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The Deal Report

New gigs for Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, and Rachel Weisz -- and other entertainment projects in the works

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MOVIES

Warner Bros. has green lit The Bucket List, which revolves around two men (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who, in their hospital beds, realize they've been taking life for granted and decide to do something about it. Rob Reiner will direct and Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, and Alan Greisman have all signed on to produce. (Variety, Sept. 8)

MGM has announced that the studio will be expanding the Legally Blonde franchise with a third installment sans Reese Witherspoon and the big screen. Right now, the plan is to make a made-for-TV or direct-to-DVD flick. The cast is yet to be announced as is a production date. (Variety, Sept. 6)

Universal Pictures is bringing back Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell for a third edition of The Mummy. The three-quel is set to shoot early next year under the direction of Joe Johnston (Hidalgo, Jurassic Park III) with a script by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. (TMZ.com, Sept. 7)

Actor-director Kenneth Branagh is set to direct the second big-screen remake of the Anthony Shaffer play Sleuth. Michael Caine will star as a thriller writer, while Jude Law will play a young hairdresser. Shooting starts in January. (Variety, Sept. 7)

Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz, and Thomas Haden Church are set to star in Smart People, the story of a professor (Quaid) who falls for a former student after his wife's death. Newbie director Noam Murro and screenwriter Mark Poirier are on board. The flick begins shooting Nov. 6 in Pittsburgh. (Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 8)

Peter Jackson, known for small indie flicks like Lord of the Rings and King Kong, is breaking out the big guns for his newest venture, the WWII adventure film Dambusters. Christian Rivers (who was the animation director on Kong) will helm the movie about a Royal Air Force unit that uses special ''bouncing bombs'' to destroy Nazi targets, and Jackson will produce for Universal Pictures. (Variety, Aug. 31)

Action master John Woo is set to direct Red Cliff, which is budgeted at $50 million. Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung, Chiu-Wai, and supermodel Lin Chi-Ling have been cast in the adventure film based on an actual battle on the Yangtzee River in 208 A.D. Producer Terence Chang says of the story: ''Two weak and smaller kingdoms unite and fight against the stronger one from the North.'' A final draft of the script has yet to be delivered, though Woo wrote two of the 10 early versions himself!

Clifford Harris -- better known as rapper T.I. -- joins Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin (Into the Blue), and Carla Gugino (Sin City) in Ridley Scott's film American Gangster. ''Everybody involved has extreme talent,'' he says. ''I'm just there learning.'' T.I. will play the nephew of Washington's character, Frank Lucas, a real-life heroin kingpin who made his fortune shipping drugs from Asia's Golden Triangle to Harlem. And speaking of ne'er-do-wells, T.I. will also appear as a used car salesman in For Sale, ''the first film on Grand Hustle, my own production company.''

It's been 12 years since we saw Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz do the cha-cha in The Mask. Now the duo is reteaming to star in Focus Features' A Little Game Without Consequence, a comedy-drama directed by Gabriele Muccino that revolves around a married couple who decide to play a prank on their friends by pretending to break up. But the joke is on them as they realize that most of their friends and family never thought they belonged together in the first place. The project will begin filming next month in New York. (Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 6)

MUSIC

Universal Music Group, under the Vivendi umbrella, won a bid on Sept. 5 to purchase Bertelsmann's BMG Music Publishing unit for $2.1 billion. UMG, already the biggest label in the industry, with the addition of BMG Music Publishing will give the company more of an edge against the next big three: Sony, EMI, and Warner Music Group. (Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 6)

TELEVISION

Rebecca De Mornay has been tapped to star opposite Bruce Greenwood in John from Cincinnati, a drama pilot for HBO that follows the dysfunctional Yost family. De Mornay stars as Cissy, the wife of Mitch (Greenwood), an unhappy former surfing star, and the mother of a drug-addicted former surfing champ of a son, Butchie (Brian Van Holt). The Yosts' lives become disrupted by the arrival of two men, one of which is -- duh! -- John from Cincinnati. (Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 6)

Sara Gilbert, who most remember as the always cranky daughter Darlene on Roseanne, has been tapped to star in several episodes of CBS' fall comedy The Class. In this sitcom about a group of twentysomethings who are reunited 20 years after meeting in third grade, Gilbert will play Fern, an acquaintance from the past. The debut airs Sept. 18. (Variety, Sept. 5)

Showtime has picked up an adaptation of BBC's Manchild, often referred to as the ''male Sex and the City.'' With Sex creator-executive producer Darren Star and Lucky creators/executive producers Robb and Mark Cullen at the wheel, this raunchy comedy follows four middle-aged men who -- stop the presses! -- are having a midlife crises. (Hollywood Reporter, Sept. 5)