Not content to simply rest on his, uh, abortion laurels, Seth MacFarlane has announced that Family Guy plans to add Karl Rove and a singing Rush Limbaugh (voiced by the men themselves) to an episode next season. MacFarlane went on to reveal that Stewie is same-sex-oriented. I don't have a joke to end this item, so I'll just take a cue from Family Guy and cut to a random pop culture reference. Julia Stiles! [THR]
While digitizing their vast archives, LIFE magazine uncovered a stash of never-before-seen photos of Marilyn Monroe, taken by staff photographer Ed Clark in Griffith Park in August 1950. She was 24 at the time, wearing shorts and a "simple button-down shirt monogrammed with her initials." I love the one after the jump of her reclining on a bench in a halter top while reading a script. Was it All About Eve?
· Oooh, Lost: The Official Magazine has a full-sized picture of the the model used for Taweret, the show's famous, Jacob-housing four-toed statue. I can kinda see why they shot it from the back.
· MGM's unnecessary Poltergeist remake has a release date: Thanksgiving 2010.
· "Is Miley Cyrus Too Young for the Pole?" asks Us. Something about the magazine's easy familiarity with that phrase delights me.
· When asked whether Robert Pattinson is dating Kristen Stewart or ex Nikki Reed, Jennie Garth helpfully answered, "I can't say, because that would be breaking my promise to [husband Peter Facinelli], but he is dating one of them!"
· Brad Pitt was queried by BFF Ann Curry about t-shirts that say "Brad for Mayor," and joked "I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform." Will he be able to overcome past grievances and appoint Jennifer Aniston secretary of state?
One of the most unusual elements of last week's reporting on John Hughes's passing in New York was its total lack of specificity. Hughes, 59, suffered a heart attack on "a Manhattan street," his representatives disclosed; aside from a few (inaccurate) Web rumors placing him in Central Park, nothing else was known or even sought by news outlets that memorialized him for days afterward. Even for someone as private as Hughes was after leaving Hollywood, that ambiguity seemed odd, maybe even inappropriate. Respects should be paid; a shrine was in order. So I went on a little search, finally arriving at the location above. For better or worse, I found history.
The more I think about it, what Legion really needed to sell the apocalypse-standoff-in-a-roadside-diner concept was Oksana Grigorieva on the restaurant's roof, tinkling a baby grand and making the sounds she was making on Good Morning America this morning. Really, GMA? Really? And you couldn't even muster a question about Mel Gibson? For shame. [TMZ]
Overshadowed somewhat by Molly Ringwald's candid John Hughes reminiscence in the NYT yesterday was a similar article in the Washington Post, penned by the man who may well have inspired the iconic character of Ferris Bueller. Edward McNally grew up on the same street as Hughes and when the two went to high school, McNally had a tally of absences, car-borrowing adventures, and outlandish excuses that would make even Bueller blush. So what became of our real-life Ferris after he graduated?
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Well, that was fast. Mere days ago, we were browsing the latest European trailer for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and wondering when Terry Gilliam's madcap fantasia -- which, coincidentally, happens to also boast Heath Ledger's final role -- might find a distributor in the United States. Apparently all we had to do was ask; a deal is in the offing as we speak.
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Julie & Julia opened with a $20 million box office weekend, Oscar buzz and the added bonus of a sales boost for Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Just like past film cancer clusters Armageddon/Deep Impact and Dante's Peak/Volcano, it won't be long before a studio rolls out another project with a celebrity chef/normal person pairing. Fortunately, the Julie & Julia recipe allows for easy substitutions. Here are a few ideas for the next course.
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So you've marked off Aug. 21 on your calendars, told your boss you'll be taking your cat in for a kidney transplant that day, and taken every other precaution necessary to ensure that the first annual Worldwide Avatar Day will be a day to remember. Now, all that's left is to figure out how to get into one of the hundreds of Imax theaters showing 15 minutes of James Cameron's new movie, preceded by a short filmed intro from the director instructing you to "enjoy having your brains collapse beneath my Almighty-like grasp on the next generation of f**k-yeah filmmaking. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. Roll it!"
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· The Twilight threequel Eclipse continues to pile on young actors, adding Catalina Sandino Moreno to the cast as the vampire Maria. An Oscar-nominee for 2004's Maria Full of Grace, Sandino Moreno's character is known in the source novel as a soft-spoken brunette who attempts to create a "newborn army of vampires" with a Confederate soldier named Jasper. I'm skeptical, but at least she didn't steal anyone's job, so best of luck to her and Summit. They begin shooting next week in Vancouver. [THR]
Denzel Washington considers TV, Jon Heder considers Buddy Holly, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· Megan Fox offers her carefully reasoned advice for handling peer pressure and high school bullies: f*** 'em and kill them off. Oddly enough, that comes straight out of the guidance counselors' handbook prescribed in several New Jersey school districts.
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If you find blogger Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams) just a little annoying in Julia & Julia, Nora Ephron manages to sneak in one unexpected bit of gratification: so did Julia Child! Indeed, the scene where Powell finds out that Child doesn't approve of her blog is such an out-of-nowhere shock (and one that's never quite resolved) that it leaves audiences wondering where exactly Child's displeasure came from.
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Things are looking dire for Julie Taymor's $45 million Spider-Man musical: After producers ran out of money, placing the Broadway show on hiatus, the New York Post is reporting that actors (including Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming) have been released from their contracts. Perhaps it's for the best, as Michael Riedel notes that the Bono-and-the-Edge-penned musical would have had to run for five years just to get in the black. Who knew Taymor might eventually pine for the comparatively easy days of working with Joe Roth? [NYP]
We couldn't all have the bliss of a purely epistolary relationship with John Hughes. According to another strikingly candid reminiscence by Molly Ringwald in today's New York Times, working with him in the '80s was a joy to behold that ended bittersweetly nevertheless, with the actress and her young comrades banished from a movie factory on par with Neverland.
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· The Playlist has photos from the upcoming Edward Norton/Edward Norton starrer Leaves of Grass, in which the actor plays twins -- one a responsible professor, one a pot grower. Marvel has immediately entered into negotiations with the latter.
· Joe Jonas is close to joining Garry Marshall's monstrous romantic omnibus Valentine's Day.
· Oh, do you love your HBO and your AMC? Well, Steven Soderbergh hates them.
· Just about everything in this St. Trinians clip is painful, so it hardly seems fair to single out Mischa Barton's wobbly accent, but, uh...I guess we just did. Sorry, Meesh.
· Paula Abdul left American Idol, says the NYT, because she felt the other judges didn't sufficiently rebut rumors that she showed up late and was out of it. Not helping matters: her tendency to show up late and out of it.
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