The 80s comedy ‘Mannequin’ will get a remake.

Moviehole says the project is in early development by the newly relaunched Gladden Entertainment, which produced the 1987 original (as well as ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys’ and ‘Weekend at Bernie’s,’ both in 1989).

The first ‘Mannequin’ starred Andrew McCarthy as a frustrated artist/department store window dresser and Kim Cattrall as a mannequin that comes to life only in his presence and turns out to be an ancient Egyptian woman. It also featured James Spader and Estelle Getty. The romantic comedy was critically blasted and commercially successful and is now considered something of a classic among 80s film fans. The theme song ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,’ performed by Starship, was nominated for an Academy Award.

The company is looking for a writer and will reportedly contemporize the plot.

‘Mannequin’ was followed by a straight-to-VHS-and-laserdisc sequel in 1991, ‘Mannequin 2: On The Move,’ which starred William Ragsdale and Kristy Swanson, the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(Image: 20th Century Fox)

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Sigourney Weaver will be playing a stripper in an upcoming project. The ‘Avatar’ actress has been quite chatty lately about her opinions on accusations of ageism in Hollywood (made by fellow stars like Demi Moore). Basically, she says they’re bunk, as long as you’re comfortable with your own age.

Contact Music says Weaver, 60, insists her advancing age has not negatively affected the amount of work she gets. She reportedly told Tele 5, “I don’t try to look young at all costs. Why should you cast a 55 year old looking like a 35 year old, when you can cast a 35 year old to begin with? If you look like 55 and feel comfortable with it, you will get casted. My roles have become more interesting with time.”

And in one of those interesting roles, Weaver will apparently be playing a stripper. She said, “There’s a project which sees me as an ageing stripper. But I can’t say a lot about that one. It’s going to be a surprise! I’m also playing the leading role in a film by Nicholas Roeg.”

Apparently it’s the perfect time to be taking on the role of an exotic dancer, as the actress has also gotten more confident as she has gotten older: “I feel sexier than ever. I used to be really insecure. I hope I’ll live up to a 100 years. I never wanted to be like James Dean – die young and be famous afterwards.”

In news of other projects is the long gestating ‘Ghostbusters 3,’ which seems to be seeing a bit of movement at last. Weaver was reportedly not part of the film, but appeared to have had a change of heart when she was recently quoted as saying, “I haven’t read the script but you know, why not? I don’t know any details actually but I’m looking forward to reading it. It’ll be fun.”

(Photo by PR Photos)

The Linda Lovelace biopic has found directors. Variety reports that Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, whose first film ‘Howl’ (based on the life of poet Allen Ginsberg) premieres at Sundance this week, will take on the project.

‘Lovelace,’ written by W. Merritt Johnson (‘Temple Grandin,’ ‘In Treatment’) is based on Eric Danville’s book ‘The Complete Linda Lovelace.’

Lovelace (nee Linda Boreman) was the iconic porn star who appeared ‘as herself” in the 1972 film ‘Deep Throat,’ the highest grossing porno movie of all time. She later claimed to have been forced into the role by her abusive first husband, denounced the industry and became a feminist, anti-pornography activist. She died after a car accident in 2002, at the age of 53.

Lovelace has also been the subject of a 2005 documentary titled ‘Inside Deep Throat,’ and of a musical that starred Tina Yothers of ‘Family Ties’ fame.

“Linda is this fascinating character who continually reinvented herself and her story based on changing circumstances,” said Rob Epstein. “It’s a story with great dramatic and psychological dimensions.”

The film has been in development for a while. At one point Courtney Love was rumoured to be attached to the lead role. And back in October it was widely reported that Rose McGowan (‘Planet Terror,’ television’s ‘Charmed’) would play Lovelace.

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It had been a few hours since someone gave James Cameron an award. Fortunately that oversight was rectified.

This time it’s PETA, honouring the filmmaker with a Proggy for his portrayal of aliens in ‘Avatar.’

In a statement, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says, “For the inspiring message in his blockbuster film Avatar — which stresses the interconnectedness of nature and the importance of treating all living beings, no matter how ’strange’ or ‘alien,’ with respect and dignity–Golden Globe-winning director James Cameron has won PETA’s Proggy Award for Outstanding Feature Film.”

PETA’s Proggy awards recognize animal-friendly achievements in commerce and culture. “Proggy” is for “progress”

The organization explains, “Viewers will recognize how the plight of Avatar’s catlike Na’vi people — who are faced with being driven off their land by a greedy corporation — closely echoes the real-life plight of animals on Earth, many of whom continue to be torn away from their homes and families and locked up in cages in zoos, circuses, and laboratories.

“PETA also applauds the movie’s stunning special effects, which beautifully illustrate how unnecessary it is to subject animals to the stress of a film production.”

PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange adds, “We hope viewers will come away from Avatar with a new way of looking at the world around them and the way we treat our fellow earthlings.

“For helping animals with the positive message of this film, James Cameron is PETA’s ‘King of the World.’”

(Image: 20th Century Fox)

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YouTube is finally getting into online movie rentals, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the LA Times and other news outlets. But you won’t find the latest major blockbuster on the site just yet.

Rather, beginning Friday, January 22, five full-length independent movies drawn from the 2010 and 2009 Sundance Film Festivals will be available for rent on the Google owned site. This marks YouTube’s first attempt to make money not derived from advertising.

The selections from 2009 are ‘The Cove,’ which was awarded in the documentary category at Sundance last year, and ‘Children of Invention.’ And the 2010 choices on offer are ‘Bass Ackwards,’ ‘Homewrecker’ and ‘One Too Many Mornings.’

THR says all five films will be available to be streamed for $3.99. While ‘The Cove’ is a one-day rental, the other four are available for 48 hours. There is no option to download or own the films.

The service is still in beta and the test ends January 31, however, THR says YouTube will be searching for more content partners as part of its new “Filmmakers Wanted” campaign.

“YouTube [has] had a very close relationship with the independent film community since we launched,” said Sara Pollack, entertainment market manager for YouTube, according to the LA Times. Pollack also explained that the goal was to offer a way for filmmakers to connect with the growing online audience, adding that only a tiny fraction of the films submitted at Sundance are able to find some form of commercial distribution, and that YouTube would provide a new outlet for independent filmmakers.

It won’t surprise anyone to learn that, for now, Canadians will be left out. The rental offering is limited to U.S. consumers while in beta, but the aim is to eventually take it global.

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Ben Stiller is tipped to star in what looks like a rather intriguing black comedy.

Slashfilm.com is reporting that he of ‘Zoolander’ fame us up for the lead role in ‘The Voices,’ written by Michael R. Perry, who is also penning the ‘Paranormal Activity’ sequel.

The film centres on Jerry Hickfang (potentially Stiller), a man who accidentally kills a female co-worker at a bathroom fixtures factory, then begins taking advice from his cat and dog on how to cover his tracks and avoid trouble.

The script was featured on Franklin Leonard’s 2009 “Black List” of the “most liked” screenplays of the year that will not be released in that year — compiled from the suggestions of film executives.

Mark Romanek (‘One Hour Photo’) is said to be directing.

Meanwhile, Stiller is set to reprise his role as Gaylord Focker in the coming ‘Little Fockers.’

If you were only going to see Neil Jordan’s ‘Ondine’ to check out Colin Farrell getting it on in a sex scene with his real-life girlfriend Alicja Bachleda-Curus, you can forget it. The scene has been cut.

According to the UK’s The Times, Jordan (‘The Crying Game,’ ‘The Butcher Boy’) says he cut the sex scene, which had been described as “racy” and “operatic” by critics, because the film was too long, and not, as has been suggested in the press, at the insistence of its American distributors to secure a lower age certification.

‘Ondine,’ which debuted at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, is the story of an Irish fisherman who catches a beautiful woman from the sea in his net. It has secured a PG-13 rating in about 40 American cities.

“Sex scenes are embarrassing for anyone involved,” said Jordan. “The distributors did not want me to trim the movie at all, and that’s the truth. I wanted to.” He also said that ratings were not that important for independent movies.

The cuts took about 5 to 7 minutes off the running time.

Irish actor Farrell met Polish actress Bachleda-Curus on the set of ‘Ondine.’ Their first child together was born in October 2009.

Spirits are up and the outlook is positive as the Sundance Film Festival kicks off this week (Thursday January 20) in Utah.

Sundance is known as the fest where indie dreams come true as deals are made and little films that could become big ones. Lately, of course, the independent movie industry  –along with many another industry — has fallen on hard times. But 2009, as the Hollywood Reporter points out, was actually a pretty good box office year for independent films. ‘Precious’ ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘An Education’ are all among the films that made good showings with both critics and audiences.

“Buyers seem geared up, like a cloud has lifted and they’re not being watched as much (as last year),” John Cooper, Sundance’s new director, reportedly said.

And Peter Goldwyn, Goldwyn acquisitions VP, also reportedly chimed in with “Independent film may not be a studio business anymore, but rumours of our death have been greatly exaggerated.”

Among the indies generating buzz are:

‘Blue Valentine’ directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams as a married couple trying to rekindle their relationship spark. There are apparently many flashbacks.

‘Buried’ directed by Rodrigo Cortez and starring Ryan Reynolds as an American contractor in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive with only a cell phone, a lighter and about 90 minutes to save himself. It is reportedly a one man show.

‘Hesher’ directed by Spencer Susser and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a loner who hates the world and everyone in it, and who looks like he might enjoy setting things on fire. Also co-stars Natalie Portman.

‘The Company Men’ directed by John Wells and starring Ben Affleck as a white collar corporate bigwig who loses his job. Also features Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner,

‘The Extra Man’ directed by Shari Springer Berman and based on a novel by Jonathan Ames. Features Kevin Kline, Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly in a comedy about playwrights.

‘Howl’ directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and featuring James Franco as beat poet Allen Ginsberg in a biopic structured around the 1957 obscenity trial launched after the publication of the poem ‘Howl.’

(Image: Hesher. The Last Picture Company)

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‘500 Days of Summer’ director Marc Webb has signed on for the next ‘Spider-Man’ movie.

Speculation over who would step in and take over the helm began immediately after the fourth Spidey film was scrapped and Sam Raimi and his crew exited earlier this month. This week, a statement released by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios says Webb will direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theatres summer 2012.

Webb will work with a script by James Vanderbilt (‘Zodiac,’ ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’) on the project, which will begin production later this year.

Some are scratching their heads at the decision to hire a director whose only completed film is a quirky anti-romantic comedy to take over a major action blockbuster franchise — even if that film, which starred Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was nominated for a best picture (comedy or musical) Golden Globe.

Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, said, “At its core, Spider-Man is a small, intimate human story about an everyday teenager that takes place in an epic super-human world. The key for us as we sought a new director was to identify filmmakers who could give sharp focus to Peter Parker’s life. We wanted someone who could capture the awe of being in Peter’s shoes so the audience could experience his sense of discovery while giving real heart to the emotion, anxiety, and recklessness of that age and coupling all of that with the adrenaline of Spider-Man’s adventure. We believe Marc Webb is the perfect choice to bring us on that journey.”

Webb himself said, “Sam Raimi’s virtuoso rendering of Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon. The first three films are beloved for good reason.  But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well.  I am signing on not to ‘take over’ from Sam.  That would be impossible.  Not to mention arrogant.  I’m here because there’s an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man.”

Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, added, “I’m excited that Sony has chosen a director with a real penchant and understanding for the character. This is a brave, bold direction for the franchise, and I can’t wait to see what Marc comes up with next.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the plan is to make the movie for a budget of aound $80 million with a feature cast of relative unknowns (which means the Rob Pattinson/Taylor Lautner rumours are probably false). And the story will be pared down to centre on a high school teen struggling with the knowledge that his uncle died even though he had the power to stop it.

THR also says the touchstone for the reboot will not be the 1960s comics, which were the inspiration behind Raimi’s movies, but rather this past decade’s ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, in which the villain-fighting took a back seat to the teen angst.

The Hollywood Reporter says the next instalment in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ series, ‘On Stranger Tides,’ has a scheduled start date and location. The film will shoot in Hawaii this summer and is set for a 2011 release.

This is welcome news for ‘Pirates’ fans and Depp fans, and really, who doesn’t love Johnny Depp? At one point, the actor’s continuing involvement in the series was briefly in question when his good friend Dick Cook exited Disney.

The islands of Oahu and Kauai will see around $85 million in spending from the film, adds Empire Online.

The Jerry Bruckheimer-produced project has a new-to-’Pirates’ director, Rob Marshall, helmer of musicals ‘Chicago’ and ‘Nine’ as well as the drama ‘Memoirs of a Geisha.’ Little is known about the plot except that it will be based on the novel ‘On Stranger Tides’ by Tim Powers and that Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush’s Barbossa will likely be searching for a mystical fountain of youth.

Depp will soon be seen in Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ scheduled for release in March.