08.13.08: Billy Bob In 'Elm Street' Remake?, Cruise Starts 'Food Fight', Gyllenhaal As The 'Prince Of Persia'tra

If this turns out to be true, it’s the most riotous piece of casting news since Michael Jackson played The Scarecrow in The Wiz. JoBlo is claiming that Billy Bob Thornton is on board Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes-driven reboot of '80s horror classic A Nightmare On Elm Street as razor-digited serial killer Freddy Krueger. The original dream-stalking maniac Robert Englund was gassing away on the late-night radio talk show Loveline when he was asked about the remake and claimed that he's heard chatter about Thornton’s involvement. What will Angelina think? Will she push Brad into finding his own retro horror-creep vehicle to offset what would undoubtedly be the best publicity coup Thornton has had in years?

Cruise Starting Food Fight
Tom Cruise, whose hilarious turn as a braying, big-gutted studio head is stealing plaudits in Tropic Thunder, has obviously acquired a taste for this laughter lark. He’s now eyeing up a cuddly comedy called Food Fight, which would cast him as a snobbish New York chef who gets knocked down a few pegs when he’s forced to serve up slop in a school cafeteria. Definitely, Maybe scribe Adam Brooks is behind the screenplay and Working Title are recruiting a new director after Drillbit Taylor's Steven Brill dropped out of the running. If he ends up biting, it will be Cruise’s first out-and-out comedy since he launched his career with Risky Business. After the public-image immolation he’s endured the last couple of years (couch-jumping on Oprah, being sacked by Paramount, Scientology prosletyzing), he’s clearly seeking new ways to reconnect with movie audiences. More at The Hollywood Reporter

Penn Writing The Argonauts
Zak Penn is behind a new twist on Greek myth the Argonauts. The X-Men scribe is bringing his own spin to the classic legend of a band of heroic sailors who, in the years leading up to the Trojan War, accompanied Jason on his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Sliding onto the fast track at 20th Century Fox, The Argonauts is competing in the race for post-300 box-office honours against at least three Hercules projects (including Peter Berg’s Hercules: The Thracian Wars), Universal’s ancient-Greek-themed videogame adaptation God Of War and Warner Bros.‘ Clash Of The Titans remake. More at Variety

Gyllenhaal Snapped As Prince Of Persia
The release of Jerry Bruckheimer’s mega-budget videogame blockbuster Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time has been shunted back to 2010 but for those who can’t wait to see Jake Gyellenhaal’s look as the hunky Middle Eastern potentate, Just Jared have flung up a few snaps of him in character. And here’s Disney-focused blogger Jim Hill’s insight into the reasons why Bruckheimer and the studio decided to push Persia out of next summer’s line-up…

W Poster: The Gallic Take

Check out the French poster for Oliver Stone’s upcoming political comedy W. It’s simple and to the point but, having seen that batty trailer where Josh Brolin’s l’il George boozes it up in true tearaway-rich-kid fashion, is it too classy for Stone’s spin on Dubya’s early days, before he became the two-term, Iraq-conquering bruiser of global politics? Wouldn't a shot of Josh Brolin downing a beer bong be more reflective of Stone's vision?

Casting Call: Swank, Clooney, Dafoe
* George Clooney has snapped up the film rights to Jonathan Mahler’s legal thriller The Challenge, about the campaign to ensure a fair trial for Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard/driver. Clooney may act, direct, both or neither (how vague can one man be?)…

* Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are starring in Antichrist, Danish bad-boy director Lars Von Trier’s psychological thriller about a couple who retreat to an isolated cabin following the death of their child…

* Hilary Swank has acquired the rights to Mireille Guiliano‘s bestseller French Women Don’t Get Fat, a rom-com about the travails of a champagne-company executive. Unlike the undecisive Mr. Clooney, she is definitely intending to at least act in the eventual adaptation...