Screen Talk: Hot Timberlake

When you're hot, you're hot and when you're not, you're out of work. So runs the Hollywood truism. It's also true that it pays to make hay while the sun is shining if you're an actor.

Which is why Justin Timberlake, currently one of the actors du jour in Hollywood, has put his music career on hold to concentrate on silver-screen endeavours. Timberlake isn't signed on to star in any projects in the coming weeks, but he's still working hard behind the scenes. He is serving as music supervisor on Jessica Biel's Iron Ocean Films production, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, currently in pre-production. And he has signed to portray the legendary Casablanca Records' co-founder Neil Bogart in the Boardwalk Films biopic Spinning Gold, written by Bogart's son, Tim, sometime soon. Timberlake is also expected to star in Joel Silver's buddy cop film Fully Automatic. In June, Timberlake made headlines for taking a minority stake in the social networking site Myspace. After being acquired by online advertising network Specific Media, Myspace is expected to take on a new music-centric focus. Timberlake already has his Tennman imprint record label through Interscope, and has been busy promoting the Memphis hip-hop, rock and soul-infusion band Freesol.

Lovelace actually

Plans to mount a biopic about Linda Lovelace, the 1970s-era porn star best known for her performance in Deep Throat, are firming up. The casting columns are abuzz with the potential signing of Mamma Mia! star Amanda Seyfried (above centre) to play Lovelace in the film while Peter Sarsgaard is closing in on being tasked with a turn as her husband, Chuck Traynor. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman will direct the film, from a script by W Merritt Johnson and Andy Bellin. The script is based on The Complete Linda Lovelace, a biography by Eric Danville that was published in 2001, a year before the porn star died.

Gosling on the run

Warner Bros is showing serious intent for the long-talked about remake of Logan's Run. The studio has brought in Andrew Baldwin to refresh the remake script for the director Nicolas Winding Refn and star Ryan Gosling. Set in a utopian, post-apocalyptic society in which people must be put to death when they reach age 30 (21 in the 1967 novel by William F Nolan and George Clayton Johnson), the film, starring Michael York, was a hit in 1976 . In development for more than 10 years, the long-planned remake has previously landed on the desk of film-makers including Bryan Singer (X-Men) and James McTiegue (V for Vendetta). Refn and Gosling, who worked together on Drive, came aboard the project earlier this year. Alex Garland (28 Days Later) delivered a script, and Will Beall (Gangster Squad) has also contributed to it.

Mob story

Noomi Rapace (above right), who appeared on Hollywood radars after portraying Lisbeth Salander in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is ramping up the roles in US projects. Rapace is teaming with Colin Farrell for a Mob drama to be directed by Niels Arden Oplev. J H Wyman, a writer-exec producer on Fox's sci-fi series Fringe, wrote the script. It is billed as a revenge tale, featuring a mobster's hitman (Farrell) and a disfigured former beauty (Rapace), who embark on a violent spree.

Stock is high

Stock-car racing is not regularly shunted on to the big screen. But Over the Wall, a racing thriller written by Steven Christopher, who will make his directorial debut with the project, is slipping into gear. Melissa Leo and Hayden Panettiere most recently parked themselves in the project, which will also star Nick Stahl and Freddy Rodriguez. Wall is a love story set in the world of stock-car racing and follows a husband, wife, surrogate mother and best friend dealing with a tragic event.