One of Miley Cyrus's tour buses flipped over this morning at 8:15 a.m. in Richmond, VA., killing the bus driver (or he may have died while driving) and injuring one of the crew members. Miley wasn't on board that bus, but was in another of four in a caravan. TMZ reports a witness said the bus veered onto the side of the road for a long while before tipping over. Picture here. [MTV]
As much as we love a vicious catfight, Movieline equally loves a peace accord (mainly because it opens the door for a good sucker-swat). So join us now live from the Victoria's Secret fashion show as Michael Bay -- feather-trimmed boob-for-boob the best lingerie-commercial director working on the planet today -- offers an olive branch to Megan Fox, the onetime-chamois-girl-turned-superstar whose candid appraisal of the director included a comparison to Hitler. Bay's not sweating it:
"I love her ... It's just, she's young. Everyone's got to give her a break, she only...23? It's just hard. I've traveled around the world with her and she's just like this world symbol now, you know?"
Summit Entertainment may have booted Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke from the editing room before ultimately plucking its billion-dollar franchise out of her hands for good, but there is one thing the company suits can never take away from her: Her casting. It also can't do much about her fascinating story of the Twilight Mattress of Dreams, where Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson apparently did some of their best auditioning en route to global stardom.
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What? A new study of more than 900 films released between 2001 and 2005 revealed that movies featuring overt sexuality and/or nudity suffered adverse box-office effects, particularly in the international marketplace. "I have yet to see a way of crunching the numbers where sex/nudity has a positive relationship with box office, even controlling for MPAA rating or budget," said one of the co-authors, who studied net and gross receipts from the US, UK and the world as a whole. The report also gets into such topics as female coercion and the cost-efficiency of sex scenes. It probably won't make you want to see the lesbian romps of Chloe or Black Swan any less, but there you have it. [Miller-McCune]
· The planned adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story Bel Ami has picked up Uma Thurman, who will star opposite Robert Pattinson's social-climbing journalist cad. Thurman replaces the previously rumored Nicole Kidman as a well-connected Parisian socialite who eventually marries Pattinson's character. The film starts shooting next February in France, which, depending on the specific timing, may provide Thurman just the excuse she needs to skip out on hundreds of humiliating lipstick-and-snakes questions during the Percy Jackson press tour. [THR]
Sam Worthington ends crime, Mike White crafts dueling Santas, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
Welcome back to Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and/or squeal-icious at the movies. This week, New Moon picks America's pockets, Sandra Bullock surprises and a few distinguished indies fight it out at the art house. Busy busy! Get your datebook out and read on.
· Apparently that back end deal on Henry Poole Is Here did not pan out because Luke Wilson is hawking AT&T phone plans. Hey, at least he isn't voicing dog food commercials yet.
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As Mayan god Nikki Finke predicted, Oprah Winfrey's talk show will end in 2011. Her production company made the announcement today, just 72 hours after her long-awaited Sarah Palin interview and 48 hours after the media giant expressed disinterest and borderline disgust with porn and erotica. Click through for the official statement and to see when you should take your family and back issue O magazines to the fallout shelter.
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A new profile of Hollywood cash wunderkind Ryan Kavanaugh takes folks behind the curtain at Relativity Media, the deep-pocketed enterprise that has a stake in a growing number of studio products around town. Sony and Universal are well-known as Kavanaugh's most frequent partners, with others signing up as fast as they can while their own money trees wilt in the recession heat. (Relativity last year even bought its own genre label, Rogue Pictures, off Universal.) The profile's set-up is kind of hilarious, featuring Ron Howard himself hanging out in the lobby awaiting a meeting with Kavanaugh (Brian Grazer must have hit traffic or be allergic to Relativity's foam ceilings), but it's what's happening elsewhere in the office that might be worth a closer look.
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There's a rumor making the rounds that Fox is trying to stuff Glee's Chris Colfer back into the closet after the actor gave an interview to The Advocate that essentially confirmed his readily apparent sexuality. Adding fuel to the fire was Colfer's sudden clamming-up about the issue in an interview with USA Today, followed by a National Enquirer report that claimed Fox execs asked The Advocate to take the original article down. Responding to the allegations, an Advocate spokesperson told Movieline, "They're not true. Fox did not ask The Advocate to take the story down. Never has." [Popwired]
For the legion of Twilight fans who had never seen their beloved Bella rocking back and forth uncomfortably during a promotional appearance, yesterday's Today Show-Regis and Kelly double header was a brutal reality check. Upon seeing this Bella doppelgänger named Kristen Stewart squirm, tap her feet and mumble responses while hunched over, Twi-fans stormed Twitter to revolt against this ungrateful, awkward, so-called "actress." Who cares that she was being tag teamed by four overly-cheery correspondents while sick and tired from her 72-hour ride on the talk-show bull? Who cares if she is in this "for the acting?" Uncross your arms and moonwalk for us, K-Stew.
Meanwhile, can you count each brazen offense after the jump?
· Was one of Demi Moore's hips shaved off for the cover of W? Jeez, airbrushers, let's not give the woman a plastic surgery complex or something. Click for bigger.
· One of Jeff Wells's tipsters caught The Lovely Bones and is calling it What Dreams May Come, Part II. Ouch.
· Everyone is threatening to quit Hollywood. Chris Weitz! Robert Downey Jr! Your neighbor who just got cut from the Groundlings' Sunday company! It's an epidemic.
· Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus have hung a defiant sign on their treehouse: "No Twilight fans allowed!"
· Ricky Jay once assaulted Pierce Brosnan by throwing a playing card at him from 50 feet away (Gambit-style!) and hitting him right above the eye. Sure, there's context, but who needs it?
After a family-friendly wipeout with this spring's Imagine That, Eddie Murphy may be returning to his R-rated roots (with some odd friends in tow). THR reports that the erstwhile Dr. Doolittle is attached to produce and potentially star in The Misadventures of Fluffy, an NYC road trip comedy with talking, presumably foul-mouthed animals. The movie also contains "an element of social comedy reminiscent of Murphy's 1980's hit Trading Places," says THR. Uh, sure! We were thinking more like Conker's Bad Fur Day. [THR]
"Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"
Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.
"How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head."
"I have, at least, a highly reflective Slurpee cup in front of me," said he. "But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of this half-eaten 7-Eleven Go-Go Taquito™? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss its owner and have no notion of his errand, this snack, hot-to-go off the grill, becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the taquito by an examination of it."
"I think," said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, "that the 7-Eleven Go-Go Taquito™ is neat to eat and heavy on flavor, good in between meetings or while on your way to work. That any should be left over at all is therefore a matter of grave concern."
"Good!" said Holmes. "Excellent!"
Movies are the only domain where magicians are encouraged to give away their secrets, and today readers are learning all about how Team Zombieland accomplished its bloody, magnificent "Seatbelt Rule" shot of a fat lady flying 20 feet out of her windshield before landing in front of the camera. Start with a little bit of this (a second-unit director), a little bit of that (cable winches), a little of the other thing (light visual effects) and a stuntwoman in a fat suit, and there it is. Duly noted for next year's Behind the Camera Awards! [LAT]
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