Justin Bieber may not have to wait for that Valentine's Day sequel to make his bigscreen debut. Hollywood Life reports that the adorable 16-year-old hairstyle is developing his own biopic in the vein of Eminem's 8 Mile, and naturally, he'd star. To he honest, I'd really rather see Kristen Stewart take that role. She'd nail it! [Hollywood Life]
The L.A. Times goes overboard with its Inception coverage today, putting the Warner Bros. release on the front page of the business section with a story about how its box-office success is anything but a slam dunk. (Hmm, where have I read that before?) Cited amongst the reasons is the iffy starpower of Leonardo DiCaprio when compared with other A-listers like Will Smith and Brad Pitt. And, as it turns out, both of those actors were considered to lead Inception before DiCaprio signed on. If only! Why not apply this interesting production footnote to the other would-be blockbusters released already this summer? It's time to recast the failures!
· You know where we stand on grave-spitting remakes, but how do you feel about them after this new poster? Click to enlarge.
· Pixar vets Brad Bird and Michael Arndt came on board Tron Legacy to script additional reshoots last month.
· Melissa Rosenberg has some more thoughts about adapting Breaking Dawn's famously gory birth scene: "Would we actually see Edward's teeth through the placenta? I don't think so. I don't think we need to see that, and if someone needs to see that, I think they should take a look at that."
· Which male 90210 character will come out of the closet next season? My money's on Trevor Donovan's Teddy.
· Hugh Jackman is auctioning off a shirtless workout session for $25,000: "You know me, I'm a whore. I think I was shirtless for the whole time in my first movie in Australia and I think I only made about $4,000."
Taylor Lautner is a very busy guy! Busy shooting his new thriller Abduction, busy working out (much to his chagrin), and busy taking his hero worship of Tom Cruise a bit too far.
Gary Sinise's Detective Mac Taylor has just been assigned a new partner on CSI: NY. The CBS crime procedural -- which just announced yesterday that star Melina Kanakaredes is exiting the show -- has welcomed Sela Ward to the cast as an "experienced investigator from Washington, D.C., whose work is driven by her empathy for the victim." The Sisters alum will make her first appearance on the season seven premiere this fall. Good luck, Sela -- don't let Melina's CSI casting boomerang hit you on the way in. [Deadline]
OK, this is just weird: A new character poster for Machete features Lindsay Lohan as The Sister, a vengeful-nun role first teased in the film's more stirring trailer earlier this summer. Fine and good, except that Robert Rodriguez's jailbound, profanicured muse was first practicing her oral pistol fixation for photographer Tyler Shields last spring. Should we be, uh, worried?
At risk of overloading the front half of your day with juicy Zac Efron moguldom updates, let's just make this quick: The young hyphenate and his partners have officially dubbed their production company Ninjas Runnin' Wild because, well, who knows? You can't deny it has a better ring than The Efron Company or whatever. And they're already in development on five films, including an "untitled workplace comedy" in which Efron will... star. No pun intended. [THR]
How gallant is Jon Hamm? During a joint W interview with his The Town costar Rebecca Hall where the reporter dared to ask Hall about rumors that she'd wrecked the marriage of Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet, Hamm swooped in, stating, "The reality is that I broke them up." Hall gamely agreed, adding, "Jon Hamm was sleeping with Sam Mendes." When the reporter then asked if a sex tape existed, Hamm said, "Does it? He directed it. It's beautiful." [W]
Just one day after it was rumored that Oprah Winfrey's Kitty Kelley-fied life would be getting the movie treatment -- Viola Davis-as-Oprah, FTW! -- comes word that HBO and Barbara Walters are talking about adapting her biography, Audition, to the small screen. This has riled up ABC executives, of course, since they have been her employer since 1976 -- but then again, they can't offer Babs the sex and violence telling her life story would obviously require. No word yet on casting, but is there any doubt that Betty White will end up leading this thing? [NYP]
Maybe all Mel Gibson needs to reinvigorate his career is a potential trip to jail. Not only will Lindsay Lohan have the chance to salaciously wave her butt in front of a German shepherd when her 90-day sentence ends, but she'll also be an in-demand author. Never mind that LiLo couldn't be bothered to fully spell out the word "you" when she was cursing out the American justice system.
Considering the marketing campaign for Piranha 3D has revolved around girl-slapping videos, wet t-shirts, straight up nudity and all-around misogyny -- not to mention the implied carnage that thousands of CG-created 3D piranhas can do to an unsuspecting co-ed swimming in the water -- that it has been deemed not appropriate for families attending Comic-Con next weekend should come as a surprise to exactly no one.
· Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez is set to make his screen debut on Friends With Benefits -- the Justin Timberlake/Mila Kunis version, not the Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman one. Rodriguez's role in the comedy isn't clear, though the producers are said to be working with him and the Yankees to squeeze A-Rod's shooting days into his baseball schedule. Like, it's the middle of the season! When does any baseball player have time to do anything but play, cameo or not? LeBron James couldn't even get his film made in the offseason, when all he's bothered doing is polishing his own star. Anyway, this is happening. [Variety]
Moneyball, meanwhile, hires an actor to portray a baseball player (imagine!), Haley Joel Osment goes raunchy, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· A new fan-made trailer for The Expendables is the most blatant example of counter-marketing ever created. The message: "See The Expendables, because if you don't, Julia Roberts and her chick army win. And so does Oprah. And HER chick army." Andrew W.K. provides a soundtrack, and I don't think he'd be down for this (only-kind-of-winkingly) sexist party. [YouTube]
Andrew Niccol has a thing for "one lone man takes on a daunting society" dramas (Gattaca... still so good!), so what will distinguish his upcoming I'm.mortal, besides the sure-to-be-tweaked title? How about a cast comprised solely of hot young under-25 actors? Amanda Seyfried is the first to come on board his Logan's Run-ish tale of a world that never ages (but only the rich can stay alive permanently), with a muckraking male lead to be cast shortly. I'm.excited? [Variety]
Mel Gibson scored his first major defender today in Whoopi Goldberg, who says she's spent enough time with the disgraced actor to know that his racial slurs that have come to light are misleading. "I don't like what he did here, but I know Mel and I know he's not a racist," Goldberg said on The View. That didn't sit well with Joy Behar -- or most people in the entire world, I'm supposing. Video after the jump, God help us.
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