Deadline is reporting that Rob Lowe has signed on to star in political drama, Knife Fight, which is to be directed by two-time Academy Award winner Bill Guttentag (You Don’t Have To Die, Twin Towers).

This comes just as Lowe’s autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, debuts this weekend at #3 on The New York Times Best Seller List for Non-fiction.

Lowe is certainly a recognisable face among many, most commonly known for his roles as Sam Seaborn in The West Wing and Robert McCallister in Brothers & Sisters. Way back when, for those ’80s fans amongst you (of which I am naturally one), Lowe was of course one of the Brat Pack, starring in the 1985 seminal film, St. Elmo’s Fire.

Given his brilliant performances in The West Wing and Brothers & Sisters, the political nature of Knife Fight sounds like a perfect fit for him. The film will see him take the lead as a political crisis specialist,

“who plays hard and tough in dealing with various October campaign surprises.”

In America, the November elections have often in the past seen major news stories come out in late October that sway public opinion from or towards one of the two main presidential candidates. It happened in ’72, when Kissinger, National Security Advisor to President Nixon, that “peace is at hand” with the Vietnam War. It happened during the Iran hostage crises in the 1980 election, when it was announced that Carter wouldn’t be able to get the hostages released prior to the election. And it happened in 2000, when a report was released days before the Bush vs. Gore election that said Bush had been arrested for driving under the influence in Maine back in 1976, though Bush of course went on (albeit contested by some) to win.

For anyone who’s seen Lowe in The West Wing or Brothers & Sisters, you’ll know that this is exactly the kind of role he will excel in. The film is looking to shoot in June with an eye to release it in October next year, in time for the 2012 Presidential Elections in the States.

Ahead of the Friday release of Bruce Willis’s brand new action comedy RED (a film in which the first foe he fights is the tedium of retirement) HeyUGuys went along to the London press conference to bring you the behind-the-scenes story on the unusually star-packed set.  We wondered what a stand out day would be on such a production…

Well who better to ask than the all-American action man and his beautiful co-star?  We also borrowed his leading lady, Mary-Louise Parker later that afternoon for a one-on-one to discover more about life around Extremely Dangerous Retirees!

Mary-Louise, star of The West Wing and Weeds, was strikingly pretty and dry humoured and enjoyed a teasing chemistry with her husky voiced love interest.  Poor Mr Willis was afflicted with a cold and husky of voice from germs more than gravitas!  He valiantly hung in there and tackled topics as myriad as politics, paternal powerlessness and unpleasant cough sweets with great humour.

The pair agreed that the RED experience had been a fantastic one.  And singular in that the production brought together a dozen strong principle actors.  Mary-Louise was initially lured to RED by the prospect of working with Bruce but found herself especially taken with another star with whom she shared screen time– the incomparable John Malkovich.  Her romantic lead found himself rushing to the set each day.  He was tickled by what a “nebbish” his character was at the art of wooing and loved his screwball-comic interactions with Mary-Louise’s Sarah.

You may read our review of RED here and enjoy the press conference in full below.

RED is released in the UK on Friday 22^nd October

While busy completing the script for David Fincher’s Facebook biopic The Social Network it seems Aaron Sorkin is returning to the small screen for his next venture.

He tells TV Guide (via Total FIlm)
“I’m going to be starting on a new TV series when filming is done on the upcoming movie The Social Network,.. It’s going to be what turns out to be the third in the trilogy of TV shows that take place behind the scenes of a TV show, but this will be a different kind of TV show. That’s all I can let out of the bag right now.”

This is great, great news, TV has missed Sorkin and since his SNL inspired Studio 60 was canceled Sorkin has worked on Charlie Wilson’s War before his current project with Fincher. While his work in film, particularly his adaptataion of his stage play A Few Good Men, often results in tight, witty scripts it is his work in television, and The West Wing is the supreme example of this, that really shows off his capability with characterisation and ensemble casting.

Sorkin also talks of the actors he has worked with again and again, so perhaps his next venture will reunite him with Bradley Whitford or Joshua Malina, or Alison Janney – whenever Sorkin is involved my interest peaks, and I can’t wait see what he does next.