Heath Ledger fathered a secret love child
March 31, 2008
The late Hollywood actor Heath Ledger fathered a secret love child while still at school, members of his feuding family have claimed. Ledger, who died of an accidental drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment in January, was 17 and a schoolboy in Perth, Western Australia, when he struck up a relationship with a 25-year-old woman, reports said. “She had the baby. Everyone lived under the assumption that she was the daughter of the mother’s boyfriend and that is how she has been brought up,” the family member said. — Via UK
Lara Flynn Boyle Deathwatch. Look at her crazy face!
March 31, 2008
Lara Flynn Boyle is widely believed to have turned to plastic surgery in her quest to remain youthful in recent years, but as the star arrived at Mr. Chow restaurant in Beverly Hills yesterday, she looked anything but fresh faced. The 38-year-old’s bloated face, drooping jowls and bursting trout pout rendered her almost unrecognisable from the actress who first shot to fame in director David Lynch’s cult television series Twin Peaks.
Via Dailymail
Woody Allen VS American Apparel
March 31, 2008
Woody Allen asked a federal court on Monday to strip a clothing company known for its racy ads featuring scantily clad models of at least $10 million for using his image on billboards and on the Internet. The lawsuit complained of a billboard featuring a frame from “Annie Hall,” a film that won Allen a best director Oscar. The image showed Allen, 72, dressed as a Hasidic Jew with a long beard and black hat and Yiddish text meaning “the holy rebbe.” The words “American Apparel” also were on the billboard. The billboard falsely implied that Allen sponsored, endorsed or was associated with American Apparel, said the lawsuit, which seeks at least $10 million in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages.
Via AP
Congrats, John Cusack, you too have a stalker
March 31, 2008
John Cusack’s alleged stalker is behind bars - for now. Despite a restraining order barring her from approaching Cusack, hardcore fan Emily Leatherman showed up outside his home in Malibu on Sunday night. Deputies were called to the 24000 block of Malibu Road about 7 p.m. Sunday after a cab driver reported that a passenger was refusing to pay a fare for a ride to that area.
Via Perez
What if Charles Schulz created the Watchmen?
March 31, 2008
George Clooney is Dumb III
March 31, 2008
Clooney says he was also inspired by the Coen brothers, whom, he teases, “have changed since they won the Oscars”. “What Joel and Ethan did when I did O Brother, Where Art Thou? was to make fun of me and the movie star persona,” he explains. “I like that and I think it’s good to shake it up. It was especially good for me after the last couple of years.” Clooney is not returning any time soon to serious political drama. His next film as an actor, Burn After Reading - his third comedy with the Coens - opens in North America on September 12. “Joel and Ethan call it my trilogy of idiots,” he says, referring to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Intolerable Cruelty. “The only thing that made me feel better was that Brad Pitt is as stupid as I am in this one. I get to play Tilda Swinton’s lover who hates me and is rotten to me throughout the whole thing. It’s a flat-out comedy. There’s not a message in it.”
Via Screendaily
Steve Martin and Diane Keaton teamup. Again.
March 31, 2008
In a preemptive buy in the high six-figures, Paramount Pictures has acquired “One Big Happy,” a comic pitch from “Party of Five” creators Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman to which Steve Martin and Diane Keaton are attached to star. John Goldwyn and Lorne Michaels will produce. Concept is being kept under wraps, but sources describe “One Big Happy” as a family comedy about a couple and a family reconnecting amid various obstacles. The material is a strong match for Martin and Keaton, who played a married couple in the Charles Shyer-directed “Father of the Bride” and its sequel.
Via Variety
Goodfella Henry Hill talks to the British, doesn’t sleep with the fishes
March 31, 2008
Hill says he never killed anyone although he did ”bust some heads”, and he admits he does not know whether his victims lived or died. He smiles as he talks of how much he stole, though. “We stole anything we could sell,” he says, as we pass a Bulova watch factory.
Via BBC
Michael Cera on that Arrested Development Movie…?
March 31, 2008
First, to Arrested Development: The Movie, which would give the show the send-off it deserves. Jason Bateman has mentioned the possibility several times in the past and last we heard the show’s creator Mitch Hurwitz was actively pursuing it. So, what has Cera heard about the possible big-screen bow of the Bluths? “I’ve heard that they want to do it, and I know Jason really wants to do it. I think it’s definitely possible, but there’s no script or anything,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll have a kinder fate than the show, and that people who don’t know the show would see it.”
Via Empire
Diablo Cody is Showtime’s Homeskillet
March 31, 2008
Diablo Cody’s comedy pilot “The United States of Tara” is moving closer to a series order at Showtime with the hire of writer-producer Alexa Junge. Additionally, Portia Doubleday and Keir Gilchrist have joined the cast of the DreamWorks TV-produced pilot, which stars Toni Collette as Tara, a wife and mother with multiple-personality syndrome.
Via HR
Dennis Hopper’s son to creep-out the next generation of movie-goers
March 31, 2008
Henry Lee Hopper, Denzel Whitaker, Shareeka Epps and Emily Meade are prepping to star in Wes Craven’s tentatively titled horror thriller “25/8″ for Rogue Pictures. Hopper, the son of Dennis Hopper, will play the lead role of Bug, one of seven teens haunted by a serial killer who supposedly died when they were born 15 years earlier. The film takes place over the course of a day as the mystery of who (or what) is stalking the small-town high schoolers unfolds.
Via HR
Guess who got slimed…
March 31, 2008
Hey kids, ‘member me? It’s old unca Indy… Nuthin’? Unca Han…? Hello? Kids? Well, I got a movie opening this summer and I’d greatly appreciate it if you….
Sony thinks small
March 31, 2008
Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the U.S. The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFLO USA to launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service in May. The channel, to be known as PIX, will be stocked with such titles as “Ghostbusters,” “Philadelphia” and “Stand by Me” from Sony labels including Columbia, TriStar, Screen Gems and Sony Classics.
Via HR
Microsoft hires hack producer
March 31, 2008
Microsoft, seeking to expand offerings on its Xbox 360 console, has reached an agreement with a company headed by Peter Safran, the veteran Hollywood producer and talent manager, to produce original shows for distribution on the system. In an interview at his office in Los Angeles last week, Mr. Safran said his first round of programs would all be scripted, as opposed to reality shows, and would probably run under 10 minutes. He said he planned initially to focus on genres, like comedy and horror, that appeal to the Xbox 360 audience, which is heavily concentrated from the ages of 14 to 34, and tends to be more male than female. The first shows are expected to be available to viewers by the fall.
Via NYTimes
Who Owns Superman?
March 31, 2008
Time Warner is no longer the sole proprietor of Superman. A federal judge here on Wednesday ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel — who 70 years ago sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130 — were entitled to claim a share of the United States copyright to the character. The ruling left intact Time Warner’s international rights to the character, which it has long owned through its DC Comics unit. — Via NYTimes
Fanboys 0, Darth Weinstein 0
March 30, 2008
As planned, “Star Wars” fans attempted to hold protests in support of Kyle Newman’s unreleased “Fanboys” movie at Friday’s screenings of the Weinstein Co.’s “Superhero Movie” on both coasts, but whether any substantial protest occurred is a subject of debate.
Via HR
The Bangkok Dangerous Poster Starring…?
March 30, 2008
Gears of War Movie?
March 30, 2008
ComingSoon.net got a chance to talk to Twilight producer Wyck Godfrey about the status of the proposed Gears of War video game adaptation. “We’ve got our script on and a director we’re about to attach. We’ll hopefully make that early next year for the summer of 2010,” said Godfrey.
Diablo Cody Live Bloggin’ about Spaced
March 30, 2008
Many of you know that I’m obsessed with Spaced. Well, get this: I actually got to contribute commentary for the upcoming (and long-awaited) U.S. DVD release. For real. My fellow American rubes– I mean, co-commentators– include Kevin Smith, Matt Stone, Quentin Tarantino, and more. You have got to pick this shit up. Seriously. It’s the greatest show ever, and you’ll get to hear me coo like a besotted auntie every time Colin appears onscreen. Oh, and I ask stupid Yankee questions like “Hey you guys? Where’s Hull?”
Via her blog
Mummy 3 Sneak Preview
March 30, 2008
What’s old is new again
March 30, 2008
Dolph Lundgren will star in and direct Millennium/Nu Image’s “Command Performance,” an action thriller he co-wrote with Stave Latshaw.
Via HR
Mos Def to play Chuck Berry in ‘Cadillac’
March 30, 2008
Rapper/actor Mos Def will play legendary rock n’ roller Chuck Berry in Sony BMG’s “Cadillac Records,” currently filming in New Jersey. Also joining the cast of is Gabrielle Union, who plays Geneva Wade, a girlfriend of Muddy Waters. Written and directed by Darnell Martin (”Their Eyes Were Watching God”), the film is set in 1950s Chicago and follows the turbulent but exciting lives of Leonard Chess, who founded Chess Records, and the label’s artists, including Waters, Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf.
Via HR
Card thriller ‘21′ nabs $8.6 million Friday
March 30, 2008
Gambling thriller “21″ paid off for Sony on Friday, hitting the No. 1 spot with $8.6 million from 2,648 theaters. Fox-Blue Sky’s “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” finally hatched the first $100 million grosser of the year yesterday. Placing second with $5.3 million from 3,826, the toon’s domestic cume stands at $105.1 million in the midst of its third frame. Dimension’s send-up “Superhero Movie,” distributed by MGM, opened in third with a less than super $3.4 million from 2,960. Pic’s first Friday ranks behind the moderate numbers charted by recent spoof “Meet the Spartans” ($6.9 million) and trails Dimension’s April 2006 release “Scary Movie 4″ ($19 million).
Via Variety
And you don’t tug on Superman’s cape
March 30, 2008
In what may shape up to be a historic ruling, a judge on Wednesday awarded Jerry Siegel’s heirs the copyright to the Superman material in Action Comics #1. As Jeff Trexler points out, Judge Stephen Larson’s 71 1/2-page opinion doesn’t resolve all the issues — the separate Superboy case, division of profits, etc. — but it does seem to put an end, of sorts, to a decades-long feud. (The decision is certain to be appealed by Time Warner.)
Via newsarama
Non-news of the day: People Magazine says There Was ‘No Wedding’ For Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
March 30, 2008
Despite reports that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt wedded in a New Orleans church Saturday, a source close to the couple tells PEOPLE there was “no wedding.”
Via People