Ismail Merchant Tribute, Brooklyn

MerchantIvory.com reports that The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) will be screening In Custody, "one of Mr. Merchant's best films as director," Thursday August 11 @ 6:30 and 9:15pm. The start time for the first show is 6:30pm and NOT 6:50pm as the BAM website has listed. More on In Custody, Merchant's feature directorial debut here.

Brad and Jennifer

The couple may be history, but the literary adaptations they're co-producing aren't. Caryn Solly investigates The Time Traveler's Wife, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, A Million Little Pieces and more.

Whereabouts: Joseph Fiennes

If there were a pinup calendar for literary adaptation lovers (and perhaps there should be), Shakespeare In Love star Joseph Fiennes would definitely be in it. A quick look at IMDB.com's listing for Fiennes reveals that he has several adaptations up his lace-embellished sleeve. First he'll star as Laurent in a retelling of Emile Zola's tragic novel Therese Raquin with Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, The Bourne Supremecy) and Glenn Close. Then, next year, we'll see him as Neil Bookman in an adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' best-selling memoir Running with Scissors, a tough but true tale about the son of a mentally-ill poetess (played by Gwyneth P. Annette Bening, natch). --Kim

Update: Gwyneth P. will be playing Dr. Finch's daughter Hope.

The Merchant of.... Vegas?

Patrick Stewart has brought Sir Ian McKellan on board for a modern-day adaptation of The Merchant of Venice, set at The Venetian in Las Vegas. The Telegraph (UK) reports that this adaptation will be paced more like Baz Lurhman’s Romeo + Juliet which starred Claire Danes and Leo DiCaprio, than last year’s more traditional telling of The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino, Joseph Fiennes, and Jeremy Irons. --Kim

From the archives: All I Want for Christmas...

What do NPR and Lindsay Lohan have in common?

Well, namely the fact that Lohan is among the cast of the movie version of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion," a celebrated radio series on NPR. The movie is being directed by Robert Altman and stars Keillor as himself, John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson as "Dusty and Lefty," Tommy Lee Jones as "Axeman," "Kevin Kline" as Guy Noir and Lohan as "Annie Angels." Virginia Madsen, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin round out the cast.

(George Clooney was originally offered the "Guy Noir" role but had to turn it down because of scheduling conflicts.) -- Amy

"Pieces" News

The adaptation of James Frey's detox memoir "A Million Little Pieces" is in production and scheduled for a 2006 release. IMDB.com doesn't list the cast, but names like Jake Gyllenhaal, Orlando Bloom and Ryan Gosling have been rumored for the lead role, and Lindsay Lohan's name is also being bandied about. (Kelly Osbourne has also said she'd love a role in the flick...oh boy.) If anyone knows the definitive cast, email us -- we'd love to know. -- Amy

Just a Taste

This is just one of several new pix from Coppola's Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst. The shot in the garden is particularly nice. --Kim