rainn wilson

Rainn Wilson As Sick of Super-Sized ‘Office’ Seasons As You Are

7:25AM Kyle Buchanan | Though Ricky Gervais’s version of The Office folded up shop after two six-episode runs, that wouldn’t amount to even half of a current season of the Steve Carell-toplined Office, which is continually pressed into service for hourlong episodes, spinoffs, and expanded seasons by NBC. Though the moves have pumped up ratings for the sitcom, the results are not always well-regarded by critics — or by a burnt-out cast, says Rainn Wilson: More »

Steve Coogan or Rainn Wilson: Who Had the Worse Weekend?

3:00AM STV | It’s probably asking a lot for a Monday, but pretend for just a second that you’re Focus Features, Universal’s mini-major offshoot and the folks who last January made the single biggest buy in the history of the Sundance Film Festival: Hamlet 2, which sneaked into Park City at the last minute and left 10 days later with lukewarm (at best) reviews and a check for $11 million. So imagine your signature was on that check, and imagine how much weight you’ll lose this week as your appetite plunges with Hamlet 2’s box-office prospects: $435,000 on 103 screens, averaging $4,223 per for one of the most profound festival flops of the decade — not to mention the film that bumps Steve Coogan back to ensemble/supporting-class in American movies. More »

Trade Roundup: Golden Globes Party Planners The Latest Victims Of The Writers Strike

7:00AM Defamer Hollywood | · The looming threat of a strike-induced cancellation of the Golden Globes ceremony has thrown the party-planning world into chaos: How can anyone commit half a million bucks to fill a venue with chocolate fountains, imposing mounds of peeled shrimp, and ice sculptures of prohibitive best actor favourite Daniel Day Lewis when there’s a chance the whole night might be called off? [Variety] · The producers of High School Musical hope to recreate their teen-narcotising magic for MTV with the movie American Mall. [THR] Universal is “downplaying expectations” for the debut of Charlie Wilson’s War this weekend, anticipating that even the combination of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts will be no match for the new National Treasure movie and the return of Will Smith’s I Am Legend. [Variety] [Photo: Southern Chocolate Fountains] More »

Short Ends: Hugh Hefner Demonstrates His Commitment To Higher, Bustier Education

5:55AM Defamer Hollywood | Hugh Hefner donated $US2 million to USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, earmarked for their brand new Hugh Hefner Creepy Old Guy Institute for Centerfold Studies. People wasn’t entirely off the sexy nerd tip: Check out this sexy video of Rainn Wilson getting frisky in a swimming pool and riding a very macho all-terrain vehicle. Bored of green tea and chai? You might enjoy some piping hot Dr. Pepper! (And if you want to slip a little rum in there, we won’t tell.) More »

Trade Roundup: Fox Throws Hands In The Air, Decides It Has No Choice But To Make ‘Dallas’ As A Comedy

6:20AM Defamer Hollywood | · Realising that no matter what their vision was going in for a long-planned, big-screen adaptation of Dallas, the final result would be hilarious, Regency and 20th Century have finally decided to just give up and officially make it as a comedy. Betty Thomas will direct, and John Travolta will still star as JR Ewing, playing the part in only a slightly bigger fashion as a nod to the project’s new direction. [Variety] · Once again, the DGA refuses to allow For Your Consideration DVD screeners to be sent to members for their yearly awards, forcing guild members to schlep out to screenings to see their peers’ work presented as it was intended. [THR] · Following the less-than-blockbuster results of promotions for movies like Akeelah and the Bee and Arctic Tale, Hollywood is discovering that Starbucks might not be marketing monolith that they’d had hoped it would be. Several studios are now considering scaled-back versions of the failing Starbucks experiment, such as planting paid confederates to sit by the door of The Coffee Bean and loudly shout into a mobile phone about how much they loved a partner’s movie. [Variety] It’s about time someone made a RenFair comedy*: Universal buys the Rainn Wilson project Renaissance Man, about two community theatre actors who hide out a renaissance fair after thinking they’ve killed one of their co-stars. (*For real; and no, we don’t count that one part in The Cable Guy.) [THR] · Focus Features accepts the MPAA’s NC-17 rating for Ang Lee’s erotically charged espionage thriller Lust, Caution for “too many scenes of artsy-fartsy fucking.” [Variety] More »