In today's Callbacks -- your daily roundup of casting news from Deal Central -- Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro prepare for a battle of the exes, Greg Mottola signs on to adapt Paramount's "Important Artifacts," Pam Grier joins Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in the drama "Larry Crowne" and George R.R. Martin's "The Skin Trade" gets a step closer to the bigscreen.
• Cameron Diaz and Benicio Del Toro are attached to play a bickering couple in Fox's romantic comedy "An Ex to Grind," based on the book by Jane Heller, reports http://www.deadline.com/2010/04/cameron-diaz-benicio-del-toro-have-an-ex-to-grind-in-20th-century-fox-book-deal">Deadline.
Del Toro will play a former star athlete whose career is cut short by injury. He used to support his waitress wife but now she's the one bringing home the bacon as a successful businesswoman. When she decides to file for divorce, she's horrified to learn that she'll have to pay alimony to her drunken couch potato husband unless she can find him a new wife. Once she succeeds, her replacement restores the man she fell for, prompting her to try and win him back.
I'll admit, I had a hard time picturing these two as a married couple at first, but the logline offers a clearer picture of the project. I can totally see Del Toro as an ex-elite athlete who lets himself go to the dismay of his trophy wife.
Del Toro previously played a star slugger in Tony Scott's baseball movie "The Fan." Then again, he also starred in the romantic comedy "Excess Baggage," which effectively killed Alicia Silverstone's career at the height of her hotness, so he might be better off staying away from that genre.
On the other hand, I'm pleased to see Diaz returning to comedy between this and the upcoming "Bad Teacher," after starring in Richard Kelly's disappointing genre film "The Box," which did her no favors as an actress. Comedy is where her talent lies, and the 37 year-old actress may only have a few years left as a viable romantic comedy lead.
Laura Bickford ("Che") and Julie Yorn ("Unstoppable") will produce the project, which was set up by Rick Yorn and Ian Montone's management/production company.
• "Superbad" director Greg Mottola will adapt Leanne Shapton's book "Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry" for Paramount, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman are attached to star in "Important Artifacts" as well as produce the offbeat romantic comedy through their respective production companies, Plan B and Handsomecharlie Films.
It's possible that Mottola could wind up directing "Important Artifacts," although his involvement behind the camera isn't part of the deal at this point.
Paramount won the rights to Shapton's book at auction last year. The author crafted an interesting literary conceit -- a fictional estate auction catalog full of physical detritus including personal items and photos from the four-year romance between a middle-aged male photographer and a female food columnist in her twenties.
