"The Black Dahlia" footage

I was trying to think of a great L.A. period crime drama since "L.A. Confidential," but I came up blank. Leave it to a mad (sometime) genius like Brian De Palma to fill that void.

Coming soon will be "The Black Dahlia," based on the true-crime novel by James Ellroy about the murder of fledling "actress" Elizabeth Short in the '40s. I usually take my crime in the fictional variety, and most often by George Pelecanos (his latest, "The Night Gardener," is a stunner). That said, Ellroy is a first-rate true-crime novelist, and he has been obssessed with this story for much of his life.

The movie focuses on two detectives (Josh Hartnett and Aaron Eckhart) who investigate the case and end up exposing deep corruption in the LAPD (I know this all sounds quite familiar, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun!) Along the way, of course, we'll need quite a few femme fatales, major and minor, including Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank, Rose McGowan, Rachel Miner and Mia Kirshner (as Elizabeth Short.)

Brian De Palma has hit ("Scarface," "The Untouchables") as many times as he has missed ("Mission to Mars," "Bonfire of the Vanities), but he definitely has the epic ambitions to pull this off.

Up at the official site is a behind-the-scenes featurette featuring interviews with Ellroy (who also wrote the novel "L.A. Confidential) and others plus some footage that gives you a little taste of what it all will look like. Click here to enjoy and let me know what you think.

A Kevin Smith horror movie?

I know there are many smartasses out there who would say Kevin Smith has been making horror movies of a sort for years now, but I tend to ignore those people as best I can.

What I'm talking about here is something completely different. According to an Ain't It Cool spy who had the pleasure to attend a recent evening with Mr. Smith and "Clerks II," he's definitely planning to exit the comfort of the View Askewniverse to make a full-fledged horror movie.

Here, according to AICN, is what he had to say:

"Yes, I am doing a horror movie next. It's entitled 'Jersey Girl 2.' No, I'm kidding, but yes, I am doing a horror movie next." When asked if it would be a comedy horror, "No, its going to be straight horror. I feel after 7 comedies its time to take a left turn and do a straight up different movie, in this case horror. Its gonna have all of the horror you'd expect, blood and guts...and tits. No, no, no, not that, I'm talkin about man tits. What? What's so bad about man tits? I have tits! They're sexy! And hairy...but, yeah, I'm doin a horror movie." And finally, when asked as to when, he said that it "wouldn't be for a year or two. I just got done makin a movie, I'm not rushing into another. Probably two years."

When it comes to Mr. Smith, I'm a true believer, so whatever comes of this goofy plan, I'll definitely be there to see it. No word yet on whether or not that tool Joel Seigel will get a grisly decapitation, but one can always hope.

John C. Reilly to Walk Hard

For the record, I liked "Ray" quite a bit and "Walk the Line" even more. Heck, I'm even looking forward to Todd Haynes' trippy take on Dylan and Bill Condon's Oscar-bait "Dreamgirls."

However, the musician biopic has come close to the saturation point, and is ripe for a little ribbing from funny people like Judd Apatow, John C. Reilly and Jake Kasdan.

Columbia Pictures has apparently acquired the comedy pitch "Walk Hard," which Apatow and Kasdan will write and produce as a vehicle for Reilly. Kasdan will direct. It will center on the fictional music legend Dewey Cox (Reilly), who will surely hit more than few bumps on his road to stardom.

"It's an idea Jake had after seeing one too many musical biopics and feeling it was time to have some fun with that," Reilly told Variety. "My character is an amalgamation of a number of classic musician stories, tales of excess, highs and lows and bad behavior."

Reilly definitely has soul and growing comic timing, so I can't see any way this won't be anything but great.