No Emotions For Bale

American Psycho's Christian Bale is working on a new project. Equilibrium will feature Bale as a cop from a totalitarian society in the future who must police those who break the law and "exhibit emotions" or fail to take the required prescription called Equum. Director Kurt Wimmer had originally cast Dougray Scott in the role.

The film takes place in the fictional nation of Libria, and according to Premiere, afforded Bale the opportunity to play with guns as well as try his hand at kendo and samurai swordplay. Bale told the magazine that the real draw, however, would be working with Emily Watson (Angela's Ashes).

Hopper's Night Job

Dennis Hopper will both direct and star in The Night Job, a drama about a crooked cop trying to bust a giant mobster's art smuggling ring. The screenplay was written by former Forbes writer James O'Hanlon. Hopper, who has directed such classics as Easy Rider and Colors, told reporters that O'Hanlon's gritty Gotham tale "really hooked him".

Casting is still in progress, but Val Kilmer is in talks for the role of the mobster.

The Art of Chan

What's next for Jackie Chan? The martial arts star will head up two huge Hong Kong-based projects for producer-distributor Golden Harvest, both of which are expected to be the most costly Hong Kong movies ever made. The first, Art of War to be filmed totally in Mandarin, is expected to run close to an $80 million budget. Operation Condor 3 will head into production next year in India at a slightly lower estimate of $38 million.

Art of War is based on 2000 year old essays written by Chinese warrior Sun Tzu. According to Variety, the film expects to use over one million extras for the war scenes.

Buffalo Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix has turned in his Roman robes for a U.S. Army t-shirt for his latest endeavor. The 26 year old actor has just finished up production of Buffalo Soldiers for director Gregor Jordan (Two Hands. The story focuses on a soldier who is always out to make some fast cash, and those around him who attempt to change his ways.

The film also features Scott Glenn and Anna Pasquin as a father/daughter team, and Ed Harris as the strict Army director driven bonkers by the soldier's misdeeds.

Mel Gets a Sign

The man behind The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable appears to be favoring Mel Gibson for his next major endeavor. Writer/director M.Night Shyamalan has indicated that the Australian actor is his number one choice to star in Signs, a supernatural thriller about a family whose field of crops are oddly disturbed by some unknown force.

Gibson is currently finishing up another project under the helm of Randall Wallace, the man who wrote Braveheart. We Were Soldiers Once...and Young is a story about the first conflict between American soldiers and Viet Cong troops in 1965. The film is set for release in December. If Gibson accepts the role, Signs will begin production in the fall.

Fonda and Turner Over

After they anounced their split in January, a judge finally granted Jane Fonda a divorce last week from CNN giant Ted Turner. The actress-turned-fitness guru had been in what was a very public marriage to the network tycoon for ten years.

According to Associated Press, Fonda's filing claimed the marriage was ``irretrievably broken'', while Turner has told reporters that Fonda's turn to Christianity has played a role. It was the third marriage for both.

Do It Yourself Family

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are set to work together again. This time they will star in the costume drama Smoke and Mirrors, a true story about a 19th century illusionist who was sent to Algeria by the French government to expose a sorcerer who was stirring up trouble during the anti-colonial revolution.

Douglas' brother Joel and Zeta-Jones's brother David will produce the film with Kevin Brodie providing they can pull together the financing, and John McTiernan is being courted to direct. According to Variety, the film has been shopped since 1993, and has had such notables as Mel Gibson and Sean Connery interested.

Accidental Thurman

Uma Thurman will be dropping the pretentious costume drama role for something a bit more off the wall. The screwball comedy Accidental Husband is a tale somewhat similar to My Best Friend's Wedding, but instead follows a female psychologist who discovers she is on the books as being married, even though she does not recall it ever happening. The woman searches for the alleged husband, only to find things are far from what they seem.

Screenwriters Mimi Hare and Clare Naylor's romantic comedy script was recently nabbed by 2K Media/Original Voices Productions and will be produced by Thurman, along with Pliny Porter, Jason Blum and Amy Israel.

A Wales of a Tale

Catherine Zeta-Jones is returning to her native Wales to produce a comedy her brother Lyndon Jones pitched to her. The film Coming Outis about a Welsh rugby club. The project will be produced through the Jones' Los Angeles-based movie company Milkwood Films.

Sara Sugarman (Mad Cows) is set to direct the Welsh film. Zeta-Jones told reporters she hopes the movie will help promote filmmaking in Wales.

Brest's Gigli

The director that brought us such memorable hits as The Scent of a Woman and Midnight Run is back after a three-year hiatus from moviemaking. Martin Brest will return to direct Gigli from his own script and has chosen Ben Affleck to star in the project. The film will be the first time Brest has directed from his own script since Going In Style, a 1979 classic starring George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg.

Gigli is a story set in Los Angeles about a hit man who kidnaps the mentally challenged brother of a powerful district attorney. Brest's last project before this was Meet Joe Black for Universal Pictures.

A Jailbird's Dog

Nicholas Cage's production company Saturn Films, which brought last year's Shadow of the Vampire, is currently developing an autobiography that was written by ex-con Edward Bunker. Dog Eat Dog is a true story of three crooks who targeted those who would be least likely to call the authorities... in other words, other criminals. The screenplay is still in the polishing stages, and has yet to be shopped to talent and directors, so no one is sure whether Cage will play a part.

According to Variety, the author spent 17 years in prison for bank robbery and at one point joined the ranks of the FBI's ten Most Wanted list.

Durst the Director

Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst might surprise many with his motion picture directorial debut, Life Without Joe. The thriller focuses on a group of high school football players who stop in a small town and meet some rather auspicious characters that send them fleeing into a wooded area for their lives. Production is set to begin in the fall, and will be scheduled around Limp Bizkit's tour in Europe.

Fans of the musician might already know that Durst has directed videos for his band, including the hit My Way, as well as videos for Korn and Staind.

Whoopi Gets a Twain

Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg will join the ranks of such noted comedic talents as Richard Pryor, Jonathan Winters and Carl Reiner, when she receives the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor this fall. The Kennedy Center made the announcement last week that a gala award ceremony would take place in her honor on October 15th in Washington D.C. at the JFK Center for Performing Arts.

The prize is named after 19th century writer Mark Twain and is awarded to those who offer excellence in the field of comedy based on unique American experiences. Goldberg has been delighting audiences with her own brand of suburban wit since the early 80s when she splashed on the comedy stand-up scene with her controversial one-woman shows and won the Golden Globe and several other awards for her performance as Celie in The Color Purple.

A Shocker for Binoche

Juliette Binoche is taking her typically sensual performance up a notch in a film that many expect to be one of the more shocking of the year. BBC Films' The Assumption of the Virgin is a true story about a nun who has a forbidden love affair with a monk and bears his child in 15th century Italy. Binoche portrays Sister Lucrezia and Benicio Del Toro will play the seducing monk and leading Renaissance painter Fillipo Lippi.

Director Walter Salles teamed up with director Anthony Minghella ( The English Patient) to write this script and will unveil their controversial film this week at the Cannes film festival.

Big Win for WGA

Hollywood heaved a huge sigh of relief and was spared a potentially devastating labor strike on Friday when the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative contract with film studios and television networks that, according to Variety, upon ratification would give the union's 11,500 members a $41 million pay increase over the next three years. Guild negotiators say the deal is the best seen by writers since 1977 and sets the stage for major negotiations between studios and the two actors unions, yet to come this summer.

Even with a tentative contract settlement practically a done deal, Hollywood must cope with the dozens of scheduling and budget problems that stemmed from the threat of the looming strike. Guild members are still debating the pros and cons of Friday's tentative Writers Guild of America (WGA) agreement.

Woods Gets Scary

James Woods is set to replace an ailing Marlon Brando in Dimension Films' Scary Movie 2. Brando was slated for a cameo in the horror-spoof sequel but says he has health and availability issues that will keep him from being able to do the part. Woods will now take on the role of an exorcist, joining an ensemble cast that includes Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Tori Spelling, Chris Elliott, Tim Curry and Richard Moll.

Scary Movie 2 has fun sending up supernatural horror flicks such as The Exorcist and Stigmata, and should hit theatres July 4th.