Elizabeth Banks (W, Zack and Miri Make a Porno) is set to appear in and produce the comedy Forever 21, which she and her husband, Max Handelman, brought to DreamWorks, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Handelman will be another producer on the workplace farce, which has a screenplay by relative newcomers Mike Culbert and Mike Pellettieri. A director is not attached.

Jason Statham (Crank: High Voltage) is in talks to play Arthur Bishop in a "reinvention" of the 1972 action movie, The Mechanic, according to reports that his reps have confirmed to EW. In the original film, Charles Bronson played Bishop, a professional hit man who trains a young man to become his protege. Simon West (Con Air) is rumored to direct the new movie.

High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens has decided on her next movie project, and it’s a beast. Make that an update of Beauty and the Beast. According to Variety, Beastly — which is based on Alex Finn’s novel that reimagined the classic fairy tale — takes place in present-day New York and follows a teenage boy who finds love only after experiencing a grotesque transformation. Daniel Barnz (Sugarland) is writing and directing the film.

Arnold Schwarzenegger might be back, after all. In Tuesday’s webcast Q&A with political blogger Bill Bradley (fast-forward about one-sixth of the way in, unless you care to hear about California’s economic woes), the California governor said that he had met with Terminator Salvation director McG and agreed to be in the upcoming movie — as long as he didn’t have to perform. "I made it very clear that I don’t have the time to do the movie," he said. "I said that I would be willing to be in the movie if they get the technology together, and so they are working on that right now."

Warner Bros. is exploring whether it can digitally manipulate images of Schwarzenegger from the original Terminator movie for the new film, slated for release May 21. Schwarzenegger said it would be for a scene in which Christian Bale’s character catches a glimpse of the actor-turned-governor as a "future Terminator.” “They would basically take technology out of Terminator I, and use that walk of mine and somehow bring it in [to the new film],” says Schwarzenegger. “It’s just a brief scene.”