Julia Louis-Dreyfus in new romantic comedy

WHO Julia Louis-Dreyfus

THE DEAL The star of NBC's "Seinfeld" and HBO's "Veep" is set for the lead role in Fox Searchlight's new romantic comedy from writer-director Nicole Holofcener ("Friends With Money"), according to the studio. Louis-Dreyfus plays Eve, an empty nester going through a divorce. She takes a chance on new love with Albert (James Gandolfini), not realizing that he's the dreaded ex-husband of her new friend Marianne (Catherine Keener). The film doesn't yet have an official title, but shooting began this month in Los Angeles.

WHO Brett Easton Ellis

THE MOVIE "Fifty Shades of Grey"

NO DEAL Ellis, author of the transgressive novels-cum-movies "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho," is no longer being considered to write the screenplay for "Fifty Shades of Grey," the movie version of the best-selling S&M novel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Ellis' hired-then-fired saga unfolded entirely on his Twitter account: In June, he tweeted that he'd like to be considered, then announced that he was meeting with the studio and even began mulling over possible directors (David Cronenberg was his pick). But on Tuesday morning, the 48-year-old bad boy of literature posted that he'd "somehow been taken off the list" of candidates. "Moving on. Laters, baby," he tweeted to the novel's author, E.L. James.

THE MOVIE "Easy Rider"

THE DEAL The 1969 counterculture classic, starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper as motorcyle-riding hippies "looking for America," gets a local screening next week, thanks to an unusual group of movie lovers: the Long Island chapter of the Harley Owners Group. The film's now-legendary bikes, vintage Harleys from the late 1940s and early 1950s, were customized by chopper builders Ben Hardy and Cliff Vaughs (both African-American, a little-publicized fact at the time) and handled by Dan Haggerty, of "Grizzly Adams" fame, who has a small cameo as a commune member.

SEE PHOTOSOur critic's top movies of all time countdown

INFO Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave., Huntington. Tickets are $11. 631-423-7611; cinemaartscentre.org.