After appearing on a soap opera, shooting full frontal male nudity, and infiltrating gay pride, we've come to think that a little homoeroticism is almost obligatory in all of James Franco's art projects. Add one more to the list: Franco says his new solo art show in New York is about "sexual confusion," and will include a work that supposes a romantic Star Trek encounter between James T. Kirk and Spock. Been there, done that. [WSJ via Vulture]
Hey, remember when Steven Spielberg actually directed movies and didn't just produce them? (Deep breath: He's shepherding Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, The Coen Brothers' True Grit, Transformers 3, Cowboys and Aliens, Real Steel, Super 8 and I Am Number Four, to name seven.) Well, not only does he have The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn coming in 2011, but he's also got that reported adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel, War Horse, on the way as well. And that one's just staffed up with the nicest set of UK character actors this side of Harry Potter.
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While attempting to change a flat tire in Palm Springs, former Party of Five star Jeremy London was kidnapped by two men who forced the former drug-addicted actor to smoke crack cocaine (or amphetamines, London wasn't certain) and distribute liquor in a gang area of the town -- all while being held at gunpoint. Radar reports that two men were charged Wednesday over the incident, which lasted five hours before London escaped. [Radar]
Nearly six months after their initial, historic Daily Show power summit, Jon Stewart and George Lucas apparently have some unfinished business to attend to. Hence today's news that the duo will reconvene this summer at Star Wars Celebration V, the annual fan gathering down in Orlando. Relive their first pas de deux after the jump, and dry-clean your Chewbacca outfit in preparation for an hour-long Round Two.
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Thirty years after Jake and Elwood Blues went on their mission from God, the Vatican has issued an endorsement of The Blues Brothers as "recommended viewing for Catholics everywhere." The brothers' mission to raise money for the orphanage where they were raised apparently took on a little more weight than the wrist-slapping "penguin" nun in the final judgment, but there you have it. Newt Gingrich, eat your heart out. [THR]
· Miley Cyrus is attached to star in Wake, an adaptation of the popular young-adult novel about a 17-year-old girl reluctantly sucked into people's dreams. You can see where this is going: She's pulled into someone's nightmare, and voila, a new tween franchise is born. Which is odd, because she's usually so zen about these kinds of things. [THR]
An unlikely trio gets macho, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard get Legend-ary, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· LA comic Drew Droege is back as birthday-loving drag superstar Chloë Sevigny. This time around, she's discussing her summer plans and treating Taryn Manning to a special concoction. [YouTube]
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Oprah Winfrey just handed out cute bonuses to the staffers at her magazine, regardless of how long they'd worked for her: an Apple iPad, a leather iPod case embossed with the employee's initials, and a check for $10,000. Pretty amazing. Unfortunately, now the O staff is obligated to say the "OWN" network doesn't sound creepy. [Gawker]
How important is it for The Hobbit to have a director? Apparently, not very! Despite the fact that Guillermo del Toro fled the director's chair and Peter Jackson doesn't want the gig, the film has still been auditioning actors in Los Angeles like nothing's the matter. Now, new pictures have leaked of The Hobbit's sets, which have already been built in New Zealand.
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If you answered affirmatively and can get to Culver City in a week on your own dime, Conan O'Brien's sidekick needs you. Sony Studios is currently recruiting "die hard Andy Richter fans to support him" in the audience for his new pilot of the game show Pyramid. Filming takes place Wednesday, June 23rd; click here for more details. Joel Godard, you're probably going to want to sit this one out. [Craigslist]
Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz will stop at nothing to boost the meager tracking numbers for Knight and Day, and if that means Diaz has to kick Cruise in the chest or play with a CG soccer ball, she'll do it! Still, with all those efforts failing to move the needle much, it's time to bring out the big guns: an interview with Playboy where she talks about what she'll do for c**k. And that ain't "cook" or "cork."
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· The Weinsteins have made a fairly under-the-radar pickup of Shelter, a horror film starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, but here's an album of stills. There are a lot of concerned looks in there.
· Still making sense of the multi-part Real Housewives reunion? Replace Andy Cohen with a sweating shot glass and things start to come together.
· In the Loop MVP Zach Woods has been upped to a regular on The Office next season.
· Fox wants in on this new "dropping prizes from a height of several stories" mini-genre that's burning up the game show industry.
· What does Miley Cyrus think about Perez Hilton posting a scandalous upskirt picture of her? "That's some idiot being an idiot," she told Ryan Seacrest. Succinct.
Will we ever get to see the Joss Whedon-produced, Drew Goddard-directed horror flick The Cabin in the Woods? A while back, it was bumped all the way to January to undergo a 3D post-conversion, and now it may be lost in the MGM mess and delayed yet again. At this rate, star Chris Hemsworth will probably be seen in Thor before we ever get a taste of this tiny sleeper. Hell, Whedon may have directed him in The Avengers by then. [THR via The Playlist]
The plot of the new Taylor Lautner thriller Abduction centers on his sudden realization that the mom and dad who've raised him aren't actually his real parents. How do you cast those roles convincingly? With two actors famous for being blond, of course! Jason Isaacs (who plays Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series) and Maria Bello have come aboard the project as Lautner's fake family, and for an entire first act, he will pretend not to notice that their tans are nowhere near as good as his. Somewhere, Jennifer Lopez is crying, for the assimilatory torch has been passed. [Deadline]
Were you impressed by Children of Men's famous one-take "assault on the car" sequence? Apparently, director Alfonso Cuaron is determined to top himself; for his upcoming sci-fi pic Gravity, which is set to star Robert Downey Jr., he's planning an opening shot that lasts for over 20 minutes. That's enough to give Michael Bay reverse epilepsy. [Coming Soon]
