Okay, seriously, what the fuck: R.I.P. "Chinatown" actor Joe Mantell

After three rapid-fire film industry deaths this week already, Joe Mantell, who had over 70 film credits, including Marty and Roman Polanski's Chinatown, in which he delivered the immortal closing line "Forget it, Jake; it's Chinatown", has died at 94; Mantell had not appeared onscreen since 1990's Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes, but that one line could have been the only acting he ever did and he'd still be part of film history.

You dirty mallrat: Warner Bros' offers Ben Affleck period gangster film

After the brilliant one-two punch that was Gone Baby Gone and The Town, Vulture reports that Ben Affleck is being sought by Warner Bros. to direct Tales from the Gangster Squad, a chronicle of the LAPD's cops-for-hire who sought to bring down legendary L.A. gangster Mickey Cohen. Affleck would be working from a script by former South Central cop/novelist Will Beall, and, needless to say, I'm finding the idea of him doing this really exciting. It's thematically similar to his first two without the blue-collar Boston setting, and Affleck has proven can do gritty crime stories with the best of them. Time will tell, if he even accepts the project; assuming he does, let's hope it's more L.A. Confidential than The Black Dahlia.

Tony Curtis dead at 85

This has been a pretty tragic week for moviegoers; on three consecutive days, the world lost longtime Tarantino editor Sally Menke, Bonnie & Clyde and Little Big Man director Arthur Penn, and today, Hollywood institution Tony Curtis. Although Curtis (nee Bernard Schwartz) started out primarily in none-too-substantial heartthrob roles, he eventually showed his dramatic chops in fantastic films like The Sweet Smell of Success and The Defiant Ones, nominated for an Oscar for the latter. His most famous role (other than his real-life role as the husband and Janet Leigh and the father of Jamie Lee Curtis) was probably that of one of the two cross-dressing musicians in the classic comedy Some Like it Hot. Towards the end of his life, although he still acted occasionally, Curtis preferred to focus on his painting. You'll be sorely missed, Tony.

"Mad Men"'s Jared Harris lands role of Moriarty in "Sherlock Holmes" sequel

The perpetual exclusive-havers at Latino Review report that the ever-fantastic Jared Harris, who Mad Men fans know as Lane Pryce and lame bloggers like myself who don't have time to watch Mad Men know as the drunk old sea captain in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, has been cast as Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty in the upcoming sequel to Guy Ritchie's 2009 film. This comes right on the heels of the equally exciting news that Stephen Fry will be playing Holmes' older brother Mycroft. I'm not gonna lie, Harris never occurred to me for the part (I was plumping for Sir Ben Kingsley myself), and it certainly doesn't fit with the rumors that another A-lister would get the role (hence the rumblings about Daniel Day-Lewis and Brad Pitt), but Harris is a great actor and the occasional bit of counterintuitive casting ("Jude Law as Watson?!") didn't hurt the first film. The sequel is scheduled for release December 16, 2011.

Longtime Quentin Tarantino editor Sally Menke dead at 56

Some terrible, terrible news for both moviegoers and humanity in general; according to the L.A. Times, Sally Menke, who handled editing duties for all of Quentin Tarantino's films, and was nominated for the Best Achievement in Editing Academy Award for both Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, was found dead in Beachwood Canyon after going missing yesterday. A cause of death hasn't been confirmed yet, but the Times article seems to suggest the area's extreme heat played a part. I apologize for not figuring out how to embed video yet, but here's Quentin Tarantino praising her phenomenal work.

Fuck it, Dude, let's go bounty-hunting: teaser for the Coens' "True Grit"

Today saw the release of the teaser trailer for Joel and Ethan Coen's eagerly anticipated adaptation of Charles Portis' True Grit, best known for the prior 1969 adaptation that won John Wayne his only Oscar. Most of the trailer's attention is given to newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Mattie Ross, a young girl who hires an alcoholic U.S. marshal (Jeff Bridges) and a Texas ranger (Matt Damon) to help her find the hired hand (Josh Brolin) who killed her father. The trailer gives us our first good look at Damon and Brolin, as well as flashes of the climactic horse-gunfight, which fans of the book and '69 movie may remember as one of the most badass things in human history. Enjoy.

Hulk see you: Mark Ruffalo reports his Hulk will be "Avatar"-esque motion capture

Gifted character actor/Edward Norton replacement Mark Ruffalo tells New York magazine that, unlike Norton and Eric Bana's respective Hulks, his version of the character in the upcoming Avengers film will be "the Avatar stop-action, stop-motion capture. So I'll actually play the Hulk. That'll be fun." Sounds like it could be pretty cool; I'll reserve judgment until I see footage; Ruffalo's involvement with this project is hugely exciting in general.