Los Angeles (E! Online) – Drew Barrymore knows a thing or two about extraterrestrials, so vampires shouldn't be too much of a stretch.
The E.T. actress is in talks to direct Eclipse, the third entry in the Twilight franchise.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Barrymore is among the top choices to follow in the footsteps of Catherine Hardwicke, who helmed Twilight, and Chris Weitz, who's about to start filming the first sequel, New Moon.
Hardwicke opted out of the franchise because she felt she didn't have enough breathing room to do the follow-up justice. And because of producer Summit Entertainment's tight release schedule—New Moon is set for a Nov. 20, 2009, release and Eclipse just six months later, on June 30, 2010—Weitz will be in post-production on New Moon while Eclipse is filming.
Barrymore has just wrapped her feature-directing debut with Whip It!, starring Ellen Page.
A rep for Barrymore declined to comment on the report.
Meanwhile, in the day's other big movie news:
• Eddie Murphy is attached to star as his idol, Richard Pryor, in a new biopic being written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls). Murphy is reportedly taking a big paycut for the potentially Oscar-bait project, according to Entertainment Weekly.
• Antonio Banderas has been wooed for Woody Allen's next project, per Variety, joining an all-star ensemble that includes Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Anthony Hopkins. As usual, the Oscar-winning auteur is keeping a tight lid on the plot of the untitled flick, which starts shooting this summer in London.
• Returning to his stand-up roots for the first time in seven years, Robin Williams will do a brief five-night residency at Broadway's Neil Simon Theater April 28-May 3 as part of his latest solo show, Weapons of Self-Destruction. The funnyman kicked off an 80-city trek earlier this month in Santa Barbara, Calif.
• Per the Hollywood Reporter, Seth Green has signed on to star in Disney's Mars Needs Moms, the Robert Zemeckis-produced CGI adaptation of Berkeley Breathed's children's book about a boy who stows away aboard a UFO to save his mom (Joan Cusack) from a bunch of ETs. Dan Fogler and Mindy Sterling costar.
• Chris O'Donnell coming aboard CBS' NCIS spin-off opposite LL Cool J. The actor will play Callen, the troubled, mysterious lead agent of a squad of naval investigators whose reputation for undercover work is impeccable. The show debuts later this season as a two-hour special.
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(E! Online)
