Screen Talk: Gad and Dixon treble the fun

Josh Gad, above, the star of Broadway's The Book of Mormon, and Ryan Dixon, who oversees operations at screenwriting-analysis website ScriptShark, have closed a deal to write Triplets, a sequel to the 1988 hit comedy Twins, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. The project is backed by Universal.

May the force be with Arndt

So it falls to Toy Story 3 writer Michael Arndt to pen episode seven of the Star Wars franchise. Disney's $4bn deal to buy George Lucas's Lucasfilm studio came with Arndt, above, who has written a treatment bringing the saga of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, to a close in a new trilogy.

Hilary Swank billed to play ill

Hilary Swank, above, Emmy Rossum and Josh Duhamel are in the cast for drama You're Not You. George C Wolfe directs the adaptation of the Michelle Wildgen book about a self-absorbed college student whose life is changed when she takes a job caring for a woman with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Lego movie under construction

Alison Brie, above, is joining Elizabeth Banks as a female cast member for the upcoming animated film Lego 3D. And she'll be in good company, with Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson and Nick Offerman joining a movie that already boasts Chris Pratt, Will Arnett and Morgan Freeman. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller direct.

Big-screen outing for MacGyver

A big-screen version of the 1980s US TV series MacGyver starring Richard Dean Anderson, above, looks ever likelier. New Line is negotiating with James Wan (Saw), to direct. Jason Richman (Bangkok Dangerous) has written the script, with revisions by Brian and Mark Gunn, about a detective who uses objects to solve crimes.

Penn set to up the action ante

Sean Penn is being lined up for his own potential action-movie franchise. The Oscar-winning actor, above, is in talks about Prone Gunman, a thriller based on a Jean-Patrick Manchette novel, with script by Peter Travis, about an agent betrayed by the organisation he works for who has to go on the run across Europe.