Filed under: Drama, Casting

If you don’t know who John Ortiz is yet, you probably will soon enough. He’s had roles in Miami Vice, El Cantante, and American Gangster, and he’s also got a handful of movies on the way, from Pride and Glory to Two Lovers. Now MTV is giving him huge praise — they have just listed him as the man who will become the next great supporting star — following in the footsteps of Paul Giamatti, Chris Cooper, and John C. Reilly. The site recently talked with the actor, and found out that he has nabbed himself a role in the retro gangster flick Public Enemies.

When production gears up in March, Ortiz will play Sicilian gangster Frank ‘The Enforcer’ Nitti — a man who rose from small-time thief, to one of Al Capone’s right-hand men, to the frontman for Scarface’s gang when Al was sent away for income tax evasion. But these are big shoes for the actor to fill even behind the camera. In the past, Nitti has been played by Bruce Gordon, Sylvester Stallone, Stanley Tucci, and the creepy Billy Drago.

But if you want more action and machismo, and less drama, he’s also gearing up for the next installment of The Fast and the Furious.

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Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Casting

After being a bit unhappy with some of the portrayals in Knocked Up, what does Katherine Heigl do? She signs on to star in a new romcom called The Ugly Truth, which Christopher Campbell told you about in November. The flick will focus on a “romantically challenged” morning show producer who deals with a chauvinistic correspondent trying to teach her how to find love. There’s nothing like saying Knocked Up is sexist and then signing up for a movie where she gets taught love by a chauvinist.

Now Variety reports that Gerard Butler will be the guy to “guide” her. He’s going to play a man called Mike Alexander, who is the “host of a TV segment titled ‘The Ugly Truth.’” Heigl’s character is “reluctantly embroiled by her chauvinistic correspondent (Butler) in a series of outrageous tests to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love.” Well, I guess he was just done with all that uber thoughtfulness from P.S. I Love You.

To give a little credit to the project — it’s teaming director Robert Luketic with writers Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith — they’re the team behind Legally Blonde, which was a surprisingly fun film that cut through a lot of stereotypes. But still. A film where a man who finds women, or whose behavior indicates that he finds them, to be inferior teaches a smart, successful, and attractive woman how to find love is condescendingly passe.

If, however, the description is painting a falsely poor light on the film, I sure hope they correct it soon.

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Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show

Here’s who’s on the late night shows tonight.

• Charlie Rose: Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson
• The Daily Show: TBA
• The Colbert Report: TBA
• The Late Show with David Letterman: Dr. Phil, Lena Headey, and Gary Allan
• Jay Leno: TBA
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Audrina Patridge
• Tavis Smiley: Jeffrey Tambor, Mona Sutphen, and Nina Hachigian
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien: TBA
• The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Jessica Alba, Adam Arkin, and Ryan Sickler
• Last Call with Carson Daly: Niki Taylor and Quincy Coleman (repeat)

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Filed under: Industry, The Apprentice, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals

I didn’t think he could do it, but the Donald did it. I’ve been a fan of The Apprentice since its first season, but I threw in the towel with last season’s lackluster gimmicky Los Angeles version of this unreality show.

But I started watching again this season as the celebrity (although far from A List celebs) started playing the game donating winnings to their favorite charities. Although my favorite Gene Simmons (of KISS fame) committed Apprenticide before my very eyes, only Lost will keep me from watching it as it airs.

Continue reading Celebrity Apprentice gets second season

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Filed under: TV Royalty, Celebrities, Awards

When Suzanne Pleshette passed away a couple of weeks ago of respiratory failure, it seemed to derail the plans for her to get a star on the Walk of Fame sidewalk in Hollywood. A lot of times when a celebrity has died they won’t do a public ceremony. But tomorrow’s ceremony is going forward, with a familiar face at the helm.

Pleshette’s television hubby Bob Newhart will lead the ceremonies tomorrow, on what would have been Pleshette’s 71st birthday. Newhart also gave the eulogy at her funeral last week, along with Bob Newhart Show co-star (andlongtime Simpsons voice) Marcia Wallace.

Continue reading Bob Newhart to accept Walk of Fame star for Suzanne Pleshette

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Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Celebrities

I guess that question is for all of the 9 year old girls reading this (believe it or not, girls 12 and under are our biggest demo) and not any of the 40 year old men who are reading this. Though after the various things that dads (and moms) have done recently to get tickets for their daughters, maybe it’s a question for them too.

Disney is teaming up with Wal-Mart to unleash 140 different Hannah Montana items that they will sell in specially-designed “mini-stores” at 750 Wal-Mart locations. The items include wigs, clothing, glasses, and even cupcakes. Yes, cupcakes.

Continue reading Would you wear a Hannah Montana wig?

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Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

The Sundance Flu, The Sundance Cold, The Sundance Fever … how about The Sundance I Feel Like Complete Sh*t …

Looks like J.J. Abrams does plan to go all Wonder Years for his Star Trek flick! Coming Soon reports that 11-year-old (about to be 12) Jimmy Bennett has landed a role as Young Kirk in Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek film, due out at Christmas. Bennett has played a little kid in films like Hostage, Firewall, Poseidon and Evan Almighty. A young Spock will also be featured, leading this writer to believe both characters will appear in the film and talk about how much they “like, like” Winnie Cooper. Fingers crossed.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed (what was already previously reported) that New Line is in talks with Platinum Dunes to re-launch the franchise that helped secure their name as one of the big players in town, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce, and a writer will be hired once the strike comes to an end. Since it’s a full-out re-do, expect Robert Englund to not play Freddy Krueger, though we imagine he’ll still have a role in the film (perhaps as part of Freddy’s family). God bless the guy they get to fill his shoes; he’ll have to convince tons of hardcore fans that he’s the real deal. Dunes and New Line are also prepping a re-launch of the Friday the 13th franchise, with Marcus Nispel directing.

And finally, though it’s not really a fanboy film (but I needed one more thing to throw in here, so cut me some slack), Moviehole reports that director Phillip Noyce has officially dropped out of that planned Amelia Earhart biopic starring Hilary Swank. MH spoke with Noyce, who gave the following reason for his departure: “I had worked on Amelia for 5 months from July to end of December 2007, finding all the locations and extensively storyboarding the flying sequences - When it didn’t appear that the film was going ahead, I had to make a painful decision to move on and returned to a project that had long fascinated me… Mary Queen of Scots. Scarlett Johansson will play Mary in a film to be shot on location in Scotland, England and Ireland during 2008.” Apparently Swank is still attached to the film, which we all thought was moving ahead as planned (script issues, maybe), so we’ll keep you updated and let you know what happens.

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Filed under: Comedy, Casting

I was already taken with the idea that Burt Reynolds was going to star in an upcoming theater film called A Bunch of Amateurs, which I told you about earlier this month. The film focuses on aging action star from Hollywood (Burt) who joins a Shakespearian theater company thinking that its the Royal Shakespeare Company. Instead, he’s surprised to discover that it’s a group of amateurs in Stratford St. John. Due to marketing and charity, he has to stick with it and be King Lear on the amateur stage.

Now the film has just gotten 100% irresistible. Variety reports that Charles Durning (who got a hugely-deserved lifetime achievement award from SAG recently) has joined the cast as “a sleazy Hollywood agent” who tricks Burt’s character into the theatrical company. I wish he was going to be one of the players, so we’d get more screen time and Charles doing Shakespeare, but I’ll take what I can get.

The character actor is a total scene stealer, as Jette Kernion blogged about back in 2006. He has been in a slew of great films, but to me, he’ll always be the angelic Charlie from Two of a Kind. Yes, I realize I have weird tastes sometimes. So… What’s your favorite Durning role?

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Filed under: Celebrities, Game Show

When I first heard that Dennis Miller was going to host a game show, I thought to myself “yeah, I covered that already.” But I didn’t know that the show I had written about had already ended and this was a new game show he was going to host.

The previous one was Grand Slam, the GSN show that pitted former game show champs (like Ken Jennings) against each other. Looks like that show only lasted one season (hopefully I can catch the reruns), but Miller isn’t through with game shows yet. He’s going to host the new NBC show Amnesia, which will premiere on NBC in the 1 vs. 100 slot when that show ends its season.

Continue reading Dennis Miller has Amnesia

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Filed under: Late Night, TV Royalty, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show

Here’s who’s on the late night shows tonight.

• Charlie Rose: TBA
• The Daily Show: TBA
• The Colbert Report: TBA
• The Late Show with David Letterman: Bill Cosby, Lake Bell, and The Matt Savage Trio
• Jay Leno: TBA
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: TBA
• Tavis Smiley: Bruce Bartlett and Shelby Lynne
• Late Night with Conan O’Brien: TBA
• The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson: Raquel Welch and Antonio Gates
• Last Call with Carson Daly: Niki Taylor and Quincy Coleman (repeat)

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