Update 3/18 4:00 p.m. PST: "Smurfs" star Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) used Twitter to clarify that Hank Azaria will be playing a live-action Gargamel in the movie, not simply voicing the character. Meanwhile, Gargamel's cat, Azrael, will be played by a real live cat with CGI-enhanced facial expressions, similar to Odie in the "Garfield" movie.
Callbacks is your must-read roundup of the day's casting news from Deal Central.
Today, Columbia considers Reese Witherspoon a "Pioneer Woman," the Smurfs get a touch of "The Simpsons," Sigourney Weaver becomes a vampire, Rose McGowan joins "Conan" and Matt Damon is more through with the Bourne franchise than ever.
• Can you say "Sweet Home Oklahoma?"
Columbia is developing a romantic comedy for Reese Witherspoon based on The Pioneer Woman, a blog by Ree Drummond that the studio has acquired film rights to, reports Deadline New York.
Drummond was a spoiled city girl who took a detour on a trip from Los Angeles to Chicago that led her to Oklahoma, where she met "the cowboy of her dreams" and wound up becoming a domestic ranch wife/blogger. (I wonder how good her wi-fi is out there...)
Should she sign on, the film would follow Witherspoon as she trades in her big city life for a more wholesome existence. (I also wonder if this movie deal will now upset that...)
Drummond has already written a bestselling cookbook, and has another book due next Valentine's Day titled "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels." Rights to the book are included in the deal.
Laura Ziskin ("Spider-Man") and Pam Williams will produce the movie.
• The "Smurfs" movie has nabbed the best voice actor in Hollywood to play its lead villain.
That's right, Hank Azaria ("The Simpsons") will be voicing evil sorcerer Gargamel, the Smurfs' arch-nemesis, reports EW's Hollywood Insider.
Singer Katy Perry has also joined the film as Smurfette, while "Glee's" Jayma Mays will play Neil Patrick Harris' (the live-action lead) pregnant wife.
George Lopez and Alan Cumming will also provide Smurf voices for Raja Gosnell's film, which is set in Central Park and starts production next month.
Whenever I hear about this "Smurfs" movie, I can't help but think of Jake Gyllenhaal's http://www.whysanity.net/monos/donniedarko.html">monologue in "Donnie Darko." Makes me laugh every time.
• "Avatar" star Sigourney Weaver will play the vampire queen in Amy Heckerling's romantic horror-comedy (hereby coined ro-ho-co) "Vamps," according to THR's Heat Vision blog.
The film reunites Heckerling with her "Clueless" leading lady Alicia Silverstone, who stars in the modern-day story opposite Krysten Ritter, who is earning strong reviews for her supporting turn in "She's Out of My League."
Heckerling's screenplay follows a pair of beautiful, young vampires living in New York who must choose between the two things women want most -- love and eternal youth.
Weaver, who is repped by UTA, will play Ciccerus, a vampire leader who turns the two girls into blood-sucking immortal creatures.
