Thus was announced this morning by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and execs from Columbia Pictures. No title has been revealed (IMDB lists only "Untitled James L. Brooks Project"), but with Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd inked and Brooks directing, sure sounds like a romcom!

Oh yeah, and there will be summer jobs for kids!

From the press release:

The production will bring several qualified DC students on board in conjunction with the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program and the Centralized College Internship Program, providing on-the-job training in film industry functions such as production, locations, art, and accounting.

...The film, slated to spend 14 weeks in pre-production, principal photography, and post-production in the District this summer, will hire over 100 local crew and several hundred local extras. This unique partnership between the District and Columbia Pictures is one of many initiatives aimed at expanding the city’s base of qualified film professionals to serve the growing film industry in Washington, DC.

...The film is written and directed by James L. Brooks and produced by Brooks, Paula Weinstein, Laurence Mark and Julie Ansell. Brooks added, “I had the privilege of filming Broadcast News in the DC area, and no matter how long or hard the day was, on my drive home, I could always look forward to the beauty of the city. It is, to me, the great city of the world. I couldn’t be more excited to be able to work here once more. I am especially grateful to the Mayor and his Film Commission for doing the heavy lifting in allowing us to come.”

UPDATE, 1:10 P.M.: Some more (unreliable) info from the IMDB comments: "the movie is called, "How Do You Know?" and the quick synopsis is..Rudd will play the part of a businessman vying for Witherspoon's affections, while Wilson is slated for the role of a professional baseball pitcher out to steal her heart." Another says "Looks like it will be a baseball movie...Reports today says Owen Wilson was sitting in the Texas Rangers bullpen during their spring training against the Colorado Rockies."

Well, not literally, but moviegoers and fans of prog can catch the godfather of strange-rock's most notorious film, Uncle Meat, next week at the Library of Congress.

Surprised to learn that an institution as fundamentally square as the LoC would screen something as inherently controversial as a Zappa flick? (Four of them, actually.) Norman Middleton says, Don't be.

A senior producer at the Library of Congress and the host of the Frank Zappa Mini-Film Festival, Middleton begins his defense of the film schedule--which includes obscenity-laden classics like Uncle Meat, The Amazing Mr. Bickford, Does Humor Belong in Music?, and Motels--by clarifying that Zappa is not obscene--"he's diverse."

Read More "Frank Zappa’s Ghost Visits the Library of Congress" »

I seldom pray anymore, but when I do, I pray for Zombie Apocalypse. That's right: I long for a scorched globe ravaged by nuclear fallout and inhabited by the living dead. I fantasize about charting and following an escape route out of the District and establishing a post-apocalyptic, libertarian paradise. But mostly, I dream of fucking up zombies, all day. Every day.

Read More "5 Reasons to Rent Re-Animator" »