hollywood

SpongeBob SquarePants Detained by LAPD

Seth Abramovitch · 09/15/11 02:15AM

There have always been a few particularly bad apples amongst the never-ending parade of costumed ne'er-do-wells that loiter outside Hollywood's famed Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Past arrests have included that of a rampaging Chewbacca and a Spider-Man gone berserk. Now to those unseemly ranks we add yet another, for SpongeBob SquarePants was "questioned but not arrested" by LAPD officers on Tuesday after a "brief incident with two females."

Violent Jew-Hater to Make Film About Violent Jew

John Cook · 09/09/11 02:10PM

Who better to film the epic tale of the ancient Jewish warrior Judah Maccabbee than Mel Gibson, who thinks "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world"?

Meet the Hollywood Hackers Coming For Your Nude Pics

Adrian Chen · 08/29/11 07:21PM

The newest hacker gang isn't after credit card numbers or classified NATO documents. Their game is blockbuster scripts, verified Twitter accounts and nude cell phone snapshots. Harden your passwords, glitterati: Hollywood Leaks will use any means necessary to bust open the entertainment industry.

Aspiring Screenwriter's Screenplay Literally Blows Up

Adrian Chen · 08/12/11 04:54PM

An aspiring screenwriter put his script and laptop in a briefcase and dropped it off at an agent's office in Los Angeles. But the police thought it was a bomb and blew it up. If his script were half as good as this news story, he might have had a chance.

Hollywood Premiere Canceled After 'Out of Control' Ravers Riot

Max Read · 07/27/11 10:19PM

The premiere of rave documentary Electric Daisy Carnival Experience at the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater has reportedly been cancelled after a larger-than-expected crowd showed up to see DJ Kaskade and ended up shutting down part of Hollywood Blvd.

How Bad Was NBC's Wonder Woman Pilot? That Bad

Seth Abramovitch · 07/21/11 08:23PM

The few who had seen the failed pilot for NBC's Wonder Woman — a proposed series about the DC Comics superheroine from Ally McBeal-creator David E. Kelley — said the network had laid a pterodactyl-sized egg. Campily, laughably terrible. Which didn't come as much of a surprise to anyone. All five networks had already passed once on the script, after all, and it took a regime change at NBC to finally get someone to crunch the numbers (numbers = breasts) and greenlight the thing. But then, all kinds of magic can come with casting, with direction, with post-production wizardry. "You never really know until it's off the page and on the screen!" - Some wise Hollywood person.

L.A. Anti-Gang Program Is Paragon of Tragic Absurdity

Hamilton Nolan · 07/21/11 04:20PM

The city of Los Angeles' "Summer Lights" program, which keeps public parks lit up at night in order to discourage gang violence, is having... mixed results. "A 15-year-old girl was shot in the back and a 19-year-old man was shot in the hand [in an apparent gang shooting] as they were leaving a Summer Night Lights event" this morning. Oh. God. It's just too much. It's like some horrible, horrible movie. "A man was shot in the face near a South Los Angeles park after the lights were turned out last week. It provided all-too-real drama for actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, who were on scene at the time while on a police ride-along to prepare for an upcoming movie."

Russia, Ukraine and South Korea Drop the Title Captain America

Seth Abramovitch · 07/06/11 12:50AM

Paramount and Marvel Studios have a bit of a marketing challenge on their hands with their upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger. Namely, how do you sell a pro-U.S.A superhero movie to the many regions of the globe that can't stand us? Their solution was to play it safe, and release the film in all foreign markets as just "The First Avenger."

Film School: Still for Suckers

Hamilton Nolan · 07/05/11 12:18PM

Film school is the journalism school of people who can't write. It's a place where kids with vague dreams of "making projects" go to chill out for a few years and learn that you should never call a "film" a "movie." Then they come out and get a shitty job for little money that pays them purely in proximity to power.

Transformers 3 Already Breaking Box Office Records

Seth Abramovitch · 07/01/11 02:25AM

After a disappointing Hollywood summer, it's nice to know we can look forward to a pedigreed, awards-caliber release this weekend with Michael Bay's touching coming-of-age tale, Transformers: Something Something Moon. And it's already breaking records! $20mil on opening day. [Deadline]

The Quentin Tarantino Toe-Sucking Sex Email That Will Haunt Your Dreams

Maureen O'Connor · 06/28/11 06:15PM

A young woman who works in show business emailed 15 friends last week with a tale about meeting director Quentin Tarantino at a party. She made out with him, took sexy pictures in a photo booth, and watched him whip out his "short," "fat," "nub-like" penis. She then had foot fetish quasi-sex with him, she claims.

America's Idea of 'Ultimate Fitness System' Is Videogames, Fidgeting

Hamilton Nolan · 06/28/11 05:10PM

Heart exercise! Male infertility! Blood transfusion! Belly fat! Boomer exercise! Smashing drumsticks! Fidget fitness! UFC games! And the Ultimate Fitness System, revealed! It's your Tuesday Fitness Watch, where we watch fitness—begrudgingly!

Star of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dana Wynter, Dies

Jeff Neumann · 05/09/11 04:04AM

Dana Wynter, who starred as Becky Driscoll in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, died of congestive heart failure in a hospital in California last week at the age of 79. From the early 1950's on, she also appeared in a bunch of other great TV shows and movies.

Is Nikki Finke Losing It?

John Cook · 05/03/11 12:23PM

Elusive Hollywood rage-blogger Nikki Finke has a well-earned reputation for skirting the bounds of rationality and surrendering to fits of apoplexy. It's part of her charm! But a couple recent episodes, including a pompous, unhinged email to a flack for the Motion Picture Association of America that she cc'd to half of Hollywood over the weekend, suggest that things may be trending south for her.

1950s Playmate Found Mummified Inside Home

Jeff Neumann · 05/03/11 05:25AM

Former Playboy Playmate and B-movie star Yvette Vickers was found in a "mummified state" inside her Benedict Canyon, California home by a neighbor last week. Authorities tell the Los Angeles Times that she could have been dead for up to a year. Susan Savage found Vickers' body after noticing yellowed mail and cobwebs: "I just had a bad feeling," she told the paper.