The title for Woody Allen’s new movie has officially been released.

According to “The Hollywood Reporter,” the title will be called You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Allen, will serve as writer/director (naturally) and the Spanish company, Mediapro will produce. It will feature a talented cast of Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts. THR said, “Gemma Jones, Freida Pinto and Lucy Punch round out the cast in the film that revolves around different members of a family, their tangled love lives and their attempts to try to solve their problems.” Stranger is set for release next year and it will be Allen’s second collaboration with Medioprod, with two more being planned.

What can I say? Allen is one of the all-time greatest and I’m really excited to see his new film, especially since it feature Banderas, Brolin and one my favorite actresses, Naomi Watts. After deviating earlier this year with a comedy (Whatever Works), it appears Allen will travel back to the Spanish drama brought forth from his prior effort, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Variety’s Michael Fleming is reporting on his blog that Matt Damon and John Brolin are in negotiations to join the Coens’ re-imagining of the 1969 Western, True Grit. Jeff Bridges originally joined the cast to play the lead role of Marshall Rooster Cogburn, who was originally portrayed by John Wayne 40 years ago.

Now, Matt Damon appears set to play the lawman (originally portrayed by Glen Campbell) who joins with Cogburn and a 14-year old girl to track down her father’s killer. Josh Brolin, meanwhile, would play the killer, Tom Chaney. Of course, Brolin collaborating with the Coen brothers again would reunite the actor and director duo for the first time since the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men in 2007 in which Brolin was shamefully dismissed from the Best Actor discussion.

Damon, who is expected to have a big year this year with performances in both Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant! and Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, just finished shooting The Adjustment Bureau opposite Emily Blunt and will collaborate with Eastwood again on the supernatural thriller Hereafter.

The Coens’ True Grit script is reportedly more true to the original Charles Portis novel than the 1969 film version and will apparently tell the story from the 14-year old girl’s perspective rather than that of Marshall Cogburn (Bridges). As a fan of the Coen’s output recent output, especially the currently expanding misanthropic fable A Serious Man, the thought of a period western in the vein of John Ford or Budd Boetticher has me pumped.

Paramount Pictures is set to put the film into production next March for a late 2010 release. If on schedule, True Grit will continue the trend of a Coen film every fall for the last four years.

As Robert Rodriguez week winds down here at The Film Nest, in which we’ve brought you a First Features write-up on El Mariachi, the classic opening scene from From Dusk Till Dawn, a retrospective on the career of the man up to now and finally a review of his new film, Shorts, out today. We didn’t want to leave without another classic scene taken from the man’s resume, however, and although I couldn’t find the Sin City scene I wanted to share with you, here comes a scene from Rodriguez’s half of Grindhouse, Planet Terror.

Zombies, or “sickos,” have taken over town a Texas town and this is the first time we get to see them up close, from the eyes of Doc Block (Josh Brolin) and his wife, Dakota (Marley Shelton), at the local medical clinic. Dakota has been carrying out an affair with Tammy (Fergie), which Doc Block is suspicious of, when the “sickos” come rolling in.

The great Nicky Katt makes an appearance in this scene and it’s a shame he’s not in more of it. Due to the nature of zombies, there’s some graphic stuff in this scene, which is pretty disgusting, but truly adds to the enjoyment level. Also, be sure to check out the “Kobainer” at the end of the clip. Enjoy!

Last week, we were dealt a sour blow when it was announced that Javier Bardem was no longer going to play villain in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street sequel, Money Never Sleeps. However, the sun appears to be shining down on us again as, according to Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily, word is an offer for the role has been sent to Josh Brolin.

Brolin recently worked with Stone, portraying our former Command-in-Chief, in W. He’s been killing it since starring in No Country For Old Men, claiming roles in American Gangster, Milk and the soon-to-be released comic book film, Jonah Hex.

I’d imagine this essentially unsubstantiated rumor has a darn good shot of coming to fruition given his recent familiarity with Stone. It’s kind of interesting to note the No Country For Old Men connection between the man stepping down (Bardem) and the man who may be stepping up (Brolin), as well. I wouldn’t normally associate Brolin with villainy, but he definitely has an intimidating presence about him. I’m glad somebody may have been cast, as I’m looking forward to seeing how this film shapes up.

Some perhaps lesser impact news items have occurred this week and as usual, we’ve compiled them for you in one nice and neat package. Feast your eyes below.

Louis Letterier (The Incredible Hulk) is directing an updated version of Clash of the Titans with Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation) to star. The first official photo of Worthington has been revealed. [Film-o-Filia]

Stretch Armstrong, the movie nobody can possibly be anticipating has a release date of April 15, 2011. Mark your calendars. [Screen Crave]

The Total Recall remake has found its writer in Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium, Street Kings). It’s almost been 20 years since the original. Is it time for a remake already? What time-frame criteria do you apply to remakes? [Rama's Screen]

David and Courtney Cox Arquette are in talks  for roles in Scream 4. Remember two years ago when it was seemingly the summer of trilogies? We had Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds’s End, Shrek the 3rd, Oceasn’s Thirteen, The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3. Well, it seems Hollywood hopes to make the summer of fours, eventually. They’ve geared up with Life Free or Die Hard and Rambo, with Spider-Man 4 and Shrek 4 on the way, now this? It’s been 10 years since Scream 3. Please leave it the hell alone. Sadly, I’m sure I’d rather watch Scream 4 than I would Drag Me to Hell, again. [Bloody-Disgusting]

Emile Hirsch (Milk) and director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) will join forces for a modernized Hamlet. If  it’s anything like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, I might be able to get behind it. I pretty much can’t stand Shakespeare, though. I kinda like Hirsch and depending on how modern it becomes, maybe it’ll be worthwhile. [The Envelope]

Finally, as a fan of symmetry, we end just as we began, with a couple of set pics. Here’s Josh Brolin as the scar-faced gunslinger (not Brett Favre), Jonah Hex. [Film School Rejects]

The sinewy, newly single (supposedly), and sexy (pretty universal there, although fellow The Film Nest writer Machinegunrap unconvincingly tries to deny it) star of the Transformers franchise Megan (don’t call me Vivica A.) Fox is apparently making her way into two comic book roles.  Though, neither is the seemingly desired Wonder Woman role that fanboys have been clamoring for.  Yahoo! (whose stock needs a bump) reports that Megan will assist Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex before starring in and developing(!) Fathom.  They break it down like this:

In “Hex,” Fox will play Leila, a gun-wielding beauty and love interest of Hex (Brolin), a scarred bounty hunter tracking a voodoo practitioner (Malkovich) who wants to raise an army of undead to liberate the South. The movie is preparing for a shoot in April, with Jimmy Hayward directing.

“Fathom,” a comic created by recently deceased artist Michael Turner , follows a young woman named Aspen who learns she is a member of a race of aquatic humanoids who possess the ability to control water. Fox, a fan of the comic since its 1998 debut, will receive a producer credit…

I'm speaking out of my ass when I say, "Hi there."

That is some serious clout that the internet sensation has going on.  I’ll be honest, they both sound like pretty cool roles for her, especially with her Angelina Jolie-esqe aspirations that she so readily confesses.  Jolie starred in Wanted last year and “Hex” has her handling a gun, which fanboys will undoubtedly be gaga over, so the parallels there are obvious.

“Hex” sounds like a cool movie.  With John Malkovich and Brolin on board, that is a nice sounding cast going on there.  Malkovich is exemplary at playing crooked, off beat characters and Brolin became a star in the Coen’s No Country For Old Men, before blowing up in Milk and W last year.  I like the sound of Fox as his younger girlfriend, it is good, edgy casting.

I've got room for one more on this bed. Who's in?

Fathom, on the other hand, sounds like a bit of a passion project for the young starlet.  I don’t really know anything about the comic book, but the ability to control water sounds like an interesting concept.  Considering many internet freaks consider her to be able to walk on water, the casting makes sense.  An “aquatic humanoid” doesn’t sound like a role requiring a Chekov level of acting skill, but even so, its likely a good role for her.  The question is, would it end up going the Jennifer Garner in Elektra route or could it achieve a Jolie in Tomb Raider status.  All remains to be seen.  Fill in your thoughts below, we expect them to be plentiful.  Look at how nice I am, adding an extra picture of her, just for y’all.  Enjoy.

In the latest installment of comic book fixation, directly after bringing you the possibility of the brothers Wachowski bringing you big-screen adaptations of “Plastic Man” and/or “Superman,” comes a bit of casting news regarding a feature film based on DC Comics series, “Jonah Hex.”

Hex has been making waves over the past couple of months. The script was written by Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine (Crank) and set up for them to direct, but they vacated the latter gig over the blanket “creative differences.” The project will now be overseen by Jimmy Hayward, who directed last year’s Horton Hears a Who! and was a longtime Pixar animator. Obviously somewhat of a strange choice, but maybe his background will make for something unique and groundbreaking.

Jonah Hex is to be played by Josh Brolin, even though Thomas Jane openly lobbied for the job. Today, via “Variety,” we found out who would be playing the main baddie in the film, and it’ll be none other than John “Malkovich” Malkovich.

Jane as Jonah is not to be

“Malkovich will play Turnbull, a wealthy Southern plantation owner whose son is killed by Union soldiers during the Civil War. He blames Hex, a former confederate soldier-turned-hardened bounty hunter and gunslinger.”

The film is slated for release sometime in 2010.

Malkovich can grate on the nerves a bit, but I feel it’s because of that he’s able to create such great villains. I  think his performance as Teddy KGB in the underrated Rounders is one of his best. A scene:

Samuel L. Jackson proclaims to be a workaholic, and that may very well be true. It’s one of the major reasons he ended up on our 20 Actors Who Need To Call It A Career list. Woody Allen would never make it on such a list as long as I have a say, but the man is a machine. He’s consistently churned out at least one move per year since 1982! As writer and director and sometimes star. I’m aware that this fervent pace has caused more than a few people to feel the quality of his films has dipped severely, but you’re allowed to miss every once in a while when you can bring a gem like Match Point to the table.

Allen is returning to London were he made the triumvirate of Match Point, Scoop and Cassandra’s Dream. “He’s going, going, back, back, to London, London.” This time, he’s bringing Anthony Hopkins (another worthy addition to our aforementioned “20 Actors” list and Josh Brolin along with him. Like every Woody Allen project, nothing is known about any plot details, nor even a title at this point. Just cast.

Thanks to “Variety” for the great news. Allen currently has Whatever Works with my writing-idol Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, wrapped up. No news as to when that will be released just yet, other than “sometime in 2009.”

I was turned on to Woody Allen in college and have been a huge fan of his since, so any news concerning an upcoming project of his is definitely welcome. Below is a scene from Play It Again, Sam, which he wrote and starred in, but did not direct. I think this catapulted him to prominence in my eyes:

Allen was also the subject of an episode of one my favorite TV shows, “Seinfeld.” “These pretzels are making me thirsty,” was instantly an iconic line.

As much as I like and respect Allen’s work ethic, and he does receive extra points for writing all his films, Alfred Hitchcock was the ultimate workaholic director. Hitch directed 1.13 movies per year over a 54-year career! That’s counting the latter span after his wife and closest collaborator had a stroke in which he directed only four films in 10 years. An absolute beast!