Tobey Maguire ("Spider–Man" films) is attached to star in Universal‘s "The Crusaders", a drama about the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.

Variety says Gary Ross is attached to direct, and Universal has hired "Recount" writer Danny Strong to write the script.

Maguire would play Jack Greenberg, who, as an idealistic lawyer fresh out of law school, joined with NAACP Legal Defense Fund head and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall to win a Supreme Court case that ruled segregation in American schools illegal.

Bob Cooper is producing, and Ross and Maguire will be executive producers through Ross‘s Universal–based Larger Than Life Productions.

Ross and Maguire teamed on "Pleasantville" and "Seabiscuit".

Ben Affleck, still riding the crest of a critical wave for his directorial debut "Gone, Baby, Gone", will return to familiar territory in Mike Judge‘s comedy "Extract", according to Variety.

The Miramax property will see Affleck play an ambulance–chasing lawyer embroiled in Jason Bateman‘s ("Hancock") Flower Extract company – a company with a rather poor track record when it comes to industrial accidents! With his workforce (set to include "Traffic" star Clifton Collins Jr.) losing limbs and his wife eloping with a gigolo, Bateman calls on the help of Affleck‘s down–at–heel lawyer.

Filming is due to start this Monday in Los Angeles. Judge ("Office Space") wrote the screenplay and is producing with John Altschuler and Mike Rotenberg via the trio‘s Ternion Productions.