One remade Hitchcock's "Psycho," the other wrote the novel "American Psycho." and they each often explore screwed up young characters, but otherwise Oscar-nominated filmmaker Gus Van Sant ("Milk") and author Bret Easton Ellis ("Less Than Zero") have little in common. The most significant contrast between them is that Van Sant's characters tend to have good souls, while Ellis' seem to have no souls at all. This makes it all the more exciting and curious to see how the duo collaborates on a script about the tragic true story of artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake.

The lovers, who both ended their lives in 2007, were not household names, but they were important figures in the art world, and they both made contributions to cinema. Duncan, one of the first designers of video games for girls, made an animated short titled "The History of Glamour" (watch it here), and Blake did the abstract interludes seen in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch-Drunk Love." Read more...

-- Ian McKellen told attendees at an all-night "Lord of the Rings" screening that an actor has been selected to play Bilbo in "The Hobbit." There are no further details than that, though McKellen also mentioned that he'll be getting the script "within the next week." This falls very deeply into the rumor territory for now, though I have little doubt that a script exists or that there's a Bilbo short list. Especially since "Hobbit" director Guillermo del Toro told us as much in an interview. (TheOneRing.net)

-- The word is the "Fight Club" and "Zodiac" director David Fincher is all set to direct the Aaron Sorkin-penned "The Social Network," also known as "the Facebook movie" in some circles. As you might expect, the story follows the rise of the beast that we call Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Sorkin and Fincher make for odd bedfellows; I'll definitely see this one. (End of Show, via /Film) Read more...

While there is much in flux about Gus Van Sant’s upcoming adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s Zeitgeist-defining book, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” which centers on the LSD-infused cross-country road trip that novelist Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters took in the 1960s, the director is certain about one thing: he won’t be able to cast his ideal leading man.

“Unfortunately, Heath Ledger was a pretty obvious choice, and he’s gone,” Van Sant told MTV News in an exclusive interview. But who else could play zany philosopher-king and “One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest” author Kesey?

“There’s the opportunity that it could be Jack Black,” says Van Sant, hinting the film might possibly take on a more comedic feel. Read more...