the secret to making the characters stay in the house in a believable way.  In addition, we talked about Comic-Con, Doug Liman’s Go, Pacific Rim and karaoke.  Hit the jump to watch.

It appears that Bourne Identity director Doug Liman has settled on his next project. Paramount has finally greenlit the long-in-the-works sci-fi flick Luna as Liman’s follow up to last year’s Fair Game. The director has been trying to get Luna off the ground for awhile, most recently with Jake Gyllenhaal in 2007. While that iteration never took off, Liman started meeting with a number of actors for the film in March. Now, Variety reports that Paramount is putting the finishing touches on a deal that will fast-track the project.

The story centers on a group of renegade scientists who build a spaceship from scratch using spare parts in order to steal an energy source located on the moon, cause apparently that’s where we keep valuable things in the future. It’s like our lock box. Liman and John Hamburg (I Love You Man) co-wrote the script, which has gone through several rewrites. In addition to the previously mentioned Andrew Garfield, Liman has also met with Bradley Cooper and Chris Evans to talk about roles in the film. No offers have been made yet, but expect casting news shortly as the project moves towards production.

Well it looks like the list of contenders for the director of Fox’s The Wolverine has been narrowed down to eight. Following the sudden departure of Darren Aronofsky shortly before filming was to commence, Fox began searching for a replacement for the Hugh Jackman-starred follow-up to Gavin Hood’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now, Showblitz reports that the shortlist of contenders for the job is as follows: Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) Jose Padilha (upcoming Robocop remake), Antoine Fuqua (Shooter), Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go), Justin Lin (Fast Five), Gavin O’Connor (Warrior), James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma ) and commercials director Gary Shore.

With a script from Christopher McQuarrie, The Wolverine is largely set in Japan. Filming was poised to take place in that country, but it’s currently unknown if that’s still the plan given the natural disaster that recently ravaged the landmass. Hit the jump for more, including my thoughts on this list.

If someone told you a story about a CIA agent getting outed to the media by the upper echelons of the White House thus ruining that person’s career, putting their life in danger and exposing their international contacts, you’d probably think to yourself, “Wow, that would make one hell of a movie!”  In this case, that’s exactly what happened.  What are the repercussions for such an action and how do you even begin to fight back against one of the most powerful institutions on the planet?  My review of Fair Game after the jump.

Doug Liman first set up Luna with Jake Gyllenhaal at DreamWorks in 2007, then with Paramount, then put it on hold for a couple years to direct Jumper and Fair Game.  Liman was actively working on a Three Musketeers adaptation before Paul W.S. Anderson beat him to the punch.  So he turned his attention to All You Need Is Kill, a spec sci-fi script with plenty of heat behind it.  However, All You Need Is Kill has reportedly lost steam, and Liman has returned his focus to Luna (now “Untitled Moon Project”).  But Gyllenhaal has since moved on, so Liman is meeting with a bevy of young Hollywood stars to fill the role.  Heat Vision indicates the director has already spoken with Rosario Dawson, Megan Fox, Rachel McAdams, Eva Mendes, Zoe Saldana, Olivia Wilde, Andrew Garfield, Emile Hirsch, and Chris Pine, and plans to meet with more names in the coming week.

Details on the project after the break.

Director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) has signed on to direct a drama based on the life of Morris Abraham “Two Gun” Cohen.  Cohen was a World War I veteran who move to China in 1922 and trained the army of Sun Yat-sen, a revolutionary who played an instrumental role in throwing over China’s last imperial dynasty.  Cohen taught Sun’s army boxing and shooting, which was impressive considering that Cohen didn’t speak Chinese.  He then went on to become Sun’s main bodyguards and later went on to fight for China against Japanese invaders in the 1930s.

Hit the jump for more on the project.

The Plame Affair is a story that’s brimming with drama.  It features international intrigue, marital tension, espionage, and betrayal by our own government.  Director Doug Liman believes that in Fair Game he can capture that drama as long as he doesn’t hold the camera steady.  The pacing is uneven, the characters are poorly drawn, and the historical impact of the scandal barely reverberates.  Rather than ignite shock and outrage in the audience at the shocking and outrageous retaliation by the Bush Administration against Joe Wilson, Fair Game is a tepid movie that wastes its talented lead actors and can never find the drama that surrounded its real-life events.

We’ve been keeping tabs on All You Need is Kill for awhile now, since it was a Dante Harper spec script with a cool title and an even cooler conceit that managed to siren $3 million from Warner Bros.  Doug Liman (Fair Game) has been attached as director pretty much all summer, but according to Variety, the studio has made it official.  When we spoke with Liman last month, he was enthused by Harper’s script.

“It’s an amazing script.  It’s a wholly original piece of writing.  It delivers all of the whiz-bang satisfaction of a big Hollywood effects movie, but it does it in a completely original way.”

Hit the jump for the official synopsis, to see just what spoke to Liman so deeply.

Summit Entertainment has released the first trailer for Fair Game, which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this summer.  Directed by Doug Liman, Fair Game is based on the true story of Valerie Plame, a covert officer in the CIA who is placed in mortal danger when her cover is blown.  Naomi Watts stars as Plame; Sean Penn plays her husband, diplomat Joe Wilson.  Check out the trailer after the jump.

Doug Liman’s Fair Game will begin playing in limited release on November 5th.  The film is based on the true-story of the Valerie Plame affair.  The film stars Naomi Watts as Plame and Sean Penn as Plame’s husband Joseph Wilson.  According to Variety, distributor Summit Entertainment will expand the movie’s release over the following two weekends.  Fair Game played at this year’s Cannes Film Festival to positive notices.  To learn more about the Plame affair, hit the jump.

The studio has also set Chris Gorak’s 3D sci-fi thriller The Darkest Hour for August 5, 2011.  The film stars Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Rachel Taylor, Max Minghella and Joel Kinnaman as young tourists who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack.

Though the title will likely be shortened, Clockstone Pictures plans to adapt the Monte Reel non-fiction book The Last of the Tribe: The Epic Quest to Save a Lone Man in the Amazon, which was released just last month.  Variety reports that Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) is on tap to direct from a script by Mark Bailey, who also serves as producer.  With Liman’s Three Musketeers adaptation currently on ice, Epic Quest may compete with the extraterrestrial Groundhog Day-esque All You Need is Kill to be his follow-up to the Sean Penn/Naomi Watts political thriller Fair Game.

In the book, Washington Post correspondent Reel examines “a lone Indian, a tribe of one, hidden in the forests of southwestern Brazil.”  Hit the jump for a full synopsis.

On the new USA Network action thriller Covert Affairs, actress Piper Perabo is Annie Walker, a young woman new to the government’s most secretive branch, the CIA. With the instincts, tenacity and persistence to become a lethal weapon, Annie dedicates herself to her new job, but soon realizes it means having to lead a double life, whether it’s lying to her family or facing down ruthless terrorists around the world.  Former CIA special operative, Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham), who went blind during a mission, quickly takes Annie under his wing to help her navigate the system, and she learns that he is the one guy she can trust.

During a recent phone interview, co-stars Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham talked about working together, being part of the successful USA Network family and developing characters for television. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

In the new USA Network drama Covert Affairs (which premieres July 13th), Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is a young CIA trainee who is thrust into the inner sanctum of the Agency when she is unexpectedly promoted to field operative. Although she has been plucked from obscurity for her exceptional linguistic skills, there may be bigger reasons why her CIA bosses (Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett) have taken an interest in her.  With her new job, Annie has to hide her life from her family and friends, including her intrusive older sister (Anne Dudek), but CIA military agent Auggie Anderson (Christopher Gorham), blinded while on assignment, does his best to make her life at the Agency a little smoother.

During a recent interview, executive producer Doug Liman talked about developing a story for the small screen versus the big screen and explained why the USA Network was the perfect fit for this project. He also gave an update on the status of All You Need is Kill and Nick Tungsten, Nightmare Hunter. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Director Doug Liman (Mr. and Ms. Smith) will possibly direct All You Need is Kill now that his planned adaptation of The Three Musketeers will be put on hold.  Warner Bros. planned to start production on The Three Musketeers this fall but according to Deadline it seems that the studio has decided to put the project in stasis after being beat to the finish line by Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil) competing 3D adaptation of The Three Musketeers, which is currently in production and already set for a April 15^th, 2011 release date.

Hit the jump to find out more about All You Need is Kill along with what other projects Liman might direct next.