Sure Shots: Arnold Schwarzenegger; The Hobbit; many folks cast in Spielberg's Lincoln

* Arnold Schwarzenegger has been juggling a number of potential projects for his big screen return, and last week we learned that the frontrunner for his first pic was Cry Macho, a drama(booo!!!) about a down 'n out horse trainer who kidnaps his boss's kid, but gets more than he bargained for when nobody wants the little brat back. The film is based on a story by the lateRichard N. Nash, with The Lincoln Lawyer's Brad Furman directing. Deadline is now confirming that the film will be first on the list for the Governator, with the plan still in place to start this summer.


* One of the biggest rumors surrounding Peter Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit has been the potential casting of Saoirse Ronan. I myself have been chomping at the bit to hear confirmation of her signing, as she's been a plus to every single film she's been a part of. Plus she'd make a cute elf. Well that's one I can file under "Denied" as Ronan says she's unlikely to have time for the film. She tells the Belfast Telegraph...  “It’s probably not going to work out with ‘The Hobbit’ unfortunately. Because I would have been working for about a year on it and there were other projects that I was very interested in". 


* It's been forever since we first heard about Lincoln, Steven Spielberg's planned adaptation of the book, Team of Rivals. Daniel Day-Lewis has been confirmed to play Honest Abe almost since day one, with Sally Field as his wife.  But Spielberg has really opened the flood gates today, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill and Joseph Cross all in negotiations to join. The story, adapted by Tony Kushner(Angels in America) focuses on the many men and clashing personalities that made up Lincoln's Cabinet as he paved the path towards the abolition of slavery. This should be awesome.