hugh-jackman

Trade Round-Up: Just Pick A New Bond Already, Would You?

mark · 10/11/05 01:29PM

· Joe "Narc and Five Minutes on Mission: Impossible 3" Carnahan will co-write and direct a film about 17 year-old, boy-next-door prodigy/drug kingpin Will Wright. The project is described as a "a crooked coming-of-age tale in the style of Catch Me if You Can." Somewhere, Leonardo DiCaprio is shaving his entire body and re-learning how to make his voice crack. [Variety]
· Warner Bros. is testing a digital film distribution and exhibition system in Japan; if all goes well, movies will be transmitted to the black market over 400 percent faster than previously possible. [THR]
· Warner Independent refuses to release the Strangers with Candy movie over fear that the producers didn't secure all the needed rights; insiders suspect that Warner Bros is still crapping its pants over a $17.5 million hit they took over a similar Dukes of Hazzard issue. We suspect that the movie is too awesome to ever see the light of day. [Variety]
· In the most confusing ratings report we've ever read, it seems that everyone did well on Monday night. [THR]
· British tabloids continue to exhaust the world with talk that Daniel Craig will become the first "Blond Bond," news that would finally crush Hugh Jackman's dream of being the first "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Bond." [Variety]

Trade Round-Up: Hugh Jackman Will Sing And Dance Again

mark · 10/06/05 01:17PM

· Details of the Viacom split emerge: Sumner Redstone will still control everything, the two companies will share some directors, and new CEOs Tom Freston and Les Moonves won't be able to hot oil-wrestle for the same properties. Which is probably good news for Freston, as Moonves has been secretly practicing his Warm Crisco Figure Four Leg Lock for months. [Variety]
· The reality TV boogeyman continues to gobble up jobs that could be going to SAG members. But look at the flip side: reality TV creates many exciting opportunities for non-union sweatshop writers. [THR]
· Sensing that the nerd audience might be more forgiving of his "quirky" decision to name his son Kal-el, Nic Cage will executive produce the pilot The Dresden Files for Sci-Fi network. [Variety]
· UPN picks up the back nine for Everybody Hates Chris; somewhere deep within his secret lair, Les Moonves plots how he can shift the show to CBS without looking like a liar. [THR]
· Disney will adapt the novel If You Could See Me Now into a musical vehicle for Hugh Jackman. We're only going to say it one more time: There's nothing suspicious about Hugh Jackman's obsession with musicals, OK? If you had Jackman's triple-threat skills, you'd just close your eyes, slip into your tight, gold pants and cheetah shirt, and dance, dance, dance, not caring what people were whispering about you. [Variety]

Emmy Hangover: Fingering Hugh Jackman's Friend

mark · 09/19/05 02:52PM


Several readers have written in to inquire about the identity of Hugh Jackman's friend "John," whom the actor thanked in his Emmy acceptance speech, pictured above at left (we hope) with Jackman's wife Deb. (At right, we hope.) Very cursory research reveals that this individual is probably John Palermo, Jackman's longtime assistant and current producing partner, though we are loathe to use the words "longtime" and "partner" in the same sentence and send your gossipy little tongues wagging even more pruriently. Really, on the happiest night of his life, can't a dude with a soft spot for musicals thank his longtime assistant and producing partner without the world reading into the relationship? You should all be ashamed of yourselves. It's not like he's Jackman's "personal trainer" or something.