Madeleine Stowe (yes, that Madeleine Stowe) once wrote a script called Unbound Captives that was so unbelievably fantastic, Fox offered her $5 million for it in 1993 as a project for Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. She said no, because the studio made no promise of putting her in it. That's how hard it was to get decent female parts in those days.
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The Hollywood Reporter today catches us up on the status of Blink, the long-in-development adaptation of Malcolm Gladwell's best-seller about the how and why people make snap decisions. A lot has happened since the rights went Hollywood four years ago with filmmaker Stephen Gaghan, who'd planned to co-write with Gladwell: Universal dropped it, William Morris independent picked it up, and recently Al Pacino is said to have come aboard. But while the producers go budget-shopping in Cannes, a lot might ride on Pacino's young co-star -- and "you'd be surprised at the tween appeal of some on the list," reports THR. Who could it be?
While the investigation continues into the careless junking of a New Moon screenplay in St. Louis, another copy turned up at the headquarters of part-time script reviewers at CC2K. Perhaps they, too, simply got lucky after trailing Anna Kendrick for a while, but regardless, they wasted no time parsing the work online.
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· Yo, Ginnifer Goodwin: ditch the Mormon bride outfits and dress like that more, and I bet he'll be that into you.
· I have to say, a little bit of our newly rediscovered childhood (thanks, Star Trek!) was snuffed upon reading Zach Quinto's shameful admission that he can't do the Vulcan salute without having his fingers glued together. I pray he's not equally clumsy with the Spocker.
· The young star of New Moon didn't mind giving autographs to onlookers in Vancouver, through graciously demurred when one overly excited fan requested, "Could you just sign it, 'I'd go to BAT for you, All the Best, Dakota Fang-ing?'"
· WARNING: Do NOT click here if you don't want to find out who Hermione and Harry bury in a tragic sequence in Part One of Deathly Hallows, filming now in Wales. Sniff. Sad.
· Is J.J. the new Spielberg? Almost, argues The Hollywood Reporter, but not quite. Maybe if Star Trek ended with a field of children running into Nero's arms and everyone hugging to an John Williams orchestra swell.
The Expendables's cast reads like a general assembly of action hero delegates plucked from three decades of he-man cinema. In addition to its star and director Sylvester Stallone, it boasts the likes of Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, and Mickey Rourke among its band of coup-staging mercenaries.
· OMGZ New Moon posters! But where's the wolfcake?
· Oprah loves Susan Boyle when she sings. Less so, when she talks.
· The season premiere of Jon & Kate Plus 8 is unfinished as "producers are trying to incorporate the couple's martial woes into the show." Uh, have they ever seen this show before? It's already like an instructional video for passive aggression (and potent sperm).
· Ah, there's that Trek catchphrase we missed: "Don't phase me, bro."
· Alanis Morissette has signed up for a role on Weeds that requires "tasteful nudity." Been there, done that.
A St. Louis salon owner on Monday unexpectedly found her place in Twilight-saga lore. Even more surprising: She found it in a trash bin. And she might have young actress Anna Kendrick to thank for it.
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After William Shatner wrapped the last season of Boston Legal, that left him free and clear to promote the ever-loving hell out of his next project: Why Am I Not In the New Star Trek, Guys? Leonard Nimoy is In It. Why Not Throw Ol' Shats a Bone, Here? (working title). Something tells me that a brand-new revelation from Trek writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci has just provided Shatner's whiny franchise with a sequel.
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Aziz Ansari may seems like a mild-mannered, Scrabble-match-throwing ass-kisser on Parks and Recreation, but in real life, he's a passionate and outspoken activist. His cause: IMAX fraud.
Wandering the distribution desert for what seems like ages since it made its Sundance debut, I Love You Phillip Morris -- an unlikely true tale of gay love inside the Texas penal system, starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregror -- has finally found a taker. Consolidated Pictures Group, whose greatest acquisition achievement up to this point appears to have been for their self-produced Bottle Shock, has signed a mid-seven-figure deal with Morris's financier EuropaCorp (that's Luc Besson's company, and he's listed as Morris's EP) for domestic distribution.
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· Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams will costar in Blue Valentine, an indie drama about a failing marriage. This is terrible news for Spike Jonze. [Variety]
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Clearly needing a bit of decompression after Megan Fox's recent writhing, Scarlett-jabbing exploits, the nice folks at Esquire today invited Movieline's editors to scan the summer-movie horizon for other worthwhile escapades. And what we found might surprise you. Literally.
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For a while there, despite years' worth of anticipation around Hollywood, the Web and, well, everywhere, it looked like Spike Jonze's live-action adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are might die of neglect in some Warner Bros. utility closet. Studio boss Alan Horn said Jonze still needed to get the hang of the material; Jonze said Warners misunderstood his vision. But today, an unlikely observer may have the key insight into what's wrong with Wild Things. It's caught on tape after the the jump.
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There's just something about Brooke Shields: all too often, the actress seems to be pulled against her will into pop culture maelstroms involving other, more belligerent stars. Still, at least when Shields was randomly dissed by Tom Cruise way back when, no one got arrested for it (yet!). Her status as unfortunate bystander/muse to the Kiefer Sutherland headbutt heard 'round the fashion world may prove trickier to navigate, and Shields took tentative steps toward a side today in a statement.
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Outrage is a provocative documentary that names closeted politicians, but was it too hot for NPR to handle? Indiewire broke the story today that NPR has censored critic Nathan Lee's review of the film, scrubbing it of references to Larry Craig and Charlie Crist, two of the politicians profiled in the movie. (What's more, Lee lodged a complaint in the comments section of the review that was also removed by NPR higher-ups.) "NPR has a long-held policy of trying to respect the privacy of public figures and of not airing or publishing rumors, allegations and reports about their private lives unless there is a compelling reason to do so," Dick Meyer, NPR's executive director of Digital, told Indiewire.
We love blanket statements like those, because they're so easy to disprove! Naturally, we found plenty of evidence that NPR is willing to speculate on the sexuality of public figures -- especially when those figures are entertainers instead of influential Republican politicians.
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