· Jonah Hill and Russell Brand run from Diddy in this new still from Get Him to the Greek. Guys, if you can't embrace the Diddy, your birthday parties are really going to suffer.
· David Fincher and Charlize Theron are developing an HBO drama together called Mind Hunter about serial killers.
· Ronnie and J-WOWW have struck a deal with MTV -- will the rest of their Jersey Shore compatriots be far behind?
· The Will Ferrell-starring Drunk History won the Sundance Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking.
· VH1 has announced four new series, including the MTV Canada docu-soap Peak Season: Vancouver. Eh?
Buried, the Sundance breakout starring Ryan Reynolds and snapped up by Lionsgate for somewhere in the $3-$4 million range, has been quite the Sundance conversation piece. I haven't seen it, but here's what a friend texted me after his screening: "Holy f**k. Most disturbing film I have EVER seen. I am sick to my stomach. I am in shock that I reacted so strongly to a film. My heart was literally pounding and I could barely breath during some scenes." But did he like it? "Loved it." OK then! In honor of this claustrophobe's worst nightmare, Movieline would now like to revisit eight other great "buried alive" moments from the catacombs of pop culture history. WARNING: Graphic violence and some spoilers follow.
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OMG! Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore have signed on to the English language remake of LOL (a big French hit comedy, FWIW). Moore will play a divorcee mother (FYI) whose daughter, upon being dumped, sets her sights on her ex's best friend (PWNED!). Anyway. BRB. [Variety]
Ten years ago, director Lynne Ramsay burst onto the scene with 1999's Ratcatcher, followed it up with Morvern Collar in 2002, and hasn't made another film since. The talented filmmaker was attached to The Lovely Bones for a while before Peter Jackson took over, and since then, she's intended to make a tough story that touches on some of the same beats: We Need to Talk About Kevin, an adaptation of the Lionel Shriver novel about an estranged husband and wife dealing with their son Kevin, who's committed a mass murder.
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· After taking seven years off to direct and lob drunken anti-Semitic bombs at Malibu cops, Mel Gibson appears to be taking acting seriously again. Beyond this week's Edge of Darkness and the forthcoming The Beaver and How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Gibson is reportedly in talks to reunite with his Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black for the dramatic thriller Cold Warrior, about a middle-aged former spy who helps a younger peer track a terrorist. Of course we've all heard this story before, but after the conspicuous woes of John Travolta's bazooka-wielding karate bear in From Paris With Love, a new Gibson/Black film is exactly the corrective the genre needs. [Deadline]
Zac Efron gets his own spy thriller, the baby book Eat, Sleep, Poop will actually be a movie, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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Zelda Rubinstein, the diminutive Poltergeist actress and onetime poster-mother for HIV/AIDS awareness, has died at age 76 of a heart attack following years of illness. In case you haven't seen Poltergeist in awhile, you should brace yourself for the arresting clip (and her sensational performance as the psychic Tangina) after the jump.
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Simon Monjack, who has absorbed no shortage of blame and derision following the death of his wife Brittany Murphy, fought back today by announcing a wrongful-death lawsuit against Warner Bros. According to Monjack, the studio "killed her" when it dismissed Murphy from her duties in its forthcoming Happy Feet sequel, and now it's time to pay. And just to emphasize the mass misunderstanding of his character among the media, Monjack has also passed along an exclusive photo album he shot featuring the late actress as... Hannibal Lecter?
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· The teaser posters for M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender have been released. (There's one more after the jump. Twist!)
· Guy Ritchie is leaving Lobo in the lurch to focus on a fast-tracked Sherlock Holmes sequel.
· Bill Paxton will sub in for Dennis Quaid in Steven Soderbergh's Knockout.
· Tom Hanks's Playtone is developing a movie based on Mitzi Shore and the LA fixture The Comedy Store. Pauly Shore's so psyched right now!
· Punishing director Gaspar Noe (Irreversible, Into the Void) cried at Avatar. Twice.
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Fans should have known that only a strong, Latina triple-threat might break How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) of his womanizing ways. In an upcoming March episode of the sitcom, Jennifer Lopez will guest star as Anita Appleby, a self-help author enlisted by Robin to get Barney to shed his Bro Code (perhaps in favor of gelled hair and flashy music videos parodying his paparazzi-plagued lifestyle?). [THR]
· Responding to a question once kicked around the Movieline HQ water cooler: Yes, Sam Worthington is a star. And he appears determined to push that distinction as far as it will go, with reports noting his near-attachment to the title role in Dracula Year Zero. According to those same reports, the story "seeks to depict Dracula as a flawed hero in a tragic love story set in a dark age of magic and war." Nothing's finalized yet, but here's hoping the makers don't cut the touching love-scene lead-in during which Dracula whispers, "Kissing is very good, but we have something better," before chewing viciously into one of his conquests' necks. The ultimate intimacy. [THR]
Steve Carell may have a pair of new directors, The Hobbit officially gets bumped, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· They've built Hogwarts at the "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" attraction featured at Universal Orlando Resort. Pfff. Needs more smoke monster.
· Caprica didn't premiere very well for Syfy -- is it because the pilot had been available online and on DVD for so long?
· Kirstie Aley took to Twitter to declare her desire to bash Joy Behar "in the vagina with her microphone." As one does.
· The History Channel has ordered a show starring Larry the Cable Guy for some reason?
· Gerard Butler...this guy! Dude's taking a stroll down Venice Beach, sees a street performer, talks to her for a few minutes, then starts making out with her. You're on the hook for some bitchin' chamshell artwork, Gerard.
The Harris Poll released the results of their annual "favorite movie star" poll, and for the first time, Clint Eastwood tops the list. Trailing him are Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock, and Tom Hanks. Meryl Streep again lost to Bullock, coming in at number eight -- how soon before she attempts to one-up Bullock by playing the adopted black footballer herself? [Harris]
No one knows where, and no one knows exactly when, but at some point Monday one moviegoer laid down the cash that put Avatar over the top as the highest-grossing movie ever made. Odds are the crucial ticket was purchased somewhere overseas, where the film has accrued roughly 70 percent of its overall take; Avatar still has about $50 million left to collect before it can unseat James Cameron's earlier blockbuster Titanic as the biggest domestic grosser of all-time.
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Let this be a lesson to all the documentary filmmakers at Sundance who are seeking distribution: Don't. Bore. Harvey. Letters of Note dug up a hilarious 1988 memo that Harvey Weinstein sent Errol Morris after the latter proved insufficiently interesting on the press tour for The Thin Blue Line: "Heard your NPR interview and you were boring. You couldn't have dragged me to see The Thin Blue Line if my life depended on it." [Letters of Note via Slashfilm]
· Tim Burton has been tapped to head the jury for the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. It'll be Burton's third time on a Cannes jury, and his first time leading the panel that will select the Palme d'Or this May. But forget about his impeccable taste and judgment, say fest organizers. "We hope his sweet madness and gothic humor will pervade the Croisette, bringing Christmas to all," said Cannes president Gilles Jacob. "Christmas and Halloween." Expect cost-cutting Harvey Weinstein to just dress up as Santa to kill both holidays with one stone. [THR]
DreamWorks starts its engines, Kyra Sedgwick moves in with Vincent D'Onofrio, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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