The trend of actors turning to the director’s chair continues this week as we’ve learned that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will soon be making an effort behind the camera. The untitled film is described as a romantic comedy about a modern day Don Juan who attempts to become less of a “selfish dick.” In addition to directing, Gordon-Levitt wrote the script and will play the lead role. Scarlett Johansson has also been announced as a lead, although her role was not specified. While directing might seem like a big turn for Gordon-Levitt, he’s had aspirations to helm features for quite a while and has made several short films that have played on the festival circuit, in addition to launching a collaborative production company called hitRECord.org. The script for the film took three years to complete, finishing around the time 50/50 was shooting.

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Jessica Chastain (The Help) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior) are two of the more buzzed about actors working today, so it’s no surprise that they would have their choice of interesting projects. However, their latest career choices could offer something truly unique. The two have signed on to star in a double-feature film project for Myriad Pictures entitled The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers. The films explore a couple’s relationship during a difficult time in their marriage. The His film will capture the perspective of Edgerton’s husband character, a restaurant owner, while the Hers film details the perspective of Chastain’s wife character who decides to go back to college. William Hurt is also in negotiations to join the cast in an unspecified role. The project is the brainchild of Ned Benson (In Defiance of Gravity), who wrote the two scripts and will direct both films.

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Whether you’re a fan or not, you have to admit that Ridley Scott consistently stays busy, especially for a guy in his 70s. While he’s wrapping up work on Prometheus, Scott has been sorting through options for his next film and he may have found what he wants with The Counselor, a script written by celebrated novelist Cormac McCarthy. The story follows a respected lawyer who dabbles in the drug business only to get sucked in and then struggles to find a way out. The Counselor represents McCarthy’s first spec screenplay, which was quickly optioned by the producers of The Road, Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, back in December. If he does direct, Ridley’s production banner, Scott Free Entertainment, would join the project as well.

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It looks as if director Darren Aronofsky will finally throw his hat into the ring of big budget filmmaking this year as his epic Biblical tale Noah gets off the ground at Paramount. His regular director of photography Matthew Libatique has stated that shooting will begin by this July with an eye on a Fall 2013 release. For such a large scale story, an appropriately hefty $130 million budget is planned. The script has been undertaken by John Logan (Hugo) and, as far as the content goes, this retelling will not be skipping over the more adult subject matter that often gets ignored. While it’s certainly exciting to hear confirmation that Noah will happen, perhaps a wait-and-see approach is still best given Aronofsky’s track record with proposed high-profile projects.

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It’s been a few months since we’ve heard anything regarding Charlie Kaufman’s upcoming film Frank or Francis, but today news broke that both Kate Winslet and Catherine Keener will join the already impressive cast that includes Jack Black, Steve Carell, Nicolas Cage, and Kevin Kline. There’s no word on which parts they will play as of yet, though if Kaufman’s previous directorial effort Synecdoche, New York is any indication, there will be a multitude of possibilities. Each actress has worked on Kaufman-scripted films before (Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Keener in Being John Malkovich) and earned Academy Award nominations for their efforts. It’s no surprise that such prestigious performers want to collaborate with Kaufman again since he brings such a unique voice to filmmaking, writing the kind of parts most people would never dream of.

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You wouldn’t think that anyone would kick up a fuss over an animated film like Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits, but in this day and age apparently no movie is beyond scrutiny. In this situation, however, the criticism doesn’t come from a parental group or any other usual source. Instead, leprosy groups like Lepra Health in Action and the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations have taken issue with a particular scene that was featured in the film’s trailer. The scene in question shows the Pirate Captain boarding a ship and demanding gold from its crew only to be told, “Afraid we don’t have any gold old man, this is a leper boat,” after which a shipmate’s arm falls off. The leper groups complained that the scene could “aggravate the discrimination and stigma experienced by sufferers of the disease.” Aardman has agreed to change the scene out of respect for those who are affected by leprosy.

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Over the past few years, we’ve seen many films that pay homage to 1980s cinema. Just last year there was Paul, Super 8, and Attack the Block, to name a few. Now audiences can prepare for another helping of nostalgia with Great Scott, a film that pays tribute to Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future Trilogy. The movie takes place in 1980s Manchester, England and centers on a teenage boy who loves the sci-fi classic so much that he wants to become Marty McFly, attempting to escape his mundane, working-class life in the process. Financing will come from Philm Company, Sonic Screenworks and Lip Sync, who have helped produce such films as We Need to Talk About Kevin and Jane Eyre. Alex Child and Hiram Bleetman wrote the script and filming is planned to start this spring.

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While currently earning some praise for his most recent film The Innkeepers, director Ti West has already begun work on his next effort, a sci-fi thriller called The Side Effect. Liv Tyler has just been announced as the lead, playing a woman who “spends several months alone in space as an experimental subject for a global pharmaceutical company, and finds herself inexplicably pregnant.” Her paranoia grows as the cause of conception becomes more elusive. Described as more psychological than his previous efforts, West maintained that the film doesn’t abandon his genre roots, commenting that “it is still somewhat of a horror film.” Sounds like a cross between Moon and Rosemary’s Baby.

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Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon has chosen his next film, reteaming with Jason Bateman for a comedy called Identity Theft. In case you can’t guess, the movie will be about a guy (Bateman) who gets his identity stolen, after which hijinks ensue (shocking, right?). The person responsible for the theft will be played by rising star Melissa McCarthy. Originally, her part was written for a man, but Jason Bateman, who is also producing, was so won over by McCarthy’s performance in Bridesmaids that he had the script changed specifically for her. Originated by Jerry Eeten, the script has undergone rewrites from Steve Conrad (The Weather Man) and Craig Mazin (The Hangover Part II). Production should start by this coming April when McCarthy’s show Mike and Molly goes on hiatus.

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After hearing about AMC’s Goodfellas TV series earlier this week, we can now report that another classic film will soon be receiving the television treatment: none other than Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. This time around it’s A&E that will develop the new show, titled Bates Motel, which will act as a prequel to the Hitchcock film. It will chronicle the development of Norman Bates’ psyche and how the treatment he received from his mother and her lover warped him into a killer. Anthony Cipriano (12 and Holding) penned the script, but, as of yet, no director or actors have been signed. While A&E is known mainly for unscripted material like Intervention and Hoarders, Bates Motel would represent the network’s growing attempts at scripted shows like The Glades and Breakout Kings.

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Director Rob Marshall may not be a fanboy favorite after Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides, but since that film earned over $1 billion at the box office, Disney is eager to work with him again. To that end, they’ve annouced that Marshall has been tapped to direct an adaptation of the Broadway hit Into the Woods for the studio. Written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, the musical “intertwines several classic fairytale characters, including Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood, with the story of a baker and his wife’s attempt to have a family.” Interestingly, Lapine and Sondheim will be collaborating with Marshall on the project with the former penning the script and the latter expected to write new songs. Into the Woods will return Marshall to the genre that gave him success with Best Picture winner Chicago (although there’s also Nine to consider as well…).

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Last year Jim Carrey hinted that sequels for two of his more well-known films would be in development soon. We already know that there’s a Dumb and Dumber sequel in the works and now it looks like a true sequel to Bruce Almighty will come to pass as well. Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel (Hot Tub Time Machine, Yes Men) are currently in talks with Universal to write the follow-up, which will be another starring vehicle for Carrey again. In 2007, moviegoers saw the release of Evan Almighty, a spin-off film starring Steve Carell that didn’t come close to the original’s $500 million worldwide gross. With Carrey back in the spotlight, Universal will be hoping to repeat their success. Both the studio and Carrey could certainly use a hit.

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