* Robert De Niro has added another potentially junky film to his slate, joining the boringly-titled Bus 757. Directed by Scott Mann (The Tournament), the story follows "a casino card dealer who puts together a crew to simultaneously rob a bank and hijack a bus full of hostages to use as collateral. De Niro will play “The Pope,” a casino owner with illegitimate business practices whose assets are the targets of the heist." This has "Wal-Mart $5 bin" written all over it, but we'll see. [Deadline]
* The always reliable John C. Reilly and Toby Jones (Capote) have joined Tale of Tales, the latest film from Gomorrah director, Matteo Garrone. This is shaping up to be a major project with Oscar winner Alexandre Desplat providing the score and a four month shoot planned. Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Alba Rohrwacher will star in the film based loosely on Giambattista Basile's Tale of Tales, and is described as "a giant fresco of the baroque period, told through stories of three sovereigns ruling under different dynasties." [Cineuropa]
* We haven't seen anything from director Lee Tamahori since 2011's The Devil's Double, but now he's back and set to helm Emperor with Adrien Brody starring. He'll play Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, "trying to hold together a fragmented Empire, in a 16th century world of wealth, debauchery, violent retaliations, sex, manipulation and treason." The Devil's Double scribe Michael Thomas III penned the first draft while Jeffrey Hatcher (The Duchess) giving it a rewrite. [Deadline]
