Russian Look / Zuma Press; AP Photo / Philippe WojazerTom Cruise. Check. Tom Hanks. Check. Will Smith...
Steven Spielberg is about to shrink his A-list to-do list, with news that Mr. Blockbuster is ready to collaborate with Tinseltown's top director.
The superstars are in talks to team up for the thriller Oldboy, per Variety. Universal is remaking the acclaimed 2003 flick by Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park about a man who tries to figure out the mystery behind his abduction and 15-year captivity.
This would be the first collaboration for Spielberg and Smith, who have long expressed a desire to work together and, presumably, generate bucketloads of box office.
Meanwhile, Steve Carell and Keri Russell top the rest of the day's Casting Couch:
• Carell is attached to The Beaver, a whimsical fable about a man who walks around Mr. Garrison-like talking to a beaver puppet on his hand as if it were real.
• Russell is ready to fasten her seatbelt for one bumpy night as the titular star of All About Eve, a one-off benefit set for Nov. 10 at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Annette Bening, Peter Gallagher, Joel Grey, Angela Lansbury, Jennifer Tilly and Cynthia Nixon also star.
• Milla Jovovich is set to play an alcoholic former stripper in William H. Macy's feature-directing debut, Keep Coming Back. Lest you think this is some kind of Leaving Las Vegas-type Oscar bait, don't worry: The film is a coming-of-age comedy about a young man who joins AA to seduce the woman of his dreams (Jovovich).
• Erstwhile Practice practioner Dylan McDermott is trading law for order as the lead in Jerry Bruckheimer's new TNT cop drama, The Line. His character leads a squad of undercover LAPD officers who aren't afraid to bend the rules to get the bad guys.
• Country star LeAnn Rimes is joining forces with Eddie Cibrian and Rosanna Arquette for the Lifetime TV murder mystery, Northern Lights, the third of four telefilms adapted from Nora Roberts' novels.