Will Ferrell attached to edgy social comedy
Will Ferrell is set to star in 2-Face, a comedy involving a character with a split personality: One part of him is a racist, and the other is a bleeding-heart liberal. The project is set up at Columbia, which will release his next comedy, Step Brothers, on July 25. It comes from Hancock writer Vince Gilligan, whose script has had a lengthy, low-profile gestation period at the studio. The search for a director is under way.
While 2-Face is described as a comedy with mainstream appeal — familiar terrain for Ferrell — Gilligan’s credits and the story’s socially relevant hook might give the role added heft. Ferrell has tried his hand at more serious roles, most notably in Marc Forster’s 2006 drama Stranger Than Fiction.
Gilligan has a diverse pedigree in Hollywood. In addition to Hancock, he helped create and wrote for the X-Files TV series and is the executive producer on AMC’s dark drama Breaking Bad.
But he also has penned lighter fare, writing the screenplay for the Drew Barrymore screwball comedy Home Fries, an absurdist look at murder, family and the military set in a fast-food restaurant.

John Landis, Johnnie To join Venice jury
Blues Brothers director John Landis and Hong Kong-based filmmaker Johnnie To will join the main competition jury at the Venice Film Festival, which kicks off next month, organisers revealed. The other members of the jury — which will be headed by German director Wim Wenders, as previously announced — are veteran Russian screenwriter Juriy Arabov, Italian actress Valeria Golino, up-and-coming Argentine director Lucrecia Martel and Scottish visual artist Douglas Gordon.
The jury will hand out Venice’s main prizes: the awards for best film, director, actor and actress, new actor or actress, technical contribution and screenplay. The full lineup for the 65th edition of the Venice festival will be announced July 29. The event runs August 27-September 6.

Guion and Handelman to pen Children Of The Lamp
Dave Guion and Michael Handelman have been hired to adapt Children of the Lamp for DreamWorks.
The Lamp series, from British author P.B. Kerr, includes four children's fantasy novels about a family of djinn (a kind of genie) who disguise themselves as humans but can still grant wishes. The books have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and are viewed as a potential family-film franchise.
Guion and Handelman wrote Used Guys for director Jay Roach at Fox, which famously declined to greenlight the Ben Stiller-Jim Carrey comedy over its sizable budget.