· Can you handle some new stills from Iron Man 2, even if none of them show Gwyneth Paltrow taking a right hook to the face?
· Can't say I saw this one coming: E! says producers want Kristen Stewart to replace Angelina Jolie in the Wanted sequel.
· One sequel that probably won't happen, though, is a second installment of the recently revived Friday the 13th franchise.
· Not long after the death of his wife, Dixie Carter, it's been announced that Hal Holbrook is joining the cast of Sons of Anarchy.
· Birthday boy Jack Nicholson may get his own version of The Hangover in the old people comedy LASt Vegas (oof, that title).
Oscilloscope Labs today announced its pick-up of Howl, the Sundance-opening (and generally underwhelming) adaptation of Allen Ginsberg's famous poem and the First Amendment showdown it spurred. O-Scope plans a September release, likely with an awards campaign in mind for star James Franco. [Oscilloscope]
Until recently, the most cringe-inducing thing I had read in quite some time was The Onion's new, spot-on article, "Sad Sack Purchases Screenwriting Software" ("Norgren, whose script ideas were literally too sad to print here, said he likes films with smart dialogue and characters who overcome obstacles"). Then, I stumbled across the website The Restoration of Stephen Baldwin.
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Good news: You don't have to wait until tomorrow (or until you find the money to subscribe to Starz) to watch the season premiere of Party Down and the series premiere of Gravity, because the premium cabler has kindly made both full episodes available here and here. And as an added bonus, you can watch Party Down's fifth episode guest-starring Steve Guttenberg here. [Starz.com]
Want an unsettling reminder of just how long ago Iron Man 2 completed principal photography? According to the LAT, it comes in a scene where the deceased DJ A.M. is spotted manning the turntables. ""We tried to make it respectful, and for people who know him, they'll get a kick out of it and for people who don't, it will sort of slide by without much notice," said director Jon Favreau, who dedicated the film to A.M. in the closing credits. [LAT]
That's what I thought. You're welcome. [via Cinematical]
At the risk of starting an unnecessary bout of Ricky Gervais backlash (though, hey, if it's good enough for Tina Fey...), something about his career choices of late have been a tad -- how to put this mildly? -- underwhelming. And with the announcement of his new series Life's Too Short (yet another meta look at show business, but this time from the point of view of real-life dwarf Warwick Davis) coming so soon on the heels of his UK film release Cemetery Junction (The Office in the '70s), it seems clear that he's in a rut of repeated ideas. What can Gervais do to break this streak of diminishing returns? Here are some suggestions:
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Happy April 22, dear reader! Time to join Movieline on another breezy expedition through the historical arcana and milestones that helped shaped the pop culture you know and love today, when a pair of legends first graced the world while another began his long, televised goodbye.
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As James Cameron himself will have you know even if he has to stomp it into your cerebral cortex, Avatar arrives today on DVD and Blu-ray. This calls for a celebration!
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· That annual Hollywood rite of spring known as "Pleeeease Don't Make Me Go to Cannes Without a Distributor" is unfolding for Fair Game, director Doug Liman's take on the Valerie Plame scandal starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. A buyer screening was held Wednesday in L.A., where most of the indies and mini-majors on hand reportedly admired the film but aren't sure how to sell it to audiences. Factor in the publicity costs of both Cannes and an imminent Oscar campaign, and... well, you know. Better sleep on it. [LAT]
Bryan Singer reteams with an old, Oscar-winning friend, Julia Roberts joins an expedition to Mount Everest, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· On today's episode of CBS's General Electric Theatre, Ronald Reagan and James Dean star in "The Dark, Dark Hours," a melodrama featuring a smiling conservative and a cause-less rebel. I'm not telling who plays who, but yes, this rare footage from 1954 is real. [CBS]
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Looks like someone wants a little of Michael Musto's blind item action. Zap2it reports that on May 5, a celebrity will come out on the cover of People before embarking on a talk show blitz orchestrated by PR man Howard Bragman. That says to me "washed-up second lead on an 80's sitcom," or "the one nobody remembers from Nick Lachey's boyband," but who are your guesses? [Zap2It]
How to Make it in America, the slow-starting HBO series about broke entrepreneurs hoping to catch a break, has been greenlit for a second season. Will series stars Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk rise or fall in the show's second season? Time will tell, but my guess is they'll learn that once you "make it" in the world of fashion design, you still have to face down mentors who instruct you to redo everything. [THR]
I know they're doing some nontraditional things with the costume for The Green Lantern, but did they really have to mess with Ryan Reynolds's face? Our good friends at the WOW Report noticed that in a paparazzi picture snapped on the set, the actor was seen sporting a shade of fake tan that goes past "Michael Kors" and teeters on the edge of "insensitive blackface routine from Mad Men." Take a powder, guys! [WOW Report]
Back in November, we eagerly introduced a recurring feature called the James Cameron Self-Parody Danger Zone, believing that the director would employ his usual, press-baiting braggadocio while promoting Avatar. Funny thing, though: he mostly kept his head down, letting the work speak for itself.
Now that Avatar has become the highest-grossing film of all time, though, our old, quotable Jim is back and better than ever! Here are the highlights of his amazing new interview with EW, rated on our danger zone:
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