Gossip Here I'll include some of the juicier stuff I hear. No guarantee of the accuracy of what you read in this column! 
April 2, 2001
Meow: Judd Is the New Catwoman
Warner Bros. already has two Batman films in development, but they're squeezing even more mileage out of one of their biggest franchises.
Now the Caped Crusader's nemesis-slash-secret-love, Catwoman, is getting a movie of her own. Ashley Judd, whose Someone Like You just opened last weekend, has agreed to play the nine-lived female villain, Variety reports.
The petite star already demonstrated her box-office clout in 1999 with the surprise success of the thriller Double Jeopardy, and before that, with her turn as a kick-boxing kidnap victim in Kiss the Girls.
Michelle Pfeiffer, who played Catwoman to purr-fection in Batman Returns, was presumably unavailable to reprise the role.
The fifth and sixth Batman films in development are a live-action prequel, to be directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), and a futuristic version based on the WB Network cartoon Batman Beyond. No casting has been announced for either film yet.
Judd won't have far to look for tips on how to act in tights: Her current Someone co-star, Hugh Jackman, played Wolverine in last year's X-Men.
September 22, 2000
Freeman Turns to Crimes for Judd
Though in-demand star Ashley Judd opted out of the prequel to her 1997 breakout hit Kiss the Girls, she is anxious to reunite with Girls co-star Morgan Freeman so much so that she's specifically asked the buttery-voiced actor to join her on the set of her newest film, High Crimes.
Freeman, currently starring as a hit man in Nurse Betty, said yes. According to USA Today, he and Judd portray lawyers defending Judd's husband, a military man accused of murder.
Freeman, currently starring as a hit man in Nurse Betty, said yes. According to USA Today, he and Judd portray lawyers defending Judd's husband, a military man accused of murder.
"Any team that works once would work twice or more," Freeman said of the reteaming. Too bad, then, that Freeman had to go it alone for Along Came a Spider, another film in the Kiss the Girls franchise, written by James Patterson. Instead of Judd, the movie will star Monica Potter (Patch Adams, Con Air) as a Secret Service agent tracking serial killer "Casanova."
Along Came a Spider doesn't seem to have the $60 million potential of its predecessor Paramount recently bumped the thriller from Sept. 29 to a 2001 release date.
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