Bruce Willis Back in Action...So's John McCain?!

Thu., Apr. 30, 2009 8:44 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

AP Photo/Ron Edwards; Twentieth Century Fox

Economic downturn? Not for Bruce Willis.

The 54-year-old Die Hard vet is in talks to star in no less than three big-screen action bonanzas: the thriller Inventory, the CIA-based Red, and the mob biopic Scarpa.

The ever-vigilant Willis would play a murderer-hunting detective, an assassin-hunting ex-black-ops agent and an answer-hunting undercover FBI informant, respectively.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, however, chances that Willis will get past the negotiation stages of the Antoine Fuqua-directed Scarpa are dwindling by the day.

Which means the star may just have to make do with heading up two would-be blockbusters this year. Well, everyone has to make sacrifices.

Except, that is, for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, Carrie Fisher, Ashanti and John McCain (yep, that John McCain), all of whom have managed to score upcoming gigs on the big and small screen.

• The Office's Wilson has teamed with former 3rd Rock from the Sun star Gordon-Levitt for the indie dramedy Hesher. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Natalie Portman stars in the flick, following a directionless twentysomething (Gordon-Levitt) who inserts himself into the life of a dysfunctionally dwelling 13-year-old. Portman also produces the film, shooting in L.A. next week.

• The erstwhile Princess Leia is bringing her one-woman memoir show Wishful Drinking to Broadway for a three-month limited engagement. Based on her best-selling book about the quirks of growing up in a showbiz family, the show will open on Oct. 4 and mark Fisher's first time back on the Great White Way in 27 years.

• John McCain not only approves AMC's message, he's hosting it. The Arizona senator will be hosting the cable net's Memorial Day weekend war-hero-themed movie marathon. Among the films the onetime POW will introduce: Patton, Tora! Tora! Tora! and Battle of the Bulge.

• R&B princess Ashanti is following the Yellow Brick Road to a starring gig in what will be her second adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. While she took the ruby-slippered lead in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz several years ago, she'll make her stage debut as Dorothy in the Encores! Summer Stars production of The Wiz. The musical will run in NYC from June 12 to July 5.