· Having coaxed more than $1.5 billion to date from its two Transformers trysts with Hasbro, DreamWorks has hopped into bed with Mattel for a movie based on its action-packed, 3-D View-Master toy. In a comment since removed from his Twitter feed, screenwriter Brad Caleb Kane likened the project to "the old '80s Amblin movies: Goonies, Young Sherlock ... in that vein," thus triggering a garage-sale gold rush around Hollywood for the next discarded children's activity and the 50-cent VHS tape that will influence its monumental big-screen adaptation. [THR]
Leonardo DiCaprio dares to make a film without Martin Scorsese, Paramount dares to make Baywatch a comedy, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· Accomplished commercial director Rupert Sanders is in negotiations to take over The Low Dweller, which Leonardo DiCaprio and Ridley Scott's companies are producing for Relativity Media. The story concerns an ex-con chased by a mysterious figure from his past; I'm not sure which board game or toy line this is based on, but surely Relativity will incorporate a lucrative Mr. Moneybags-chased-by-the-Monopoly-dog-after-getting-out-of-jail-free angle at some point along the development line. [THR]
· Is nothing sacred? Paramount has recruited writer-director Justin Garelick to bring TV's historically complex ensemble drama Baywatch to the big screen -- as a comedy. [Variety]
· Brad Garrett's little-known media empire continues to expand, adding the adult-oriented cartoon Dumb Bunny and Jackass to his producing repertoire for Sony Pictures TV. [THR
· Virginia Madsen has signed on to play the cruel, fortune-spending ex-wife of Kevin Spacey's disgraced title character in the indie dramedy Father of Invention. [Variety]
· Peter Krause will fulfill his career-long ambition of acting alongside Mary-Kate Olsen after joining the Beauty and the Beast updating Beastly, currently shooting in Montreal. [Variety]