I mentioned in a post back on Feb. 29 that movies released on Leap Day are exceedingly rare. Surely you remember that post, and the glaring error I made in it, as though it were yesterday. But even rarer than movies released on Leap Day are movies about Leap Day. Why have the cinematic properties of Feb. 29, an extra day that occurs just once every four years, so far mostly eluded the magic-makers in Hollywood?

That oversight is about to be remedied with Leap Year, a romantic comedy that The Hollywood Reporter says is probably going to star Amy Adams (Enchanted). She would play an uptight woman who goes to Dublin on Feb. 29 to take advantage of an Irish custom dictating that if a woman proposes marriage to her boyfriend on that day, he is obligated to say yes. (What the hell kind of operation are they running over there? I don't think that would hold up in a court of law.) But -- get this! -- shenanigans and tomfoolery delay her, and a surly innkeeper has to help her get across the country in time to make her proposal! One suspects that hijinks and merriment are also involved, though The Hollywood Reporter is unclear on that aspect.

I don't like to judge a movie before I've seen it, or before it's finished, or before they've even started filming it, but I'll go on the record now: Wow, this sounds awful. Casting the exuberant, lighthearted Adams as an uptight woman in a generic-sounding rom-com is wrong to begin with, and the screenplay is by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont -- the duo behind the paralyzingly bad Made of Honor.

Despite the heavy hints in Iron Man that Jim Rhodes, best friend to Tony Stark, would come to play War Machine in a future film, it won't be Terrence Howard reprising his role as Rhodes in the forthcoming sequel, but rather Don Cheadle. According to the Hollywood Reporter, there hasn't been a formal announcement by Marvel Studios about it, but the casting swap appears to have come as a result of money matters (natch).

Returning still are stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, in addition to director Jon Favreau, as Justin Theroux, fresh off the success of Tropic Thunder, currently tinkers away at the script. Last month, amidst the press blitz for the Iron Man DVD, Favreau confessed to wanting to incorporate both 3-D and IMAX technology in the making of the sequel (to which the world collectively replied "[BLEEP] yeah!").

Alas, it remains for the Paramount/Marvel number-crunchers to determine in which format exactly we'll see Downey Jr. and Cheadle team up come the summer of 2010.

From one sexy role to another: Carla Gugino will soon (hopefully) be on the big screen as Sally Jupiter, hero and pin-up girl of Watchmen, and now she's taking on another seductive role. Variety reports the gal will be the last point in the romantic love triangle called Every Day, which got cooking earlier this month. Liev Schreiber plays a guy who writes for a "semi-pornographic TV show" (that wasn't in the earlier news release!) that gets propositioned by his colleague (Gugino). But the man already has wife Helen Hunt at home, and this "strains his marriage to the breaking point." Could you resist if Gugino was tempting you?

Meanwhile, we've got Rachael Harris, who stood her own against mockumentary heavyweights in For Your Consideration (she played Mary Pat Hooligan, the actress who played the lesbian coming out to her family in Home for Purim). Variety reports that she's going to nurse Todd Phillips' The Hangover with the likes of Bradley Cooper, Heather Graham, and more. Graham is already playing a Vegas local, so maybe Harris will play the bride who might get left at the altar. But the actress isn't all laughs -- one of her upcoming films is The Soloist.

Lastly, we've got a cute, Korean hip-hop dancer on the way -- Som Dam-bi has signed onto Hype Nation. But this isn't just a tale of dancing: "An American dance crew goes head to head with a crew from South Korea," one that mixes hip-hop moves with at least one gun-toter. Oooh, it's like You've Been Served International!

So you might be wondering what a picture of Eric Bana swigging a beer in a Hulk t-shirt has to do with the remake of a French thriller. Well, the answer I'm afraid is nothing, its just one of my favorite pictures of the Aussie actor -- but back to the business at hand. Variety reports that Millennium Films is currently in talks with Bana to star in their remake of the French thriller, Le Convoyeur (now titled, Armored).

The original film was written and directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, but Millennium have their eye on F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job) to take over the remake. The script was also given a re-working by David Ayer (Training Day) and Andrew Kevin Walker. The story centers on a man (presumably to be played by Bana) working for an armored car company who manages to ingratiate himself into a heist planned by his co-workers. But as it turns out, our protagonist has his own motives for weaseling his way into this band of lowlifes.

Bana had originally been set to star in the flick before dropping the project to play Nero in J.J. Abram's Star Trek reboot. So what could have changed his mind? According to Variety, Bana "has a deal negotiated down to what sources described as a $7.5 million paycheck." Not bad for a guy who has yet to really break out as a leading man.

Bana's schedule would appear to be packed for the foreseeable future, including promoting Trek and the romantic weepy, *The Astronaut's Wife. Not to mention he will be making his directing debut with the documentary, Love the Beast, later this year. Armored is scheduled to start production on April 1st, so Millennium is going to have to work fast if they want to convince Bana to sign on -- I personally can think of 7.5 million reasons to sign on the dotted line.

*Correction: Bana will star opposite Rachel McAdams in The Time Traveler's Wife.

She may have been Lost, but it looks like the redheaded Rebecca Mader has found a path and a sexy on-screen husband. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Mader is in final negotiations to play the lead female role in the super-wacky sounding Men Who Stare at Goats. That means she gets to play wife to Ewan McGregor's Bob Wilton -- a reporter in Iraq who meets a man (George Clooney) who says he's a "former secret U.S. military psychic soldier who was reactivated after 9/11." The plot is so very strange, and most likely destined to be awesome. But that's not all -- the film is also getting Stephen Lang, fresh off Avatar and Public Enemies.

In the what-if area of cinematic news: With a Ghostbusters sequel on the way, Bill Murray told MTV that he thinks a woman should be in on the action. That's not a bad idea at all, so the big question is: What funny woman out there can bring on the laughs AND kick ghostly ass? (Editor's interjection: Jenna Fischer.)

Meanwhile, the Fame cast has now come together, according to THR. Unlike star Thomas Dekker, who has made a name for himself through Terminators and Heroes, this is a big cast of unknowns -- Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Walter Perez and Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. You can hit the link to find out who they're going to play, and in the meantime, wonder who Debbie Allen will be this time around. Rumor has it that she'll pop up in the film, but not as Lydia.

And Danny Glover is getting rusty. THR posts that he's headed to the future and lending his voice to Agent Crush, which you can learn all about at the film's website. He'll be Major Rusty Gibbons. And finally, a last bit of little fluff: Jude Law is growing his 'stache in preparation for Sherlock Holmes!

I predict that the news you are about to read will result in many people shocked, shocked! that someone would make a comedy about cancer. Even The Hollywood Reporter sounds a little uncertain about the news. But once you read the film's plot, I think you're going to see exactly what kind of movie this is.

Mandate Pictures has bought I'm With Cancer, an autobiographical comedy by Will Reiser. Seth Rogen, the busiest man in Hollywood, is set to costar and produce the film alongside his writing-producing partner Evan Goldberg and The Daily Show's Ben Karlin.

Reiser's script is based on his own battle with cancer, and is centered around an up-and-coming 25-year-old who discovers he has the disease. I think you know where this is going. This isn't going to be some spoof of serious illness, or run with the idea that coming down with cancer is funny. Cancer is going to be about a young man trying to deal with something that could kill him, finding the humor in hospital situations, and using it to stay sane. Laughter is the best medicine, and all that. Given that Reiser obviously conquered his disease to co-produce this movie, I bet it will even have a happy ending. You know what I'm also willing to bet on? Medicinal marijuana jokes. If there isn't at least one, I will eat this post.

News like this is what I wait for when writing about movie news -- announcements that merge so many good things that you can't help but get the tingle of excitement. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Julie Taymor is taking on William Shakespeare yet again, and with one starry-eyed and stellar cast. Strike that ... THE stellar cast.

This time around, we get The Tempest, but with a spin -- there's a bit of gender bending. Prospero, the deposed Duke of Milan who became a sorcerer, is getting a sex change so that Helen Mirren can play the part. The lovely Mirren will be joined by Jeremy Irons, who will play Prospera's brother Alonso, Djimon Hounsou, who will tackle Caliban, Russell Brand as the jester Trinculo, Alfred Molina, who will be the drunken Stephano, Ben Wishaw as the spirit Ariel, and Felicity Jones as Prospera's daughter, Miranda. Oh, but that's not all -- Geoffrey Rush is in negotiations to play Prospera's ol' ally and adviser, Gonzalo. Since things are being changed up a bit, here's how THR describes it: "Shakespeare's play mixes romance with fraternal politics and the supernatural. As revised for the screen, it will center around Prospera, her daughter Miranda (Jones) and a shipwrecked crew full of Prospera's enemies."

After seeing Taymor's Titus, I never dreamed another Shakespeare adaptation could compare, until now. I say this having seen every single one of Will's plays performed at least once, and thinking that Patrick Stewart's Prospero was practically untouchable. But now, with this cast? I'm in love.

But still, Taymor is changing things up, so sound off below: Taymor, gender-bending, and The Tempest -- yay or nay?

I've been burned by Jonah Hex rumors before, so this time I'm going to tread carefully ... very carefully. Hollywood Elsewhere reports they have reliable information that Josh Brolin (W.) has signed to star in WB's feature film version of DC Comics' Jonah Hex. According to Wells' "friend", it's a done deal -- but a top secret one. So in spite of protestations to the contrary from both Warner Bros. and Brolin's reps, Elsewhere believes they have the real dirt on the comic book adaptation

Hex was created by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, and it centers on a disfigured bounty hunter who wanders the plains in a tattered confederate uniform. Hex had a rotating cast of villains, and the series was known for its rough-and-tumble plot lines and copious amounts of gore. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank) have already been hired to write and direct the flick, and not much is known about the story other than the fact that Jonah's "quest in the film is tracking down a voodoo practitioner." According to Elsewhere, there will be plenty of CGI and sci-fi overtones, and even though the earlier incarnations of Hex were strictly in the setting of the Wild West, as the series carried on Hex came up against plenty of supernatural bad guys – making the fantasy element of the flick not as far out as you may think.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if Brolin is really donning the six-shooters for Hex, or whether we'll just have to settle for the actor playing a different 'cowboy with a bad reputation'. So what do you think? Is Brolin a good match for Hex on the big screen? Sound off below....

Gerard Butler's RocknRolla week has gone rather sour, poor lad. (And I do mean that.) But maybe he can keep cheerful at the idea that Law Abiding Citizen is finally moving forward again. If you remember, this is the first film Butler will be producing under his Evil Twins shingle, and he snagged Frank Darabont for the director's chair.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Butler has snagged himself a pretty big costar: Jamie Foxx. Butler will play a successful assistant D.A., who finds himself in the middle of a vigilante plot hatched by Foxx, who has been screwed over by the legal system and discovers that one of the men responsible for killing his wife and daughter is about to be set free. All who participated in the deal and the killings are fair game for his revenge. It's going to be a lot of fun watching Butler and Foxx square off.

Possibly better than Foxx's casting is that they seem to be keeping the original plot. When Darabont became attached to the film, the press release suggested that the story was revamped to center around a criminal mastermind rather than vigilante justice. Who wants to see a Hannibal Lecter knockoff over a Harvey Dent clone? Not I, I like my moral ambiguity and Batman style justice. No word on when this starts shooting, but let's hope it's soon. I think Butler could use some good news -- and a safer outlet for his own vigilante justice.

Last month, Elisabeth shared some concept art for the upcoming Green Lantern movie, and she mentioned the possibility of it being on par with Iron Man. For that to happen, there would have to be a pretty dynamic star in the driver's seat. So how about Ryan Gosling?

A Latino Review source at Warner Brothers has said that the studio wants the Lars and the Real Girl actor to wear that glowing green ring. Now, the concept art I referenced might look a little bit beefy for the thin star, but Hal Jordan was modeled after Paul Newman, at least partially, so Gosling would be a pretty good match for that (should the green dude be Jordan). But even more importantly -- Gosling knows how to make the strange seem natural -- he made a heartfelt and funny film where he was in love with a flipping Real Doll. If he can do that, he can make the green look just as cool as RDJ made Iron Man, and give the same excellent depth to the portrayal.

It's also miles above Seth Green, Justin Long, and David Boreanaz. Agreed?