Monty Python is the gold standard for which all modern comedy troupes tend to be judged on. In the ’70s and ’80s the Pythons perfected TV sketch comedy and transitioned into films with excellent results. So many of the bits and several of their feature films are bona fide classics.

Unfortunately the untimely passing of Graham Chapman marked the end of a legendary era, with most of the remaining members gaining success in other areas of entertainment during the next two decades. Now, according to Variety, Terry Jones has managed to get the guys back together for a new film he is directing.

Plans are for filming to begin in the U.K. this spring, with the Pythons voicing key roles as a a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do “absolutely anything” to see what a mess he’ll make of things — which is precisely what happens. There’s also a talking dog named Dennis who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does. Robin Williams will voice the character.

“It’s not a Monty Python picture, but it certainly has that sensibility,” Jones told Variety.

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Over the past two decades, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens has almost been made into a movie several times. Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam tried for years to put the comic fantasy on film, but the infamously unlucky auteur (see the wonderful doc Lost in La Mancha) could never make it happen.

There has been talk lately of a possible TV miniseries, but many of the book’s fans still hold out hope for a feature. But who could bring Good Omens‘s outrageous characters to life?

Take a look at our picks after the jump.

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The last year has been a very good one for high profile comedies, with several new movies that have been both hilarious and very profitable. When that magic mixture is achieved you can be sure that the principles are going to be getting a lot more work.

Two of the more surprising successes of the year were Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses and now it looks like key members from both films are joining forces on their next project. Deadline is exclusively reporting that director Seth Gordon has tapped Melissa McCarthy to star along side his Horrible Bosses star Jason Bateman in his next film, Identity Theft.

McCarthy was one of the best parts of Bridesmaids and has made a lot of strides towards mainstream popularity in the last twelve months. Between an Emmy for her work in Mike & Molly and stealing the show on a recent Saturday Night Live, it will be interesting to see if she can parlay that momentum into starring role success.

Seth Gordon, on the other hand, is finally showing off why people were excited about his vision after his great debut documentary The King of Kong. Hopefully working together will bring their careers to new levels of greatness, because the world can always use great female comedy leads and strong comedy directors.

It is in fashion right now to bash on remakes and reboots. That line of thinking may or may not be warranted, but you should hear none of it when talking about the upcoming Evil Dead reboot.

Of all the horror franchise that have been revived in the last decade, none more than the Evil Dead series is more malleable. The franchise has always reinvented itself with each new installment, so a new, modern reboot shouldn’t cause immediate concern.

The movie is going to begin filming in a few months and Bloody Disgusting has the scoop on the first bit of casting:

Bloody Disgusting has learned exclusively that Lily Collins (The Blind Side, Priest, Mirror Mirror) is in final negotiations to play “Mia” in FilmDistrict’s reboot aiming for release on April 12, 2013.

In this version, the story centers on five friends (David, Natalie, Eric, Olivia, and Mia) holed up at a remote cabin where they discover a Book of the Dead with a demonic force unleashed possessing each until only one is left to fight for survival.

Lily Collins is a great young actress who shined in The Blind Side and even in the otherwise horrid Priest. We don’t know which of the characters is going to be the “Ash” archetype, but rumors have bubbled up that Raimi wanted a girl to fill that role. Could that be Lily Collins’ Mia? Only time will tell.

We told told you recently that Peter Weller and Alice Eve had signed on to the cast of the new Star Trek sequel, joining the original crew and Benicio Del Toro who was in talks to play the villain. The speculation ran wild that Del Toro would be playing Kirk nemesis extraordinaire Kahn Noonian Singh. The one thing we can now know for certain is that Del Toro will not be Kahn, because he will not be in the movie.

Vulture is reporting that the talks between the actor and the producers broke down due to monetary issues. The speculation of the movie’s villain being Kahn had a lot to do with the fact that Del Toro fits the same mold that Ricardo Montalban so famously inhabited. J.J. Abrams has denied these rumors, but J.J. loves to keep things secret and anything he says about a movie in this stage of development is far from an official proclamation.

Those rumors might just get another boost as Variety reports Edgar Ramirez is now in talks to take over Del Toro’s assumed role. There is enough in common between Del Toro, Ramirez and Montalban that should keep the flames of Kahn hope alive and well for a few more weeks. 

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The most recent James Bonds films have had a significantly more serious tone than usual for the spy series. The first casualties of a heavier Bond film were the lighter, side characters that have been a fixture of the franchise for the last half a century. Well the most beloved of these characters has just been granted a reprieve, as Ben Whishaw, who has already been announced as part of the cast, will be playing  Q in the new 007 adventure, Skyfall.

BBC reported over the holiday weekend that the character of Q will be returning to the big screen in the next Bond film.

At the age of 31, Whishaw is 12 years younger than Bond actor Daniel Craig, a first for the Q character. Whishaw recently starred in the BBC’s 1950s news drama The Hour.”

“The role of 007′s gadget designer was played by Desmond Llewelyn in From Russia With Love and most recently by John Cleese, opposite Pierce Brosnan, in 2002′s Die Another Day.

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If you haven’t been watching HBO’s Game of Thrones, an adaptation of the novels by George R.R. Martin, you’re really missing out. It’s a great show full of amazing characters, action, drama, sex, violence and more all in a world that’s fully realized and seems all to real. Even with the show on hiatus until next season that hasn’t stopped the producers from adding new cast members to the show.

The latest major casting announcement is that Irish actor Liam Cunningham has been been set for the part of Davos Seaworth for the show’s second season. In case you’re not familiar with the actors’s work, check out the recent series Camelot on Starz and the Clash of the Titans remake. He was one of the many actors that was much better than Sam Worthington.

In the books, Davos is a former smuggler. He earned the nickname “The Onion Knight” after successfully getting food into Stannis Baratheon’s besieged castle during the war that put Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne. In season two, Stannis enlists Davos to help him seize the Iron Throne from the punk King Joffrey.

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You have to hand it to Quentin Tarantino. Besides being a very talented director who tells interesting stories well he’s also got the ability to put together some great ensemble casts. From his fist film Reservoir Dogs, through his most recent Inglorious Basterds, the director never ceases to lock in some great actors for his films.

He’s continuing that trend with his upcoming Sergio Leone-inspired western Django Unchained. He’s already got Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Now, according to Deadline, we can add Oscar-winner Kevin Costner to the mix as well.

According to the report, Costner would play Ace Woody, “the sadistic trainer of the male fighting slaves who entertain the white patrons of Candyland as well as the female slaves who are forced to be prostitutes. The club and ranch are owned by Calvin Candie (DiCaprio) and Ace Woody is the one who pits the “mandingo” fighters against one another.” Sounds like a nice guy. Mmm, not.

Once Coster is set for the role he and DiCaprio should make an interesting pair of bad guys. I’m sure it will be very interesting to see how it all turns out. The film is set to go into production in the Fall with an eye to a late 2012 release.

We’ll bring you more on this film as we get it.

Quentin Tarantino will be making time during the pre-production of his upcoming western, Django Unchained, to appear in a film from legendary spaghetti western star Franco Nero. Before the announcement of what Tarantino’s next project would be, we heard rumors that he would be working with Nero on his next project.

Most assumed once Tarantino’s western was announced, that Nero would be involved in this film. Many were surprised that once the cast for Django Unchained had been announced, including names like Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson, that Nero’s name wasn’t among them.

It seems the rumors were true and they will be working together, just not on Django. According to Nero, Tarantino has agreed to make an appearance in the actor’s upcoming film The Angel, The Brute and The Wise. So now, instead of Nero acting in a Tarantino’s film, we’ll get Tarantino acting in Nero’s.

In a recent interview with Box Office Magazine, Nero explained his pitch to Quentin. “I said ‘Quentin, we are going to do a western. It would be an homage to Sergio Leone and John Huston, the director that discovered me, and would you be so kind to play a cameo?’ And he said…‘Oh, great, so I can come with Robert Rodriguez and my friends to play them?’ I said, yeah! That would be great!”

It seems it is Nero’s lucky day, as he gets a cameo from not only Tarantino, but he also get Robert Rodriguez and some of  Tarantino’s other celebrity friends.

Even though Tarantino’s role is more of an extended cameo than a co-starring role, Nero will undoubtedly have to accommodate Tarantino and his friends when it comes to production.

After a long run, and multiple Emmy Awards, on David E. Kelly’s Boston Legal and The Practice, as well as a terrific guest spot on The Office season finale, James Spader will be back on TV in a more permanent role in the Fall.

That’s right, Spader will be joining NBC’s The Office next season. He won’t, however, be a replacement for Steve Carell’s Michael Scott. Instead, Spader will return to his role as Robert California, who has been hired as the CEO of Sabre, Dunder Mifflin’s parent company.

This is good news for those Spader fans out there (and here at The Flickcast). His work on The Office was pretty great and could help the show stay funny and bring in viewers. Good job NBC.

If you want to know more, click through for the official press release from NBC. The Office returns later this year.

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Even though it kinda ended poorly, ABC’s Lost was still a pretty great show. One of the reasons we liked it so much was the terrific work of one of its stars: Terry O’Quinn.

You may remember he played the enigmatic John Locke for the show’s entire run and played it to the hilt. We’ve always hoped he would return to the island for some more action and now it seems we are getting our wish. How?

Well, according to TV Line, O’Quinn is heading back to the island for a protracted guest arc on the CBS show Hawaii Five-O. The gig not only brings the Emmy winner back to the island, it also reunites him with Lost castmate and Five-0 regular Daniel Dae Kim.

On the show O’Quinn will play a Navy Seal Lt. Commander who trained Alex O’Loughlin’s McGarrett in Coronado, and served with his father in Vietnam. Described as strong, stubborn and a man you want in your corner when things go south, the character holds some of the answers to the mysteries surrounding the respective murders of McGarrett’s mother and father.

Sounds good to us. Guess we’ll have to start watching Hawaii Five-0 again.

As we told you previously, Kiefer Sutherland is returning to TV after a break to do some plays and will be starring in Fox’s new Tim Kring created drama Touch. Now we’re happy to report that Sutherland won’t be alone in the series.

According to reports, the former 24 star will be joined by Lethal Weapon‘s own Danny Glover in the new show. Glover will play Arthur DeWitt, a professor and expert on children who possess special gifts when it comes to numbers.

Obviously, from what we know about the show so far, he will probably work with Sutherland’s character and his son who can predict events before they happen. Sounds like a pretty killer crimefighting team.

I wonder if Sutherland’s character will end up shooting anyone in the leg? Maybe we’ll just have to wait for the 24 movie to see that. Until then look for Touch to debut midseason if Fox decides to pick it up after seeing the pilot.

With Sutherland’s track record for the network and Glover’s appeal to Roger Murtaugh fans everywhere, I would bet we’ll see this show get picked up. If only Tim Kring wasn’t involved. Oh well, that probably means the show will be good for the first season and then turn to crap.