There have been various people rumoured for Lee Daniels’ planned movie The Butler, but one role that remained empty until now was the one the film was named after – The Butler himself. However Variety reports that Forest Whitaker is in early talks for the role.
The film follows Eugene Allen, a African-American who worked in the White House, serving eight presidents from 1952 to 1986. He started at the White House as a “pantry man” in the early 50s, at a time when blacks weren’t allowed to use public restrooms in his native Virginia. He rose through the ranks and had a unique front-row seat on everything from the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
If he signs on, Whitaker will play Eugene, while David Oyelowo is negotiating to play his son. Oprah Winfrey is rumored to be interested in playing his wife, while other Hollywood vets such as Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson and Mila Kunis are eyeing the roles of other real-life figures.
Hopefully this one will come together, as Daniels has had problems getting a follow-up to Precious off the ground, as despite attracting top talent, the money men haven’t wanted to pony up the cash. Fingers crossed that won’t be an issue here.
Last year it was revealed that in April 2012, the world-famous Sundance Film Festival was coming to the O2 in London. Now the full line-up of movies that will be showing at the event have been announced, with the idea being to give a British outing to many of the movies that found success at Sundance in January.
Woody Allen is still churning out a movie a year, and as he writes, direct and often stars in those films, he doesn’t have a huge amount of time for anything else. However, he’s now booked a rare acting roles in a film that he isn’t set to direct, with 
Even before Venom popped up in Spider-man 3, there’s been talk of giving the character his own movie, but it’s only in the last year or so Sony’s really been pushing to make it a reality (they flirted with a Gary Ross directed version just after Spider-man 3, but that fell apart). Now the 
Etan Cohen is one of the most in-demand comedy screenwriters in Hollywood, having worked on the likes of Men in Black III, Tropic Thunder, and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Now he wants to make the jump intro directing, with 
With Project X outperforming expectations and scoring a $20 million opening in the US, it’s not surprising that a sequel is moving forward, especially as the film didn’t cost a huge amount to make. 
With a shoot planned for this spring, Sofia Copolla is staring to fill the cast of her next movie, The Bling Ring. A few days ago Emma Watson and American Horror Story’s Taissa Farmiga signed on, and now 
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island was one of those movies that people in film circles completely ignored (or perhaps just wondered why it had been made), while average filmgoers lapped it up and turned it into a surprise hit – it’s grossed $270 million so far – with the movie substantially outgrossing its predecessor, Journey To The Center Of The Earth.