Tom and Ben

So Katie's husband Tom Cruise is to star with Ben Stiller in a movie, the Hardy Boys. The horror:

Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller are teaming up for "Hardy Men," a buddy action comedy based on the fictional teen sleuths known as the Hardy Boys.

The long-in-development project sees the Hardy Boys grown up but not speaking to each other, having been estranged for many years. They are forced to overcome sibling rivalry when they reunite to solve a mystery.

Shawn Levy is attached to direct the film for 20th Century Fox, which is hoping for a shoot in 2008. The project is out to writers. Stiller and Levy are stars on the Fox lot thanks to their collaboration on the holiday hit "Night at the Museum," which has earned more than $460 million at the worldwide box office to date.

The problem is that the Hardy Boys come from a 58 book series: if this movie is successful, just think how many damn sequels they'll make of it?

 

Technorati tags: tim cruise, katie holmes, ben stiller, hardy boys

Russell Crowe and Robin Hood?

Yes, Russell Crowe is to play the Sheriff of Nottingham and guess what? He's the good guy.

As Master And Commander and A Good Year proved, there's nothing that Russell Crowe likes more than rolling out a useless British accent in his films, so he'd be the obvious first choice to play the Sheriff Of Nottingham in a new Robin Hood film.

Russell Crowe has reportedly signed up for Nottingham, which is vastly different from previous Robin Hood films because it focuses on The Sheriff Of Nottingham investigating murders carried out by the villainous Robin Hood and his band of men. It was thought that Russell Crowe was the first choice for Nottingham because of the movie's spectacular climax - where The Sheriff Of Nottingham gets smashed on the contents of his minibar, lurches downstairs and knocks Robin Hood unconscious with a telephone before pulling some embarrassing karate moves in front of everyone.

The Sheriff Of Nottingham is one of history's greatest villains, for the brutal way that he tried to stop a thief dressed in tights from shooting people with a bow and arrow just because they were richer than him. And when actors play The Sheriff Of Nottingham, they always play up the evil side, unless they're Keith Allen in the BBC1 version of Robin Hood, in which case they basically make him a medieval Frank Spencer.

I'm not sure how well this will work out: could be as funny as Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

 

Technorati tags: robin hood, russell crowe