Gerard Butler May Be The Bricklayer, and 5 Other Stories You'll Be Talking About Today

Also in this Tuesday edition of The Broadsheet: Brit Marling cashes in... Albert Brooks updates on the latest Judd Apatow movie... The Lincoln Lawyer heads to TV... and more ahead.

· Burning question pinging around Movieline HQ on Monday: If Gerard Butler had starred in Green Lantern and The Change-Up instead of Ryan Reynolds, would it have made a difference in box office? Ponder that while you consider this: Butler is attached to star in the Butler-y project The Bricklayer, an adaptation of the bestselling crime novel. Millenium Films will produce with Hanna Weg handling script duties; The Bricklayer centers on Steve Vail (Butler), "a former FBI agent, working as a Chicago bricklayer, whom the agency reaches out to help track down and combat the criminal gang." Sounds perfectly B-grade. [THR]

· It-Girl of the moment Brit Marling is in talks for her biggest role yet. The Another Earth starlet may join Shia LaBeouf and Robert Redford in the Redford-directed The Company You Keep. The political thriller follows a former militant (Redford) on the run from the FBI after being outed by a young reporter (LaBeouf). If signed, Marling would play the female lead; she's also set to co-star with Tim Roth and Susan Sarandon in Arbitrage, out in 2012. [Variety]

· If you couldn't get enough of the underrated Matthew McConaughey vehicle The Lincoln Lawyer, here's a bit of good news: ABC has ordered a script from Lionsgate for a television version of the property. Quick and related question: With NBC having cast Josh Lucas in its reboot of The Firm, and Patrick Wilson starring on the CBS fall series A Gifted Man, what McConaughey lookalike will ABC cast if this script becomes a series? Your input is welcome in the comments. [Variety]

· It looks like the untitled Judd Apatow follow-up to Knocked Up is going to be more like Funny People than you had hoped. At least, that's what co-star Albert Brooks tells the Los Angeles Times. "That's where Judd's going as he gets older, melding [drama and comedy]," Brooks said. "He's developing that [balance] more as more things happen to him; he's kicking that into his work. There are quite a few scenes where something very funny comes, and immediately there's a dramatic moment that's more 'Isn't that what life is?'" [LAT/24 Frames]

· Russell Brand has set up his own production company on the Warner Bros. lot called Branded Films. "We at the newly founded Branded Films are very excited to announce our new company and the opportunity for puns that it affords us. Russell Brand and Nik Linnen have coerced Beau Bauman into running our company. Our offices will be on the lot, our sincere hope is that we'll be in that water tower in which some of the Looney Tunes also live. For this we will expect a reduced rent. If you have any film ideas, send them to: Beau Bauman, the water tower, Warner Bros, Hollywood, America (care of E Fudd). We particularly welcome ideas that could feature a long-haired actor with an unintelligible accent (Rasputin/Tarzan/British Jesus). That's all folks." [Deadline]

· Today in random assemblages of C-list talent: Andy Dick has joined the cast of Freaky Deaky, opposite Crispin Glover, Christian Slater, Billy Burke and Michael Jai White. [Variety]