After Esquire's impressive profile of Roger Ebert burned up the internet this week, it was only a matter of time before the man in question weighed in himself. "I don't mind people knowing what I look like, but I don't want them thinking I'm dying," noted Ebert in a mostly positive appraisal. "To be fair, [writer] Chris Jones never said I was. If he took a certain elegiac tone, you know what? I might have, too. And if he structured his elements into a story arc, that's just good writing." [Roger Ebert]
Drew Barrymore will receive the Vanguard Award and Wanda Sykes will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 17. Drew, you might not know, played a lesbian in Everybody's Fine, in addition to starring this year as Edie in HBO's Grey Gardens, which instantly elevated her to Gay Saint status. And Wanda was on the front lines of the Prop 8 protests. Sykes' statement: "I greatly appreciate the work that GLAAD continues to do, promoting equality, fair representation and tolerance for our LGBT community. I just pray that I don't ruin what GLAAD has achieved with all of my shenanigans." [glaad.org]
It was the first and arguably the only great drama of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (sorry, Blue Valentine!), and at last, Australia's instant-classic crime drama Animal Kingdom is coming to U.S. theaters courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. Writer-director David Michôd's feature debut won last month's Grand Jury Prize in Sundance's World Dramatic Competition; a release date was not announced, but late summer-early fall seems to be the likeliest window.
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Tom Green is on the rebound after a less-than-stellar decade that began with the generally loathed -- and, according to Green, vastly misunderstood -- gross-out comedy Freddy Got Fingered. The film turned a profit on DVD, Green says, and now he wants to restore nearly a half-hour of slashed material for a director's cut. "Yeah, there's a lot of really crazy stuff," he continued. "And actually when you lost stuff, the movie got a little bit disjointed. That was the film theorists' critical problem with the movie, that it was disjointed." Seriously. Step up to the plate, Criterion Collection. Better late than never. [AV Club]
· Oren Moverman, the Oscar-nominated co-writer/director of The Messenger, may have found a follow-up in a biopic of Nirvana singer/songwriter Kurt Cobain. Such a project has seemingly been in some stage of development since Cobain's suicide in 1994 (Gus Van Sant's Last Days tracked that eponymous period of Cobain's life); this one is expected to build off the foundation of a draft by 25th Hour/Brothers screenwriter David Benioff. Moverman also co-wrote the multi-star Bob Dylan bio I'm Not There, so include no fewer than seven actors in your casting suggestions just in case. [THR]
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunite! (behind the camera), a Brit-lit classic gets Twilight-ized, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Spiritually, Jersey Shore's Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi belongs to all of us. But the name "Snooki" now belongs officially to her, says a hilarious new legal document. [Smoking Gun]
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As you may recall, Faith Hill attended the Bryant Park showing of Project Runway's final collections, revealing herself as the finale's guest judge. That seems odd. She hasn't had a hit in years, and her style isn't revelatory. But Michael Kors defended the country sensation to People: "She knows how to get dressed on stage for performances, how to deal with the red carpet, plus we're also talking about someone who's a mom, who's busy," he said. "So she's got all of that going on and I think she's got great American style." No, Michael: The only way a country star can boast great style is with the aid of a hooded leopard suit, matching gloves, and the creepiness of hitchhiking. If it's not the law, it should be. [People]
Jeremy Renner's decision to turn down recent work in favor of the awards circuit is paying dividends. The Oscar-nominated Oscar will be joining Ewan McGregor in The Raven, says the NYT, and he also has an offer to star in either Peter Berg's Battleship or an unnamed project that Renner says he's gone in five times to land. Might that be Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, which is looking for someone to play the second lead to Philip Seymour Hoffman? (A Playlist commenter says that's the case, though the site assumes the role is Paul Dano's.) If Anderson needs an actor who's capable of performing a heartfelt piano duel, suddenly Renner's The View appearance makes a lot more sense. [NYT]
· Hey it's the poster for controversial Sundance splatter drama The Killer Inside Me! Jessica Alba is just losing her head that she's not featured on it.
· Jon Gosselin and TLC have settled their mutual lawsuits against each other, though the terms aren't known. Wait, so we won't find out how many kids he has to fork over?
· What did Gabourey Sidibe think about being featured inside Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue, but not on its lily-white cover? "I mean, I come from a world where I'm not on covers and I'm not in magazines at all," she told Access Hollywood. "At first I thought, 'Hmm, should I be there?' Then I very quickly got over it. I think if I were a part of that shoot I would have felt a little left out anyway."
· Nobody goes after Bill Nye the Science Guy, at least not on Rachel Maddow's watch.
· Werewolves vs. zombies vs. vampires: who wins? Besides, you know, America.
Hey guys, George Lucas is directing another movie! One problem, though (besides the obvious few): this movie is already someone else's. First Showing reports that Lucas has been such a hands-on producer of the Anthony Hemingway-directed Tuskegee Airmen drama Red Tails that he has now ordered massive rewrites and will be shooting the new scenes himself. In a completely unrelated development, Red Tails star Terrence Howard has been replaced by a drunken Ewok. [First Showing]
NBC unveiled the new and improved Tonight Show with Jay Leno logo yesterday -- a slightly more sophisticated graphic than the pre-Conan version. NBC also revealed that production designers are hard at work transforming The Jay Leno Show's Studio 11 at NBC Studios Burbank into a new Tonight Show set. A set that a few lucky Leno fans will be able to see, thanks to an airfare giveaway for the first taping on March 1. Meanwhile, it is unclear what will happen to Conan's ravaged Tonight Show set at Universal Studios. [NBC]
Finally! Someone this week is willing to admit to collaborating with Martin Scorsese. The folks at Chanel confirmed that the filmmaker directed the new commercials for the brand's unnamed men's cologne. Starring French heartthrob Gaspard Ulliel, the ads were shot several months ago but were a much longer time in coming. "What was needed was the appropriate project -- i.e., the launch of Chanel's new men's fragrance," said Chanel's perfume czar. "There is such an obvious connection between the identity of the fragrance and the cinematic world of Martin Scorsese that the partnership came to be." Wow! And all along I thought that smell was just Shutter Island. [WWD]
· In their first collaboration since the '90s late, lamented Freaks and Geeks, Paul Feig and Judd Apatow will team to direct and produce (respectively) Kristen Wiig's untitled leading-lady debut for Universal. The studio isn't disclosing the plot -- reportedly something about women competing to organize a friend's wedding party -- but since Wiig co-wrote the screenplay with partner Annie Mumalo, who will critics burden with their tired, requisite complaints of Apatowian chauvinism? Someone's got to take the fall. [Variety]
Al Pacino jumps for No One, another toy is shamelessly exploited, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· This mocumentary about a group of Avatar role-players from Wisconsin offers an eerily accurate representation of what it might be like to spend some time with a group of Avatar role-players from Wisconsin. [YouTube]
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The Trust for Public Land's plan to raise awareness about a potential condo development on the hills surrounding the famed Hollywood sign involved covering it in bright red letters spelling "SAVE THE PEAK." Unfortunately, when you're working with fonts that size you're bound to hit a snag or two, and by Friday afternon, Southern California's most recognizable landmark had read "SAVEYPOOD" for over 24 hours. Flickr user Eazylanish captured the transformation over the long weekend, at times looking not unlike God's Scrabble rack. LAist has a great closeup picture of Saveypood and the final product. [Eazylanish's Photo Stream]
