What is it with CBS producers this year? First we had Joe Halderman, and now Survivor's Bruce Beresford-Redman, who is suspected of murdering his wife, Monica Beresford-Redman. The couple was vacationing in Mexico when Beresford-Redman reported his wife missing on Tuesday. Her body was found Thursday in a sewer at the Moon Palace resort, where the family was staying. Developing... [Fox]
The controversial Tribeca Film Fest entry Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives was the subject of protests in New York yesterday, though not by its primary foe GLAAD; instead, trans rights organization MAGNET led the gathering outside New York's Tribeca Cinemas. "People are telling us to lighten up," organizer Ashley Love told the NYT, "but I heard reports of two more trans women murdered this morning. It's not a laughing matter. We're not laughing at all." [NYT]
I love Big Hollywood. I really do. I love all the seething resentment, the writers' reactionary-for-reaction's-sake approach to film culture, and the haven it represents for the ceaselessly entertaining Victoria Jackson. Mostly, though, I just love its base appeal to fear, dread, angst and class consciousness among the most emotionally fragile sectors of our entire culture. Today, it's "non-wealthy" actors. And it's war!
· The new cover of Details teases "the male multiple orgasm" and also features Alexander Skarsgard. I'll let you draw the connection.
· Who gave Michael Emerson that black eye he's been sporting on the set of Lost? Henry Ian Cusick fesses up.
· Verge alum Alice Eve is thought to be well within the league of Chris Evans, and is now the frontrunner to play Captain America's love interest.
· The Los Angeles Film Festival is moving into the L.A. Live hub that housed this year's frustrating Indie Spirits.
· Do you want to know what Heidi Montag's "back-scooping" plastic surgery procedure was? Then you're a braver person than I.
Tom Arnold is best known in the feature film world for supplying the comic relief in True Lies (I'd also recommend his nice-guy act in the Don Roos film Happy Endings), and though True Lies 2 definitely isn't on the docket, Arnold may have a chance to fulfill that very necessary action movie archetype once more. Movieline hears that Arnold is the second cast member confirmed for Peter Berg's board game adaptation Battleship, joining lead Taylor Kitsch. How do we know? The pissed-off actor told us himself!
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Trust me, it hurt yesterday to include the Arrested Development movie in our list of hyped projects that are never. gonna. happen. Thank goodness I came to terms with it then, though, as David Cross agrees with our assessment. "It's not official, but I just don't think it's going to happen," Cross told TV Squad. "Way too much time it's been [since the show ended]. I mean, there's so many people involved. Everyone's doing their own thing, you know. And everybody's aged. It's just not going to happen." [TV Squad via The Playlist]
In a part ode/part lament in the name of production assistants all over Hollywood, a THR contributor today offers the modest proposal to -- gasp! -- unionize and pay P.A.'s a decent wage for their work. "One way producers think they can get around state and federal minimum-wage laws by not paying production assistants anything is to call them 'interns,'" writes the commentator, providing a number of egregious (albeit hilarious) examples. "If no union wants to protect Hollywood's production assistants, maybe the State Labor Board will." P.A. power, woot! Now get me more coffee. [THR]
Attention Lost fans: In his weekly EW spoiler-fest, Michael Ausiello reveals that an "unlikely romance" will begin on the series in early May and that fans will "never guess this one." Forget the Smoke Monster -- this is the important stuff. To what pairing could Ausiello be referring? Time for some guesses!
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Relativity Media has reportedly offered MGM $500 million to continue making films while it sorts out its sale and attempts to climb out from under billions in debt. Specifically the free-spending, Ryan Kavanaugh-led investors seem to want to get in on the next James Bond film (and presumably The Hobbit) -- otherwise he may as well spend around half that amount to poach MGM boss Mary Parent to go back to the Universal lot. But would Bond's producers and/or Sam Mendes even make a 007 movie for the slimmer budget this implies, especially when you throw in two Hobbit movies (which would have to slim down themselves)? And isn't the emphasis right now supposed to be on recovering debt through offloading MGM's library? Insert migraine here. [Deadline]
Happy April 8, 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. Read on for more good fortune to happen upon Taylor Kitsch, a look back at Charlie Chaplin's second career and memories of Clint Eastwood's third career.
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· After a year comprising flops (State of Play), disappointments (Funny People), ungodly bombs (Land of the Lost, Green Zone), and conspicuous cancellations (Cartel), Universal has had enough. The beleaguered studio has called in Rowan Atkinson to reprise his role as the bungling title spy in Johnny English 2, the sequel to Uni's 2003 international hit. And by "hit," I mean the first film grossed $160 million globally on a $40 million budget. I know, right? A Rowan Atkinson film cost $40 million to make. Not this time. Can't wait to see how and where this fits in on the studio tram ride. [Variety]
Universal also finds a curious lead for Battleship, the clock is ticking for Aziz Ansari, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· There's an old-timey promo out for Tina Fey's SNL hosting gig this week. It combines the artful nonchalance of Tina Fey and the unsettling everything of Fred Armisen. [NBC]
I chuckled earlier when I read about the flickering flame of hope kept alive by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, who insists that the property could be resurrected as a feature film on a semi-regular basis. He's not the only one who regularly flogs a filmic pipe dream, though. Here are 9 projects in perpetual development that film bloggers love to write about, but will probably never get a greenlight:
Sprechen Sie Deutsch, Tony Scott? Nein, nein, nein. The director is reportedly circling the thriller Potzdamer Platz as his next film, with a cast of Javier Bardem, Jason Statham and Mickey Rourke in talks for the story of a New Jersey crime family going international. And about that name: "By the time the picture pulls together its financing and distribution for a fall start, it will probably have a new title." Noooo kidding. Also: Someone will no doubt have replaced Javier Bardem. [Deadline]
Though we're still wondering what was meant in Nicollette Sheridan's lawsuit when she said Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry struck her "because he is a homosexual man," her former costar Eva Longoria Parker has apparently confirmed at least some of Sheridan's story. Here's what she said today (via Yahoo) on Ryan Seacrest's radio show:
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