'8 Mile' actor set to star in hacker culture indie flick 'Confess'

Byrd will play Terell Lessor, a hacker who uses spy cameras on big business and government figures to disseminate unwitting confessions on a popular website.

"In watching Eugene in his many acting roles, I've always been impressed by his focus, intensity, and range," Schaefer said. "This talent, coupled with the passion and ideas he brought to our initial discussions, convinced me he was perfect for the lead role."

Byrd recently played the male lead in director DeMane Davis's "Lift." His other credits include "White Boys," Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man," and Barry Levinson's "Sleepers."

THEY SPY: Video director Liz Friedlander will make her feature film debut with "So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Spy?," a film that asks, "What if a world-famous rock band were really `Mission: Impossible'-style spies?"

The story follows a female bandleader who, tired of the double life of spy and rock star, decides she wants out. The government will only let her leave if she trains her replacement, a 15-year-old girl who wants a quick ticket to fame and fortune. The project is being penned by Jill Tohber.

Friedlander has carved out a niche for herself in the traditionally male-dominated video directing field, helming for the likes of U2, blink-182, Celine Dion, Michelle Branch, Kelly Clarkson, and Dido. Her video for Branch's "Everywhere" won the 2002 MTV Viewers' Choice Video Music Award.

The music-themed film is expected to use original music from high-profile songwriters.

UNDERWATER ADVENTURE: Josh Brolin has jumped into the John Stockwell-directed "Into the Blue," with Paul Walker, Jessica Alba, and Ashley Scott set to star. Shooting starts in mid-January.

"Into the Blue," written by Matt Johnson, is an underwater adventure about a group of scuba-diving friends who discover the sunken wreckage of a plane off the Florida coast. The plane contains illegal cargo, and the divers find themselves involved with a dangerous drug lord. Brolin will play the boss of Alba's character.

Brolin most recently starred on the TV series "Mister Sterling" for NBC.

LATIN FLAVOR: Jessy Terrero, who makes his directorial debut on the upcoming urban comedy "Soul Plane," has struck a deal with "Y Tu Mama Tambien" producer Jorge Vergara and executive producer Sergio Aguero to adapt his Sundance-award-winning short film "The Clinic" to a full-length feature. The feature is described as a Latin-flavored "Friday" centering on 24 hours in the life of one character in Jamaica, Queens, and the characters that surround him.

"MOUNTAIN" MAN: Following his summer special-effects extravaganza "The Hulk," Ang Lee is taking on a big-screen adaptation of "Brokeback Mountain."

The film, based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx and to be adapted by Proulx and "Lonesome Dove" author Larry McMurtry, is an epic love story set against the vistas of Wyoming and Texas. It centers on the connection forged between two young men -- a ranch hand and a rodeo cowboy -- who meet in the summer of 1961.

"BATMAN" BUTLER: Oscar-winning British actor Michael Caine is up for the role of Bruce Wayne's loyal butler, Alfred, in Christopher Nolan's upcoming installment of the "Batman" franchise. Caine, who last starred opposite Haley Joel Osment in "Secondhand Lions," would join new Batman Christian Bale. Michael Gough played Alfred in the last four Batman movies.

Caine has twice won Oscars for best supporting actor, for 1986's "Hannah and Her Sisters," and for 1999's "The Cider House Rules." "Batman" would be his first superhero movie -- unless you count playing Austin Powers's father in "Austin Powers: Goldmember."

AUTHOR DELIVERS: The film rights to J. Robert Lennon's fourth novel, "Mailman," have been optioned for Robert Evans to produce. The story is a black comedy about neurotic mailman Albert Lippincott, whose quest for love and professional fulfillment causes him to descend from mild eccentricity into madness during three decades on the job.

Lennon's debut novel, "The Light From Falling Stars" was published in 1997 and followed by "The Funnies" and "On the Night Plain."

BLOOD BROTHERS: "Punk'd" stars Dax Shepard and Al Shearer have graduated from their prankster ways on Ashton Kutcher's MTV series and are getting into the movie business. The duo have set up an untitled project based on their own idea, sources confirmed. In it, they will star as two guys from different racial backgrounds who find out they are actually brothers who must compete against each other for an inheritance. They are looking for a scribe to pen the feature.

Shepard is directing the comedy "Without a Paddle" alongside Matthew Lillard and Seth Green. Shearer, who is under contract with MTV to appear on shows such as "TRL," has a cameo in the upcoming "Honey" for director Bille Woodruff.

BIG CHILL: Bruce Hendricks, longtime president of physical production for the Walt Disney Studios, is in negotiations to helm his first feature, "Antarctica." Written by David DiGilio, it is based on the true story of a group of explorers trying to escape an Antarctic winter with their dogs.

Hendricks executive-produced "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.

Material from Globe wire services, variety.com, hollywoodreporter.com, imdb.com, and ew.com was used in this report.