Okay, People.com. We're sure you've been negotiating for weeks now to get these exclusive snapshots of Molly Ringwald with her adorable newborn twins. But couldn't someone over at the celebrity news sausage factory have slowed down the machinery long enough to throw in a passing acknowledgment of that story right beneath?
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Sad news for fans of fun: The increasingly less wild and woolly Independent Spirit Awards, formerly held on the beach the day before the Oscars, are now going to be held at night, two days before the Oscars, in some terrible auditorium-cave, probably. The event will be broadcast live, which is a very exciting thing for New Yorkers who can't wait to start watching at, uh, 11pm EST. Next thing we know, they're going to make people dress up, and then we're gonna lose Philip Seymour Hoffman.
It only sounded like Terry Gilliam was bitter discussing Johnny Depp in a recent interview, where he thwacked his one-time leading man for the downmarket quality of his newest work. "He'd better start making some good films," the director said before paraphrasing other Depp critics: "Come on. You've got the power to make some really good films happen. Why are you doing this shit?" But really, it was just old age rapping on his door -- and perhaps the knowledge that Depp wouldn't be making any more good films with Gilliam himself.
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There are going to be countless retrospectives in the days to come celebrating the John Hughes oeuvre, and discussing what he meant to American culture -- his contribution to the young adult canon being perhaps the most significant since that of J.D. Salinger's. But for the time being, I'd just like to be sad for a bit. You can be sad with me. Ironically enough, the first scene that occurred to me was one with no dialogue in it at all. I like to imagine it as a glimpse inside the movie in Hughes' own mind, with art direction by George Seurat and score by Johnny Marr.
TMZ is reporting John Hughes, the reclusive Hollywood heavyweight who captured the voice of a generation in undisputed teen classics like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and later cornered the market in blockbuster family comedies with films like Uncle Buck and Home Alone (the latter of which he wrote and produced), died suddenly today during a morning walk in New York City. The cause was heart attack. He was 59. More as it comes...
· Here's the poster for Mike Judge's Extract, which notably leaves comic sidekick Ben Affleck off the key art. Don't want to turn off those J.K. Simmons fans, I suppose.
· Can't get enough of Seth Rogen in cancer comedies? He's got another on the docket.
· Former male supermodel Travis Fimmel has been cast in The Experiment, where he will homoerotically torture actors like Adrien Brody, we're guessing.
· Tactful Nigel Lythgoe explained that when Kara DioGuardi joined American Idol as a fourth judge, "it brought in a stepsister."
· "Jennifer Aniston Wins a Parenting Award," the editors at Us have announced, barely able to restrain themselves from snickering and adding "Psyche!"
Bob Berney is back. Again. Months after the esteemed indie-distribution wizard acquired the acclaimed Bright Star out of the Cannes Film Festival, he and money-man Bill Pohlad have officially established the company that they hope will catapult it and other prestige titles to glory. And if you know Berney at all, you probably have to like their chances.
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To judge from all the men I've seen at the annual West Hollywood Halloween carnival dressed as The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda Priestly, Meryl Streep has the ability to transform just about any character into a gay icon. On the face of it, then, her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia should be an easy layup for that demographic, as the strapping Child was a gender pioneer in the kitchen, a campy presence on TV, and an acclaimed chef who loved to call gay men "homovipers." Wait, what?
A "Bombshell ENQUIRER.com WORLD EXCLUSIVE" reveals D.C.-area poet Damon Lloyd Goffe is seeking damages from Oprah Winfrey in the amount of $1,200,000,000,000, for allegedly having sold a volume of his poetry as his own online. They provide the official legal document -- easily identifiable because it says "OFFICIAL LEGAL DOCUMENT" on it in giant, red stenciled letters -- which appears to have been drafted on the back of a Sizzler placemat. The accompanying photo features Sad, Sued Oprah shedding a single trillion-dollar tear, the salty extract of mulched diamonds. [Natl Enq]
Forget about the half-assed culture wars in our backyard. Europeans do it right -- particularly the Italians, who know exactly what they want from their entertainment and don't care who they have to offend to get it. Like Catherine Deneuve? Acting royalty, iconic beauty, international superstar? Pffftt... she's a "thief". And a French one at that.
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Jay Leno appeared Wednesday at the TCA Press Tour, revealing new details about his primetime talk show coming this fall on NBC. And don't worry if you can't quite get excited for regular guest "correspondents" like Brian Williams and D.L. Hughley; there's always eco-conscious celebrity drag racing behind the studio to save the day. Or not. More tidbits after the jump.
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Even though the planet's foremost American Idol expert is saying Paula Abdul's tweet heard around the world was legit, the skeptics are storming the gates. Among them: Kim Masters, who argues for the negotiation-ploy theory, adding that Paula isn't quite crazy enough to walk away from eight figures per year. "Paula: kabuki?" she e-mailed one agent, who replied, "Yeah, just stupid." Either way, keep hope alive for her Kimmel-sidekick renaissance. [The Daily Beast]
Budd Schulberg, the Oscar-winning writer of On the Waterfront, A Face in the Crowd and the classic Hollywood novel What Makes Sammy Run?, died Wednesday afternoon at age 95. Doctors cited natural causes.
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· Body of Lies tandem Leonardo DiCaprio and Ridley Scott will reunite for an adaptation of Brave New World, author Aldous Huxley's 1931 dystopia classic. DiCaprio will produce and star, Scott will produce and direct, and frustrated high-school English teachers around the country will begin bracing themselves for the onslaught of essays by lazy students, all vaguely touching on Huxley's themes as adapted by the guy who wrote Apocalypto. [THR]
Joe Eszterhas takes up with a Virgin, Liam Neeson is Unknown and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
· Chris Pine: The day you can successfully conquer nature by thrusting yourself into a natural rock formation, you'll have truly inherited the Kirk mantle. Until then -- Shatner's our man.
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