· Tom Hanks has written and will direct and star in Larry Crowne, about a man's adjustment to a tough mid-life career change. Thankfully he won't have to face the drama alone -- Hanks's Charlie Wilson's War co-star Julia Roberts is also aboard to aid his transition. No truth to the rumor that this is just a American riff on its rhyming British counterpart Harry Brown, featuring Michael Caine in a late-life career change as a vigilante, though by the sound of it that might be a lot more fun. [DHD]
Robert Zemeckis selects his Beatles, Paramount saves the date for a Star Trek sequel, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Click image for big. [TDW]
· Someone at TCA asked Fox's Kevin Reilly if he thought Conan O'Brien was "damaged goods." Reilly said he is not. [Live Feed]
· Brothers and Sisters is doing a two-part episode, set in 1973 and 1986. that will feature younger actors playing all the members of the Walker family. [Ausiello Files]
· Videogum explains why, exactly, Jerry Seinfeld should shut the f*ck up. Also: The Marriage Ref? Worst thing in the universe. [Videogum]
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Tobey Maguire was very nearly replaced in Spider-Man once before when he balked at making the second film, forcing Sony to line up Jake Gyllenhaal as insurance. Still, we can't recommend that Gyllenhaal get excited by today's news that Sony will be recasting Peter Parker in the next installment, as the studio's intended high school reboot will almost certainly limit its potential casting pool to actors 18-25. Who's got the inside track, then? Movieline's gone ahead and picked out nine young thespians whose spider-sense should be tingling right now.
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One of 30 Rock's best guest-stars, Jon Hamm, will return to the series in February and -- do what, exactly? Is there anything left to do? The Mad Men star's arc on 30 Rock concluded sufficiently last time around, when his character Dr. Baird was revealed to be a gauche, oblivious hunk. Far as I'm concerned, the only way he can top his last appearance is if he appears on Liz Lemon's Dealbreakers talk show and, against Liz's plans, is now a sophisticated gent. And maybe he's best friends with Liz's other terrible ex Dennis, who is reformed (and planning a Dealbreakers response talk show?) as well. And Dr. Spaceman hires Baird as a partner. OK, never mind, this will be great. [EW]
Only hours after announcing that he is departing American Idol at the end of this season to focus on bringing X Factor stateside, Simon is inching forward in his plan to reunite the original American Idol judging panel. Cowell was reportedly in negotiations with his former colleague Paula Abdul as late as last week, attempting to lure her out of retirement and back to Fox for X in 2011. Now if only, Simon could get to Randy... [TMZ]
As a public service, we'll be highlighting passages of note in Star, Peter Biskind's biography of Warren Beatty that has already caused a small firestorm over the author's unscientifically arrived-at guesstimation that Beatty had slept with 12,775 women. Today's excerpt, a striking recollection involving Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth, is after the jump.
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Casting bombshells notwithstanding, it was hard not to see this one coming in recent weeks: Sony officially announced this afternoon it has spiked Spider-Man 4, canceling its troubled Sam Raimi project in exchange for a reboot that will send Peter Parker all the way back to high school.
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Jesus wept softly and pitchily today when He learned that Simon Cowell would walk away from the Fox singing competition that made him staggeringly rich and famous, to pursue his lifelong dream of overseeing another Fox singing competition that will continue to make him staggeringly rich and famous. And what will we miss most of all? Why, his cruelty, of course! Like the Savior's message, it too comes from a place that is honest and pure. Come now as we remember five of Cowell's most stinging critiques. And remember -- it hurts him way more than it hurts the young lady he just compared to a talentless hippopotamus on national television.
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· In new stills from Percy Jackson and the Excessively Long Title, Uma Thurman's Medusa goes undercover, I'm guessing, as Erykah Badu.
· In news that will surprise few, Glee has been renewed for a second season.
· Mel Gibson is not a fan of all this Tiger Woods coverage. "Why are we talking about this when we're sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan?" he told the Daily Mail. "You've got this history-changing event going on and we're talking about Tiger's private life and golf injuries."
· Eli Roth's written a book, and Mediaite's Rachel Sklar has a nice, healthy chunk of it.
· The return of Chuck actually managed some fairly decent numbers. Don't screw it up, NBC!
Ever since the majority of Americans gave a giant thumbs down to the John McCain presidential ticket in 2008, Sarah Palin has been peddling her memoir Going Rogue and considering her Next Step. Among the many possibilities: Design a line of smart, reasonably-priced lady suits and matching handbags; launch a motivational speaking tour targeting oppressed hockey moms of America; develop a limited edition Lenscrafters eyeglass frame or lend her camera-ease to the nation's leading conservative news station. Finally, the former Alaskan governor has come to a decision, one that smartly allows her to take advantage of her conservative roots while hunting the leading daytime talk show host. Those handbags will have to wait.
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As if your variety-programming universe wasn't rocked enough this week, manboob-flattering sweater aficionado Simon Cowell announced to a roomful of TCA reporters just minutes ago that "this will be my last season on American Idol." (Pause to commit karaokecide with the straw-end of a plastic Coca Cola cup.) His aura will still linger at Fox, however, as a U.S. version of his solely-owned The X-Factor will premiere in 2011.
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Richard Heene followed up his Oscar-worthy performance on Larry King Live Friday night by checking into Larimer County Detention Center this morning. As punishment for his felony count of "attempting to influence a public servant," the one-time Wife Swap star will swap his wife again, this time for a shiv-wielding prisoner named Torch. The suffering will last 90 days, without cameras or angst-ridden pre-teens refusing to do their algebra homework nearby. [TMZ]
Eric Rohmer, the French New Wave exile whose My Night at Maud's earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign-Language Film in 1969, died today in Paris. He was 89. Along with Maud's, Rohmer is especially famous for his subsequent "moral tales" Claire's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoon, the latter of which Chris Rock remade in 2007 as I Think I Love My Wife. More film cycles and series followed in the decades hence, winding down in 2007 also with The Romance of Astree and Celadon. His specific cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Two's enough for today, God; we'll keep the rest of our filmmakers for now, if You don't mind. [THR]
If you think the Vatican hates Avatar now, just imagine how much they would have liked the original version of the movie that included pre-marital tentacle sex! Now, fortunately, you can: The movie's deleted sex scene between Neytiri and Jake is included in James Cameron's full script, which 20th Century Fox has posted online. We've excerpted the relevant parts of the hookup below. Now might be a good time to break out that blue greasepaint, if only to obscure your blushing.
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Art Clokey, whose legendary green clay TV character Gumby tickled, amused and/or confounded more than three generations of Americans, passed away in his sleep Sunday at his home in Los Osos. He was 88. A one-time orphan and would-be priest whose experimental animation blossomed into an empire of clay, Clokey first developed Gumby in 1956 for The Howdy Doody Show before spinning the grinning green slab off to his own children's series in 1957. A farewell glimpse at his handiwork -- and the unlikely fruits it wrought -- after the jump.
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