Adultery, death, child molestation: Centering on the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl, Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" is one grief filled set-piece after another. Except it's got Susan Sarandon laughing all the way to the suburbs.

"I play kind of the comic relief," Sarandon said of her role as Grandma Lynn in the upcoming production. "She's [a] drinking, hard shooting, smoking [old lady] cutting across all of the pain, pain, pain. Whenever I possibly can blow smoke in someone's face I'm doing it!"

It's a mixture of tones that's indicative of the overall production, Sarandon said, insisting that fans who only know Jackson for "Lord of the Rings" and "King Kong" are going to be "surprised." Read more...

In the grand-scheme of TV-to-movie translations, I've gotta admit: The idea of "Speed Racer" seems only slightly better than "The Honeymooners" and a few notches beneath even "Aeon Flux." Honestly, the show is beloved for the same reasons that doomed "Thunderbirds" - it's a tongue-in-cheek guilty pleasure, remembered for repetitive plot lines and laughably bad, low-budget visuals.

But here's the twist: The more we learn about what the Wachowski Brothers' are doing with their version of the Sixties anime series, the more it sounds like Speed really could become a demon on wheels.

"I just finished with the Wachowskis...I just came from Berlin where I was doing 'Speed Racer,'" Susan Sarandon told us over the weekend, talking about the flick that has her playing Speed's mother opposite John Goodman as the dad. "I can't even understand [what they're doing]. But I worked with the chimp, so that was really worth it." Read more...

The end of summer blues have you down? Think about next summer instead – with news today on "Speed Racer," "Bond 22," and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" highlighting our links of the day.

- Whoa! Keanu Reeves to star as Klaatu in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." (Variety)

- Details on the look of "Speed Racer" from Susan Sarandon. (Collider)

- Peter Jackson makes a fifteen minute WWI film…And it's a masterpiece. (NZ Herald)

- "Bond 22” picks up "two minutes after 'Casino Royale,'" says Paul Haggis. (ComingSoon)

- "Faces of Death" gets a story. (Rotten Tomatoes)

Comic-Con isn't your only source of movie news today. The Dailies has the latest on Johnny Depp's vampire adventures, Peter Jackson casting news, Stanley Kubrick getting the treatment he deserves.

- Johnny Depp set to join the ranks of the undead in "Dark Shadows." (Variety)

- Susan Sarandon signs on Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones." (Hollywood Reporter)

-The Joker is at it again and so is Warner Bros. as they continue to spread coy "Dark Knight" hints on the Web. (Cinematical)

- Stanley Kubrick is getting the special edition DVD treatment at last. (Hollywood Elsewhere)

- Doug Jones talks "Hellboy 2." (Premiere)