Men in Black actor Will Smith has been selected to star in an upcoming Quentin Tarantino film entitled Django Unchained, a Western about a freed slave in search of his slave wife in the Old South:

Sources prepped for those meetings say Tarantino would like Smith to star in the film, the script for which has been making the rounds in recent days to wide acclaim. No official offer has been made to Smith, and any deal would of course be subject to working out financials, which might be difficult given Smith’s status as one of Hollywood’s few sure-thing stars. [Source]

Samuel L. Jackson is also rumored to possibly being included in the film. Jackson would play a house slave to the bad guy, Monsieur Calvin Candie. The slave is also an expert manipulator who will face off with Will Smith’s character. Tarantino is aiming for a fall shoot in the South, possibly in Louisiana, but the exact location has yet to be determined.

Mary J. Blige will be exercising her acting chops this year! The R&B diva will be playing jazz/soul/blues singer Nina Simone in a biopic that will begin filming at the end of this month (May 2011). The Grammy award winning actress will also be acting alongside Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise in the musical Rock Of Ages, as she plays Justice Charlier, a gentleman’s club owner. Well alright, Mary! We see you! [Source]

With her popular daytime television show coming to a close, Oprah Winfrey is now setting her sights on making her Broadway acting dream come true:

“I have a stack of plays in my bag right now that I am reading. And just this past weekend, I was in New York meeting with producers. We were just talking about what would be the best route to take. I had always wanted to do Fences. I went through the idea of trying to take my show to New York, shoot a show during the daytime and appear on Broadway at night. But I couldn’t do it. And finally, Kenny [Leon] said he couldn’t wait any longer. [...] But yes, this is really going to happen. … Life is too short.” [Source]

Glad to hear that she’ll still be doing something new involving an audience. As you all know Oprah Winfrey will be saying her goodbyes on May 25, the last broadcast date of The Oprah Winfrey Show. I mean…can a sister get a pair of tickets? Any Harpo employees out there? Lol (Laughing but very serious…)