In the span of time between Juno and Whip It, Ellen Page really hasn't been seen all that much onscreen (did you go to Smart People?). Her explanation of where she's been, given to USA Today, really demands to be quoted in its entirety: "I went to Oregon to study permaculture and lived in an eco-village for a month outside Eugene. It's called Lost Valley. It was amazing and exactly what I needed, because there had been the Juno thing, where you're getting a lot of attention. You're learning how to live in a holistic way with the cycles of the Earth. At one point I was digging goat (manure) and putting it into a wheelbarrow, and while shoveling it, I just went, "Oh, my God, this is exactly what I want to be doing right now.'" [USA Today]
· Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick poses for the cover of Arena Homme, back in the day when he only had a few egregious arm tattoos. Click for full-size.
· (500) Days of Summer helmer Marc Webb is next undertaking Just Another Love Story, a remake of the utterly ridiculous Danish thriller by the same name.
· CBS is preparing a spinoff of its Criminal Minds franchise. This is a terribly unexpected decision for that network!
· Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy, and Mark Strong have all boarded Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars.
· This is one of the Huffington Post's biggest stories today: "Vagina Exposed On So You Think You Can Dance (NSFW VIDEO)."
Dennis Hopper was rushed to a New York City ER today via ambulance, wearing "an oxygen mask and with numerous tubes visible," according to ET. He was in town to promote the new season of Starz's Crash. Developing... [ETOnline]
Another day, another flurry of activity from the front lines of the Roman Polanski Culture War, where the embattled, incarcerated filmmaker and his Hollywood supporters have found unlikely enemies and allies in Day Four of conflict. Read on for a tour of the trenches -- bring a helmet, flak jacket and gas mask just in case.
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The acknowledged regrouping at Universal may take a bloody turn -- and soon, according to rumors orbiting the lot. The climate is such, says one exec, that "you're feeling chaos in ways that you've never felt before [...] It's completely taken the fun out of the process." (And that's if your project was lucky enough to have escaped the studio's recent development moratorium.) Co-chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde are reportedly considered front runners for the ax despite having signed new contracts last January; some suspect president Ron Meyer wants to install a few pets, including marketing boss Adam Fogelson and production head Donna Langley, in their place. On the other hand, maybe Couples Retreat will change everything! All right, never mind. [The Wrap]
Nikki Finke is reporting that Halloween 3D, which the Weinstein Company was hoping to rush into production by next month, has been halted in pre-production. The given reason for the shutdown is so logical and counter to traditional Hollywood thinking -- the script wasn't ready -- that it has naturally sparked another round of rumors that the Weinsteins have no money. [Deadline.com]
· In a bit of news that will no doubt plunge every struggling writer in Hollywood into a teeth-gnashing bout of existential crisis, former Hills star Lauren Conrad sold the film rights to her bestselling, semi-autobiographical novel L.A. Candy to the folks at Temple Hill Entertainment. The producers say they "loved her take," adding: "Her book is an honest portrayal of what it must be like to set out to be normal, then sign on to become famous and eventually realize, wow, this isn't at all what I'd planned for myself." Perhaps the best part: It's a trilogy. And why not? Her Les Deux sex-tape ordeal alone can surely sustain at least a hundred pages' worth of exposition. [Variety]
Another TV star gets an unlikelier big-screen look, Jessica Alba considers meeting the Fockers, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called out a reporter's blockheaded invocation of the Will Ferrell Bushism "strategery," then brought things around to current SNL events by joking, "I'm going to curse in a minute, if that's cool." Congratulations, Jenny Slate: From zero to White House briefing room in one inadvertent cuss. Gotta be a new record.
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Since we last chatted with Alia Shawkat -- where she was coming off workshopping a project at Sundance Labs (it's since been sidelined due to its writer/director Elgin James' FBI indictment on extortion charges; that's showbiz!) -- the young actress has been keeping extremely busy.
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Columbia has picked up Supermax, a spec script from writers Mitch Rouse and Christopher Nelson about a hero who must band together with some villainous monsters to fight his way out of a maximum-security prison for the supernatural. As THR notes, the script is unrelated to a WB project entitled, uh, Super Max (the space is crucial), which is about a superhero who must band together with some villainous enemies to fight his way out of a maximum-security prison for DC supervillains. Even better: The latter project would star the Green Arrow, because we don't have enough Green heroes to deal with. [THR]
The first network cancellation in each season always stings, and so it goes for the Mischa Barton comeback vehicle The Beautiful Life, whose aborted, two-episode run left a trail of broken hearts including those of conspiracy theorist costar Sara Paxton, the less than a million Beautiful Life viewers, and a handful of Brazilian fans who watched via iTunes. We hate to see television fans suffer, and knowing that there are inconsolable Americans clinging to tear-stained, homemade petitions and Mischa Barton-covered vision boards is too much for us to handle at Movieline HQ. Take solace, then, in these other quickly canceled series that surely could have taken off if they'd only reached those amazing third episodes.
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When Summit Entertainment hit paydirt with the Twilight franchise, everybody knew a formidable new player had arrived on the scene. And by the time it classlessly kicked franchise co-star Rachelle Lefevre to the curb in favor of Bryce Dallas Howard, it affirmed it truly belonged in the cutthroat pool of mainstream Hollywood. But how will we really know Summit's power? According to one report, it might be when you see chieftains Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger driving up to the office with MGM's (or the Weinsteins', or Lionsgate's) library sticking out of their trunk.
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· Hey, it's the new, final New Moon poster! You really need to click on this to expand -- I can only imagine what amazing faces they didn't use.
· Knowing that it was inevitable does not make news of a Marmaduke movie any more tolerable.
· There's been buzz that Marina Zenovich has been working on a sequel to her 2008 documentary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, and now, Brett Ratner's announced that he'll be producing it.
· Scarlett Johansson has a love-hate thing for premieres: "I love to get ready for the red carpet, but being on it is very uncomfortable. It's so freakish and weird. I get flop sweats, dry mouth, heart palpitations, all-over panic!"
· Madonna says daughter Lourdes want to follow in her footsteps...and become an actress.
From GI Joe to F-bombs, we've reported from the front lines of more than few cultural skirmishes. But none to date boast the impact of the firestorm surrounding Roman Polanski -- the renowned Oscar-winning filmmaker, idling in a detention cell in Zurich, battling his arrest and potential extradition based on his flight from sentencing in a sex-crime case three decades ago. The creative community has rallied in his support. The media ask why an artist should be above the law (and what the law even means in a case riven with judicial misconduct). The public demands blood, and they may get it: Considering the lengthy appeals process facing the 76-year-old, there is the very real possibility of Polanski dying in jail before justice -- however you define it -- is served. Amid all the disconnections and breakdowns, could this be any more of a disaster?
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ET posted a video package dedicated to the rebounding Hollywood wonder that is Mickey Rourke, consisting of material shot during their Iron Man 2 set visit. Curiously, it never once shows Mickey speaking, but rather features a shot of him getting repeatedly plowed into a fence by a car (a potent metaphor for his personal journey) as his castmates deliver some variance of the "Mickey Rourke is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life" speech from The Manchurian Candidate. Only the always candid Gwyneth Paltrow strayed from the script.
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