· HBO hopes to provide a cautionary tale for mistresses and philanderers with an untitled drama the premium cabler is developing for Kevin Kline. The project would pit the Oscar-winner as a cardiac surgeon sent to jail for killing his mistress. The story, which begins just as Kline's character is released after 15 years, will be written by David Auburn (Proof) and executive produced by Auburn, Kline, Gavin Polone (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Judy Hofflund (Panic Room). [Variety]
Fox gives Jennifer Beals a badge, John Larroquette pleads guilty, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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· The A-list glacier better known as Will Smith has inched ever closer to determining his next project, which is expected to be either the third installment of the Men in Black franchise or the previously cited family fantasy The City That Sailed. The latter film is about a street magician living in London, unhappily separated from his daughter in New York, who makes a wish with magical candles that sends Manhattan sailing across the Atlantic to reunite them. Awww! Smith's insistence on Lexy and Stephany as the closing-theme singers is proving to be a sticking point, but probably nothing that Fox can't work out. [Variety]
Spy Kids 4 (in glorious-ish 3D!) sets a target date, the Taylor Lautner-Directing Sweepstakes get even more competitive, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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You heard it here first: the sleeper hit of the summer might not be Letters To Juliet but the altogether more powerfully titled Letters To God. Here's what you need to know: it's a Christian indie, it's going to be in 750 theaters on April 9, and there's already a grass-roots, church-based campaign to get the word out. Oh, and it's being associated with two faith-based flicks that've already demonstrated the power of the Christian dollar.
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Last week's news of the Avatar DVD/Blu-ray tie-in to Earth Day's 40th anniversary had some howling that this represented the cynical corporate hijacking of an event that's meant to be about cleaning up more than just the hundreds of millions -- let's call it billions -- left on the table from what's already the biggest-ever box-office blockbuster. Now, more news about the release corrects that rapacious impression -- kinda -- and details of what buying the disc in April will get you.
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Unleash your Krakens: Harry Hamlin crowned sexiest man alive! Halle Berry makes us cry with her history-making Oscar win! Super-slacker Keisha Castle-Hughes begins her rather unambitious life!
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I saw 1990's Captain America for my bad-movie quest and was surprised by how much I liked it. Hell, my original notes read, "I honestly enjoy it more than Transformers or Fantastic Four 2". Sure, there was the dogs-playing-pool-painting kitsch appeal but the film was also genuinely engaging in parts and possessed of a scrappy charm throughout. This week, though, I couldn't quite put my finger on exactly why I recalled it so fondly. There was only one thing to do: while the rest of the world held its breath to see whether Chris Evans would accept the shield of destiny, I'd revisit the movie which had Matt Salinger, son of J.D, as its main masked man.
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· Garry Marshall told TV Guide that he's working on an urbanized big screen version of Laverne & Shirley, currently being written by Jamie Foxx because we have no f'ing idea why. Team T "Lenny" Pain and The "Squiggy" Situation! [TV Guide via AICN]
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Movieline's intrepid video correspondent Carly Steel was front and center at L.A.'s Geffen Playhouse last night for annual fundraiser Backstage at the Geffen, where, undeterred by his legendary ball-retracting glare, she cornered Clint Eastwood. She proceeded to grill the Hollywood elder statesman on the status of the Dustin Lance Black-penned J. Edgar Hoover bio he's recently been linked to, which he confirmed to Movieline was a go. But not before work was done on his current project, Hereafter -- his second outing in a row with Matt Damon, in which you learned here first the Invictus star plays a shy factory worker trying to suppress his ability to see ghosts. Click on for the video.
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Attack of the Show host and all-around fanboy wet dream Olivia Munn hit something of a jackpot when Jon Favreau tapped her -- er, selected her -- for a role in Iron Man 2. And to hear Munn tell it in a new interview, she did everything she was instructed to do when summoned to the set. So why did she have to go back while the film was editing and reshoot all her scenes?
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Unfortunately for Michael Bay, his firmly Luddite Team 2D just lost two more crucial members. Coming Soon reports that holiday holdouts The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Gulliver's Travels will be converting to 3D in post-production, so as not to stand out as inferior products in what will be a 3D-dominated winter at the multiplex. In other news, Nintendo announced a new 3D portable system today, the 3DS. How soon until we get real life in 3D? I can't take the discrepancy! [Coming Soon]
After pitching her reality show all around town for weeks now, THR is reporting that Sarah Palin has finally found a company willing to fork over $1 million to $1.5 million for the Mark Burnett-produced series. The preliminary announcement arrives after A&E dropped out of negotiations for the show, tentatively titled Sarah Palin's Alaska, last night.
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Let's talk about track records. Al Pacino has a good one with HBO, where he won an Emmy for Angels in America. Barry Levinson had a good one as a director, and then he made a streak of movies in the last decade (Envy, Man of the Year) that I think we should just agree to not talk about. Now, Levinson is teaming with Pacino for an HBO film called You Don't Know Jack about "suicide doctor" Jack Kevorkian. Based on the trailer, could this revive the Levinson's fortunes?
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United States of Tara citizen Diablo Cody may have thrown down in an interview yesterday, revealing that the first season of her Showtime series did not meet her own standards as a "picky" viewer, but there are packs of Tara viewers out there who would argue otherwise. After all, what could be better than watching five different characters created by Toni Collette battle it out each week inside the ongoing cage match in Tara's mind. Occasionally, Tara's family jumps over the ropes to smack some sense into their proud matriarch or convince her that getting the word "slut" tattooed across her stomach might not be the best idea (they got matchy mother-daughter ink instead!), but the ugliest take downs occur between Tara and her varied personalities.
This season, join Movieline ringside to keep score of each pinfall, disqualification and knockout beginning with last night's premiere, "Yes."
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OK, let's back up and try this again. Screw Star Search. Star Search is for losers. The cool kids are into way hipper sh*t, like flash mobbing! Everyone's doing it! It's totally peanuts and groovy! And Paula Abdul is on the flashing-edge of the trend, reportedly in negotiations to host a show about mass public choreography. On the plus side, this sounds like fun and Kenny Ortega, who's proven to have the magic touch when it comes to working with perfectionist pop luminaries, is involved. On the minus side, it's not in-studio, which exponentially increases the chances of misplacing Paula. Developing... [EW]
CBS's drama The Unit, about the lives of the highly trained members of a top-secret military division, was canceled last year, but a memo to its writing staff from its executive producer David Mamet has just surfaced online. (The source appears to be the online writing collective Ink Canada.) If you think you know where this is heading, you might be wrong:
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