Kyle Gallner to 'Hit Somebody' With Kevin Smith

I was really hoping this was going to happen...  Kyle Gallner is one of the best young actors working today (although you might not know it because of the films he's landed early in his career).  And, Kevin Smith is just the ball of awesomeness that he is.  So, needless to say I can't wait to see what Smith got out of the young actor in Red State.

Now, with the Red State premiere right around the corner, Smith has shifted gears to what may (or may not) be his last directing dig with his long awaited hockey flick Hit Somebody.  After announcing Red State alum Nicholas Braun would be taking the lead in the picture, Smith also announced via his podcast that Gallner would too be moving from the red state to the blue line.

Hit the jump to see what Smith had to say about his character, and trust me this casting is PERFECT.

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Video Game Company Electronic Arts Developing 'Madden Curse' Movie

So you've most likely had one of two reactions to that headline.  If you're well-versed on your video games and/or sports like I am, your first response was a dry "really?"  Or, if you've never experienced the greatness that is Madden Football, you have no idea what it meant.

In case you fall into the latter category, here's a brief history on the $3 billion video game franchise and what's known as the Madden Curse.  Every year, EA Sports (Electronic Arts) puts out a new copy of the football video game with typically the superstar from the last NFL season on the cover.  The "curse" is that whomever lands on the Madden cover has a God-awful season due to either serious injury, poor performance, or off the field issues.  If you believe in these things (I'm looking at you Red Sox and Cubs fans), there's a lot to buy into over the last decade.

And apparently Electronic Arts thinks so too, as the company is making the transition into film with the development of Madden Curse.  Hit the jump to read the film's logline and what you can expect.

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Batter Up: Bradley Cooper Plays Baseball for Disney

I can see Bradley Cooper in this type of movie, and even though The A-Team won't be the hit THe Hangover was, his stock is still on the rise. Now he's getting a chance to lead his own Disney feel-good sports movie, according to Movie Web.

"The dramedy centers on a baseball player who gets injured and has to go back to the minors where the only place he can find lodging is in a senior citizens' home," notes Movie Web. "There, he meets an old baseball guru who helps lead him back." Mmm...schmaltz! There's no script yet, just a pitch from Allan Loeb, whose Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps comes out this fall and who has been in high demand ever since that screenplay started making the rounds. Disney has had success with this sort of thing in the past; look at films like The Rookie (but not The Express). New CEO Rich Ross was reportedly steamed that his studio didn't pick up The Blind Side, and instead, struggled through last fall and winter with expensive cartoons like A Christmas Carol and The Princess and the Frog and underwhelming stuff like Old Dogs.

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Brad Pitt's 'Moneyball' Off the Injured Reserve

At long last, Moneyball. Columbia was going to shoot the movie last summer, but pulled up stakes around 72 hours before Stephen Soderbergh was set to film. Then the studio had Joe Pesci drive Soderbergh out to the middle of nowhere to beat him with a baseball bat.

So, Soderbergh left the project over budgetary concerns and a script the studio didn't like. Aaron Sorkin re-wrote it and Bennett Miller (Capote) will now direct it, and Deadline says everything's a go again for this summer. There are a few things that remain the same, and a few things that have changed. For starters, Brad Pitt is still playing Oakland A's GM Billy Beane, upon whose story the book is based. But he has likely had to ditch some upfront cash in favor of a higher percentage after the fact should the movie succeed.

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De Niro Playing Vince Lombardi in New ESPN Film

Robert De Niro is headed to ESPN. Unfortunately, he's not replacing Stuart Scott. De Niro will portray coach Vince Lombardi in a new bio-pic being produced by the network to air in January 2012, the weekend between the NFL conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

De Niro's Tribeca Productions will co-produce with the network as well as the NFL, and Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) will write the screenplay. Said De Niro's producing partner Jane Rosenthal, "“We’ve had an extraordinary relationship with ESPN for five years through the Tribeca Film Festival, and now we’re able to extend that association into production." The film will cover the glory years, Lombardi's years with the Green Bay Packers in which he won the first two Super Bowls and helped Green Bay become known as "Title Town," even though the city has only won one more championship in the 40-plus years since Lombardi left the sidelines.

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