Sure Shots: John Wells; Reese Witherspoon; Justin Timberlake

* Once eyed as a potential directing vehicle for Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines), and before that David Fincher, the cooking drama Chef appears to have finally found its head cook. John Wells (The Company Men, ER) is set to direct the film, which has Bradley Cooper attached to play a disgraced Paris chef whose personal demons cause him to lose everything. Getting his life in order, he returns to Paris sober and assembles a team in hopes of earning a building a restaurant capable of earning 3 Michelin stars. This sounds pretty lame, and cooking movies are almost always horrible (Ratatouille excepted), but if Omar Sy comes aboard as expected, my opinion could change. Wells recently wrapped up August: Osage County, which stars Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep, and is being eyed as a potential Oscar contender. [Deadline]

* Currently seen in theaters opposite Matthew McConaughey in Mud, Reese Witherspoon is lining up her next film. She's in talks to join Keanu Reeves in the sci-fi film, Passengers, which features a script by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts. Directed by Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones), the film centers on Jim Preston, a mechanic making the 120-year journey aboard a spaceship to colonize a new planet. When a computer glitch wakes him up 90 years before the other travelers, he's faced with the prospect of dying alone, so he wakes up a beautiful passenger (Witherspoon) to spend his life with. [THR]

* Justin Timberlake has been better than most in taking his popular R&B persona and fashioning a legit career as a leading man. There's a reason why directors like Clint Eastwood, the Coen Brothers, and David Fincher were so eager to put his likability to their own good use. Timberlake is stepping into Hollywood a little but further by producing and starring in Spinning Gold, based on a story he developed alongside Tim Bogart, the son of legendary record producer Neil Bogart. Timberlake will play Bogart in the film, which chronicles his career in the 1960s and '70s when he discovered and shepherded the careers of Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight, KISS, Parliament, Donna Summer and many others. He began Casablanca Records in 1973, helping to define the music of a generation.