Following the success (commercially, that is) of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, director Rob Marshall was mulling a couple of projects as his follow-up.  After his remake of The Thin Man with Johnny Depp was put on hold, the Chicago director set his sights on returning to the world of song and dance for his next film.  Marshall is prepping an adaptation of the fairy tale-themed musical Into the Woods for Disney, and he recently held a star-studded screenplay read that included the likes of Anna Kendrick, Patrick Wilson, Allison Janney, and many more.  Additionally, it sounds like he may have settled on Meryl Streep for the lead role of the Witch.

Hit the jump for more, including the full list of actors who were in attendance for the screenplay reading.

Continuing on the journey of first look images, after the jump you can check out the first images from writer-director Mitch Glazer’s Passion Play and director John Cameron Mitchell’s (Shortbus, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) Rabbit Hole.  Passion Play stars Mickey Rourke, Megan Fox, Bill Murray, Kelly Lynch, and Rhys Ifans, while Rabbit Hole stars  Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Miles Teller, Tammy Blanchard, and Sandra Oh.

While Mitch Glazer wrote Scrooged, Great Expectations, and The Recruit, this is his first time behind the camera, so fingers crossed he’s made a solid transition.  On the other hand, John Cameron Mitchell has only made two films in the last ten years, so I’m very curious to check out what got him behind the camera again.  I just wish he hadn’t cast Nicole Kidman, as her frozen face has distracted me from enjoying her performances of late.  If this had been the Kidman of ten years ago, maybe I’d have a different opinion.  Anyway, hit the jump for the first images and the synopses:

The casting updates for series returning this fall just keep on coming. First up, it sounds like some big things are in store for Steve Carell’s last season of The Office as Zap2It reports Amy Ryan will reprise her role as Holly Flax, the former lover/co-worker of World’s Greatest Boss Michael Scott. And this isn”t just going to be a measly one-episode guest appearance as Holly will be returning to Scranton for no less than eight episodes. This isn’t entirely surprising since the end of last season saw Michael asking Sabre CEO Jo (Kathy Bates) to bring Holly back to the branch. Things should get pretty interesting since Holly doesn’t seem to be very pleased that she’s returning to Michael’s home court.

Hit the jump for some new additions to the casts of Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife and House M.D.