· Brendan Fraser has better things to do than Journey to the Center of the Earth all over again, especially with director Brad Peyton. Reportedly upset with Walden Media and Warner Bros. urge to push forward without the first film's helmer Eric Brevig (who is previously committed to Yogi Bear, which I can't believe I just wrote), Fraser is set to forgo a franchise salary and sit out the sequel to the 2008 hit. It shoots in a few months. Josh Hutcherson, who played Fraser's nephew in the first one, will return as the lead. 3-D, fall 2011, etc. etc. [Deadline]
Ridley Scott has another hilarious pursuit, an intriguing foursome join up for crime's sake, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· I think we all saw this coming, didn't we? In the wake of his leaked Mamma Mia! audition video, Chris Klein has decided to own the situation in the most predictably self-effacing way possible: by "leaking" "more" "audition videos" to Funny or Die. I guess this means the original one was actually real? Oh dear. [Funny or Die]
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Need a little something to tide you over until the Human Centipede sequel? I-Mockery has unveiled a retro video game take on the skin-crawling original, with a gameplay style that hearkens back to (you guessed it) the arcade version of Centipede. It's no Antichrist: The Video Game, but it'll do. [I-Mockery]
Whether he's hitting up Carrie Bradshaw for water sports or hitting on secretaries in the world of Man Men, it kind of seems like John Slattery has always been a silver fox -- so much so that when it came time for Captain America to cast a young version of Howard Stark, I might have expected Slattery to simply reprise his Iron Man 2 cameo as the character and go rocking the white hair even into Howard's twenties. Alas!
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Bob Dylan turns 69 years old today, providing us with the perfect opportunity to reflect on his massive legacy and cast a necessary light upon his contributions to film history. Fans of Dylan's older and newer work can finally plenty to mine in his cinematic trove, from original soundtracks to Academy Award-winning songs to even a memorable acting role. Join us as we single out six of the songwriting titan's best-loved film ventures, and please pardon the cameo by Katie Holmes.
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Here's something fun for the slowest news day of the year! Ben Stiller is auctioning off an oversized wine glass that once touched the lips of Conan O'Brien during a classic Late Night remote shot in Napa Valley So far, 46 Coco fans have bid the item up to $1,125, and all proceeds will go to the Causecast Foundation. Also for sale: a signed Tropic Thunder swag bag, a Stillerstrong headband autographed by Tom Cruise and 4 V.I.P tickets to the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. [eBay]
If it's summer, and there are a pair of mainstream blockbusters about Persian and Asian warriors ready to open, then count on a "yellowface" controversy to saddle both on the way to release. Such are the scenarios facing Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender, both of which are presently on defensive as unfortunate casualties of the Slowest News Day of 2010.
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· You get an Inception character poster! You get an Inception character poster! Everyone gets an Inception character poster!
· Sam Rockwell will play Joe in the satirical manger metaphor Sweet Baby Jesus.
· Brittany Murphy's brother isn't shedding tears over the death of Simon Monjack, telling Radar: "The guy was insane."
· How did Lost producers endeavor to keep the show's final sequence secret? They sent out fake call sheets announcing that the church would be the site of a Jin/Sun wedding.
· Also, how did Cleveland station WEWS endeavor to ruin Lost finale parties? By airing the choppiest, most pixelated version possible. I feel bad for anyone who couldn't experience Jack's flying dragon punch in full HD.
Yes, lame pun, but I can explain: Tonight a few of the subjects of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders will join me and filmmaker Mark Hopkins for a discussion at the Apple Store SoHo. We got docs and docs, and all of them have stirring, jaw-dropping stories to tell. Read on for details.
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Reading A.O. Scott's review of MacGruber over the weekend, it occurred to me that the NY Times critic might be the single best take-down artist reviewing movies today. Armond White may have his quips about retroactive abortions, and Rex Reed may expend a gallon of acid per drop of ink he uses to cover, say, Kevin Smith. But more often than not, Scott approaches bad films from a genuine place attempting to ask and answer the fundamental question guiding all intelligent criticism: "What was that?" Read on as the Movieline Nine takes a look at some of his greatest hits.
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So just how do the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League plan on topping last year's Neil Patrick Harris-hosted Tonys? By appointing Sean Hayes as fearless presenter of the 64th ceremony on June 13 at Radio City Music Hall. Hayes has had a very busy two months -- after starring in the Broadway hit Promises, Promises alongside Kristin Chenoweth, the Will & Grace star came out of the closet, was dragged unwittingly into controversy when a Newsweek editorial writer isolated Hayes as an example of gay men being unconvincing in straight roles... [deep breath]... earned a Tony nom, and now this. Phew. [Deadline]
Everybody knows the real box-office money these days is in international, and so Tyler Perry jetted off to London over the weekend to begin laying the groundwork for a European insurgency. Prior to hosting a screening of Why Did I Get Married Too? with star Janet Jackson, Perry did TV interviews and met with fans, noting, "I heard there were people who had an appreciation of Tyler Perry stuff, and this is really cool to know." Indeed! Those Brits will be stealing his credit card number before you know it. [NYT]
The preliminary ratings are in from last night's Lost finale, and Nielsen is reporting that the much-anticipated series closer averaged a 9.0 rating. That means that over 60 percent more viewers turned into last night's show than last season's finale, but roughly the same number of people tuned into the Desperate Housewives episode last year on the same date. The more impressive figure from last night's episode is 45 -- the estimated amount of minutes spent on ads. [EW]
Simon Monjack, the controversial widower of Brittany Murphy, was found dead early this morning in his Los Angeles home. He was 39. Not much is known about the circumstances beyond their eerie similarities to Murphy's own death five months ago -- right down to the cause of death in the same bedroom in the same house.
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· Hey, here's a Lost follow-up for you: While traveling back from the Cannes Film Festival, apparently the entire Hollywood news-making establishment disappeared off the radar somewhere over the Atlantic. The only thing that seems to be happening today is that Ray Liotta is going to appear in Things Fall Apart, that movie featuring Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson as a college football player who faces his mortality. Liotta will portray the player's doctor and probably find a hatch buried somewhere near the set in Michigan, where all of the film industry's happenings for the notoriously slow week between Cannes and Memorial Day are buried every year. Maybe there's an Anchorman 2 sequel in there! Developing... [Variety]
I defy you to give a crap about anything that follows as Hollywood Ink stalls out and dies a horrible death after the jump.
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