· Perhaps realizing that a vacation from mega-budget overexposure might be in order, Will Ferrell will downsize both on- and off-screen in the $10 million indie Everything Must Go. Based on a Raymond Carver short story, the film will star Ferrell as a man whose wife locks him and his belongings out of their house. The ensuing sale of the items unfolds over four days of bittersweet life lessons, concluding with a curmudgeonly grandfather-type negotiating Ferrell down to 50 cents for a signed Land of the Lost script. [Variety]
A Vampire Diaries star clings to what he knows, M. Night Shyamalan outsources a new leading man, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· Genre has treated Ian Somerhalder well so far on Vampire Diaries, and he'll attempt to keep the streak alive with the "romantic gothic fairy tale" Cradlewood. Somerhalder will play the heir to a wealthy Australian widow whose fortune comes with a rumored curse: When a son is born to the family, the father must die. So what's the problem? Inherit the money, spend a few hundred bucks of it to get fixed, live happily ever after. What did I miss? [THR]
· The first installment of M. Night Shyamalan's Night Chronicles -- a/k/a Three Cheap-Ass Films Manoj Can't Be Bothered to Direct But Might as Well Produce to Look Busy -- gets underway later this month in Toronto, with Chris Messina taking the lead role in Devil. [Variety]
· Roadside Attractions continues to be one of the few indie outlets spending any money, acquiring Alexis Bledel's Tribeca Film Fest alum/romantic mismatch dramedy The Good Guy for release next spring. [THR]
· And finally, some stories need no elaboration: "Chickflicks Prods. has optioned the film rights to Lisa Fineberg Cook's forthcoming memoir, Japan Took the J.A.P. Out of Me." [THR]