Quick News – Crowe has a Death Wish, Pacino’s Despicable, Heigl murders Muppets, Jackie Brown Prequel

Word has trickled out from the Berlin Film Festival that “Avengers” co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson may reunite for director John Carney and Exclusive Media on the feel good romance, which Judd Apatow will executive produce.Says THR, “In the film, Johansson’s character moves to New York to pursue her dreams of a singing career. She finds herself all alone, however, when she’s dumped by her boyfriend. But her world turns around when a down-on-his-luck record producer (Ruffalo) finds her singing in a local bar.” “This is a beautiful and soulful story that we are honored to help John bring to life,” Exclusive head of production Tobin Armbrust said.

Frank Grillo, who stars in Joe Carnahan’s latest film “The Grey” and who, according to Carnahan, will have a role in the filmmaker’s recently-announced remake of the Charles Bronson classic, says Russell Crowe is in talks to play the lead role. Furthmore, Grillo says it’s not just the one character getting revenge this time – it’s two, they’ll be brothers. Grillo and Crowe would play the brothers. The actor said he believes the time is ripe for a remake of “Death Wish”. Those “[Bronson movies] were fun but when you go back and watch them they don’t really hold up very well, they were a product of their time,” he explained. “[Carnahan] wants to do something far more interesting.” (/Film)

The Oscar Winner is going to provide the voice of the villain in Dreamworks Animation’s “Despicable Me 2”.  Pacino steps in for Javier Bardem who was originally in talks to lend his lungs to the film’s rogue.  (Ace Showbiz)

Former “Men on a Certain Age” star Andre Braugher will star in Shawn Ryan’s (“The Shield”) new show about ”he crew of the U.S.S. Nevada, a nuclear submarine, who, after disobeying a suspicious order, become fugitives. They land on the island of Sainte Marina, where they take over the NATO Listening Station and declare themselves an independent nuclear nation. Braugher will play Capt. Marcus Chaplin, the commander of the U.S.S. Nevada, a veteran of real combat, a leader by nature and a patriot, but will not follow any man blindly.” (Deadline)

Michael Angarano (“The Forbidden Kingdom”) has snagged the lead role in the new Nick ‘The Muppets’ Stoller sitcom over at CBS. ”Stoller wrote and will direct the untitled project loosely based on his real-life experiences. It is a twentysomething ensemble comedy that centers on Jake (Angarano), a commitment phobic ad agency exec who, after breaking up with his girlfriend, realizes he has to continue working with her one cubicle away.” (Deadline)

Ingelsby’s penning a U.S remake of the Gareth Evans-directed martial arts extravaganza, for Screen Gems. (Deadline)

A newly-filed lawsuit claims producer Kevin Messick was shut out of the Tom Cruise blockbuster. According to Messick, he was supposed to share upfront renumeration and credit with Don Granger and Gary Levinsohn’s Mutual Film Co, but was unfairly booted from the project. (THR)

HBO’s award-winning drama series has secured the services of the “The Station Agent” star to play a new ruthless gangster that goes up against Steve Buscemi’s character, Nucky. (Broadway.com)

“Book of Mormon” star Josh Gad will star in “1600 Pen”, a new white house pilot. He will also executive producer and co-write the series, described as “a dysfunctional family comedy where the out-of-control oldest son (Gad) returns home and becomes not only it’s biggest liability but also the glue holding everyone together. The twist is that this family resides in the White House”.The young thesp is also onboard MGM’s “The Game” starring James Franco. (Deadline)

Though it’ll likely have it’s full season screened, NBC has demoted “The Firm” – the sequel to the Tom Cruise movie with Josh Lucas in the lead role – to Saturday nights. The move signals the end is near for the show. The network has slot the new Jason Isaacs drama “Awake” in the former’s Thursday 10pm slot. (Deadline)

Viola Davis (“The Help”) has joined the cast of the science-fiction blockbuster “Enders Game”, starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford, as well as “Beautiful Creatures”, a thriller about a couple of kids who are forced to confront a curse that’s haunted their family for generations. (Variety)

Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall will play old flames working together on a terrorism trial in the new untitled thriller from Focus Features and director Crowley. (Reuters)

“40 Year-Old Virgin” star Catherine Keener is joining Tom Hanks in the Somali pirate movie being directed by “Green Zone” helmer Paul Greengrass. Keener plays Hanks’s wife in the movie. (Variety)

John Hawkes (“Miami Vice”) and Mos Def (now known as Yaslin Bey) will play the characters Robert De Niro and Samuel L.Jackson played, respectively, in the film adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s “Switch”. In the movie, Louis Gara and Ordell Robbie team to kidnap the wife of a corrupt real estate developer. Dan Schechter writes and directs. (Variety)

The former “Grey’s Anatomy” star is in advanced negotiations to star in “The Happytime Murders”, about the puppet cast of an 1980s kids TV show getting murdered one by one and a disgraced detective-turned-private eye puppet who takes on the case. Brian Henson (“A Muppet Christmas Carol”) will direct. (Variety)

Universal will air a new tease of the Taylor Kitsch-starring Blockbuster on Sunday; Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello apparently scored the music specifically for the spot.

Frank Grillo (“The Grey”) will star in the Luc Besson produced actioner centering “on a rich and beautiful couple on their honeymoon in Morocco. After escaping a deadly multi-car pileup at a desert intersection, the group of survivors — including a wanted smuggler, an undercover cop, a kidnapper, a baby and an unconscious Australian — embark on a journey of deceit and revelation that culminates in a Tangiers souk.” The David Marconi directed pic has also signed Roschdy Zem; Marie-Josée Croze; and Charlie Bewley. (Deadline)

“Kiss the Girls” helmer Gary Fleder will direct the pilot for The CW’s “Beauty & The Beast”. Strangely enough, Fleder is also one of the producers on the ABC’s “Beauty & the Beast”. Thankfully, both shows are said to be completely different from one another – one is essentially a modern-day cop show, the other set in a fantasy world a’la “Once Upon A Time”. (Deadline)

Notorious (but fun) Ben Affleck flop “Reindeer Games” will be re-released on Blu-ray this month in ‘Director’s Cut’ form. The disc also includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, audio commentary with Frankenheimer and scenes cut from the original theatrical film.

Actors Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”), Jonah Hill (“21 Jump Street”) and Sara Paxton (“Shark Night 3D”) have all taken a photo of themselves with the Ecto-1 Ghostbusters car (assumingly on the Sony lot) and tweeted their respective photos. Does this mean they’re all onboard the long-in-development “Ghostbusters 3”? No, not at all… doesn’t stop one from speculating though.