Sad news if you're a fan of unlikely screen pairings: Russell Crowe recently confirmed that Beyoncé has pulled out of his planned remake of A Star is Born. Still, the show must go on -- and it has, three times before onscreen. Which other young women could play the role of a singing star on the rise as Crowe's own star wanes? Movieline took the time to suggest a few.
So, what's in the Iron Man 2-bundled trailer for Super 8, the next secret movie from J.J. Abrams? Says Vulture: "It shows a bunch of kids who are shooting a movie with a Super 8 camera in the seventies or eighties. When they develop the film, they notice that there's an alien creature in the frame." Sorry, J.J., but the Weinsteins may have you beat on this viral marketing job. [Vulture]
Clutch your bandanna bead rosary and sing the Poison gospel ("Every Rose Has Its Thorn"), because Bret Michaels has been released from the hospital. Dr. Joseph Zabramski, who has been treating Michaels since the Celebrity Apprentice contestant suffered a brain hemorrhage two weeks ago, confirmed the news from a press conference held at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix. What's the glam rocker's full prognosis?
more »
And now, a cautionary tale for all the aspiring blackmailers out there. Robert "Joe" Halderman, the former CBS producer who tried to shake down David Letterman for $2 million, started his 6 month jail sentence today. Halderman pled guilty to attempted grand larceny in March and agreed to complete 1,000 hours of community service as part of his punishment. [AP]
Mainstream America loves its smut. And if there's anything the Weinstein Company learned two years ago in their failed efforts to market Zack and Miri Make a Porno, it was never to send a fake porn flick to do a real porn flick's job. Hence (I think) the new viral Web site Wild Wild Girls, a prohibitively NSFW exercise on behalf of Piranha 3-D. Did I mention it's NSFW?
more »
· In this new still from Salt, we can only guess at the ways that Angelina Jolie riding a motorcycle will emasculate her husband.
· The Speirig brothers have been lined up to direct a sequel to Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal.
· Mel Brooks is producing a horror movie called Pizzaman. It can't be any scarier that the Broadway production of Young Frankenstein.
· Will Ferrell told EW that Anchorman 2 is still alive...for now: "We're still going back and forth [with the studio]. Maybe there is a solution."
· When Wendy Williams is criticizing your plastic surgery makeover, it may be time to step away from the scalpel.
The lineup for the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival has been announced and if you're a Twilight fan, prepare to be jealous. The LAFF will host an invitation-only world premiere of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse a full six days before its release to the ravenous, abs-deprived public. Also on tap: Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are Alright (co-starring Annette Benning, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Mia Wasikowska), will kick the festival off on June 17, Despicable Me (the 3D animated flick featuring the voices of Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Jason Segal, Will Arnett and Julie Andrews) closes things down on June 27 and the Duplass brothers' much-anticipated Cyrus will screen, too. After the jump, a list of the films in competition.
more »
A little-known law of studio physics dictates that money earmarked for a Jerry Bruckheimer film cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed from one state to another. Look no further than Disney for the latest proof of this empiricism, in which the production budget of Bruckheimer's latest Pirates of the Caribbean film will endure a cut while the marketing budget of Prince of Persia -- opening May 28 -- will result in a campaign that will haunt your effing dreams.
more »
Neil Patrick Harris may have triumphed as the 2009 Emmys emcee, but now it's NBC's turn to broadcast the show, and they're selecting Jimmy Fallon to host the 2010 ceremony on August 29. Does this mean we'll see a tuxedo-aided beer pong rematch with Betty White? What about a suspiciously choreographed Auto-Tune sketch? Both will be fine distractions when Mad Men's Matthew Weiner goes up to receive at least two more trophies. [The Wrap]
Looks like the Anchorman and Zoolander sequels aren't the only ones with budget woes. After wildly out-of-control spending on the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Disney has instituted a wealth of financial cuts for Pirates 4, even limiting the amount of time Jack Sparrow will spend out to sea (since water shoots are more expensive). Also, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and star Johnny Depp are no longer allowed to have money fights, on account of crew morale. [LAT]
You may already know what the secret scene at the end of Iron Man 2 is, but that won't stop Paramount from taking some pretty extraordinary measures to protect that and yet another secret J.J. Abrams stunt from reaching viral audiences early.
more »
· The good news: Joseph Gordon-Levitt may reunite with Brick director Rian Johnson for the sci-fi-thriller Looper. The bad news: More time-travel nonsense, with JGL playing a criminal sent back in time to kill himself. Johnson's earned the benefit of the doubt, though, and at least it's got a better title than Premium Rush, the actor's other pending deal from Monday. David Koepp will direct the tale of a New York City bike messenger (Gordon-Levitt) whose chased through town for the suspicious package he's carrying from Columbia University. [THR]
David O. Russell makes the short-list for a video-game adaptation (!), Sam Rockwell may rejoin Jon Favreau, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· French artist MTO turns classic movie characters into incredible graffiti portraits on the streets of Berlin. If The Shining's Jack Torrance isn't your idea of a happy street-side mural, Travis Bickle and Hannibal Lecter may greet you when you leave the laundromat, too. Video after the jump.
Mark May 2010 down as the month that Lindsay Lohan put the court dates, the public feuds, the drug rumors, the gun photos and her box office unbankability behind her, because the actress is following up her 2007 turn as a stripper in I Know Who Killed Me by playing porn star Linda Lovelace in Matthew Wilder's Inferno, a biopic about the porn star's life. On second thought, you'd better write that date down in pencil. [PopEater]
Paramount Pictures has announced that on May 8th in Manhattan, they'll be holding an open casting call for the three leads in David Chase's new film, "a musical-driven coming of age story set in suburbia." So, basically, That Thing You Do! Got it. While it's nice that the studio has given a modicum of hope to struggling actors everywhere, if you think Chase's first post-Sopranos project is going to be some Todd Phillips-like free-for-all with a bunch of no-name first-timers, you're crazy. Cue up some Journey, check out the casting notices, and take a look at our suggestions on who should star:
FILM NEWS 