Ballast, The Visitor, Synecdoche earn Gotham nominations
It is but the middle of October and we already have our first set of 2008 film-award nominations. The Gotham Independent Film Awards announced its yearly list of nominees, shining the spotlight on a number of smaller films sure to factor into the Oscar equation later this year.... read more
Dead Confederate does Conan, tours with Apollo Sunshine
The members of the Dead Confederate are definitely anything but deceased. The Athens, Ga. rockers have had a rollicking 2008, which has included putting out an album (Wrecking Ball) and EP, launching a huge tour and making their TV debut on Conan O'Brien (just last week). And, perhaps most importantly, the boys have recently launched an official "blahg." ... read more
Paul W.S. Anderson wants to make a fourth Resident Evil
We have a Resident Evil: Apocalypse. We have a Resident Evil: Extinction. ... read more
New comedy series Party Down hits Starz in 2009
[Above: Show creator/producer Rob Thomas with his Veronica Mars star Kristen Bell]Starz is really getting into this whole original programming thing. The network's first drama series, Crash, premiered on Friday and it already has one half-hour comedy planned for 2009 entitled Head Case. Now, the cable channel is announcing plans for an additional comedy, Party Down, to premiere alongside it. ... read more
Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin to fight for Meryl Streep
In the season three finale of The Office, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) competes with a couple of his co-workers for a prestigious new job at Dunder Mifflin corporate. "I am by far the most qualified person they're interviewing," he says. "Jim and Karen are here, which is cute. They're like kid actors, tagging along with daddy at the big audition, hoping to be discovered. Except daddy is the best actor around. Daddy is Meryl Streep." ... read more
Fox thinks Will Arnett is kind of a big deal
Will Arnett is one of the funniest people around... read more
Brad Pitt on board for The Odyssey in space
At first, it sounds pretty routine: Variety reports that Brad Pitt has added a new adaptation of The Odyssey to his roster as a producer, and Warner Bros. is reportedly trying to maneuver him into the lead role. Sure, his previous Homer adaptation Troy (pictured above) took its time making back its budget, but these are the kind of evergreen epics almost guaranteed a profit. Nothing to see here. ... read more
Real Sarah Palin to guest on Saturday Night Live tomorrow
Let's be serious: Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live these past few weeks has been exactly what we needed to cope with this increasingly absurd election (Joe the Plumber, anyone?). Now, news has emerged that Palin wants to be in on the joke and will make an appearance on the show tomorrow night. (She apparently thought the first sketch was hilarious...even with the sound off.)... read more
The Road, Defiance and The Soloist shift release dates
With the year-end assault of prestige movies upon us, three major awards contenders—The Road, Defiance and The Soloist—have taken a more tentative place in the annual grind over concerns about release dates. ... read more
Hansard and Irglova's Once heading to Broadway
Glen Hansard might be the most gracious man in the business. When he and the angel-voiced Czech singer Marketa Irglova made the film Once—shot in Dublin over a mere 17 days for $160,000—the last thing on his mind was that it would lead to worldwide acclaim, a sold-out cross-country tour or even an Academy Award. ... read more
Seth Rogen to star in cancer comedy
They say laughter is always the best remedy, no matter the situation. Life is Beautiful, Roberto Benigni's Oscar-winning drama, made light of one of the worst atrocities the world has ever seen. Juno, Paste's 2007 movie of the year, was a smart-as-a-whip comedy about teenage pregnancy, a subject nobody finds particularly funny. And Woody Allen has poked fun at everything from sex with sheep to czarist Russia. Now, Freaks and Geeks alum Seth Rogen will try and convince moviegoers cancer can be funny. Wish him luck. ... read more
Sweet P talks Project Runway Season Five finale: "Kenley is out of her mind."
Project Runway Season Four contestant Sweet P watched Wednesday night’s Season Five finale at a PR party in Los Angeles... read more
Watch Tony Kaye's short with Porno's Rogen and Banks
Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno comes out on Oct. 31, meaning that its publicity machine is getting into full swing right about now. One pretty unorthodox method of drumming up interest, though, was inviting director Tony Kaye (American History X, Lake of Fire) to make a short film about what Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks think about the simulated sex they make for the screen. Mean Magazine features this short as part of their cover story about the film. A bit reminescent of Errol Morris, Mean describes the short by saying, "Sex sells. Sex kills. Sex thrills.... read more
Amy Sedaris inks TV deal with 20th Century Fox
Oh, she's made a lot of friends... done a lot of time. She was a boozer, a user and a loser. She stole the show right out from under that wily Steven Colbert. Did some more time (as a kindly cookbook author and movie star, amongst other things). And now Amy Sedaris is booming back, having just inked a deal with 20th Century Fox to write and star in her own comedy series.... read more
Julie Taymor casts Helen Mirren as male in The Tempest
Love her or hate her, Julie Taymor, director of Across the Universe and Frida, has long been one of the few female filmmakers in Hollywood who has taken the industry by its throat and used it to her own ends. Even when that doesn’t necessarily sit well with major studios, she usually gets her way. So when, on her new film adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, she decided she wanted to cast Helen Mirren in the lead role of Prospero—a man—that’s precisely what she did. ... read more
Life on Mars tops Metacritic's top 10 TV shows list
Entertainment criticism mecca Metacritic has released its top 10 highest rated new Fall TV shows. Created in 2001, the site combines all the reviews of any given show and rates them on a 0-100 scale to get to the "Metascore." This is considered a weighted average because the site assigns more significance to some critics/publications over others due to the quality of the source.... read more
Bram Stoker descendent and historian pen Dracula sequel
How many vampires are too many vampires?... read more
Coming soon to the Oscars: movie ads
In a bid to repeal a policy many viewers probably didn’t know existed, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced it will no longer bar the purchases of commercial spots for movies to air during the Oscar ceremony, a ban that had been in effect for more than 50 years. ... read more
Walter Salles talks about his On the Road adaptation
Although it was stuck in development for three decades (with Francis Ford Coppola owning the rights at one point), the film adaptation of iconic Jack Kerouac novel On the Road is finally inching toward the big screen.... read more
Clint Eastwood spills details about Gran Torino
We already knew a few of the character details, but now, at long last, a few more tidbits about Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino have been revealed, courtesy of USA Today (via /Film).... read more
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