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Archive: March 2011 (131-140 of 379)

Mar 23 2011 09:00 AM ET

Hugh Jackman planning two-week concert in San Francisco: What should he sing?

by John Young

Categories: Hugh Jackman, Stage/Theater, This Could Be Interesting...

Image Credit: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

With Fox’s The Wolverine movie likely not starting production for at least a couple more months, Hugh Jackman decided to do what any Hollywood star with some free time would do — sing! Starting May 3, Jackman will perform at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre in a two-week show featuring the actor singing his favorite Broadway and Hollywood numbers. In the production, aptly titled Hugh Jackman in Performance at the Curran Theatre, the X-Men actor will be backed by a 17-piece orchestra. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 10:06 PM ET

Another 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' actor sidelined due to injury

by Adam B. Vary

Categories: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Stage/Theater

Image Credit: Jacob Cohl; Henry S. Dziekan III/Getty Images

Another day, another piece of bad news for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Producers announced today that actress T.V. Carpio, who plays the enigmatic villainess Arachne, was sidelined from the show for two weeks after an onstage injury during the March 16 performance. She has been replaced by America Olivo. Carpio herself was a replacement for the original actress playing Arachne, Natalie Mendoza, who withdrew from the show after sustaining a concussion in November. The nature of Carpio’s injury was not immediately known.

Mar 22 2011 06:30 PM ET

James Franco and Bruce Vilanch: All is forgiven!

by Darren Franich

Categories: Celebrity Feuds, James Franco, Oscars, Twitter

Twitter: The cause of and solution to all of life’s problems. Yesterday, James Franco responded to Academy Awards comedy writer Bruce Vilanch’s negative comments about his hosting job with a defensive TwitPic that dared to vaguely insult Bette Midler. But the two semi-enemies have made peace. In a new TwitPic, Franco posts a note he received directly from Vilanch, who explains that he was only joking with the interviewer, and ended up actually trying to defend Franco’s Oscar hosting. “You should never take the gutter press too seriously,” explains Vilanch, “They don’t do their homework and they like to pretend everyone is in a perpetual state of anger and distress.” Over the note, Franco has scrawled his own mea culpa: “Thanks Bruce, sorry for reading stupid blogs.” And with that, the Great Franco-Vilanch war of March 21 and 22 ended. Check back on this blog — which isn’t stupid, we got a B-, which is an A- at Harvard! — later this week for more exciting usages of the word “TwitPic.”

Mar 22 2011 03:25 PM ET

Keira Knightley makes like a sultry Bond babe as Chanel's 'Coco Mademoiselle'

by Chris Nashawaty

Categories: Advertising, Guess Who!, Have You Seen This?, Movies, Sexytimes

I have no idea how it smells, but I have a hankering to run out and buy some Coco Mademoiselle perfume after watching Keira Knightley’s new Chanel ad. The steamy, three-minute-twenty-second short film was directed by Atonement director Joe Wright and even if it doesn’t help sell the fragrance, it seems like a pretty decent audition reel for the two to team up in a future James Bond movie. In other words, look out, Old Spice Guy! READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 03:00 PM ET

'Skins' season finale: When controversy's not enough to carry a show

by Hillary Busis

Categories: About Last Night, Skins, Television, The 'Eh' List, Those Crazy Kids!

Many moons ago, it seemed like everyone on the Internet was clucking about Skins, MTV’s adaptation of a beloved British show that dramatizes the lives of teenagers gone wild. There was drug use! There was cursing! There was child porn, maybe-okay-not-really! As word of the series’s scandalous content spread far and wide, advertisers began to pull out of the show faster than you can say “She’s Too Young” — which only stoked the virtual fire.

But then a curious thing happened: Ratings for the teen drama’s second episode, which aired January 24, dropped sharply from 3.3 million viewers to 1.6 million viewers. In later weeks, that number got lower still… and subsequently, people stopped talking about Skins. Chances are that you had no idea the show’s season — and possibly series — finale aired last night.

So why did Skins start with a bang and end with a whimper? READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 02:05 PM ET

HBO's Dick Cheney miniseries: I nominate J.K. Simmons to play the former VP

by Jeff Labrecque

Categories: Casting, Documentaries, Politics as Entertainment, Television

Image Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Say what you want about Dick Cheney, but no one ever made a movie about Walter Mondale or Hubert Humphrey. The polarizing former vice president who became the bete noire of the political Left, will be the subject of an HBO miniseries, according to CNN, based on Barton Gellman’s biography, Angler, The Cheney Vice Presidency, and Frontline’s 2006 documentary, The Dark Side.

From a storytelling point of view, Cheney is much more fascinating than previous VPs — and even his boss, former President George W. Bush, for that matter. Cheney earned his bones during the Nixon and Ford administrations, became a successful Wyoming congressman, and then presided over the Defense Department during the first Gulf War. By the time he selected himself to be Bush’s VP in 2000, he simply oozed competence. I was always amazed by his ability to absorb a verbal attack on shows like Meet the Press without batting an eyelash, and then calmly launch his response with these simple words, “Well, the fact of the matter is… ” That was the magic phrase for Cheney. He always sounded so credible, no matter how dubious his arguments. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 01:39 PM ET

'Vogue' allows me to understand the Olsen Twins

by Mandi Bierly

Categories: Fa-fa-fa-fa-fashion, Magic

Image Credit: VOGUE/Mario Testino, VOGUE/Bruce Weber

In the April issue of Vogue, Sarah Mower profiles the 24-year-old Olsen Twins and their apparently successful clothing label The Row. I say “apparently successful,” because I know nothing about fashion and admittedly had to read the sentence about their fall collection leaving “the most hard-core fashion skeptics in a slight state of shock over its subtle sense of inclusivity” twice. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 12:13 PM ET

Ellen DeGeneres calls out Selena Gomez on Justin Bieber fib: You 'made me a fool'

by Sandra Gonzalez

Categories: Awwwwww So Cuuuuuute, Celebrity Couples, Have You Seen This?, Justin Bieber, Music, Television

There couldn’t be more adorableness in this clip with Selena Gomez and Ellen DeGeneres if there were a dozen white, fluffy puppies making soft snoring noises on the floor in front of them.

It all starts with Ellen showing a clip from Gomez’s last appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, where the pop tart diffused rumors that she was dating Justin Bieber by saying, “He’s little. He’s like my little brother.” Cut to present and a joking accusatory glance from DeGeneres. That’s about where we start building to Defcon 1 on the cuteness scale. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 12:08 PM ET

'DWTS': Ralph Macchio and Kirstie Alley are the show at its best -- WATCH!

by Mandi Bierly

Categories: Dancing With the Stars, PopWatch Dance Party, Reality TV, Television

Image Credit: Adam Larkey/ABC (2)

There were two standouts on last night’s season 12 premiere of Dancing With the Stars: Ralph Macchio and Kirstie Alley. As EW’s own Fringe Fairy Annie Barrett said in her recap, both were a surprise. In their rehearsal clip reels, Macchio, 49, was shocked partner Karina Smirnoff hadn’t put him in a stretcher yet, and Alley, 60, said her goal was simply to “stay upright” with Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Then, their music started, and they were both so delightful, for a few moments, you didn’t have to feel guilty DVRing this show. (Watch their routines below.) He’s more of a showman than you’d expect, and she didn’t just rely on her personality. My biggest pet peeve on DWTS is if the pro partner does all the work and the celebrity just stands there switching holds. Not a problem with these two. At all. Maybe their success shouldn’t be a surprise: Remember this from Look Who’s Talking? And he was coordinated enough to do three Karate Kid films. But what I love most about these two is that they’re not singers who’ve been doing some form of choreography for years. You see them, and you find yourself thinking, I wonder if I’m secretly good at this? Of course, we’ve yet to see if Macchio can shake his hips in a Latin number or if Alley is graceful enough to pull off a waltz, but you have to be rooting for them. Another reason why: They take the competition seriously, but not too seriously. Perhaps they’ll be the first two contestants in recent memory to go the distance and not be reduced to tears by the stress. Let’s hope…

READ FULL STORY »

Mar 22 2011 12:07 PM ET

Bruce Vilanch criticizes James Franco's Oscar-hosting, Franco feels betrayed: Whose side are you on?

by Darren Franich

Categories: Celebrity Feuds, James Franco, Oscars, Twitter

Reactions to James Franco’s Oscar hosting gig were generally mixed, ranging from “Is he stoned?” to “Am I stoned?” to “Oh, I get it, he’s meta-hosting” to “Who’s that weird dude creeping on the nice girl from The Princess Diaries?” Eminent Oscar writer Bruce Vilanch vehemently denies that Franco was on any drug (besides extreme sleep deprivation), but he still has some stern critiques for Franco’s hosting. Vilanch tells Vulture, “He didn’t get there. I don’t think he realized how big a deal it is to do it until he was actually confronted with it… It’s outside of those guys’ comfort zones. The only people who know how to host those shows are people who get up onstage every night and say, ‘Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.’”

Franco tweeted a response, since removed from his Twitter account, saying “Bruce, he let me down” and featuring a graffiti’d photo of the host and the writer, with Vilanch saying: “James f—ed up the Oscars. Trust me, I know comedy. I mean, come on, I write for Bette Midler!” Oh no, an Oscar host is feuding with Bruce Vilanch! It’s like watching Mom and Dad fight, except Mom and Dad are actually funny! READ FULL STORY »