Legendary Casting: Neil Patrick Harris will play the lead in the upcoming Raja Gosnell-directed Smurfs: The Movie, which will mix live action and animation. Harris will be playing the lead live action character, so your blue-tinged fantasies of NPH as Papa Smurf will, tragically, have to remain just that. [Deadline]

McAdams Makes Three: Rachel McAdams is in talks to join Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard in Woody Allen’s still untitled film, scheduled to shoot in France this summer. Cotillard and McAdams will soon take part in a steel cage match to determine who will get to play the Johansson-esque “Allen muse.” [HR]



Kidman Edged Out: Disney Channel star Selena Gomez will play one of the three leads in Tom Bezucha’s “young femme” comedy Monte Carlo, produced by Nicole Kidman, Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan (Kidman may play a supporting role). Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester has been approached to play one of the other leads. The story centers on a group of American women who ditch a “disappointing no-frills holiday” in Paris and pretend to be rich women vacationing in Monaco. Kidman had been attached to star, but the updated version of the script has “put a younger spin” on the story. As if Kidman didn’t have enough to deal with after a string of flops, now she is getting edged out of movies starring Selena Gomez. [Variety]

Kidman Edged Out: Disney Channel star Selena Gomez will play one of the three leads in Tom Bezucha’s “young femme” comedy Monte Carlo, produced by Nicole Kidman, Denise Di Novi and Alison Greenspan (Kidman may play a supporting role). Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester has been approached to play one of the other leads. The story centers on a group of American women who ditch a “disappointing no-frills holiday” in Paris and pretend to be rich women vacationing in Monaco. Kidman had been attached to star, but the updated version of the script has “put a younger spin” on the story. As if Kidman didn’t have enough to deal with after a string of flops, now she is getting edged out of movies starring Selena Gomez. [Variety]

A Graceful Return: Will & Grace’s Debra Messing will return to the half-hour comedy format with a starring role in ABC’s pilot Wright or Wrong. Scripted by actress-writer Stephnie Weir (MadTV), the show centers on Evelyn Wright (Messing), a “driven conservative pundit who tries to maintain her public persona” while dealing with her own “vulnerabilities.” Because we were all clamoring for a comedy that offered a glimpse into Ann Coulter’s soft side! [HR]

Yes to Nomads: Friday Night Lights alum Scott Porter has won the lead in CW’s drama pilot Nomads, which follows a group of poor, young backpackers who earn money doing work for the CIA. We will be sitting on edge during the pilot anxiously hoping Porter doesn’t get in some kind of debilitating injury (let’s just say we’ve watched the Friday Night Lights pilot more than a few times). [HR]