Eddie Redmayne, left, is set to play Stephen Hawking (Photo: Getty Images/AP Photo - circa 1986)

After impressing critics and film fans with his performances in "Les Miserables" and "My Week with Marilyn," British actor Eddie Redmayne will soon be tacking his most challenging role to date in the true-life story of one of the world's most influential scientists.

Redmayne will be playing famed physicist Stephen Hawking in the upcoming biopic "The Theory of Everything," which is expected to focus on Hawking's life in the mid-1960s, according to Deadline. Working Title, the British production company that also brought "Les Miserables" to the big screen, are behind the project.

Beyond his skills as an actor, Redmayne seems an ideal choice to play Hawking – he looks youthful enough to be convincing as a young man of college age, and pictures of Hawking in his days at Oxford and Cambridge prove the actor bears a genuine resemblance to the physicist in his youth.

[Watch Weekend Picks!: This week covers 'Man of Steel' and 'This is the End']

"The Theory of Everything" will examine an especially tumultuous period in Hawking's life. In 1963, during his first year of graduate studies at Cambridge,

Amy Adams, Henry Cavill and Antje Traue in Warner Bros. Pictures' 'Man of Steel'

Burning Question: Reading some of the nasty reviews of "Man of Steel" makes me wonder: Why are DC Comics-based flicks, like the "Dark Knight" franchise, so somber, while Marvel-inspired movies feel lighter, a la "The Amazing Spider-Man" or the "Iron Man" series? — Clan B.V.

First things first: Not every critic has a problem with Man of Steel — only many critics, including the film folks at Time Out New York, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, and Fox News.

"You'll believe a man can mope," sniped Scott A. Mantz of "Access Hollywood."

David Edelstein of the New York Observer agreed , calling the Henry Cavill-led reboot "pleasure-free."

As I type, the Rotten Tomatoes consensus on the flick is 65 percent — still red, if not farm fresh. Critics have been kinder to past DC franchises for sure.

But we're straying from the point. Regardless of box-office draw or critical opinion, there's no denying that films inspired by DC or one of its imprints do, at first glance, seem more broody ("Watchmen," "Dark

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay on the set of DreamWorks' 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'

Remember when little Hansel and Gretel almost got eaten by a witch in the Grimm Brothers fairy tale that bares their name? Did you ever wonder what might happen when they grew up with a witch-hating chip on their shoulder the size of a magic forest? Adam McKay apparently did.

Though he's better known for directing and writing such comedy classics as "Anchorman" (2004) and "Step Brothers" (2008), McKay is also a prolific producer. Alongside his brother-in-funny Will Ferrell, McKay runs the production shingle Gary Sanchez Productions. Of course comedy comes first, but the creative team wants to make all sorts of movies – including good time gore fests like "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters," which arrives on home entertainment this week.

Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton play brother and sister in arms, who, years after their gingerbread house ordeal, now travel the land as bounty hunters, looking for retribution and clues to their unsavory past. Don't worry: it's not as dark as it sounds. If you love filling in the blanks of fairytales past with pulpy, tongue-in-cheek gore, or if you thought the Brothers Grimm needed a lot more high-tech weaponry, then you should definitely spend some quality time.

[Related: Set Photos from 'Anchorman: The Legend Continues']

But first, check out what McKay has to say about the flick. Though he's in the thickets of editing "Anchorman: The Legend Continues,"

Eva Green in '300: Rise of an Empire' (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Imagine "300" with more of a woman's touch and you've got a good idea of what to expect with "300: Rise of an Empire," the sequel to the 2007 screen adaptation of Frank Miller's celebrated historical (-ish) graphic novel, "300."

Warner Bros. wisely opens the trailer with narration by Lena Headey, whose sexy yet authoritative voice is now quite familiar to audiences thanks to the runaway HBO hit, "Game of Thrones," followed by images from the original "300" to get audiences back in the right frame of mind ("Oh yeah, that movie I saw more than six years ago!").

Headey returns as Queen Gorgo, now the widow of Leonidas (Gerard Butler), the mighty warrior king who led an army of 300 Spartan men against the invading Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae (which involve, among other bizarre things, a "battle rhino" or two) — and died valiantly in battle.

Watch the first trailer for '300: Rise of an Empire':

"Rise of an Empire" originally went under the title "Battle of Artemisium" (but who can

Mariah Carey de-glams for her role in 'The Butler' (Photo: The Weinstein Company/Getty)

Just because she's a pop diva doesn't mean she's too proud to dress down.

Mariah Carey proves this yet again as a photo from "The Butler" shows her as a field worker, picking cotton. The falsie eyelashes and heavy make-up came off for her serious role as the mother of longtime White House butler Cecil Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker.

Carey in 'Precious,' 2009 (Photo: Lionsgate)In this first photo of her in the film, the 43-year-old singer and actress is seen in a cotton field, looking worn from a long day (or life) of manual labor.

This isn't the first time Carey has dressed down for a role. In 2009 she de-glammed to play social worker Ms. Weiss in the Oscar-winning drama "Precious." 

"The Butler," inspired by the true story of the man who served eight U.S. presidents in the White House, also stars Oprah Winfrey in her first acting role in 15 years. The all-star cast includes the likes of Terrence Howard, John Cusack, Cuba Gooding Jr., Robin Williams, Jane Fonda, Lenny Kravitz, and many more recognizable faces.

"The Butler" enters

Maybe they're glum because Daniel Radcliffe wouldn't share screen time with them (Photo: Columbia/Getty)

What's good enough for Hermione apparently isn't good enough for Harry Potter, as Emma Watson is actually filling in for a role intended for Daniel Radcliffe in the all-star apocalypse comedy, "This Is the End."

Radcliffe was actually the first actor that co-writers/directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg approached to star in the film, though the former "Potter" headliner turned it down.

Evan Goldberg on Monday in New York (Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images)"Two years before we brought it to anybody else, we brought it to Daniel Radcliffe and he rejected it because it was sh---y, it wasn’t good enough," said Goldberg in a recent interview with BuzzFeed. "We got too excited, we jumped the gun on that. If we waited another year, I bet he would have done it."

True to his nice-guy image, Radcliffe was cool about saying no to the project (it actually wasn't quite as harsh an exchange as to involve the Banishing Spell he