Remember the innocent days when the stars of Charles of Charge just wanted to help you out with your bankruptcy? I sure do after reading Scott Baio's utterly batsh*t Twitter rants against... well, everybody. "My butt is getting itchy with all these trolls up in it," he wrote this week during on ongoing tête-à-tête with the gang at Jezebel. "Adopt another cat or butt lick someone else. Envy must really suck." Big Hollywood, here he comes. [Jezebel via Videogum]
It's not a great time to be Heather Locklear right now. The actress's return to Melrose Place hasn't improved the show's bleak future any, and now, reports TMZ, Locklear has been arrested for a hit-and-run (so 90210!) that took out a "no parking" sign in her Westlake Village neighborhood. This is the actress's second arrest in two years, and as for her parole? I'm not so sure it dissipated. [TMZ]
· Coming Soon found the first still from the upcoming Stephen Frears comedy Tamara Drewe, featuring Gemma Arterton as a sexy flirt.
· Slow your roll, everyone: Ken Marino wants a third season of the rapidly depleted Party Down, too, but Starz has to pull the trigger.
· Why does The Early Show hate weatherman Dave Price so much?
· Al Pacino and Meg Ryan in Pretty Woman? That's hardly the weirdest example in Moviefone's 15 posters "re-imagined with the stars originally cast."
· But is it a more intriguing pairing than Matt Damon and Keira Knightley in an adaptation of Tender is the Night?
Tucked into an LAT article about the re-release of Avatar this fall with an additional six minutes added (c'mon, sex scene!), James Cameron reveals that Avatar 2 will focus on the oceans of Pandora. Since the director made several underwater documentaries before Avatar, his affinity for that environment comes as no surprise, still: this is going to be the most amazing 3D remake of The Incredible Mr. Limpet ever! [LAT]
One of the hot button documentaries this year at Sundance was 8: The Mormon Proposition, which examines the Mormon Church's role in passing the anti-gay Proposition 8 in California and happens to be narrated by the openly gay, prominently ex-Mormon writer/director Dustin Lance Black (Milk, the upcoming What's Wrong with Virginia). The film will be released in theaters, on demand and through digital download channels June 18th, but until then, Movieline has your first look at its poster.
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The full lobbying force of Hollywood has landed on Capitol Hill, where legislators are hearing alllll about regulatory approval of box-office futures trading. Both major exchanges have met with approval so far, with Cantor Fitzgerald getting a green light on Tuesday. The MPAA, meanwhile, continued to rail against what a statement called "a risky online-wagering service that would be detrimental to the motion picture industry and the 2.4 million Americans whose livelihoods are based on this industry." Do I count? I hope not; I totally plan to short-sell Robin Hood. [THR]
Happy April 21, 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. It's the second big Star Trek commemoration in as many days as we contemplate its singular creator's even more singular final resting place.
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Sony will get its Memorial Day 2011 tent pole after all. To fill the void left by the cancellation of Spider-Man 4, the studio is moving ahead with a third Men in Black film. Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and director Barry Sonnenfeld will all return for the blockbuster which -- spoiler alert -- will be filmed in 3D. Of course more inquiring minds are curious about only one thing: Will they find room for Rip Torn? [/Film]
· You might have thought it was a good thing -- or at least some cosmic sign -- that screen adaptations of the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie had stalled over the years. But Sony is determined to mine that brand for all its worth, bringing on scribe Sheila Callaghan to have a pass at the material. A regular, acclaimed contributor to The United States of Tara, Callaghan faces four decades of series obsolescence and the challenge of making a subservient-woman-locked-in-a-bottle work in the 21st century. Wish her the best. [LAT]
The French first lady does Woody after all, Brittany Snow gets hijacked, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· That's Party Down star and former Mean Girls pariah Lizzy Caplan playing a lovestruck mummy in a new Funny Or Die video. Her co-stars happen to be Party Down regulars cast members Martin Starr and Adam Scott, which means... the premiere of season two must be three days away. [Funny Or Die]
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Do you want to be in the mysterious new party comedy Project X from Todd Phillips (The Hangover), but you can't be bothered to submit yourself to its open auditions? You're in luck, as First Showing reports the whole film will be shot from a first-person perspective in 3D. This time, if the extra dimension makes you nauseous, it doubles as a plot point! [First Showing]
Even though she inked a reality TV deal with a Netherlands-based production company, Octomom Nadya Suleman revealed on Oprah today that she won't ever film herself for a series. "A parent must provide for their kids, not the other way around," the mother of 14 told Winfrey., adding that the moniker "Octomom" makes her feel like "a carnival attraction." While she may not go through with a reality series, I think Louis Van Amstel should prepare a carnival barker-themed rumba for her inevitable trek to DWTS. [NY Post]
Grossed out by our discussion of IFC's horror film The Human Centipede? Unsettled by the two clips we've posted from it? Then you're probably not going to like what director Tom Six just told ShockTillYouDrop about the somehow-inevitable sequel.
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Sam Mendes didn't waste any time, did he? A day after the indefinite delay of his James Bond film, the director has attached himself to the Wizard of Oz prequel Oz the Great and Powerful, with Robert Downey Jr. in talks to play the Wizard. How this project dodged Tim Burton, I'll never know. [Twitter]
Among the never-ending cascade of press releases tumbling over the Movieline transom in any given week, only a few call out for a closer look. And fewer still match the urgency of a dispatch received today from Dreama Denver -- the widow of Gilligan's Island star Bob Denver -- who has publicly responded to news of classic show's big-screen adaptation with a recommendation and a complaint.
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