* Just when he thought he was out...they pulled him back in. A couple of years ago, Shia Labeouf was set to star in The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, a pulpy crime thriller featuring a Black List approved script by Matt Drake and directed by Frederick Bond. Then after no movement on the project, Zac Efron quietly took over the lead, and now it's back in Labeouf's hands. The Transformers star will headline the flick about a man who meets and falls in love with a violent crime boss's woman, and then endures all sorts of brutal beatings in order to keep her safe and prove his worth to her. No word on when this will roll, but it likely depends on Labeouf's busy schedule. [Variety]
* Nobody rocks a multi-colored wig and a pair of sailor shorts the way Katy Perry can. Her crappy conveyor belt, redundant pop music can vanish for all I care. But the woman has an audience and a ton of cleavage obsessed dudes like myself who follow her every move, so it makes sense that Paramount would want to back a Katy Perry 3D concert film. The studio cleaned house last year with Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, so why not give it another shot? The film is already completed, directed by Nanette Burnstein, who helmed the vastly underrated Going the Distance back in 2010. So all Paramount needs to do is wrap this deal up and shovel this thing into theaters.[THR]
* I still don't give two craps about Tom Hooper's Les Miserables, but this is good news by any measure. Samantha Barks, who played the key role of Eponine in the stage version of the classic story, will now make her big move into film in the same role. Taylor Swift had been offered the role some time ago, but it looks like Barks beat her to it. She'll join what is a top notch crew with Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried. The film is set to open on December 7th, so production is going to have to get rolling soon.
