Winona Ryder's Triumphant Return
The beloved actress of yore has landed a new plum role. Also today: an indie movie has an unsettling romance at its center, an '80s horror flick gets a remake, the zombie show finds its lead, and ratings news.
The Walking Dead, the best TV show that hasn't aired yet (zombies! it's about zermbeeeezzz), has found its lead. And you know who it is? The guy with the zip-up sweater who's in love with Keira Knightley in Love Actually! Remember? "Ohh I am what I am / I do what I want / and Iiiii can't hide..." music swells aaaand ZIP! Sweater goes up. You know the scene. Anyway. His name is Andrew Lincoln and he's an Englishman and soon he will be battling hordes of the undead in Atlanta. ZIP! [THR]
Gather round your old grandpa here kids and I'll tell you a story of an actress named Winona Ryder. Oh she's mostly a dusty memory now, but in my day... Hm? What's this? She's just been cast as a lead in a new movie directed by Ron Howard and starring Vince Vaughn? Sweet dancing Kaiser, that's great news! All the old ones are gonna come back, ain't they! Winona'll be there, and Christian Slater, and, hell, Amy Locane! Why not Amy Locane. She can be there. That's just fine. [EW]
Ewww. There's going to be a movie where Hugh Laurie from The House is doing it with Leighton Meester from Gossip Kids. Not ewww? Adam Brody is in the cast too. Ohhh Adam Brody. If only he didn't seem like such a dingle sometimes. Because he's so dreamy to look at. As is Allison Janney, who's also in the movie, which is called The Oranges. And Alia Shawkat, who's in it, is a looker too. And... uh... Oliver Platt is... Adam Platt's brother! [Variety]
Wasn't Tron Legacy so good? Sure it hasn't come out yet, won't until December, but it was so good. It was so good and did so well that Disney is already working on the sequel! It'll be called Tron Legacyer: The Squeakuel and will star Jason Lee and Breckin Meyer. Yay. [THR]
While a lot of cable shows are struggling in the ratings department — Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie, The Pacific (when you don't factor in its much bigger encore/DVR numbers) — one little show is steadily climbing. That'd be Starz's bloody ridiculous Spartacus, a mashup of 300, Rome, Gladiator, and a 14-year-old boy's idea of "sexy." It's risen some 97% in viewers since it premiered. Starz is eager to start work on the next season, though the show is on indefinite hiatus while its star undergoes treatment for cancer. Man, he giveth and he taketh away, huh? [THR]
Creepy little bat-child Anton Yelchin is gearing up to star in a remake of the 1985 thriller-chiller Fright Night, about a boy who thinks his next-door neighbor is vampyr. One assumes he'll be playing the William Ragsdale role, though one wishes he was playing the Amanda Bearse role. Marcy D'Arcy! Anyway, they're hoping it'll be a hit like Disturbia was a hit, because they're kind of the same movie, except David Morse was a moiderer, not a vampire. [THR]