1. Rob Cohen, director of the original Fast and the Furious (2001) and the most recent Mummy (2008), has signed on to direct Medieval, an action film that Cohen describes as “The Magnificent Seven in the Middle Ages.” When the studio bought the script three months ago, it was compared to The Dirty Dozen. This would not be Cohen’s first trip to the Middle Ages, since he also happened to direct the fantasy pic Dragonheart (1996). – Variety, Ain’t It Cool News
2. Ridley and Tony Scott are co-producing an eight-hour German-Canadian TV mini-series based on Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth; it will concern “the building of a cathedral in 12th-century England” and involve “war, religious strife and power struggles as well as two interwoven love stories.” Rufus Sewell, Ian McShane and Donald Sutherland are topping the cast. – Variety, Hollywood Reporter
3. Natalie Portman will play a “warrior princess” in Your Highness, the medieval comedy starring Pineapple Express co-stars Danny McBride and James Franco. – Variety
4. Photos have begun to surface from the set of Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. Meanwhile, it is said that Vanessa Redgrave, still grieving the recent death of her daughter Natasha Richardson, has left the film and handed her role – that of Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of King Richard and Prince John – over to Eileen Atkins. Atkins, for her part, has said she is “terrified” by this last-minute assignment because “they keep rewriting the script and changing my lines quite dramatically”. – Hey U Guys, WENN
