The evergreen method of adding “…in space!” to the end of an existing title in order to pitch a “new” film has finally blindsided Greek poet Homer. Good thing he’s not around to not see it. According to Deadline Hollywood, Warners has hired James DiLapo to write a new version of “The Odyssey” that takes place in space. Yes, they literally want to make a space “Odyssey.” DiLapo is a recent NYU grad who earned a Nicholl Fellowship and placement on the Black List with his first script, Devils At Play, but there’s no word yet on how the young talent will be engaging the story and transmitting it into the world of science fiction. At its very core, it could a tale of a captain trying desperately and difficultly to get home, or it could involve more of the direct elements of the classic epic poem. Undoubtedly, it won’t look anything like Ulysses 31 at all.

Warners is hoping to start a beautiful friendship with movie fans by offering digital copies of classic scripts – complete with background information and scenes embedded amidst the dialogue and description. Their digital distribution arm has announced the “Inside The Script” program which makes available these beefed-up versions of the original screenplays for classics for iBookstore, Kindle and NOOK. In addition to the script, a veritable book of production history, production notes, storyboard, pictures, posters and behind-the-scenes pictures are all included in the ten-dollar download (or $9.99 if you’re a stickler for exactitude). Right now, the program includes work from Casablanca, North By Northwest, An American in Paris and Ben-Hur with plans to add more shortly. This seems like a treasure trove of movie geek goodness, but it’ll be interesting to see if fans will shell out ten bucks for the privilege. What’s most interesting here is that this is the kind of material normally relegated to coffee table books and historic tomes that could double as anchors. It’s a sign that the studio is interested in engaging on a digital level. Now to see if that intuition will translate to film distribution itself. Either way, this program is a spectacular idea that could give a lot of fans the chance to delve deeper into a part of the movies they love. I’ll take 3 Casablancas please. For more information, check out Inside The Script’s Facebook Page.  

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly collection of trinkets for the weary-eyed, movie-loving masses. A testament to man’s quest for knowledge, the internet’s infinite wealth of silliness and cat videos, and a totem for the lost souls of movie fandom. Come here, my children, come here and bask in the glory of the best links of the day. We begin tonight’s sermon with a shot of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence looking very 1929 in Serena, the upcoming film from In a Better World director Susanne Bier. It’s about a pair of newlyweds who move from Boston to the wild mountains of North Carolina and produce off-spring. Shenanigans ensue.

In our inaugural weekly edition of Scenes We Love, I wanted to find a perfectly topical scene, seeing as it is Easter Sunday. But as it turns out, there aren’t too many great scenes worth revisiting from “Easter movies.” Unless, of course, you’d like to re-watch Jim Caviezel being whipped to shit as Jesus in Mel Gibson’s 2004 The Passion of the Christ. It’s a well constructed scene that delivers the maximum possible emotional impact, especially for those who really love their Jesus, but it’s not exactly a scene we love. We appreciate it, but we don’t love it. So instead of making you watch Jesus get brutalized, lets watch one of the all-time great race scenes, the Chariot Race from the 1959 William Wyler epic Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston.

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. The word “epic” gets thrown around a lot today. Almost as much as “awesome.” It’s been all but rendered meaningless when connected to how great those buffalo wings were or how pleasing it was to hear the news that the local library was extending its hours. But EPIC used to mean something. And when it did mean something, it was this. This trailer. This movie. All the splendor of Golden Age Hollywood shoved onto a chariot with Charlton Heston cracking the whip and charging full speed ahead. Check out the trailer for yourself:

Yesterday was a tough day for movie fans, and even after writing a lot about Leslie Nielsen, it’s things like this old (unsuccessful) screen test for Ben-Hur that forces a smile even after devastating news. Nielsen did a great job here in the role that would go to Stephen Boyd in William Wyler’s classic. He may have not gotten the part, but his career speaks for itself. All we can do is sit back and enjoy this visual aid in imagining what could have been. [Roger Ebert]

There’s a long, illustrious history of movies that feature characters on quests for vengeance. Here are what we believe to be the ten most notable.

What if the studios had stepped in and mandated that certain projects be 3D. FSR wondered aloud and we came up with 10 films that could’ve, nay, should’ve been made in vivid 3D.