Steven Spielberg may never get around to making that Abraham Lincoln biopic, but now he's touting another presidential assassination script. The mega-director is on board to produce Noah Oppenheim's script Jackie, which examines the days following the assassination of John F. Kennedy from Jackie Kennedy's perspective. The LAT theorizes that the project may end up at HBO, where Jeanne Tripplehorn (who perfectly played an older Jackie in last year's Grey Gardens) is no doubt looking into age-defying camera lenses. [LAT]
Armond White thinks the world is out to get him. That maybe the only thing we agree about. Whether it is or isn't is another matter entirely, but the paranoia was never more crystalline or direct than he made it in his review of Greenberg. It's incredible, must-read stuff, however predictable after the recent semi-scandal encircling White and director Noah Baumbach; you'll remember a screening ban and White's subsequent defense, followed by the torpedo shot his way by a fellow New York critic who wouldn't let the NY Press writer get away without a fight. And so begins the latest chapter in Retroactive AbortionGate, which Movieline has helpfully parsed with a few annotations and first impressions.
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At the Golden Globes this year, Mo'Nique made a speech about the terrible tragedy that is child molestation, an experience she herself suffered through. That's when (according to the new issue of Esquire) Tina Fey and her friends snickered to themselves and added in Mo'Nique's voice, "...but I like it now!" What would prompt Fey to make such a tasteless joke? The following NSFW clip from Queens of Comedy has the answer, where Mo'Nique herself delivers a routine that's every bit as outrageous. Let's see Vera Farmiga try to do this:
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OK, so we knew already that Neil Patrick Harris would play the live-action lead in the big-screen adaptation of Smurfs, while the little blue critters would be CG and voiced by an atrocious cast led by Katy Perry, for some reason. Now, though, EW is reporting that Hank Azaria will voice Gargamel, who I'm pretty sure is a human. So real humans and cartoon humans will be interacting? Is that necessary? Is this whole movie necessary? No, you're out of order! [EW]
· How excited are you about Edgar Wright's upcoming Michael Cera starrer Scott Pilgrim? Excited enough to moon over this picture of a poster? That excited!
· "'Cougar' has become so distasteful. I really hate that expression," Demi Moore tells Harper's Bazaar, instead preferring "puma."
· It ain't easy being Amanda Seyfried, who gulps both a Lexapro and a diet-mandated spinach lunch during her new Esquire interview.
· Matthew Morrison wasn't fond of that aggressive Elle interview a while back that insinuated he was gay. "That was, like, the worst interview I've ever done, and it kind of turned me off from doing interviews completely, because that guy was such a d**k," Morrison told Zap2it. "I was completely caught off-guard."
· Padma Lakshmi's rumored baby daddy Adam Dell is fighting for more time with their daughter, thereby confirming his paternity. You know, I'd always held out hope it was Sam Talbot from Top Chef season two.
No, not that Conan. (Though it would be fun to see the actress randomly replace Andy Richter on Conan O'Brien's roadshow tour. Well, in theory.) Instead, Rose McGowan is joining the big-screen reboot of Conan the Barbarian as an evil half-human/half-witch. Can the Charmed veteran possibly pull it off? [Variety]
A strange report from TMZ says Nicholas Brendon, best known as the actor who played Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, got into a scuffle with L.A. police a few hours ago that ended in the actor being tased repeatedly. According to their story, a call was made to cops saying a man in Venice was drunk and causing a disturbance. When they arrived, Brendon was the man, and he took several wild swings at the officers and made a break for it. They pursued, caught up with him and tased him twice. Developing... [TMZ]
While Corey Haim was being laid to rest yesterday, no-show Corey Feldman blogged an open letter to his late friend and former co-star. "Nobody will ever understand the brotherhood we shared," Feldman wrote. "Nobody will ever get the inside jokes we told. Nobody will understand the magic of 22/222." Probably not, though reducing it to 11/111 would likely simplify things. Undaunted, Feldman paid tribute to Haim last night with a "222" tattoo. If anyone does happen to understand this magic -- or any brilliant guesses as to its meaning -- let's hear it in the comments. [TMZ]
NBC may have banned Conan O'Brien from performing on TV airwaves until September, but the comedian is quickly making his presence known across nearly every other platform: First with Twitter, and then with a Web site promoting his 30-city Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour, and now with plans for a documentary that could put Coco in a nation of rejoicing multiplexes before he's allowed back on television.
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· Lee Daniels appears to have found his man -- David Oyelowo -- for the pivotal role of Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, the drama set around the town's historic civil-rights march of 1965. It's the first mainstream film to depict King, but the 34-year-old Brit has reasonably strong period biopic creds including stints as Muddy Waters (Who Do You Love), as one of the Tuskegee Airmen in the upcoming Red Tails and a Ugandan doctor in The Last King of Scotland. Obviously the stakes are a little higher with this one. Hugh Jackman remains attached to play the town's racist sheriff, and Daniels assures us that Robert De Niro will appear as Alabama Gov. George Wallace. [THR]
Paul Thomas Anderson finds a new money man, Sigourney Weaver is (vampire) queen for a day, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· The trailer for David Simon's HBO series Treme is meaningfully edited, smart, and evocative. But most touching of all: That is a grinning, shirtless Steve Zahn. [Videogum]
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In this A Nightmare on Elm Street virtual game, you can ply a frightened girl with any number of stimulants, from coffee to cutting to showers to fire, to prevent her from falling asleep and falling prey to Freddy Krueger. Oddly not as fun as it should be, though should be very popular among the budding serial killer set. We'll hold out for the Darfur first-person genocider. [Keep Her Awake via Vulture]
It looks as though Syfy's most popular franchise is spinning off once again. The network's executive VP of development Mark Stern told The Hollywood Reporter yesterday, "We're looking for other ways to spin off Battlestar beyond Caprica. That world is so rich. We're sitting down with (executive producer) Ron Moore and his team. It would not necessarily be a traditional series." More details about a future space opera are expected to emerge at the network's upfronts. [THR]
Once in a great while a press release miracle will float gently to our desks here at Movieline HQ, still glowing as if dispatched from the office of the Recording Flack-Angel himself up in Insane PR Announcement Heaven.
This, friends, is one of those moments:
PHASE 4 FILMS ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO THREE UWE BOLL FILMS:
"DARFUR"
Starring Billy Zane, Edward Furlong & Kristanna Loken
Keep reading. It gets better.
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Hey, Washington Staters! Any interest in buying this charming Dutch Colonial that's best known as Laura Palmer's house on Twin Peaks? It's a steal at only $459,500. No BOBs allowed. [Redfin]
