Lucas will be playing the role of Mitchell McDeere, the role made famous by Tom Cruise in the film. The story picks up ten years later as McDeere and family (I guess he had some kids) emerge from the witness protection program to discover that threats to their safety still exist. If Josh Lucas is capable of running down the street in a suit half as well as Tom Cruise was, we’re in for a treat.

“The Firm” will premiere at mid-season on NBC, and will continue to air until Mitch McDeere completely runs out of things to run away from.

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As a young associate, McDeere brought down a prestigious Memphis law firm, which operated as a front for the Chicago mob — and his life was never the same. After a difficult decade, which included a stay in the Federal Witness Protection program, Mitch and his family now emerge from isolation to reclaim their lives and their future — only to find that past dangers are still lurking and new threats are everywhere.

As such, it’s unlikely Brimley will be doing any stalking. But it would be doable if they get him a Jazzy Powerchair. One of the quieter models. (Deadline)

“Franco plays William Vincent, a quiet and mysterious criminal. When he falls for a New York gangster’s (Josh Lucas) favorite call girl (Julianne Nicholson), Vincent is forced to flee the city, threatened with death if he should ever return. But after four years in exile, Vincent secretly returns intent on rescuing the woman he loves from her dangerous fate.”

Sounds pretty cool. The movie is coming out on DVD, Blu-ray, and VOD on June 7, but you can see a clip from the movie above. Enjoy, because Franco just doesn’t have enough of your attention yet. (Film School Rejects)

This isn’t the only Kerouac movie to be coming out soon, as On The Road is coming out, too. So if you were ever going to finally read On The Road, now would be the time. (Deadline)

The Lincoln Lawyer is a perfectly average legal drama. I trust that the book is exactly like this, totally programmed to hit standard beats in the plot. It’ll serve its purpose in theaters just like a paperback novel does.

Michael Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a lawyer working out of his car, a Lincoln Continental. He’s so slick and smooth talking, he gets a judge to give him an extension while he waits for a client to extend his retainer. Then he goads the client for money for an expert witness, when he really already has the witness in hand.

You learn just enough about Haller to like him, which is the standard cliché. He takes care of his chauffeur, keeping him employed even after he got his own driver’s license back. He has a daughter with prosecutor Maggie (Marisa Tomei), and the only reason they broke up is because they’re on different sides of the court.

The real case is Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillipe), a rich boy accused of beating lady of the night Reggie Campo (Margarita Levieva). Louis is hard to like because he’s so privileged and frequently uses an ignorant epithet for gays. Of course, the case isn’t simply he said/she said so Haller’s values are tested.

The point of the movie is to take Haller from a guy so smooth he doesn’t even need an office to a haggard, disheveled wreck. In the beginning, he manipulates the media and the D.A. but Louis really turns the tables on Haller. If you want to see McConaughey sweat, this is the movie for you.

Haller still does a good job for Louis. He baits prosecutor Ted Minton (Josh Lucas) into revealing an attack on Louis’ mother, so the jury ends up sympathizing. We knew about the attack but how it comes up in trial is skillful lawyering. Also Lucas and McConaughey engage in a drawl off.

The plot is smug and contrived. Everything works out neatly but the film moves through the plot briskly. The courtroom scenes really have no personality. There’s no political agenda or flair like on “Boston Legal.” Even the one-liners like Corliss the snitch’s (Shea Whigham) comments on the stand or Val Valenzuela’s (John Leguizamo) research comments are not funny. The audience sort of laughs because it’s the right time, but they’re not funny.

I thin The Lincoln Lawyer should represent the Fast and the Furious gang. He’s on the road, they’re on the run, can he get them out of trouble? That’s a movie I would see.

Not content sticking to one historically significant character per year, Lucas is also in the running to be no less than Honest Abe himself in the much-anticipated film adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Lucas seems like an odd pick to play Lincoln, but the entire premise of the movie seems odd, so who knows what will work and what won’t.

Further solidifying the assertion that Lucas has caught “Lincoln Fever,” Lucas’ next role will be opposite Matthew McConaughey in The Lincoln Lawyer, about a lawyer who practices out of the back of his Lincoln automobile. Josh Lucas: One-stop shopping for all your cinematic Lincoln-related needs. (Deadline)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

For those not hip to the concept here, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was originally a novel with a revisionist take on Lincoln‘s presidency, and by “revisionist” I mean the author asked, “Hey! Wouldn’t it be cool if Lincoln killed vampires?” Author and screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith has a pedigree in this type of mash-up, also having penned the sleeper best-seller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The man has a style, that’s for sure.

It goes without saying that AL:VH will be brought shot and shown in magnificent 3-D, which we can hope will be a more immersive experience than Burton’s last outing, Alice in Wonderland.

The casting decision is, of course, a big one, but let’s not give too much weight to the actor playing Lincoln. When you’ve got Abe Lincoln throwing axes at Dracula, you’ve clearly waved goodbye to realism a long time ago.

The film has a pretty diverse cast: McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, Michael Pena, Margarita Levieva, and most notably Josh Lucas. What was Brad Furman thinking when he cast McConaughey and Lucas against each other? Doesn’t he know that they can’t be in the same place at the same time? A) it confuses the baby, and B) if they touch, the universe will fold in on itself.