A

ADAM RESURRECTED: Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe (Directed by Paul Schrader; Written by Noah Stollman) Unless you have access to Jerry Lewis’s private film collection, you probably have never seen “The Day the Clown Cried,” the 1972 holocaust drama in which the slapstick comic-director got tragic, playing a German entertainer who, while drunk, does a wicked impersonation of Hitler. His life is spared by the Nazis, however, and he is sent to a concentation camp where his job is to bring a little joy into the lives of Jewish children on their journey to the gas chamber. Small wonder the film never found a distributor and that Lewis opted to keep it out of sight. The wonder now is that what sounds like a strikingly similar story is scheduled for shooting. Based on a novel by Yoram Kaniuk, Noah Stollman’s screenplay will focus on a charismatic Nazi-era entertainer who performs for doomed concentration camp dwellers in the final hours of their lives. So what does he do after the war? Resourceful chap that he is, he gets a gig as the boss of an asylum for Holocaust survivors. It’s enough to make Jerry--and maybe even Mel--cry.

ALL GOOD THINGS: Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Directed by Andrew Jarecki; Written by Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling, Marcus Hinchey; The Weinstein Co.) Real estate is almost always a profitable game to play in Manhattan, but sometimes it can be murder. Literally, as it turns out in this thriller about a wealthy family that plays--and perhaps slays--together. The movie marks the fictional-feature debut of Andrew Jarecki, who directed “Capturing the Friedmans,” the chilling documentary about a very different sort of family. Click here to read about more new murderpix.

AMAZON: Scarlett Johansson (Written by Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain; Signature Pictures) We always suspected that when the chips are down, Scarlett Johansson can be one tough cookie. And that’s something she intends to prove in this tale of an alluring 200 B.C. gladiatrix who vows to get even with the slimes who turned her hometown to toast. To see what else busy Johansson is up to, click here and browse the J page of STAR TURNS.

AMELIA: Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Eccleston, Cherry Jones, Joe Anderson, Aaron Abrams, Mia Wasikowska (Directed by Mira Nair; Written by Ronald Bass; Fox Searchlight) Did you know that Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and eventually went missing over the Pacific in 1937, had a torrid affair with Gene Vidal, the father of writer Gore Vidal? And that was while the ace aviatrix was said to be blissfully married to publisher George Putnam! But as director Mira Nair (“Monsoon Wedding”) will undoubtedly make clear to us, this pioneer feminist was never one to let stuffy rules get in her way. In a bit of inspired casting, Hilary Swank is Amelia; Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor are her husband and her lover, respectively; and Virginia Madsen is her husband’s first wife.

AMERICA'S DARLINGS: Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez (New Regency Films) Nicole and J. Lo were obviously born to play a couple of music-mad chicks determined to make it in the all-male, pre-World War II club scene. Lucky for the girls, Pearl Harbor happens along and things begin to open up for women musicians. But even then, Nicole and J. Lo are forced to depend on the kindness of numerous white, black, and horny males who've had experience playing in bands. Even though Kidman is so keen on this project that she agreed to serve as its producer (along with "Chicago" producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron), she definitely faces a challenge in selling it to Joe Public. I figure the only way she and J. Lo can make it fly is to sign up Ben Affleck, B. Diddy, Marc Anthony, Tom Cruise, Ewan McGregor and Keith Urban to play some of the boys in the band. To read about more upcoming Nicole Kidman films, click here and browse the K page of STAR TURNS; to see what else is up for Jennifer Lopez, click here and browse the L page of STAR TURNS.

THE ARGENTINE: Benicio Del Toro; Franka Potente, Julia Ormond, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Demian Bichir (Directed by Steven Soderbergh; Written by Peter Buchman; Focus Features) In “The Motorcycle Diaries,” director Walter Salles focused on the youthful Ernesto "Che" Guevara (played by Gael Garcia Bernal) as the budding revolutionary biked his way through South America and witnessed acts of injustice he would never forget. If you loved Salles’ 2004 hit movie, the odds are that you will be similarly moved by this follow-up film from director Steven Soderbergh. In place of the beautiful, magnetic Bernal, we now have the less beautiful but equally magnetic and talented Benicio Del Toro as the mature Argentine doctor who leaves his country and his profession and becomes known as Che, the idealistic but tough disciple of Cuban crusader Fidel Castro. The first of two new Soderbergh takes on Che, "The Argentine" will be followed by "Guerrilla."

ATLAS SHRUGGED: Angelina Jolie (Directed by Vadim Perelman; Written by Randall Wallace; Lionsgate) When “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand’s follow-up to her cult novel “The Fountainhead,” was published in 1957, most critics did not shrug. But they did snarl and go on to brand the book as arrogant, elitist, and downright fascistic. But that didn’t stop idolatrous readers from turning “Atlas Shrugged” into an enduring, top-selling tome. Nor did it stop the unceasingly audacious Angelina Jolie from tackling the role of Dagny Taggart, the made-of-steel, ego-driven industrialist who is the heroine of Rand’s doggedly humorless tale. Smarty-pants Dagny never for a second doubts that her superior intellectual and physical attributes entitle her to universal acclaim and unlimited privilege. And she does not hesitate to use two of her discarded lovers to promote the cause of her one true love, the profoundly pompous visionary John Galt. As critic Joe Queenan pointed out in a 2007 New York Times essay, “Despite being one of the worst books ever written, ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is no fun at all.” To read about more new movies based on books, click here.

B

THE BRAZILIAN JOB: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, Seth Green, Mos Def (Directed by F. Gary Gray; Written by David Twohy; Paramount) Wahlberg, Theron, Statham, Green and Def--the slick, stylish quintet of thieves who thrilled us with their bravado in 2003’s “The Italian Job”--are set to thrill us again, this time by pulling a red-hot heist in Rio de Janeiro. All they need is a director who can whip up the smart combination of humor, action and sexiness that made crime pay the last time around. And presumably that’s what they’ve got, since this sequel is being masterminded by F. Gary Gray, the man in charge of the original caper. Actually, the “original” was a remake of 1969’s “Italian Job,” directed by Peter Collinson and starring Michael Caine, Noel Coward, Raf Vallone, Rossano Brazzi and Margaret Blye. And that was good criminal fun, too.

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED: Matthew Goode, Hayley Atwell, Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon (Directed by Julian Jarrold; Written by Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies; Miramax) This is as good a time as any to revisit Captain Charles Ryder, the stylishly disenchanted protagonist of Evelyn Waugh’s 1946 classic seriocomic novel. Toward the end of World War II, Ryder (played by Jeremy Irons in a memorable 1981 British TV miniseries and now played by Matthew Goode) is stationed at Brideshead, a sprawling castle that was once home to the Flytes, an aristocratic Catholic--and exceedingly sinful--family. Ryder’s wartime assignment stirs memories of a long-ago time spent with the mad, mad residents of the castle, including Lord and Lady Marchmain (Michael Gambon and Emma Thompson) and particularly siblings Sebastian and Julia (Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell), one an eccentric who became Ryder’s good drinking buddy and the other a beautiful, married neurotic who became his illicit lover. Ryder, by the way, never felt guilty about cheating on his own wife, since he knew that she was caught up in her own little world of sexual deceit. To read about other new movies based on books, click here.

BROTHERS: Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman (Directed by Jim Sheridan; Written by David Benioff; Relativity Media) There was a time when some moviegoers had difficulty telling the difference between Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. Finally, we got the picture: Tobey was a climber of skyscrapers; Jake was a herder of sheep. More than ever, it will be important to tell the stars of “Spider-Man” and “Brokeback Mountain” apart in “Brothers,” a drama in which a dutiful young man goes off to combat in Afghanistan, leaving his wife and child in the care of a younger brother not known for his dependability. The four-square sibling is played by Maguire, and Gyllenhaal plays the rebel without a conspicuous cause. The role of the woman responsible for expanding their fraternal relationship into a love triangle has gone to Natalie Portman. “Brothers” is a remake, so if you’re eager for more details, check out Susanne Bier’s 2004 Danish-language film starring Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Connie Nielsen.

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING: Reese Witherspoon (Type A Films) Carol Lynley, a distinctive, all-but-forgotten actress who seemed on the verge of major stardom in the sixties, was great to watch as the stressed mother of a missing child in Otto Preminger’s classy 1965 thriller, “Bunny Lake Is Missing.” And who can doubt that Reese Witherspoon will work similar wonders in this remake? Now the question is, who will play the roles performed so persuasively in the original by Laurence Olivier, Keir Dullea, Noel Coward, Martita Hunt, Anna Massey and Clive Revill? To read about more upcoming Reese Witherspoon movies, click here and browse the W page of STAR TURNS.

BURN AFTER READING: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich (Directed by Joel Coen; Written by Ethan and Joel Coen; Focus Features) You’re not really a top male star in today’s Hollywood until you’ve played a hit man, something Brad Pitt did with aplomb in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” wherein he was assigned the challenging task of bumping off his wife, a spitfire who was hired to terminate her husband (and we all know who played the feisty hit woman. At any rate, it’s high time for George Clooney, Brad’s prime competitor in the superstar sweepstakes, to play an ace assassin, which is what he is doing on this playfully morbid Coen brothers occasion. Who are his targets? Not sure, but one of them might well be Ozzie Cox (John Malkovich), the former CIA agent who manages to misplace the manuscript of his tell-all book about his days as a spy. Another potential victim: Ozzie’s rabidly unfaithful wife (Frances McDormand). And possibly there is a bullet waiting for Brad Pitt, as a man of mystery who may be linked to Ozzie’s mate, or even to Ozzie himself. Opening date to be announced

C

CAROUSEL: Hugh Jackman (Fox 2000) “The Sound of Music” made a big, big noise at the 1963 box office. Despite Julie Andrews’ ravishing voice and perky spirit, however, the movie was basically a bore. That, alas, was also true of numerous other screen adaptations of Rodgers & Hammerstein hit musicals, including “Oklahoma!,” “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and “Flower Drum Song.” And it was certainly true of “Carousel,” the 1956 Cinemascope snooze starring Gordon MacRae as Billy Bigelow, the macho, carnival barker and thief who is given a one-day pass from purgatory in order to straighten out the lives of the wife and daughter he left behind. The good news here is that the handsome, boastful lug singing “If I Loved You” and “Soliloquy” will be Hugh Jackman, who triumphed in a 2000 Carnegie Hall concert version of “Carousel” honoring Rodgers & Hammerstein. To read about many more new remakes, click here.

CASE 39: Renee Zellweger, Ian McShane, Bradley Cooper (Directed by Christian Alvart; Written by Ray Wright; Paramount) Renee’s heart is in the right place, but her head might be somewhere else in this thriller. She plays a social worker who succeeds in separating an abused 10-year-old girl from her parents, only to find that the couple, spooky as they may be, are not the abusers.

THE CHANGELING: Angelina Jolie, Kelly Lynn Warren (Directed by Clint Eastwood; Written by J. Michael Straczynski; Universal) In real life, Angelina Jolie is Supermom--strong, fearless, protective, possessive, an unsinkable force of nature. But in this gritty drama, set in 1920s Los Angeles, Angelina is more victim than victor. At least, that’s what she is when we first meet her, around the time the poor thing’s infant son goes missing. Despite major roadblocks placed in her path by villainous members of the LAPD, she manages to track down and once again embrace her son. But Angelina’s joy soon turns to grief, and then fury, as she realizes this kid is in fact not the precious darling to whom she gave birth. Don’t be surprised, however, if Angelina triumphs in the end and--given the fact that her director is the man who worked wonders for Hilary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby”--eventually walks home cradling an Oscar.

CHAOS: Meryl Streep, Aishwarya Rai, Michael David White (Directed by Coline Serreau) Brutally assaulted by a trio of street punks, a blood-splattered prostitute pleads with a middle-aged couple to take her into their car. The driver shuts his window and drives on to a dinner party. The next day, the driver’s guilt-ridden wife tracks down the victim and before long they are close--and exceptionally scheming--friends. French film director Coline Serreau is directing this English-language remake of her story of vengeance, violence and bizarre bonding. Streep plays the older woman, and Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai plays the hooker who changes her life, not entirely for the better.

CHERI: Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Friend, Kathy Bates, Felicity Jones, Frances Tomelty, Anita Pallenberg, Harriet Walter, Iben Hjejle (Directd by Stephen Frears; Written by Christopher Hampton; Miramax) Cheri (Rupert Friend), a young, handsome, and deeply romantic Parisian, is tutored in the ways of love by Lea (Michelle Pfeiffer), an aging, equally romantic courtesan. What she is actually teaching this son of an old friend, who is now a wealthy prostitute, is how to be not just a gigolo, but a perfect gigolo. Naturally, the affair turns tres torrid. Collette’s classic short novel has been adapted by Christopher Hampton, who collaborated brilliantly with director Frears and star Pfeiffer in 1988’s “Dangerous Liaisons.”

CLOSING THE RING: Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton, Gregory Smith, Brenda Blethyn, Pete Postlethwaite, Neve Campbell (Directed by Richard Attenborough; Written by Peter Woodward; Odyssey Entertainment) A military plane crashes on the outskirts of Belfast toward the end of World War II, and just before the rear gunner dies, he asks a local lad to see that his ring is returned to his girlfriend. Fifty years later, the girlfriend has still not received that ring, but she has managed to marry the gunner’s best buddy. Still, it’s never too late, for a young native of Belfast who knows the history of the ring is on his way to North Carolina to deliver it in person. This sounds like a natural for Richard Attenborough, the director/warrior who gave us “Oh! What a Lovely War,” “A Bridge Too Far” and “In Love and War.” To read Guy Flatley's 1977 interview with Shirley MacLaine, click here.

A COLD CASE: Tom Hanks (Directed by Mark Romanek; Written by Eric Roth; Universal) A tenacious New York district attorney is bent on solving a 27-year-old murder case before his retirement rolls around. Why is he so determined? Because the murder victim was his friend. And since this law man is played by Tom Hanks, we know he’ll catch the villain if he can. This true story of investigator Andy Rosenzweig is directed by Mark Romanek, who recently put Robin Williams through some pretty creepy crawls in "One Hour Photo."

D

DEFIANCE: Daniel Craig (Written and directed by Edward Zwick; Paramount Vantage) During Germany’s ruthless World War II occupation of Poland, four brave brothers escaped their captors and took refuge in a forest. Eventually, they joined a band of Russian resisters in an effort to combat Nazis and free imprisoned Jews. They succeeded to an astonishing degree, as this adaptation of Nechama Tec’s non-fiction book will no doubt make clear. Daniel Craig plays one of the four brothers, under the direction of Edward Zwick, who demonstrated that war is never less than hell in “Glory,” “Courage Under Fire” and “Blood Diamond.” To read about more new war movies, click here.

DEXTERITY: Jude Law (Directed by Gavin O’Connor; Written by Karen Croner; Paramount) A hard-luck laborer begins to truly unravel when the upstate New York factory where he works is shut down. The film, based on a much praised novel by Douglas Bauer, will be directed by Gavin O’Connor, a man who showed a talent for depicting common but eccentric folk in 1999’s “Tumbleweeds,” starring a memorably earthy Janet McTeer.

DIRTY TRICKS: Meryl Streep, Gwyneth Paltrow, Annette Bening, Jill Clayburgh (Written and directed by Ryan Murphy; Paramount) They called her Martha the Mouth, Mouth of the South or simply Moutha. Her real name was Martha Mitchell, and she was the full-throttle wife of John Mitchell, Attorney General to President Richard M. Nixon. Never one to hold back, Martha, who died in 1976, had this to say about her hubby’s boss: “Nixon bleeds people. He draws every drop of blood and then drops them from a cliff. He’ll blame any person he can put his foot on.” Nor did Martha go all that easy on Mitchell himself, referring to him at one point as “that gutless, despicable crook.” Is it any wonder that in an effort to shut her up, her enemies eventually drugged her and held her captive in a California hotel room? Ryan Murphy, director of “Running With Scissors,” is bringing this adaptation of John Jeter’s play about the woman who spilled the beans that bumped Tricky Dick from the White House to the screen. And, best news of all, Murphy had the good sense to cast Meryl Streep as the biggest Moutha ever. Also on prominent display: Jill Clayburgh as Pat Nixon, Gwyneth Paltrow as Maureen Dean and Annette Bening as Helen Thomas, the White House correspondent who received many a late-night phone call from the whistle-blowing Martha. To read about many more new biopics, click here; to see what else Meryl Streep is up to, click here; for Gwyneth Paltrow, click here, and for Annette Bening, click here.

DUPLICITY: Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson, Tom McCarthy, Oleg Stefan, Rick Worthy, Denise O’Hare, Kathleen Chalfant, Khan Baykal, Wayne Duvall (Written and directed by Tony Gilroy; Universal) Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, who sizzled memorably as an oversexed couple in Mike Nichols’ “Closer,” will turn up the heat again, this time in Tony Gilroy’s “Duplicity.” Gilroy, the classy screenwriter who made a smashing directorial debut with “Michael Clayton,” gives Roberts and Owen a chance to spar in the boardroom and snuggle in the bedroom as a pair of corporate competitors who are having a hot top-secret affair. Just wait till Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson, the industrialists who’ve been paying them big bucks to make war, not love, find out.

E

EAT, PRAY, LOVE: Julia Roberts (Written and directed by Ryan Murphy; Paramount) Depressed, nearly suicidal, Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the memoir upon which this film is based) decides to take a year off from her successful literary career in an attempt to get over her divorce from a seemingly ideal husband and her stressful love affair with a man who was definitely not ideal. Her plan is to flee Manhattan and spend one third of the year seeking pleasure in Italy, another third searching for spiritual serenity in India, and the final third striking a balance between the two extremes in Indonesia. And, yes, Elizabeth, played by Julia Roberts, will not say no if a suitable bachelor pops up somewhere along the way and pops the right question. If director Ryan Murphy can get the kind of performance out of Roberts that he got out of Annette Bening in “Running With Scissors,” Julia could be adding another Oscar to her collection.

EMMA’S WAR: Nicole Kidman, Taylor Handley (Directed by Tony Scott; Written by Steven Knight; Fox) Darn! Nicole’s in hot political (maybe even terrorist) water again. This time, she’s a British do-gooder who falls hard for a Sudanese warlord, marries the bloke and then eggs him on in his effort to seize a sizable chunk of his homeland. Here's proof that behind every great warlord, there is a great warlady.

EMPEROR ZEHNDER: Richard Gere, Timilee Romolini (Directed by Gregory Hoblit; Written by Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman; Disney) In one of his top performances, Richard Gere played a cool but unscrupulous lawyer who defended an altar boy accused of murdering a predatory bishop. The psychological thriller was called "Primal Fear" and it was released in 1996. Now Gere is reteaming with that film's director, Gregory Hoblit, on what sounds like a less chilling but possibly more inspiring project. For once, the actor will play a pure, real-life hero--Bruno P. Zehnder. The "P" stands for penguin, as well it should, for Zehnder, an uncompromising photographer, spent a great deal of his life photographing the surprisingly complex creatures in Antarctica--which is precisely what he was doing just before his death in a blizzard.

ESCAPE FROM TEHRAN: George Clooney (Directed by George Clooney; Written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov; Warner Bros.) In the wake of the WMD blunder that started the Iraqi War ball rolling, the CIA is in desperate need of an image makeover. Perhaps it will get the p.r. boost it needs with this real-life comedy-drama set not in Iraq, but in Iran. Co-producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov are basing their screenplay on Joshua Bearman’s investigative report in Wired magazine about the astonishing 1980 rescue of six Americans in Tehran by CIA operative Tony Mendez. Wacky as it seems, Mendez convinced Iranian officials that he and his U.S. colleagues were actually Canadian filmmakers with plans to shoot a major epic in Tehran. Not only did they manage to fool the Iranians, but they also put one over on Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, both of which did dead-earnest reports on the making of the movie. As was the case with “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the previous Clooney-Heslov collaboration, Clooney is expected to direct and act in “Escape From Tehran.” He sounds like the perfect Mendez to us. To read about more upcoming Clooney films, click here and browse the "C" PAGE of STAR TURNS.

EVERYBODY’S FINE: Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell (Written and directed by Kirk Jones; Miramax) A lonely, no-longer-young widower just doesn’t know what to do with himself. Then, one day, it strikes him that what he really needs to make his life meaningful is to hook up with each of his geographically scattered kids again. He could be dead wrong about that. De Niro is the wandering dad in this remake of "Stanno Tuti Bene," Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1990 Italian comedy-tearjerker starrring Marcello Mastroianni. Barrymore, Beckinsale and Rockwell play his grown-up brats. Click here for Vincent Canby's 1991 review of the original "Everybody's Fine" in The New York Times; to read about more movie remakes, click here.

F

FAIR GAME: Nicole Kidman (Directed by Doug Liman; Warner Bros.) There was no way Hollywood could ignore the Valerie Plame Wilson story for long. The true-life tale was dramatic, scary, enraging, tender and surprisingly romantic. As we know, the keen, classy-looking blonde CIA agent’s cover was blown by conservative columnist Robert Novak in 2002--with the aid of strategically-placed Bushies--as an apparent act of punishment to her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who had written a New York Times article poking holes in the Bush administration’s claims about weapons of mass destruction. Life became instant hell for the Wilsons and their 2-year-old twins, and Valerie came to doubt her own sanity. But this story, like so many Hollywood strories, has a happy ending. Valerie wrote “Fair Game,” a tell-all tome that did not send Robert Novak, Scooter Libby and Karl Rove rushing to the Barnes & Noble book-signing party. And before long, Plame's “Game” will be playing at a cineplex near you. In a brilliant stroke of casting, Nicole Kidman will be the glamorous, no-longer-secret agent. The director is Doug Liman, the man responsible for “Swingers,” “Go,” “The Bourne Identity” and “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”

THE FEW: Tom Cruise (Directed by Michael Mann; Written by John Logan) Anyone who knew anything back in the 1930s knew that Hitler was a major menace; yet America was officially neutral prior to Pearl Harbor. That troubled Billy Fiske, who had grown up in Brooklyn, won Gold Medals at the 1928 and 1932 Winter Olympics, attended Cambridge and--in 1939--fibbed about being a Canadian citizen, thereby carving his way into The RAF. That’s how the bravely impatient Billy got caught up in the Battle of Britain and became the first American pilot casualty of World War II. If you think the character of Billy Fiske is made to order for Tom Cruise, you may be right. Tom is preparing to take flight as the true-life hero under the direction of Michael Mann, who directed him with impressive results in “Collateral.” The screenplay is by John Logan, who penned Tom’s showy role in “The Last Samurai.” "The Few" was slated to be a Paramount production, but sense Tom is no longer going steady with that studio, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

THE FIGHTER: Brad Pitt, Mark Wahlberg (Directed by Darren Aronofsky; Written by Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colick, Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy; Paramount) Here come Micky and Dickie. And we do mean Micky Ward and Dickie Eklund. As an avid sports fan, you undoubtedly know that hard-punching “Irish” Micky Ward from Lowell, Massachusetts, played here by Mark Wahlberg, was a wow in the ring during the 1990s, thanks largely to the wise coaching of his half-brother Dickie, a former boxer who lost a battle with drugs, did time in the pen, and became an exemplary inmate before his release. Brad Pitt signed up for the role of Dickie when it became clear to Matt Damon that he himself had signed up for so many flicks that he had to drop out of this one. To read about more new biopics, click here.

FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN: Julia Roberts, Ryan Reynolds, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Ioan Gruffudd, Hayden Panettiere, Cayden Boyd, Shannon Lucio, George Newbern, (Written and directed by Dennis Lee; Senator International) Need proof that midwestern American families can be every bit as dysfunctional as the East Coast variety? You’re apt to find it in this semi-autobiographical drama by Dennis Lee, auteur of the well-received short, “Jesus Henry Christ.” The troubled, accident-prone Taylor clan--headed by dictatorial professor/wannabe writer Charles (Willem Dafoe) and relentlessly sacrificing mom Lisa (Julia Roberts)--suffer profusely, as do their kids, in the grim present, as well as in a string of painful incidents shown in flashback. Among the family’s favorite diversions: tormenting the titular fireflies in the garden and exploding fish on the Fourth of July. In charge of photographing all this tragic frivolity: Danny Moder, A.K.A. Julia Roberts’ husband. Click here to read the Variety review of "Fireflies in the Garden."

FIRST MAN: Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep (Written and directed by Diane English; Disney) If a guy’s got tons of self esteem and doesn’t give a hoot if people ridicule him for giving up his dream of becoming the next Ted Turner in order to give his wife a career boost, that’s a thing of beauty. Especially if his wife has her heart set on the White House. Coming from Diane English, who created “Murphy Brown,” this could turn out to be a cutting-edge romantic comedy. On the other hand, didn’t Fred MacMurray and Polly Bergen already cover this ground in 1964’s “Kisses for My President”?

THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB: Julia Roberts (Universal) How many single mothers who manage colorful Manhattan knitting shops and look like Julia Roberts do you know? Probably none, and probably the mom played by Julia Roberts in this adaptation of a soon-to-be-published novel by Kate Jacobs is truly one-of-a-kind. To lessen the pressure of her fabulous but demanding job, mother Julia meets with her favorite customers every Friday evening for the purpose of sharing the details of their various careers and indulging in what used to be called girl talk or just plain gossip. Then tragedy strikes and their knitting club becomes much more than a frivolous diversion. We only hope that tragedy does not involve Julia’s high-spirited teenage daughter (a role not yet cast).

G
GIGANTIC: Paul Dano, Zooey Deschanel, John Goodman, Jane Alexander (Directed by Matt Aselton; Written by Matt Aselton and Adam Nagata; Killer Films and Epoch Films) Lots of warm-hearted, noble-intentioned folks yearn to adopt a child from China. But very few exhibit less parental potential than Brian, a New York mattress salesman who also harbors unrealistic dreams of a sleep-in relationship with Harriett, a red-hot Manhattanite. Will Brian get the girl and the baby, too? Possibly, if he can first manage to out-maneuver the maniacal homeless man who’s bent on terminating him. Brian is being played by Paul Dano, who demonstrated his astonishing range as the semi-catatonic lad in “Little Miss Sunshine” and the shrieking religious fanatic in “There Will Be Blood.” Another bonus: the invariably wonderful Zooey Deschanel has been cast as Harriett. Opening date to be announced

GRACE: Sandra Bullock, Patrick Jordan, David Morse, Joanna Lowe, Ben Blazer, Marty Giles (Directed by Andrew Paul; Written by Naomi Foner, Alie Kolb, Mathew Kopel and Ben Penhan; Fortis Films) For some people, it was a shocking peep into the living rooms and, especially, the bedrooms of small-town fifties America; for others, it was plain old trash. Whatever it was or was not, “Peyton Place” was certainly the vehicle that propelled previously unsung novelist Grace Metalious to international notoriety. It also led to the break-up of her marriage and, eventually, to her death by suicide. Although screenwriter Naomi Foner is the mother of Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, she neglected to write roles for her talented kids on this occasion. To read about many more new biopics, click here.

GREEN ZONE: Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Brandan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Antoni Corone (Directed by Paul Greengrass; Written by Paul Helgeland; Universal) The army officer played by Matt Damon is assigned to work with a CIA official on a mission to track down Saddam Hussein’s vanished weapons of mass destruction. One of the problems is that the duo spend most of their time in the Green Zone, the turf that is as safe as it gets in Iraq but also so sheltered that it is difficult to get a of view of what’s truly going on in the rest of the country. The thriller, based on Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life in the Emerald City,” also stars Amy Ryan (“Gone Baby Gone”) as a New York Times reporter investigating the mystery of the missing weapons.

GREY GARDENS: Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, Olivia Waldriff (Directed by Michael Sucsy; Written by Patricia Rozema and Michael Sucsy; HBO Films) Little Edith Bouvier Beale was Jacqueline Kennedy's cousin, and her mother, Big Edith Bouvier Beale, was the First Lady’s aunt. At one time, the two Edies lived sumptuously on Manhattan’s Park Avenue, but they ended up in a squalid, raccoon-infested estate on Long Island. Thanks to the intervention of Jackie, the East Hampton health department did not carry through with its plan to raid the dump. But that didn’t keep the messy eccentrics out of the headlines, and eventually they became the subjects of “Grey Gardens,” a memorable 1976 documentary made by David and Albert Maysles. Now an expanded version of their story that includes material on the young Jackie Bouvier (portrayed by 8-year-old Olivia Waldriff) and covers Little Edie’s late-blooming career as a nightclub chanteuse is headed your way. Let us hope that Jessica Lange has more luck playing Drew Barrymore’s mom than she did playing Christina Ricci’s in the wretched “Prozac Nation.”

GUERRILLA: Benicio Del Toro, Lou Diamond Phillips, Franka Potente, Julia Ormond, Oscar Iaac, Meg Gibson, Alex Manette, Paul Vasquez, Rob Macie (Directed by Steven Soderbergh; Written by Peter Buchman; Focus Features) This sequel to Soderbergh's "The Argentine" deals with the post-Cuban Revolution adventures of Che Guevara, once again played by Benicio Del Toro. Demian Bichir is also back as Fidel Castro.


H

THE HARDY MEN: Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller (Directed by Shawn Levy; Fox) Boys will be boys. And then, if they pull themselves together and stop the kid stuff, they will be men. That is precisely what happens to cut-ups Tim and Ben in this comic updating of the “Hardy Boys” mystery series. What’s the hook? It seems the lads had a silly falling out on their journey to maturity and, in a huff, went their separate ways, never to co-sleuth again. But then something shocking happened, so they’re back together, pooling brains and brawn on a truly big, life-or-death criminal case. And is that “The Hardy Men 2” we see on the horizon?

HEADHUNTERS: Nicole Kidman (Written by Jez and John Henry Butterworth; Fox 2000) Four not-quite-destitute women from New Jersey have a brainstorm--they’ll trek to Monte Carlo, pretend to be tres wealthy, and land four wealthy-for-real husbands. As it turns out, the lads they land are just silly gold-digging gigolos. Is this how to marry a millionaire? Based on what sounds like a wildly original novel by Jules Bass, the movie will be produced by Nicole Kidman, and it should be noted that Jez Butterworth, author of Kidman’s un-festive “Birthday Girl,” is writing the screenplay. His brother, John Henry Butterworth, is collaborating with him, so maybe Jez will have something to celebrate about this time out. To read about more Nicole Kidman movies, click here.

HOW ABOUT YOU?: Vanessa Redgrave, Hayley Atwell, Imelda Staunton, Brenda Fricker, Joss Ackland, Orla Brady, Joan O’Hara (Directed by Anthony Byrne; Written by Jean Pasley; Ferndale Films) Who does Vanessa Redgrave think she is, anyway--some kind of movie star? Well, that’s just who she is--or, rather, who she plays--in this comedy-drama. As for the kind of movie star she is, she’s the kind who was far from a superstar during her lackluster career in Irish films. And now she’s taken on the off-screen role of superbitch, the leader of a cantankerous quartet of seniors who’ve been left behind in a County Wicklow retirement home while their fellow residents are spending the Christmas holiday with their families. Redgrave and her cronies--Imelda Staunton and Brenda Fricker as erstwhile high-society sisters and Joss Ackland as former judge--are not about to budge an inch when the determined young manager of the residence (Hayley Atwell, acclaimed star of the Irish TV series, “The Line of Beauty”) makes a stab at turning them into good, cooperative scouts. May the best generation win. If “How About You” sounds familiar to you, you’ve probably had the pleasure of reading “Hardcore,” the Maeve Binchy short story upon which it is based.

I

IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN ZERO: Sean Penn (Directed by Stacy Peralta; Written by Michael Bacall; Radar) There may not be a real Captain Zero, but there is a real Allan Weisbecker. A former surfer and drug-smuggler, Weisbecker packed up his memories of rowdy adventures and misdeeds and put them into a book, and this quirky-sounding movie is based upon that memoir. The biopic, starring Sean Penn as the restless, reckless Weisbecker, deals with more than just dope and waterplay. Much of it is devoted to the author’s determination to hook up again with a close surfing pal who vanished a while back, probably somewhere in the wilds of Central America. But was their relationship really as joyful as it seemed, and can it possibly be resurrected?

INKHEART: Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, Rafi Gavron, Sienna Guillory (Directed by Iain Softley; Written by David Lindsay-Abaire; New Line Cinema) A man named Mo has a unique, sometimes dangerous talent. He can read books from his vast collection to his beloved daughter Meggie, and the results are so vivid that the characters literally jump off the pages and enter their quaint home. That’s how they strike up an acquaintance with a slimy villain named Capricorn, and that’s also how Mo manages to get himself kidnapped. Can Meggie and an assortment of helpmates come to his rescue? Based on the first book of a trilogy by children’s author Cornelia Funke, the movie features Andy Serkis, of “The Lord of the Rings” fame, as Capricorn and good “Queen” Helen Mirren as a quirky collector of rare books.

INTO THE WILD: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt (Written and directed by Sean Penn; Paramount) Christopher McCandless, a restless, searching idealist, graduated from college in 1992 but did not even consider competing with his peers for a prestigious, lucrative job. Instead, as readers of Jon Krakauer’s best seller know, McCandless left behind his worldly goods, hitchhiked to Alaska, and strived to become one with nature. Four months later, his corpse was discovered on an abandoned bus in a wilderness campsite. Under the direction of Sean Penn, “Alpha Dog’s” Emile Hirsch plays McCandless; Keener and Vaughn play a motherly stranger and a sensitive truck driver he meets on his journey. For Guy Flatley’s 1998 interview with Vaughn, click here.

J

JULIE & JULIA: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci (Written and directed by Nora Ephron; Columbia) A world-famous chef, who was also the star of her own popular live-TV show, once blithely flipped a potato pancake into the air, only to see it land not in the intended pan but on a decidedly un-photogenic work table. Not a bit flustered, she simply scooped up the smashed potato and molded it back into shape. Then, looking firmly into the eye of the camera, she told her audience, “Remember, you are alone in the kitchen, and no one can see you.” This unflappable flipper, of course, was Julia Child, the lovably eccentric American who somehow managed to become an idolized French chef. And playing Child in this movie is Meryl Streep, who, as you know, can glide from American to French or any other nationality on a minute’s notice. The question is, what sort of scenario has writer-director Nora Ephron concocted that will give Streep a chance to don her apron and flip her potato pancake, as well as engage in some out-of-the-kitchen antics? After all, this film is supposedly an adaptation of “Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen,” Julia Powell’s 2005 book dishing out the comedy-drama of her decision to cook, over the course of one year, every single recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and to serve the presumably tasty results to her husband and other guinea pigs. Amy Adams ("Catch Me If You Can," "Junebug," "Charlie Wilson's War") plays the central role of Julie. But you can bet that Ephron will cook up something tres delicious for Streep, who played the author to perfection in "Heartburn," based on Ephron's account of her disastrous marriage to philandering journalist Carl Bernstein. Child's own husband, Paul, a foreign diplomat suspected of being a commie by Senator Joseph McCarthy, will be played by Stanley Tucci.

K

THE KIND ONE: Casey Affleck (Written by Tom Epperson; Disney) Danny Landon is a 1930s resident of L.A. affectionately known as Two-Gun Danny because that’s how many weapons he once used to murder a boatload of suckers during a wildly successful heist at sea. At least that’s what Danny (Casey Affleck) has been told by his pals. The tragic truth is that he is suffering from amnesia and finds it difficult to believe he could ever have been such a badass. Nevertheless, he is clearly on the payroll of Bud Seitz, a repulsive mobster joshingly referred to as The Kind One. And, just as clearly, Danny has made the grave mistake of falling in love with his boss’s perpetually soused tootsie. No word on who will direct Tom Epperson’s adaptation of his own novel or who will play the title role. But wouldn’t Ben Affleck, who did such a nifty job of directing his kid brother in “Gone Baby Gone,” be the right man for both slots? To read about more new murderpix, click here.

L

LABOR PAINS: Lindsay Lohan, Chris Parnell, Cheryl Hines, Luke Kirby, Connie Britton (Directed by Lara Shapiro; Written by Lara Shapiro and Stacey Kramer; Nu Image) Nobody ever suggested that toilers in the fiercely competitive field of publishing climb to the top by being sweet and supportive to their colleagues. And the cut-throat race to survive gets deadlier with each new cost-cutting, outsourcing day. That may or may not explain why the bright but shakily employed assistant played by Lindsay Lohan finds it necessary to feign pregnancy to prevent her heartless boss from giving her the sack. If the cad continues to harass her, she might have to slap him with a paternity suit.

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI: Nicole Kidman (Written and directed by Wong Kar-Wai) Wong Kar-Wai, the Chinese auteur responsible for numerous stylistic gems, may do for Kidman what he did for Maggie Cheung in 2002’s haunting, exquisitely sensual “In the Mood for Love”--which would be a great deal indeed. It’s said that the writer/director generally remains mum about his scenarios, sometimes keeping secrets even from his leading players--a practice that will probably seem perfectly natural to the actress who spent ages in the dark with Stanley Kubrick on “Eyes Wide Shut.” (Don't hold your breath waiting for this "Lady" to arrive at your local multiplex--it's been rumored that Kidman is having second thoughts about the project.)

LAKE CITY: Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity, Rebecca Romijn, Dave Matthews, Drea de Matteo, Keith Carradine (Written and directed by Perry Moore and Hunter Hill) Sissy Spacek, who proved she is one of America’s finest actresses in such powerful films as “Badlands,” “Carrie,” “3 Women,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and “Missing,” was at the very top of her form in “In the Bedroom,” the harrowing 2001 drama that cast her as a woman obsessed with nailing the murderer of her son, even if she had to do the deed herself. Now, in “Lake City,” Spacek is once again a tragically troubled mom. This time, her son Billy (Troy Garity, who in real life is the son of Jane Fonda) is running for his life, hoping to evade the drug dealer (Dave Matthews) who has been double-crossed by Billy’s gone-missing wife (Drea de Matteo). What does Billy do? He grabs his own young son and heads for the Virginia hills home of his estranged mother. Once there, he seems safe, at least for a while, from the fury of the duped dope peddler. But how safe is Billy from the threat of memories of a dark, suffocating relationship with mama?

THE LAST STATION: Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, Anne-Marie Duff (Directed by Michael Hoffman; Written by Jay Parini; Notro Films) Anthony Hopkins was set to play Count Leo Tolstoy, the author of "War and Peace" who was strugglig to live out his final days with dignity and grace. But somewhere along the line Hopkins dropped out and Christopher Plummer dropped in. Getting back to Leo--who on earth was making it difficult for him to travel a peaceful path into the hereafter? It was none other than Sofya Andreyevna, his luxury-loving, more warring than peaceful, wife. And--like Anthony Hopkins--Meryl Streep, cast as Sofya, made an exit, leaving her role to Helen Mirren. Paul Giamatti plays a loyal friend of Tolstoy's who does his best to rein in Sofya, James McAvoy plays Tolstoy's secretary, and Anne-Marie Duff--McAvoy's real-life wife--plays the tormented literary lion's daughter. Jay Parini's screenplay for "The Last Station" is based on his 1990 novel, which in turn was based on the actual diaries of the contentious Tolstoys and their piles of relatives and friends. The director here is Michael Hoffman, whose eclectic oeuvre includes “Soapdish” (Robert Downey Jr. & Sally Field), “Restoration” (Hugh Grant & Meg Ryan), and “One Fine Day" (George Clooney & Michelle Pfeiffer).

LITTLE FOCKERS: Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner (Directed by Jay Roach; Written by Larry Stuckey; Universal) They’re baaaack! We’re talking about the unstoppable Fockers--horny, long-in-the-tooth hippies Bernie and Roz (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) and their terminally nerdy son (Ben Stiller). We’re also talking about the Byrnes clan, former CIA operative Bernie and his uptight wife (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner) and their flaky daughter (Teri Polo), who has more or less glued the family to the Fockers. Who knows what the future holds for members of this lucrative franchise, but the title does give one the sinking feeling that we’ll be present at the birth of a whole flock of Fockerettes. To read Guy Flatley's 1973 interview with Barbra Streisand, click here; for Guy's 1973 interview with Robert De Niro, click here; for his 1979 interview with Dustin Hoffman, click here; and for Diane Baroni's 2000 interview with Teri Polo, click here.

LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS: Penelope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, Lluis Homar (Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar; El Deseo) The innovative, emotional, challenging, never cautious or dull Pedro Almodovar will shoot this Hollywood-style film noir in Madrid and other Spanish locations. Almodovar told Variety’s John Hopewell that the movie will be set in the 90s and today and will be reminiscent of Nicolas Ray’s “In a Lonely Place” and Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful.” It will deal with “fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.”

LOVE RANCH: Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci, Gina Gershon, Rio Hackford (Directed by Taylor Hackford; Written by Mark Jacobson; Capitol Films) Not so long ago we were calling Helen Mirren queen; soon we’ll be calling her madam. That’s because the Oscar winner is playing an earthy, enterprising woman based on the character of Sally Conforte, who--along with hubby Joe--made her wildest dream come true by opening the Mustang Ranch, Nevada’s first legal brothel. Life became one big love-in for Sally and Joe--until that memorable moment in 1976 when Oscar Bonavena, an Argentinian prizefighter rumored to have gotten raunchy with the Mustang boss-lady, was shot dead by a ranch bodyguard. Director Taylor Hackford, Mirren’s real-life husband, will be putting his wife through her “Love Ranch” paces.

THE LOVELY BONES: Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, Michael Imperioli, Saoirse Ronan (Directed by Peter Jackson; Written by Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh; DreamWorks) In a welcome change of pace, Peter Jackson is taking a vacation from the tricky, sometimes tedious special-effects world of the “Rings” trilogy and “King Kong.” His new film will be an audacious attempt to mix reality and fantasy. As readers of Alice Sebold’s imaginative, deeply disturbing 2002 novel know, the heroine of “The Lovely Bones” (played here by newcomer Saoirse Ronan) is raped, murdered and dismembered by a neighbor at the age of 14. But that is not the end of the story; in her afterlife, the girl focuses intently on the torment of her grieving family, including her parents, played by Mark Wahlberg (who replaced Ryan Gosling the day before shooting began) and Rachel Weisz, and her grandmother, played by Susan Sarandon. And, on occasion, the murdered girl pays very close attention to the fiendish scheming of her unrepentant killer (Stanley Tucci). Jackson, whose finest achievement is “Heavenly Creatures”--the haunting 1994 film in which two emotionally entwined adolescents (Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey) commit an especially horrific murder--seems the perfect person to bring “The Lovely Bones” to flesh-and-blood life.

M

MANOLETE: Adrien Brody, Penelope Cruz (Written and directed by Menno Meyjes; Lolafilms) Adrien Brody, faced with monstrous competition for the attention of Naomi Watts in “King Kong,” will presumably have an easier time of it when he woos Penelope Cruz in this true-life romance. Brody plays magnetic bullfighter Manuel Rodriguez Sanchez, better known as Manolete, and Cruz takes on the role of sultry actress Lupe Sino.

MARGARET: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Jeannie Berlin, Matthew Broderick (Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan; Fox Searchlight) One of the funniest and most moving films of 2000 was “You Can Count on Me,” written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, whose biggest prior claim to movie fame was his screenwriting contribution to “Analyze This,” the Robert De Niro-Billy Crystal comedy released the year before. If you saw “You Can Count on Me,” you know that the tyro director drew astonishing performances from Laura Linney as a single mother, Mark Ruffalo as her screwed-up brother, and Matthew Broderick as the petty, despotic boss who unexpectedly becomes her red-hot lover, even though he is already married to a conspicuously pregnant bore. Now Lonergan is about to go behind the camera again, this time as the director of his own screenplay about a Manhattan teenager with plenty of problems, not the least of which is her mom, a neurotic actress. Plus she is a bit unhinged about a bus accident she recently witnessed--an accident that may not have been an accident. The troubled teen is being played by Anna Paquin, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “The Piano” when she was a mere tot. Maybe this time it will simply be a Best Actress Oscar. To read Guy Flatley's 1998 interview with Anna Paquin, click here.

FOR PART II OF "INTO THE FUTURE," CLICK HERE.