As noted in this morning's Fall Movie Hell forecast, the world's breathless anticipation of Beverly Hills Chihuahua is nearing its Oct. 3 payoff. But now Disney is offering a special class of Angeleno the world's first look at the finished film, and we have to admit, some of us are more than a little jealous:
In keeping with the current indie trend in which every 20th Century Gay of Note gets their own biopic (first came Capote, then Milk, and in the works are Taylor Hackford Tennessee Williams project, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, and James Franco channeling Alan Ginsberg in Howl), we can now add a little razmatazz to the mix, as Steven Soderbergh is developing a Liberace biography. From Variety:
Though The Hills star Lauren Conrad is highly paid enough without having to do anything but passive-aggressively judge her friends over drinks at Goa, she must be applauded for finding new skills to add to her highly staged resume. First, the 22-year-old took a detour into fashion design, and now, according to People, she's been signed to a three-book deal with HarperCollins. Heretofore limited to short stories in the vein of a Sidekicked "OMG Audrina WTF," the deal will allow Conrad to spread her wings and write young adult fiction:
Our office's crystal ball usually tends to function best on Fridays — and even then, as we handicap new releases in our Defamer Attractions column, it can be a tad hinky. But after a few weeks of painstaking inquiry, we think we now have a handle on some of the fall movie slate's biggest revelations to come. Will Brad Pitt backward-age his way to Oscar immortality? Is Twilight really the best investment for your vampire-movie dollars? Can Beverly Hills Chihuahua live up to its exceptional promise? Follow the jump for answers to those and a few of the season's other pressing questions. Feel free to scan your own tea leaves as well; our own oracle shuddered and crapped out the minute we asked about Australia, so any and all input is welcome. Onward!1. Brad Pitt will win an Academy Award. We know the post-Toronto establishment has all but engraved Mickey Rourke's name on this year's Best Actor Oscar (hell, even Rourke has engraved his name on this year's Best Actor Oscar), but taking both The Wrestler (release date TBD) and Pitt's epic The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (12/25) sight unseen, we'll take the aging-backward-on-other-people's-bodies gimmick over the gritty indie comeback 10 times out of 10. Not that it won't be close: Brad Grey will spend more on his old pal's campaign than Fox Searchlight is probably ready to drop on Rourke's, but Rourke will be the more accessible nominee to the media. Look for dark horse Sean Penn (Milk) to split the field late; Focus Features won't settle for another 0-fer in '08. 2. W. (10/17) will tip the election to the GOP. Opening less than three weeks before Election Day, the film will be too muddled to move the Democrats yet irreverent enough to galvanize the Republican base against Hollywood one more time before voting. Oliver Stone will be recognized as the new Ralph Nader. 3. You're going to miss Don LaFontaine a lot more than you think. Otherwise execrable trailers like this one for The Haunting of Molly Hartley (10/31) acquired bittersweet relevance overnight: 4. The Weinstein Company will muscle its way back to prominence. Harvey had a relatively hemorrhage-free summer, closed out by his $16 million-grossing (and counting) Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Meanwhile, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (10/31) left Toronto with goodwill to spare, the LA immigrant saga Crossing Over (10/24) has Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and others channeling Crash, and the company bumped up The Reader for Kate Winslet Oscar consideration. (NB: The Rourke Factor also reportedly inspired Harvey to finally slot his long-shelved Killshot on Nov. 7.) The Weinsteins being the Weinsteins, of course, the operation could crash at any time, but at least the ensuing conflagration promises Hindenberg levels of spectacle. That's our Harvey. 5. Owen Wilson will emerge from, return to hiding after explaining the trailer to Marley & Me (12/25). That is all.
·If you thought a Jada-on-Eva love scene was the way to lure your other half to The Women, Diane English pretty much killed your plans. [Late Show]
· While we already know Julianna Margulies's vagina will be all the rage come spring, we'd also like to pass along the happy Fashion Week news that men will be wearing tutus, curtains up to their nipples, and Dockers cut for a four-year-old. [BWE]
· In honor of Raffaello Follieri is Going to Jail Day, we thought we'd include a link to the FBI's list of all the jewelry he bought Anne Hathaway with God's nest egg. [TSG]
· It's the hi-res poster for Lindsay Lohan faked-pregnancy movie, Labor Pains. [Lohan.4fans]
· Jessica Alba, as undoubtedly some have always wanted to see her before. [People]
Nothing shows your age like working with people significantly younger than you are. While I spent most of last night staying up wondering who knocked up Kelly Taylor, Molls and her friend Alexis were trying to determine why the show's resident blogger, Silver, was spending her nights living in a battered women's shelter. Whether or not you find yourself drawn to the original cast members or the newbies, tonight's To Do's are bound to delight. Enjoy!
No sooner did Barack Obama's PorcineLipstickGate scandal reared it head here moments ago than we had an epic acid flashback to a far worse drama that unfolded this year at Coachella: That of the "Obama Pig" set aloft and eventually untethered during Roger Waters's set. "That's my pig!" Waters shouted, watching its inflated girth and pro-Obama checkmark rise over the valley and drift out of sight. It was soon found and replaced anyway by another anti-gravity oinker, this one bearing its own Obama endorsement and contained to the Q2 Arena in London. And suddenly, the vortex of American politics slowed, stilled and became the crystalline rabbit hole we always knew it was. We'll stick to beer next time. [via Flickr/NachoFoto]
Eternally shirtless actor Matthew McConaughey has never been afraid of showing a little skin, but the lengths he goes to in his new film may make even his hard-to-shock mother blush. According to a review in San Diego City Beat, McConaughey's new stoner opus Surfer, Dude (opening in select locations this Friday? Who knew!) reveals more of the actor than most non-Apatow male stars are used to baring:
It seems fitting that on a day when pigs and their lipstick are a subject of national discourse, MPAA boss Dan Glickman would add a bit of Hollywood color with a gushing, glimmering tribute to his institution's widely reviled ratings system. The infamous G, PG, R and the disused X celebrate their 40th anniversary Nov. 1, trailed by the PG-13 (est. 1984) and NC-17 (est. 1990) denotations; as Glickman reportedly told a gathering today in Washington, the ratings are "synonymous with the First Amendment ... with political, artistic and creative expression in this country":
Despite being paced a bit too frenetically for our liking, last week's two-hour debut of the 90210 reboot managed to intrigue us enough to tune in for last night's episode (although it appears that 25% of those first week viewers didn't feel the same way). And while the new brood of West Beverly High School students still can't stop smiling, we couldn't help but find ourselves smiling a little bit during the episode's (admittedly shoehorned-in) plotlines revolving around Kelly Taylor. Suckers for nostalgia, rejoice! Last night, we finally got some details about her mystery four year old son, the product of a one night splash-off with someone who she "had a lot of history together [with] in high school" (but has since left her high and dry). Join us as we investigate the eight likeliest candidates for being the dude whose little swimmers got all up in Kelly Taylor's biznass.
Not content to be upstaged by a toilet-transforming usurper, Arnold Schwarzenegger recently hit up the set of Terminator: Salvation (above), sparking rumors that director McG will employ an unorthodox method to get the California governor's face into the movie. According to a tipster for Latino Review, the special FX-filled plan would require little of Schwarzenegger's time and give him a kickin' new body in return:
Hard as it is to believe, Dannielynn Hope Birkhead Smith Stern Glaxo Wellcome is now a two-year-old—well past her blob stage, and developing into quite the pretty young lady. It's Us Weekly who have this time met the birthday-party-exclusive asking price, which included some highly quotable soul-searching from doting wrangler Larry Birkhead:
Brodacious reality TV star Brody Jenner implemented the trusty crane kick to defend Coco De Ville from the haters on Tuesday night. Jenner stood guard outside the club to keep "the negative vibes" (his words) out of the club . Jenner added, "It's Tuesday night and people need to get ready for the weekend. So, if anybody with a negative attitude wants to step into the place, I'm gonna put them in a bodybag. There is no negativity in this dojo, sensai!"
Variety reminds us today that a major! labor! crisis! remains in effect at the Screen Actors Guild, which after three months has still made exactly no progress in settling its contract quibbles with the networks and major studios. Still, if those producers aren't worried, then you shouldn't be either — especially now that AFTRA is reportedly taking over where SAG can't necessarily be counted on. To wit, after securing its own three-year deal with the majors over the summer, the union has nabbed some high-profile new recruits for the primetime season to come.
Jamie Lee Curtis popped by The View today; as Huffington Post readers are already aware from her regular entreaties on everything from the sorry state of home economics classes to the eroding of our basic social fabric via Padma Lakshmi-hosted reality shows, this is a woman in love with the English language. So much so, in fact, that Curtis has written a book called Big Words For Little People, which encourages children to break out of their limited vocabulary boxes, and start using the kinds of four- and five-syllable words that Sherri Shepherd refuses to believe exist at all, much less knows the definitions to. You know—words like "cacophony," "verisimilitude," and "contraceptive." Let's all put on our thinking caps and do a little learning, shall we? [The View]
Shutdown Fever! Hot on the heels of 24 stopping production to work out script issues, Joss Whedon's upcoming Eliza Dushku vehicle Dollhouse is grinding to its own quality-mandated halt. Already, Whedon was instructed by a tinkering Fox to shoot a second pilot (the original will air as Dollhouse's second episode), and the additional order left him too busy to bring future scripts up to snuff. Currently on its third completed episode, Dollhouse sets will go dark for two weeks while Whedon works out the kinks, though Fox claims its midseason debut won't be affected. Firefly fans, commence your worrying. [Zap2It]
Raffaello Follieri's Grand Scam—a sweeping tale of international crime and intrigue that, like some lost chapter of The Godfather, hopscotched from the streets of Manhattan to the cobblestone walkways of the Vatican, a long-suffering love interest looking the other way all along—has nearly reached its gripping conclusion:
Borat Walks Free: A judge in New York threw out a trio of lawsuits accusing Sacha Baron Cohen, director Larry Charles and the rest of the sadistic Borat braintrust of duping interview subjects into infamous levels of stupidity while making the 2006 hit film. "Judge Loretta Preska said all three accepted money and signed agreements releasing the filmmakers from liability," reports the AP. "She noted in a Sept. 3 ruling the agreements said the plaintiffs consented to appear in a 'documentary-style' movie." Of course you saw it coming, but hey. The plaintiffs — including Borat's driving instructor and his feces-scandalized etiquette coach — could not be reached for comment, but are said to plan handwritten thank-you cards for Her Honor's consideration and an armed vigilante drive-by not to exceed 25 miles per hour. [THR]
Backstage at the Michael Kors fashion show, Hollywood legend Bette Midler offered a bit of advice to up and coming Gossip Girl star Blake Lively. Midler knew that Lively was probably wearing a Kors design, but mentioned to her that her hemline could've been a bit longer. Midler said, "Honey, it's far too early in your career to pull a Julianna Margulies. You don't have to be a old lady who's in her thirties just yet, but right above the knee is nice length for you to wear. Classy and sexy." Lively chuckled as she told Milder that she was going to write that bit of advice down on her Blackberry.
Mostly lost in the furor over the purity ring comments made by VMAs host Russell Brand were the even more scathing jabs he threw the Republicans' way during the telecast. Never afraid to be politically controversial (a formerly crack-addled Brand was fired from British MTV for showing up to work on September 12, 2001 dressed as Osama Bin Laden), the comedian called President Bush a "retarded cowboy" who "wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors," then dismissed the teen pregnancy of Sarah Palin's daughter as a "PR stunt." Now, Brand is telling the UK's Daily Telegraph that he had one even more outrageous Palin joke in that vein, but MTV wouldn't let him tell it:
