Gyllenhaal almost signed for Dark Knight, Minghella brings Ladies Detective Agency to the screen and Zodiac reviews are afoot.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is apparently in final negotiations to take over from Katie Holmes in the The Dark Knight, the Batman Begins (Filmstalker review) sequel. She'll play the part of Rachel Dawes, confirming the story from last month. The story comes from Variety.

Anthony Minghella is set to take on The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency based on the bestselling series by Alexander McCall Smith. Richard Curtis (yes, the man responsible for some great British films) and he wrote the screenplay and the story is set to take place in Gaborone and Botswana. The story will focus on Precious Ramotswe who is a detective who is on the trail of a missing child, she soon falls into some dangerous situations, as per any detective story, but this one is set in Africa. The story comes from Production Weekly through Rope of Silicon.

Reviews of David Fincher's Zodiac are appearing online and they sound promising indeed. The story sounds incredibly strong, focusing as it does on the characters and their obsessions rather than the murders and whodunnit style. You can read a good review over at MoviesOnline, it's definitely a film to watch out for.