Ashes may still be raining down on the city. Summer doldrums may be stifling the rest of America. But for Hollywood, this week marks the kick-off of Festival Season! Ole! And the party is breaking out everywhere you look.


• The 66th Venice Film Festival kicks off today. Variety says guests are in store for "a daring and diverse selection that comprises more countries, more newcomers, more Americans, more genre pics and what the fest boasts will be more 3-D on display than at any other nonspecialized event." Among the most anticipated US representatives are the festival's day of celebration of Disney and Pixar, the Weinstein Company's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. Spoiler spies who have sneaked peeks at the Moore film inform us it is their guess that the title in fact may be just a tiny bit ironic. Who woulda guessed? [Var]

• Director Paul W.S. Anderson of Resident Evil honors has signed on to shoot a 3-D version of The Three Musketeers. Anderson says he will create a contemporary feel for the classic tale while retaining its period setting. Just picture Too Fast, Too Furious with funny feathered hats and perhaps a pie fight or two. [THR]

• HBO has ordered 11 episodes of the Martin Scorsese produced 1920's gangster series Broadwalk Empire. [The Wrap]

• Jerry Springer has singed a deal to host a live Vegas stage version of America's Got Talent at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. Nick Cannon, you may relax now. [Var]

• Iron Man BFF's Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. are reuniting for Cowboys and Aliens, a sci-fi Western. The Dreamworks project will be Favreau's first directing gig after he finished Iron Man 2. [THR]

• Doug Wright is turning his acclaimed 1987 documentary Hands on a Hardbody into a stage musical at the La Jolla Playhouse. [Var]