· Execs try to put together last-minute deals as Sundance draws to a close. The best news: several buyers are eyeballing the Strangers with Candy movie. [Variety]
· Cross your fingers that this will finally cool the heat on poker projects: Drew Barrymore will play Eric Bana's love interest in the high-stakes poker dramedy Lucky You. Get it? Luck and poker? [THR]
· Jennifer Lopez returns from wandering in the agency desert to re-sign with ICM. They're now charged with the task of figuring out a way to increase her overexposure by at least 50 percent. [Variety]
· A Wahlberg is in talks to star in a 70s cop drama for NBC. But don't get too excited, it's just the one from NKOTB. Donnie, we think. [THR]
· Actors come out in support of casting directors' attempts to unionize, trying to ensure that their valuable casting-related sexual favors don't shift any further toward the studios. [Variety]
· Big-time publicist Bumble Ward suffers a mid-life crisis, abandoning the flacking game to write novels. She's generously agreed to help the clients she will one day thinly veil in her fiction find new representation. [Variety]

· Lion's Gate ponies up $4 million for the Sundance jailbait revenge drama Hard Candy. [Variety, THR]
· Miramax's 17 Oscar nominations and double Best Picture chances may be the Weinstein's final "fuck you" to Disney. Well, metaphorically at least. Harvey Weinstein will still probably make the occasional expletive-filled prank phonecall to a retired Michael Eisner. [Variety]
· Michael Mann reflects on how his movies (he produced The Aviator and directed Collateral) snagged 13 Oscar noms, but stops short of proclaiming himself the King of Hollywood. [THR]
· The Tonight Show's weepy Johnny Carson tribute special does predictably enormous ratings numbers. [THR]
· American Idol's huge Nielsens keep Fox from backsliding into WB/UPN territory. [THR]

· Sundance turns Park City into a corporate-sponsored frat party, with Gersh apparently serving as the Tri-Lams. [Variety]
· The Weinstein Brothers arrive at Sundance and throw money around, trying to prove that Michael Eisner doesn't have their balls bronzed and sitting on his desk. [Variety]
· Brad Pitt to go forward with and star in Plan B produced Jesse James western. Yes, we know. Without Jennifer. Weep, weep. [Variety]
· Scarlett Johansson will host Academy's science and technical awards, following in the group's long tradition of getting hot chicks to distract from a ceremony we suspect is even boring for the nerds. [THR]
· Nickelodeon and Paramount give Robin Williams yet another opportunity to recycle his wacky characters voices in The Krazees. We really hope he does "The Lisping Homo," "The Crazy Hasidic Jew," "The Jive-Talking Black Guy," and "The Deaf Guy" so that the studios really get their money's worth. [THR]

· After watching the DGA and WGA go down in flames negotiating for increased DVD residuals, SAG/AFTRA gives up the dream after facing "rock-hard resistance from studios and nets." But everyone knew they were going to get bent over and given the "rock-hard" shaft after the writers and directors hummed their way through their earlier buggerings. [Variety]
· Despite The Big Pitt and Aniston Break-Up, Plan B and Tri-Star will soon start production on the adaptation of Running with Scissors, starring Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brian Cox, Evan Rachel Wood, and Joseph Fiennes. [Variety]
· More Brad and Jen: Mr. and Mrs. Smith will be a test case for whether or not banging your co-star before a very public split with your A-list wife results in increased box office. God, we hope it does, just for all the studio-ordered affairs. [THR]
· Huzzah! The overall deal is not yet dead! Darren Star is close to signing a three-year deal with Sony Pictures TV. OK, it's not dead if your last project was Sex and the City. [THR]
· Fox and Spelling TV team up for one hour drama set in a Las Vegas wedding chapel. Please, kill us now, and make it painful. It'll still be better than an hour of this. [THR]

· Fox entertainment president Gail Berman knows that her network is really taking it on the chin with its year-round programming schedule, but pledges that they're still committed to having their ass kicked in the name of being revolutionary. Luckily, American Idol is right around the corner to cover up some of the Nielsen bruises. [THR]
· Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh pony up some of their precious Lord of the Rings coin to buy the rights to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, which will keep the studio development monkeys from flinging their feces on the project at least until the script is finished.[Variety]
· Universal outbids several studios for a chance to produce The Break Up (plot top secret!), shelling out $2.25 million for the script written by Jeremy Garelick and Jay Lavender with a story by Vince Vaughn. Since no one's buying Vaughn's brain, he's attached to star in the film. [THR]
· Disney plans to go ahead with an idea for the Pixar-less Toy Story 3 idea pitched by a writer in their animation story development program. The studio has yet to decide whether to let the precocious kid write the script or crush his dreams by bringing in some high-priced talent. [THR]
· Though the Housewives themselves were at the Golden Globes, America much preferred seeing them in character on another channel, as ABC's powerhouse Sunday night demolished the awards show's ratings. [Variety]

· News Corp., in good financial shape, looks to start buying everything in sight just for shits and giggles. [THR]
· If 74-year-olds keep scoring seven-figure deals like the one Alvin Sargent just signed to write Spider-man 3, older, out-of-work writers are going to have a hell of a time suing studios for age discrimination. [Variety*]
· Afraid of the possibility that the God of the Old Testament might smite them for their sin, ABC will produce their Ten Commandments miniseries without a singing Val Kilmer. [THR]
· Hollywood Out Of Ideas, We Were Just Ahead Of Our Time Edition: Disney signs up writers Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal for a Tron remake. [Variety*]
· Sean William Scott joins Billy Bob Thornton in the cast of the New Line comedy Mr. Woodcock. Enjoy the movie's title before it gets changed to something more palatable to red state theatregoers. [THR]

· Steven Spielberg is finally moving ahead with his Abraham Lincoln biopic, entering into talks with Liam Neeson to star. Hey, he may not be American, but he's tall and he's already comfortable with the gay stuff after doing Kinsey. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· ABC co-savior J.J. Abrams can do it all (except make us care about Alias). He'll direct The Good Sailor, about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, for Universal. [THR]
· Co-head of CAA motion picture lit department Josh Donen bolts CAA to set up a production company with Sam Raimi at Sony. It's always a little sad when an agent gives up "the life." [THR]
· Billionaire producer Steve Bing buys his way into the director's chair, setting up a gig directing Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins in Harry and the Butler. Once you've had Nicole Kidman and Liz Hurley, you think you can do anything. [Variety]
· Cinematographers nominate The Passion of the Christ for their yearly awards, regonizing the film's achievement of making Christ's beatings look absolutely breathtaking. [THR]

· SAG celebrates the actorly arts by recognizing the casts of The Aviator, Sideways, Million Dollar Baby, Finding Neverland, and Ray with their award nominations. [THR]
· Shades of Wooderson? Matthew McConaughey signs on for the Scott Rudin project Failure to Launch, as a thirtysomething guy whose parents fix him up to get him out of their house. [THR]
· What the hell, cast everyone! Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger, Carla Gugino, Nick Cannon, Forest Whitaker, Jay Mohr, Kelsey Grammer, and Ray Liotta sign on (or will soon) for the Mark Rydell-directed indie drama Jump Shot. [Variety, sub req'd.]
· NBC wins Monday night with Medium, despite competition from the premiere of The Bachelorette and a second night of 24 doubleheaders. [THR]
· Bill Condon, now the musical go-to-guy after adapting Chicago, will follow up Kinsey by directing a movie version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls for DreamWorks. [Variety]

John Logan, the A-list screenwriter growing so powerful that his agents wrangled him a contract provision stating he'd receive the sole screenplay credit on The Aviator, offers some helpful tips on how to survive the business in the NY Times:

· The comic book fanboy rumors are true: Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey will play Lois Lane and Lex
Luthor in Bryan Singer's new Superman flick. That's Bosworth-Lane and Spacey-Luthor, unless Singer's really trying to shake thing up. [THR]
· Chastened by Michael Eisner's reign of terror at Disney, the company decides to keep the jobs of chairman and CEO separate. What this means to laymen: The CEO gets first choice of which character costume he gets to wear at board meetings. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· British thesp David Morrissey hops aboard Basic Instinct 2 as the psychiatrist who tries to figure out Sharon Stone's homicidal, beaver-flashing novelist. Wow, one sentence in and we've already stopped caring. [THR]
· Modest ratings gains have NBC desperately clinging to the idea that 2005 won't be as big a disaster as last year. Keep hope alive, Jeff Zucker! [THR]
· ExploitationWatch: CBS snatches up the rights to Amber Frey's Witness to develop as telepic. [Variety]

· As we all know by now, Brad Grey is confirmed as head of Paramount, etc etc. [THR, Variety, sub. req'd.]
· John Travolta will play a homicide detective in the feature Lonely Hearts. We hope he's the kind of cop who breaks all the rules, we can't get enough of those! James Gandolfini will sully himself alongside the bloated, scenery-chewing Scientologist. [Variety]
· HBO, bored of their procession of single-camera comedy hits, gives a pick up to its first multi-camera sitcom, a family show written by and starring Louis C.K. Oh, the hubris that makes HBO think they can make the laugh track bearable... [THR]
· MTV picks up 3 more seasons of The Real World, ensuring that Los Angeles will have a nearly inexhaustible supply of bartenders and servers that patrons kind of recognize from the TV. [Variety]
· OutKast's Andre 3000 will star as Mark Wahlberg's brother in Paramount's dead-mother-avenging feature previously known as Four Brothers. If you had any questions as to why Paramount had to clean house, please re-read the first sentence. [THR]
· Once-proud, one-man lawyer drama factory David E. Kelley slowly descends the network ladder, exec producing the pilot Halley's Comet for the WB. [THR]
· Breaking: Directors Guild nominates Clint Eastwood, Marc Forster, Taylor Hackford, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese for its awards. [Variety]

· Rick Sands, the Miramax COO hardened by years of Harvey Weinstein's cat o' nine tails, assumes the title of president and CEO of DreamWorks. He'll report to David Geffen, whom we expect will issue a totally different kind of daily beating than the ones Sands grew accustomed to at The Max. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· You hardly needed this told to you: Shrek 2 was the highest selling home video title in 2004. DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg can now flush entire stacks of hundred dollar bills down the toilet, whereas before he had to peel them off one by one. [THR]
· Just because there's nothing to do in the first week of the year but count the piles of money: Sony wins the year in North American box office thanks to Spider-man 2, while Warner Bros. takes the international box office crown [THR, Variety]
· Paramount execs were taken by surprise by the stories that Brad Grey has been anointed as the next studio head, feeling they weren't consulted. Hmm, maybe they weren't told because they're all about to get fired? [Variety]
· Jerry Bruckheimer gets two drama pilot pickups, including E-Ring for NBC, a supposed West Wing in the Pentagon. Maybe it's time he gets his own channel. Jerry's Steaming Pile of Derivative Shit TV has kind of a nice sound to it. [THR]

·"No power player has ever given up as much autonomy and wealth to become the No. 3 man in an entertainment company." So sayeth Peter Bart about Brad Grey's expected move to Paramount, but he's obviously overlooking the valuable opportunity to be Les Moonves' demonic valet (Tom Freston will be long slain) at Viacom when the Rapture comes. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda will open the Santa Barbara Film Festival. This isn't as scary as it sounds—Allen's only creatively dead, not actually dead. [THR]
· Samaire Armstrong, on-screen assistant to Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold on Entourage (and late of The O.C.), is cast as Lindsay Lohan's BFF in her untitled "Lucky" project. Next up for Armstrong: peer-pressure surgery, a drinking problem, and a punitive fling with Fez. [THR]
· Carsey-Werner and Fox will attempt to squeeze every last drop of blood from the dessicated corpse of That 70's Show, formulating plans to keep the sitcom going after Topher Grace bails at the end of this season and Ashton Kutcher makes only token appearances. [Variety]
· Every time a publicist is promoted, an angel gets a scorching case of herpes: Rebecca Marks moved up to executive VP of NBC Universal west coast publicity division. The bad news is she still reports directly to fading NBC-U golden boy Jeff Zucker. [Variety]

Yeah, we know what you're thinking, you sickos. Just like with the sale of No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah earlier this month (Harrison Ford attached, natch)—even though we can guarantee no one will remember where or what Fallujah is in two years—we know you're in the "home office" storming your little brains right this second.

· Lindsay Lohan dumps Endeavor for CAA, who apparently provided her with a much more comprehensive strategy for the further marketing of her assets. Which is no mean feat, considering that Endeavor snagged her $3.5 million per breast from 20th Century Fox. [THR]
· HBO is on the verge of becoming the first network in history to top a billion dollars in profit. And all of this success without Good Morning Miami, Complete Savages, or Center of the Universe. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· For all of those kids who missed out on the whole Matrix thing: An upcoming Constantine videogame will allow players to feel the virtual "Whoa" of becoming Keanu Reeves. [THR]
· Please forgive us, but we must: Uma, Ulla. Ulla,Uma. Etc etc. (Oh, we feel so very unclean.) Uma Thurman may take over for Nicole Kidman in the film version of The Producers. [Variety]
· ESPN is developing a made-for-TV movie about legendary boxer Jack Johnson. Folly! How will they ever top Tom Sizemore's epic turn in Hu$tle? [THR]

· Morris Chestnut will star in the NBC pilot Dante, which "revolves around the life and family of a football superstar who has an extra-large sense of entitlement and often is out of touch with reality," and seemingly based on a character from a Budweiser commercial. If they wanted to steal from beer commercials, why can't we have 22 minutes of those two chicks catfighting in bikinis? Or those "Wassssup?" guys. We kinda miss them. [THR]
· Chicago film critics lay down in front of the Sideways steamroller. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· Disney settles with the SEC for failing to disclose the "lucrative relationships" that the company had with relatives of board members. Oopsies! Were they supposed to let shareholders know they were hiring family members? [THR]
· Showtime euthanizes Dead Like Me after two seasons, but signs up a TV version of Barbershop. We think it's so adorable that Showtime keeps trying to make its own shows, but they should probably stick with their winning formula of hot gays and lesbians. [Variety]
· CBS quite logically selects the Irish Jonathan Rhys-Meyers to play Irish folk music icon Elvis Presley in a miniseries. [Variety]

· Both THR and Variety break down the "changing of the guard" at William Morris. Other terms used to describe the changes: shake-up, culture war, overhaul. Sadly, neither paper went for "bloodletting" or "board room massacre." [THR, Variety, sub. req'd.]
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind halts the Sideways juggernaut by being named best picture by the D.C. film critics. We may have to abandon our persecution complex if movies we loved continue to win awards.
· Writers' assistant Larry Reitzer lives the dream, selling a pilot script to ABC. Naturally, his boss of four years is cut in on the deal. [THR]
· Warner Bros. options the movie rights to a short story about a guy who uses math equations to make his girlfriend commit. You heard it here first: Nerds are going to be huge in '05. [Variety]
· The second season Apprentice finale comes nowhere near the ratings numbers of the first, but does well enough to ensure that the Donald will be boring us with two- and three-hour specials in the future. [THR]

· Viacom co-pres Les Moonves creates the CBS Marketing Group to oversee all marketing activities for CBS and UPN and "maximize [their] promotional power." So why did Moonves order this new "Marketing Group" fifty tanks and enough assault rifles to march into Nevada? Start hording the bottle water and canned food. The invasion is nigh. [THR]
· Showtime, further cementing their role as HBO's retarded cousin, gives a 10 episode order to the Mary Louise Parker suburban-mom-turned-pot-dealer series—get ready for it, because here it comes—Weeds. Possible promotional tagline: "The gateway drug to hilarity!" [THR]
· Shocker: The Simpsons dominates WGA nominations in the animation category. West Wing and Sex and the City also receive props. [Variety, sub, req'd.]
· Universal grabs Harrison Ford to star in the first feature on the current war in Iraq, based on the upcoming book No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah. If they hold off production for some kind of resolution in Iraq, they might have to rewrite Ford's part as an Alzheimer's-afflicted WWII vet who wants to "grab his helmet and get back in the shit." [Variety]
· The Broadcast Film Critics Association continues to set up critics everywhere for an eventual Oscar letdown by nominating Sideways for 8 awards. Why do these people insist on celebrating this excellent film?! Why?! [THR]

· Columbia hires Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck to write the Will Ferrell beach volleyball comedy, Bronze God. Gregory understands what he's supposed to deliver: "Will's about the funniest guy out there, and he's even funnier shirtless, in a Speedo and with a savage tan." Then again, the phrase "Will Ferrell beach volleyball comedy" probably sold this one all by itself. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· LOTR's Sean Bean will play the bad guy in Michael Bay's The Island, a movie that "centers on a harvested being who becomes self-aware and tries to escape" from a hack director who still thinks he's shooting music videos. [THR]
· Rose McGowan is in negotiations to play Ann-Margaret in the CBS Elvis biopic, undoubtedly because Lindsay Lohan is otherwise engaged dancing on bars and screwing Colin Farrell. [THR]
· CBS picks up Survivor through 2006, but all future runners-up must now spend a ten-year indentured servitude servicing Les Moonves' every whim. High stakes indeed. [Variety]
· Chris Weitz will no longer direct New Line's movie adaptation of the His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass fantasy novel. Weitz denies "creative differences," but probably because he's staying on as a writer. [THR]

· The latest on Miramax vs. Disney: In an SEC filing, Disney ominously states that production of Miramax projects may be "abandoned or otherwise impaired" after their deal with the Weinsteins expires. This is the closest Michael Eisner can get to threatening to kill Harvey Weinstein's children. [Variety, sub. req'd.]
· Hilary Swank gets the "femme fatale" role in the Brian DePalma adaptation of the James Ellroy novel The Black Dahlia. DePalma will now have to try and find a way to butch her up a little and put her right back in Oscar contention. [Variety]
· No matter how hard we close our eyes and wish for Brett Ratner to disappear, he stubbornly continues to show up in the trades. Robin Tunney signs up for Ratner's Fox drama Prison Break.[THR]
· NY Film Critics Circle jumps on the Sideways bandwagon. When will these critics stop blindly rewarding excellence, just like the Academy voters did years ago? [THR]
· NBC Universal Television pretends to humor Will & Grace star Eric McCormack's producing aspirations, sets up a shingle for him with offices across from the CBS Radford lot. How long will it take McCormack to figure out NBC provided him with cardboard prop computers from Ikea and Fisher Price telephones? [Variety]