Though there’s currently no plans for a Colin Powell biopic, the studio is expecting Wright to appear as the former four-star General in other political dramas about real-life figures.

“Ultimately, the idea is to build a cohesive universe,” said a studio rep. “We believe that by linking these stories together, the audience would be able to see a bigger world than what we just show on screen. It’s as if these characters live in an actual, fully realized world of their own.”

Right now, Lionsgate is prepping Vice, a biopic of former Vice President Dick Cheney starring Richard Dreyfuss, reprising his W. role. The film tracks Cheney’s accomplishments, from his 1978 heart attack to his recent back injury. Powell will briefly appear as his intellectual adversary in the film.

Other proposed films where Wright’s Powell might appear in include biopics of Barack Obama, Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton; a mockumentary about the My Lai Massacre; and 50 Pounds, the story of John McCain’s POW experience.

Things aren’t looking too hot on the set of 20th Century Fox’s Garfield re-do. The new movie, titled simply Garfield, is an attempt at a more realistic adaptation of Jim Davis’ popular comic strip. Started in 1978, the Garfield strip already spawned two top-earning movies, but failed to win the majority of critics. With the reboot, Fox is looking to appeal to the core fanbase.

The decision is reflected on the project’s leading man Christian Bale. The brooding thesp plays Garfield’s simpleton owner Jon Arbuckle, and many on the production say he’s taking the role a bit too seriously.

In preparation for the film, Bale read every single Garfield strip ever produced and left his family for a month to live alone with a cat and a dog. His neighbors have occasionally heard obscenities yelled during the day and loud weeping at night.

“He brought this amazingly dark intensity with him,” said co-star Melissa Joan Hart. “…I’m not sure why.”

Bale, known for his intense dedication to his roles, was repeatedly told by the studio that they are making a family film, but he maintained that the audience wants to see Garfield done right. The creative difference led to numerous clashes on and off the set.

Bale was the source of a scuffle last week that halted production for an entire afternoon, when he got into a fight with lead puppeteer Dan Shanley, the man behind the Garfield puppet. During a particularly demanding scene—an intense and faintly violent argument about leftovers between Arbuckle and Garfield—Shanley accidentally reared the top of his head from under the table, causing Bale to go on a vulgar tirade. Many on set heard him call Shanley a “puppet pedo” and “Al Qaeda’s Jim Henson.”

“He kept telling Mr. Shanley to make Garfield apologize, then he’d slap the puppet off his hands,” said one P.A. “He did this for twenty minutes straight, never got tired of it. It was kind of disturbing.”

Funnyman Bill Murray voiced the computer-generated Garfield in the first two movies, though the reboot would implement a combination of live cat performers and puppetry, a clause Bale fought to have written on his contract.

“We’re not going to bullshit anybody with special effects and gags and all those things the previous films did pretty well, for what they are,” Bale told Access Hollywood enthusiastically last month. “We’re exploring this insanity of Garfield’s world from a sharp turn. It has to be about the characters. You know, like Batman Begins. If you read the original Garfield strips, the way Jim Davis originally created them—like that one with Jon not knowing what the capital of North Dakota is—or in the Garfield Minus Garfield book by Dan Walsh, there’s just that pathetic misanthropic quality to Jon Arbuckle that’s absolutely raw and emotional at the same time. He’s a great character for an actor to sink into, you know, like Batman, and Jon Arbuckle’s never been done the way I think he deserves to be done.”

“Obviously, we’re very happy to have Christian on board with us,” producer John Davis told us over the phone, audibly sighing. “He’s an artist. He takes all this very seriously. We all know that he’s going to bring something really special to the movie. It’s just… We’d rather if he didn’t.”

Asked why the production didn’t just move on with another actor when it looked like Bale was becoming difficult to work with, Davis’ lips quivered, mumbling under his breath, “You do it.”

“I suppose you can see the strips as a funny comic,” said Bale. “But we’re reinventing the mythology. You know, like Batman. We want to stay faithful to Davis’ vision, but it can’t be too comic strip-y. It has to be believable and compelling. I think we’ve found that perfect balance that I can be really proud of.”

The film is being directed by B.B. Tunney, who helmed the hit Sundance dramedy Jonah Barbiddum’s 99 Singing Pills. Screenplay is by Pink Panther 2 duo Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, with rewrites by Jonathan Nolan.

Slumdog Millionaire

The new show, titled Slumdog Idol, takes the singing competition to the slums of Mumbai, looking for a young hopeful who can sing his or her way out of the poorhouse.

Auditions are already being scheduled for this May, with an expected turnout in the tens of thousands due to promise of free meals.

Notorious American Idol judge Simon Cowell is expected to be a judge at least for its first year, with the other two unnamed judges still in negotiation stages. Concerns are high, however, that Cowell’s infamous insults might be too much for the poverty-stricken contestants. Social activist Abbie von Horton has formed a movement in Mumbai to protest the new show.

“You know that this big American network is just going to come in here and demolish the precious souls of the Indian slumdogs,” says von Horton, a 26-year-old East Asian Studies major from Princeton who is on her third “spiritual voyage” to India.

“Who are we to just let Simon Cowell insult these slumdogs like that?” she adds. “So what if some of them don’t know how to sing? They’re poor and uneducated and they don’t know anything about good music. It’s what makes them authentic slumdogs. That’s what makes them proud Indians. It’s just typical disgusting American culture to invade and ruin everything that’s pure.”

Von Horton’s father is a major shareholder at Fox, but denies that the protest is her way of lashing out at her conservative and totally close-minded parents.

The real question remains: is America ready for an idol who’s not at all American? The producers seem to think so.

“Look at Sanjaya’s popularity, and you’ll see that America is an extremely advanced country,” says Idol creator Simon Fuller. “Now look at the popularity of Slumdog Millionaire. Quite obvious to me, really, that America–the whole world, really–wants to see that inspirational story. It’s very fit to be poor and Indian right now, I can tell you that much!”

Asked to comment, Slumdog director Danny Boyle replied with multiple frowns.

In a recent interview, director Sam Raimi revealed that he’s a fan of Morbius, a vampire baddie from the comics, sparking speculations that the fourth film would use him as the main villain. Obama, a longtime Spider-Man fan, hated the idea.

“Let’s be honest, Morbius is kind of a lame choice,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs during a press briefing Thursday morning. “The President is doing everything in his power to make sure we don’t have another lame Spider-Man movie.”

It’s no secret that the President was very unhappy with the way Spider-Man 3 turned out in 2007, making it one of his campaign promises to fix the situation.

“We all saw what happened in the past couple of years if we sit idly by,” Obama said last April. “We all saw Sony take the easy road with the third film. We all saw how the intemperance of Hollywood producers to chase a fleeting glory in that one opening weekend left the rest of us in a storming dust of shame. I remember Derek McHayden, from Wichita, Kansas, telling me how disappointed he was with the treatment of Venom. I agreed with him. Topher Grace? I ask you now, can we not do better? I remember Susan Halisburg, from Corvallis, Oregon, asking me why they flubbed Gwen Stacy so badly, and I remember how moved I was by her concern. I have a question myself: who do we hold responsible for Harry Osborn’s flying snowboard?”

“No more. No more will we treat our heroes with indignity and emoness. We need change, and that change starts with Spider-Man 4,” the President added, to scattered and puzzled applause.

Under the new order, Sony Pictures and Sam Raimi will have to obtain government approval in the choosing of the next film’s villain. The President has reportedly given his Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel a list of possible supervillains that he likes. Emanuel’s favorite, one White House source says, is an original villain Obama had created during his time in the Senate, called simply The Elephant—a supervillain so wealthy he forgets he has seven secret lairs.

The order also clearly states that under no circumstances would further movies be allowed to introduce retcons. That would prevent another twist such as the revelation of Sandman as Uncle Ben’s killer, which was said to have left Obama “fuming” after he saw the film.

Sam Raimi is unavailable for comment, but a Sony rep says they are working hard to make sure they put out a new Spider-Man movie the President can be proud of.

Two people close to the Academy Award nominee tell us that his entire career has been one long elaborate hoax, which Phoenix started in fifth grade. “He told me about it during Mr. Gillman’s Biology class,” one childhood friend says. “He said, ‘I’m gonna pretend to be a good actor. I’m going to get nominated for all these Oscars and then I’ll do something crazy like retire and become a rapper. The media will flip!’ He was always the artist, always cooking up these insane schemes to hold a mirror up to society, you know?”

Despite many already calling it Phoenix’s best performance yet, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is reportedly trying to see if they can retract his two Oscar noms.

“If this is true, then it’s an absolute disgrace to the acting profession,” says Academy prez Sid Ganis. “For him to just go around pretending he’s somebody he’s not and then taking credit for it… It’s unforgivable.”

Some Hollywood insiders, however, believe that the hoax itself is a hoax.

“It’s not a hoax. That’s the hoax,” says one big-name scribe who asked to remain anonymous. “What people fail to realize is that Joaquin doesn’t have a real personality. Every few years, he reinvents himself, a necessity when you’ve achieved his level of super-sanity. That’s why sometimes he’s a brilliant actor, and others a terrible rapper.”

Phoenix himself remains tight-lipped about the accusation, though many believe it’s likely due to his commitment to the role.

“He’s very smart, very determined. If Joaquin Phoenix, the actor, is really a hoax, then I don’t think we’ll see Joaquin Phoenix, the man, dropping it any time soon,” his agent says.

Smith reported the call to authorities immediately after his 10-year-old son informed him of the “angry man” in their home answering machine, threatening to harm and kill Smith if he doesn’t stay away from the upcoming big screen version of The A-Team, to be directed by Narc helmer Joe Carnahan.

Police have confiscated the  tape in question, which is said to have contained disturbing remarks such as “I’m gonna torture you. I’m gonna crucify you. Real bad,” and promises of “teaching fools some basic rules.” They have yet to identify the voice on the tape, but a source within the LAPD claims that they are certain it was Tureaud, given the rhyming nature of the threats and the abundant use of the word “fool.”

Smith has not been linked to The A-Team project referred to in the message, but police are not ruling it out as motive.

“Mr. Smith is an internationally beloved superstar and one of the greatest actors of his time,” Police Chief Alan Redrick says. “It’s possible that Mr. Tureaud, or Mr. T as he prefers to be called, jumped to conclusions and assumed the A-Team producers are casting Mr. Smith as B.A. Barracus, a role Mr. T is very attached to. After all, Mr. Smith did replace Robert Conrad in the Wild Wild West movie, so anything goes. Also, he’s black.”

Mr. T’s lawyers are pursuing for his immediate release, challenging the LAPD to either produce hard evidence or stop their jibba-jabba.

A notable upgrade in Rourke’s sudden return to the A-list pool is the confirmation that he will be provided with food on the film set.

“It wasn’t a hard decision to make at all [to grant him food],” said Marvel’s Avi Arad. “We believe that an actor with Mickey’s talent is entitled to our very best treatment. We are very happy to give him food or drinks or whatever else he needs to stay healthy. It’s going to be a better movie because of it.”

Previously, Rourke had to buy his own lunch during shoots and was said to have kept to a strict diet of Taco Bell’s 89 cent wraps. The practice became well known when it was linked to a lawsuit filed by an on-set security guard against Rourke after the thesp allegedly “attacked” the crafts table. The details of the incident are kept under wraps as part of an out-of-court settlement.

“That was the old Mickey Rourke,” his agent David Unger said. “Read the trades. He’s been resurrected. I’ve always believed in him and [the rest of Hollywood] are finally starting to. This is just the first step. We’re going to make sure that he gets wardrobe, too.”

Rourke is unavailable for comment, but sources close to his publicist say that he’s “very happy” of his new perks.