The majority of the movies that Tom Hanks has filled his career with, from the instantly recognizable blockbusters to the lesser-seen cult classics, are iconic enough that Hollywood has largely resisted the urge to remake all of them. But mega-producers Seth MacFarlane and Brian Grazer have teamed up with Peacock for an episodic reimagining of The 'Burbs that has multi-hyphenate superstar Keke Palmer as the suspicion-harboring lead. I was admittedly wary when the project was first announced, but the first-look teaser below stoked my interest.

The streaming service not only dropped the first preview footage for The 'Burbs, but also revealed when the mystery-comedy will hit the 2026 TV schedule. Now we know it'll be available to watch (via Peacock subscription) starting on Sunday, February 8, with the entire eight-episode season going live at once. So at least viewers who need to solve the mystery won’t need to wait two months to wrap the story. Now without further ado, check out the new teaser!

Not a whole lot to glean there as far as specifics go, but anyone who's familiar with the original 1984 film will know what the deal is. Either way, let's break down the cast and plot synopsis so that we're all on the same page.

What The 'Burbs' Remake Is About

Similar to the original film vying for a "present day" setting, Peacock's The 'Burbs takes place in the here and now, as opposed to a throwback era. A young couple, portrayed by Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall (Jungle Cruise), have recently changed locations to settle into the latter's former childhood home, much to her disgust.

Things get even less ideal when a new neighbor takes up residence across the street, which inevitably starts to unearth some of the dark and hidden-away secrets kept by the cul-de-sac's homeowners, with potentially fatal threats rising up and bringing chaos to what previously seemed like a quiet and welcoming neighborhood. Trust no one!

I can only assume that this new series will bring spins and twists to everything that played out in Joe Dante's film, but I still don't want to dig into those plot points too much just in case it is a fully faithful remake.

The 'Burbs Has A Stacked Cast And Creative Team

Beyond the Nope and Clifford the Big Red Dog stars at the center of the project, The 'Burbs also boasts some stellar comedic talent. The neighborhood will be filled out with characters played by SNL and Bridesmaids great Paula Pell, Newhart and Designing Women fave Julia Duffy, What We Do in the Shadows’ Mark Proksch, and Night Court’s Kapil Talwalkar. As far as I can tell, Weeds and Succession vet Justin Kirk will be portraying the suspicion-sparking new neighbor.

Behind the scenes, The 'Burbs boasts the pair of aforementioned top-tier producers in Seth MacFarlane (for Fuzzy Door) and Brian Grazer (for Imagine Entertainment), as well as Henry Danger creator Dana Olsen, who was the writer and producer of the original film. The new take was developed by Celeste Hughey, a writer and producer for Netflix's Dead to Me and Apple TV's Palm Royale, who served as showrunner for the first season. Also on the writing staff is Rachel Shukert, who previously wrote and produced for shows such as Supergirl, The Handmaid's Tale and Nine Perfect Strangers.

Given how far back Brian Grazer's career partnership with Hanks goes - they first worked together on 1984's Splash before Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code, and its two Robert Langdon follow-ups. Grazer had nothing to do with the original Burbs, but I do wonder if his involvement here means we can expect a certain Oscar winner’s cameo at some point. The 'Burbs features one of Tom Hanks’ all-time great freakouts, so one can hope for a reprisal of some kind.

With of without Hanks’ involvement, The 'Burbs is set to hit streaming on Sunday, February 8, 2026. And Keke Palmer’s fans can also look forward to seeing her in another ‘80s-related project, the upcoming spoof sequel Spaceballs 2, which just wrapped filming this week.

We've literally been waiting years for Arrested Development Season 5 to hit Netflix. Now, though, it looks like we might actually be close to having a new season of the show back on our screens. Executive producer Brian Grazer recently had this to say about the show's return to its streaming home:

Well, damn. It's about time, right? Arrested Development aired for three seasons on Fox, from 2003-2006, but was canceled due to low ratings. The rabid cult fanbase of the series, though, was able to keep the show alive in the public's consciousness, and Netflix stepped in to revive the beloved show with Season 4. That season hit the service way back in 2013, though, and fans have been looking forward to Season 5...well, ever since Season 4 appeared on screen. So, word that we might finally be able to set our adoring eyes on a new season is some of the best TV news ever.

Even though we've been eagerly waiting to hear about Season 5 of Arrested Development hitting Netflix, it does make a lot of sense that it would take some heavy work to get things going. Everyone in the main cast is busy as hell, and working around their schedules would be a major issue when it comes to planning the filming of the show. Jeffrey Tambor is the lead on the Amazon series Transparent, Jessica Walter is a part of the voice cast of Archer, Will Arnett voices the lead on Netflix's BoJack Horseman and has a variety of TV and film projects in the works, Tony Hale has a major role on HBO's Veep, and other cast members like Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera and Alia Shawkat are all hard at work on television and movie projects that Arrested Development would have to work around.

It's worth noting that Brian Grazer mentioned, in his chat with The Wrap, that all the actors seem to have finally agreed to the financial terms of doing Season 5 of Arrested Development. We've never heard anything but positive news from the cast members when it comes to talk of doing another season of the loony comedy, so, aside from the obvious scheduling conflicts that would have to be worked out, making sure everyone is getting paid what they want would have been the only other snag, as Netflix has always been eager to continue the show for at least one more season.

Luckily for fans everywhere, there's no worry that the new season will be hastily put together. Creator Mitch Hurwitz has known for over a year now what the next season of the show will be about. Since Season 4 ended with Buster getting arrested for the murder of Lucille 2, after she went missing leaving only a pool of blood behind, Season 5 is planning to go all true crime on us and delve into the investigation of her disappearance/possible murder. I can already tell that this is going to be a hum dinger of an Arrested Development season, can't you? CinemaBlend will keep you updated with Arrested Development details as they become available, but be sure to check out our Netflix premiere schedule to see what you can watch on the service in the coming weeks.

Since taking over in 2013, Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church, has made waves for what many followers view as unorthodox stances on issues like homosexuality, divorce, and the ordination of female priests, among others. The general consensus is that he does things rather differently than his predecessors. And now he’s invited some Hollywood celebrities and big wigs, including Oprah, to the Vatican for a kind of summit later this year.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pope Francis has created a shortlist of influential members of the entertainment community to invite to the Vatican this fall for the purpose of improving the Church’s images in Western media and entertainment. (Oh man, is he going to hate that Spotlight movie that comes out in November.) And if anyone can influence how the entertainment industry portrays the Catholic Church, it may very well be the folks on his list. To say they have some pull is putting it mildly.

According to the report, media mogul Oprah Winfrey scored an invite, as did actor/writer/producer Matt Damon, not to mention music and movie executive David Geffen. Super producer Brian Grazer is on the list, as are the influential heads of the William Morris talent agency Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emmanuel, who is the inspiration for Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold character on HBO’s Entourage.

The Vatican has apparently been working with the Varkey Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve education for children across the world by training teachers, encouraging enrollment in school, and through advocacy. They reportedly worked with the Papal representatives to come up with the list in question. The reason they give, however, is different than the one posited in the article, and has nothing to do with the image of the Church. According to a Varkey Foundation spokesperson who commented after the initial article was released:

That seems more in line with what the Varkey Foundation would be interested in, discussing the impact and influence of the media on young people rather than how to make the Catholic Church look better in movies and on TV.

There’s no word yet on when this meeting will go down, or which, if any, of the invitees will attend this gathering. It’s not every day the Pope gives you a personal invitation to hang out at his place, so you have to imagine at least a few will accept.

Brian Grazer has a stellar track record when it comes to producing movies. Not only have the films he’s produced made over $13 billion at the box office, they’ve also been nominated for 43 Academy Awards, and A Beautiful Mind also earned him his very own big shiny Oscar for Best Picture in 2002. But there’s one film that Brian Grazer regrets making: Cowboys & Aliens.

Cowboys & Aliens was released in 2011 and it had all the ingredients to be a success. Primarily because it had both Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in leading roles. Unfortunately, it proved to be a flop, as its budget of $163 million only took back $174 million. In fact, Brain Grazer admitted to The Atlantic that he knew from the start that he shouldn’t have been involved in the production, but he was seduced by the cast and creative talented involved. He said:

Of course, in hindsight, Brian Grazer was proven right. Not only did Cowboys & Aliens fail to connect with its intended mainstream audience, but it was also horrifically drab considering the vast array of talent involved.

Mixed reviews stagnated the film as soon as it hit cinemas, and it eventually came in second place to The Smurfs over its opening day. Yes, by the end of the weekend Cowboys & Aliens had just beaten The Smurfs $36.5 million to $35.6 million, but that was much lower than anticipated. And, let’s not forget that The Smurfs is truly a cinematic abomination that not even John Oliver’s voice and Neil Patrick Harris’ innate charisma can salvage.

It also says a lot about how terrible Brian Grazer thinks Cowboys & Aliens turned out that he lamented this tepid western/sci-fi hybrid over the likes of the woeful Kevin James and Vince Vaughn tag-team comedy The Dilemma, the perennially dull The Da Vinci Code, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s laughable Robin Hood, and the painfully weak Tower Heist, which appears to have ended Eddie Murphy's comedy cinematic career for good.

Let’s not forget that it has not all been bad though. Brian Grazer has also played a key hand in turning Ron Howard into one of the most distinguished mainstream directors in Hollywood. Plus, in the world of television, he helped to introduce us to Tobias Funke and Jack Bauer, too, so he deserves a break.

It’s not going to take the help of any one-armed men to get Arrested Development back on the air, as we’re apparently getting a lot more of it, and it’s coming even sooner than we thought. Arrested Development Season 5 is definitely going to hit Netflix in 2016, and it seems like all the stars will be back for more Bluth-enasia. Everybody look away, as I just blue myself.

Mega-producer Brian Grazer, who has been a part of the show since its first incarnation on Fox, appeared on The Adam Carolla Show today and announced the news on the podcast. (Because unveiling amazing news like this on a podcast is just how things are done these days.) Here’s how Grazer put it.

Now that’s good timing, as Grazer explained he was actually in Adam Carolla’s waiting room when he called Mitch Hurwitz to tell him that everyone was on board. As the 15-episode Season 4 showed us, this cast is capable of finagling schedules in order to craft a fine product, even if the path from beginning to end has to be extremely convoluted in order to get it done. For those counting, that means more Jeffrey Tambor, Jessica Walter, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, David Cross and Ron Howard as the Narrator. Add to that at least 17 dozen more side characters and celebrity cameos, just to be safe.

Grazer says that a production start is planned for some time after January 1, 2016, and that audiences can expect for the episodes to hit Netflix around four months after that. That seems a bit fast, and Grazer does say that timeframe was how he saw it, so it could take a while longer. But I think it’s safe to plan for Arrested Development-themed viewing parties – complete with heaping pots of Hot Ham Water – for Summer 2016.

In previous reports, Grazer said that Netflix was signing on for 17 more episodes, which is more than either Season 3 or Season 4 got. Unfortunately, the producer doesn’t reiterate how many episodes we’ll see in Season 5, so we’ll just have to stay hopeful that we’re getting as much Arrested Development as we can, since it’ll probably be another 3 or 4 years until we start hearing concrete news about Season 6. (Assuming everyone doesn’t die at the end of this season.)

Is everyone ready for more Arrested Development?

Two days after the death of James Brown in December 2006 there was talk of a biopic about the Godfather of Soul. Spike Lee, who was just coming off the biggest success of his career, Inside Man, had signed on to direct the movie with Paramount funding the project. And that was the day the waiting began.

For the last six years we have been waiting for the James Brown biopic to actually get made, but it has simply been stuck in the bowels of development hell. But then came news late last year that the film was getting new life. Lee is no longer involved and has been replaced by The Help director Tate Taylor and it was revealed that rock legend Mick Jagger would be joining Brian Grazer as a producer. but where does the project stand now?

Grazer recently had a quick chat with Rolling Stone about the status of the movie about the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, and from his comments it seems that they are moving forward and will start the casting process soon. In the detailed interview, which also goes into the time the producer actually met Brown and sold him on the project, Grazer says that no decisions have been made yet regarding who will play the lead role, but that they plan for their search to be extensive. "We're going to start casting and we're going to have to test lots of actors and be determined to pick the right one. No movie starts in a day. I've never loved a subject and not made the movie. Friday Night Lights took 13 years. American Gangster took seven or eight."

Grazer also touched on the controversy surrounding the switch at the helm, as many disliked that Lee, as a black director, would be replaced by a white director like Taylor. Said the producer, "I view that a bunch of different ways. Mick and I don't see the world that way. I started my career making Boomerang and CB4. I've made so many movies where I've supported black artists. Tate made The Help, and that had almost an entirely black population. I just want to try to make the best movie." He went on to add that he doesn't actually read comments like that, as he can't, "look at some blog and change the course of the whole movie."

So maybe we'll actually get to see that James Brown biopic before 2020. And while Grazer may not pay attention to your comments, who would you like to see land the starring role?

With news that they've hired an up-and-coming screenwriter, Imagine Entertainment has dove into development on a biopic about the wondrous life and times of Salvador Dalí. Deadline reveals scribe Paige Cameron has been selected to script the currently untitled picture after impressing Imagine's execs with her passion, knowledge of Dalí, and storytelling savvy. Brian Grazer will serve as executive producer on the project alongside Imagine’s Anna Culp, who worked as Grazer's assistant on a number of noteworthy features, including his Oscar-winning biopic A Beautiful Mind.

Notably that drama came under fire for its divergence from the facts of its central figure, yet this Dalí-centered drama seems determined to stick to the truth of this mesmerizing artist's life and long-time romance with his wife Gala, as it is the only production endorsed by the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. This foundation was founded by Dalí in 1983 to manage his estate, and is granting Cameron exclusive access to its extensive archives of letters and other materials for her research. The screenwriter, who has one short (Hills Like White Elephants) and two screenplays (the bull-riding drama Leaving Ten Sleep, the Louis Armstrong biopic Satchmo) to her credit, has plenty to pull from. The surrealist painter not only had a fascinating career, but also a very public life with his spirited muse and partner Gala. Like many eye-catching celebrity couples, the Dalís were known not only for their work but also for their tempestuous marriage. The two were notorious for their scandalous exploits, including a high society masquerade ball where they appeared costumed as the Lindbergh baby and his kidnapper.

Still, it seems the Foundation has faith that Cameron will capture Dalí with aplomb, as their managing director Joan Manuel Sevillano has stated, "The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation’s interest in a biographical film has always been limited to one that would involve an A-list team. We are delighted to have this project in the hands of Imagine, a production company whose taste and exacting standards of execution are in keeping with Dalí’s legacy, as well as Paige Cameron, a screenwriter we admire and trust.”

Ultimately, this sounds like a project with a lot of promise. Personally, I'll be most curious to see if and how the filmmakers may look to integrate Dalí's surrealistic aesthetic with his life story. It's hard to imagine a fitting Dalí biopic could be made without a jaw-dropping sense of style and thought-provoking visual flare. Of course, it'll also be fascinating to see who'll be cast as Dalí and Gala. Share your picks in comments.

It seemed like an empty promise back in August of last year when director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer said that they would let their adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower die. While the format - three films and a television series to fill the time gaps - was something that all of the fans could get behind, the whole thing seemed too big for any studio to take a risk on. That could change.

While Universal eventually decided to scrap the project, according to Deadline. Warner Bros. is now in talks to pick The Dark Tower off of the trash heap. The site says that the deal would have Howard directing the first film while still using Akiva Goldman's script (which he will be giving a "polish"). Also mentioned is the possibility of Javier Bardem sticking with the movie, as he was Howard and Grazer's choice to play the hero, Roland Deschain - though that situation depends on possible scheduling issues. Should the deal with Warner Bros. go through, there is a good chance that the television series part of the epic would be shown on HBO, as both companies are owned by Time Warner. The whole thing could get going as early as the first quarter of 2013.

I know that fans have been waiting and hoping for this project to come back, so does it make you happy that it finally is? Is Warner Bros. the right home for the movie? Are you happy that Ron Howard is still directing, Akiva Goldsman is still writing and/or that Javier Bardem could star? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

When I was a tween/teen, the vampire books I read were not of the glittery Twilight variety - those were still a ways off from hitting bookshelves. Instead, I read the densely written and meticulously detailed novels of Anne Rice. I devotedly devoured every tale of the forlorn Louis and his manipulative maker, Lestat, and for bonus bookworm/nerd points, I did so while listening to composer Elliot Goldenthal's chilling Oscar-nominated score to the mid-90s adaptation Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles.

This was a high-drama feature I've watched countless times, being drawn in again and again by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's charged performances as Lestat and Louis and teeny Kirsten Dunst's merciless young murderer. Despite mixed reviews from critics, Interview with the Vampire went on to earn more than $220 million worldwide, yet a sequel took nearly 10 years to come together. Unsurprisingly, none of the first film's leads showed any interest in reprising their roles. To make matters worse, the filmmakers chose to combine Rice's second and third books from the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned, into one movie. This means nearly 1,000 pages of complicated storytelling was reduced to 101-minute horror-romance, and the result was a box office flop that was loathed by critics as well as fans of the book series. From here, it seemed any chance of seeing the rest of the Vampire Chronicles earn movie adaptations was dead.

However, as is fitting for a tale of the undead, it seems Lestat may rise again as THR reports Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment has optioned Rice's fourth novel in the Vampire Chronicles, The Tale of the Body Thief. While this may seem a foolish move to attempt to cash-in on a franchise that never got moving to begin with, I actually think it's a smartly chosen property for Imagine. Namely, because it is an adventure that is not deeply tied into Rice's web-like overarching story structure. The Tale of the Body Thief is almost a one-off.

Here Lestat is a vampire utterly bored of his existence. Thanks to his supernatural abilities he's gone on incredible adventures, but now living in contemporary America, suffers from ennui and dabbles in suicide, but cannot die. (Le sigh!) However, a thrilling new opportunity presents itself when a psychic, who can swap bodies and thereby live forever, offers to alleviate Lestat's boredom by allowing him to actually become someone else—namely someone human--for one day. Inevitably, the body thief runs off with Lestat's super-powered vampire bod, and he must track him down in a wild, globetrotting game of cat and mouse.

It's a winding and weird adventure, but not grander in scale than some of Imagine's past efforts like The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. Plus, this story has more an element of fun to it than Rice's other more austere books. And this is an aspect that's sure to be developed as Imagine has brought in the team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who wrote and produced such big-budget summer blockbusters as Star Trek and Transformers. Simply put, this could turn out to be pretty damn entertaining!

"We did not plan Occupy Wall Street."

Believe it or not, Brett Ratner felt compelled to explain that at the press conference for Tower Heist, held high above Columbus Circle at the swank Mandarin Oriental Hotel. An enterprising but naive reporter asked Ratner and his Tower Heist cohorts-- stars Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, producer Brian Grazer-- not just what they thought about the Occupy Wall Street movement, but whether they'd travel a few miles downtown and join it. No one on the panel seemed to recognize any sense of irony as Ratner stumbled through an answer. No one snickered under their breath when Stiller said sincerely, "I think there's a lot of frustration out there that's valid. I understand where it's coming from." No one asked Grazer why he kept a stone-faced silence throughout this particular question.

That's power of celebrity and Hollywood, to see four millionaires sitting up onstage and to assume that they, too, understand the deep financial frustration of everyday Americans. To be fair, Tower Heist kind of gives you that assumption. It's a broad, innocuous farce, but also one in which a bunch of hotel employees ripped off by a Bernie Madoff-style investor strike back by breaking into his penthouse apartment and stealing his fortune. All four men at the press conference are more likely to own a million-dollar car than to steal one, but they're perfectly capable of making a movie about the revolt of the lower classes the same reason Sofia Coppola can make one about Marie Antoinette or Steven Spielberg can make one about aliens. We don't demand that our filmmakers experience what they're making movies about, just that they tell it convincingly.

Based on the rapturous audience response at my screening of Tower Heist, they've clearly pulled off this caper about the working man escaping his burden. But there's a difference between making it true onscreen and in real life, and it was more than a little hilarious watching Ratner and company not just skirt questions like 'Would you join Occupy Wall Street?" but studiously avoid any conflict whatsoever. When one questioner brought up Norbit's negative attitude toward heavy women, and compared it to the flirting Eddie Murphy's character does with Gabourey Sidibe's in Tower Heist, Murphy immediately got defensive and Ratner chimed in like the conflict-avoiding mother, "Let's stay positive! We're happy!" When Grazer was asked directly about Universal's scrapped plan to bring Tower Heist to VOD almost immediately, he had a one-sentence brushoff that basically ended the line of questioning. Maybe they each realized they had made a movie about sticking it to the Man, and sitting at the head of the table at this press conference, they were now the Man themselves.

The press conference largely went along the lines you would expect-- Ratner talked repeatedly about wanting to capture the authentic New York by shooting on location, being inspired by classic New York crime movies like The taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Hot Rock, and how Eddie Murphy "kind of invented the action comedy genre" with Beverly Hills Cop in the 80s. Stiller talked about how he liked living in New York "because it's harder," Murphy said he made the movie because he "wanted to get out of the house and do something." But then Grazer talked about they had to make the movie "on a smarter budget," and admitted that actors changed their deals in order to get the film made, and it was hard to avoid the eyerolls again. The budget for Tower Heist, as estimated by New York Times, was $85 million-- nothing by Hollywood standards, but a serious amount of money for the 99%.

Does the fact that Tower Heist was made by millionaires make it less fun or less successful as a movie? Well, of course not-- many, many movies are made by millionaires, including those that more honestly defend the working class, like The Fighter or Erin Brockovich. But neither of those movies were sold so blatantly as a product, as a feel-good commodity that, yes, entire families can go see together, but that will make the four men at that press conference even richer. They are using the deep financial insecurity of the working-class to build another rung on their ladder of immense success, making millions off a movie that, given ticket prices, plenty of families can't even afford to see. It's hard not to be bowled over by the irony of it all. Given that Ratner and company haven't made their way down to Occupy Wall Street, as far as I know, I imagine some part of them is well aware of it too.

Tower Heist opens in theaters this Friday.

For those of you who were looking forward to seeing Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series adapted to the big screen, there may still be reason to hold out hope, as the project is still apparently in the works. As the massive budget was one of the issues holding the adaptation back, it’s unsurprising to learn that a major adjustment to the proposed cost has been made.

Back in July, word was that Universal passed on the project, which would put Stephen King’s popular Dark Tower series on both the big and small screens. The budget and the general scope of the project, which had certain parts of the story set for a theatrical release, and other parts made into a TV series that would bridge the story together between movies, were the reasons Universal walked away from the project. Now, according to Indie Wire, things may be getting back on track as producer Brian Grazer, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, and director Ron Howard have been working to develop the adaptation, trimming the budget substantially in the process.

IndieWire.com spoke to Grazer briefly about The Dark Tower series, and he stated that they were able to shave $45 million off of the budget, which was originally set at $140 million, and find a way to give the film a more satisfying ending than what they had set up in the original draft. “In the $140 million draft, the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying. Now, we’ve got $45 million, $50 million out of the way and a really satisfying ending. It’s gonna get made,” Grazer said. That sounds pretty confident, although nothing official has been confirmed yet. As Indie Wire notes, while it isn't clear whether Grazer is referring to just one film or a series of films and TV series, he did mention that they’d made changes without “changing the scope,” which suggests that the project they have in mind is still on track with the plan to release the film and connected TV series as they had originally.

Should King fans be celebrating? Well, again, nothing has been set in stone, however it’s definitely good news to hear that the project isn’t completely dead. Attempts are being made to make it happen and from the sound of it, with the talk about a “more satisfying ending,” they’re also looking for ways to improve on their original ideas. Perhaps trimming the budget has inspired them to get a bit more creative with how they tell the story.

The last word on Ron Howard’s upcoming adaptation of Steven King’s Dark Tower series was that Javier Bardem had been offered the movie’s lead role, that of the gunslinger Roland. At the same time he was also offered a lead role in the next Bond movie. Still no official word on which part he’s chosen but the latest from Dark Tower producer Brian Grazer makes it sound like he’s going to end up in Dark Tower.

Talking to MTV over the weekend Grazer made the very confusing statement that Javier is “locked in psychologically” to playing Roland. Does that mean he’s signed on the dotted line? Probably not. Grazer continued, “He really wants to do it, so we're absolutely rooting for him to do it.” And then later when asked if they are working on casting any of the movie’s other major roles he said, “We're really just focused on Javier right now.”

Bottom line here is that they definitely want Bardem and it sounds like Bardem is sort of on board even if he’s not a lock yet. I think most Dark Tower fans, however, will tell you that he’s really not a fit for the part. Javier Bardem is a fantastic actor but Roland is pretty definitively described in the book as being very much like a young Clint Eastwood, and when it comes to that, Bardem’s not even close. Personally I’m still hoping someone will wake up and hire Timothy Olyphant, but that hope is growing fainter by the second.

Brian Grazer, like pretty much most parents in America, has a son who's a big fan of Cleveland Cavaliers player LeBron James. But unlike everyone else, Grazer is a major Hollywood producer, so when his son wanted to meet his favorite player, Grazer just arranged the meeting with a guy, and then built an entire movie around him.

Grazer's Imagine Entertainment and Universal will produce Fantasy Basketball Camp, a movie in which James will play himself as the head of a basketball camp for adults, where he not only teaches the campers, but gets involved in their personal lives as well. Grazer told Variety, "I felt that beyond being one of the world's great superstar athletes, here was someone so relaxed and comfortable with himself that he would have the capability to be that way onscreen. Later, when I watched him host 'Saturday Night Live,' and saw his advertising work, it was clear he can do this."

We'll actually have a chance to gauge James' on-screen presence in the upcoming documentary More Than A Game, which follows James and five of his high school basketball teammates and comes October 2. Even if James isn't a natural born actor, he seems like he has the star charisma that will make him perfectly capable of playing himself.