Christopher Plummer to 'Remember'; Dakota Fanning Leads 'Brain on Fire'; Connie Britton Joins 'American Ultra'

* Screen vets Christopher Plummer, Dean Norris, Bruno Ganz, and Martin Landau have joined Atom Egoyan's latest film, Remember. Egoyan's follow-up to the disappointing West Memphis Three film, Devil's Knot, is a thriller "in which the darkest chapter of modern history collides with a contemporary mission of revenge." Vague enough for you? [THR]

* Charlize Theron is set to produce an adaptation of Susannah Cahalan's memoir, Brain On Fire: My Month Of Madness, with Dakota Fanning place to star. The story chronicles 24-year-old Cahalan's month-long descent into madness at a hospital, until a new doctor discovered the illness that was attacking her brain. [Deadline]

* It's Sharon Stone out, Connie Britton in for the action-comedy, American Ultra. Production began last month on the film which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart as a stoner couple whose lives are turned upside down when it's discovered he is really a highly-trained sleeper agent in a secret government program. Britton will play Victoria Lasseter, the creator of the program. Directed by Nima Nourizadeh, the film also stars Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Tony Hale, John Lequizamo, and Bill Pullman. 

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Peter Berg confirms the 'Friday Night Lights' movie probably won't happen

As a Taylor Kitsch fangirl, I'm wiping away my tears as I write this: the "Friday Night Lights" movie probably isn't happening. Years after the series finale in 2011, after NBC dropped the series and brought it back, after cast members Kitsch and Kyle Chandler and Michael B. Jordan and Connie Britton and Jesse Plemons have all gone on to better things, the dream has died.

According to Peter Berg, who developed the show and whose Mark Wahlberg-starring film "Lone Survivor" comes out later this month and early next year, "There's not gonna be a movie." In a talk with Collider.com, Berg also went on to say that he, although initially wanting to do the film, has now "come to believe it's probably not a good idea and I seriously doubt it's gonna happen." This comes only a day after Kitsch told Vulture he was "never gonna be in that movie" because he thought the series ended in the right way.

And the other cast members? Well, Britton has talked before about wanting to do the film, but said back then that Chandler's growing film career - he's been all over the place recently, from "Zero Dark Thirty" to teen drama "The Spectacular Now" to the upcoming "The Wolf of Wall Street" - was holding up the project. Chandler never confirmed or denied that, but now Britton is on "Nashville," so she probably doesn't have time, either. And everyone else - Kitsch had a bad year in 2012 (remember the duds that were "John Carter," "Battleship," and "Savages"?), but he's in "Lone Survivor" and a few more high-profile projects; Michael B. Jordan has tons of work lined up after being so great in "Fruitvale Station" earlier this year; Plemons owned it on this last season of "Breaking Bad"; Minka Kelly is busy being Chris Evans's on-again, off-again girlfriend; and Scott Porter is on the CW's "Hart of Dixie," which is somehow still a show that gets good ratings! So the likelihood of this cast getting together again ... doubtful.

But was the dream of a "Friday Night Lights" movie even that worthwhile to begin with? As a crazy "FNL" fan, I have to agree with Kitsch that the show ended in the right way. All the storylines were effectively wrapped up. We saw the best marriage on television continue to be the best marriage on television. We saw Matt and Julie end up together (spoiler alert, whatever, watch the damn show). And we got to see Riggins say "Texas forever" one last time. Isn't that enough?! I would say Berg and Kitsch are right on this one. Five seasons, seventy-six episodes, of "FNL" was enough.

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Peter Berg says "We're doing" a 'Friday Night Lights' movie

"Clear eyes, full hearts". For fans of the Friday Night Lights TV series, those words have come to mean something special. When the show finally ended it's run, kept alive solely on the rabid support of the fan base, the hope was always that their beloved story would continue in some way. Within weeks, Peter Berg had expressed his own desire to keep it going on the silver screen, and then shortly thereafter we learned that the film was in development. Now, while Berg was chatting to Details about Battleship, FNL co-star Connie Britton dropped by and...well, let's let her say it herself....


Britton: So, I had a meeting at Jason Katims' office. And we were talking about something else and I said, "Forget about all that. Is this movie going to happen?" I was sitting on his couch, and he's like, "Look behind you." And I look behind me and it's a wall with a big, huge corkboard on it with all these 3x5 cards. That's what these writers do, they do the whole story on 3x5 cards. He's like, "That's the movie."

To which Berg replied "We're doing the movie". Simple as that, right? It's certainly the clearest indicator that the film is happening. Berg has spoken about it in the past, stating that if the film was made it would be based on the recent Texas Tech controversy that saw head coach Mike Leach fired for supposedly abusing a player. That player turned out to be Adam James, the son of football star and ex-ESPN analyst Craig James, who I remember going on TV as much as possible to run Leach into the ground. James admitted to lying about what happened, and Leach ultimately wound up coaching at Washington State.

There are some obstacles, though. The film hasn't been given the greenlight by Universal, and even though Berg has some serious stroke, a lot of this is going to depend on whether her can all of the major cast members to return. That includes star Kyle Chandler, who has seen his stock rise over the last year. Most important would be Taylor Kitsch coming back as Tim Riggins.  Berg seems confident in getting both, so I think FNL fans can start re-watching those old episodes in preparation.

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Friday Night Lights not dead yet? Peter Berg wants to bring it to the big screen

TV shows get cancelled all of the time. And more often than not, you get an uproar from the loyal diehards who do silly things like sending peanuts to the networks, or start hundreds of online petitions nobody reads. Friday Night Lights was saved by it's audience after a second season of low ratings, leaving NBC and turning up on DirecTV where it just concluded it's fifth and final season. The show, about a small football town in Dillon, TX, was based on the great 2004 film directed by Peter Berg, which was itself adapted from the acclaimed 1990 novel. Berg didn't want to let it go, and put together the TV series, which has won raves for it's portrayal of small town life and the relationships within.


While the DVD of the final season has been out for a few months, the final rebroadcasting aired on NBC just a couple of nights ago. And just like when the movie was over, Berg appears to be reluctant to leave Friday Night Lights in his rearview. According to TVLine, Bill Simmons(editor at Grantland) tweeted that Berg is already working on a way to keep FNL going strong...

"PS: We didn't put it in the oral history, but Peter Berg told us he wants to do an FNL movie with Chandler/Britton off the final episode."

We've seen a lot of these stories over the last couple of years. Arrested Development, Party Down, Veronica Mars, and many more cult hits have gotten their fans' hopes up with wishes to bring their low rated projects to theaters. It almost never happens. However, Friday Night Lights may have more momentum than others. For one, the show is receiving more awards buzz than it ever has before. The show was just nominated for a Best Drama Emmy for the first time, with nominations also earned for stars Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton. Plus, Berg is a heavy hitter in the biz right now. He may have the clout to get this done. Friday Night Lights is a proven commodity, on the big and small screen. Somebody's going to want to cash in on that. No deal is in place as of yet.

I adore the movie, thinking it may be the one perfect football film. Yet I've never seen the TV show. Maybe now that it's done I'll start from the beginning.

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