In keeping with the current indie trend in which every 20th Century Gay of Note gets their own biopic (first came Capote, then Milk, and in the works are Taylor Hackford Tennessee Williams project, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, and James Franco channeling Alan Ginsberg in Howl), we can now add a little razmatazz to the mix, as Steven Soderbergh is developing a Liberace biography. From Variety:

• Gordon Ramsay says he's partnering with Victoria Beckham to open a restaurant in LA. Yes, a restaurant. Whether she'll actually taste any of the food served there is anybody's guess. [P6]

Actor Matt Damon has leapt rather unwisely into the political fray. The Bourne Identity star-usually more discreet about his political opinions than hometown friend Ben Affleck-says Sarah Palin's rise is "like a really bad Disney movie." Let's put that provocative comparison to one side and examine the source of the Hollywood star's alarm. "Do the actuary tables and there's a one out of three chance, if not more, that McCain doesn't survive his first term and it'll be President Palin," says Damon. The actor played a math savant in Oscar-winning movie Good Will Hunting-but those skills aren't in evidence here. A cursory glance at the statistics shows that a 72-year-old male has a 3.3% chance of dying within the year-and a relatively modest 15% likelihood he won't last the four years of a presidential term. So, Matt Damon: about half right. Hey, that's not bad for a Hollywood actor! (After the jump, a video of the interview, which won't convert any waverers.)

Though he's served as an effective political mouthpiece for both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, there's one woman in politics who Matt Damon refuses to get behind, and her name is Sarah Palin. In a new interview with the AP, Damon eviscerates the Republican VP candidate, calling her pick "absurd" and a "disaster," and comparing the idea that she could ascend to the presidency to a "really bad Disney movie."Most pressing to Damon, though, is whether Palin believes that dinosaurs actually walked the earth before man, or if their bones were simply littered as surprise gifts for Adam and Eve by a mischievous Supreme Being. Take notes, Charles Gibson! When will someone finally confront Sarah Palin and ask her why she fired all the dinosaurs in Alaska? UPDATE: Gawker overlord Nick Denton ran the numbers, and it turns out that Matt Damon's statement that "there is a 1 out of 3 chance, if not more, that McCain doesn't survive his first term" wasn't quite accurate. The chances are more like 15%. How you like them apples?

So delighted was Ben Affleck with the Pick-Me-Up™ African Boys' Choir Bouquet thoughtfully sent to him by a handler before the Gone Baby Gone's premiere, the actor sent a similar arrangement to lifelong friend and Oscar-custody-sharer Matt Damon, in honor of the birth of Damon's new baby daughter, Gia. Each colorfully adorned singer is hand-picked, last up to two full weeks, and is sure to brighten any room of the house.

The pitter-patter of little feet is getting kind of annoying today at Defamer HQ, where news of not one, not two, not three, but four celebrity pregnancies and/or births have us hand-delivering sex-ed pamphlets to front desks everywhere from CAA to ICM. Even in this uncertain era of creative gas-rationing and looming SAG strikes, Hollywood seed is flying, and nowhere is it landing more conspicuously than in the always-competitive sphere comprising Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner; just when Damon and wife Luciana had welcomed Gia Zavala Damon into the cruel, cruel world, Garner confirmed her pregnancy with her and Affleck's own second child. Then, as the rivals regrouped to plot their escalation, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale went and blobbed at Cedars-Sinai:

Continuing with our ongoing Defamer Decides 2008 political coverage (splashy logo forthcoming just as soon as we figure out how to work out another Photoshop 30-day free trial), we now bring you this new ONE campaign TV spot featuring Hollywood's most likable superstar and enviable nape-haver Matt Damon. The ad features the pedostache-free actor star soberly addressing the camera about their poverty-combating efforts. Fans should be warned, however, that the strange voices that soon emerge from Damon's lips are not the result of any multiple-personality disorders, secret hormone treatments, or Satanic possessions.Rather, Damon was transformed through the magic of A/V editing into the comely mouthpiece for a wide variety of American voices, "among them Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain and Mayor Bloomberg." It's an effective gimmick, if a little unfair to John McCain, who now can't help but hide his disappointment every time he rolls over in bed to the sound of his wife's voice, only to find a smiling Cindy instead of that dreamycakes actor from the Bourne movies.

ONE is the big, vague, utopian project to fight poverty with a nice website and Livestrong-type bracelet sales. They do other things too, I'm sure. It's comparable to Al Gore's effort to end global warming with star power and earnest ads. But ONE has better ads, because they're slightly less earnest. The latest, out today, reveals Matt Damon's true inner femininity:

• Matt Damon's wife Luciana gave birth to the couple's second child together yesterday, a girl named Gia Zavala Damon. [NYDN]

• Kyle MacLachlan and Desiree Gruber are officially parents. The Desperate Housewives actor and Project Runway executive producer had a son named Callum Lyon MacLachlan on Friday. [Us]

It's pretty remarkable how someone as femme and shiny-haired as Zac Efron can achieve every man's goal of perfecting abs, biceps and pecs in the span of just one year. Last we checked, Zac was just a teenage song-and-dance kid who adored his skinny jeans collection, not a member of the Beefcake Of The Month club. As painful as this is to admit, we kind of, maybe, possibly may have had highly illegal and disturbingly hot dream scenarios in which we get to grab Zac's abs, biceps and pecs. As in the old version. Let us know if you agree after a quick look at how Scrawny Efron compares to McCounaghey Body Double Efron:

Formerly a featured member of the Rapid Downsize club currently bowing down to newly slim star Colin Farrell, Matt Damon has notably chunked up for his role in the true story of an FBI whistleblower in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant. And despite the part's fun-filled requirements that he stop going to the gym and live on sweet potato pancakes with crème fraîche, Damon is reportedly feeling more than a bit self-conscious about his new frame. While Ben Affleck has taken the opportunity to relive his glory days as a funny sidekick, lashing out at Damon by nailing one-liners like "the man has to buy two seats on an airplane!", chubby Matt is fearing the month of November, when People announces his successor as "Sexiest Man Alive."

Having already identified the source of the famous scruff from Guess the Celebrity Nape!, we now invite you to browse further sumptuous set stills from Steven Soderbergh's The Informant—where star Matt Damon can be found undertaking a harrowing physical transformation into paunchy, Mai Tai-loving, real-world whistleblower Mark Whitacre. Wait one second: agricultural price-fixing scams? Boooring. We have a better idea: What ever happened to that Summer School remake? We've got our perfect Mr. Shoop right here!

Good Will Hunting actor Matt Damon has been spotted sporting some packed-on pounds while filming the movie The Informant. His character is, I guess, supposed to be just a "regular guy," meaning his abs aren't toned and washboarded and he maybe eats a cheeseburger every now and then. As actresses tend to ugly up their faces and put on prosthetic noses and teeth to get serious acting cred, it seems that actors often have to let themselves go in the waistline. I'm sure that says something about standards of beauty for men vs. women, but that's a whole exhausting topic that ends with yelling and a lot of Betty Friedan quotes. So instead we'll take a look, after the jump, at seven other guys who bulked-up for movie roles, with some mixed results.

[Photo Credit: Flynet]

The Departed's Matt Damon comforted his co-star Mark Wahlberg during the fifth game of the Los Angeles Lakers-Boston Celtics NBA finals about the poor reviews Wahlberg has been receiving for his work in The Happening. Wahlberg felt especially hurt about the negative comments about his acting. Wahlberg said, "I really tried with my performance. I did my research. I remembered my lines. But, I gotta admit, I was totally caught off-guard by the fact that we were supposed to be making a B-movie. Nobody told me that."

Here we go again! VH1 (who else?) has just greenlit Scream Queens, a reality show in which 10 unknown actresses desperate to be the next Jamie Lee Curtis or Janet Leigh will compete for a starring role in an upcoming “major” Lionsgate film. And boy are they excited — one Lionsgate rep tells THR that “discovering new talent is always exciting,” while another chimes in by teaching us that “VH1 has had a tremendous track record in launching alternative programming that captures viewers' imaginations.” Yes, yes it does! Our brains have been expanded by Viacom's ongoing carnival featuring women degrading themselves in hot tubs and music execs attempting to Make A Band, Any Band Will Do quarter after quarter. But with a reputable horror studio behind Scream Queens and the fact that scary movies have launched more than a few major careers, this one may put its You’re The One That I Want and It Factor predecessors to shame. We look back at five recent Next Big Thing reality shows in an effort to place our bets:

Congratulations are in order this morning for Wayne McClammy, the first director ever to parlay a pair of unprintably named viral videos into a movie deal at a major studio. McClammy, whose Variety-redacted, Sarah Silverman-starring I'm Fucking Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel follow-up I'm Fucking Ben Affleck blew up earlier this year, was handed the reins for the Fox comedy Cool School, about "ad executives in their early thirties who are sent back to high school to learn how to be cool again." We'll reserve judgment for the time being — the script isn't even finished, and any way you slice it, it could be worse: At least Kevin Smith didn't wind up with a feature deal tied to that ill-advised Elizabeth Banks parody I'm Fucking Seth Rogen. What? He did? All right, well, no pressure, McClammy! No, literally — no pressure at all. [Variety]

· Celebrity nape-haver Matt Damon will play South African rugby star Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood's Human Factor. Accent time! [Variety]
· Chuck creator Josh Schwartz declares "computer geeks...the new doctors and cops of television," by which he means a clichéd profession conspired upon by lazy writers and unimaginative network executives to oversaturate the TV landscape. [Variety]
· SAG is churning out more and more waivers with indie producers, guaranteeing production won't be interrupted after June 30 should something go horribly wrong with the negotiations. It's a limbo agents are referring to as "Waiverland," named for the union spokesman who signs the interim agreements, Kenneth Waiverland. [Variety]
· Bruce Willis will star in Kane & Lynch, a lesser-beloved-videogame adaptation for Lionsgate. [THR]
· Brian DePalma goes to the serial-killer well once more with The Boston Stranglers, written by former Diff'rent Strokes and Head of the Class writer Alan Rosen. No word yet on whether or not they'll throw Dan "Arvid" Frischman a bone. [THR]

In the latest attempt by a Hollywood superstar to Oscar grub by radically transforming their physical appearance, former hard-body Colin Farrell is rapidly downsizing for his upcoming part as a war photographer in Triage. And while Farrell could use some credibility in the acting department following his recent string of flops, hacking off all these pounds doesn't look like the healthiest way to do it. But admittedly, dieting your way towards industry approval has been a Hollywood go-to trick for quite a while. We took a look back at some of his peers' most drastic weight losses, and as scary as the morphing process made them look, each part did bolster their respective careers dramatically: