After the Late Night Wars toppled Conan O'Brien from The Tonight Show and reinstalled Jay Leno in his place, it seemed as though the battle lines had been drawn: on one side, there was Team Coco, on the other, Team Leno, and never the twain should meet. That's what makes the news we're about to reveal all the more surprising.
Gabourey Sidibe has already had her big break with this year's Oscar-nominated film Precious and now it looks like her mother, Alice Tan Ridley, is getting her own shot at fame with an upcoming appearance on NBC's competition show, America's Got Talent. Ridley, a former teacher who has been earning an income by dancing in a New York subway the past few years, confirmed the April booking to Radar: "It's a big break for me and I would like to follow in Susan Boyle's footsteps and become a star in my own right." [Radar]
Adam Lambert, the glitteriest American Idol runner-up I ever did see, is returning to the show April 13 to mentor contestants for an as-yet-unspecified theme. The speculation begins now! Is it Rock Week? Queen Week? Shiny Men Week? Diplomatically Ignore Danny Gokey Week? What about Vague Jo Anne Worley Resemblance Week? Whatever it is -- I can't believe what Katie Stevens tried to do with it. [MTV]
· Ever wanted to hide out in Ryan Reynolds' pecs? With this new poster for Paper Man, your fantasy can become a reality! Click for bigger.
· AMC has cast the lead in its zombie drama Walking Dead: Andrew Lincoln, best known for showing Keira Knightley some cue cards in Love Actually.
· Anton Yelchin and Fred Armisen have joined the Smurfs voice cast.
· Worried about these Sandra Bullock sex tape rumors? "There is no sex tape," the actress told People. "There never has been one and there never will be one."
· "I can be mean," Gwyneth Paltrow admits to Vogue. "I can cave in to gossip. I can ice people out and I can definitely harbour revenge." Have a plate of hot wings and some ice cream, Gwyn -- you'll feel better.
We're a few days removed from Christopher Nolan's WonderCon testimony and his latest chat with the L.A. Times, neither of which seem to reveal much more than the filmmaker's aptitude for blowing your effing mind with diversions, distractions and other modes of geek-bait legerdemain. But now it appears that the real brain-cramping spoils belong to those combining WonderCon access, cell-phone technology and free swag into something, well... still totally unintelligible. But cool! I think? Read on and you tell me.
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Could Ty Burrell be the next Steve Carell? Burrell's sitcom Modern Family hasn't even aired for a full season, and yet he's been tapped for the big-screen Butter role the Weinsteins were once hoping to fill with Jim Carrey. He'll play a term-limited butter sculptor opposite Jennifer Garner as his wife and Yara Shahidi as the young upstart who threatens them both. [Variety]
According to one report, Harrison Ford is potentially set to appear in Jon Favreau's comic book adaptation of Cowboys and Aliens. Ford would join previously announced stars Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde, though what his role would be remains a mystery. One rumor that can be dispelled: This film's titular aliens will not leave a treasure trove of knowledge behind. [Latino Review via The Playlist]
Heads up, folks: We're still looking to fill a Night Editor position (12:00 am - 9:00 am EDT shift), and would like to encourage applicants from overseas to apply. Being based in Europe might be the easiest, as the job requires blogging as well as original reporting and interviews -- all of which are harder to do Stateside in the dead of night. We could use a New York-based intern as well. Inquire within!
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Good news for Helen Mirren completists and anyone wanting to see Joe Pesci back onscreen in, like, anything: Love Ranch, about the founding of Nevada's first legal brothel, will finally make its theatrical debut in June. Directed by Taylor Hackford, the film was held up for several years in the collapse of Capitol Pictures; Canadian distributor E1 is said to plan a seven-to-10 city U.S. release, expanding based on reviews and box office. Right. In other words, look for it on DVD by September. [THR]
The latest journey through Movieline's deep, rich archives yields another round of historical how's-thats and what's-its, including a Hollywood dynasty born 126 years ago, a technical innovation that would come to define cinema, and, well, the introduction of some talented young Rudd.
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· The Ron Howard infidelity comedy Cheaters acquired another name recently, with Winona Ryder joining the Vince Vaughn/Kevin James film as James's wife. "Only in the movies is that within the realm of possibility..." writes Nikki Finke. I know! James could do so much better. Er, wait. Anyway, high-five, Winona -- it's sincerely good to have you back. Stick around for a while? [Deadline]
Robert Zemeckis mends fences with Disney, Olivia Thirlby against aliens, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· The trailer for the third and final season of The Boondocks is the most socially and politically charged footage I've seen since that new Erykah Badu video. Granted, that came out three days ago. But still -- this is powerful stuff. And it's only a trailer! The face on the other side of that dart will look familiar to fans of Fred Armisen. [YouTube]
According to horrifying new reports, Lucasfilm Animation is teaming with Seth Green and Matthew Senreich (of Robot Chicken) for a Star Wars comedy series. Thrilling, of course. Hopefully the Luke/Leia incest will be reimagined as a Marx brothers mistaken identity routine, and Darth Vader will be voiced by a slightly more somber Gilbert Gottfried. Then again, the Star Wars franchise is no stranger to terrible TV comedy... [THR]
The USA network has announced two projects in development from NBC vets. The first, an untitled project being penned by Kath & Kim's John Michael Higgins centers on a middle-class insurance investigator who finds high-stakes drama in dull jobs. The Office's Steve Carell, has signed on to executive produce with Thom Hinkle (Rockford Files). Meanwhile, Anthony Edwards (ER) is set to executive produce the second project, The Velvet Hammer, about a Texan divorcee who's also an FBI agent. [THR]
Well, that was fast. Not long after this afternoon's teasing comments from Emma Stone about the top-shelf raunch in Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet's segment of Untitled Comedy, along comes a Movieline reader in the know with what to expect from the five-minutes short. And I have to admit: Even after bouncing a few hundred depraved possibilities around the Movieline water cooler, I'm not sure anyone here would have come up with this one any time soon. Click through for the brief, spoilerrific explanation:
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