Hey All,
Today was the big announcement day of nominees for the Golden Globes – the full list is further down – and Twitter and the net (as a whole) has been very active with folks’ comments on the surprises and snubs. I’d love to hear what you think once you peruse the nominations.
Meanwhile, there are a number of other interesting tidbits to share, so please have at it:
TELEVISION
Actor Mekhi Phifer (Lie to Me and ER) has landed a leading role in the 4th season of Torchwood, playing CIA agent Rex Matheson in Torchwood: The New World. His character is described as a fast-tracked high-flyer with a lethal sense of humor who starts to feel his mortality when his life is put in danger. Torchwood: The New World will air on Starz in the US and BBC One in the UK in summer 2011. (Deadline and Daemon’s TV)
Actress Virginia Madsen (Scoundrels) will have a recurring role in NBC series The Event, playing Catherine Lewis, the widow of a U.S. senator from Alaska. The series will be back with new episodes starting on February 28. (Deadline and Robyn Ross at TV Guide)
BBC America has acquired the basic cable rights to the racy Showtime costume drama The Tudors. All four season will be aired with a kick off, all-day marathon of Seasons 1 and 2 on January 16, with subsequent episodes running every Tuesday at 10 PM. (Deadline)
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
Actor Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) has signed on to star in the Showtime pilot House of Lies, a half-hour, dark comedy based on the hit tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn. The production will start in February 2011. The pilot is about Marty (Cheadle), a subversive, scathing look at a self-loathing management consultant from a top-tier firm. (The Futon Critic)
BOX OFFICE NEWS
Actress Neve Campbell is in negotiations to star in the drama Singularity, which takes place in 1778 and 2015, involving intertwining souls, past lives and a ring. Josh Hartnett is playing two characters: an archeologist who falls into a coma and a British captain in colonial India. Campbell would play Hartnett’s wife and fellow archeologist in 2015 who gets stuck in a sunken ship while trying to retrieve a ring. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Actress Jessica Chastain (the upcoming films The Tree of Life and The Help) will star and Shia LaBeouf has officially signed on to the Prohibition-era drama The Wettest County, which is an adaptation of the historical crime drama novel by Matt Bondurant. The story is based on the author’s grandfather and two grand-uncles – three infamous brothers who made up a fierce criminal gang at the center of the American South’s moonshine trade. Thomas Hardy and LaBeouf play two of the brothers while Chastain will play Hardy’s love interest, a big city woman now living in a small town who at one time was mixed up with gangsters. (The Hollywood Reporter and Dark Horizons)
Actor Colin Firth is in talks to star in the remake of the 1966 British caper comedy Gambit, which originally starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine in a story about a cat burglar who tries to rob a billionaire of a priceless statue. He enlists the help of a waitress who is a dead ringer for the victim’s late wife, but the job’s execution is complicated by his relationship with his accomplice. (Deadline and Dark Horizons)
Country singer-actor Tim McGraw (The Blind Side and Country Strong) has landed a role in the thriller Safe House starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. The story follows a young CIA agent (Reynolds) who becomes the house sitter of a governmental safe house when a criminal (Washington) in hiding there must be transported to another location when the house comes under attack. There are no specifics on McGraw’s role, however. (Coming Soon and First Showing)
Actress Kelly MacDonald (Boardwalk Empire) will be seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, playing the small, but pivotal, role of The Grey Lady, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw and ghost of the Ravenclaw house at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (Vanity Fair and First Showing)
Actor Angus Macfayden (Californication) has joined the Cameron Crowe adaptation of We Bought a Zoo, which is the story of a zookeeper named Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon), a struggling single father who moves his family to an estate that turns out to be a zoo. Scarlett Johansson is also slated to star in the film. No details on the role Macfayden will play yet, though. (Variety and First Showing)
BOX OFFICE TRAILER
Watch: First ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ Trailer
AWARD SEASON
Here is the complete list of nominees for the upcoming Golden Globe Awards (courtesy of E! Entertainment Online), including some rather “interesting” nominees and quite a number of snubs:
Golden Globe Nominations
Q&A SECTION (with Kristin from E! Entertainment Online)
Question from Jill: Thanks for including Friday Night Lights in your top 10 list! Any scoop?
Kristin: Look for a big showdown between Coach (Kyle Chandler) and Ornette (Cress Williams, Vince’s dad) about how to handle college recruiters. Ornette makes a move by the end of the episode that has Coach’s hair all but standing up and screaming with rage. (Coach’s hair, as you know, is more expressive than most whole actors.) Oh, and Jason Street (Scott Porter) is back, joining Coach on the sidelines for the season’s all-important East Dillon-Dillon game!
Question from @ayetortuga (via Twitter): I’m excited for Scott Porter to return to Friday Night Lights this week. When are other original cast members coming back?!
Kristin: Here’s your FNL return schedule right here. Circle these dates in puffy-paint hearts on your calendar!
Taylor Kitsch returns Jan. 19 (swoon)
Adrianne Palicki returns Feb. 2 (she’s in the last two episodes of the season)
Zach Gilford returns Jan. 5 for one episode and then returns for the finale Feb. 9
Jesse Plemons returns in the finale Feb. 9
Question from Heather: How about something on No Ordinary Family? I’m digging that show!
Kristin: Hearing good things about episode 11, which stars the first boy I ever took a photo of with my Smurf camera back in the day (a photo of the TV screen, which um, didn’t turn out so well): Rick Schroder. I’m told Jim (Michael Chiklis) saves him from a bus hit and the families become friends—until there’s a twist regarding some art heists. But the coolest part of the episode is what happens between a certain “watcher” villain, our dear friend Stephen Collins and Katie. You fans will likey!
Question from Duncan: White Collar?
Kristin: Look for Tim DeKay to sport a fabulous mustache when White Collar returns in January. Why, you ask? Well, says DeKay himself, “That’s a flashback episode where Peter wore a mustache for a few months…I did get to ride a horse, which is fun. You’ll learn how Peter and Neal (Matthew Bomer) met, you’ll learn more about what’s behind the music box and who’s pulling all the string—what the music box opens up and what you see and what comes about from that, it’s pretty awesome. It’s priceless.”
Question from Keenan: Psych?
Kristin: Dulé Hill tells us, “We have Aggie the Polar Bear [coming up]. And then we have the season finale, which is the return of the Yin-Yang trilogy. We have Ally Sheedy, Mena Suvari and then we find out who Mr. Yin is. I can’t tell you that.” Forget Mr. Yin, we want to know more about this polar-bear business! For the record, Dulé’s partner-in-crime-solving James Roday teases, “Shawn and Gus have to save a polar bear, which may or may not be framed for murder.” Comedy. Gold.
Question from Jada: Any scoop on Covert Affairs? It was my fave show of the summer, and I’m running out of Annie-Auggie fanfic to keep me busy until new episodes!
Kristin: Ha! We actually just caught up with Piper Perabo and Chris Gorham at USA’s A More Perfect Union event at the New York Public Library, and we asked about those two because we’re curious as well. Piper told us, “Chris and I hope [things happen between Annie and Auggie]. We keep trying to turn up the heat but the writers keep trying to keep a lid on it, so hopefully.” And Chris said, “I think it’s a potential long-term story arc for sure. I think right now, we’re very happy with what their relationship is—they really rely on each other. They’re the only two people that they can trust in that agency.”
That’s it. Enjoy!
Read Full Post »
Rueben's Ramblings 