Bright Lights, Big City, Old Ideas
Movie deals for funny men, a TV deal for a funny woman, AMC branches out, SAG and AFTRA become friends again, and The Simpsons make the mail.
Steve Carell will star in another sadsack man comedy. This one is called Dumped and is about a man who is… dumped. [Variety] Kevin Spacey will star in and produce a new indie comedy called Father of Invention, about a crazy inventor’s fall from grace and subsequent comeback. A man whose biggest credit is directing a Larry the Cable Guy movie will helm. [Variety]
O.C. and Gossip Girl blunderkind Josh Schwartz will be making his directorial film debut with an adaptation of Jay McInerney’s landmark 1984 novel Bright Lights, Big City. There was a Michael J. Fox movie based on the book made about twenty years ago, but… oh well. Schwartz’s Lt. Riker, Stephanie Savage, will co-produce. [Variety] Pineapple Express buddies James Franco and Danny McBride will team up again for a new comedy, also to be directed by art-house auteur turned sly comedian, David Gordon Green. It’s set in medieval times. Its title? Your Highness. Sigh. [Variety]
AMC, flush with successes Mad Men and Breaking Bad, is now turning itself into a regular old TV network. By developing reality programming! They’ve got a show called True West in the works. No, it’s not about a production of the Sam Shepard play. It’s about modern-day cowboys navigating the terrain as their industry fades. Sounds like a riot. [Variety] Fox, meanwhile, has rehired Wanda Sykes to host a Saturday night talk show. It’ll sort of be a panel series, like the Bill Maher show. Hmm. [Variety]
SAG and AFTRA signed off on a three year commercials contract early this morning. The agreement includes a $US36 million increase in wage rates and a $US21 increase in contributions toward both guilds’ health plans. [THR]
Kevin Rahm, who you’d recognise from a bunch of stuff, Rob Huebel, who you’d recognise from Human Giant, and Alison Brie, who you’d recognise as Pete’s wife on Mad Men, have all landed TV pilots. Sadly, none of them sound good. [THR] Veteran CNN producer Kathy O’Hearn will be teaming up with veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour for a new half-hour news program for the network. [THR]
And The Simpsons will be immortalised in postage stamp form, the Postal Service (the government thing, not the band) announced today. They’ll be unveiled next week, timed well with the series’ 20th anniversary. Sheesh. [THR]
aftra
big city
bright lights
christiane amanpour
danny mcbride
david gordon green
james franco
josh schwartz
kevin rahm
kevin spacey
sag
stephanie savage
steve carell
the simpsons
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Wanda Sykes can do no wrong in my book. Especially since she outed her sweet sassy self. I want to live with her.
Um, does this mean this Brie person is no longer Pete's wife? 'Cause if it does this could mean interesting things for the show, and by interesting I mean, Peggy and the illegitimate child she denies/dreams of/wants to trap Pete with/not really. Yay?!
Spirit Fingers
ARG! WRITING HERE BECAUSE THEY KILLED OUR COMMENTING ON JEZEBEL AND I MUST REACT. WHHHAAAATTTT????
kimkimi
@kimkimi: wait. it's april 1st. whew!
kimkimi
@Kid Twist: I do my best.
Wow, every day lately, this feature seems to include at least one picture of a shirtless actor.
Thank you, Richard.
@Spirit Fingers: I hope not! That would be jumping the shark if they actually get together, especially after the Season Two finale.
But if Matthew Weiner is like David Milch, when Brie's pilot fails, he won't take her back on the show.
@Kid Twist: second that!
Heywoodjablome
20 years, damn...will these be forever stamps, or the new higher prices??
I love how when I watch The Simpsons back home, my adorable Asian mom marvels how "you still watchee dees show?" Must be precious for her to picture her son enjoying the same things as when he was 8...or confusing.
fuzzywhat
Simpsons stamps? Exellent. I already have Simpsons checks and address labels, so all I need now is a vile of Matt Groening's spit to seal the envelopes and my bill-paying process will be complete.
@Lizawithazee: I'm pretty sure Pete's wife was leaving him in the season finale when she went back to her parents' home.
The New No. 2
@The New No. 2: I had forgotten about that after Peggy's glorious and devastating Pete smackdown. So I am comforting myself that they will never get together even if Pete's wife is out of the picture.
If James Franco shaves his armpits in a hotel bathroom, but no one is there to photograph it ...
@GooberSaysHey: vile indeed.
@jackvinyl:
Haha ... er, vial.
Sad to see they're remaking Bright Lights, Big City. I recently watched this flick on TV, and it really stands up. MJ Fox gave a great performance - possibly one of his best. It's not a great movie, but he makes it really enjoyable, and sad, because watching it you really see how much talent he has, and how rarely he got a chance to exercise that talent.
Excusado
So, is the SAG AFTRA item an April Fool's?
OneWag
@Spirit Fingers: I don't think Pete's wife is good at acting. At all. She has projection-y theatre voice.
Mediokra
WTF is up with Mad Men anyway? Are they doing the Soprano's timeline of 5 seasons in 12 years?
Jonny Bronson
..but The Simpsons stopped being funny about 10 years ago. Sheesh.
No better person to do "Bright Lights, Big City" than Josh Schwartz. Maybe he'll actually make the story interesting. Do you guys think he'd do a good Bret Easton Ellis adaptation?