Beginning Friday, ABC will launch an expensive skywriting campaign to promote the November 3 premiere of V. To draw people's gaze upwards, just as the series' spacecraft does in the sci-fi opener, the network is enlisting skywriters to draw gigantic V's over 26 U.S. landmarks. The skywriting will be done multiple times a day at each at each large market site (Sorry, Ackerhurst Dairy Barn) until the series launches. Had ABC decided to ditch the sissy cloud messages and launch its own UFO-like objects, we know someone that could have helped. [Hollywood Reporter]
Truth be told, if the 2012 trailer were real and the roads of Southern California were actually crumbling around us like a piece of stale coffee cake, there's no one we'd rather have soothe us with some Zeppelin lullabies as we clung to the spire of the splintering Capitol Records building than American Idol runner-up and My Favorite Scene participant, Adam Lambert.
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When their TV shows end, many actors take great pains to distance themselves from the characters who made them famous. Not Megan Mullally, though, who told the LAT this weekend that she's secured the rights to develop Karen: The Musical -- based on her Will & Grace character -- with an eye toward an eventual Broadway run. "The main thing is Karen is such a great character, and people really want to see her again," Mullally said. "Even jaded people in our business are giggling." [LAT]
It's hard to believe now that it's become such a beloved institution, but when The Simpsons premiered twenty years ago, it was regarded as the furthest thing from a family show. Since then, the reputation of the series has become considerably less controversial (it helps, of course, that The Simpsons is now followed by notably ruder shows like Family Guy), so when it was announced that Marge Simpson would be "posing" for Playboy, I didn't expect anything scandalous. Maybe some sideboob, or a comic silhouette.
Then, the pictures leaked, and I saw her nipples.
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Either Swiss doctors don't make house calls to jail or Roman Polanski needs a little more treatment for something other than depression: The 76-year-old filmmaker was temporarily sprung from his Zurich holding cell and moved to an undisclosed location over the weekend. Meanwhile, in a semi-related note, another film festival Polanski had declined to attend is taking advantage of the director's detention in Switzerland to pimp its fugitive-friendly brand.
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· OK, so: About a week after Angelina Jolie was rumored to be considering Charlize Theron's former role in the romantic spy thriller The Tourist, she's suddenly set now that director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is also rumored to be signing on for a February shoot. Except that as of press time last night, the producers hadn't even begun negotiations with von Donnersmarck; he hasn't directed a project since his The Lives of Others won the 2006 Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar. All of this is apparently stable enough for insiders to speculate about a 2011 release date. Meanwhile, Sam Worthington -- the only person officially attached to the project -- idles in wait, practicing his American accent four hours a day in preparation for the title character. [Variety]
CBS opens its arms for Samuel L. Jackson, Wilmer Valderrama goes dog whispering, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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Spike Jonze led his woolly cadre of bandits on a box-office spree this weekend, finally allaying any doubts that his ambitious adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are could find traction in the cruel world awaiting it. And there was plenty of loot left behind for its multiplex rivals as well; find out how much after the jump.
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Hey, here's something nice: For a change, every movie did pretty well at the box office yesterday! The top story is definitely Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are, which took in $11.9 million on its way to a $30+ weekend, but there was good news for Law Abiding Citizen, Paranormal Activity, The Stepfather...hell, even Whip It finally cracked a $10 million cume outside of the top ten. The full numbers, after the jump:
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Another week down at Movieline HQ, which means another bulky bundle of warm, lasting memories to take with you into the autumn dusk. Lift with your legs, unwrap them after the jump, and have a fantastic weekend!
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· Confronted at the Fantastic Mr. Fox premiere about the likelihood of a much-rumored Ghostbusters sequel, Bill Murray said, "I don't want to do it yet...Until there's a good script, I'll just stay home and play snooker." Add Sigourney Weaver and a pool-cue-wielding Slimer, and I think we've got ourselves the film's first set piece! Murray's video response, after the jump:
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We love all our commenters at Movieline, and while the last few weeks have produced some interesting discussions as well as some rather heated debates, some of the levity we love about the comments section seems to have gone missing. That's why we're awarding this week's COTW prize to just one comment (but it's a damn funny one). If you missed out, don't just sit there licking your wounds -- slap on a New Moon band-aid and step it up next Monday!
Anyway, here's our winning veteran (with an honorable mention to The Winchester, who was in good, chuckle-worthy form this week):
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In her first interview since taking over Maura Tierney's role in Parenthood, Lauren Graham told Michael Ausiello that fans shouldn't expect her new character to have many Gilmore Girl similarities: "She's a single mom, yes, but I don't think the tone of the show is the same. The sound of Gilmore Girls, that voice, is so unique to Amy [Sherman-Palladino]. It's a grown-up show, too. It doesn't have some of the more whimsical elements of [Gilmore Girls]. It's more realistic." Harsh words for Stars Hollow. And what about that mythic cinematic reunion of Lorelai and Luke? Graham teased Gilmore superfan Ausiello with this mock pronouncement: "[It's] in the can. It's coming soon to a theater near you." [EW]
X-Men franchise co-producer Lauren Shuler Donner went on record today about how the vision for upcoming spin-offs is shaping up. On Wolverine 2: "Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we've seen before. Mariko's father has this stick-like weapon, so Wolverine will have to fight against that. There'll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts -- mano-a-mano, extreme fighting." And of the youthful X-Men: First Class: "We want it to be like the recent, darker Potters. It should not be a kiddie movie: We're in the X-Men world so you can't suddenly change the tone." Interesting. Do mutants get sexually frustrated? [Empire]
· The Simpsons is holding a contest where a viewer-submitted character can appear in an upcoming episode opposite Chris Martin of Coldplay. Coincidentally, this is how Seth MacFarlane developed Family Guy.
· Amber Heard and Leighton Meester are teaming up for Cowgirl Bandits, which is being described as a young Thelma and Louise. I imagine they'll have to pick up young Brad Pitt at the local junior high.
· Nicolas Cage is suing his business manager for "catastrophic losses," and seeking $20 million in reparations.
· Did your jaw drop and your eyes bug out (accompanied by an "AWOOOGA" train whistle) while viewing the possibly-Photoshopped GQ cover of a busty January Jones? Well, assures GQ, "They're real and they're spectacular."
· The new Celebrity Apprentice will feature Cyndi Lauper, Bret Michaels, Sharon Osbourne, and Rod Blagojevich. All of them trash, dahling. Trash!
This morning, TLC slapped a lawsuit on Jon Gosselin, the media-circuit-frequenting and production-halting patriarch of Jon & Kate Plus 8, claiming he breached his contract multiple times in the past months. The lawsuit was filed two weeks after TLC announced that it would phase out Jon and retitle the series Kate Plus Eight. Curiously, hours after the network dumped Jon publicly, the Ed Hardy poster boy claimed that the network was exploiting his children and forced TLC to stop production. Executives at The Learning Channel, who have been documenting the Gosselin family over the past two years, remember events differently...(cue milky dissolve)
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