Pitt to Punch on Film, Again
Brad Pitt is going back to work again, this time opposite Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter for Paramount Pictures. Variety reports that it’s a drama about Boston boxer “Irish” Mickey Ward and his path to becoming world lightweight champion. Darren Aronofsky will direct.

Bening Bows Out of Species
Variety is also reporting that Annette Bening has dropped out of the Geffen Playhouse and Broadway runs of The Female of the Species. The trade cites “personal reasons” for Bening’s bow out of the project, which is based on Joanna Murray-Smith’s script and is being directed by Michael Mayer. The project would’ve been her first Broadway outing in 20 years.

Rosenberg Wins SAG’s Top Seat
THR reports that Alan Rosenberg has won a second two-year term as SAG president, topping Seymour Cassel. Rosenberg landed 11,631 of the votes to Cassel’s 10,921. In addition to election results, Carl Diorio’s story also gives the election backstory on the campaign battle, one that saw the two opponents tangling “less over policy or priorities than their personal styles and backgrounds.”

- CHRIS GARDNER

More Sumner Madness: Getting sick of Hollywood’s least-lovable codger, David Geffen and Steven Spielberg will likely be splitting from Paramount Pictures, less than two years after selling DreamWorks SKG to the Viacom outfit.

SAG Elections Results: Incumbent Alan Rosenberg narrowly won a second term as president of the Screen Actors Guild. 72-year-old actor Seymour Cassel won 44 percent of the vote, to Rosenberg’s 47 percent — with Cassel supporters saying the would serve the union better as it confronts contract negotiations with studios next year. Rosenberg countered that argument, by calling Cassel “a thug.” Seems it worked.

Angry Hobbit One Step Closer To His Golden Ring: Lord of the Rings director/deity Peter Jackson had to be a happy halfling yesterday: New Line Cinema was hit with $125,000 in sanctions in its ongoing legal battle with the disgruntled director, who made the studio a mountain of cash — and will likely see a bit more of it coming his way.

The hottest election these days in Hollywood is the dogfight erupting between Screen Actors Guild president Alan Rosenberg (known for his legal acumen on L.A. Law) and upstart angry-man challenger Seymour Cassel (known for such character roles as Robert Redford’s right-hand man-servant in Indecent Proposal).
Rosenberg, 56 and sounding like a street-wise Parliamentarian, echoes former SAG presidents and supporters Richard Masur, Ed Asner and Barry Gordon with his attention to detail for actors who need a strong voice in next year’s negotiations with the AMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers).

“The difference between Seymour and me is that I’ve spent the last two years trying to unify this guild,” Rosenberg brags to FBLA. “I’ve traveled to 18 of 21 branches across the country trying to get New York and the regional branches to treat Hollywood issues as if they were their own.”

Cassel, 72, alternatively hopes his 40 years in the movie business will carry some weight, especially with such tough-guy supporters as James Caan, Nicolas Cage and Dennis Hopper.

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