Eli Roth is shaping up to be a triple threat -- literally. Not only does the horror auteur maim and murder in the scripts he writes (Cabin Fever, Hostel, Hostel 2) and the movies he directs (uh, same three), now it looks like he's going to play a maimer and a murderer on screen himself. Fellow triple threat Quentin Tarantino, a longtime supporter of Roth and his often-imitated brand of torture porn, has cast him in his upcoming war movie, Inglorious Bastards. Roth would play a Bastard. ...You know, I think that'll get old by the time they cast the entire squad, but for now, it's damn fun to say. Eli Roth, the Bastard. Yes, I'm eight.

Casting has just gotten groovier on Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's latest film. Variety notes that Imelda Staunton and Liev Schreiber have rounded out a cast that includes Into the Wild's Emile Hirsch, SCTV vet Eugene Levy and The Daily Show's Demetri Martin. Focus will start production this month on the tale of a mysterious stranger who invades the Peanuts world created by Charles Schulz. While Snoopy is sleeping, someone snatches Woodstock from his nest, and it's up to Snoopy and Vera Drake to solve the mystery. Staunton and the rest of the humans spent six hours a day learning how to go "womp-womp-womp-womp-womp" like the adults on Charlie Brown cartoons are known to do. Subtitles will not be presented, as Lee feels this will ruin the artistic feel of the film. And I'm just pulling your leg!

It's rare that a film made in 1927 makes this kind of news, but lost scenes from sci-fi classic Metropolis, from German director Fritz Lang, were recently unearthed in Argentina. This is the sort of thing that makes modern movie fans -- or at least me -- scratch their heads in wonder. I mean, really, how does this happen? How did no one -- not even Lang -- keep the full film somewhere that it could be found?

To describe something as "spartan" is to say that it's simple, austere...frugal, even. It has a "less is more" attitude. It's a principle that applied, in a unique way, to that Spartan movie, 300. Writer/director Zack Snyder took less budget ($65 million is relative pocket change in Hollywood) and made more movie with more ass-kicking per square inch of screen than most films with twice the budget. King Leonidas and his band of merry men easily made the money back in the movie's opening weekend. Now Variety reports that Legendary Pictures and Warner Brothers are eager to repeat this formula for success, by making a sequel.

As of now, The Sistine Secrets is just a book. Not even a novel, but a non-fiction book that analyzes hidden messages left in the Sistine Chapel. However, given the fact that J.J. Abrams' next movie is based on a newspaper article about an apartment with a secret scavenger hunt in it, it seems a given that it will only be a matter of time before Sistine hops off of the page and onto the big screen. In fact, I'd love to see Abrams take a stab at directing it. People will eat that up given their love of The Da Vinci Code. The Vatican is sure to protest and deny access, given that they've already squashed any dreams that Code's sequel Angels and Demons had of shooting within their carefully guarded walls.

It was announced that next week CBS will be running a special on the American Film Institute's top 10 movies of 10 different genres. They haven't yet revealed what movies made the cut (you'll have to tune in to see, apparently), but their website does have a list of the 500 nominees.

I've sifted through them (so you don't have to!) and was surprised by more than a few of the noms, particularly since some of the criteria jurors were asked to consider are "Critical Recognition," "Cultural Impact" and "Major Award Winner." All that and they have to be American productions! When the one hundred picks come out on the 17th, we'll see what they give us, but in the meantime, I've gone through the nominees and called out a few that had me doing a double take. These were up for the best of the best!?

Simon Napier-Bell's movie about '80s pop duo Wham! may be in trouble, according to The Guardian. No, you didn't read that wrong. There is, indeed a movie about Wham! in the works. But the film's future hangs in the balance until George Michael consents to the use of the group's music.

According to the article, Napier-Bell "raised doubts" over whether that would happen. A Wham! movie without Wham! music would be like... Do you remember that scene in Amadeus where the performers are dancing around like idiots in silence because Ferris Bueller's principal prohibited music?* Now imagine how much sillier the "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" video would have looked if it had been performed by spastic mimes. Ferris Bueller's principal (aka Emperor Joseph II) eventually saw the error of his ways, but will George Michael?

Leonardo DiCaprio will play Nolan Bushnell in his latest biopic, according to Variety. I know what you're thinking: Isn't there already a biopic about Bushnell? I mean, he's such a household name, you'd think there'd already be a half-dozen movies about him.

Shortly after it was reported that last Sunday's fire on the Universal back lot destroyed the studio's video vault, some sets and that archaic King Kong ride, studio brass came out assuring film buffs everywhere that nothing they lost was irreplaceable. Now there is some indication that that may not be entirely true.

From the man that brought you Casualties of War, Redacted and The Black Dahlia, comes the next feel-good movie of the year. Brian De Palma has just signed on to direct The Boston Stranglers, a thriller that will follow the Boston killings of the early '60s and their still-controversial resolutions. Says The Hollywood Reporter, "The Strangler case continues to stir debate. Many question whether Albert DeSalvo -- a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while incarcerated on unrelated charges -- was the actual killer." A point which, with the title's obvious "s" after "Strangler," the film is sure to explore. [I smell a Jean-Claude Van Damme Double Impact-style plot twist. - Z]