A Defamer operative sends us a party report from the Miami Vice premiere, where Brett Ratner held court in the men's room as a hammered Michelle Rodriguez unsuccessfully tried to talk her way inside, and the secret language of Shaq's handshake rituals was finally revealed.
· Pirates 2 is ready to pass Spider-Man 2's one-week record of $192.1 million, and will likely pass the $250 million barrier by Sunday. Fans of corporate profits will now watch with baited breath as Disney eventually reaps a $400 million or $500 million gross for this wise movie-related investment. [Variety]
· Judd Apatow will produce the "buying booze for a party so girls will hook up with nerds" high school comedy Super Bad from a screenplay by pal/muse/actor/writer Seth Rogen, and the project will star everyone's favorite cousin-desiring Bluth, Michael Cera. [THR]
· William Morris president Dave Wirstschafter makes the Alicia Keys space meaningful (there's nothing like an ancient reference on a Friday morning!), as Disney signs up Keys' new vanity production company for a first-look production deal. [Variety]
· Gunshot-phobic Miami Vice cast member Jamie Foxx will produce and possibly star in The Power of Duff (count the minutes until that title changes starting...now), the story of a news anchor whose on-air prayers start coming true. [THR]
· Dirty-talking Insider host Pat O'Brien is obviously being punished for an unknown sin by his bosses, who are forcing the host to appear on three-minute interstitial spinoffs of his show on Showtime. [Variety]
Over at Slate, NPR's Kim Masters offers a fairly lengthy recounting of the many problems that plagued the set of Michael Mann's Miami Vice, such as a) its crazy, exacting director, b) disastrous weather events that threatened production (who could have seen that coming while filming in Miami during hurricane season?), and c) a shooting while on location in the Dominican Republic. The article's money shot is the revelation that the aforementioned gunplay convinced Jamie Foxx, the film's egomaniac, award-winning star, that his new Oscar-derived superpowers did not include the ability to deflect bullets with his bare abs—a realization that sent him fleeing for the safety of the United States and forced Mann to shoot an ending that could accommodate Foxx's diva-like refusal to be assassinated on foreign soil. Reports Masters:
Gratuity-dispensing, multi-platform superstar Jamie Foxx is back in LA, undoubtedly relieved that the Miami Vice hell shoot is finally over (albeit feeling somewhat lonesome for his voluptuously man-boobed co-star Colin Farrell). Still dateless for Hollywood's big prom night, Foxx spoke to Access Hollywood about what kind of arm-candy he prefers, smiling silently four feet behind him as he gives Ryan Seacrest some red carpet face time:
Like spoiled, scheming daddy's girls with Sweet 16s falling on the same night, the various studios threw out all the stops to lure the popular kids to their Golden Globes bashes. Since all the events took place somewhere in the Beverly Hilton, however, party hopping was as easy as stumbling into an elevator and pressing a button; you just had to be prepared to find a collapsed Paris Hilton with a half-deflated nitrous balloon in her lips when the doors opened. A Golden Globes party round-up:
· Var reports on yesterday's New Line layoffs (two dozen let go just in time for the holidays!), but says "no top execs were axed." We've heard that VPs Matt Moore and George Waud were among the purged, who many tell us should qualify as "top level execs." Developing... [Variety]
· Potentially great news for Arrested Development fans: Though FOX hasn't "officially" canceled AD yet, there are "serious" talks between 20th Century Fox TV and Showtime and ABC to find the series a new model home. We've heard rumblings (there we go hearing things again) that the Showtime deal might be close to completion, but we've been hurt before. [Variety, THR]
· The grown-up sons of Tito Jackson are shopping around a reality series in which they try to recapture the musical semi-fame of their youth. No further commentary necessary. [THR]
· Jamie Foxx will star in adaptation of James Stetson novel Blood on the Leaves for Paramount, as a "district attorney who grapples with feelings of revenge as he prosecutes a black history professor on trial for the murders of white men accused of crimes against blacks during the civil rights movement," Sadly, it looks like Foxx's vaunted musical skills will go unutilized in the role. [Variety]
· Disney's first attempt to tap into the Chinese entertainment market involves unraveling the secrets of a magic gourd. [THR]
· Now officially famous for becoming the new James Bond, Daniel Craig signs over ten percent of his soul to CAA. [Variety]
· The following is not a joke: CBS is developing a family sitcom for Rev. Al Sharpton. Better: It's called Al in the Family, but will likely not incorporate the wacky hijinks of the infamous Tawana Brawley case. [Variety]
· The November sweeps results are in, and CBS and ABC end the ratings-whoring period in a deeply unsatisfying tie in the 18-49 demographic. Unsurprisingly, ultracompetive CBS is touting its razor-thin 16,000 viewer edge in the demo, as well as a victory in total viewers. NBC, it should be noted, did not finish last, and Fox holds its breath, absorbing its loss knowing that soon it will release its American Idol Kracken and rise from the depths of Nielsen failure. [THR]
· Director Peter Berg has compromising pictures of Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx, "persuades" him to join the cast of his The Kingdom for Universal. [Variety]
· As noted yesterday, NBC blows up its Thursday night for January, moving Earl and The Office from Tuesday to new Must See spots. To make room on the schedule, they're knocking Joey on the head with a rolling pin, leaving him somewhere in the desert, and dealing with the problem only if he somehow finds his way home. [THR]
· Major cable companies announce rate hikes for 2006. Fuck you, major cable companies, we already pay too much as it is for 25 channels of Law & Order reruns. [THR]
"Yeah, yeah, Rob, whatever. It's nice that you got a picture of a renegade fighter jet tattooed on your penis, but we can't exactly put that in a Happy Meal, can we? Ooh! I think I see Jamie Foxx!" At the Stealth premiere in San Diego, Sony chief Amy Pascal rudely dismisses director Rob Cohen's misguided attempt at viral movie promotion.
