A little more than two years ago Warren Beatty‘s Howard Hughes movie, which he’d been developing since the early ’80s and preparing in his usual meticulous way for God knows how many years, seemed to fall apart. A few months before this Beatty biographer Peter Biskind discussed the history of the Hughes project with Vanity Fair‘s Bruce Handy, and the only thing clear was that Beatty was moving at his usual snail’s pace. But now Beatty is actually shooting the Hughes film, according to Deadline‘s Anita Busch, with Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins costarring with Beatty as an elderly Hughes. (Biskind/Handy observed that Beatty probably regards Hughes as a kindred spirit, certainly in terms of their “control freak” personalities.) Busch reports that billionaires Ron Burkle and Steve Bing, Windsor Media’s Terry Semel, Arnon Milchan’s New Regency and James Packer’s and Brett Ratner’s RatPac Entertainment are financing the project to the tune of $27.6 million. I don’t know if that’s the whole budget, but $27.6 million is much lower than a 2011 ballpark budget mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Borys Kit and Gary Baum, between $42 and $47 million.