Worn out from grueling, back-to-back slogs wrangling jive-talking robots and lingerie models, Michael Bay may pick up the young-adult alien novel I Am Number 4 as a forthcoming adaptation for DreamWorks. Better yet: It's James Frey's young-adult alien novel, the first in a series co-written by Jobie Hughes and optioned by the studio as a producing (and potential directing) project for Bay. The story follows nine aliens disguised as human teenagers, on the run from the mysterious force that destroyed their home planet. And knowing Frey, of course, it's probably all true. Developing... [BFDealMemo]
Every now and then, SNL alum and born-again neocon commentator Victoria Jackson will break out with a screed about America's fraying sociocultural fabric. Some are better than others, but for sheer, aromatic stream-of-consciousness batshittery, she may have outdone herself with her most recent column at the right-wing culture repository Big Hollywood.
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· Sure, we've already dashed your Heathers sequel hopes. But would you take an updating from Fox and Sony TV as a consolation? All of the principal characters from the original are expected to return for the series, with Mark Rizzo picking up the writing duties with Sex and the City's Jenny Bicks. Assuming her unsettling new appearance is reversible, Winona Ryder could be great as the touchy-feely teacher-monster Pauline Fleming. Just saying. [Variety]
Hayden Christensen does a Vanishing act, Blake Lively goes to Town, and much more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· Here's a taste of what you can expect from Anne Heche's appearance on tonight's Late Show. Her mouth might be saying she doesn't want any contact with her ex, but I think we all know what her heart is really saying: "YEARGHHHHHHHH I'M AN INSAAANE LADY HELICOPTER HELICOPTER ANTIFREEEZE!" [via @KateAurthur]
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Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this -- which is precisely the problem. Blake Lewis, the sixth season runner-up on American Idol, has waited to pay off his $120,000 tax lien, and now he's in trouble. The 28-year-old singer owes the money from 2007, the year of his Idol run, when he bought a $1.2 million estate north of Seattle. Release that sophomore album, fair hat-wearer! Now the man's in dubious company with Ruben Studdard and Fantasia Barrino, two other Idol vets with less-than-Cowellian bank accounts. Perhaps he'll find a cunning way to beat debt, but ultimately, it's the votes (of the elusive tween beatbox fanatic demo) that count. DetNews
Though he'd become best known in recent years for his juicy articles in Vanity Fair, Dominick Dunne offered a lot more to Hollywood than his powers of observation. In the 1970s, Dunne produced classic films like The Boys in the Band and The Panic in Needle Park, and he fathered director Griffin Dunne and actress Dominique Dunne (Poltergeist), whose murder made him a passionate advocate of victims' rights. Dunne passed away today of liver cancer at his home in Manhattan. [Vanity Fair]
Is "old people eating pot brownies" the new "old people saying swear words"? It is, if this summer's movies have anything to say about it! Whether it's the biggest action blockbuster or the smallest video-on-demand indie, there's nothing more "now" than menopausal movie moms getting baked off of baked goods. Grab a bowl of Doritos and consider the evidence!
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Following a sustained chorus of protest comprising everyone from its grass-roots loyalists to Martin Scorsese, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art reversed course today on its decision to end the museum's celebrated 40-year-old repertory film program. A $150,000 gift from an odd couple of donors sealed the deal this morning.
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· Either the marketing masterminds behind The Informers' DVD cover refused to pay heed to the order of its above-the-title credits, or Winona Ryder really needs to stop going to Mickey Rourke's plastic surgeon.
· That viral ad design of snakes on a cane that you never saw and weren't buzzing about? It was for House.
· Add this, awkwardly, to Ted Kennedy's legacy: He gave us the plot to Blow Out!
· Pivotal questions have been asked: What if your favorite Lost characters were superheroes? And what can Britney Spears teach us about Alzheimers?
· Play me off, Papercraft Keyboard Cat.
It's been asked before: Can Neil Patrick Harris do it all? Now, he will try to prove it to you by doing things he doesn't even come to mind for, such as guest judging American Idol. Don't get me wrong, he'll be much funnier than, say, fellow guest judge Joe Jonas, but Mssr. NPH's primary field of musical expertise is that Broadway sound so hated by Simon Cowell. Still, at least we know he can be bitchy about pop singers when necessary. [LAT]
1. The rumor in question is about an actor cast in the next Batman film, when even presumptive director Christopher Nolan (currently shooting the Leonardo DiCaprio starrer Inception) has not signed on yet, nor struck a deal to write the script.
2. The article attributes quotes like these to a U.S. movie star: "I'm so chuffed to begin work! I know my mum is bloody excited." No one born in the States talks this way (admittedly, exceptions can be made for Gwyneth Paltrow or Johnny Depp).
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If for no other reason than the accompanying "spot of computer wizardry," here is today's, ahem, unassailable British tabloid rumor that Megan Fox has been cast as Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight follow up. She replaces Cher, whom we're reminded was awarded the role a year ago today. May Nolan's costume designers have better luck with Fox than the Sun's photo-illustrators did. [The Sun via Vulture]
Likely without their knowledge and almost certainly without their approval, Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Hugh Hefner and other celebs are among those featured in the defense of Girls Gone Wild creator and alleged tax-evader Joe Francis. How not to exploit stars in court, after the jump.
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The phrase "Delgo vs. Avatar" has taken on multiple meanings over the last week, from the uncanny comparisons between Hollywood's biggest animated flop and its most ambitious film ever, to my inner masochist praying for a big-screen, Alien vs. Predator-style showdown between the two somewhere down the line. But I much prefer the latest interpretation, with Delgo's downmarket animation studio alluding to legal action against James Cameron and Fox.
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· You can't blame the captains of the sinking SS Universal for wanting to develop a sequel to their terrific summer '08 blockbuster Wanted. Considering what happens to Angelina Jolie's character, however, you can blame them and director Timur Bekmambetov for wanting her to return for Wanted 2. Not that they'd care; Bekmambetov now says he's got just the trick to restore Jolie's assassin and that filming could begin as early as this winter if she says yes. Spoilers at the link, but seeing as it would be only the fifth or sixth least authentic plot detail to surface in the story, the hell with it. Green light! [MTV]
Susan Sarandon gets maternal in Wall Street 2, Soul Train steams to the big screen, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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