All actors and actresses have insecurities, even if those insecurities double as their most bankable assets. Just ask Movieline-proclaimed "Voiceover Queen" Kristen Bell, who spent the bulk of a recent USA Today interview lamenting the "high-pitched" sound of her own money-maker. An endearingly candid admission, yes, but also a strange disclosure given that the Gossip Girl narrator is promoting Astro Boy, in which Bell lends her trademark cheerful voice to leading character Cora.
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· I'm not completely sure I understand this new cover of Vogue Korea. Does Josh Hartnett have an Asian boyfriend now? Also: Is he still making movies?
· Congratulations to spawn-of-Streep Mamie Gummer, who's just gotten engaged to a man she calls "the Keanu to my Uma." Sure, there's context for the remark. But who needs it?
· Diane Keaton has sworn off love, but not hustlers: "If anything could work in that area, it would probably be if I paid him. Then I think we could work out an affable relationship. 'Remember, at eight we're going to dinner. Until then, you're free, take care of yourself.' I'm totally for it! I pay for everything else."
· Steven Spielberg has agreed to push back his "put" deal with Universal theme parks.
· Want to familiarize yourself with Tom Ford before A Single Man comes out? Check out this collection of his most notorious quotes, including this little bon mot: "As I've gotten older, I've realized a tan line makes your butt look higher."
It took nine long years, but Big Brother can finally boast its first massive oxycodone bust: Season 9 winner Adam Jasinski was arrested and charged Saturday with possession of 2000 pills of the highly addictive painkiller, with intent to sell. He had flown from his home in Florida to a Boston stripmall to sell the stash, which he kept in a sock, to deliver to a pointman who appears to have tipped off the authorities. Despite his best efforts to toss his illicit nest egg under a nearby car, DEA agents ambushed him. According to an affidavit, Jasinski admitted that he used his $500,000 Big Brother winnings to purchase the drugs and resell them at a high profit along the East Coast.
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The first official clip from New Moon premiered Monday on Entertainment Tonight. Entitled "Jacob's Transformation" and running a lean 53 seconds, only about half of its material is new; if you've seen Taylor Lautner's midair wolfcake morph once, you've seen it a hundred times. Unless, that is, you watch it and his lupine nemesis in hi-def on iTunes, in which case you might start to see it as a comedy. Read on for a closer look.
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Are you a young actor? Congratulations: David Fincher has added you as a friend on his Facebook movie, The Social Network. The Playlist dug around and found confirmation from Aaron Sorkin that Max Minghella (left), Rooney Mara, Armie Hammer, Brenda Song and many more have joined the cast of the Jesse Eisenberg-topped drama. No word yet on who each of them will be playing; for that, I suppose we'll have to wait for the results of their "Which Social Network Character Are You?" quizzes. [The Playlist]
A month after pulling nearly 20 percent of the vote in SAG's presidential election, actor Seymour Cassel has been suspended from the union for two years. An internal tribunal found Cassel guilty of "conduct unbecoming a member" -- translation: He was found to have sexually harassed SAG staffers during a town hall meeting last May. Details of the case are limited, as are the 74-year-old's options: He can go "financial core," thus withholding dues spent on political matters yet maintaining his access to union shoots, or he can just go non-union and be every film student's go-to favorite grandpa/mobster/next-door neighbor through 2011. Developing... [Variety]
Roman Polanski has been denied release on bail for a second time, with a Swiss judge not quite buying the director's pledge to remain in the country while awaiting the outcome of extradition appeals against the United States. The ruling likely didn't surprise many folks close to the case -- least of all Polanski, who still is being treated for an unknown ailment at an unknown facility for an unknown amount of time. And according to reports, the decision calls for some significant stakes-raising on the director's side.
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Bronson Pinchot, man! Probably doing his thing, cashing some nice residual checks, and then one day the AV Club comes along and is like, "Bronson! Would you like to do an interview, now, for some reason?" And he says, "Would I! I've got a shit-ton of stories about how homophobic Tom Cruise used to be and the nasty thing I said to my Perfect Strangers girlfriend once!"
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· O, but for the good old days when studios simply shelved their Oscar hopefuls for six months or a year rather than smother them in their crib. Soloist director Joe Wright knows the feeling from last year, and this year it's his period drama Indian Summer -- which has Cate Blanchett attached to play the wife of Britain's last colonial overseer of India -- that is a casualty of belt-tightening at Universal. The film's producers at Working Title contemplated doing it for a budget under $30 million, but Wright reportedly wants to hold off for "more favorable market conditions." Fair enough. Enjoy retirement, Joe! [Variety]
Adam Shankman picks up a new musical -- as does Run-DMC (with an unlikely partner) -- when Hollywood Ink continues after the jump.
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· An inspiring e-mail from one "Dewet Du Toit" slid over the Movieline transom earlier today, introducing us to a "HIGHLY SELF MOTIVATED 22−YEAR OLD BODYBUILDER / ACTOR" who believes he has what it takes to earn the lead role in Stephen Sommers' forthcoming Tarzan adaptation. Everything, that is, but entrée into Hollywood and discriminating use of his computer's "caps lock" key. "I HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP ME WITH THE CONTACT DETAILS OF THIS PRODUCTION [...] I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT THE WILL TO WIN IS MORE CRUCIAL THAN THE SKILL TO WIN." Of course you can hear him, Stephen -- but are you listening?
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Just two weeks after NBC TV chief Jeff Gaspin attributed the Jay Leno Show's tumbling ratings to it's primetime lead-ins, local NBC affiliates are blaming their programming lead-in for the free-falling news numbers: The Jay Leno Show. Local networks depend on their news for advertising revenue, an income stream dried up by the recession, and now Leno's nose-diving viewership. The LA Times mentions that for now, the network is buying support by "[giving] each of the affiliates additional commercial time to sell." Meanwhile, NBC maintains that "there is erosion in broadcast television each year." So by transitive property, if Leno's ratings continue to drop, NBC affiliates should skip Leno and complain about his primetime lead-ins? [LAT]
With the success of this summer's The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis bridged the gap from strange character actor/comedian to box office superstar. While the actor could have hypothetically supplemented his Bored to Death income and Between Two Ferns -- street cred -- with multi-million dollar deals to advertise someone's Vegas casino or baby carrier, the comic was believed to have avoided the sell-out sponsorship route. Until Movieline unearthed five chain fast food references in his stand up, TV specials and interviews that may suggest otherwise.
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Dollhouse mastermind Joss Whedon is slated to direct an episode of Glee. The gig is surprising and not for Whedon, who directed the legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode "Once More, With Feeling." Glee creator Ryan Murphy told EW, "This is a great, if unexpected, fit. I'm thrilled he'll be loaning us his fantastic groundbreaking talent." Whedon has yet to release a statement on the matter, or about how comfortable he feels singing "Gold Digger" with children. [EW]
· If you were one of those millions swept heart-first into the big-money cuddle pile that was Where the Wild Things Are's opening weekend, then this behind-the-scenes visit to the Jim Henson factory where the beasts themselves were built might interest you. Or, alternatively, their torsoless, hairless condition may spoil everything. You be the judge.
· How do America's middle-class actors manage to avoid awkward arousal while shooting love scenes? "Ethics," apparently.
· True Blood's Stephen Moyer may beg to differ, meanwhile, having complained over the weekend that his recent knee injury was the product of playing with his kids and not attributable to some "thrusting, sexy" mishap.
· Compared to the same period last year, Hasbro is crediting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with the company's 8.8 percent rise in profits in the three months after its release.
· The latest Paranormal Activity gimmick involves private parties for the first 10 midnight screenings to sell out this Friday. (And if the film can break $50 million this weekend, here's hoping Paramount will consider splurging on a Web site with even the slightest bit of character. Just saying.)
Look what you've done, Nina Garcia. Unlike its previous seasons on Bravo, Project Runway is losing viewers each week on Lifetime. This could be the result of the network airing the season in fall as opposed to summer, or because this season's challenges are horrible. Ratings may perk up next week when Nina and Michael Kors reunite. Pretty soon their odds for reunion will reach ABBA-level insanity, with each earning $250,000,000 to mutter one barb about a dowdy hemline. [THR]
