Jodie Foster is about to sign a...

Jodie Foster is about to sign a multi-picture deal with Orion Pictures to act and make her motion picture directing debut. She’d helm “Little Man Tate,” about a boy genius trying to navigate in the adult world of scientific research, once a Joe Dante project at 20th Century Fox. . . . Richard Dreyfuss is huddling with director John Milius about playing a squadron commander in Paramount’s “Flight of the Intruder,” to film in October. David Shaber’s adaptation of Stephen Counts’ novel centers on an unauthorized bombing mission on a missile base in North Vietnam in 1972. Richard Gere and Brad Johnson are already set as pilots. Mace Neufeld produces. . . . Sean Young is a tough district attorney after an accused rapist in Miramax’s “Love Crimes,” to film late next month. In the Allan Moyle screenplay, the hunter becomes the hunted. Lizzie Borden produces and directs. . . .

Kiefer Sutherland is headed for Columbia’s futuristic “The Flatliners,” about medical experimentation that explores life after death. Michael Douglas’ Stonebridge Co. produces the yarn this fall. Joel Schumacher directs Peter Filardi’s script. . . . Dutch actress Renee Soutendijk and Gregory Hines team in Interscope/Nelson Entertainment’s “Eve of Destruction,” about a female scientist and military marksman in pursuit of a rampaging android. The Yale Udoff-Duncan Gibbins’ screenplay films this fall in L.A. and New York City; Dave Madden produces and Gibbins directs for Orion. . . .

Martial arts maven Jean-Claude Van Damme is back in action this October as a deserter from the French Foreign Legion who arrives in the U.S. to avenge his brother’s murder, in “Wrong Bet.” The script is by Sheldon Lettich for producers Ash Shah and Eric Karson, with Lettich in his directing debut. . . .

After more than 50 Westerns, Glenn Ford saddles up again to star as the sheriff of Arizona, circa 1881, in “The Law at Randada.” Chris McIntyre writes/directs, based on Elmore Leonard’s novel, for Phoenix Prods. Also cast: Charlene Tilton and Michael Horse. . . .

John Rommo stars and co-writes “Dead Women in Lingerie,” filming locally next month. The thriller, co-written by producer-director Erica Fox, finds a detective in pursuit of a strangler who preys upon undocumented female workers in the garment district. . . . There’s a November start for Action Cinema’s “In the Palace of Unknown Kings.” Based on the exploits of two explorers in 1840s Mexico, the film stars Nigel Havers, with David Preston producing, James Landis directing. . . .

Casting around: Liam Neeson joins the cast of Warner Bros.’ “Nostromo,” director David Lean’s long-in-the-works screen version of the Joseph Conrad novel. To film in Mexico in January, the Christopher Hampton-Robert Bolt adaptation stars George Carafas.. . . “Dead Poets Society” co-star Robert Sean Leonard joins Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in Cineplex-Odeon’s “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” a fall start.