· The New Yorkiest project of 2010 could arrive courtesy of Spike Lee and Robert De Niro, who are in talks to collaborate on a TV series about life in Manhattan's gritty, ravaged, semi-bohemian Alphabet City during the '80s. Lee would direct and De Niro would produce the pilot for Alphaville, which will survey the butting of the neighborhood's gang and drug culture against its thriving art and music scenee. I can hardly wait to see which power-mad, break-dancing MC dominates the show's power rankings. [THR]
Oprah Winfrey anchors an unlikely dream team, apes run wild on MTV, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Have these ceased to be funny yet? Nope. Not yet.
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· Cinematical's got the poster for Robert Zemeckis's upcoming, terrifying mo-cap version of A Christmas Carol.
· Director Adam Shankman's been hired as a full-time judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Spaces are filling up fast, Paula!
· Bad news for Melrose Place: Though lead-in 90210 managed to hold its audience from last week, Melrose fell 23%.
· Julianne Nicholson is departing Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Saffron Burrows is in the running to replace her.
· Megan Fox is an expert at avoiding conflict in a relationship, she tells Rolling Stone. "I've had to say... 'You have to go and stop talking to me, because I'm going to kill you. I'm going to stab you with something. Please leave.' I'd never own a gun for that reason. I wouldn't shoot to kill. But I would shoot him in the leg, for sure."
Remember that 30 Rock porn we told you about? That parody was masterminded by adult video company New Sensations, currently wrapping production on the Lee Roy Myers-scripted Cheers: A XXX Parody, which finds Sam Malone and Diane Chambers finally schtupping (magnificently!) in the back office underneath the mounted baseball bat. We'll have more for you on the porn parody's startling resemblance to the original show later, but for now, let's enjoy an exclusive look at its centerpiece scene: 1.5 pages of build-up to Sam's forceful collection of Diane's well-endowed tab.
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Inglourious Basterds marched triumphantly over the $100 million mark this weekend on our own shores, and nothing impedes its steady invasion of foreign territories. It opens this week in Israel, Singapore and Spain, then moves on to South Korea, Italy, Brazil and Mexico in October, and finally Japan in mid-November, at which point no corner of the globe will be unfamiliar with the epic adventures of Shoshana the Vengeance-Seeker and Her Projection Room Lover (which also happens to be the Mexican title).
At a press conference today in Tel Aviv, the subject of the Holocaust was critically brought up -- both in Quentin Tarantino's avoidance of the death camps, and in the implication that the playful historical liberties ultimately did a disservice to those killed by the Nazis. The director took the opportunity to nip all such lines of questioning in the bud. Here was his response, via Cinemascope.com:
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For a while there (think Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown and Natalie Portman in Garden State), cinematic love interests seemed to come in only one, ostentatiously quirky variety: the "Manic Pixie Dream Girl." As writer Nathan Rabin explained after coining the term: "The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures."
This year, though, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl has been replaced by the very "infinite mystery" she once helped our heroes find. Meet 2009's unknowable-but-irresistible variation on the formula: the "Sphinx Minx."
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Arianna Huffington has already appeared on television in several incarnations: panelist, game show guest (Hollywood Squares), parodied political figure (Saturday Night Live), and voice actor (The Cleveland Show), and now her life will be used as the inspiration for a new Friends-like sitcom that the pundit will executive produce. I see the character as a spotlight hungry cross between Monica and Phoebe, who finds brief but bisexuality-interrupted love with a millionaire, played by Tom Selleck.
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Variety confirmed today that District 9's Sharlto Copley will indeed be joining the cast of The A-Team, meaning every actor who had an unlikely sleeper hit this year (including Taken's Liam Neeson and The Hangover's Bradley Cooper) will be in this thing. By the same token, we're a little disappointed that Jessica Biel is in negotiations to play Cooper's love interest -- shouldn't this role, too, go to someone who just showed unexpected box office muscle? Was Scrat unavailable? [Variety]
After learning that the rights to George Romero's original Night of the Living Dead are in the public domain, a filmmaker is developing a 3-D remake featuring CGI zombies and an some origin-story background on the survivors. The end goal is, according to first-time director Zebediah de Soto, is "an American-style anime." Hmm. Wouldn't Zombie Yoko just be cheaper? [THR]
· Zach Galifianakis is in talks to join It's Kind of a Funny Story, the next feature in development from Half Nelson filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. The book adaptation would feature Galifiankis as an institutionalized man who befriends a young man accidentally assigned to the adult ward of a mental institution. And, of course, ride its gold-flecked Greek god to a number-one opening as per new Zach G. custom. Congratulations in advance. [THR]
Galifianakis won't be appearing in the Hangover ripoff coming from Jay Chandrasekhar, Spider-Man 4 gets a release date, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Zac Efron's Entourage cameo had the unwashed actor meandering through a Nike store, firing one agent for shady merchandising practices and hiring Ari in the very same conversation. "College Musical!" Ari did not just say that!
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Back in June, the internet exploded after TV watchers discovered that the design of Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show set could easily double for a particularly exciting level of Super Mario World. Now that we've seen the expensive, desk-less set of The Jay Leno Show, does it instantly bring to mind anything?
Our illustrated answer after the jump:
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We previously surmised that Kanye West's only crime at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards was choosing the wrong award recipient's acceptance speech to crash. But once President Obama involved himself in the saga yesterday, we took a closer look at the VMA events (with the helpful eye of Mario Lopez) and developed a conspiracy theory. For the complete anatomy on how this little MTV stunt wound up in the White House, follow us after the jump.
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· The NYT has premiered even more huggable images from Where the Wild Things Are.
· The Vampire Diaries may have set a high ratings mark for the CW last week, but yesterday's premieres of Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill saw them fall year-to-year.
· Keanu Reeves memorialized his Point Break costar Patrick Swayze today: "I can say what I know, that he lived life to the fullest."
· Why do so many movies with "Jennifer" in the title have to be scary? Cinematical's Jennifer Yamato investigates.
· Not to brag or anything, but that Lincoln article in Variety today mentioned that Steven Spielberg seems to be taking our Harvey advice, eschewing the obvious Will Smith casting choice for Robert Downey Jr. Now, maybe he'll take our second recommendation and not make the movie!
President Obama will visit the Late Show with David Letterman on Monday to promote his healthcare reform. His segment will mark the first appearance of a sitting U.S. president on the show, although Obama did appear on Letterman five times before elected. The president visited the Tonight Show With Jay Leno in March. [Los Angeles Times]
