Who's that famous, finger-mangled runner who placed #5825 at this weekend's Los Angeles Marathon? Why, it's Transformers star Shia LaBeouf, who finished the race with a time of 4 hours and 35 minutes. Naturally, the important context to evaluate that time is examining which other celebrity runners he beat (and more importantly, which stars beat him).
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Fox revealed today that this week's celebrity mentor on American Idol will be Miley Cyrus, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Crystal Bowersox to engage in a meaningful, chick-to-chick discussion on "finding the hurt" in lyrics like "and a Britney song was on." As if that weren't reason enough to tune in, Wednesday's results show features a performance from two other stars from the Disney Channel stable: real-life couple Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato, singing their duet, "Make a Wave." Yes, it's shaping up to be the best Teen Idols-themed week at American Idol ever. Except the theme has just been changed to "Billboard No. 1 Hits." Who's the theme-nixing culprit for whom "teen" is a dirty word?
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The Paycheck Role has long been one of the more pejorative distinctions in Hollywood, associating generally respected actors with films in which you can virtually see them holding their noses on camera. Today's news of John Malkovich and Frances McDormand joining Transformers 3 inducts a new duo into this distinguished subculture. But there's also a chance they know that for every Robin Williams cash-grab or Robert De Niro slum job, there are a tiny handful of actors who have actually established milestones of one sort or another while pulling down big salaries in bad, misconceived, underwritten and/or otherwise ill-advised films. Only time will tell if Malkovich and McDormand join the elite whom The Movieline Nine has taxonomized here; weigh in with your own additions below.
· "I have nothing but good things to say about Jason Segel's penis," says Mila Kunis to GQ, calling it "handsome" and "well-proportioned." A beautiful actress talking dirty in a men's magazine? Well, I never!
· Congratulations to Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, who just tied the knot.
· Wilmer Valderrama uses Chatroulette too, and unlike someone, he doesn't have to lie about his past projects on it.
· Tom Ford is about to sell a Warhol painting for more money than A Single Man made in its whole run.
· Expect an exciting toothbrush-based confrontation on the next installment of The Real World, Can't wait!
Burn After Reading stars John Malkovich and Frances McDormand are reuniting on the big screen for ... Transformers 3? Malkovich will play Shia LaBeouf's boss and McDormand the National Intelligence Director, allaying fears the two would be cast as a pair of ugly Japanese stereotypes who accelerate without warning. [Deadline]
Maybe this requires a spoiler alert, but: Reports out of England on Sunday indicated that the set of the climactic Battle of Hogwarts caught fire during shooting on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. No principal cast members were present (it was a special-effects shoot), and none of the 100 or so crew members on set were injured. Losses were estimated at £100,000 (around $150,000), but really, it's the only appropriate ending for the franchise. And Warners said the set needed to be rebuilt anyway, so why not blow it to hell? It'll look great in IMAX. [Coventry Telegraph via /film]
There's no denying the sheer momentousness of yesterday's health care reform vote, the last stretch of a grueling political marathon whose finish line comes tomorrow with a Presidential signature and joyous Ace Bandage parade on the National Mall immediately after. But what kinds of reactions to this milestone in American history were celebrities tweeting, blogging and having stitched by Malaysian sweatshop workers into their vanity fashion lines? A sampling lies just ahead...
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There's nothing like a crop of summer movies to meet your quota of explosions after a particularly dry Oscar season, but what of this year, when the percussion-heavy The Hurt Locker took Best Picture? It's time for Movieline's annual dissection of the best explosions as seen in this year's summer movie trailers, and if these flicks hope to outdo Hurt Locker, they've got a lot of ground to make up. Here are 6 of the most explosive contenders:
Perhaps impressed by the boundless understanding of love and relationships Madonna recently displayed on The Marriage Ref, actor Ewan McGregor has boarded the romantic drama W.E., which the Material Girl will direct. McGregor will play the swoon-worthy Edward VIII, who abdicated his throne to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson (Vera Farmiga) in 1936. Let's hope the film cuts off before Eddie stars getting buddy-buddy with the Nazis during World War II. Not quite as romantic! [Screen Daily]
Verge interviewee Greta Gerwig was just the first of the breakthoughs to earn recognition here today. Amateur actors, extras, unemployed fame-cravers and the rest of the striving Hollywood talent pool are encouraged to check out a few scorching opportunities making the rounds of late. To wit, do you have what it takes to share the screen with Johnny Depp and/or animated garden gnomes? If so, inquire within!
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Larry David will follow in Jerry Seinfeld's footsteps by creating a panel show. Only instead of examining married couples who fight over whether or not they should stuff their pet beagle, Curb Your Enthusiam: The Discussion will feature "high profile guest-stars, pundits and prominent social figures" who debate the moral implications of the behavior in each HBO episode. The seven-minute extras will be hosted by Curb star Susie Essman and will run on the TV Guide Network this summer in conjunction with the series. [TV Guide]
Pop Quiz: You paid Conan O'Brien $44 million in peacock bills so that he'd stop badmouthing your network's good name on-air until September. Coco Nation resents you for ousting their fearless red-headed leader from his 11:35 time slot and beginning April 12, Conan's fans will mobilize for a 30-city comedy tour that will only strengthen anti-NBC sentiment. But another network swoops in and offers you the chance to polish off your image. All you have to do is allow Conan to take part in a live broadcast that will raise millions of dollars for the impoverished. What do you do?
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From Movieline's international desk comes a dispatch from Malaysia -- that shining beacon of dignity, tolerance and spirituality where now, at last, it's all right for gay characters to appear in mainstream films. Hooray, right? Wait, there's more coming over the wire, hang on... Oh. This sucks.
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· Jennifer Connelly and Greg Kinnear have joined the cast of Salvation Boulevard, with Marisa Tomei in talks to join them for the story of a hippie-turned-born-again-Christian on the run from the congregation of his megachurch, to which the ex-Deadhead poses some kind of threat. Pierce Brosnan, Jim Gaffigan and Ed Harris committed to the film previously; George Ratliff (Joshua) co-wrote and will direct. Praise the Lord, etc. [Variety]
Rebecca Hall throws Will Ferrell out, two-thirds of Team Antichrist contemplates a reunion, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
The idea hit me first when I was watching John Cusack in 2012. Yes, it was weird that the actor had lent himself to a role that required him to shout and fake-drive a lot against blue screen, but what was stranger was that even his barely sketched character seemed cribbed from his recent films: he played a limo driver, as he did in Identity, and an author, as in 1408 and Martian Child, who tried to bond with his estranged progeny by taking them on a trip, kinda like in The Contract and Grace Is Gone. But, sufficiently mindblown by 2012's spectacle and moments of giraffe emotion, I forgot about the seeming sameness. That was, until this week's Hot Tub Time Machine.
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