When we first learned that Sony was moving ahead with a third Men in Black movie back in April, we speculated that the powers-that-be would be bringing on a new partner for Will Smith’s J. It looks like that could be what’s happening, as The Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex Blog is reporting that Josh Brolin is being considered for a lead role.

Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen was hired back in October to write the screenplay, and the news that casting choices are now being considered would suggest that it’s either nearing completion or done already. Barry Sonnenfeld is tentatively scheduled to make a return to the director’s chair, but it remains to be seen whether or not that will actually happen since he currently has a number of other projects in the pipeline (including a Tom Swift movie and The How-To Guide for Saving the World).

Hit the jump to see what role Brolin would play.

Details are still scant in regards to Brolin’s specific part, but Hollywood speculators have come up with a few possibilities. The first one has him as a new single-monikered agent to succeed K as J’s partner. The other would have him assuming the role of K himself, but as a young man. I’m not sure how that would work, unless a good part of the film took place in flashback or they came up with a plot device that would have either J or young K being transported to a different time period (which, in the MiB universe, is definitely feasible). And, of course, he could always be playing someone completely different.

While I’d love to see Brolin join the film, and hiring an actor of his caliber would certainly seem like the route that Sony would want to take for a third film in a franchise that will have been dormant for almost a decade by the time MiB 3 comes out, I’m still taking this story with a grain of salt for now. The film has yet to even be greenlit (though if all these pieces do indeed fall into place, that’ll quickly change), so file it away as an early — but tantalizing — rumor. I expect that we’ll see some movement (or very telling non-movement) on the project as we get closer to the projected 2010 start date, so we’ll have some more updates for you then.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit is moving towards a very, very cool cast. We already know that Jeff Bridges will play the role originated by John Wayne, Rooster Cogburn. Cogburn is an aging U.S. Marshal who travels with another lawman and a 14 year-old girl in search of an outlaw that killed her father. While the original was a starring vehicle for Wayne, the Coens plan to adapt the book it was based on more faithfully, and tell the tale from the girl’s perspective.

Now Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are in talks to join the cast as well, setting the stage to make this one of the most anticipated projects of next year. Damon would play the fellow lawman, a Texas Ranger, while Brolin would play the killer. The girl has yet to be cast.

Jason Bourne, Llewelyn Moss, and The Dude in a Coen Bros. Western? There’s no way this new isn’t going to incite all sorts of fanboy buzz, and I’m right there with them. The casting of the girl will be key, but the rest of the cast is already so strong that I think they could anchor anyone in the lead role. Brolin, despite his great turn as good-guy Moss, plays a fantastic villain, and I’m excited to see Damon join his fellow A-list pals in jumping aboard a Coen-steered movie, as George Clooney and Brad Pitt did last year in Burn After Reading. The film is hoping to start shooting in the spring, and I think movie fans everywhere will be just as anxious to see this get into production as soon as possible.

How do you guys feel about this casting coup?

Centering around one crazy day in the lives of 8 women in Los Angeles (including a pregnant porn star, two call girls, a scorned psychiatrist, and a flight attendant with a crush on a famous passenger), Women in Trouble portends to be a clever and whimsical comedy packing plenty of feminine punch. Check out the trailer below, courtesy of Apple.

Personally, the trailer doesn’t do too much for me. On the one hand, it seems to be hitting the right mix of comedy and real-life drama. But all hints of the film’s emotional core and eventual payoff seem really flat and trite, and I can’t help but get the feeling that this is going to be one of those movies that’s simply trying too hard. Ensemble films like this also commonly suffer from spreading themselves too thin in terms of character and plot development, and this movie looks like it may have fallen into the same trap. It’s a lot of judgment to pass based off a single trailer, so I’m not writing this film off yet. I’m still very much enamored by the cast and there’s enough in the set up to give me hope that I’m wrong. Please let me be wrong.

Women in Trouble opens in limited release on November 13th. What do you guys think about the footage?

This time, Brolin may be playing the evil hedge fund manager that is responsible for the death of Shia LaBeouf’s mentor. His stock-shorting ways causes the mentor’s company to go under and the mentor to subsequently commit suicide, which leads LaBeouf’s character to strike a deal with his fiancée’s estranged father, Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). The role was originally supposed to go to Brolin’s No Country For Old Men co-star Javier Bardem, but he turned it down. Now, Nikke Finke of Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the offer will go out to Brolin as early as today.

Brolin’s played his fair share of bastards in the past, and how relevant of him to pick a hedgefund manager in today’s economical and political climate. It’ll be fun to see him go toe-to-toe with Douglas, as both actors come with a considerable share of cinematic gravitas. It’s not a done deal yet, but we’ll see how this unfolds over the next few days.

What do you guys think? Do you like Brolin’s casting here, or would you have preferred Bardem (or somebody else, for that matter)? Discuss below.

Original story follows.

Collider’s got some photos up of the poster banner for Jonah Hex that they took at the Comic Con preview day. Check out one shot that I’ve cleaned up a bit below, and head on over to their website for a better look:

This gives us our first official look at Josh Brolin as the scarred titular hero. Sure, we’ve caught some spy shots from the set before, this is definitely closer to what the final film will look like. Also, Megan Fox sure does take up a lot of real estate on the banner for a role she has referred to in the past as “basically a cameo.” Then again, I’m sure Con-goers don’t mind that at all.

Jonah Hex is scheduled for release on August 6, 2010.

A slew of spy pics of Josh Brolin as the titular gun-slinger in Jonah Hex has surfaced online via several celebrity gossip websites. We’ve got some here from I’m Not Obsessed, and they give us our first look at the Jonah Hex character with his scarred face and Old West get-up.

We already caught Megan Fox in her ostentatious costume back in April, and now we have a good idea of what our hero looks like too. The photos aren’t the best quality, but the make-up does look pretty convincing. To be honest, I’m not particularly blown away nor am I unimpressed by any of it; I think I still need to see some footage before I can get truly amped about this project. Still, kinda neat to see how this is all shaping up, in any case. Check out a few more pics below:

Malkovich will play Quentin Turnbull, a wealthy Southern plantation owner whose son Jeb, Jonah’s best friend, was killed during the Civil War after Union soldiers massacred Jeb and Jonah’s Confederate encampment and framed Jonah as a turncoat. Enraged by his son’s death, Turnbull blames Hex and vows vengeance on the soldier-turned-gun-slinging-bounty-hunter.

Malkovich has always made some delicious turns as a villain, and I look forward to seeing him up to all kinds of deviltry again.

Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins will be in Woody Allen’s next picture, which will shoot in London this summer. As per usual with Woody, title and plot details are being kept hush-hush, so no telling what kind of movie this will be. Drama? Comedy? A mix of the two? In either case, it’s set to be an ensemble piece, so expect more casting announcements as they come. Woody will next be in theaters with Whatever Works, a comedy starring Ed Begley, Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Larry David, and Evan Rachel Wood that will most likely be released in the summer.

Horton Hears A Who!

Crank directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who were previously attached, left in November over the dreaded “creative differences.” Adapted from the graphic novel of the same name, Jonah Hex stars Josh Brolin as the titular character in this supernatural Western.

This will be Hayward’s first live-action directorial gig. Check out the Hollywood Reporter story here.