Trailer for the Charles Darwin biopic Creation, starring Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Toby Jones. [imdb]

Trailer and poster for The Time Traveler's Wife. [imdb]

Taylor Kitsch (Wolverine) and Lynn Collins (True Blood) have been cast as the leads in John Carter of Mars. Based on the adventure novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, it tells the story of John Carter (Kitsch), a Civil War veteran who inexplicably finds himself held prisoner on the planet Mars by the Green Men of Thark. Together with Dejah Thoris (Collins), the princess of another clan on Mars, the unlikely pair must fight for their freedom and save the entire planet from destruction as the life-sustaining Atmosphere Factory slowly grinds to a halt. Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) will direct the film for Disney. (THR) [imdb]

New clip from the new season of True Blood, debuting this Sunday and a look at the new teen drama The Vampire Diaries.

It's been cold and rainy nearly non-stop for three weeks now. I desperately need to buy a pairing of wellingtons but don't know where to find any. What is worse, I rarely have any luck buying shoes in Shanghai because stores don't carry my size and have to order in. 38/39 is not large!! I should be able to find shoes, dammit.

Keira Knightley takes a break from period films - she'll star in a film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker shortlisted novel Never Let Me Go. Time, which lists it as one of its All-Time 100 Novels, describes it as "an existential fable about people trying to wring some happiness out of life before the lights go out." I've seen the project being called "a sci-fi thriller" in places, but the last thing I want is for you to think it's going to be anything like that stinker The Island (or at least I hope it's not). Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) will direct the film, which will also star Andrew Garfield (Lions for Lambs) and Carey Mulligan (Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice). Alex Garland (Sunshine, 28 Days Later) wrote the screenplay. (Coming Soon)

Official website for Creation, starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin. [imdb]

New featurette for The Boat that Rocked, starring a bunch of awesome actors, and directed by Richard Curtis (Love Actually). [imdb]

Maria Bello, Abigail Breslin and Samuel L. Jackson will star in the indie drama Rape: A Love Story, based on Joyce Carol Oates novella. It centers on a mother (Bello) recovering from a brutal gang rape who is stalked by the perpetrators but is protected by a sympathetic cop (Jackson). Breslin will play the woman's 12-year-old daughter, who witnesses the attack. (Coming Soon) [imdb]

François Nars at the Marc Jacobs fall 2009 show. Note to self: must try it some time.

First pics of Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes, from Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. ( *spoilery comment* ) The cast also features Jude Law as Dr. Watson, Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, Kelly Reilly as Mary Morstan and Mark Strong as Blackwood. Watch the recent press conference in London with director and cast. [imdb]

Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin in Creation. Oh, Paul. What have you done to your hairline! (JustJared) [imdb]

Clips from the drama The Secret Life of Bees, based on the novel by Sue Monk Kidd. [imdb]

New trailer for Twilight. [imdb]

Full trailer for Edward Zwick's war drama Defiance, starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell. [imdb]

Two Baz Luhrmann directed ads for Oz Tourism. (Awards Daily)

Sarah Lyall talks with writer John le Carré about his new book, "A Most Wanted Man". (NYTimes)

HBO orders a second season of True Blood after only two episodes air. I'd heard this was coming but it's good to get an official confirmation. (THR)

The full trailer for Inkheart! (Alternative link on YouTube.) Adapted from the bestselling fantasy novel by German author Cornelia Funke, and starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, Eliza Hope Bennett, Sienna Guillory, and Rafi Gavron. Directed by Iain Softley (The Skeleton Key) [imdb]

Trailer for Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. [imdb]

As the heated debate between science and religion continues, 2009 is going to be 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species", and so far, two films about its author Charles Darwin are in production which will address both evolution and faith. Jon Amiel's Creation - based on "Annie's Box", a biography written by Darwin's great-great-grandson Randal Keynes - has Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly signed on to play Darwin and his devoutly religious wife. A rival project, Mrs. Darwin, stars Joseph Fiennes and Rosamund Pike, and will look at the strains that the naturalist's theories placed on his marriage from the wife's point of view. (Empire) [imdb]

Stills for Appaloosa, starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons and Renee Zellweger.

Photos of Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana doing re-shoots for The Time Traveler's Wife. (JustJared) [imdb]

Stephanie Chaves-Jacobson (Kendra Shaw in Razor) has been cast in The Sarah Connor Chronicles - presumably in a guest star or recurring role. ( *spoiler* ) One more totally fab female actor to join this totally fab show! Watching the latest episode, I had a "Yes! I love you!" moment when ( 2x02 spoiler ) (io9)

International trailer for the Noel Coward adaptation Easy Virtue, starring Jessica Biel as an American divorcee who travels to the South of France and marries a young Englishman (Ben Barnes) on the spur of the moment. The couple return to England to face his family, including his parents, played by Colin Firth and Kristin Scott Thomas. The word from Toronto is that it's great fun. [imdb]

Pictures of Ben Barnes on the set of his new film, Dorian Gray. Barnes plays the titular character, and the cast also includes Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, Ben Chaplin, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Emilia Fox, Fiona Shaw and Douglas Henshall. [imdb]

Casting confusion surrounding the Darwin biopic Creation - the one that Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly were thought to be signed up for, to play Charles Darwin and wife Emma. Word is that Rosamund Pike (Pride and Prejudice) and Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) has replaced them in the lead roles, with Pike saying that she has already started working on the project. Edit: Okay, Bettany and Connelly are still attached to Creation. According to Empire, Pike and Fiennes are working on another Darwin film (this is turning into another biopic glut), Mrs. Darwin.

David Anders (Alias), Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica), Preston Bailey (Rita's son Cody in Dexter) and Daniel Newman will star in a remake of Children of the Corn, a 2-hour telemovie for the Sci Fi Channel. (THR) [imdb]

Extended preview for The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, John Hamm, Kathy Bates and John Cleese. [imdb]

The Wire helmer David Simon and Tom Fontana (Homicide: Life on the Street) are looking to executive producer an HBO miniseries about the 12-day search for Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth. The project is an adaptation of James L. Swanson's book Manhunt. (Coming Soon)

Can any Americans explain to me what the connection is between the GOP and elephants?

Coolest casting ever: Paul Bettany, who was the Darwin-esque surgeon and naturalist Stephen Maturin in Master and Commander, will portray the most famous naturalist of all in Creation, a film about Charles Darwin and his deeply religious wife Emma, played by Bettany's real-life spouse Jennifer Connelly. Also joining the cast are Jeremy Northam (The Tudors), Toby Jones (The Painted Veil) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Atonement). The key role of daughter Annie Darwin, whose death during childhood would influence the great scientist's thinking about the natural world, will be announced soon.

John Collee (Master and Commander, Happy Feet) wrote the script based on a book by Darwin's great-great-grandson, British conservationalist Randal Keynes. (Trivia: he is also the father of Skandar Keynes, star of the Narnia films, and the great nephew of economist John Maynard Keynes.) John Amiel (Entrapment, Sommersby) will direct. (THR) [Guardian review of "Annie's Box"]

Denzel Washington will star in the sci-fi western The Book of Eli, directed by Allen and Albert Hughes (From Hell).

'Washington will portray a lone hero in a not-too-distant apocalyptic future who must fight across America to bring society the knowledge that could be the key to its redemption.'

Sounds like part-The Road, part-A Canticle for Leibowitz. Newcomer Gary Whitta wrote the script. (THR)

Appaloosa character banners - scroll down to see the rest. *sighs at Jeremy Iron's profile* You can watch the trailer here and at the official site. Directed by Ed Harris, and starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons, Renee Zellweger, and more chiselled jaws than you can shake a fist at. [imdb]

The official site for Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom is really neat. Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody star as brothers and con artists, who are out to swindle a beautiful and eccentric heiress (Rachel Weisz), with the help of a demolition expert (Babel's Rinko Kikuchi) and a shifty Belgian (Robbie Coltrane, who may or may not be playing the same character that he portrayed in Ocean's Twelve). [imdb]

Zuleika Robinson (Rome, New Amsterdam) joins the cast of Lost in a recurring role, with the option to become a regular in season 6. (EW)

And the new Sarah Connor Chronicles trailer. The show returns next Monday.