He may not be a big star yet here in the states, but the South Korean pop singer Rain is starting to land big roles in some big films. He already has a supporting role in this summer's Speed Racer, and now Variety reports that Rain (aka Jung Ji-hoon) has nabbed a leading role in a film called Ninja Assassin, which will be produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski Brothers, and directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta). Though there's no mention of their further involvement in the film, one assumes Andy and Larry Wachowski also wrote the script.

The news came via a press conference in Seoul earlier today, and there's currently no word on what the film will be about other than the fact that there will be lots of action. Rain's debut on the big screen came last year in the flick I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay -- and, having seen the film, I enjoyed the guy quite a bit as an actor. Ninja Assassin is tentatively scheduled to shoot from March to July in Berlin for Warner Bros. I imagine we should expect more casting announcements to come soon, but in the meantime you Wachowski fans can look forward to plenty more fancy hand-to-hand battles from the brothers who brought us The Matrix trilogy.

It might just be me, but every time I turn around it seems like The Invasion has released another batch of photos, a trailer, or a new poster in the hopes of drumming up some business for the production. Now ComingSoon.net is hosting a brand new gallery of images from the film. Actually, I'm sure we have seen some of these before, but at least this grouping has some more action-packed images to choose from. It's no secret that the film has been making headlines for over a year, with news of massive re-shoots being undertaken by the WB's sci-fi/action duo, The Wachowski Brothers, as well as James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), reportedly to liven up some of the film's action sequences. All of this without the involvement of original director Oliver Hirschbiegel.

The film is a loose update of the 1955 classic, The Body Snatchers and even 52 years later, if it's done right, the tale of conformity and paranoia should probably resonate with audiences. This version stars Nicole Kidman as a psychiatrist living in D.C. when a mysterious space shuttle crash seems to be turning local residents into mindless drones. Along with her doctor friend (Daniel Craig), she tries to unravel the mystery of what has happened while trying to locate her son, who "may hold the key to stopping the devastating invasion." This latest gallery will probably be the last we get from the film until it hits theaters on August 17th, and considering that the photos do not give too much away, there is still plenty of room for surprises.

He reportedly had a lot of help on V for Vendetta. Then he helped out as an 'additional director' on The Invasion. So when are we going to see if James McTeigue can direct a film solo? Possibly as early as next year, actually. The former first assistant director (The Matrix trilogy; Attack of the Clones) has just been hired to make Bangkok 8, a mystery thriller set in Thailand. Based on the first of a series of novels by John Burdett, Bangkok 8 follows the story of a Thai police detective investigating the murder of his partner and a U.S. marine, both of whom died by snake bite. The trail of the murderers takes the Buddhist detective, who is named Sonchai Jitpleecheep, into the seedy underground of the jade, drug and sex trades of Bangkok.

The movie should appeal to anyone familiar with Bangkok, as Burdett, who lives in Thailand, fills his books with plenty of commentary and insight about the city and its corruptions. But despite the fact that it sounds like too much of foreign film to attract the sort of fans McTeigue is used to, the movie will presumably have enough action elements to sell to a wide audience. One thing the novel has going for it, as far as multiplex interests are concerned, is an American love interest, described by Amazon.com as a "sexually frustrated FBI agent." Also, Sonchai apparently has conversations with the ghost of his dead partner. Millennium Films hopes to turn Burdett's series into a franchise of films, so McTeigue will definitely need to deliver something better than V for Vendetta. And since this time he will be without the assistance and guidance of the Wachowski Brothers, who are probably too busy making Speed Racer, I wish McTeigue a lot of luck.

Okay, it looks like someone has finally seen The Invasion, and the review they turned in to Bloody-disgusting.com is incredibly negative. "The Invasion ranks as one of the most misguided and ultimately terrible genre films in years," the reviewer says. "Reports of Warner Bros. being unhappy with the original version and bringing in the Wachowskis and James McTeigue to reshoot/re-edit the film have been all over the Internet for quite some time, and by God does it show." What about Nicole Kidman's performance? The reviewer doesn't exactly criticize her, but suggests that she's been completely left to twist in the wind, directorially. "Kidman uses three accents throughout the film, instantly zapping you out of whatever involvement you may have had with the movie at that point. She is saddled with the 'person who figures out something's wrong' character, and other than the accent trouble, she isn't bad." The reviewer also notes "you will often find yourself wondering why they didn't hire someone cheaper." Ouch.

So is there anything good to be said for the film? Yeah, the reviewer gives some praise, but odd praise. According to him, the film "takes some interesting turns and presents some truly fascinating ideas. Throughout the film, we are reminded of war via newspapers and news broadcasts. As the film progresses, we start to see things like 'Darfur Cease Fire' and Shiites and Sunnis reach agreement." Not quite sure how that's fascinating, but maybe the reviewer was feeling guilty so he threw that in. He also goes into the editing, which is apparently criminal. "I have no problem saying, without hyperbole, that this is absolute worst editing I have ever seen in a major motion picture." He then goes on to give some examples. The ending of this film is also discussed, so beware, if you decide to check out the review. As a fan of Kidman and the Body Snatcher movies in general, here's hoping this reviewer is either bogus or completely off his rocker.

Two days ago, Collider wrote up a breathless story about the results of some research they did into the situation with Nicole Kidman's long-in-production remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. When compared with the L.A. Times story from March, their report is different only in terms of the severity of the changes that Warner Bros. supposedly ordered up. To back up a bit, for those who haven't been following the story, The Invasion was originally lensed by German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, the much-heralded German director who directed the Hitler film Downfall a few years back. When he turned in his cut of the film in late 2005, Warner Bros. found it lacking in action beats and brought in the Wachowski brothers and their V for Vendetta director James McTeigue to re-work the film. All of that has been known for a while.

Collider is now reporting that their sources say over two-thirds of the film's script -- which probably means every word -- was re-written when the Wachowskis and McTeigue came on board the project. It's starting to sound more and more like the film was made, and then re-made, which doesn't shock me or anything. This kind of thing probably happens more often than it becomes of interest to the blogosphere, but in this case the interest mostly lies in the fact that director Hirschbiegel is by no means a hack. He's not one of those music video or commercial guys who get their 'shot at the big time' and then get tossed to the curb when it becomes painfully clear they don't have the right stuff. Anyone who has seen Downfall knows this guy is an artist. So, are there going to be two wildly different versions of The Invasion in existence? An arty, German-flavored (probably superior) version and an explosion and philosophical gobbledegook-laden version? Enquiring minds want to know.

As we reported last week, the long-in-production remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was taken away from German director Oliver Hirschbiegel shortly after he delivered his first cut (by the way -- German? With that name, woulda thought Irish), and turned over to the Wachowski Brothers and V for Vendetta director James McTeigue for a re-working. Warner Brothers was reportedly unhappy with the lack of action in Hirschbiegel's take; seems to me that if you hire a guy whose last project was a three hour biography of Adolph Hitler, you should know what you're getting into, but then I don't run a major studio. The Invasion stars blonde, pale, and icy duo Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, two bodies a lot of people would like to snatch. Invasion of the Body Snatchers has already been remade many times, most successfully in the excellent 1978 take with Donald Sutherland.

So what are the Wachowskis doing to the pic? The latest Hollywood dish on the movie comes from a highly unlikely source: a scientist. David Bolinsky, former lead medical instructor at Yale, has completed a short computer-generated film called The Inner Life of the Cell. It seems everyone wants a piece of that hot white blood cell action, and not just the usual museums and universities. Bolinsky is quoted by Wired as saying, "We got a call from Warner Bros. Pictures. Apparently the Wachowski brothers, the guys who did The Matrix, are doing a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and they had come across our animation and they wanted to know if we'd be interested in re-rendering it at film resolution so it could be included in some way as (part) of the special effects they're planning for the movie. So right now their lawyers are talking with the Harvard lawyers about the possibility of this."

Sleazy Hollywood types duking it out with nerdy scientist types? Now that sounds like a movie I'd want to see! Look for the turbo-charged new version of The Invasion...sometime in the future, now with what's sure to be lots of slow-motion shots of white blood cells blowing up national landmarks.