Today's Film News: Out of the Slammer

By Katey Rich

Didn't you know that pretty much any actor can direct a movie these days? That's got to be the logic behind Tim Allen's next project, Crazy on the Outside, for which he will direct and star. Variety describes it as a comedy about a man who leaves prison to find the outside world even crazier than the one inside. Ray Liotta, Carrie-Anne Moss, Julie Bowen and Kelsey Grammer will also star. Before you go wondering who is letting Tim Allen be in charge of a movie, remember that Wild Hogs made an absurd amount of money last year, and the man still has some cachet in that strange land of Hollywood.

Didn't you know that organ harvesting is in? Jude Law and Forest Whitaker are set to star in Repossession Mambo, a futuristic drama about repossessing transplanted organs, but Dermot Mulroney might beat them to the punch: He's starring in Run for Her Life, a more modern take on the idea. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that he'll play a man whose daughter needs a lung transplant, but can't get it in the States. He travels to Mexico for the surgery, but finds himself facing a moral quandary in the process. Baltasar Kormakur (the current Jar City) will direct.

Didn't you know that Anne Heche is somewhat notorious for hooking up with her co-stars? So watch out, Demi Moore! Heche is replacing Jennifer Jason Leigh in the sex comedy Spread, and will star opposite Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, as the scorned lover of a serial womanizer. Leigh dropped out of the project late last month for undisclosed reasons, but The Hollywood Reporter goes all tabloid on us and openly speculates that Leigh may be pregnant. What's next, paparazzi shots of her "baby bump"?

And finally, didn't you know that Ellen Page has signed on for approximately 100 new projects since Juno made her a household name? Now she's finally had to take a step back, and has dropped out of Sam Raimi's genre effort Drag Me to Hell. Variety reports that production has only been pushed back about two weeks, to the end of March, though there's no word yet on who will be replacing Page in the as-yet-unspecified role.