ComingSoon.net talks to director Gus Van Sant ( Good Will Hunting , Elephant ) about his new biopic Milk , about the political career of openly gay San Francisco activist Harvey Milk, as played by Sean Penn.

Producer Mark Canton ( 300 ) is teaming with Pterodactyl Productions on a pair of big screen projects that include a film about iconic cowboy character and B-movie Western staple Bill “Hopalong” Cassidy, says The Hollywood Reporter .

Universal is in final negotiations to buy screenwriter Richard Rapoza’s raucous matrimonial comedy Best Man-A-Thon , with Stuber Productions’ Scott Stuber and Pam Abdy set to produce a big-screen version.

Timothy Olyphant has signed on to star in The Crazies , Overture’s remake of the George Romero horror movie being directed by Breck Eisner, says The Hollywood Reporter .

Anna Kendrick, who has a small part in Twilight , has nabbed the coveted female lead in Paramount’s Up in the Air , opposite George Clooney.

Universal Pictures has made an overall deal with the estate of “The Bourne Identity” author Robert Ludlum that gives the studio exclusive rights to the Jason Bourne character and first look at other Ludlum novels, says Variety .

Mila Kunis ( Max Payne , Forgetting Sarah Marshall ) has joined the cast of The Book of Eli , the Denzel Washington action thriller from Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment. Albert and Allen Hughes are directing. Gary Oldman co-stars.

ComingSoon.net’s Heather Newgen talked exclusively to director Seth Gordon about his new comedy, Four Christmases , opening in theaters on November 26.

Warner Bros. has signed Get Smart director Peter Segal and his Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing to a three-year first-look deal, reports Variety .

Columbia Pictures has acquired an untitled pitch by Accepted screenwriter Mark Perez for Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison to produce. The studio has also hired the writing team of Tim and Tom Mullen to adapt Antony Moore’s novel “The Swap” for the big screen.