For those of you who've been eagerly awaiting the Kidz Bop karaoke experience that is Glee's much-hyped summer tour, I've got a bit of bad news (and isn't that's more fun when Jane Lynch is delivering it?). The tour will only be hitting up four cities -- Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York -- and though the show's most youthful cast members will all be performing, there will be no Mr. Schu on the bill to do his patented white man's rap. This is the point when you stop believin'. [Ryan Seacrest]
A rep from the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson has finally responded to allegations that its February 23 show, an audience-less chat with Stephen Fry, was a cost-cutting measure taken since the show normally pays for audience members. The rep confirmed that the show sometimes pays $20/seat to a studio-recruitment service "like many other television shows taped in front of an audience daily" but "any inference that we would tape a show without an audience to save $200 at most is laughable." [InsideTV]
When it comes to movie ideas, there's high concept, and then there's "high" concept; one sells itself on its easy-to-grasp conceits, the other tends to die shortly after the weed wears off, and you begin to see the holes in your vision of a $100 million summer blockbuster in which a cat spends 90 minutes trying to get out of a bag. I think we can safely put The Joneses into the latter category, and yet it somehow still got made. If you saw the spoilerific poster, you might have already gathered what the very high concept at the center of The Joneses is. For the rest of you, watch the trailer and see if you can figure it out.
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It rained hardware on the final weekend before the Oscars, when no fewer than five awards bodies deployed their year-end kudos to some front-runners you may have heard of. These may be the some of the last prizes these films receive during the Awards Season That Will Not Die, so let's sort it all out and pay appropriate tribute below.
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· Casting news pours in this pilot season morning, beginning with the announcement that Dermot Mulroney will star in NBC's The Rockford Files. In the updated version of the 70s hit, Mulroney will assume the role originated by James Garner -- a wry-humored, cynical detective who lives in a Malibu trailer home and solves cases on the cheap. The pilot, which could mark Mulroney's first regular television gig, was written by House creator David Shore, and will be executive produced by Steve Carell. [THR]
Shit My Dad Says finds some estrogen, two Nip/Tuck alums find pilots, and more TV Bites after the jump.
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In the new film She's Out of My League, actress Alice Eve's looks are evaluated on a ten-point scale, and they almost break the system. Certainly, Eve is a blond bombshell in the Christie Brinkley mold, but there's more to her than just that; for starters, the 28-year-old actress has a lovely British accent in real life (and among Brits attempting to emulate a sun-kissed blonde aesthetic, she's unique in her ability to not resemble an orange gorgon). She plays American in League, and she'll play Irish in the upcoming Sex and the City 2, where her pretty nanny has the potential to play spoiler in Charlotte's marriage.
So how does Eve feel about her coronation as one of the most beautiful starlets in Hollywood? Conflicted, as she told Movieline.
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The Tribeca Film Festival announced this morning that Shrek Forever After will open this year's fest April 21 in New York, marking the first time an animated (let alone) 3-D feature has kicked off the eight-year old event. It's kind of a step back from the New Yorkiness of last year's opener Whatever Works, but Mike Myers's return to public life after The Love Guru is surely worth something all by itself. More to come as Tribeca announces its remaining selections on March 10 and 15. [TFF]
· To whomever is out there making the phone calls and sending the e-mails that have created a bottleneck of new Angelina Jolie projects: Enough. We get it. The actress is available and in demand, as evidenced by her reported interest in starring in an adaptation of Serena: A Novel for director Darren Aronofsky. The story is set in early-20th century North Carolina, where Jolie's title character joins her husband in starting a timber empire before going incrementally, megalomaniacally insane. Tack this on to reports of Jolie doing Gravity with Alfonso Cuarón after the currently shooting The Tourist, then developing the long-gestating Kay Scarpetta franchise and heaven knows what else is coming... I just hope her agent didn't have to work all weekend. [THR]
Fox wins a big bidding war, another Alice foe caves to Disney, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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