The LAT notes that the I Heart Huckabees internet sensation—featuring an exasperated Lily Tomlin enduring the c-word, among other spittle-flecked indignities, from her tantrum-throwing director David O. Russell—has now officially "reached the parody phase." (In our experience, that often signals the beginning of the end, but they feel it indicates the leaks are still "gathering steam.") Realizing, as former sparring partner George Clooney recently put it, that such matters can "screw with people's careers", they generously offer an opportunity for the explosively temperamental director's supporters to defend the outburst in their pages, resulting in mostly "Waddaya want—he's a passionate guy!" and "Mind your own fucking business. It's a movie thing"-style responses:

Even before we learned about the actor's generous investment of venture capital in some North Carolina entrepreneurs' planned George Clooney Drank Here chain of celebrity-endorsed lemonade stands, we were fully prepared to believe Clooney's strenuous denials of any involvement in the leaking of those I Heart Huckabees outtakes, as an upstanding Hollywood citizen who's offered up an unnecessary million dollar bounty to anyone who can prove his alleged complicity in such a non-scandal has done more than enough to satisfy us. But just in case there's someone left in the world who believes Clooney is obsessed with screwing with onetime Three Kings sparring partner David O. Russell, he reassures EW that even if he were so inclined, he wouldn't know how to go about upstreaming a viral to the YouTubes:

· A single Huckabees parody video per day is never enough, so here's another one.
· Out of all the late-series, Cousin Oliver-type characters from the 80's sitcoms, we always thought Chrissy from Growing Pains was going to turn out to be the bad seed. Guess we were wrong.
· Michael Jackson shocker! Erstwhile King of Pop a possible attention-whoring malingerer!
· Jenna Jameson suffering from that not-so-fresh, just-had-my-labia-blasted-off-with-lasers feeling.
· Hey, totally adorable, hand-holding otters!

Our friends over at CollegeHumor kept the cameras rolling during a particularly difficult shoot for their The Michael Showalter Showalter series, capturing behind-the-scenes video of a dramatic on-set meltdown the likes of which Hollywood hasn't witnessed in hours. But before you vilify the talented—but notoriously difficult—Showalter for his outburst, please realize that infamous diva Paul Rudd was clearly asking for it with his unrelenting bitching following each take.

We've been patiently awaiting the inevitable announcement of I Heart Huckabees enforcer David O. Russell's next project following the unprecedented levels of buzz he's enjoying since the leak of the now-infamous outtakes from that shoot, a calling card revealing a filmmaker who countenances no lip from difficult talent, a quality always in high demand in the industry. Today's THR reports that Russell has signed on to do an adaptation of Gore Daughter chick-littish political novel Sammy's Hill; in announcing the project, producer Doug Wick trumpets Russell's talent, but inadvertently reveals the disastrous creative differences soon to come:

• Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream flavor lives! Though you might have trouble getting it, since the Colbert Report bought up a whole bunch today. [Midtown Lunch]
  

It's not quite the CLOONEY PLACES MILLION DOLLAR BOUNTY ON HEAD OF REAL RUSSELL VIDEO LEAK we were hoping for, but still, not bad.

Because we at Defamer realize that it's important that individuals disenfranchised by the mainstream media be given a forum in which to make their voices heard, we're happy to publish this missive sent to us by publicist-to-the-stars Stan Rosenfield on behalf of e-mailing-eschewing client George Clooney, who is eager to deny the rumors that he had something to do with the leaking of those I Heart Huckabees outtakes that have so delighted everyone in Hollywood over the past week or so. Forwards Rosenfield/writes Clooney:

Radar connects some IMDb dots to concoct a theory that noted prankster and onetime David O. Russell sparring partner George Clooney might have been responsible for the recent appearance of those lighthearted I Heart Huckabees outtakes on the internet, tracing a certain sound designer's career path from Russell's Three Kings to Clooney's currently shooting Leatherheads. Confronted with the accusation, the actor's internet-hating publicist was quick to protect his client by depicting him as a Luddite who would smash the magic computer-box with a rock in frustration if he ever attempted to navigate the rocket-scientist-level complexities of the YouTubes:

By now you have undoubtedly watched the now-infamous footage of Lily Tomlin and David O. Russell's love-in on the set of I Heart Huckabees dozens and dozens of times (if not, hey, there's a video hovering right above these words! Convenient!), delighting anew at every bird flipped in frustration and each heartfelt, profane accusation of directorial incest. The clips' rapid proliferation via the YouTubes prompted the Miami New Times to ask Tomlin what she thinks about having the three-year-old laundry run out on the interweb clothesline for a fresh airing:

We don't know how or why these two utterly amazing clips of Lily Tomlin and David O. Russell, the headlockingest, Clooney-feudingest director in all of Hollywoodland, sharing a couple of very special moments on the set of I Heart Huckabees (video whose existence on the talent agency tape-swapping black market we first heard about in a Sharon Waxman NY Times piece in 2004—more on that later) have suddenly surfaced on the YouTubes, but here they are, giving us all a taste of the existential cockfight that the Huckabees shoot seems to have been.