THR’s RiskyBizBlog reports that Robert Redford will direct The Conspirator, a film about Mary Surratt, said to be an accomplice of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth. While this movie is a far cry from Steven Spielberg’s intended biopic about the President, nonetheless it is a bit surprising to hear about another major director taking on a project so close to Lincoln when Spielberg isn’t yet able to get his own financed.

You might have read about Surratt in Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln’s Killer, by James Swanson, but this isn’t an adaptation of that book. (There is another film project, by HBO and Walden Media, that might adapt that directly.) James Solomon wrote this script, and while the article doesn’t mention his sources, chances are the screenplay is drawn at least in part from Kate Clifford Lawson’s book The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. Previous to Lincoln’s assassination, Surratt’s son John had conspired to kidnap the President. Despite her protestation of innocence, Mary Surrat was arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln’s assassination and was sentenced to death; she is said to be the first woman executed by the United States Federal Government.

THR doesn’t mention who might play Mary Surratt, but says that James McAvoy (who’s having a good night, with another announcement) is high in the running for a lead male role in the film. He could play John Surrat, who was 21 at the time of the assassination, or one of the other men Mary Surrat was said to have provided arms to on the night of the killing. Even better, I’d love to see him as Booth.

Redford has also been set to direct Against All Enemies, based on Richard Clarke’s book about the recent Bush administration’s intelligence woes, but THR notes that project’s future is uncertain. Whichever goes first will be Redford’s follow-up to the truly awful Lions For Lambs, which at least had one of the better uses of Tom Cruise in recent memory.

I admire Volkswagen for their support of independent film over the past decade. If you attend a regional or big time film festival, you’re likely to see them listed as a sponsor on the big screen before each film. In the past, we’ve featured some of their “See Film Differently” television spots which featured film fanatics sharing their vastly different interpretations of classic movies (if you haven’t seen those, check them out now). VW has produced a new set of “See Film Differently” ads, directed by Seth Gordon, the filmmaker behind The King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters. These new spots showcase a group of people, each highly inspired by the movies, who testify about the power of film. You might have seen the one of Dudeism, which was virally circulating the interwebs last week. But after the jump we have all three. Dudeism: A way of life derived from watching The Big Lebowski. Pure Imagination: A young man under the spell of Willy Wonka.

Last month Sam Raimi hired Gary Ross to rewrite Rabbit Hole playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s draft of Spider-Man 4, original draft penned by James Vanderbilt. Tonight it has been revealed that Sony has hired another screenwriter to take on the webbed Marvel superhero. But not for the fourth film… Sony has hired Vanderbilt to pen the next two films in the Spider-Man franchise, Spider-Man 5 and Spider-Man 6.

According to Variety, Sony Pictures Entertainment liked Vanderbilt’s ideas so much, that they’ve brought him back for two more films, which will feature an interconnected storyline. When James was hired to write the screenplay for the fourth film, the initial plan was to create a fifth story that could also be shot back-to-back. But the idea was scrapped after it became too much of an ordeal to get the entire original cast and creative team to return.

What’s really strange is that Sony still isn’t sure they’ll be back for the fifth and sixth films, and Vanderbilt has apparently been advised that his scripts could be used as the last two parts of the second Spider-Man trilogy or a blueprint for a complete franchise reboot. Either way, it doesn’t sound like the best way to enter into the story development process. Getting the principal members back for a fourth film seemed almost impossible, but the pieces somehow came together in the end. I would be surprised if Raimi and Maguire returned for two more.

Shooting two films back-to-back is the smartest thing Sony could possibly do, as the film’s sequels have been coming increasingly far apart, due mostly to convincing the cast and crew to return. Marvel is revolutionizing this idea by signing cast members to record multi-picture deals at the start. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the first Superhero trilogy, to be shot back-to-back-to-back, greenlit in the next few years.

Spider-Man 4 is gearing to begin production early 2010, and has a scheduled release fate of May 6th 2011

Want to know when the trailers for James Cameron’s Avatar and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air will be online? Details after the jump.

We all know that the first teaser trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar will hit on August 21st, Avatar Day, attached to the new releases of the week. But did you know that the trailer will premiere online the day before? On Friday, Apple began running a countdown on their movie trailer page, advertising the first teaser trailer for the new 3D sci-fi movie. The countdown ends on Thursday at 7:00am, which is when we can expected the trailer to be online. Check back then.

Jason Reitman’s new film, a big screen adaptation of Walter Kim’s novel Up in the Air, will premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. But a few days before that happens, the first trailer will premiere online. The Up in the Air teaser trailer will premiere on Apple on September 10th, and will be attached to The Informant and Love Happens beginning on September 18th.

The film stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and just after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams. We’ll be in Toronto for the premiere, so keep checking back for our coverage. And check back on September 10th for the trailer premiere.

I’ve heard people say that almost everything is better with LEGOs. The Star Wars prequels? yes. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? possibly. LEGO Rock Band? ….? How about LEGO Ninja Assassin?

During Comic-Con, Warner Bros released the first trailer for James McTeigue’s Ninja Assassin. If you haven’t seen it yet, click here. Over the weekend I received a link to the same trailer recreated in stop motion animation by Keshen using legos. The short animated reenactment is actually very well put together. Check it out now after the jump.