From the creator of The Wire! Sort of! The Iraq miniseries Generation Kill premieres this weekend on HBO, with do-no-wrong David Simon linked as co-writer/executive producer of the seven-part event. The LA Times had a look and seems to have liked it fine, despite the fingerprints of journalist and source author Evan Wright having smudged some of the central characters' "expository dialogue."
Ah, the sweet smell of desperation. Unlike the smell of success, it tends to accompany fallen pop stars, singers who’ve failed to “make it” in the showbiz, and more than a few ladies with a laundry list of divorces and annulments under their garter belts. Currently reeking of it are Madonna and Britney Spears who, as we noted yesterday, are planning a musical (well, under their definition of “musical”) collaboration that promises to top any and all racy stunts either has pulled in their respective never-a-dull-moment careers. And now Us reports that, beyond bondage scenes and nudity nobody wants to see anymore, Britney has filmed a video clip for the performance that sounds like Attack Of The Killer Umbrella-Bearing Baldie 2: This Time, With Hair! Yes, we’ll soon see an enormous Spears at her “screaming,” “kicking,” “anxious” best, giving a whole new meaning to elevator music:
Fans of comedy superstar Jack Black were gifted this summer with an embarrassment of cinematic riches featuring the rotund, hyperactive manchild. First came DreamWorks's family-friendly Kung Fu Panda, with Black voicing that film's ursine journeyman. But for those who prefer a blacker Black, he'll play a star-in-withdrawal in Tropic Thunder, due out next month. Black sat down with Blender for a surprisingly forthcoming talk about some of his own experiences experimenting with hard drugs:
Christina Ricci had a make to a quick pit stop to pick up a six-pack of the life force that keeps Hollywood running, Diet Coke. Ricci wasn't sure if she was running low at her house, but the svelte Speed Racer star's sixth sense kicked in. Ricci said, "I was just driving back from the gym and I just felt this need to stop at the first place I saw and get a six pack of Diet Coke. I was feeling really tense and anxious and then I put that six pack in my hands. It just went away. As if the entire weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders." Upon leaving the store, Ricci gently placed the six-pack in the front seat and strapped it with a seat belt.
We're seeing The Dark Knight next week like everybody else, but since David Letterman has already wrecked everything for us, the hell with it: SPOILER ALERT. Like, seriously. The screenshots that some douchebag smuggled out of a press screening and pollenated our inbox with this morning aren't going to shatter the Earth, but they'll warrant crossing at least two items off your list of "Twists I Can't Wait to Totally Ruin By Seeing Them Before the Movie."
While health inspectors may have fallen head over heels in love with Pixar's restaurant impresario "Little Chef", it seems they can't stomach a vermin infestation at mold-friendly Newsroom Cafe. The eatery, favored by pseudo vegetarian starlets, went from achieving average status to full-blown suspension in a shake of a rat's tail. The restaurant is understandably befuddled after receiving the notice of closure since the soup-diving, steak tartare-preparing rats appeared so lovable on screen. But, the now relevantly monikered establishment plans to turn things around.
Scratch an egomaniac and you're sure to find a sensitive soul just a sincere hug or two away from a healthy, humanitarian lifestyle. At least that's our read on ginger terror David Caruso, whose tyranny on the set of CSI: Miami can only come from a place of haunted concern for something larger than himself — say, perhaps, upholding the dramatic tradition of sunglasses-removal, or, if we are to believe the civilian investigation to which we were tipped this morning, the whereabouts of a fugitive stalking suspect he (and reportedly the FBI) might prefer to see located sooner than later.
Yet another actress is sounding off on how urgently they needed to slim down after giving birth, and unlike sourpuss Jessica Alba or wine-guzzling Gwyneth Paltrow, this is a chick we actually like. Beginning the rounds of press for her role as Katie Holmes’ Replacement in the highly anticipated, potentially Oscar-adorned Dark Knight, Maggie Gyllenhaal tells USA Today how she speedily dropped all her baby weight before stripping down for some racy Agent Provocateur lingerie ads:
Ever wondered how the hacks at Worst Website In the World TMZ craft their stories? No? Too bad, because I'm going to tell you anyway. A concerned tipster has directed our attention to a humble site called the Courthouse News Service, a place where lots of pdfs of legal documents can be found and original reporting is filed. TMZ, god bless 'em, has been stealing from them for months. Basically they'll pepper up a CN story with some truly shitty writing, slap their large watermark on public documents that CN just happens to always have attached to their posts, and sometimes even dare to call the post an "Exclusive." Evidence is after the jump.
Looking for something to do tonight? Juno screenwriter/ unhealthy-Defamer -preoccupation topic Diablo Cody is curating the New Beverly schedule for the next two weeks, in a programme she calls MONDO DIABLO: Season of the Bitch!. "Call it a festival, a season, or just TWO SOLID WEEKS OF FUCKING RAD SHIT," she writes on her MySpace blog. The fun kicks off tonight with a Reitman family reunion, as both Ivan and Jason will be on hand to answer all your Stripes and Thank You for Smoking-related questions. To sweeten the pot—as if that fucking rad shit-filled pot needed sweetening—Cody has offered to sign your Juno DVDs and Blu-Rays, or your scrotum:
While leaving a taping of a morning talk show, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army star Selma Blair had her personal space invaded by a pesky photog. The photog thought he had missed "the shot" and decided to shove his camera into Blair's SUV and snapped away. Blair who was signing autographs for fans asked if the guy could back up just a tad, but the photog wasn't sure that he got the shot yet. Blair swiftly assured the man that he got the shot and that he would get an even better shot if he scooted back a bit more.
Welcome back to another week of Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to the fresh hell of what's new at the movies. After taking a Hancock holiday weekend to find ourselves, we're back in full-on summer anguish mode as yet another massive comics adaptation hits theaters, Brendan Fraser goes a-spelunkin' and Eddie Murphy returns with... we don't even know. But! We also have our eyes on a few alternatives both at the theaters and in the comfort of our air-conditioned caves, so all is not lost. As always, our opinions are our own and elegantly spot-on — which, of course, you've come to expect and we're happy to oblige!
Pixar's new movie, about the robot from Short Circuit falling in love with a mechanized tampon and exploring a universe which has ruined and been ruined by humanity, has some people upset. Specifically, the overweight. You see, in the film, the last gobs of the human race are doughy and lazy folk who drink liquid cupcakes and can't even really walk. And that's not fair! Right? Why is Pixar, usually so loving and tender to all of God's creatures, suddenly lashing out at such a large swath of the population, equating them with the decay of civilization? A tearful former Pixar fan writes a letter to the company:
· If you love The Shining—and who doesn't—we're pretty sure you'll love this commercial plugging a Stanley Kubrick retrospective on UK TV. [thighswideshut.org, Channel 4]
· The "Straight Dave" referred to in that Arkansas gay wrestling prank is rumored to be another character Sacha Baron Cohen is playing in Bruno: "A gay man trying to hide his sexuality by living an ultra-straight lifestyle." This is starting to sound tedious. [g4tv.com via videogum]
· Have you always wanted to know how to spell Vin Diesel's name in Russian, but were too shy to ask? Today is your lucky day! [/Film]
· This 32,000 Barbie doll installation is like some Busby Berkeley fever dream. [eyeteeth.blogspot.com via Goldenfiddle]
· Panda births are not cute. They kind of remind us of Alien births. [itn.co.uk]
Brooke Hogan, the Saddest Reality Star on Earth, popped by GMA this morning to plug her new VH1 show Brooke Knows Best, where she was made to react to all the truly awful things to happen to her this year. By way of review: Her brother's best friend was left brain dead from a racing accident with her brother Nick Hogan at the wheel, for which he is currently serving an eight-month sentence. Also, her mother filed for divorce from her famous wrestler dad, and is now dating a 19-year-old. And where most of us would choose to cope with a year of unthinkable tragedy and heartache by, say, not submitting ourselves to 24-hour reality film crew documenting every emotional breakdown, Brooke has chosen the perhaps more challenging route, and done precisely that. To her credit, were it us in that situation, we'd probably be shitfaced and trying to make out with Sam Champion—but Hogan manages to admirably hold it all together. Let's hope she doesn't wind up being shuffled through the VH1 Celebreality repertory, and wind up roomies with Natasha Lyonne on Celebrity Rehab, or judging a hot-fudge-massage contest on her own competitive dating show, Hogan On To Love.
When choosing between months of intensive studies spent hunched over a Torah preparing for your kiddushin (that's betrothal for you goyum, which are non-Jews for you...non-Jews), and becoming a big star, it seems Isla Fisher has decided to go with the latter. As the Daily Mail reports, the potential redheaded successor to Lucille Ball's slapstick throne has put off the conversion process in order to complete filming Confessions Of A Shopaholic. And fiance Sacha Baron Cohen's ultra-religious parents just don't see what all this movie stardom fuss is all about. The wedding date has reportedly been postponed, Cohen's gone back to making Israelis cry as Bruno, and the wee Cohen baby is presumably in the hands of the only au pair they could find who hasn't seen Borat. But Fisher isn't the first actress to undergo conversion to Judaism for a guy — from Liz Taylor to Connie Chung, a diverse handful of stars became Jews in the name of love, though not every shattered wine glass led to a happy ending...
There hasn't been a show as hotly anticipated as the 90210 revamp since last year's Knight Rider. (You heard me.) And as we wait with bated breath wondering about the casting fate of teen counseling sensation and all around Losing My Religion-loving Brenda, let's catch up with some former cast members to see how life is treating them.
Those of you with a fondness for (or an aversion to) cupcakes will surely remember the To Do video from late May in which Molls devoured an entire box of Hostess cupcakes while listening to the Counting Crows. Many of you were repulsed, many of you were concerned for her well-being, and a few of you got a little bit turned on (you sick puppies). Well, after a few weeks of counseling at the Slim Goodbody Institute For Healthy Dietary Habits, Molls is a reformed woman. And while she still enjoys the occasional prodigious eating bender, she has shifted her hunger to something a little more healthy this time around. Enjoy!
John Cusack is suing Intermedia Film Equities USA for breach of contract in the amount of $5.6 million, after production was canceled on his upcoming film Stopping Power. Originally scheduled to shoot in Germany, Cusack signed on to star after Intermedia guaranteed him a "pay or play" fixed compensation of $4.5 million, along with an additional $50,000 to cover the cost of Cusack's staff while on location. $50,000? Who knew Lane Meyer was so high maintenance? Fortunately, we here at Defamer were able to get our hands on a top secret copy of Cusack's rider. We break down exactly where that $50K would've gone after the jump.
