Why wait for the movie to come out before passing judgment? Always ahead of the curve, EW grades the very latest crop of high-profile casting news and calls it a day.
FILM
The sequel to Jane Fonda's 1968 racy sci-fi romp Barbarella
STAR
Drew Barrymore as the titular space babe
STATUS
She's
attached, but there's no script.
OUR VERDICT
Barrymore's already
exhibited a penchant for skin exposure (see her naughty David
Letterman performance a few years back), and, just like Fonda,
she's showbiz royalty. In short, a sexcellent match. A
FILM
A remake of the 1941 Faustian classic The Devil & Daniel Webster
STAR
Jennifer Love Hewitt as a distaff devil
STATUS
Scheduled to start shooting Jan. 15, with costars Anthony Hopkins
and Alec Baldwin
OUR VERDICT
Sultry Elizabeth Hurley makes a
decent Beelzebub in Bedazzled — but giggly, bubbly teen queen
Hewitt? What soulless executive greenlit this? C
FILM
Johnny Eck, the true story of Freaks star Johnny (born
without the lower half of his body) and his twin brother, Robert
STAR
Leonardo DiCaprio in both roles
STATUS
He's interested but
waiting for a script.
OUR VERDICT
Leo's return to edgy, Gilbert Grape territory would be welcome. The hard part: imagining the
model-escorting star with nothing going on below the waist. B
FILM
The biopic of cape-wearing, cult-kitschy pianist Liberace
STAR
Robin Williams
STATUS
Williams is mulling it over.
OUR VERDICT
Both are known for their fur (though Williams' happens to
be on his body); plus, Williams successfully stretched his
sexuality in The Birdcage. And we like anything that keeps him
from making more mawkish movies like Patch Adams. B+
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