Bad Santa Could Become a Trilogy, and 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Also in this Friday edition of The Broadsheet: Akira finds a director... Jennifer Love Hewitt will head to Jewtopia... Ethan Hawke gets scary... and more ahead.

· The Hollywood gods really want you to see more Bad Santa. The Los Angeles Times reports that Dimension Films has commissioned two separate screenplays for a Bad Santa sequel, with eyes on picking the best one; if both are great, however, they could be turned into a second and third film. Why not? Johnny Rosenthal and John Phillips will do the independent honors, and though none of the original Bad Santa crew is signed up, Billy Bob Thornton has expressed interest in returning to the character. [LAT/24 Frames]

· Warner Bros. has hired Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra to direct Akira. The already controversial adaptation will be done on a radically lowered $90 million budget. Pfft! Might as well call this one an indie! [Variety]

· LAFF premiere Bernie has been acquired by Millennium Films. With luck, the Richard Linklater-directed film will hit theaters later this year. [Deadline]

· Ethan Hawke is getting into the low budget horror business. The actor will star in an untitled thriller from Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum. [THR]

· Movieline heroine Ari Graynor will co-star with Lauren Miller (Seth Rogen's fiancé) in For a Good Time, Call..., an indie comedy about two girls who start a phone sex line. [THR/Risky Business]

· This is real: Jennifer Love Hewitt will star in the film adaptation of the hit off-Broadway play Jewtopia. The romcom is about a man (Ivan Sergei) who pretends to be Jewish to land a girlfriend (Hewitt). [Variety]