Now this is the kind of offbeat casting you expect out of Quentin Tarantino -- except that, really, it's not that unusual for him to cast his pals, so it makes a guy like Leonardo DiCaprio an edgier pick. Oh, that crazy Tarantino!

According to Variety, Eli Roth is set to play Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, "a baseball bat swinging Nazi hunter" in Tarantino's already much-discussed Inglorious Bastards. Brad Pitt is still "in talks" for Aldo Raine, but it would be a shocker if it wasn't official. Pitt and Roth, together at last, the pair-up the world never knew it wanted.

DiCaprio has gone from "in talks" to "eliminated." He was being considered for the part of SS Col Hans Landa, but Tarantino has decided that part should be played by a real live German. This is probably a good idea, as the last thing any film needs is a wonky accent. I do find it funny that when it comes to accuracy, this is one movie that is determined to have a real German, as opposed to the dozens of films that ignore portraying race, ethnicity, and culture!

The cast is expected to be formalized shortly, and filming to begin in Europe this fall. Given that Tarantino is looking to his friends to fill the empty slots, I am still betting Tim Roth and Michael Madsen will pop up somewhere. Who else do you expect to pop up in Bastards, readers? And what do you think of Roth's addition?

I've always been a sucker for killer croc movies. But, as Scott Weinberg so eloquently wrote in the recent past: "There's maybe one true 'classic' of the sub-genre (that'd be Lewis Teague's and John Sayles' Alligator, of course), and the rest of 'em are pretty much floating crap." Scott was ranting about the limited theatrical release by The Weinstein Co. (actually, their "dumping ground" subsidiary Third Rail Releasing) for Greg McLean's Rogue, which was limited to ten US cities.

So Scott (and most of you reading this) probably didn't get to see Rogue in a theater, but I did -- even if I had to drive 45 minutes to the only multiplex playing the dang thing. Me and the five (!) other people at that Friday night screening enjoyed a good old-fashioned suspense tale that played very well on the big screen. In a review I wrote for another site, I described it as "a taut and thrilling ride ... brimming with well-earned tension." Radha Mitchell stars as a tour boat captain on a river in the remote Northern Territory of Australia. She and a group of tourists end up being stalked by a killer croc "with an exaggerated sense of territorial possessiveness."

Rogue is out today in an unrated version on DVD. Dread Central got an advance peek and agrees with me that it's a good flick. The DVD includes an audio commentary by McLean, a 46-minute "making of" directed by McLean, and a gallery of mini-docs on the effects, the music, and the setting. Let's declare today "Killer Croc Day"!

The most we can hope for now is the unrated director's cut of Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno, because the filmmaker has won his appeal with the MPAA and received an R rating, according to the Associated Press. It's been a long road for Smith's movie, which was unsurprisingly smacked with an NC-17 last month -- as if we didn't see it coming due to Smith's track record and the fact that it's a movie about a couple who, yes, that's right, make a porno. Oh, and of course there was that raunchy trailer, which gave us some semblance of the material the movie is dealing with (coprophilia jokes are likely always deemed adults-only content, at least in the initial ratings board screening).

So much for the MPAA and National Association of Theatre Owners' plans to remove the stigma attached to the NC-17. If ever there was a popular filmmaker to usher in a new wave of non-porn adults-only fare, Smith would be that person. And considering that Zack and Miri is about porn, it would be an appropriate gateway for the rating. Last week, when Smith spoke to AICN about the appeal, he seemed fine with the need for an R rating, stating that it's just "part of the process." Of course it is. The process consists of toning down a film to ensure an R and then releasing the original raunchier version on DVD in order for Hollywood to get the most buck for its bang.

Update: When Cinematical reached Smith for a quote, he had this to say on the decision: "I'm very happy with the result of the appeals process. Sadly, however, it doesn't cure my biggest headache: I'm still grossly overweight."

A couple of weeks ago, everyone got sort-of excited about the fact that Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno got slapped with the kiss-of-death NC-17 rating by the MPAA. I sure did: even the tiniest glimmer of hope that a mainstream film may make it into release with an NC-17 would be great news. Maybe -- as Roger Ebert among others has been pushing for years -- we can finally decriminalize the Movie for Adults.

But we all knew it was wishful thinking; that Smith is almost certainly obligated by contract to do whatever it takes to secure the R for Zack and Miri. In a conversation with Capone of Ain't It Cool News, Smith confirms that, and goes into considerable detail about his back-and-forth with the MPAA over the film.

Smith claims that the MPAA originally gave him two "areas" of the film to focus on; after he cut out more than 12 minutes, did some trims of other offending section, and resubmitted (twice), the ratings board apparently got hung up on one 14-frame-long shot ("It's not even a second!" Smith objects) and Smith gave up on editing and is now simply appealing the rating. If his appeal is rebuffed, he says, he won't have a choice but to make the cuts. And he's not angry about it: "I haven't blogged about it, I'm not out there screaming 'Oh my God, they're violating my .f***ing civil liberties or my rights as an artist.' It's just part of the process." (This is in stark contrast to star Seth Rogen's take on the subject.) The MPAA is set to hear the appeal on August 4th.

Smith also tells AICN he is still planning to make the fundamentalism-themed horror movie Red State; the Weinstein Co. refused to finance it, but he is close to securing some independent backing.

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth reiterating here: I don't really enjoy doing interviews with filmmakers and celebrities. I fancy myself a somewhat "creative" writer (not necessarily a good writer, but hopefully a creative one), and the interview format doesn't really leave all that much room for creativity. If I gave you a list of all the famous people I PASSED on interviewing, you'd probably call me a clueless buffoon. And you may be right.

But one thing I do enjoy is doing a casual interview with a filmmaker who doesn't really have a current project to "push." This way we can just talk about movies in general, and I don't have to feel the pressure of "focus on his NEW movie!" So when Erik sent me a list of five or six people that I could talk to from Genius Products (the home video distributor of Harvey Weinstein's films), I told him "Nah, thanks, unless you desperately want coverage of someone." But then I looked a little closer: Um, Frank Darabont was there to do some chatting? Uh, yes please. Anyone who's ever seen The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, or The Mist knows that Mr. Darabont is one hell of a good filmmaker -- but anyone who's ever listened to one of his audio commentaries also knows that the guy is one of the most articulate, passionate, and well-prepared directors under the sun.

What can you expect from the MPAA when you make a movie with "some some graphic sexuality"? Yup, the kiss of death. Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno has been slapped with a rating of NC-17 by the MPAA, according to a list posted today by The Hollywood Reporter.

The rating was posted on the MPAA film ratings site at least as early as last Saturday, but News Askew noted that it was marked as "pending appeal" and had received the rating for "some graphic sexuality." I just checked the MPAA's site, and now the film doesn't show up at all. What happened? Was the appeal lost? Will cuts be made to secure the R rating? Who made the "some some" typo -- the MPAA or THR?

The ratings tussle is not entirely unexpected. Seth Rogen complained about the MPAA last month because of the film's difficulty in securing an R rating, and Smith took down a raunchy online-only teaser until the MPAA approved it. I would imagine that Smith is contractually obligated to deliver an R-rated version, but I wonder what nightmares he faces to please the MPAA?

As it happens, Smith will appear at Comic Con on Friday evening to talk about his film, and I'm sure he'll have something to say about the rating. Zack and Miri Make a Porno is still due to hit theaters on October 31.

Movies about ex-convicts and their difficulty assimilating back into society generally begin with the prison release, during which the protagonist typically looks downright miserable. At first thought, I recall the opening of Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66, which ironically exaggerates the hopelessness of post-incarceration by adding a lack of a public restroom to the list of things the former jailbird is without. But at the beginning of John Crowley's new film, Boy A, the titular young man being turned back into the world is high-browed and smiling from ear to ear. And this change from the expected norm really drew me into the film immediately.

Perhaps the difference is that for most films about ex-cons, the hero doesn't have a very good chance at starting over. For "Boy A," however, there's a literal reinvention taking place. In the first scene, the young man (Andrew Garfield) sits with his caseworker, Terry (Peter Mullan), and discusses the details of his release, which include his receiving a new home, a new job and, most importantly, a new identity -- he chooses the name "Jack." Also, rather symbolically, Terry hands Jack a gift, a pair of sneakers that unintentionally represents the young man's ability to comfortably run away from his former life.

If Harvey Weinstein didn't exist, someone would have to invent him. One week his garbage gets recycled into source material for The Village Voice, the next he and his brother Bob cut a 95-film, multi-year deal with Showtime and resurrect Scream. And then he gives a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter which includes his explanation for why The Weinstein Co. created Third Rail Relasing, a new distribution label. Is it to showcase undiscovered independent gems? Introduce the world to global filmmaking talent?

No, it's for dumping the garbage. He told THR: "We should have had Third Rail two years ago, t's a good way of differentiating between what we really believe in, and what has been for ancillary value."

Third Rail recently released Death Defying Acts, with Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta-Jones, admittedly only to fulfill a contractual obligation. Other barely there releases this year include music doc Lou Reed's Berlin, Hong Kong action flick Flash Point, and Aussic croc thriller Rogue. (I really liked the latter two, by the way.) The widest release (48 theaters, per Box Office Mojo) was George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead, which made just under one million dollars. But I guess Harvey didn't "really believe" in any of them.

One thing you should know about the Julian Schnabel-directed concert documentary Lou Reed's Berlin is that Lou Reed has personally instructed theaters to play the film at concert-level volume. That means it's really, really loud. When I saw it (at NYC's Film Forum, which is following Reed's command throughout the film's limited engagement), an elder woman walked out. Of course, I can't be sure that it was due to the sound, though the exit was during one of the loudest songs.

The volume may seem excessive and unnecessary to some, but at a time when concert docs are shown in IMAX and/or in 3-D, it really helps a film like Lou Reed's Berlin compete for audiences seeking a filmic experience comparable to the real thing. And leaving the theater with your ears ringing will help you think that you were actually there when Reed performed his 1973 album Berlin live for the first (and second, third and fourth) time in Brooklyn, New York, December 14-17, 2006.

The casting rumors for Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards just keep circulating -- I'm dying for something to be confirmed, already! Brad Pitt was rumored to be in talks for the key role of Aldo Raine, and given that Tarantino flew all the way to France to meet with him suggests it's more than idle talk.

Now, according to Variety, Tarantino wants Leonardo DiCaprio to play Hans Landa, and is meeting with the actor on Thursday to discuss the part with him. This would be DiCaprio's first time working with Tarantino, and frankly, it would be a nice break from his Martin Scorcese trend. DiCaprio is another one of those actors with a pre-production list a mile long, so a scheduling conflict could manage to keep him out of the movie.

While I was really behind the idea of Pitt, I'm not sure how I feel about DiCaprio. Don't get me wrong, I really like him, but he's becoming the go-to guy for just about every film that's in production. Plus, Tarantino is pretty famous for his inspired and offbeat casting. Hiring two of Hollywood's golden boys (and I mean that in a nice way) seems a little pedestrian. But Tarantino is anything but predictable, and he can coax surprising performances out of all sorts of actors. What looks rather uninspiring from the outside could be one of his best ensembles yet. What do you think?