"Hey Jimmy, do you mind wearing this celery headdress and letting us lower you into a 45,889-ounce bloody mary?" "No not at all guys, that sounds great." That is how Movieline imagines yesterday's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon pre-production meeting went. The result, as well as the other clips you missed last night while channeling Gene Kelly for advice on your career as a psychic manager, after the jump.
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Scram, Channing Tatum. You too, Ryan Phillippe. What Captain America needs is more Hamm -- Jon Hamm in particular, according to the Marvel superhero's artist Alex Ross. "We've been saying for years, if you don't sign Jon Hamm to play this part, you're crazy," Ross told Entertainment Weekly. "Captain America is supposed to be the patriarch of the Marvel universe. To get a guy in his early to mid-20s is only thinking about where the character began, not what he ultimately needs to become." He's got a point: Where is the breathlessly hyped 2019 origin-story reboot without starting somewhere in the middle? Think, Marvel, think. [EW via IMDB]
· Two weeks after casting Dermot Mulroney in the leading role of the Rockford Files reboot, NBC has enlisted Beau Bridges to play Jim Rockford's father and best friend, Rocky. A truck driver for the past 30 years, Rocky regularly helps his son out of investigative jams while providing unwelcome commentary. Noah Beery, Jr. originated the role of Rocky 35 years ago. Bridges' last NBC gig was on My Name Is Earl, where he played Earl's father. [THR]
Ashley Tisdale connects with her inner Hellcat, Skeet Ulrich takes a few notes from Patrick Dempsey, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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· A few minor slip-ups aside (and Jennifer's Body wasn't her fault), Amanda Seyfried has spent the last two years managing her roles with precision, taste and success. Will she meet her match in McG, who's reportedly been attached to direct her in the adaptation of the Rolling Stone article The Girl Who Conned the Ivy League? Time will tell: The film will profile Esther Reed, a 28-year-old high-school dropout whose identity-theft hijinks at Harvard and Columbia landed her on America's Most Wanted and triggered an 18-month nationwide womanhunt. Lorene Scafaria will write the screenplay. Tread carefully, Amanda. [@prodweek]
Jamie Foxx cashes another check, a pair of '80s remakes settle into the development pipeline, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and/or overpoweringly pungent at the movies. This week, exes duke it out at the multiplex, a star is born at the art house and Dakota Fanning hits bottom. And Alice in Wonderland will wipe everyone out anyway. Let's have a look.
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· Could the current season of American Idol SUCK. ANY. HARDER? No. It could not. Go away, Ellen. You stink. I'm going to go ahead and forget this season ever happened, and just crown my own winner right now. It's a tie! Congratulations, Lexy and Stephany! Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away from Ellen with me. (t/y Paul) [YouTube]
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It's the rare movie that would relegate its expansive cast of Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill to mere title cards in its trailer, but the new DreamWorks animated film Megamind is selling itself as Will Ferrell's one-man show. It's an ironic change of pace, as the movie (about a villain who finally vanquishes his superhero rival, then grapples with the loss of his life's goal) didn't even have Ferrell in the cast until a few months ago, when it cast him to replace lead Robert Downey Jr. The tweaks didn't stop there, either: A few months later, the studio changed the film's name from Oobermind to the current Megamind.
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What Christoph Waltz really wants to do is direct. No, seriously: The recent Oscar-winner confirmed this afternoon he'll be directing the German-language romantic comedy (!) Up and Away for Fox International Productions -- whose president says his business model doesn't generally include foreign distribution. You'll get to see it eventually, no doubt, to appraise Waltz's grasp of the story of a dating-game-show host who must "confront her callous feelings about romance, which place a greater emphasis on its marketability than emotion." Waltz explains: "When you make feelings a commodity, it's not a feeling anymore." Clearly he missed The Bachelor this season. But good luck, anyway! [LAT]
As cold and calculating as the heart of a Hollywood accountant, The Bounty Hunter is the caper comedy that keeps on taking. I've already given it nearly two irretrievable hours, and here I am again, facing the sucking void of the contemporary mainstream romantic comedy and trying to hold onto my pocket change and what's left of my dignity. If the trailer for this Jennifer Aniston/Gerald Butler PR vehicle didn't crush your spirit, the full feature will certainly take care of that, although there's not much more to know: Aniston has a great body (she's 41 you know!), Butler wants to be a big star, and the two of them probably boned in real life.
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This television season is missing a little something in the way of reality judge incoherence, and the drought continues. THR reports that Paula Abdul has passed on the gig judging ABC's Star Search reboot because producers couldn't meet the $5 million salary she'd already turned down at American Idol. Unfortunately for Abdul, that's the problem she's been encountering all over town, since no show besides television's biggest will blow its comparatively meager budget on the entertainer. Sorry, Paula...here, have a look at some babies! [THR]
If you missed last night's America's Next Top Model, you overlooked the most surreal runway mishap in any of the show's 200 cycles. Model Alexandra biffed twice during her presentation: Her first fall was a magnificent Miss Piggy faceplant down an epic staircase, but the second was a slice of gladiatorial wreckage for the ages. A giant pendulum thwacked young Alexandra into the stands, ripping her dress and dampening her competitive edge. Ahem: A PENDULUM. You may realize this is exactly like the old American Gladiators game "The Eliminator," where contenders had to dodge swinging obstacles that could feasibly knock them into a pit or concuss them for years. Insanely incredible. After the jump, we post the instant classic vid and four other ideas for withering reality shows in need of a Larry Csonka-approved overhaul.
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Look, today hasn't been the best day for everyone, has it? Poor Sandy Bullock has her business splashed on the front page of People, Snooki's drunk driving fatality has come to light, and Heidi's psychic manager was summarily fired in a way that Brandon Tartikoff and Gene Kelly could never have seen coming. We all need a little uplift this afternoon, so here are some stills from the upcoming Focus Features epic Babies, which is literally just about four babies. All of them are growing up in very different parts of the globe, and none of them are voiced by celebrities. They're just friggin' babies doing baby stuff for ninety minutes or something. This is what the world needs now!
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Thanks to our friends across the Web street for pointing out this trailer for The Greatest, which has actually been around for a while but bears noting for several reasons. First, if you've ever had the tabloid daydream of what Carey Mulligan will look like pregnant (and seriously, who hasn't?), then this will finally realize that visual. Second, it's a job well done that actually makes me want to see the film again. Third, if you have seen this already (it's been on the festival circuit since Sundance '09), then you'll know that for some reason it spoils the most shocking moment in the whole movie. Knowing that, if you're game, it's after the jump.
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Bummer times ahead, everyone: Jesse James has issued a statement to People in the wake of rumors that he had cheated on wife Sandra Bullock, and he appears to confirm the allegations while apologizing for his behavior. Will it be enough to thwart the Best Actress curse? Here's the full statement from James:
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Are you in need of a third-generation intuitive healer to manage your career? Aiden Chase, the Beverly Hils-based psychic Heidi Montag hired last week to guide her acting path, has already been fired after allegedly "demanding a significant portion of [Montag's] Hills money," claims Us. Sorry Heidi, but Movieline is siding with Team Chase on this one -- any man who can summon entertainment advice from the graves of Gene Kelly and Brandon Tartikoff is not cheap. [Us]
