By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Directors | Thursday March 4, 2010 @ 3:01pm PST
Twilight Saga: New Moon director Chris Weitz has traded vampires and werewolves for a small drama about an undocumented Mexican landscaper that was a struggle to finance.
Weitz starts shooting April in East Los Angeles. He has cast Demian Bichir—best known for Weeds and playing Castro in Che—for the title character, a man who drives from East L.A. to manicure the lawns of the upscale, while trying to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents. Newcomer Jose Julian will play the teen.
Twilight-maker Summit acquired domestic distribution and began selling offshore territories at Berlin. Summit is only covering part of the $10 million budget in the WME-packaged film, though. I’m told Weitz put up some of his own money. The rest came from Lime Orchard, the monied production company formed by actress Jami Gertz and former ICM agent Stacey Lubliner.
They’ve become producers along with Christian McLaughlin and Paul Witt. Weitz, the grandson of agent Paul Kohner and Mexican-born 30s movie star Lupita Tovar, sparked to a film that is tiny by Twilight standards, and tackles cultural and immigration issues facing an ethnic group largely ignored by Hollywood.
“It’s about an undocumented immigrant who gets the chance to buy a truck and equipment to raise his family out of poverty, and how things go right and wrong from there,” Weitz told me. “It is an Italian neo-realist movie with a contemporary feel. I ... Read More »
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Comedy | Thursday March 4, 2010 @ 9:45am PST
How many times have comedy writers taken script notes from studio execs and thought, "Have you ever tried to create something funny?" Watch as New Regency SVP Navid McIlhargey does just that in his stand-up comedy club debut he has given me permission to share with you:
I wanted to get this in the Gotham record, even though it happened yesterday. Sony Pictures Classics partners Michael Barker and Tom Bernard picked up North American distribution rights to Woody Allen's new film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. The London-set picture stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts, and SPC will release it this fall.
Barker and Bernard released Allan's last film, Whatever Works, and 1999’s Sweet and Lowdown. The new film was financed by Spain-based Mediapro, which is also funding his next film, a Paris-based untitled comedy that has Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard starring with Rachel McAdams.
"I know my films are in good hands with them," Allen said of Barker and Bernard, who brought their tuxes to Hollywood this week, as distributors of Best Picture nominee An Education.
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors | Wednesday March 3, 2010 @ 11:46am PST
Neil Patrick Harris has a TV-heavy resume. Now he's just landed the lead in Smurfs: The Movie for Sony. Harris won’t have to walk around as a blue-tinted Avatar, either. The Raja Gosnell-directed film is a mix of live action and animation, and Harris is the lead live action character. Filming begins in April, when he’ll be on hiatus from CBS' How I Met Your Mother.
By Nikki Finke | Category: Movies | Wednesday March 3, 2010 @ 9:22am PST
So let me get this straight; Nicolas Chartier who financed The Hurt Locker and is one of the 4 officially credited producers can't attend the Academy Awards because he sent a mass email that never even mentioned Avatar by name? And the Oscars governing body thinks his badmouthing is so much worse than what nearly everyone in the Best Picture category has done year after year? I find it ludicrous that the Academy of shame has made a decision so lame. So I must ask: is it mere coincidence that Academy president Tom Sherak (at one time a bigtime Fox movie exec), Oscars producers Bill Mechanic (at one time a bigtime Fox movie exec) and Adam Shankman (currently a bigtime Fox Broadcast talent), and Academy Board Of Governors member Jim Gianopulos (currently a bigtime Fox movie exec) all have strong ties to the Avatar studio? The Academy should have leaned over backwards not to appear Fox-sympathetic because of this. (Especially when I have emails from the studio accusing "the Hurt Locker people of running the dirtiest campaign and getting away with it".) And would this draconian action have been taken if Chartier's name had been Grazer or Rudin or some other Hollywood insider? I think not. Know that I ask these questions as someone who thinks Avatar should win Best Picture (because it changed the way Hollywood makes movies) and James Cameron Best Director (because he changed the way Hollywood makes movies). So, please, no baseless accusations that I'm biased.
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors, Directors | Tuesday March 2, 2010 @ 2:01pm PST
EXCLUSIVE: I've just learned Woody Allen has set Marion Colillard to play the "Muse" and star opposite Owen Wilson in that untitled film he's shooting this summer in Paris. France’s First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, also has been mentioned as a possible participant, but nothing's set as of yet. Allen's pic is being financed under his 3-picture deal with Spain’s Mediapro. It still seems odd watching the quintessential New York director shoot in Paris, London, or Barcelona. (Though he returned for Whatever Works.) Allen long enjoyed a relationship with studios that few directors could match, where they financed his films without even reading the script. Those days are long gone -- except overseas. Woody recently wrapped You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger in London and scheduled for release in September. Cotillard most recently starred in Nine.
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors, Books, Directors | Tuesday March 2, 2010 @ 1:16pm PST
Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have spent years trying to frame an epic film about President Lincoln and his agonizing decision to prolong the war and crush the South because it was the only way to abolish slavery. But now I've learned that directors Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov have found another angle on the Lincoln story: Abe's lifelong mission to kill vampires. They'll produce with Jim Lemley a movie adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that Grand Central Publishing released today.
Graham-Smith kicks off with the revelation that Lincoln’s mother was killed by a supernatural creature, which fueled his passion to crush vampires and their slave-owning helpers. The novel depicts the 16th U.S. president as an axe-throwing, highly trained vampire killer. The author is making a career of marrying classic tales with a genre bent, and this becomes his second film deal after Lionsgate and Natalie Portman signed on to adapt Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which infuses a familiar Jane Austen tale with an attack of bloodthirsty zombies. David O. Russell is circling that project as director and Portman is producing and playing the feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet.
Burton, whose Alice in Wonderland opens Friday, has long been a fan of macabre subject matter, with an adaptation of Dark Shadows looming for him and Johnny Depp. Bekmambetov, who despite reports continues to work on his Wanted sequel, covered the bloodsucker terrain with his 2004 Russian film ... Read More »
SANTA MONICA, CA, and VANCOUVER, BC, March 1, 2010 -- Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), today announced that it has received an unsolicited tender offer from Carl Icahn to acquire up to 13,164,420 common shares for USD $6.00 per share in cash. Together with the stock he already owns, this would constitute approximately 29.9% of the outstanding common shares of Lionsgate.
Consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, Lionsgate’s Board of Directors will review Mr. Icahn’s proposal and will make its recommendation to shareholders promptly. The Board of Directors’ recommendation will be included in a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement filing on Schedule 14D-9. Lionsgate noted that there is no need for shareholders to take any action at this time.
Morgan Stanley is serving as financial advisor to Lionsgate and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is serving as legal advisor.
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Movies | Friday February 26, 2010 @ 4:42pm PST
Documentary filmmaker RJ Cutler, who directed the Anna Wintour/Vogue profile The September Issue, is heading from high fashion to the Hamptons social swirl. Cutler successfully pitched Warner Bros on the feature film Au Pairs, an adaptation of the Melissa de la Cruz novel about three teenage girls from different socioeconomic backgrounds who work as nannies for a wealthy family in the Hamptons one summer. The girls balance their domestic duties with their suddenly interesting social lives. The pic is being produced by Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen of Flower Films and Les Morgenstein and Bob Levy of Alloy. Liz Garcia wrote the first draft and another writer will be brought in to execute Cutler’s vision for the film. The intention is to shoot this summer in East Hampton where I'm sure residents will be thrilled. This sounds like The Nanny Diaries but with 3 strong roles for teenage actresses. Cutler also produced such documentaries as The War Room. He’s repped by WME.
Oy, now there's even more about Oscar badmouthing, and this is even more unimportant. I've learned that Hurt Locker financier and producer Nicolas Chartier today admitted to Summit Entertainment he sent more emails about Avatar. But these weren't mass mailings to Oscar voters; rather, they were simply individual messages sent to personal acquaintances, including one that specifically said Avatar should be placed No. 10 on the Best Pictures list. Sources tell me that Chartier copped to it when Summit's Rob Friedman today picked up the phone to question the producer about a new allegation from a Los Angeles Times blog that there were more Chartier emails. That prompted Summit to send out the following statement just now: “Summit and our consultants were completely unaware of any emails that were sent until we were alerted by the Academy earlier this week. Thus we also had no additional knowledge of different text that may have been sent by this producer.”
Summit through its flacks have asked LA Times blogger Pete Hammond to forward even one of the emails mentioned today, but the blogger has refused. His reason? It would "violate the confidentiality" of the recipient who is the producer's personal acquaintance "so Chartier would know who it is" if made public. I have not seen these personal emails myself. I do think, however, that the Los Angeles Times should have explained in its posting that there was no other mass mailing to Oscar voters by Chartier. It makes a ... Read More »
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: 3-D, Actors, Distribution | Friday February 26, 2010 @ 12:54pm PST
EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that Summit Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights for The Three Musketeers, a 3-D period adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel that will be directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Constantin Films and Impact Pictures are producing a film that will be shot in “real 3-D.” The action will be shot in Babelsberg Studios in Germany, and on location in France. The late summer start gives Anderson a decided advantage over a rival film based on Dumas’ swordsmen that has taken root at Warner Bros. That film was conjured up by producer Lionel Wigram with a stylized take similar to the one that breathed life into Sherlock Holmes. Peter Straughan (The Men Who Stared at Goats) is writing the script.
What the Anderson-directed 3-D Musketeers won’t have is Taylor Lautner, who is in business with Summit on two more Twilight sequels and the action film Cancun. He had been offered the role, but passed last week.
By TIM ADLER | Category: 3-D, Foreign | Thursday February 25, 2010 @ 4:16am PST
From Deadline|London editor Tim Adler:The UK's biggest movie theatre chain Odeon has now ended its standoff with the Walt Disney Co. It joined exhibitors Vue and Cineworld to show Alice In Wonderland as scheduled.What a win for Bob Iger and what a sea-change for filmgoers. It’ll end up like Korea where a movie plays for a few weeks in cinemas and then, snapyour fingers, and all formats are available at a variety of prices. Disney decided to stare down exhibitors both here in the UK and in the U.S. by imposing a 12-week theatrical window instead of the standard lag between a film appearing in cinemas and then going to DVD of 17 weeks. It all kicked off when Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors during an earnings call earlier this month: “It‘s really important for us to maintain a very healthy business on the exhibition side, and 3D is definitely contributing to that, and a very healthy business on the home video side, which we think is actually in the best interest of the theater owners. And so, mindful of what‘s going on on the home video side, we feel that it's time, on a case-by-case basis, movie-by-movie, to really take a look at how we're windowing the home video product into the marketplace.” Disney distribution president Bob Chapek echoed his boss on the need for exceptions like Tim Burton's 3D Alice In Wonderland to accomodate a shortened ... Read More »
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors | Wednesday February 24, 2010 @ 10:20pm PST
Bradley Cooper has fallen out of This Means War because the July start date overlapped the Warners comedy The Hangover 2, which is a big payday for Cooper. This Means War, the McG-directed Fox comedy starring Reese Witherspoon, now needs to find both of the best friends who become enemies when the duo realize they are pining for the same woman.
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors | Wednesday February 24, 2010 @ 7:26pm PST
EXCLUSIVE: This may not be the best of times to develop a lovable whale tale considering the tragic death of that trainer by an Orca. Universal is making Everybody Loves Whales, a fact-based story of the 1988 rescue of a trio of California gray whales trapped under the ice of the Arctic Circle. I'm told Drew Barrymore is circling the role of a Greenpeace activist and Ken Kwapis is set to direct. Shooting is slated for the fall.
The film has all the makings of a heartwarming family film. Despite the frigid surroundings, the actual event caused a thaw in relations between the U.S. and Soviet superpowers, which worked together with activists, media, and locals to save the whales after both President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev got involved. Jack Amiel and Michael Begler wrote the script. Universal harpooned the project after Warner Bros set it free. Anonymous Content’s Steve Golin and Michael Sugar will produce it with Working Title’s Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Liza Chasin. Barrymore is hot again after winning several awards including the Golden Globe for HBO's Grey Gardens.
EXCLUSIVE: What's better than being really, really ridiculously good-looking like Zoolander? Being really, really ridiculously good-looking in the 2001 cult classic's sequel. Finally, Paramount and Ben Stiller are pulling together a PG-13 Zoolander 2 with Tropic Thunder and Iron Man 2 writer Justin Theroux who'll also direct. I've learned that Ben and Justin are working on the script together, and Theroux is going to Fashion Week in Paris to "immerse himself on what is current in fashion". "It's got momentum," a studio source just told me. Everyone's hoping Owen Wilson co-stars again but no deal is set. The villain likely will be Jonah Hill who's in negotiations.
If you remember, Zoolander came out on September 28, 2001, right after 9/11 so no one ever saw the pic in theaters. But it was a hot DVD and is still a bestseller on iTunes. And when Ben Stiller goes overseas, he's always asked to do "Blue Steel" which is saying a lot about a movie that earned only $45M domestic and $16M international because of its lousy timing. The problem is that no one's sure what the sequel can do because the original was so thwarted. Paramount wants to keep the budget below $50M so what's being discussed is some upfront reductions in exchange for bigger upsides. And yet everyone still really wants to do the pic in order to bring Derek and Hanzel to life again.
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors, Breaking News | Wednesday February 24, 2010 @ 12:59pm PST
Now that his career is resurrected from the ashes thanks to Darren Aronofsky and The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke is deservedly hot again and in demand. Currently, he's being courted by Millennium Films and Lionsgate to join the remake of Conan The Barbarian, titled just Conan, which is the Marcus Nispel-directed reinvention of the Robert E. Howard creation. Rourke is negotiating to play Corin, the father of Conan who's played by Jason Momoa. At the same time, Rourke is negotiating for the Tarsem Singh-directed War of the Gods and the part of King Hyperion, the ruler of Ancient Greece who does battle with the divines. Henry Cavill also stars.
Conan begins shooting in Bulgaria in late March and War of the Gods begins April 7th, so it is possible he might need to make a choice between the 2 projects. Both offers come as Rourke is now being seen in trailers for Iron Man 2 in the role of Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, the villain who goes mano a mano against Robert Downey Jr’ s Tony Stark. The fervor for Rourke is a good lesson to remember for all of those actors testing for the role of Captain America and bristling about the low paycheck. Reps for Rourke, who was coming off an Oscar-nominated turn in The Wrestler, went through a bare-knuckle negotiation on Iron Man 2, with Marvel initially offering him just $250,000. But the buzz? Priceless.
By Nikki Finke | Category: Foreign | Tuesday February 23, 2010 @ 1:51pm PST
BURBANK, Calif., February 23, 2010 – Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group announced today the acquisition of a majority stake in Rocksteady Studios, a privately held developer of interactive entertainment targeted at teens and adults, continuing Warner Bros.’ pattern as one of the industry’s fastest growing games publishers.
“Rocksteady demonstrated its professionalism and extraordinary development abilities with Batman: Arkham Asylum,” said Kevin Tsujihara, president, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. “This arrangement is a great strategic fit and we are very pleased to solidify our relationship with this talented development team.”
Founded in 2004 in London, England, Rocksteady specializes in developing action-adventure video games, including Batman: Arkham Asylum, one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2009. The title has enjoyed robust sales, shipping over three million units worldwide, and has garnered numerous industry awards.
“We are proud to strengthen our association with WBIE, a world class publisher that we have enjoyed working with since we began developing Batman: Arkham Asylum,” said Jamie Walker, studio director, Rocksteady Studios. Sefton Hill, games director, added, “The Rocksteady team is very much looking forward to creating more great games based on widely recognized Warner Bros. brands like Batman.”
Warner Bros. continues to grow its games business through key acquisitions, building internal development capabilities, leveraging its global video distribution infrastructure, and focusing on developing major games franchises such as Batman, Mortal Kombat, The Lord of the Rings and LEGO.
“With the successful release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, a franchise that is a key focus for Warner Bros., Rocksteady has proven
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors, Directors | Tuesday February 23, 2010 @ 11:01am PST
After auditioning more than 15,000 teenage girls, Paramount and True Grit directors Joel and Ethan Coen have found their Mattie Ross in Hailee Steinfeld. The 13-year old will play the centerpiece of a new adaptation of the Charles Portis novel, with Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin starring. Mattie Ross is the 14-year old spitfire whose father has been mowed down in cold blood by Tom Chaney (Brolin). Determined to bring the killer to justice, Mattie enlists hard-drinking U.S. marshal Rooster Cogburn (Bridges) to track the killer before a Texas Ranger (Damon) does. The Coens are producing with Scott Rudin. While most of the teens who auditioned were unknowns, Steinfeld has some credits. She has even more reps, just signing with ICM, who'll rep her along with Coast to Coast Talent Group and Protégé.
In another youthful casting, Millennium Films and Paradox Entertainment hired Leo Howard to play the young title character in Conan, the Marcus Nispel-directed reinvention of the Robert E. Howard series. Jason Momoa, the brawny Stargate Atlantis star, plays Conan full grown. Sean Hood has just been hired to do a rewrite before the picture begins production March 15 in Bulgaria. Howard, a 12-year old karate champ, stars in Disney Channel’s Leo Little’s Big Show and was also in last summer’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. He played young Snake Eyes (Ray Park played him as an adult).
By MIKE FLEMING | Category: Actors, Comedy | Monday February 22, 2010 @ 1:32pm PST
EXCLUSIVE: Ron Howard is setting Kevin James to play Vince Vaughn’s best friend in the untitled Universal Pictures comedy about infidelity. The film is Howard’s next directing vehicle from a screenplay by Allan Loeb. Howard and Imagine partner Brian Grazer are prepping a spring start in Chicago. Kevin and Vince will play best friends and business partners, and Vaughn is tortured when he observes his pal’s wife getting intimate with another man. Should he tell? The comedy came from an idea by Grazer, who’ll produce with Vaughn and the actor's Wild West Picture Show banner. Imagine’s Kim Roth is executive producer. The buddy system has made for a nice transition for James after his long-running TV sitcom King of Queens. He paired with Will Smith in Hitch and Adam Sandler in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. After carrying Paul Blart: Mall Cop, he re-teamed with Sandler in Grown Ups and plays the title role in the MGM comedy The Zookeeper. Scripter Loeb has been writing about all forms of cheating, with recent credits that include the card-counting drama 21, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps, and now this infidelity comedy.
Jennifer Lopez has spent most of her singing career at Sony Music Epic Records. The bland version of what happened, I’m told, is that the contract period had ended and that Lopez had fulfilled it with her last two singles, and that Lopez and Stringer decided together not to move forward with an album. Others insist the Sony label dropped her. There also is disagreement on how finished her upcoming album was before it was canceled. Internet reports say her 7th studio album, titled "Love?", was supposed to come out in April and featured production from Danja, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, Chris n Teeb from Dropzone, and The Neptunes among others. A song from it titled "Fresh Out The Oven" surfaced online in October 2009 as a buzz single and reached #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. But the official lead single, "Louboutins", had its radio debut on November 23 following the song's premiere and performance at the 2009 American Music Awards went to #31 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. UPDATE:*The song was the Power Pick of the week twice, and rose to #13 on that chart.*
Lopez insiders claim to me the album was "by no means done" and everyone was "only a few songs into it" and "unlike movie dates, street dates rarely hold in the music biz". But that album was real enough to delay the release of her upcoming CBS ... Read More »
Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And … 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … 
I wanted to get this in the Gotham record, even though it happened yesterday. Sony Pictures Classics partners Michael Barker and Tom Bernard picked up North American distribution rights to Woody Allen's new film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. The London-set picture stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts, and SPC will release it this fall.
So let me get this straight; Nicolas Chartier who financed The Hurt Locker and is one of the 4 officially credited producers can't attend the Academy Awards because he sent a mass email that never even mentioned Avatar by name? And the Oscars governing body thinks his badmouthing is so much worse than what nearly everyone in the Best Picture category has done year after year? I find it ludicrous that the Academy of shame has made a decision so lame. So I must ask: is it mere coincidence that Academy president Tom Sherak (at one time a bigtime Fox movie exec), Oscars producers Bill Mechanic (at one time a bigtime Fox movie exec) and Adam Shankman (currently a bigtime Fox Broadcast talent), and Academy Board Of Governors member Jim Gianopulos (currently a bigtime Fox movie exec) all have strong ties to the Avatar studio? The Academy should have leaned over backwards not to appear Fox-sympathetic because of this. (Especially when I have emails from the studio accusing "the Hurt Locker people of running the dirtiest campaign and getting away with it".) And would this draconian action have been taken if Chartier's name had been Grazer or Rudin or some other Hollywood insider? I think not. Know that I ask these questions as someone who thinks Avatar should win Best Picture (because it changed the way Hollywood makes movies) and James Cameron Best Director (because he changed the way Hollywood makes movies). So, please, no baseless accusations that I'm biased.
Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have spent years trying to frame an epic film about President Lincoln and his agonizing decision to prolong the war and crush the South because it was the only way to abolish slavery. But now I've learned that directors Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov have found another angle on the Lincoln story: Abe's lifelong mission to kill vampires. They'll produce with Jim Lemley a movie adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that Grand Central Publishing released today.
Documentary filmmaker RJ Cutler, who directed the Anna Wintour/Vogue profile The September Issue, is heading from high fashion to the Hamptons social swirl. Cutler successfully pitched Warner Bros on the feature film Au Pairs, an adaptation of the Melissa de la Cruz novel about three teenage girls from different socioeconomic backgrounds who work as nannies for a wealthy family in the Hamptons one summer. The girls balance their domestic duties with their suddenly interesting social lives. The pic is being produced by Drew Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen of Flower Films and Les Morgenstein and Bob Levy of Alloy. Liz Garcia wrote the first draft and another writer will be brought in to execute Cutler’s vision for the film. The intention is to shoot this summer in East Hampton where I'm sure residents will be thrilled. This sounds like The Nanny Diaries but with 3 strong roles for teenage actresses. Cutler also produced such documentaries as The War Room. He’s repped by WME. 
Oy, now there's even more about Oscar 
EXCLUSIVE: What's better than being really, really ridiculously good-looking like Zoolander? Being really, really ridiculously good-looking in the 2001 cult classic's sequel. 
Now that his career is resurrected from the ashes thanks to Darren Aronofsky and The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke is deservedly hot again and in demand. Currently, he's being courted by Millennium Films and Lionsgate to join the remake of Conan The Barbarian, titled just Conan, which is the Marcus Nispel-directed reinvention of the Robert E. Howard creation. Rourke is negotiating to play Corin, the father of Conan who's played by Jason Momoa. At the same time, Rourke is negotiating for the Tarsem Singh-directed War of the Gods and the part of King Hyperion, the ruler of Ancient Greece who does battle with the divines. Henry Cavill also stars.
Jennifer Lopez has spent most of her singing career at Sony Music Epic Records. The bland version of what happened, I’m told, is that the contract period had ended and that Lopez had fulfilled it with her last two singles, and that Lopez and Stringer decided together not to move forward with an album. Others insist the Sony label dropped her. There also is disagreement on how finished her upcoming album was before it was canceled. Internet reports say her 7th studio album, titled "Love?", was supposed to come out in April and featured production from Danja, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, Chris n Teeb from Dropzone, and The Neptunes among others. A song from it titled "Fresh Out The Oven" surfaced online in October 2009 as a buzz single and reached #1 on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs chart. But the official lead single, "Louboutins", had its radio debut on November 23 following the song's premiere and performance at the 2009 American Music Awards went to #31 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. 
Loading ...