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News Bites: Wednesday, Jan 21st 2004

By Garth Franklin Wednesday January 21st 2004 05:40PM

Gossip Girl: "Warner Bros. has won a bidding battle for the bestselling novel series with the studio setting "Freaky Friday" star Lindsay Lohan to play the title character and "Gilmore Girls" creator Amy Sherman-Palladino to write the script. The Cecily von Ziegesar novel is about a rivalry among a group of ultra-rich girls on Manhattan's Upper East Side..." (more info). Meet the Fockers: Dustin Hoffman has been cast as Ben Stiller's father in Universal Pictures' "Meet the Fockers". The sequel sees Greg Focker (Stiller) and his fiancee, Pam Byrnes (Polo), thinking everything is hunky-dory now that Greg has won over his soon-to-be in-laws, Jack (De Niro) and Dina Byrnes (Danner). But that's before Pam's parents meet Greg's parents, the Fockers. The hyper-relaxed Fockers and the tightly wound Byrneses are mismatched from the start..." (more info). Mr. & Mrs. Smith: "Adam Brody is breaking out of "The O.C.", having landed a supporting role in the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie starrer for helmer Doug Liman and Regency Enterprises. Brody will play Hector, a character who gets kidnapped early in the film only to show up later in a surprising turn..." (more info). Shadowboxer: ""Monster's Ball" producer Lee Daniels will make his directorial debut on the indie gangster project. He's making deals for his ensemble cast and has already lined up Wes Bentley for a starring role in the film. Shooting is scheduled to start April 1 in Philadelphia ..." (more info). The Manny: " Paramount Pictures has decided to hire "The Manny," setting up the comedy at the Guy Walks Into a Bar production shingle, with David Berenbaum ("Elf") penning the script. "The Manny" centers on a young boy who's mastered the art of ridding himself of nanny supervision through myriad devilish schemes. He meets his match when a well-intentioned and seemingly disaster proof male nanny proves harder to get rid of than any he has had before..." (more info). DVD News: Information is out on disc releases for Elephant, Hope Springs, The Running Man & Veronica Guerin. Cover art for "The Running Man", "Honey", "Shattered Glass", "Pink Panther Box Set" and more are up at DavisDVD.

Everybody Loves Raymond (TV): E! News reports that CBS is trying to convince Ray Romano to come back for another season of Everybody Loves Raymond. After eight seasons, Ray believes the show has run its course, whereas the supporting cast would love to come back another year.

Smallville: The first photo from the upcoming second Christopher Reeve episode is online at KryptonSite and show's Clark's new haircut. TV News: UPN is prepping a reality series about Amish teenagers (details), Alyson Hannigan is a lock to star in an NBC pilot (details), (details), (details). Wicker Park: Coming Soon reports that the Josh Hartnett drama about a guy whose girlfrioend disappears and reappears a few years later will open on September 3rd. Thanks to 'MJR', 'Marcus', 'Patrick', 'KarlChilders' & 'JHBlade'

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