Despite the fact that this was The Slowest News Day of 2010 v.2, there was a bit of somewhat exciting trade news to pass along. The Kevin Spacey comeback tour has found a new stop: Horrible Bosses, the Strangers on a Train-like all-star comedy from director Seth Gordon. Spacey will play one of the titular bosses, alongside Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell; line-cutting denier Jason Bateman, Jason Sudekis and Charlie Day will play the three friends conspiring to kill said bosses; Donald Sutherland will show up too; and Jamie Foxx appears as someone named "Motherf*cker Jones," the man who helps the friends consummate their plot. Were Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba not available?
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Here's a nasty rumor that tops anything Lauren Conrad ever started: Laguna Beach spinoff The City may be off the air soon. According to Fashionista, the reality series about Whitney Port's travails as a New York fashion designer may be over thanks to Port and co-star Olivia Palermo's disinterest. I guess this means Diane von Furstenburg will be reduced to cameo appearances on Project Runway while Kelly Cutrone will have to just hang out on her own Bravo show. Devastating. [Fashionista]
I'm warning you: If you don't want to know who attacks Neve Campbell's character in Scream 4, you should turn back now. (Hint: It was the barber.)
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Is he or isn't he? Peter Jackson has been notoriously wishy-washy on whether he'll assume the directing reins of The Hobbit, and though he's reportedly in negotiations, he's now downplayed that report to Harry Knowles: "Nothing has really changed -- I've always said that me directing was one option, and so that's not really news. The studio are working out what that deal would look like, because how else do they know if it's a viable option? But it's honestly one of several different options -- many irons are in the fire right now." Brett Ratner, there's still hope! [AICN]
NY Press critic Armond White and I have had our differences but not strictly due to his unfailing contrarian streak. The man who last week vilified the roundly beloved Toy Story 3 has this week managed to join the 8 percent of critics willing to stand behind Grown Ups -- a film that hangs its hat on the attenuation of fart jokes, peeing in pools and 4-year-olds breastfeeding. But! It's not that he doesn't get it. The "humanist" joke is on you, dear reader -- all the way down to the Mike Leigh and Jean Renoir comparisons. Seriously.
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Annoyed with reports that he was privy to celebrity iPhone line-cutting privileges last week, Jason Bateman has taken to Twitter to explain the situation once and for all. "There wasn't one boo. Not one hiss. The Apple guy brought me in away from the paparazzi. Period." Bateman then went on to remember his time in that muggy, slow-moving line at the Grove fondly: "I was content in line. I wish I'd stayed." [Popeater]
And you thought Google Street View was only good for stalking exes and getting mental images of the places you'll soon be lost in while following Google Map directions. Case in point: Horse-Boy, the mysterious figure who popped up on a Google street view of a neighborhood in Aberdeen, Scotland. The boy -- or girl, dum, dum, dum -- is seen wearing black pants, a purple long-sleeve shirt...and a horse mask. Because, of course that's appropriate attire for a street corner in broad daylight. The Internet is awash in conspiracies and false identifications, but Movieline only cares about one thing: Turning this crazy meme into a movie! After the jump, five possible treatments. You're welcome, Hollywood.
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The cottage industry of quirky Bill Murray stories -- the ones that have him attending a Halloween party in Williamsburg or sneaking up behind an unsuspecting man in Union Square and covering his eyes -- seem almost too perfect to be true. It's like Murray and Wes Anderson sat around on the set of Rushmore and decided to carefully curate the "Bill Murray" that exists today, forever flummoxing publicists, journalists and fans alike. But then, every once in a while, Murray says something in the press that makes you think that he is as legitimate as they come -- that all the stories are probably true. For instance: Remember that time when Bill Murray completely blew off Josh Hartnett?
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· Since I already used the "Slowest News Day of 2010 Headline" barely a month ago, consider this the second slowest news day of 2010. And then thank Kevin Spacey for daring to enliven it by agreeing to star as one of the title characters in Horrible Bosses, the Seth Gordon employer-icide comedy also featuring Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Shooting gets underway next month. [Deadline]
I can't think of any real reason to read on, unless Iron Man 2's unusual domestic underachievement and/or Dino De Laurentis's latest pulpy interests matter to you in the slightest.
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Perhaps it's just my bleeding-heart, Catholic nature, but I tend to feel at least a pang of sympathy for even the most despicable of subjects. So I actually feel a bit bad for both Grown-Ups and Knight and Day. I mean, sure, they're both lazy variations of genre films that already have been ground into dull, formulaic powder, but you have to feel just a smidge bad that they brought their already-crappy game against the dynamic, heartfelt Toy Story 3, surely one of the best movies of the year. And once again, it was Toy Story 3 that ruled the box office roost, while Adam Sandler and company pulled in a respectable second place, and Tom Cruise thanked the floating celestial ghost of L. Ron Hubbard that he didn't completely eat it at third. Grab your commemorative Knight and Day travel pillow and click on for the hard numbers.
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According to Movieline sister site Deadline, Sony executives are reportedly closing in on picking their new Spider-Man, and on Friday viewed the screen-tests of the lucky final few. Can you feel the excitement? Once selected, the newly-crowned wall-crawler will begin production before year's end on the film, scheduled for July 2, 2012. Director Marc Webb is working off a script from James Vanderbilt -- whose script previous Spider-Man director Sam Raimi reportedly did not like but Sony thought was A-OK for them. The new Spidey will be filmed in glorious (read: we can charge you suckers an extra 7 bucks) 3D. So, which actors made it through to the swimsuit competition that is the screen test?
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It seems like just yesterday that freckled face young lass bounded into our hearts, fresh from the Disney dream machine. Yes, with hair as red as Kool-Aid and a mischievous twinkle in her bright eyes, Lindsay Lohan made family movies remakes like The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday shimmer like they were brand new. The smash success of Mean Girls seem to portend the rise of an assured young comic actress who would transition smoothly into an adult acting career. But then...? Well, to quote the sage Rick James, cocaine is a helluva drug.
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Great Hope Springs already had some heavy ammunition in its camp with Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges signed on to play a couple who agree to spend an intense weekend-long counseling session to decide the fate of their 30-year marriage. But now The Wrap is reporting that Mike Nichols, director of such classics as The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? has expressed interest in directing the drama, thus bumping its Oscar expectations from Red Hot to the Force of 10,000 Exploding Suns. Still uncast is the role of the therapist who helps Streep and Bridges through their thorny issues. Philip Seymour Hoffman had previously expressed interest, but after the jump, check out my humble suggestion who should jump aboard this Academy Award-baiting freight train.
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After Landon Donovan's triumphant last-minute goal last Wednesday, it seems like Soccer Fever has hit America. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a low-grade fever, maybe running a toasty 99.7, rather than the 106 degree scorcher that soccer brings out virtually everywhere else in the world. It's just a sad fact of our country -- some may certainly love it, but by and large, the U.S. just isn't that into The World Cup. But don't feel bad, soccer! Here are five other things that are way more popular outside America.
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As expected, the Toy Wonders are running roughshod over both Adam Sandler's new comedy-in-name-only, Grown Ups, and Tom Cruise's much-feared Knight and Day. Sandler can at least boast that -- if projections are correct -- his nearly-perfect string of $40 million opening weekends record remained untarnished. Meanwhile, back in Tom Cruise's lead-lined, thetan-free mediation chamber, the erstwhile Mr. Mapother is no doubt punching the air in zombie-eyed joy that his movie is not a complete bomb. Hurray! It's only sorta-bombing! After a bloodless opening day of less than $4 million, it's picking up steam to head into the station on Sunday with a projected weekend gross of $20 million and a five-day gross of $27 million. Savor the rest of the little victories with us after the jump.
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