— New site Pajiba have been on fire of late, with a series of scoops that have proven to be pretty reliable. Their latest is that director Martin Campbell has abandoned Platinum Dunes’ most sacrilegious remake yet, their take on Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” This isn’t surprising – Campbell is taking on the massive tentpole “Green Lantern,” which will keep him busy for the next eighteen months, and according to Pajiba, he’s been replaced fairly quickly by Dennis Iliadis, the Greek-born director of the “Last House on the Left” remake, who will apparently retool the movie into a harder, gorier, R-rated version. Because what the original really lacked was crows pulling out the eyeballs of someone who once had a recurring arc in “Supernatural,” and who doesn’t have a nudity clause in their contract.
— “Alfie” remake director Charles Shyer will helm the independent comedy “BFF,” which follows a pair of life-long best friends, who reunite in Manhattan. BFFs? As Liz Lemon says, “Ugh, why would you celebrate that?”
— Despite the fact that “The Chronicles of Riddick” was 1) not very successful, and 2) nearly incomprehensible, Vin Diesel is still trying to fuel the flames of a third installment. According to the actor’s latest Facebook update, “The Riddick team is in New Zealand location scouting already… that’s exciting.” If this is true, it would seem that the stillborn franchise really is continuing, but we can’t imagine who’d be putting up the money. Maybe Diesel’s essentially making fanfic for his own character?…
— Harold Perrineau (“Romeo + Juliet,” “Lost”) has joined the cast of Roger Donaldson’s vigilante thriller “Hungry Rabbit Jumps.” Nicolas Cage stars as a chemistry teacher who joins an underground vigilante organization, after his wife is the victim of a brutal crime. Perrineau will play the principal of Cage’s school, an ex-cop, joining an unusually high-calibre cast for a Nic Cage movie, also featuring January Jones and Guy Pearce.
— Is Jeff Bridges’ Oscar-tipped “Crazy Heart” going to lead to a run of country music movies? Shana Feste, director of the as-yet-released Sundance hit “The Greatest,” is writing and directing “Love Don’t Let Me Down” for Screen Gems and Tobey Maguire’s Maguire Entertainment, which will follow a rising singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund) who starts touring with a fading country singer (Gwyneth Paltrow). Tim McGraw (“The Blind Side”) and Leighton Meester (“Gossip Girl”) will also feature.
— Obligatory comic book adaptation story of the day: Zenescope Entertainment are adapting their own graphic novel “The Piper,” a retelling of the fable of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, set in a high school, following a bullied student and musician. It’ll be produced by Matthew Rhodes (“Southland Tales”), so, at the very least, will hopefully feature a scene of two cars fucking.
