The Daily Dish: April 22

-- Jolie set to play doctor. According to Variety, Fox 2000 is set to acquire the screen rights to Patricia Cornwell's Dr. Kay Scarpetta mystery series as a starring vehicle for Angelina Jolie. The film isn't tied to one specific title amid the sixteen-novel series, but that doesn't mean the studio isn't looking to launch a franchise with this deal. Jason Bourne anyone? The rights to the novels were previously acquired in 1992 by Columbia Pictures, but they eventually let the deal lapse as they were unable to put a feature into production. The current deal has been months in the making and only fell into place recently once Jolie personally met with the author to lock down the creative direction that both the character and the film would take.

-- Cruise gets scripts tailor-made. Tom Cruise has had his fair share of ups (Tropic Thunder) and major downs (Oprah couch jumping and Matt Lauer smackdown) recently so perhaps it does not come as a surprise that he is mighty picky about what projects he takes up and what he passes on. What may be a surprise is how much is being spent by studios to get him to sign onto their projects. According to Variety, the actor/producer currently has four films on his radar and all of them are undergoing extensive re-writes, at a cost of $250,000 per week, to make the lead role more suitable for Cruise. Because of shooting schedules, he will only be able to take on one of the four but which will it be? Len Wiseman’s Motorcade, The Tourist with Charlize Theron, Wichita with Cameron Diaz, or David Cronenberg's The Matarese Circle? Economic crisis? What economic crisis?

-- Demetri Martin lines up to play Moneyball with Brad Pitt. Comedian and “Daily Show” correspondant Demetri Martin is about to hit the big time. He recently launched his own show on Comedy Central called “Important Things with Demetri Martin”, he stars in the upcoming Ang Lee film Taking Woodstock, and has just been cast in Steven Soderbergh’s next film Moneyball alongside heavy-hitter Brad Pitt. The film tells the story of revolutionary Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (Pitt) with Martin taking on the part of Harvard statistician Paul De Podesta, according to Variety. The film, currently in pre-production, is scheduled to start filming in June and will feature cameos by baseball greats David Justice, Scott Hatteberg, Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra. If you’ve ever heard any of Martin’s fantastic standup, then you, like me, might be finding it hard to picture him in a flat-out dramatic role but I can’t wait to see what he does with the part.