The Iron Man 2 gang is getting back together for what will hopefully be a better movie than Iron Man 2.  Variety is reporting that Scarlett Johansson will reunite with Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau for Favreau’s indie film, Chef.  The story centers on a man (Favreau) who loses his chef job and starts up a food truck to reclaim his artistic promise and reclaiming his estranged family.  As we previously reported, the film will have a strong supporting cast with Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, and Bobby Cannavale on board to co-star.  I’m happy to see Favreau returning to his indie roots (although in this case “indie” simply means it doesn’t have the gigantic budgets of his recent films), and heading back into a leading role.  He’s so money and he knows it.

But the movie is in for a fight over the title as Sony Pictures, which owns John Wells‘ Chef starring Bradley Cooper, has sent a cease and desist letter to coax Fairview Entertainment and Favreau to find another title.  Hit the jump for more including possible co-stars for Wells’ Chef.

The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for director John Wells’ (The Company Men) adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play August: Osage County.  The story follows the women of a family whose lives have splintered in many directions until a crisis bring them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.  While a bit lighter in tone than the actual story, this trailer does a swell job of teasing the film’s absolutely terrific ensemble cast, led by a characteristically great Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in what could potentially be her best role in years.  Given the talent involved both onscreen and behind the scenes (Argo‘s George Clooney and Grant Heslov produce), this thing is a surefire Oscar contender that also promises delectable interplay amongst the film’s incredible ensemble.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Ewan McGregor, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margot Martindale, Chris Cooper, Dermot Mulroney, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin, and Sam Shepard.  August: Osage County opens on November 8th.

It’s quite clear that Bradley Cooper is a very popular guy.  Coming off a Best Actor nomination for his work in last year’s Silver Linings Playbook, the actor has been courted for a number of projects.  He’s currently filming another movie with SLP director David O. Russell called American Hustle, he’ll star in Cameron Crowe’s next film, and he recently flirted with filling a vacated role in the troubled Western Jane Got a Gun before dropping out due to scheduling conflicts.  Now Cooper has added another project to his slate, as the long-gestating drama Chef has finally landed a director by way of ER veteran and The Company Men helmer John Wells.  Hit the jump for more, including how Cooper’s incredibly busy schedule will play out over the next year.

Today’s cast additions include two White House themed pictures for the price of one:

• James Woods (Casino) is in early negotiations to join Roland Emmerich’s White House Down, starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx.
• Chris Cooper (American Beauty) is in talks to board the John Wells‘ adaptation of August: Osage County, with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.
• Cole Hauser (Good Will Hunting) has joined the Antoine Fuqua actioner, Olympus Has Fallen, opposite Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart.

Hit the jump for more details on each picture.

ER reunion alert!  Well, sort of.  George Clooney and his producing partner Grant Heslov have signed on to produce longtime ER showrunner John Wells’ impressive next directorial feature, August: Osage County.  The film is based on the Pulitzer/Tony Award-winning play by Tracy Letts and follows “the women of a family whose lives have splintered in many directions until a crisis bring them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.”  The Weinstein Company is backing the pic, which is set to star Meryl Streep as the family’s pill popping matriarch and Julia Roberts as her daughter.

Though he’s directed numerous television episodes (including ER and The West Wing), Wells made his feature directorial debut with 2010’s The Company Men.  Casting for August: Osage County is ongoing, but Clooney and Heslov make yet another impressive addition to this promising production.  Filming is set to get underway this fall, so expect Streep’s name to be among the 2013 Best Actress nominees.  Hit the jump to read the press release.

It’s been over a year since we last heard about the feature adaptation of the Pulitzer/Tony-winning play August: Osage County.  But with two stars like Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts attached, you knew The Weinstein Co. would circle back to the project eventually once schedules could be aligned.  The studio and director John Wells (Company Men) are moving forward on August with a fall start date in mind.  Tracy Letts‘ play follows “the women of a family whose lives have splintered in many directions until a crisis bring them back to their childhood home and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.”  Streep will play the pill-popping matriarch; Roberts will play her daughter.  More after the jump:

Though Showtime already has a fantastic crime drama in the form of Dexter and a great family drama with a bit of criminal mischief with Shameless, another felonious family will be heading to the cable network. THR has word that the cable network is working with Shameless writer John Wells to turn the Sundance selected, Grand Jury Prize winning drama Animal Kingdom into an hour-long TV series. Wells will executive produce the series which will follow a family of criminals as they struggle with the police and deal with their ordinary lives stuck in the middle of their criminal activities. Southland writer and co-executive producer Jonathan Lisco will script the series, but it’s going to take some hard work to measure up to the performances and quality filmmaking that made the big screen story so fantastic. Hit the jump to watch the trailer for the film.

With Big Love all wrapped up at HBO, the creators are poised to start work on another series at the cable network about an even more unconventional family. Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer are working on a new series called China Doll about a mixed-race family that has a humanoid robot living with them. It almost sounds like it could be a new series from Seth MacFarlane, but Olsen says, ““It is about China, Chinese Americans, robots, the effect of technology on our lives and the China moment in American consciousness.” The latter element refers to China’s positioning as an even bigger economic power that is influencing the relationship between our two countries. More specifically the series follows a successful California construction subcontractor, his Asian American wife, a university professor, and a robot, as they are straddling both sides of the Pacific with extended families on two continents. Obviously it’s more of a family drama than a sci-fi show, but the presence of a robot just seems strange.

Details on a new series from Glee and Yes, Dear star Mike O’Malley after the jump.

Comic Con 2011: At the Showtime Preview Panel, Michael C. Hall and company talked up the 6^th season of Dexter; William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum and John Wells teased the second season of Shameless; Morena Baccarin and Howard Shore discussed their new show Homeland. For all this, plus new trailers for Dexter and Homeland, hit the jump.

Writer/director Oren Moverman (The Messenger) go-to guy for biopics about musical icons.  Todd Haynes brought him on to co-write the avant-garde Bob Dylan tribute I’m Not There.  Moverman will strike out on his own to write and direct a Kurt Cobain biopic.  Now, 24 Frames Moverman has signed on to write a film about the life of Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson, the deeply troubled genius responsible for some of the world’s most beautiful music.  Bill Pohlad (The Tree of Life) and John Wells (ER) hired Moverman shortly after acquiring the life rights from Wilson and his wife, Melinda.

The producers have secured the rights to much of Wilson’s catalogue, but don’t expect the soundtrack to top the charts.  Said Pohlad, “We’re not thinking about this as the hit parade.”  More quotes from Pohlad after the break.

Showtime has announced which of its series will be making appearances at this year’s Comic-Con. The pay-channel’s panel will include the hit show Dexter and their new series Shameless, as well as a first look at their brand new drama series Homeland. The Dexter panel will include Michael C. Hall, C.S. Lee, David Zayas and season six guest star Colin Hanks. Appearing from Shameless are William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum and more, including executive producer John Wells. Homeland stars Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin.

Hit the jump to read the full press release. The Showtime panel will take place on Thursday, July 21^st. Expect many more Comic-Con announcements in the coming weeks, leading up to our full coverage from the convention starting July 20^th.

Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep are in talks to star in an adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer and Tony award-winning play, August: Osage County. According to THR:

The play focuses on the buried pains and present conflicts of a family after its patriarch dies. Streep would take the role of the drug-addicted matriarch and Roberts that of the eldest daughter, whose estranged husband has had an affair with one of his students.

John Wells (The Company Men) will be directing the film from a screenplay by Letts and the plan is to shoot next summer.  When you think about it, it is kind of odd that it has taken this long to pair up the two powerhouse actresses.  You can hit the jump to read the full synopsis for August: Osage County.

In news that further proves pay cable gets all the best movie stars, THR reports that Showtime has ordered 12 episodes of Shameless, an hourlong drama headlined by the indelible William H. Macy.  The series co-stars Emmy Rossum, whom I best remember as the lead in the 2004 Phantom of the Opera update: please let me know if I should update my cognitive database six years after the fact.  Promisingly, creator John Wells (ER) has alotted a recurring role for his former West Wing co-worker Allison Janney, who had a guest spot in the pilot.

The show is an adaptation of a British dramedy of the same name that revolves around the antics of a large single-parent family headed by an alcoholic (Macy).  More after the break:

Just a few minutes ago I posted my video interview with writer/director John Wells for The Company Men, and now I’ve got two of the stars, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper.  During the interview, Jones and Cooper talked about being at Sundance, how they got involved in the film, working for John Wells on his first film, Tommy Lee Jones talks about The Sunset Limited (which he directed), and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch two great actors talk about their upcoming movie:

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, I had the opportunity to interview a ton of the filmmakers that attended the Festival.  Now that I’m back in L.A. and have the time to edit the videos, it’s time to start posting a lot of great conversations.  And up first…writer/director John Wells for his directorial debut The Company Men.

While many of you know who Wells is as he’s written and/or been a producer on shows like The West Wing, Third Watch, and ER (just to name a few),  The Company Men marks his first time behind the camera.  The very realistic drama stars Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner and Rosemary DeWitt.  It’s about around three men that attempt to survive a round of corporate downsizing while trying to fend off its effects on their families and their identities.  As you can tell by the synopsis, it’s something many people are going through right now.

During the interview, Wells says it was not a film Hollywood wanted to make, so he had to get the financing on his own.  Hit the jump for a great conversation about his movie and the state of Hollywood: