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(Nov. 23) - The Screen Actors Guild said Saturday it willask its members to authorize a strike after its first contracttalks in four months with Hollywood studios failed despite the helpof a federal mediator.

Federal mediator Juan Carlos Gonzalez adjourned the talksbetween SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and TelevisionProducers shortly before 1 a.m. after two marathon sessions failedto produce an agreement. No new talks are scheduled.

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Movie Casting News

Jim Carrey, Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn are almost locked in to play 'The Three Stooges' in a movie hopefully coming out in 2010. Penn will be Larry, Carrey will be Curly and Del Toro will rock Moe.

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Mickey Rourke has negotiated more green to play a Russian villain in 'Iron Man 2.' According to Variety, Marvel wanted to give the actor $250,000. He'll play a hybrid of 2 characters: Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo.

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Michel Gondry to direct 'Green Hornet'
The hyper-eccentric 'Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind' director will man the lens of Seth Rogen's superhero movie.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger is doing Sylvester Stallone a solid by agreeing to shoot a rare cameo for his upcoming flick 'The Expendables,' about a group of mercenaries trying to take down a South American dictator. Arnie will play himself: California governor. Other stars of the film include Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke.

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Dakota Fanning will star in 'Twilight' sequel, 'New Moon'
The nearly-15-year-old actress has been offered the part of Jane in the film.

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The Sun is reporting that Eddie Murphy has signed on to play the role in the next 'Batman' movie, slated for 2010. He'd be reprising the role last played by Jim Carrey in 1995.

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Anne Hathaway cast in 'Alice in Wonderland'
The 'Rachel Getting Married' star joins Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's sure-to-be-trippy take on the beloved book. She'll play the benevolent White Queen, while Burton has tapped his main squeeze, Helena Bonham Carter, to play the bloodlusting Red Queen.

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Steve Carell cast in 'Get Smart 2'
The 'Office' funnyman has signed on to reprise his role as bumbling superagent Maxwell Smart in a sequel to the summer hit. Title suggestion: 'Get Smarterer.'

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Johnny Depp cast in 'Pirates of the Caribbean 4,' 'Alice in Wonderland' & 'Lone Ranger'
Depp will reprise his role as swashbuckling, rum-swilling Captain Jack in a fourth 'Pirates' flick, play the tea-party-loving Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's live-action 'Alice in Wonderland' and play the Lone Ranger's sidekick Tonto in Jerry Bruckheimer's 'Lone Ranger.'

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Rachel McAdams cast in 'Sherlock Holmes'
The 'Wedding Crashers' beauty will play Irene Adler, enigmatic love interest to the eponymous detective (Robert Downey Jr.) in Guy Ritchie's action-oriented take on the legendary sleuth. Jude Law co-stars as Watson.

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The SAG, representing more than 120,000 actors in movies,television and other media, said in a statement that it will launcha "full-scale education campaign in support of a strikeauthorization."

Talks broke down after the studios sought the right to createproductions for new media, such as the Internet, using nonunionactors and without paying residuals, said Doug Allen, SAG nationalexecutive director and chief negotiator.

Residuals are payments to actors that are made every time aproduction airs, such as TV reruns. Many SAG members rely onresiduals for more than half of their income, Allen said.

"They're asking us to bless a system we believe would be thebeginning of the end of residuals, and that's a very scary thoughtfor working actors," he said.

The producers' alliance condemned the SAG decision and said itremains the only major Hollywood guild without a labor deal thisyear.

"Now, SAG is bizarrely asking its members to bail out thefailed negotiating strategy with a strike vote - at a time ofhistoric economic crisis," a producers' statement said. "Thetone-deafness of SAG is stunning."

SAG's national board has already authorized its negotiatingcommittee to call for a strike authorization vote if mediationfailed. The vote would take more than a month and require more than75 percent approval to pass.

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Celebrity TV Casting

'Melrose Place' Is Coming Back
The sex-and-fight-filled '90s drama is following in the steps of '90210' and being reprised and revamped for The CW.

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Nick Cannon will host 'America's Got Talent
The singer-actor is taking over for Jerry Springer on NBC's summertime variety hit. You may know Cannon from his work on MTV, the film 'Bobby' or for being Mariah Carey's husband.

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Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight will be leaving 'Grey's Anatomy'
Both actors are leaving the set for good, after months of their public verbal disdain for the hit TV drama, their co-star James Pickens Jr. said.

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Jerry Springer is leaving 'America's Got Talent'
The host will instead concentrate on his syndicated talk show and a stage production.

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Tori Spelling negotiating her return to '90210' (CW)
A show rep confirms that Spelling is in "final negotiations" to return for multiple episodes as Donna Martin.

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Balthazar Getty, who plays Tommy Walker on the ABC series 'Brothers & Sisters,' was notified by producers that they were not planning to bring him back as a full-time series regular next season. Why? Sources on set reveal Getty is difficult to work with, forgetting his lines and even bringing cast members to tears.

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T.R. Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley on 'Grey's Anatomy,' is attempting to quit the popular medical drama, and is currently negotiating his contract.

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Jay Leno Staying With NBC
The late-night icon will remain with the Peacock network after giving up his throne to Conan O'Brien. While little is known about his 10 p.m. show, the question of where he'll be after his 11:35 p.m. reign has been answered, and he poses no threat to O'Brien's show.

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Dennis Rodman and Andrew Dice Clay Join 'Celebrity Apprentice' (NBC)
The basketball star and foul-mouthed comedian are two of the new cast members on the next season.

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Craig T. Nelson Joins 'CSI: NY' (CBS)
The Emmy-winning star of 'Coach' signs on to the popular crime drama to play the foe of Gary Sinise's character.

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SAG wants union coverage for all Internet-only productionsregardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productionsreplayed online, as well as continued actor protections during workstoppages.

But the AMPTP said it was untenable for SAG to demand a betterdeal than what writers, directors and another actors union acceptedearlier in the year, especially now that the economy has worsened.

The producers' group this week said it had reached its sixthlabor deal this year, a tentative agreement on a three-yearcontract with the local branches of the International Alliance ofTheatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists andAllied Crafts, accounting for 35,000 workers.

The stagehands alliance accepted Internet provisions that weremodeled on agreements with other unions, the producers group said.

Actors in prime-time television shows and movies have beenworking under the terms of a contract that expired June 30, withthe hope of avoiding a repeat of the 100-day writers strike whichshut down production of dozens of TV shows and cost the Los Angelesarea economy an estimated $2.5 billion.