Hollywood Ink: Sean Penn Hitting the Books?

Also today in Hollywood Ink: Ryan Reynolds tells the truth... a David O. Russell rumor proves untrue (shocker!)... Sony shoves off on its Dragon Tattoo sequel... and more!

· Sean Penn is in talks to play Max Perkins in Genius, a biopic about the famed Scribner editor's relationships with authors like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe. John Logan wrote the screenplay and Bill Pohlad -- the current producer/financier behind River Road Entertainment and what remains of Apparition -- will direct. It would be Pohlad's first feature-directing credit in two decades. Which is probably the best part of the story: Did you know there was a 1990 film called Old Explorers, featuring José Ferrer and James Whitmore? Logline: "Two senior citizens while away the twilight of their lives recreating world explorations and adventures." Anyway, this may be happening. [THR]

· Because Ryan Reynolds doesn't have enough to do, he'll narrate The Whale, a documentary about a human-friendly, baby killer whale separated from his family near Vancouver. Not to be outdone, the actor's wife Scarlett Johansson is signing on as an executive producer. [Variety]

· Alas, David O. Russell has dropped out of the running to direct Sony's screen adaptation of the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. The move has thwarted any chances of the film arriving next year. This is probably one of those cases where you shrug, say "Everything happens for a reason," and move on to the next admiringly inspired speculation. [LAT]

· Meanwhile, Sony has started talks with screenwriter Steven Zaillian to adapt The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second book in author Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. [Deadline]

· Kurt Russell will play a football coach in Touchback, an indie drama about a down-on-his-luck farmer (played by Brian Presley) determining whether or not to return to the gridiron from which an injury cast him in his high-school glory years. Someone recruit Robin Williams and we can just make it a modulated, recession-era Best of Times sequel. [Variety]

· F. Gary Gray will next direct the thriller Hair of the Dog, about a man ensnared in a dangerous, far-reaching blackmail plot that threatens to destroy his family. [Variety]

· Congratulations to James L. Brooks and Annette Bening, who've been elected as AMPAS officers for the first time. President Tom Sherak was re-elected for a second one-year term as well. [THR]