Showing posts with label oliver stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oliver stone. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

TV News: Gina Torres Gets "Gossip"-y, Lots of "Idol" Guest Judges, Marsters to Terrorize "Caprica"

- Gina Torres (who has, of course, appeared in everything from The Matrix Revolutions to Firefly to Angel) is joining the cast of Gossip Girl next season.  Torres will play Gabriela Abrams, whose daughter is the home-schooled Vanessa, in two eps next season but will have a recurring role throughout the series. [TV Guide]

- In the wake of Paula Abdul's departure, a whole slew of celebrities have been announced as guest judges on the upcoming season of American Idol. Confirmed guest judges to date include Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas, Katy Perry and Shania Twain. Why is it that only two of these judges have had respected music careers for more than a couple of years? [US Magazine]

- Oliver Stone and Showtime have announced that the controversial director will helm and narrate a 10-part documentary series titled Secret History of America. The series will revolve around events that "at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America's unique and complex history of the last 60 years"—events including the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, the Kennedy administration, the origins of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and America's changing role on the global scene since the fall of Communism.  The series is set to debut on Showtime in 2010. [Hollywood Reporter]
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- TNT has extended the summer leg of Leverage's second season by two episodes, one of which features Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager, Shark) in a guest starring role. It has yet to be seen if TNT will order up additional eps of the Timothy Hutton-starring drama, since this announcement leaves only six episodes on order for the winter half of the show's season. [TV Guide]

- James Marsters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame (also Angel, Smallville and Torchwood) will join the Battlestar Galactica prequel, Caprica, during its freshman season on SyFy. According to EW's Michael Ausiello, Marsters will play Barnabus Greeley, "a dangerous terrorist leader . . . driven by desires both moralistic and carnal," for at least three episodes. [Entertainment Weekly]

- Michael Ausiello also shared another juicy bit of news— a casting side for a new, recurring Lost character. The search is on for a mid-30s to late-50s actor to play Lennon, who is described as:
Scruffy, edgy, charismatic, and slightly stir-crazy, Lennon can be deferential when it's called for. He's the spokesperson/ translator for the president of a foreign corporation. He's a wily negotiator, and far more powerful than his lowly position would seem to indicate.
I'm guessing Lennon is a translator for Sun's father, who is the head of Paik Heavy Industries. Do you agree or do you have another guess? [Entertainment Weekly]
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Friday, June 5, 2009

Even More Film News: Is Greed Still Good?

- Shia LaBeouf will star opposite Michael Douglas in the follow-up to the 1987 hit film Wall Street. Director Oliver Stone will return to helm the film, titled Money Never Sleeps. Douglas will reprise his role as Gordon Gekko, who has served his time in prison and whose warnings about the impending crash of the financial markets goes unheeded. LaBeouf's character is engaged to Gekko's daughter and is an up-and-comer in the financial world. When LaBeouf's mentor is found dead and LaBeouf suspects that he was murdered, the young man asks for Gekko's help as he seeks revenge. [Associated Press via Yahoo! News]

- The cast list for the upcoming movie Easy A includes a whole slew of familiar names -- Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Daniel Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Alyson Michalka, Emma Stone and Stanley Tucci. In the movie, Stone portrays "a high school student who, after being ostracized by a false rumor she's loose, uses the rumor mill to her advantage, pitting puritanical students and teachers against their liberal counterparts." Production for Easy A starts on June 9. [Variety]

[bxA]- Disney has announced the first-ever D23 Expo, a convention for Disney fans, to be held in Anaheim this fall. The expo will give attendees a look at content and products from just about every branch of Disney and feature keynote speeches from execs including Bob Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation and Pixar Animation Studios. Attendees will have the chance to view sneak peeks from upcoming films such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Toy Story 3, TRON, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Disney's A Christmas Carol and The Princess and the Frog. View the recently released Toy Story 3 trailer below. [D23 Expo][Hollywood Reporter]

- Amanda Seyfried, Gael Garcia Bernal, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero will star in Letters to Juliet, which begins shooting in Italy later this month. Seyfried and Bernal will portray a couple on vacation in Italy who receive a letter written by an older woman (Redgrave) searching for her long-lost Italian love (Nero); the missive was directed to the Shakespearean character Juliet Capulet. Seyfriend decides to search Tuscany to find the woman's lost love in the hopes of reuniting them. [Variety]

- And finally, it looks like Sigourney Weaver will be taking a couple of comedic turns in the films You Again and Paul. You Again focuses on "a young woman who finds out that her brother is going to marry her high school nemesis." Weaver is still in talks to join Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead fame in their upcoming flick Paul. [Entertainment Weekly]
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