Clive Owen and Catherine Keener Gain ‘Trust’; Foster and Sutherland in ‘The Mechanic’

– Former TV paleontologist David Schwimmer is to direct his sophomore feature film (following the not-particularly-good Simon Pegg-starring “Run, Fatboy, Run”), the dark drama “Trust”, based on a story by the director, and written by newcomer Andy Bellin. Clive Owen and Catherine Keener will star as the parents of a teenage girl (Liana Liberato) who falls victim to a sexual predator on an internet chatroom. We’re imagining something midway between “Taken” and “Hard Candy.” Shooting starts on November 9th, and the predator has yet to be cast – Hey, I wonder if Roman Polanski’s doing anything at the moment?

– Superbland “Transformers” star Josh Duhamel is to star in the buddy comedy “What’s He Got” for Disney, from “Hitch” writer Kevin Bisch. The film will be produced, and possibly directed, by Walt Becker, who is culpable for “Wild Hogs” and the forthcoming “Old Dogs.” Plot details are being kept under wraps, but our guess, based on the title, is that it’s about chlamydia.

– The remake of Michael Winner’s “The Mechanic,” a vehicle for Jason Statham, has added Donald Sutherland and Ben Foster playing the roles originally played by Keenan Wynn and Jan-Michael Vincent, those of the handler and protege, respectively, of a hitman (Statham). Simon West (“Con Air”) is directing. We have the script for this for some reason, and, after a quick flick through, can exclusively reveal that the plot involves Statham punching people. Oh, and also shooting them.

– The Wrap has a good piece on the music of “Up in the Air,” talking particularly about the film’s entry for the Best Original Song Academy Award Sad Brad Smith‘s ‘Help Yourself’ is eligible, but the titular song that’s gotten more pre-release attention — by unemployed musician Kevin Renick, who handed a tape of his song to Jason Reitman after a Q&A, isn’t, due to one of those irritating Academy loopholes: If a song is placed in the end credits, it’s only eligible if it’s the first one played, whereas Renick’s song comes after a Graham Nash track. “Up In The Air” enthusiasts are up in arms, but here’s the truth, if it’s the song we’re thinking of, it’s a bit adult-contemporary cornball and suffers from some pretty bad lyrics. We can’t remember which one it is and believe there was two songs played in the credits, but one of them sounded like a tape recording, featured on-the-nose lyrics, “I’m up in the air,” and wasn’t anything special. Sad Brad Smith’s is hopefully the one in the trailer which is much better (we forget, too lazy to check). Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings’ funky version of “This Land Is Your Land” is also featured in the film. A soundtrack is due in late November or December on Rhino Records.

– The new issue of Vogue magazine has a cover story on Rob Marshall’s “Nine,” which unsurprisingly focuses on the film’s costumes, but also contains the revelation that Marion Cotillard dreamed as a child of playing “Annie.” Now that we’d pay to see.

– Duncan Jones’ next film, the “Blade Runner”-ish sci-fi film “Mute,” appears to be having difficulties raising the budget according to the director, who tells Australian paper The Age that it’s due to the film’s unusual nature. “Every problem is proof that we’re planning a movie very different from the norm.” We’d be happy to contribute all the money in our pockets to get this made, but unfortunately we’ve got about $1.25 right now. Jones also expresses interest in adapting William Gibson’s “Neuromancer” and Philip K Dick’s “The Man in the High Castle” at some point.