Well, that was fun. The best Comic-Con coverage on the Web dominated the early part of this week, usurped only slightly by a beloved, departing industry relative and the latest advances in celebrity-ish reproductive science. It doesn't get much more diverse that this, and the lightning round is ready for your review after the jump. Have a great weekend!
· Apparently there was a Vermont fly-fishing junket organized just for the Blu-ray release of A River Runs Through It. This afforded one intrepid reporter the rare opportunity to go falconing, fish with co-star Tom Skerritt and cheerfully expose just how far Hollywood will go to get you to watch a special feature or two. (And if he doesn't convince you, don't worry; Skerritt couldn't be bothered either).
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We were away in San Diego last Friday and this edition of Comment of the Week has been a long time coming, but what a prize to be won: a first-class Fandangoing of your nango, administered by Fandango himself! What can you expect from the experience? Well, it will be quiet, and it may even be a little unnerving, but once our Comic-Con mascot gets down to business, your nango will be so Fandangoed that you won't even recognize it anymore. So who are our winners?
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During yesterday's Bored to Death panel and subsequent interview opportunities, the Television Critics Association proved that they are more interested in Zach Galifianakis' recent box office successes than talking about the new HBO comedy. While co-stars Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman (via satellite from Toronto, where he is shooting Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and quirky series creator, Jonathan Ames sat idly, The Hangover actor struggled to come up with one-liners to downplay his recent riches. There are worse problems to have.
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In order to reinvigorate a turgid, audience-shedding Emmys telecast, the TV Academy has announced a controversial decision to pre-tape the presentation of 8 of the ceremony's 28 awards (changes which are expected to disproportionately affect writers, directors, and cable networks) prior to the live show and run edited footage of these presentations during the live show, hoping to reclaim 12 to 15 precious moments of primetime for the networks who so selflessly donate their resources to the celebration of television's greatest talents. If all goes according to the Academy's plan, the show's ratings, lately in freefall, will surge, and the broadcast networks will wrest back some of the spotlight from basic-cable competitors who have too long been dominating the Emmys due to an unfair advantage in "quality" and "dedication to storytelling."
Confused about how this radical change to the show will play out? Movieline is here to show you what to expect when you half-heartedly flip over to CBS on the evening of Sept. 20th, hoping to get a glimpse of nominee Jon Hamm's jawline before quickly returning to your favorite multiple-birth-related docudrama on TLC.
· Taylor Lautner was snapped doing flips while playing a high school athlete in the upcoming super-romcom Valentine's Day. Don't read that out loud, you don't want to provoke the EEEEEEEEEEE!
· Speaking of Twilighters, the Rachelle Lefevre/Summit brouhaha continues, now with more lawyers.
· Mark-Paul Gosselaar claims that the main reason People beat Jimmy Fallon to the Saved by the Bell reunion is because Fallon never offered specifics.
· Katie Holmes has no plans to join the cast of Sex and the City 2, because it might actually be a good career move.
· According to a new book, Scarlett Johansson's stage mom made life difficult for Robert Redford when they shot The Horse Whisperer. Ugh, and you should have heard the horse, always demanding, "Louder, Bob, louder!" Sorry, kids. It's Friday.
Not to be outdone by the day's other wild directing rumors, Disney sources have ventured Chicago and Nine helmer Rob Marshall as the leading candidate to direct their fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film. The studio is said to be close to a deal -- but how close is "close"?
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Marc Webb is done with making music videos for a while, at least after the director's offbeat romcom debut (500) Days of Summer emerged as one of this season's critical and commercial darlings for Fox Searchlight. And while he's not yet commanding final cut or any comic-book adaptations, there's one studio property that may provide just the right room for growth, ambition and ironically interpretative Bible study.
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Megan Fox-admiring Flower Kid, Seth Rogen knows your pain! Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Rogen recounted the very first time he'd ever appeared on the show -- coincidentally, a night that Fox also made her Kimmel debut. Ever the gentleman, Rogen had decided that night to give Fox a kiss on the cheek as she walked by...after all, he'd been specifically asked to stick around for another segment by a nervous Fox. Sadly, his kiss didn't quite go according to plan.
While promoting his Obama documentary at the TCA press tour yesterday, Edward Norton was asked whether his Hulk would factor into Marvel's impending superhero supergroup movie, The Avengers. "I probably won't comment on that just because they keep a pretty tight rein on what they are letting out," said the actor (who notoriously feuded with Marvel and refused to do much press after making The Incredible Hulk), adding "I'll let them [address it]."
Oh, but they have! At Comic-Con, Marvel's president of production, Kevin Feige, was asked about exactly that, and his caginess indicated that things haven't exactly been smoothed over with the actor.
Among the varyingly funny people in Funny People is Randy, an obnoxious comedian played by actual comedian and truth-in-giant-movie-screen-advertising consumers' rights activist Aziz Ansari.
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With studios tightening their belts and mini-majors dropping like flies, the days of festival feeding frenzies are long over. But then there's always the exceptions to the rule. As Fox Searchlight's Adam gets nudged into the big, bad world today -- gradually, of course, on four screens, typical of the measured strategy that turned Little Miss Sunshine and Juno into massive sleeper hits -- we asked director Max Mayer, an East Coast theater veteran, to recount the night his microbudget romance was scooped up at Sundance.
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By all accounts, one-time biopic subject Patch Adams is a decent man who has done nothing but help terminally ill patients through his pioneering advances in clown therapy. That was all Hollywood needed to hear to make his story into a 1998 hit starring Robin Williams. And yet all these years later, the good doctor says, he's still awaiting his real close-up, or at least the payday that was supposed to accompany the last one.
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Was it awkward for Judd Apatow to direct wife Leslie Mann in romantic scenes with Adam Sandler for Funny People? Maybe, considering that before Mann and Apatow met, she says Sandler tried to pick her up at a nightclub: "I had on a backless shirt, and he sent over a note written in ketchup on a cocktail napkin. It was some pickup line, like 'Nice back,' or something. The person who brought over the note asked if I wanted to go over and meet Adam, but I wouldn't do it. And he wouldn't walk over to meet me, so it was a stand-off." [OC Register]
· Should the world be happy about the news that Ridley Scott is attached to direct a prequel to his seminal 1979 classic Alien? Fox announced Thursday that the 71-year-old filmmaker will take on a script commissioned from sci-fi screenwriter du jour Jon Spaihts; no plot has yet been announced, but it's probably safe to presume it will unfold aboard the crashed ship that sent the Nostromo crew its "Beware! Aliens!" distress signal in the first place. And then they die. I mean, wouldn't you much rather have a Blade Runner prequel, with Rutger Hauer's fox fur, Elton John glasses and all that? Seriously, Fox -- it's over. [Variety]
Judd Apatow re-ups, China imports our crap for a change and more Hollywood Ink continues after the jump.
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