True Blood star Stephen Moyer recently provided Playboy with a graphic description of fanged fornication. "Unlike werewolves, who are very hot, vampires are steely cold, so sex with the undead isn't going to get hot and crispy. There's no heartbeat, no adrenaline rush as you get close to the moment. But in terms of speed and timing, you may be able to have sex that lasts for days. Vampire sex is muscular and physical, so it could be tiring for a human guy to have sex with a female vampire." We'll take your word for it. [Playboy]
Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and/or blindingly nostalgic (again) at the movies. This week, Pixar puts down some playthings, Warners cuts its losses, and the overall summer doldrums aren't especially improving. Now that I've got you so massively engrossed, read on to see what you'll be skipping as a whole this week -- and what kind of money it might make in your absence.
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It looks like Michael Fassbender's supervillain Sophie's Choice might be easier than expected. While he's still presumably on the shortlist to play the villain in Sony's Spider-Man reboot, the German-born actor has been officially offered the role of Magneto in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class over at Twentieth Century Fox. If he accepts, Fassbender -- next seen slicing throats in Centurion -- would star alongside the previously announced James McAvoy, who plays Professor X in the film scheduled for release next summer. Marvel fatigue or not, that does sound pretty OK, right? [Deadline]
· Yes, apparently Leonardo DiCaprio is the only leading man in Hollywood that major directors want to work with. The Inception star has officially signed on to the Clint Eastwood directed bio pic on the life of J. Edgar Hoover. Set up at Warner Bros. -- from a script by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk) that has previously been reported to contain no cross-dressing claims -- it will mark the first time that DiCaprio has appeared in a film directed by the two-time Oscar winning director. No word yet on how Martin Scorsese feels about this obvious betrayal. [Deadline]
Rachel McAdams goes back to the well, Bradley Cooper plays ball and the rest of Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Just as they hit the road for their summer tour, American Idol's ninth-season alums have been caught rehearsing a tribute to original idol Kelly Clarkson. You could even say the title "My Life Would Suck Without You" is a direct message to her. Thus far, there is no word of a Justin Guarini tribute entitled "Since U Been Gone." [Zap2It]
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It's said that comedy is pain, and while that pain can sometimes be metaphorical (just look at the recent, angsty roundtable THR conducted with some of TV's top comedic actors), it's notable that two famous comedians have literal scars to bear. In 2008, after years of refusing to discuss the scar on her face, Tina Fey finally told Vanity Fair that it came from a random childhood attack she suffered at the hands of a stranger. Now, it's Jonah Hill's turn to open up.
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The new crop of Hollywood Walk of Fame inductees includes Oprah Winfrey, Neil Patrick Harris, Tina Fey, Gwyneth Paltrow, the Muppets, Reese Witherspoon, Penelope Cruz, and Danny DeVito. Of those selected, only one has never won either an Academy Award or Emmy. Can you guess? Yep, it's good old NPH. Reminds me of that famous adage: "Those who can't win, host." [THR]
Finally, newlywed Rush Limbaugh is ready to move forward with his sports career. The Golf Channel has enlisted the conservative commentator to star in the network's third season of The Haney Project; he'll be the "Project" part of the title, as coach Hank Haney spends an entire season improving Limabugh's golf game. If you recall, Limbaugh's last foray into the sports world did not end well: he resigned from ESPN in 2003 shortly after he was accused of making racist comments while working as a professional football commentator. [THR]
At least the reviews aren't as bad as Marmaduke? Well, not yet anyway. The early critical notices for Jonah Hex are in, and they're... awful. Only 12 critics have weighed in on Rotten Tomatoes thus far and the consensus is that the DC comic adaptation is the latest worst movie of the summer. However if there is one thing unifying all the bad reviews -- beyond the general hatred -- it's in commenting on just how quickly Jonah Hex is over. Brevity might be the soul of wit, but in this case it's also the soul of a totally hacked-apart studio movie. But just how long is this thing?
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Hell hath no fury like Robert Pattinson fans scorned. After Emma Roberts harmlessly proclaimed herself to be Team Jacob on The Tonight Show, she was deluged with so many angry Twitter attacks (despite her own backpedaling tweet: "Rob Pattinson is so nice! I was slightly disappointed his skin wasn't glittering & the song 'Wild Thing' didn't start when he shook my hand") that she was forced to cancel her own account. Where was this massive grassroots action on Pattinson's behalf when Remember Me came out? [E!]
Everything touched by Betty White turns to gold, including last night's so-so premiere of the network's first original sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. In a statement released this morning, TV Land congratulated itself on the episode's "scorching" rating of 1.9 among adults 25-54. Nearly 5 million viewers tuned in, making it the highest-rated and most-watched telecast in TV Land history. Now if only Betty White could do something about those vuvuzelas...
· Here we have us a poster for the new George Clooney vehicle The American, and I'm not afraid of it. Click for bigger.
· Jennifer Lawrence and Anton Yelchin already star together in Jodie Foster's upcoming The Beaver, but now they're reuniting for a new romantic drama called Like Crazy.
· Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) has been hired to script the newest incarnation of Logan's Run.
· Jonah Hex may be an oddity, but as TWoP points out, there's just something about the western genre that cries out for weirdness.
· Ryan Kwanten is writing a sex manual. No, for real. I suppose True Blood already provides the illustrations.
Those sissies in D.C. should take a hint from Richard Daley, the venerable and Bayhem-friendly mayor of Chicago. Daley held a press conference Wednesday to tout the Windy City's blockbuster-readiness and to assure people that the proper precautions would be taken when Transformers 3 shoots there in July and August. "He also asked 'everyone for our understanding' when the filming leads to 'street closures or other potential problems,'" noted the Chicago Tribune, clearly anticipating the overpowering stench of the script. Hang in there, folks. [Chicago Tribune]
If you're the type of Internet user who can spend a few hours clicking through the IMDb pages of actors, directors and writers, forever wondering how the particular person has accomplished so much at such a young age -- what, it can't just be me who does this -- some bad news: The Writer's Guild of America West is pressuring the massive film resource to pull all the ages from its site because they create the potential for age discrimination. Where's the fun in that?
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All it took was some carefully visualized persuasion from Movieline for Danny Boyle to get the official go-ahead as the artistic director of the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Summer Olympics. He won't be alone, either -- and I'm not just talking about the company of mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.
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