We've got some good news and bad news for Betty White. First, the good: Today, SAG announced that White would be this year's recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, handed out next January. Good for her! Hopefully, that will make up for an anecdote Rue McClanahan shared at a memorial to Bea Arthur yesterday in New York, where McClanahan told guests about the first time her husband introduced himself to an inebriated Arthur. "Rue, I love," Arthur was said to gush. "Betty White's the c - - t!" [Village Voice]
A sale! We have a TIFF sale! In an overly cautious marketplace, A Single Man, Tom Ford's hyperstylized (and you'd expect anything less?), Mad Men-era tale of Grief and the Gays in the Southern California sunshine, was purchased by The Weinstein Company after an "all-night negotiating session" that resulted in a "seven-figure" buy (plus a couple pair of those Tom Ford aviators Harv and Bob love so much but are just no longer economically viable).
Our intrepid TIFF man S.T. VanAirsdale is seeing film as we speak; it remains to be seen if he'll emerage as enthusiastic about the gay love scenes in this Julianne Moore picture as he was with the ones in Chloe. In the meantime, the trailer is after the jump. Dab a little behind your ears and see if it's you.
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The reviews and the ratings for The Jay Leno Show are already in and the first impressions of NBC's prime-time experiment seem to be universal: Jay is still, well, Jay. His jokes are dull, his new set is creepy and don't even get anyone started on that Dan Finnerty Car Wash sketch. Let's take a look at some of the critical observations after the jump.
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Patrick Swayze, who passed away yesterday after a 20-month bout with pancreatic cancer at age 57, had an electric, sincere screen presence that was aware of itself. While some of Swayze's best on-screen moments have been satirized many times over, the actor himself never teetered into self-parody, overly confident and sweat-dappled though his characters often were. His three most iconic TV and film moments speak for themselves, and we honor them after the jump.
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It's a time-honored tradition for high school dramas to be populated with actors well out of their teens. Here, then, is a tribute of sorts, assembled by examining each big teen show on the air, then isolating its oldest cast member. Their characters may flirt at parties to the sounds of Lady Gaga and dance at the high school prom to Taylor Swift, but in real life, some of these actors haven't been in school since Kurt Cobain was alive. Who are they?
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Even President Obama has an opinion on Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the VMAs. During a CNBC interview Monday, the president called Kanye a "jack*ss" during some off-the-record remarks. The comment was promptly tweeted by ABC News reporter Terry Moran, then taken down from the Twitter site. ABC has since apologized for Moran's journalistic indiscretion. [Washington Post]
Steven Spielberg surprised much of Hollywood recently, choosing to follow his Tintin film with a reimagining of Harvey as opposed to his long-idling Abraham Lincoln biopic. The concern worsened after Robert Redford announced his own Lincoln-related project. But fear not: Variety's oracle of abstract mega-director bromides, Peter Bart, has passed along his latest transmission from the DreamWorks otherworld, and it sounds promising! "We are very happy that Redford will be doing this Lincoln movie," Spielberg communicated. "It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be, and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible." You know what this means: Revive your casting rumors starting now. [Variety]
· The sex-change process can take almost as long as development hell on many films, and finally, Nicole Kidman's The Danish Girl is bringing the two phenomena together in a staggering show of inertia. Charlize Theron has left the project, in which she was attached to co-star as the wife of the world's first male-to-female sex-change patient (played by Kidman). In better news, Let the Right One In director Tomas Alfredson is set to direct. Theron's coveted role goes back up for grabs effective immediately. I know it sounds crazy, but, well... enh, never mind. [Variety]
Dustin Lance Black adds a few new faces to Virginia, Helen Hunt eyes a return to TV, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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After almost two years of publicly battling pancreatic cancer, Patrick Swayze has succumbed to the disease, reports TMZ. He was 57.
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· Sadly, it would appear that Gossip Girl MVP Ed Westwick has neglected to take our advice regarding actors and tattoos, as he's added two huge new pieces to his arms (including the feather shown here). Here's hoping that Heathcliff won't be wearing any tank tops! A picture of Westwick's other new tattoo, after the jump:
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Whether or not you caught this afternoon's Oprah Winfrey Show premiere featuring a Whitney Houston interview so juicy that it had to be broken into two parts (the other airs tomorrow), rest assured that Movieline has compiled Houston's most shocking revelations for you to use during tomorrow's water-cooler discussion. After the jump, find everything from Houston's How-To Guide on smoking rock cocaine to her definition of physical abuse (that conveniently excludes Bobby's spitting and hitting) to Bobbi Kristina's own visit to rehab.
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Still in True Blood withdrawal? Seth's finale recap (due later tonight) should help you out, but until then, enjoy Alexander Skarsgård's guest DJ stint on LA's KCRW radio station from this past week. Thrill as Skarsgård tells stories about bathing naked outside (a natural segue to the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper")! Swoon as Skarsgård discusses his newfound love of Los Angeles! Ponder how Skarsgård's mock-Southern accent, acquired for his upcoming Straw Dogs redneck role, clashes with his native Swedish intonations to produce something very like the voice a Georgia math club president. [KCRW]
Last night's Kanye-jacked Video Music Awards gave MTV its highest ratings for the ceremony since 2002, scoring 26.9 million viewers. (To be fair, the 2002 ceremony boasted the unbeatable lineup of a Guns 'N Roses reunion performance, Michael Jackson's non-reception of the Artist of the Millennium Award, and a less-gaunt Eminem). Next year, MTV plans to improve on its ratings by surrounding the stage with a highly-lit electric fence, all the better to give Taylor Swift an extra, ethereal glow and Kanye West a friendly tasing. [THR]
· James Franco, who is not in any movies this year, burns up the cover of VMan's fall fashion issue.
· The second season of True Blood just ended, but Alan Ball's already bringing aboard Denis O'Hare as a regular next year.
· "Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and myself are agreed on what the fifth [Indiana Jones] adventure will concern, and George is actively at work," Harrison Ford told a French newspaper. "If the script is good, I'll be very happy to put the costume on again."
· The addition of Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry as producers on Precious may boost the film's profile, but it's in danger of squeezing out original producers Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness.
· After guest host Kate Gosselin spent The View today bemoaning how she must continue to film Jon & Kate Plus 8 so she can afford her lifestyle, Joy Behar asked, "Do they pay you enough?" "Is anybody paid enough?" answered Gosselin. Yes. You are.
The 61st annual Creative Arts Emmy Awards were distributed on Saturday night. And while emcee Kathy Griffin walked away from the Kodak Theatre Emmy-less (losing Outstanding Reality Program to A&E's Intervention and Variety, Musical or Comedy Emmy to CBS's The Kennedy Center Honors), her memoir sales were spared from the effects of another Jesus-bashing speech. To see how Charles Dickens rose from the dead to take home four of the low-priority Emmys and how Saturday Night Live and Pushing Daisies found redemption in the form of gold statuettes, follow us after the jump.
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