Dailies: Kal Penn's White House Gig Means No More Kumar

In addition to leaving House to work for the Obama administration, Kal Penn won't be reprising his role as Kumar in the third Harold and Kumar flick, already in the works at Warner Bros' New Line Cinema. (The Daily Beast)
Al Pacino is on tap to play Napoleon in the movie version of the kids book Betsy and the Emperor. Rights to the novel were previously held by bankrupt Bob Yari Co. but have recently been picked up by vc fund GC Corp, which will finance the project for Killer Films. (THR)
Director Gore Verbinski will not be returning to direct a fourth installment of the Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. A sequel is being written, and Johnny Depp is already on board, but the Mouse House hasn't given the project a green light yet. (Variety)
Garry Shandling has been cast in Iron Man 2. (WETM)
Borat and Bruno director Larry Charles is in final negotiations to helm Sony Pictures' comedy Winter's Discontent about a sexually frustrated widower who moves into a retirement community with his best friend, hoping to score. The movie, penned by a former banker, is being produced by Charles Roven and Alex Gartner. (Variety)
Leah Remini has been signed on to join the cast of ABC's comedy pilot, Don't Try This At Home. The King of Queens star will play a newspaper editor balancing work with raising three kids with her husband. (Hollywood Reporter)
Sony Pictures has won the international rights (with the exception of the U.K.) to documentary, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. The film, which will air on HBO, will trail the now President Obama from when he announced his candidacy up to the inauguration. (Hollywood Reporter)
Layoffs will become a part of reality TV as Fox has just picked up Someone's Gotta Go, which trails real businesses nationwide and gives employees the chance to vote the weakest link out of the office. Isn't TV supposed to be an escape? (Variety)
Overture Films will distribute the faux documentary Paper Heart, starring Michael Cera and his real-life girlfriend Charlene Yi. The winner of best screenplay at this year's Sundance was financed by Overture's sister company Anchor Bay Entertainment. Overture plans to release the film in New York and LA on August 7 with a wider release the following week. (THR)
Sony Pictures will adapt the popular PlayStation 2 game Shadow of the Colossus into an action film. (Variety)
Sanaa Hamri will direct the Fox Searchlight romantic comedy Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah. The director's also attached to Anything But Ordinary, in which Emma Roberts may star. (Production Weekly)
Mark Bomback, writer of such diverse fare as Race to Witch Mountain and Live Free or Die Hard, is adapting the comic The Umbrella Academy, created by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way. The Universal film will follow a group of disbanded superheroes who reunite after the death of their adopted father who taught them how to save the world. (THR)
Alex O'Loughlin, who starred in CBS' cult vampire series Moonlight, is in talks to play the romantic lead opposite Jennifer Lopez in CBS Films' upcoming The Back-Up Plan, about a woman impregnated through artificial insemination who meets the man of her dreams the day she finds out she's pregnant. (THR)
Bryan Goluboff will direct his script The Gonzo Files about a group of high school misfits who start an underground newspaper. (Production Weekly)

Dailies: Kal Penn's White House Gig Means No More Kumar

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