Aug 5

After a tortuous trek, Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” is coming to the big screen courtesy of Francis Ford Coppola and the Brazilian director of “The Motorcycle Diaries.”

Coppola’s American Zoetrope production company has owned the film rights to the novel since 1979. According to Coppola, the novel has had many suitors over the years.

“The book is inherently difficult to adapt to the screen, and we’ve never quite found the right combination of director and writer to do it justice until now,” said Coppola, who will serve as an executive producer.

That “right combination” is director Walter Salles and screenwriter Jose Rivera. They previously collaborated on “The Motorcycle Diaries,” the 2004 film recounting the political awakening of Latin American guerrilla Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Salles just released his English-language debut “Dark Water,” starring Jennifer Connelly.

“On the Road,” published in 1957, played a role in giving rise to the Beat movement. It is narrated by Kerouac’s thinly veiled alter ego Sal Paradise, who gets inspired to hit the road and see America. The story follows his ups and downs as he hitchhikes, hops trains, meets other travelers, struggles for meals and explores the themes of freedom and longing.

“’On the Road’ is a seminal book that gave voice to a whole generation - capturing its hunger for experience, unwillingness to accept imposed truths and dissatisfaction with the status quo,” Salles said. “It is as modern today as it was four decades ago.”

Casting and production is expected to begin in 2006.

Aug 5

Sam Elliott will star in the TNT cable TV movie “Avenger,” a thriller based on the novel by Frederick Forsyth.

Elliott will portray Cal Dexter, a small-town lawyer and former Special Forces operative who hires himself out to those seeking to avenge the violent murders of loved ones. As one quest of vengeance takes him around the world, a CIA agent sets out to stop him before his mission throws the world into chaos.

The movie is set to go before cameras in the fall and premiere on TNT next year.

Elliott’s film credits include “Tombstone,” “The Big Lebowski,” “The Contender,” “We Were Soldiers” and “Hulk.” He also starred in TNT’s movie “Conagher,” for which he also has a writing credit.

Aug 4

Julie Delpy and Hope Davis are joining the ensemble cast of director Lasse Hallstrom’s drama “Hoax.”

Richard Gere will star in the Disney biopic about Clifford Irving, the man who wrote and sold a bogus biography of Howard Hughes to McGraw-Hill. Alfred Molina and Marcia Gay Harden also will co-star.

Delpy will play Irving’s mistress. Davis will play Andrea Tate, an employee at McGraw-Hill.

Delpy, who received an Academy Award screenplay nomination this year for co-writing “Before Sunset,” co-stars in Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers.” Her credits include “An American Werewolf in Paris,” “Before Sunrise” and “Three Colors: White.”

Davis’ credits include “American Splendor” and “About Schmidt” as well as the upcoming film’s “Proof,” “The Weather Man” and “The Matador.”

Aug 3

Richard Gere has signed to play a federal agent in “The Flock,” a $35 million indie thriller that marks the English-language debut of Hong Kong director Andrew Lau (Wai Keung Lau).

“Flock” follows a hypervigilant agent (Gere) who, while training his young female replacement, must track down a missing girl who may be linked to a paroled sex offender he is investigating.

Gere is in Manhattan shooting “The Hoax,” in which he plays author Clifford Irving, who sold a bogus biography of Howard Hughes in the 1970s and touched off a media frenzy. He was last in theaters with Jennifer Lopez in “Shall We Dance?”

Lau is best known for directing the Hong Kong movie “Infernal Affairs.”

Aug 3

Samuel L. Jackson has signed to star in and co-produce “Afrosamurai,” a live-action feature film based on a Japanese “manga” comic.

The story centers on No. 2, the Afro Samurai, who travels the road looking for revenge on those who murdered his father in front of him when he was just a boy. His nemesis is No. 1, a three-armed gunman who is the lord of the dark swordsman’s road.

Production is slated to begin next year, with the film targeting a 2007 release. An animated TV version of “Afrosamurai” is scheduled to air on Spike TV next year before being reverse imported to Japan, where it will air with Japanese subtitles. Jackson also will lend his voice to the series.

It has been a busy year for Jackson, whose 2005 credits include “Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith,” “Coach Carter” and “XXX: State of the Union.”

Aug 3

Doris Roberts (“Everybody Loves Raymond”) and Judy Reyes (“Scrubs”) will star in Hallmark Channel’s original TV movie “Our House.”

Ellen Geer also has been cast in the movie, which centers on a lonely Beverly Hills socialite (Roberts) who opens up her mansion to homeless people after one (Reyes) saves her life. Geer will portray Rose, another homeless person.

“House” starts shooting Wednesday in southern California and is tentatively scheduled to premiere on Hallmark Channel in May.

Roberts recently was nominated for a supporting actress Emmy for her role as Marie Barone on CBS’ comedy “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which aired its series finale in May; the role has earned her three Emmys. Her upcoming film credits include “Lucky l3” and “Nana’s Boy.”

Reyes portrays Carla Espinosa on NBC’s comedy “Scrubs.” She also appears in the upcoming indie films “Dirty” and “Glow Ropes: The Rise and Fall of a Bar Mitzvah Emcee.”

Geer is currently in theaters with the indie release “Me and You and Everyone We Know.”

Aug 2

Nicole Kidman is in final negotiations to star in “Invasion,” a sci-fi thriller being directed by the German director of a recent controversial film about Adolf Hitler.

The story takes place after a mysterious epidemic alters the behavior of human beings, and follows a Washington psychiatrist (Kidman) who discovers that its origins are extraterrestrial. She must fight to protect her son, who may hold the key to stopping the invasion.

A late September shoot in Baltimore is being eyed. Oliver Hirschbiegel will direct. He shot the Academy Award-nominated German-language film “Downfall,” about Hitler’s last days, which has grossed more than $87 million worldwide.

“Invasion” is neither a reimagining nor a remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” The project originated as a remake, but when writer David Kajganich turned in his take, Warner Bros. thought it had something fresh on its hands.

“It’s a very insidious story about how the end of the world can come through science and disease and not through explosions,” said producer Joel Silver.

For Kidman, “Invasion” would be a return to a genre she hasn’t done since the ghost story “The Others” in 2001. She was most recently in theaters with “Bewitched” and “The Interpreter.”

Aug 2

French actress Elodie Bouchez is joining the cast of ABC’s spy drama “Alias.”

She will play Zoe Rienne, an internationally wanted criminal who, unbeknownst to Sydney (Jennifer Garner), has been secretly working with Vaughn (Michael Vartan) for several years. The fifth season premieres at 8 p.m. Sept. 29.

Bouchez has won two Cesar Awards - France’s top film honors - for her roles in the films “Wild Reeds” and “The Dreamlife of Angels,” the latter of which also earned her best actress honors at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Aug 2

Three actors have joined three new network shows as series regulars: Ian Anthony Dale in NBC’s drama “Surface,” Amanda Walsh in ABC’s comedy “Sons & Daughters” and Rhea Seehorn in Fox’s drama “Head Cases.”

Dale (“Mr. 3000”) will play Davis Lee, who works at the Pentagon, in “Surface,” a drama about mysterious creatures of the deep sea. Previously known as “Fathom,” the show stars Lake Bell, Rade Sherbedegia, Jay R. Ferguson and Carter Jenkins.

Walsh is joining “Sons & Daughters,” a midseason entry about three adult siblings, in the role of Jenna, a single mother who is the younger stepsister of Fred Goss’ and Alison Quinn’s characters. Walsh stars in the upcoming indie feature “These Girls” opposite David Boreanaz.

In “Head Cases,” a drama about an odd-couple pairing of lawyers (Chris O’Donnell and Adam Goldberg), Seehorn will portray Nicole, the assistant to O’Donnell’s character. Her TV credits include the ABC series “I’m With Her.”

Aug 2

“Friends” star Matthew Perry has been tapped to star in the upcoming TNT original movie “The Ron Clark Story.”

Perry will play the title character, whose real-life exploits as a teacher in East Harlem, N.Y., earned him Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year Award.

“‘The Ron Clark Story’ is the true story of one teacher’s courage to leave his small hometown and head to one of the most challenging public schools in the country,” TNT senior vp original programming Michael Wright said.

“Ron Clark” will be a Johnson & Johnson Spotlight Presentation, the eighth such production sponsored by the company at TNT. Past collaborations include “Door to Door,” “The Wool Cap,” both starring William H. Macy, and “14 Hours.”

Perry’s credits include the films “Fools Rush In,” “Three to Tango” and “The Whole Nine Yards.” He also hosted ESPN’s ESPY Awards last month.

TNT original films have become fertile ground for former broadcast primetime actors. Other recent casting coups for the channel include “ER” star Noah Wyle in “The Librarian” and its sequel as well as Patricia Heaton of “Everybody Loves Raymond” in “The Engagement Ring.”