After the success of Orphan and Unknown, Jaume Collet-Serra has been much in demand, but he’s been having a few troubles sorting out a follow-up, having signed onto and then left a few movies. Most recently Warner has put his take on Akira on hold due to budget issues.
In the meantime he’s putting together a new take on Dracula called Harker, which Warner is also backing, with Vulture saying the studio wants him to make that movie before going back to a cheaper version of Akira. He’s already thinking about the cast, as Russell Crowe is apparently in talks to star in the movie.
Harker is a revisionist take on Bram Stoker’s Dracula story, centring on Jonathan Harker, a Scotland Yard detective who becomes consumed with finding Dracula after a spate of grisly murders.
If Russell Crowe does sign on, shooting won’t start until after the actor has wrapped on the musical Les Miserables. There’s no guarantee he will sign up either, as the actor is also being looked at for Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, although that project doesn’t have funding fully secured yet.
Will Smith and Russell Crowe are used to being leading men, but according to Vulture, Akiva Goldsman has pulled off something of a coup, getting both actors to take supporting roles in his directorial debut, Winter’s Tale. Crowe’s involvement was first mooted last November, but it’s only now that he has officially signed on.
Broken City recently started shooting in New Orleans, but it seems they haven’t finished filling out the cast, as 
Back in February, it was revealed that Oscar-winning writer/producer Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code) is set to make his directorial debut with Winter’s Tale for Warner Bros. Now things are moving forward, as 
Catherine Zeta-Jones could certainly do with a hit movie. She’s been rather hit by the curse of winning an actress Oscar, where picking up the gong sees what should be a big career boost turn into the high spot before a steep slide into mediocrity (if you don’t believe me, just look at a list of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress winners and see how most saw their career diminish almost from the moment they won).