· In this new still from Mike Judge's Extract, Mila Kunis attempts the tricky "hairnet and cleavage" ensemble, a look that's only surpassed in difficulty by the notorious "novelty beer hat and sideboob."
· They're making another Bridget Jones movie, possibly! Also, FX has begun production on the improv-heavy fantasy football sitcom The League, starring Verge alum Mark Duplass alongside Nick Kroll and Paul Scheer.
· Of the scene in Brüno where she recommends that Jamie Lynn Spears abort her baby, Brittny Gastineau says, "I was spoofing myself." Yes, but who are you again?
· Director Todd Holland is apologizing over his controversial recommendation that actors should stay closeted.
· But here's some much better advice from Brad Pitt, to Ashton Kutcher: "Don't take a picture of your wife's butt. That's silly. Take pictures of other people's wives' butts."
Yesterday, we posted a clip of Jonah Hill recounting for David Letterman an unfortunate tale of identity-theft via a mischief-making Twitter impostor. We mistakenly attributed it to the wrong fake Jonah Hill -- turns out the Funny People star attracts a large number of tweetalikes -- but a commenter directed us to the correct account, called JonahHill_Jew, and to the full confession of the man behind it.
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Somehow, Us got ahold of the behind-the-scenes footage from Michael Jackson's 1984 Pepsi commercial, where a pyrotechnic accident lit Jackson's head on fire and caused the singer second and third-degree burns. This isn't some faraway raw footage, either -- it's a close, artfully edited video with background music, liberal use of slow-motion, a black-and-white Us Weekly logo, and a man's head on fire. Us alleges that the incident kickstarted Jackson's prescription drug habit; I can certainly attest that the existence of the video induces extreme queasiness. [Us]
Midnight screenings of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince could have pulled in as much as $20 million, Variety is reporting, which would beat previous record-holder The Dark Knight by $2 million. The narrative over the coming days will be to see if it will break the all-time opening weekend record of $155 million, also held by Dark Knight. All of this only lends credence to our voiced suspicions that Potter is this year's broody, becowled vigilante, which could prove propitious come Oscar time. THR now has it at $22.2 million. [Variety]
With maybe one notable exception, it never did a filmmaker any good to call out his or her critics -- especially in the month leading up to the release of one's sprawling, studio-saving World War II epic in the dumping ground of mid-August. But that's what Quentin Tarantino is trying out anyway for Inglourious Basterds, which he's hyped tirelessly for over a year now just to give a good portion of his momentum back with one candid burst.
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After more than a decade of dating and a year's engagement to be married, Robert Redford finally exchanged vows Tuesday with German artist Sybille Szaggars in a private ceremony in Hamburg. Details of the nuptials were largely unknown this morning, though Redford was said to have been thrilled by his import's superb maintenance record and low mileage since its acquisition in 1996. Congrats! [AP]
· Tired of toy companies' monopoly on garish movie adaptations, the cosmetics titan Avon is set to receive its own feature-length commercial: Avon Man will feature Hugh Jackman as a laid-off car salesman who finds new professional life as a make-up retailer. And why shouldn't he? Until you've heard that Aussie lilt purring the virtues of Beyond Color Plumping Lip Color SPF with Double the Retinol, you haven't really gotten the full picture of what this iconic brand can do for you. [Variety]
Darren Aronofsky tacks on another project, Russell Brand hops to holiday notoriety, and much more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· In celebration of Turner Classic Movies' annual "Summer Under the Stars" marathon, they've commissioned twelve new one-sheets for classic films. Pictured, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Head over to ropeofsilicon.com to see the others, including The Magnificent Seven, Dr. Strangelove, and Harold Lloyd's Safety Last!.
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Everyone's buzzing about an interview Steven Soderbergh gave to the Guardian where he says that the Che shoot was so arduous that he wishes he hadn't done it (!) and predicts that he's only got a few more films left in him. Strangely enough, I can't say I'm all that surprised -- the man works himself to the bone. Over the past ten years, Soderbergh has directed fourteen films (many of which he shot himself) and a television series (K Street), not to mention a slew of movies he simply produced. How does that record compare to some of today's other prolific filmmakers? Let's look:
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In sitting down with Rose Byrne recently, the Australian star of Damages and Fox Searchlight's Adam, we couldn't resist asking about her involvement in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, in which she played Dormé -- the only of Princess Amidala's handmaidens who survives past the first scene. And having broken news about it before, we thought we'd press her a little further for details about the live-action Star Wars TV series that's long been buried under a Jedi cloak of secrecy -- and we're glad we did! The conversation is after the jump:
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Angelenos might sense something new in the air: I speak of the towering white sign spelling out "SCIENTOLOGY" atop the Church's West Coast headquarters, a giant blue edifice that formerly housed the Cedars of Lebanon hospital. Clearly this marks the launch of a new 50-year plan for the not-not-for-profit denomination; locals will be all but impervious to the slow and steady migration of their logo colossus up the side of the Hollywood Hills, whereupon the area will triumphantly assume its new designation as "SCIENTOLOGYLAND" on March 13, 2061, in time for L. Ron Hubbard's 150th birthday.
In the meantime, the two megaliths will have to compete for landscape domination. After the jump, I've compiled for your convenience a guide-at-a-glance. (With thanks to Curbed LA for their excellent photos and reporting.)
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The Catholic Church appears to have come around quite a bit in its perception of the Harry Potter franchise, whose wizards, magic and other dabblings in the occult had tweaked the Vatican since the early days of J.K. Rowling's original novels. Yet while the spells and dark arts are all still there, at least there's that whole Hogwarts School of Blue-Balls element that pleases church leaders greatly.
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As the pieces begin to fall in place for bigscreen adaptations of The Green Lantern and The Green Hornet, we realize that some of you might have trouble telling the two properties apart. Now, with Movieline's hand-dandy guide, you can ace any fanboy conversation after just a few minutes! Let's begin:
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Break was supposed to be little more than a kinky, straight-to-DVD noir, its existence unknown outside a small number of Netflix subscribers who'd had Basic Instinct 2 in their queues and were therefore destined to learn that it too was a truly terrible Movie They'd ♥. But then this happened, and Break instead became one of the last showcases for the singular and nonconforming talents of David Carradine, whose death in a Thai hotel room from asphyxiation is still obscured by a thick cloud of Lady Boy-perfume-scented mystery.
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· It's the season three poster for Mad Men! I think the pool symbolizes Don Draper's struggle to keep his carefully coiffed head above water, on account of having drowned his coworkers. Spoiler alert?
· Russell Brand will be hosting the MTV Video Music Awards again this year. Yay, this will make it easier for MTV to do that thing they always do: tease this year's ceremony with jokes about last year's ceremony.
· "Christian Bale Looks Crack Cocaine Addicted," observes the heretofore-neutral JustJared.
· Gossip Girl stars Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford have suddenly realized that they have money and thus, no reason to live together.
· Lars von Trier explains that he met Antichrist's talking fox, personally, while in a trance induced from his shamanistic journeys. Why, that's how Michael Bay came up with Skids!
