William Hurt will portray a doctor battling...

William Hurt will portray a doctor battling a plague in an unnamed Latin American city in a present-day adaptation of Albert Camus’ 1947 novel “The Plague.” Luis Puenzo will direct his own screenplay, which will start shooting in July outside Buenos Aires. The film will be produced by Jonathan Prince, John Pepper and their French co-partner CFC.

Lena Olin will star in “The Innocent,” which Ian McEwan will adapt from his own novel. Olin plays the German lover of a sexually inexperienced British electronics expert in this Cold War drama set in 1955. Produced by Norma Heyman and directed by Jon Amiel, the production gets underway in Canada and Germany next month.

Kim Basinger is in negotiations with Mainline Productions to replace Madonna in “Boxing Helena,” which Jennifer Lynch writes/directs.

Adrian Pasdar and John Lone star in “Shanghai 1920,” an independent production currently shooting in there. Directed by Puchi Leone and written by Timothy Long, the action-drama tells of boyhood friends--an American and a Chinese--who become involved in the Chinese Mafia.

Grandview Avenue Pictures’ “Nervous Picks,” getting underway locally in mid-February, will feature Bill Pullman and Julie Brown. David Frankel’s script, a comedy about a guy who has two hours to catch an airplane, will be told in real time. Rocky Lang will direct for producer Arthur Goldblatt.

D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly will star in MGM-Pathe’s “The Cutting Edge,” an ice-skating drama to be directed by Paul Michael Glaser. The film, written by Tony Gilroy, will be produced by Cynthia Sherman and Interscope. The start date is still undetermined.

Wil Wheaton, Balthazar Getty, Brian Krause, Jason London and Chris Young are set for IRS Media’s “December,” a drama about boys in a New England prep school, who must decide whether to go to war on the snowy night after Pearl Harbor. Gabe Torres directs his own script, beginning Jan. 23, in New York and L.A. Paul Colichman and Miles Copeland serve as executive producers.

Newcomer Heidi Kling has landed the female lead opposite Matthew Broderick in Universal’s surreal comedy “Welcome to Buzzsaw,” now shooting here and in Santa Cruz. French director Francis Veber is directing a script by twin brothers Joshua and Daniel Goldin. (Jeffrey Jones plays twin psychotic villains in the film.)