Today's Film News: Coens, Crime and Chabon

By Katey Rich

Even as his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay languishes in movie development hell, write Michael Chabon has another novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, preparing to hit the big screen-- and at the hands of the Coen Bros., no less. Variety reports that the brothers will reteam with producer Scott Rudin to take on the book, released last year, which is a noir mystery set in a parallel universe in which Alaska, not Israel, was created as a Jewish state after World War II. Rudin also developed Chabon's Wonder Boys for film, and is in charge of the Kavalier & Clay production as well. Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh also recently premiered in movie form at Sundance. Expect to hear more from me on this one later today, as Chabon fan desperate to see Kavalier & Clay, not Yiddish Policemen, on the screen.

It seems that galaxies far, far away never die: Star Wars will be returning to the big screen this summer, but for the first time in animated form. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will bow on August 15, and be followed in the fall by an animated series on the Cartoon Network and TNT. George Lucas will executive produce the film and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, has already produced 30 episodes of the TV show.

Just when we thought we were done making chess puns: There will be another movie based on the history of blues record label Chess Records, this one an indie directed by Jerry Zaks (Marvin's Room). Chess will star Junebug's Alessandro Nivola as Leonard Chess, who founded the label and started the career of musicians like Muddy Waters (played by David Oyelowo) and Chuck Berry. Chess's competition comes from Sony BMG's Cadillac Records, another version of the story starring Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright.

Renee Zellweger will star in One and Only, a film with a unique origin: It's based on a story the actor George Hamilton told Merv Griffin about his childhood. Zellweger will play Hamilton's mother, who drives up and down the East Coast searching for a wealthy husband and a new life for her children. Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon) will direct.