Developments on the Academy Awards front are coming in fast and furious. First came word that Brett Ratner was resigning as Oscars producer in light of the controversial remarks he made during a "Tower Heist" public screening last weekend. Less than 24 hours later, Eddie Murphy dropped out as the show's host, leaving the biggest night in Hollywood without two of its most important creative pillars.

Well, at least one of those holes has now been filled: Imagine Entertainment co-founder Brian Grazer has been tapped to replace Ratner as producer of the 2012 Academy Awards.

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Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's attempt to adapt Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series over multiple films and television seasons has hit something of a snag: sporting a high price tag and an unprecedented rollout plan, "Dark Tower" proved too ambitious for Universal to handle. But if Grazer is to be believed, "The Dark Tower" isn't too big for HBO.

Speaking with MTV News at the "Tower Heist" press junket this past weekend, Grazer revealed that "The Dark Tower" is still very much on track, so much so that that HBO has come on board.

"We're going to do ['The Dark Tower'] with HBO," Grazer told us. "We'll do the TV with HBO, and we'll do the movie with… to be determined. We'll do it right."

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Kiefer SutherlandGood news, Jack Bauer fans: the clock is very much still ticking.

"24" enthusiasts have been waiting on the edge of their seats waiting for the Kiefer Sutherland-starring real-time thriller to make its much heralded debut on the big-screen, and now, we've got a time table courtesy of producer Brian Grazer. "Got off the phone Keifer yesterday and we are very excited about producing the 24 movie for next year," Grazer informed his Twitter followers, indicating that the "24" movie is very much on track.

But despite Grazer's assurances, there are several questions we don't know the answer to — like the ones we're asking about past the jump!

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With the ever-changing, ever-flowing news cycle surrounding the goings on in the film industry these days, it gets tougher and tougher to get concerned parties to actually confirm or break news. Nevertheless, our tireless team of intrepid reporters here at MTV News will not give up in trying to push people for info! Like whenever we happen upon super producer Brian Grazer and pump him for details about "The Dark Tower," for example...

The last time we checked in with Grazer, the Roland casting process was moving along, but slowly. When I stopped him while on his way into the Vanity Fair Oscar party last Sunday, solely with the purpose of peppering him about the reported casting of Javier Bardem as the ruthless gunslinger, he seemed pleasantly puzzled by the fact that MTV is so interested in the project.

"'Dark Tower,' Javier Bardem, that's what we're hoping," Grazer said when I asked him for an update. "We're in the process of trying to put that together. Will that make you happy? Will that make MTV happy?"

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Christian BaleSo much for the actor playing Roland Deschain in "The Dark Tower" adaptation being released last week. When MTV caught up with producer Brian Grazer after the Golden Globes, he said we would hear some casting announcements "within a week." But "within a week" has come and gone, and we still only have rumors.

Today, two different movie news sites announced two different actors being in the lead for the role, and interestingly enough, neither of them is fan-favorite Viggo Mortensen. Deadline got the exclusive that Javier Bardem, who was already rumored for the role, is the front-runner for the Gunslinger, while New York Post says the role is Christian Bale's to lose.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact both of these actors are current Oscar nominees, but it sounds like whichever man is chosen for the role will be a good selection.

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Who will play the part of Roland Deschain in the movie adaptation of "The Dark Tower"? That question has been gnawing at fans of Stephen King's epic book series ever since director Ron Howard and producing partner Brian Grazer decided to tackle the ambitions project, which will take the form of three movies and two TV series that will bridge the gap between the films.

Rumors have suggested that Viggo Mortensen and Javier Bardem are the lead contenders to play Roland, the last living member of a knightly order of "gunslingers," who lives in a world best described as the Wild West with magic and even more chaos. When MTV spoke to Howard a couple weeks back, he said he didn't yet have a script (frequent collaborator Akiva Goldsman is writing one) and was still in the "early stages" of casting the role... though he did admit that things were "moving forward" with a "tremendous amount of momentum."

But when MTV News caught up with Grazer after the Golden Globes on Sunday night, he revealed that things are moving perhaps even more quickly than Howard let on. Read More...

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Larry DoyleNovelist Larry Doyle must be flying pretty high right now. After all, the guy hasn't even finished his current work-in-progress, "Go Mutants!" and it's already been picked up for a silver screen treatment. He'll have to do double-duty now, penning out a script as he completes the book. I think he'll somehow find a way to manage.

The story is described by Variety as a "teen comedy/adventure set in a high school." Expect both film and book to draw heavily from classic Hollywood sci-fi; the idea behind "Go Mutants!" is that "all the tropes from classic 1950s alien invasion movies came true." Things are taken a step further than that even: years after the initial invasions, human and alien societies have commingled to the point that their children go to school together. Read More...

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Russell CroweMaybe every generation gets the Robin Hood film they deserve. Apparently I deserved Kevin Costner and Christian Slater hugging as a Bryan Adams song played over the end credits (to be fair, I kind of love that film). And apparently this generation is going to get a Russell Crowe-led re-imagining directed by Ridley Scott (because apparently they can't be apart for more than a couple months).

We've all been gossiping about "Nottingham" for months on end and lately a lot of the chatter has concerned just who Crowe is playing. Scott told us recently that Crowe is playing both Robin Hood and Nottingham which left a few people scratching their heads. It wasn't so confusing in retrospect given what has been reported about the script elsewhere.

But now Brian Grazer has further clarified to MTV News how this dual role thing is going to work AND he even dropped a bit of a bomb about how the beginning of the film plays out. So spoiler-scared folk please go no further. Read More...

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Matthew McConaugheyThis is one of those festering casting rumors that's just really gotten under my skin over the last year or two. Magnum P.I. played by...Matthew McConaughey. No. Just no. I have sat back and watched Rosie O'Donnell play Betty Rubble. I stayed silent. Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as Bo and Luke. I let it go. No longer!

But lo and behold I don't have to get angry at the prospect of the star of "Surfer Dude" playing Magnum. Brian Grazer just told me it's not happening. So it's not going to be McConaughey, I asked? "No," he said. "I think the idea for 'Magnum P.I.' is to find a counterpoint, to not try and find the new Tom Selleck but to find someone that is just so different that you go, oh my God! That guy is Magnum?!?" Read More...

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