Sep 29 2008
By Sharon Eberson / Monday, Sept. 20
With the mega-success of "Iron Man" leading off the summer and a more modest boost from "The Incredible Hulk," there was no question that more Avengers movies would follow, and Marvel Studios soon announced that a Captain America movie (tentatively titled "The First Avenger: Captain America") would be on the release slate by 2011. When Samuel L. Jackson showed up as Nick Fury at the very end of "Iron Man," an "Avengers" movied seemed destined as well. Zak Penn ("X-Men: The Last Stand," "The Incredible Hulk") is at work on the screenplays for both.
Next question:
Who will play Captain America?
One buzzworthy mention for the part was Matthew McConaughey, who recently co-starred with "Iron Man" himself, Robert Downey Jr., in "Tropic Thunder," and who certainly is buff enough for Captain America's spandex coveralls.
That's a rumor, so far. Here's another that gained a little Web-action traction before it was blown to bits in a just a few weeks:
Actor Derek Luke, in an interview with MTV News about Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna," said, "I heard they offered Will Smith ‘Captain America,' " adding that the rumor "just shows you how times have changed."
The bloggers went ballistic, as they tend to do, for and against.
The Ain't It Cooll News shot down the rumor, saying, "Multiple sources from MARVEL have confirmed that Derek Luke, of Spike Lee's MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to Will Smith and CAPTAIN AMERICA. Marvel never offered the part, nor did they approach or entertain a conversation about Will Smith for CAPTAIN AMERICA. That said - I'm sure they have a few parts that they'd like him for, just not Captain America.
"So there ya go. They haven't gone insane and we don't need to b e confused, angry and scared about it anymore."
Then Marvel honcho Stan Lee told Moviefone.com it just wasn't so:
"I would love us to do something with Will Smith, but I don't know that he's Captain America. That would be a long shot. It would be a real leap to make Captain America black ... then again, I don't know. It might be a really smart thing. If Barack Obama becomes President who knows ... suddenly a lot of our characters will be black!"
Asked if original cast members would return for an Avengers film, Lee added:
"I would certainly expect to have all the stars back. Downey just has to be Iron Man. And Ed Norton has to be the Hulk. I didn't think that the first [‘Hulk'] movie was all that bad. But obviously the second one was better and Ed Norton's performance had a lot to do with it. Like Robert Downey Jr., he's very believable, he's very credible. I hope Ed gets a sequel, but they don't keep me in the loop on these things. I also hope Samuel L. Jackson comes back as Nick Fury ... even though I didn't think David Hasselhoff's interpretation [TV's "Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD," in 1998] was that bad. But I'm probably in the minority on that. I feel the same way about ‘Daredevil.' I thought that Ben Affleck did a good job. But as for final casting, I'm guessing right along with you. Like Will Rogers always said, ‘I only know what I read in the papers.' "
At a Comic-Con panel for "The Spirit," yet another Samuel L. Jackson film in a busy year (he plays the villian, The Octopus), Jackson addressed the fact that Nick Fury was white in the comic books - until the Ultimate series in 2001, when he was drawn as a bald black man based on ... Samuel L. Jackson. When a fan asked about a Fury action figure, Jackson said, "When I was growing up, Nick Fury was a white man." Then he cracked up the crowd and himself by saying his Fury is proof "that you too can grow up to be a black man."
Who would you like to see play Captain America on the big screen?
Comment below or register to comment.
Just as I posted this blog entry, The Associated Press moved this story:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures will globally distribute the next five movies made by Marvel Entertainment Inc., including "Iron Man 2" and "Thor" in 2010.
The two companies made the announcement Monday as gross box office receipts for "Iron Man," which Paramount distributed, hit $574 million worldwide since its release in May.
The deal will also cover "The First Avenger: Captain America" and "The Avengers" in 2011 and a future "Iron Man 3."
Distributors reap a fee related to ticket sales, in addition to recouping their upfront marketing and distribution costs, while the rest goes to the production company.
After the announcement, Viacom shares were down $1.02 or 4 percent, at $24.49, while Marvel shares fell $1.77 or 5.1 percent, to $32.64 amid a broad market downturn.
Sep 26 2008
This just in . . .
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A spokeswoman for DJ AM says the celebrity disc jockey has been released from a Georgia hospital after suffering severe burns in a fiery plane crash a week ago.
Jenni Weinman said Friday that DJ AM had been released from the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta. DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, and former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, were rushed to the burn hospital last week after their Learjet crashed on takeoff from a Columbia, S.C., airport.
Two pilots and two other passengers were killed in the crash just before midnight Sept. 19.
An officer who was among the first on the scene said the musicians told him they escaped the flaming wreckage by sliding down a wing.
Doctors say they expect Goldstein and Barker to fully recover.
Sep 26 2008
By Sharon Eberson / Friday, Sept. 26
Disney can't get enough of Johnny Depp, and they're hoping you can't, either. Depp has signed to three new Disney projects, including the fourth installment of the blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, Variety is reporting.
Adding to his grab-bag of offbeat roles - among them "Pirates' " Capt. Jack Sparrow, Eward Scissorhands and Willy Wonka - Depp will take on the role of Tonto, the Long Ranger's American Indian sidekick, for producer Jerry Bruckheimer's 2010 project. Somehow, the idea of Depp in modified Jack Sparrow hair asking, "What now, kemo sabe?" is scarier than anything he could cook up with Tim Burton. Speaking of whom ...
Burton will direct Depp as the Mad Hatter in "Alice in Wonderland," using a mix of 3D animation and performance capture technology similar to that used for 2007's "Beowulf." That will be another notch on the collaboration belt for this creative duo.
There'll be another, as yet unannouced role, too, Depp and Disney reps told a crowd of roaring fans in Hollywood at the Walt Disney Showcase, a preview of the studio's productions over the next few years that included another "National Treasure" with Nic Cage.
The "Pirates 4" confirmation arrived early Thursday through the actor's representatives in Variety, The Associated Press reported.
The franchise has earned more than $2.6 billion at the box office since the first installmant in 2003.
Sep 25 2008
By Sharon Eberson / Thursday, Sept. 25
This is for my six-toed cat, Ernie, who is a little devil but we love him anyway. When we our cat from the Animal Rescue League, a woman there told our son, Josh, about Ernest Hemingway's cats, and thus the scrawny runt with the fiesty personality became Ernie.
KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) - The famed six-toed cats at Ernest Hemingway's island home aren't going anywhere.
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum announced Thursday it reached an agreement with the federal government that lets the 50 or so cats continue roaming the grounds, ending a five-year battle that could have resulted in them being removed or caged.
The cats descend from a cat named "Snowball" given to the novelist in 1935 and freely wander the grounds of the Spanish colonial house. All the cats carry the gene for six toes, but not all show the trait.
The home is where the Nobel prize-winning author wrote "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "To Have and Have Not" and is one of the most popular visitor attractions in the Florida Keys.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the agreement. It had threatened to fine the museum $200 per day per cat - about $10,000 - saying it didn't have the proper animal exhibition license and couldn't qualify for one, primarily because the animals weren't enclosed. The museum has installed a fence to keep the animals on the one-acre property.
From 2003 until October 2007, a series of meetings between USDA and museum officials proved fruitless, said Michael Morawski, president and CEO of the museum.
Finally, about a year ago, Morawski and a USDA deputy administrator agreed to hire an independent animal behaviorist to make recommendations. Dr. Terry Curtis, from the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine, said in a report that the cats appeared "well-cared for, healthy and content" and suggested the special fence that was installed.
"We're excited we found a solution that protects the health and welfare of the cats while preserving the historical integrity of the Hemingway Home and Museum," Morawski said. "That's been our whole goal since we were notified by the USDA in 2003."
Morawski said the museum has spent more than $250,000 for lawyers and the fence and continues to question the need for the permit. The courts might have to settle that question.
"The cats have been living on the grounds for years and we're not a zoo, carnival or amusement park," he said.
Comment below, or register to comment.
Sep 25 2008
By Sharon Eberson / Thursday, Sept. 25
Why did Suede have to go home and not the stuck-up and stuck-in-another-era Kenley? Suede thinks Suede really rocked his rocker outfit for Jerrell, and Suede thinks Kenley is a self-important, obnoxious pain who doesn't deserve to be in the final four designers on "Project Runway."
At least, that's what I would have thought if I were Suede.
OK, it's annoying that he talks about himself in the third person. But the 37-year-old, Seven Hills, Ohio, designer at least tried to do the assignment that the final five were given for Wednesday night's show: create an outfit for a fellow designer (picked by chance) in a musical genre (also picked by chance). Little Miss Kenley, who refused to listen to the sage advice of Tim Gunn -- laughed in his face, actually -- then said later he "doesn't get her" -- had a clear vision in her neo-vintage head of what the women of hip-hop wear. It's a vision had by her alone, and the judges chastized her for it. Yet it was Suede they let go.
OK, so up-to-date urban/hip-hop clothing for women isn't always the loose-fitting, low-hanging clothing we associated with the style back in the day. But Kenley's self-assurance that she knew better than anyone in the room the hip-hop fashionbook was infuriating -- and a source of amusement for her fellow stylists. A quick look at UrbanMall.com or any hip-hop outfitter lets you know how off-base she was, especially when she decided on a tiny leather jacket instead of, say, a warm-up jacket. Yet the criticism of Suede was that he didn't go far enough over the top to create a rocker look, not that he didn't "get" the assignment at all.
There have been times in the past when I've thought "Project Runway" got it wrong or kept the designer who possibly deserved the boot to maintain a balance of personalities -- more to the point, maintain dramatic tension among the competitors. But never has it seemed so obvious as in allowing the too-tight, ill-fitting, decidedly un-hip-hop outfit that Kenley perpetrated on fellow designer Leanne to give its designer a pass into the next round.
What with the economic woes and political craziness dominating everyone's day, it's a relief to get worked up over something that isn't of much consequence in the universe.
Unless you happen to be Suede.
Sep 24 2008
Some things need no further comment. This came in the form of an e-mail from Howard Stern's press people:
Alexis Pelekanos has just been selected as Miss Howard TV for the month of October for Howard's Stern's Howard TV On Demand. Pelekanos, born and raised in Pittsburgh, is a die-hard Steelers fan and presently, a student of dentistry at the University at Southern California (USC). She's a Penn (University of Pennsylvania) graduate. She also dances, sings and writes pop-country music. Recently she appeared on the reality television show "The Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious" and was selected as one of the Tempe 12 calendar girls (representing USC).
Though Pelekanos presently resides in Los Angeles, she says, "My loving family and wild and crazy best girlfriends are still in ‘The Burgh' (Pittsburgh); I'll always stay true to my roots."
Miss Howard TV spokes-models are interviewed on the Howard Stern show and then featured on Howard TV On Demand, where they introduce and give an overview of the monthly programming on the channel.
Howard TV On Demand is a subscription video on demand channel available only on digital cable.
Sep 24 2008
The Associated Press / Wednesday, Sept. 24
Clay Aiken appears on the cover of the latest People magazine holding his infant son, Parker Foster Aiken, with the headline: "Yes, I'm Gay."
The 29-year-old former "American Idol" runner-up, multiplatinum recording artist and Broadway star credits his son, conceived by in-vitro fertilization with friend and producer Jaymes Foster, with making him realize that he could no longer hide his homosexuality from the world.
"It was the first decision I made as a father," Aiken told the magazine, which arrives on newsstands tomorrow. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."
Aiken, who rose to fame on "Idol" in 2003, has long been subject of rumors and tabloid fodder that he was gay, but usually refused to acknowledge them.
The magazine cover features Aiken holding his son, born in August. Aiken, who considers himself a born-again Christian, said he knows he may turn off some fans - known as Claymates - with his admission and his decision to have a child outside traditional marriage.
"I've never intended to lie to anybody at all," he said. "But if they leave, I don't want them to leave hating me."
Gay groups applauded Aiken's public admission.
"We congratulate Clay for making this decision and for setting an example for others and his family," said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Aiken recently released the CD "On My Way Here" and made his Broadway debut this spring in "Monty Python's Spamalot."
Fertile ground
Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman said swimming in Australian Outback waterfalls may promote fertility and might have contributed to her unexpected pregnancy over the past year.
The 41-year-old Aussie, who gave birth to daughter Sunday Rose in July, said she and six other women who swam in the waters of a small Outback town during production of the epic romance "Australia" became pregnant.
"I never thought that I would get pregnant and give birth to a child, but it happened on this movie," Kidman told The Australian Women's Weekly in an interview for the magazine's 75th anniversary edition.
"Seven babies were conceived out of this film and only one was a boy. There is something up there in the Kununurra water because we all went swimming in the waterfalls, so we can call it the fertility waters now."
"Australia," directed by Baz Luhrmann, was filmed in Kununurra, a small town in far northern Western Australia state. The film, which follows the story of a noblewoman on a cattle drive during World War II, is due for release in November.
The actress also commented on the relatively diminutive size of her baby bump throughout her pregnancy.
"I'm so lucky I'm so tall, so I carried small and also, I have to say, I had a birth that I was blessed with, a labor that was very good and a baby that was very good to me in that regard," said Kidman, who is married to country music crooner Keith Urban and has two adopted children with ex-husband Tom Cruise.
"To be given this again is a beautiful thing. To have raised Bella and Connor since I was 25 and now to be able to do it again at 41 ... wow!"
Custody battle
Actress Sharon Stone has lost another round of custody proceedings over her oldest son.
A San Francisco judge denied her request for primary custody of 8-year-old Roan, who's been living with his father, newspaper executive Phil Bronstein. The couple divorced in 2004 after six years of marriage.
The judge ruled Sept. 12 that Bronstein's home is more stable and structured, reaffirming a 2007 court order that the executive vice president of the San Francisco Chronicle has permanent sole custody of Roan.
Stone retains visitation rights.
Stone has two other sons, Laird and Quinn, whom she adopted on her own.
‘Dancing' elimination
In the blink of an eye, Jeffrey Ross is off ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
The comedian, who suffered a scratched cornea after his professional partner, Edyta Sliwinska, accidentally poked him during a rehearsal, was the first star eliminated from the seventh season of ABC's dancing competition. The pair received a score of 14 out of 30 from the judges - the lowest of the night - for their cha cha cha routine.
"I'm more ha ha ha than cha cha cha," Ross joked while wearing a glittery eye patch.
Before Ross was dismissed, each couple performed a new dance Tuesday. Model-actress Brooke Burke again dominated, scoring a 26 for a quickstep routine. The former host of E!'s "Wild On" and her partner, Derek Hough, also claimed the top score Monday. The night's lowest score went to "Married With Children" actor Ted McGinley.
Sep 23 2008
By Sharon Eberson / Tuesday, Sept. 23
The magazine was flashing at me, as if I were having a vision of one Daily Prophet newspaper amid all the Muggle publications on the newstand, minus the presence of a boy wizard.
I didn't see the flashing image first, mind you. My eye was first drawn to the iconic Marilyn Monroe image - her heavily made-up face, nothing more -- that adorned the Vanity Fair 25th anniversary edition.
"What's with the cover, you ask?" editor Graydon Carter writes, anticipating readers' question. "Why no current movie star? Or a Kennedy? Or a giant ‘25'? Because Marilyn Monroe, although dead 46 years, still casts a pretty long shadow as one of the most obsessively studied public figures of the last half-century."
Carter titled his Editor's Letter: "From the Jazz Age to Our Age."
Esquire, the scene of the aforementioned flashing image, was celebrating its 75th anniversary. The flashing letters say: The 21st Century Begins Now."
I bought them both.
The explanation for Esquire's venture into Harry Potter territory is on page 73, under the title "If Your Cover Is Not Flashing." It said:
"Don't worry. It's not you. Most copies of this issue don't [flash]. But we have also published an experimental limited edition of this issue that features something called electronic ink, with moving words and flashing images. It is available at some major bookstores and newsstands. And although its content is identical to that of the regular edition, we created the special cover to demonstrate a revolutionary technology that will change the way we all read paper magazines in the years ahead."
My Esquire, bought at the Waterfront Barnes & Noble, continues to flash two weeks later - it has a 90-day battery life, the magazine says. It's certainly a curiosity, one that apparently was seven years in the making and started life in Shanghai before making its way through processes in Dallas, Mexico and finally to Glasgow, Kentucky, where it was bound for shipping and made it's way to Pittsburgh, where I picked it up for a mere $5.99, minus discount.
It's not quite The Daily Prophet, in which all of the pictures move as if in video, but the possibilities seem like a huge flash-forward for publishing.
Sep 19 2008
By Sharon Eberson / Friday Sept. 19
You can't miss Ricky Gervais these days - he's even seeing and being seen by dead people.
That's in his film that opens today, "Ghost Town," also starring Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. You also may have caught Gervais on the original U.K. version of "The Office" or HBO's "Extras" - for his "Extra's" role as Andy Millman, he won an Emmy last year as best comedic actor and is up for the same award again at Sunday's 60th Emmys ceremony. Or you may know him from his widely popular podcast, which, according to the 2007 "Guinness Book of World Records," is the most downloaded podcast ever, the most downloaded podcast, at an average of 261,670 downloads per episode, for which Gervais nicknamed himself "The Podfather."
Not only does he have a new movie to promote, but he's out on his own much of the time. Kinnear has another movie, "Flash of Genius," opening Oct. 3, and Leoni is keeping a low profile as her husband, actor David Duchovny, does rehab for either sex or Internet porn addiction, take your pick. Anyway, Gervais seems to be a one-man show on the "Ghost Town" promo tour, and he also seems to be having a blast, particularly on Conan O'Brien's late-night show, with Samuel L. Jackson in the adjacent seat promoting "Lakeview Terrace."
Even as just a sight-gag, Gervais, Jackson and O'Brien were a kick to watch.
Dueling movies
It's the "Tombstone"/"Wyatt Earp", "Capote"/"Infamous" syndrome, and it seems to happen often in Hollywood. Dueling movie projects happening almost simultaneously, with one trying to beat the other to the punch.
Add to the already intriguing Robert Downey Jr. vs. Sacha Baron Cohen Sherlock Holmes projects the casting of their respective Dr. Watsons. Cohen is to be joined on the hunt by Will Ferrell. Now comes word that Downey, whose Holmes' film is to be directed by Guy Ritchie, will may be paired with Jude Law.
Daily Variety reports that Law is expected to sign for the part shortly, and Ritchie denied that Russell Crowe was lined up for the role after reports surfaced earlier this month.
Production is slated to begin next month in London.
As might be expected of the other film, with Cohen and Ferrell, there are comic roots: It's being written by Etan Cohen ("Tropic Thunder") and produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller. Cohen and Ferrell played rival racecar drivers in "Talladega Nights," which Apatow and Miller also produced.
Also in the pipeline now: dueling Charles Darwin projects.
Joseph Fiennes and Rosamund Pike will play Mr. and Mrs. Darwin, as will the real-life Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. The latter production is already in production.
I'm sure there's something to be said here about survival of the fittest . . .
Sep 17 2008
NEW YORK (AP) - Meet Carrie Bradshaw, in her teenage years.
"Sex and the City" author Candace Bushnell is writing a pair of teen novels, "The Carrie Diaries," that "takes readers back to Carrie Bradshaw's formative years in high school, giving an inside look at Carrie's friendships, romances and how she realized her dream of becoming a writer," HarperCollins announced Wednesday.
The first book will come out in 2010. Bushnell, in a statement issued by her publisher, said, "Carrie in high school did not follow the crowd - she led it. It was there that she began observing and commenting on the social scene."
Bushnell's adventures of Carrie and her Manhattan pals were adapted into the hit HBO series starring Sarah Jessica Parker and a feature film that came out this year. Her fifth novel, "One Fifth Avenue," is coming out this month.
More Posts
Next page »