Sure Shots: Sacha Baron Cohen; Antoine Fuqua; Logan Marshall-Green

* With The Dictator set to spread its own version of democracy to our country starting next week, Sacha Baron Cohen reveals he's dropped out of a major project just as we get an update on another long gestating one. First, Cohen revealed on Howard Stern's radio show that he was forced to drop out of Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained due to scheduling conflicts involving The Dictator. No word on who has replaced him since the filming is currently underway. Also, Stephen Frears(Tamara Drewe) has emerged as the top contender to direct the Freddy Mercury biopic Cohen has been attached to for a couple of years now. It features a script by Peter Morgan(The Queen), but no start date has been set. Call it a hunch, but I don't think this film ever happens. We shall see. [Variety]

* With at least half a dozen films taking up space on his schedule, some of which probably won't ever get made, Antoine Fuqua is still adding more to the pile. He's now signed on to direct Chicagoland, a heist flick which features a script by Peter Morgan, who was just mentioned above. That's all we know about the plot, but I expect that with Morgan's writing it should be better than the typical Fuqua mediocrity. As for that Eminem-starring boxing drama, Southpaw? Fuqua has been attached to direct it for awhile now, but apparently it's not a priority for the rapper and has been pushed back indefinitely. [Variety]

* Poised to become a breakout star in Prometheus, and for looking like Tom Hardy, Logan Marshall-Green will next portray renowned playwright Tennessee Williams in Lonely Hunter, the Carson McCullers biopic we first learned about last October. Jena Malone is set to star as McCullers, who at the ripe young age of 23 wrote The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, one of the deepest, most insightful novels about the South ever. Always plagued by illness, she led a short but tumultuous life that ended when she was only 50 years old. This one that I've been quietly waiting for news on, and with Marshall-Green coming aboard I'm officially jazzed to see how this pans out. Deborah Kampmeier will direct and co-write the script with Sarah Schulman.