Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free

Here’s who’s on the late night shows tonight.

• Charlie Rose: Robert Kagan and Parag Khanna
• The Daily Show: Denis Leary
• The Colbert Report: Andrei Cherny
• The Late Show with David Letterman: America Ferrera, Russell Brand, and Terry Fator
• Jay Leno: Dana Delany, Hulk Hogan, and Dwight Yoakam
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Josh Holloway, Brad Williams, and Dierks Bentley
• Tavis Smiley: Pico Iyer and Richard Roundtree
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien: Carlos Mencia and MGMT
• The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson: David Boreanaz and Carrot Top
• Last Call with Carson Daly: Christina Ricci, Steve Byrne, and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

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Filed under: OpEd, Interviews, The Office, Celebrities, Reality-Free

Melora Hardin, who plays Jan on NBC’s The Office, recently opened up to TV Guide about her character, office romances, “Miley-gate,” and The Office finale. Here’s a few tidbits from the interview:

• About Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Hardin says that she’s acting like a normal fifteen-year-old and “I think it’s more a question of her handlers protecting her image.”
• Melora Hardin also talks about her new movie (which her husband wrote and she directed) called You. It’s a coming of age story about a father and daughter. Hardin, her husband, her parents, and her children are in it.
• Hardin admits that she herself has had an office relationship. Her husband! She met him at a wrap party, “So I guess you could consider that an office romance, being that wrap parties are part of my office setting.”

Continue reading The Office’s Melora Hardin talks to TV Guide

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Filed under: Horror, Casting

I really, really dig Lena Headey. She’s been a breath of fresh air in cinema. She’s smart, charming, and tough. She’s sexy, but not overly sexualized, and she’s got this reality to her that makes her roles pop. But she really, really has to add more diversity to her roles. Or, rather, she has to stop heavily favoring the dark/violent fare. Is this type casting? Personal preference?

I don’t know, but there is yet another dark film on the way for Headey. Variety reports that she’s just wrapped Anchor Bay’s new slasher film Laid to Rest. The film focuses on a young girl who wakes up in a casket with a bad head injury and no memory of who she is. But she hasn’t been buried alive. Instead, she’s been abducted by a serial killer and has to outsmart him to survive.

I just hope one of her other projects, Six Bullets from Now, is light enough in the action/heist department to give her some mainstream regular cred, and get her out of this trend. But there’s still Tell-Tale and Black Death on the way as well, plus more Sarah Connor Chronicles. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great in the dark fare, but it’d just be nice to see more frequent diversity. Let Luce shine!

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Filed under: Action, Comedy, Casting

I wonder … how do you meet the super thieves and spies? How do these cinematic guys always find the people with deep, dark secrets, or law-breaking wild sides? Variety reports that Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. are starring in a new action comedy called Lies & Illusions, which will be directed by Tibor Takacs. (Will it be able to match the wonder, humor, and intrigue that is Kuffs?!) Sarah Ann Schultz, Christa Campbell, Al Madrigal, and Lochlyn Munro have also signed on to star.

The script, written by Eric James, focuses on “a novelist being hunted by a spy who believes the writer holds millions of dollars in diamonds stolen by his dead fiancee.” But it’s more than just that. According to IMDb, the writer is “torn between two lovers,” and also, “A book editor from New York becomes obsessed with the author of a violent novel. She soon learns secrets about his past.” Seeing that Slater gets a first and last name — Wes Wilson, and Cuba only gets “Isaac,” I assume that Slater is the writer, and Cuba is the spy. But I don’t see how the editor fits into all of this.

IMDb says that it’s now in post, but Variety says the film began shooting this week in Spokane.

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Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Casting, Scripts

No, I don’t think this latest feature is a mixture of Buffy and Foxy Brown, where lesbians get tough and hunt vampires. (Has there been a flick like that yet? If not, I’m sure we’ll get it one of these days.) Instead, this seems to be about the dudes who kill lesbian vampires, or will be killed by them. Variety reports that James Corden and Mathew Horne, who star in the UK’s cult show Gavin and Stacey, are re-teaming to bring down some vamps in Phil Claydon’s Lesbian Vampire Killers.

Written by Stewart Williams and Paul Hupfield, this horror comedy focuses on Corden and Horne “stuck in a village where all the women have been enslaved by a vampire curse.” This makes it sound like the village was a lesbian commune, or the girls tapped into their gay side after growing the fangs, sort of like Willow on Buffy. However, IMDb fills in some blanks. An ancient curse falls upon this Welsh town, so the “remaining menfolk … send two hapless young lads out onto the moors as a sacrifice.” Talk about drawing the short stick, although I imagine there are worse ways to be sacrificed.

I’m sure there will be lots of skin and all the girlie bits that make horror fanboys salivate. What I don’t know much about is Gavin & Stacey. Any fans out there want to weigh in about Corden and Horne taking on lesbian blood suckers? Can they do it?

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Filed under: Action, Comedy, Casting, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips

Meet big squirt, foo!

Our Erik Davis should get a side job as a casting director after his comment about the upcoming A-Team movie. Back in December, he said: “Like, B.A. Baracas (played by Mr. T on the TV show) is listed as a ‘22-year-old walking steel with two-percent body fat.’ Yup, expect Tyrese Gibson in this role.”

Unless scheduling problems put a wrench in the whole thing, it looks like Gibson is, indeed, BA. He told Devin at CHUD the other day that while his participation isn’t finalized, he’s getting excited about taking on Baracus. But it won’t be completely like we remember. There could be a mohawk (there best be!), but not the bling that would bury a baby. And get this — he plans to work out and bulk up even more for the role.

I just don’t know about all of this. The charm of the show, which is one of my ’80s favorites, was the humor and the quirk. Not only does the casting have to be spot-on, but it just has to keep some of the strangeness. Yeah, it was the ’80s, but it’s not like BA was following trends. He had his own style. There best be a mohawk, bling, and a whole lotta foo’.

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Filed under: Music & Musicals, Casting, RumorMonger, The Weinstein Co.

At the moment we have to consider this a rumor, but can you imagine an Academy Award-winning psychotic oilman in a musical? Daniel Day-Lewis is in talks to replace Javier Bardem in Rob Marshall’s film version of the musical Nine, according to Variety. As Monika Bartyzel told us a couple of weeks ago, Bardem dropped out of the lead role due to exhaustion. A spokesman for distributor The Weinstein Co. denied that a new lead had been set.

What an exciting prospect, though! Day-Lewis is famously selective about the roles he chooses, which means it’s safe to assume that he was impressed by the elements that have been brought together. Those elements include: (1) script by Michael Tolkin, re-written by Anthony Minghella shortly before he died; (2) a fabulous cast of women, led by Nicole Kidman and Judi Dench (as Elisabeth Rappe reported recently), but also Penelope Cruz, Marion Cotillard and Sophia Loren; (3) director Rob Marshall. I know that Marshall isn’t universally loved — I’m not a fan of Chicago – but presumably he has some kind of dazzling vision that inspires confidence among actors with hidden musical talents.

If he takes the part, Day-Lewis would play Guido Contini, “a famous film director who experiences personal and creative crisis while trying to balance all the women in his life.” In the 1982 Broadway musical, inspired by Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Raul Julia originated the role. I’m hoping for confirmation soon.

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Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Religious, Cinematical Indie

Next time Terry Gilliam gets down about his bad luck, he should talk to Constantin Film about Pope Joan. In October of 2006, Franka Potente signed on. In April 2007, John Goodman got sued for backing out of the feature. That made production stop. Then director Volker Schlöndorff was fired over comments he made to a paper. Last we heard, there was a new director, Sönke Wortmann, but that was last August.

And I just had to go and say: “How funny would it be if she could no longer do it? Also disappointing, since I’d love to see her really command a period piece.” The Hollywood Reporter posts that due to scheduling conflicts from the rampant delays, Franka is out and German actress Johanna Wokalek is in as Pope Joan. That news just, well, sucks. It would’ve been a great opportunity for Franka, and Wokalek isn’t well-known stateside, which could affect the production further.

But here’s where things get weird. It seems that although he was sued and left eons ago, “Constantin said Wednesday that it remains in talks with Goodman and that the actor could still join the cast.” That would certainly help foreign cred, but is he really still around? Is this just due to the lawsuit? The whole production just seems like a mess.

Should I even bother saying that principle photography is now set for August, with the film’s release set for 2009? Will this come to fruition, or are more problems on the way?

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Filed under: Programming, Scrubs, Celebrities, Reality-Free

Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence recently did an interview with TV Guide’s Michael Ausiello and took NBC to task for its shoddy treatment of the show. The network cut the comedy’s final season short, but the show is getting a second chance on ABC. Lawrence slammed his former network bosses for denying him the opportunity to conclude the show properly, and discussed Scrubs’ future on ABC. Here’s a brief recap of the interview:

• Once the strike was over, Lawrence told NBC that he could finish up the season in three episodes instead of the planned seven. NBC had no interest in wrapping up the season in a way that would satisfy fans.

Continue reading Scrubs creator has harsh words for NBC

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Filed under: Programming, Celebrities, Cancellations, Super Skank Wednesday

Flavor Flav’s search for the right woman will end in Paris next week. Sniffle. Hold on while I wipe the single tear from my eye. After three seasons of Flavor of Love, VH1 has announced that next Monday’s show will be Flav’s last chance at finding love… well, his last chance on a reality dating show where VH1 casts a bunch of skanks for him to choose from. I’m already planning a Super Skank Wednesday tribute to the glorious Flavor of Love, the show that started it all. (Don’t ask me to define what exactly it started. Just know that whatever was started, was started by Flavor of Love.)

The season and series finale of Flavor of Love will air on Monday, May 19th at 9:00 p.m. ET / PT. In the words of Flav (a man never at loss for something pithy to say), the finale is sure to be “dramatical.”
I put a clip from the finale after the jump for you enjoyment.

Continue reading Flavor of Love: Three’s a charm - VIDEO

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