Saturday, May 12, 2007
Short Ends: Ellen, Earl and Arnie
11:28AM Defamer Hollywood | · Somewhere buried in this video blog of Rosie O’Donnell and friends, she accuses Ellen DeGeneres of having a clause in her contract that forbids her from talking about being a lesbian. We made it 7 seconds in before giving up, which we consider a feat of almost superhuman endurance. · We couldn’t be happier for My Name is Earl’s Jaime Pressly, who just minutes ago TK’d a boy! And Sheryl Crow TK’d a boy, too! · Michael Bay swallows the hurt, and posts a brief Transformers behind-the-scenes featurette on his blog. There – a little megaphone-assisted crew-abuse is always good for cheering up! · Hey, Reuters headline writer: We think “bittersweet” is just a smidge of an understatement. · The Governor has far more pressing things to do than exonerate Paris. Like seeing if there’s a walk-on for him in Terminator 4. · When are you mean people going to stop expecting Val Kilmer to have that Top Gun six-pack? Can’t an aging actor go to seed in peace anymore? More »
US upfronts: ‘Cavemen’ Gets A Pickup
10:55AM Defamer Hollywood | We recently said a prayer – a modest one, but a prayer nonetheless – that Cavemen, ABC’s way of telling the world, “You know what? We give up. There is no more comedy. It was clearly a non-renewable resource whose last drips were squandered somewhere during the opening credits of Wild Hogs. Instead, we proudly present to you this season-long riff on a third-tier car insurance company commercial. Choke on it,” would make it onto their fall schedule. Our prayers have been answered: UPDATE: Wait, ABC wants some funny too. Net is ordering “Sam I Am,” “Carpoolers” and, of course, “Cavemen.” More »
Overly Enthused Fan Ordered To Keep Her Deadly Mercedes Away From The Bullocks
9:35AM Defamer Hollywood | We suppose the delicate balance of trust forged between celebrities and their adoring, chemically imbalanced stalkers was breached at the precise moment when Sandra Bullock’s current obsessor, Marcia Diana Valentine, attempted to run over her husband Jesse James “three or four times” with her silver Mercedes in the couple’s driveway. (Topic for discussion: Is the stalking class getting wealthier?) Bullock made sure to show up to a court date in the O.C. in person today – see her walking into and out of the hearing here! – where a judge granted her a restraining order: Actress Sandra Bullock on Friday won a three-year restraining order against a woman she said had tossed animal fur over her gate, left woven palm fronds in her yard and tried to run down her husband. The “Miss Congeniality” star told a court in the Orange County city of Westminster that the woman, identified as Marcia Diana Valentine, had left the fronds, complete with “weird signs”, and “pieces of animal fur” in her yard on five occasions. More »
Nicolas Cage To Star As Al Capone In ‘Untouchables’ Prequel No One Asked For
8:24AM Defamer Hollywood | Veteran Hitchcock cribber homagist Brian DePalma is reaching back over two decades for his next project, following up 1987’s The Untouchables with an origin prequel, The Untouchables: Capone Rising. MTV Movie Blog now confirms it’s Nicolas Cage, in the latest in a string of bizarre career choices, who’ll be stepping into Robert DeNiro’s wing-tip shoes as the title mobster: Following in the footsteps of DeNiro, Cage will portray Al Capone in “The Untouchables: Capone Rising”. More »
Trade Roundup: NBC To Try To Nurture ‘Friday Night Lights’ To Eventual Nielsen Health
5:53AM Defamer Hollywood | · NBC has pre-upfront pick-up fever, renewing the critically beloved, but anemically rated, Friday Night Lights for a second season. (”First be best, then be first” is the Peacock motto stitched into a throw pillow on Kevin Reilly’s couch.) Also making the schedule: new dramas The Bionic Woman, Chuck, Journeyman and Life. [Variety] · Barry Sonnenfeld is in talks to direct supernatural adventure The Box for Fox, prompting the best headline of the morning: “Sonnenfeld Ponders Fox’s ‘Box’.” Can’t wait for “Barry All Up Inside Fox’s Box” when the deal closes. [THR] · Forgiving the franchise for its later floppy-eared, jive-talking transgressions against their craft, The Visual Effects Society recognizes Star Wars as having the most influential special effects of all time. [THR] · Var boldly predicts that Spider-Man 3 will crush new competition Georgia Rule and 28 Weeks Later, but does note Spidey’s fallen off the record-setting pace of last summer’s Pirates sequel.. [Variety] · With his shocking Dreamgirls Oscar loss solidifying the dissociative identity disorder that drives him to take roles in terrible comedies demanding he portray multiple characters, Eddie Murphy signs on for a family-friendly big-screen version of Fantasy Island in which he’s expected to play a variety of roles. Get ready for some disturbing, Little Man-style FX grafting his face onto a dwarf’s body for his Tattoo scenes. [THR] · You know what the world really needs? Another Terminator movie, but without Schwarzenegger or Cameron or anything that made the first two worth watching. [Variety] More »
Wildfires Appear To Be Following ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Bartender
5:50AM Defamer Hollywood | As our fair coastal city and its archipelagos are consumed in brimstone-free hellfires, we here at Defamer continue in our commitment to bringing you disaster coverage from the only angle that matters: How does it affect celebrities? We already reported on the courageous actions of impromptu evacuation coordinator Kirstie Alley, who is currently propping a tanning reflector beneath her chin on the lido deck of a Sea Org vessel hundreds of miles from shore, where she’ll stay until it’s deemed safe to return to dry land. Today, we have the even more incredible tale of Steven W. Bailey, who appears on Grey’s Anatomy as Joe the bartender, and may also be familiar to you as My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance’s, uh, big, fat, obnoxious fiance: [Bailey] lives near Los Angeles’ Griffith Park, which went up in flames earlier this week. To escape the smoke and heat from the fire that blackened more than 800 acres, he and his wife headed for the peace and solitude of idyllic Santa Catalina Island. More »
Greys Doctor Recalls The Coming-Out Naysayers
4:56AM Defamer Hollywood | Because T.R. Knight’s personal journey from fresh-faced actor, to innocent slur victim, to tireless crusader for bullied gay TV stars’ rights only grows more fascinating the more he talks about it, we turn now to the upcoming issue of The Advocate, which features the accidental hero on their cover. (And upon which he demonstrates even further signs of saintliness by acting as full-time caregiver to the quadriplegic canine companion co-star Katherine Heigl adopted for him.) As is so often the case in tales of Hollywood closet-emergence, Knight was discouraged from coming clean with the world so soon after his big break: While friends were “beautifully supportive,” Knight, 34, tells The Advocate in its June 19 issue, others cautiously advised him, “Don’t do it – don’t do it now.” More »Jane Fonda To Discover She’s The Only One Lindsay Lohan Can Count On
3:52AM Defamer Hollywood | On today’s Martha Stewart Show, unstoppable party juggernaut Lindsay Lohan – who could not even be slowed by a pricey, totally unnecessary outpatient rehab program – finally lets her defences down (once Martha gets you into her kitchen and has you whipping up profiteroles, you’re fucking toast) and reveals the one person who could possibly end her reign of clubbing terror: Georgia Rule co-star Jane Fonda. As reassuring as it is to discover that there’s at least one authority figure the troubled actress might actually listen to, we fear that new ET correspondent Dina Lohan might be so deeply hurt that she might use her next Rule assignment to hunt down Fonda for an ugly confrontation, grabbing a fistful of the older actress’s hair and screaming, “So, now you’re trying to steal my meal ticket, you commie bitch? Don’t fuck with a mom from Strong Island with nothing to lose!,” a tussle during which a peacemaking Cojo tragically loses an eye to Dina’s wildly flailing fingernails. The Martha Stewart Show [MarthaStewart.com] More »
