One of the best written and best acted dramas currently on network (or any) television is Hannibal, from show creator Bryan Fuller.  Based on the characters from Thomas Harris’ classic novels, the series follows the unsettling relationship between psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) and gifted criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy).

During this recent exclusive interview with Collider, executive producer/writer Bryan Fuller talked about how the series came about, how he gauges the level of violence on the show, how he ended up with Dancy, Mikkelsen and Laurence Fishburne as his lead actors, how fascinating the character relationships are, that knowing the eventual destination of these characters is a huge gift, when Hannibal Lecter’s famous face mask could appear, how the Red Dragon story would come into play in Season 4, adding some female characters to the mix, how they decide what meals Dr. Lecter will prepare and serve, future romantic relationships for the serial killer, and what Gillian Anderson brings to the show.  He also talked about the possibility of a Kickstarter campaign for a Pushing Daisies movie.  Check out what he had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.

Back in August, we brought you the trailer for Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill, written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki.  Now, we have word that the English version has a planned theatrical release of March 15th, 2013.  Lending their voices to that version will be such top talent as Gillian Anderson, Ron Howard, Christina Hendricks, Jamie Lee Curtis and Beau Bridges, among others.  Hit the jump to see who else is joining the party, along with the synopsis for From Up on Poppy Hill.

Some quick casting bits today.  Here they are in brief:

• Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) is set to join Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense) in the sci-fi mystery, I’ll Follow You Down.
• Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) will join Shia LaBeouf in the noir romance film, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.

Hit the jump for more.

Johnny English is solely an international phenomenon. The first Rowan Atkinson-starring vehicle made $28 Million stateside and its sequel made $8, but the first made $132 Million internationally and its sequel made $152 Million. Even if the third film goes straight to DVD stateside, it’s likely more is in order. In the second film, Atikson plays against Dominic West, Gillian Anderson and Rosamund Pike in another parody of the 007 legend. It’s all very good for Atkinson fans, but there’s thin gruel here for everyone else. Our review of Johnny English Reborn on Blu-ray follows after the jump.

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment has been announced as the co-financier and co-producer of the comedic melodrama Mr. Morgan’s Last Love. Written and directed by Sandra Nettlebeck (Helen), the film stars Michael Caine as a retired, lonely American widower who shares a chance encounter with a free-spirited young French woman which brightens his life. The film is based on the novel La Douceur Assassine by Françoise Dorner. The cast also includes Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter), Justin Kirk (Weeds), Jane Alexander (The Cider House Rules), Anne Alvaro (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files).

Hit the jump to read the full press release. SKE is also behind the upcoming Katherine Heigl starrer One for the Money, and Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines starring Ryan Gosling.

It looks like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies isn’t the only period-piece/zombie flick mash-up in town.  ScreenDaily reports that Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, Gillian Anderson, and Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley from the Harry Potter films) are attached to star in Matthew Butler’s The Curse of the Buxom Strumpet.  The film is based off Butler’s 2010 short comedy E’gad Zombies, which also starred McKellen.  The plot of Buxom Strumpet, co-written by Tori Hart, is about the “inhabitants of a small seaside town who are struck down with a deadly illness.”  No details are provided on that deadly illness, but I imagine it involves glassy eyes, coming back to life, and a hunger for human flesh.

While I’m a fan of this cast, I’m still not sold on the appeal of these movies beyond the novelty they provide.  I can understand Butler using the premise for a short film, but I’m worried that the joke becomes stale when stretched out to feature length.  Hit the jump to read a synopsis of E’gad Zombies and to see a trailer for the short.

I’m not exactly sure who was clamoring for another Johnny English movie but they’re going to get their wish.  The UK trailer for Johnny English Reborn has gone online and it features what you would expect: slapstick, Rowan Atkinson creating awkward situations, and more slapstick.  For those who enjoy this franchise, this new installment looks like it won’t let fans down.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Rosamund Pike, Dominic West, and Gillian Anderson. Johnny English Reborn opens in the UK on October 7^th.

Director James Marsh may have earned an Oscar for his documentary Man on Wire, but he’s no stranger to narrative features.  He previously directed The King starring Gael Garcia Bernal and the crime drama Red Riding 1980.  Vulture now reports that he’s got another fiction film up his sleeve and that Clive Owen is attached to star.  Marsh tells Vulture that his new film “is much more like Red Riding, it’s a genre film, it’s a thriller.”

The untitled project (formerly titled Shadow Dancer) is set in Northern Ireland during the early 1990s and will co-star Andrea Riseborough (Never Let Me Go) as a former IRA terrorist turned informer.  The film also stars Aidan Gillen (The Wire) Gillian Anderson (The X-Files).  Shooting on the low-budget film is set to begin this May in Dublin.

According to an interview with David Duchovny published in France’s TVMag today, a script for a new X-Files movie is “in the process of being written.”  Who knows where in that process this is, but it’s good news that progress might be happening since the second film The X-Files: I Want to Believe underperformed pretty badly and a sequel didn’t seem too certain.  Hit the jump for quotes from Duchovny’s interview and my thoughts.

Update: David Duchovny’s publicist has contacted us.  She says while Duchovny did an interview with TVMag, what he said was lost in translation.  Basically, there is no movement on X-Files 3 right now.  Hit the jump for the original story.

Contagion didn’t really need anything more to intrigue.  Director Stephen Soderbergh is re-teaming with The Informant! scribe Scott Z. Burns, with a cast that includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, and Jude Law for his first 3D movie, about a viral outbreak.  That’s already, like, seventy-eight degrees of awesome.  But according to Variety, Warner Bros. has added another degree by signing Laurence Fishburne to co-star. [Update–The Playlist reported on Fisburne in Contation back in February and in March reported that he was playing “Dr. Ellis Cheever, the head of the Center for Disease Control.”  This one is shaping up to be excellent when it premieres on October 21, 2011.

Hit the jump for casting details on Gillian Anderson in sequel Johnny English Reborn, and Hina Abdullah in 30 Minutes or Less.

I think it’s terrific that David Duchovny is so excited to do another “X-Files” movie despite the quality and non-existent box office of 2008′s “The X-Files: I Want to Believe”.  I think it’s hilarious that when the show was still on the air, Duchovny couldn’t get away fast enough and had his ass abducted off the show.  But now, as he’s done before, Duchovny is cheerleading another “X-Files” movie.  Hit the jump to have the conspiracy go eat itself.

The truth is out there…on the web. And that truth is that a third outing for FBI agents Mulder and Scully may be in the pipe over at Fox. The news comes from Scully herself, Gillian Anderson, in a recent interview where she revealed that not only would she be up for playing the role she’s inhabited for over a decade in a new film, but that the project has some forward momentum and that the studio is eyeing a 2012 release date. To learn more about aliens, ghosts, and reboots, hit the jump.