A few weeks ago, Bravo exec and Watch What Happens: Live host Andy Cohen took to his Twitter account to tease The Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion special: “We are wrapped in New Jersey. WOAH. Very unexpected stuff. I am pooped. #needmakersmark.” Although I almost always trust Andy’s fashion sense, taste in drinks, and love of cat fights, I’ve found the current season of RHONJ to be as tired as Danielle’s skin pre-surgery, no matter how much fun he has rehashing it on his late night show. I assumed the reunion would follow the typical Housewives formula (short dresses + crying = at least one person storming out), but after watching a sneak peek at next week’s reunion special (part one), consider me officially reinvested in this series. Check it out below: READ FULL STORY »
Tag: Lawsuits (21-27 of 27)
Simon Cowell faces claims of 'barbarism' in British lawsuit: Brainstorm your own crazy case against a celebrity!
Image Credit: Janet Mayer/PR PhotosMy name is Michael Slezak, and while I am not a judge, nor do I play one on TV, I cannot help but invoke the all-important “no one held a gun to your head” rule* ™ while reading a story in Variety about a British woman who is suing Simon Cowell and Britain’s Got Talent for $3.8 million, claiming “exploitation, humiliation, degradation, and barbarism.” I mean, look, there are two possibilities here: Either the plaintiff, Emma Amelia Pearl Czikai, saw the show before becoming a contestant, and therefore knew that humiliation was one of several possible outcomes. Or else she blindly marched onto that stage with no knowledge of reality TV, and received a brutal shock. Which would be kind of like me suing a steep mountain because I decided to rappel down it using yarn and a salad fork, and wound up with a broken leg.
Okay, that simile barely makes sense. READ FULL STORY »
Summit sues to stop sale of Bella Swan jacket
Image Credit: Twilight: Deana Newcomb; Inset: BB DakotaSummit Entertainment, the studio behind the Twilight franchise, has filed a lawsuit against BB Dakota claiming copyright and trademark infringement because the label insists upon advertising one of its jackets (pictured) as “JACKET SEEN IN TWILIGHT.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, in their lawsuit, “Summit seeks an injunction against further sale of the item, all profits earned from the jacket, and — the horror! — it wants B.B. Dakota to ‘deliver to Summit for destruction all Bella Jackets.’” (In a statement to EW, Gloria Brandes, BB Dakota owner/designer, says, “We are working to amicably settle the situation with Summit.”)
In my opinion, Summit at least had the right to ask the designer to spell Bella Swan’s name correctly in the jacket’s description on its site: “Bella Swann [sic] wears this jacket in Twilight and scores the hottest vampire in high school, and so can you!” But the fact is, the jacket existed before Kristen Stewart wore it in the first film, directed by Catherine Hardwicke. In fact, that movie’s costume designer, Wendy Chuck, detailed for EW just how it came to be in the picture: ”I was planning to use the brown hoodie for that sequence, but the director of photography hated the fact that [Stewart's] hair and the jacket were both brown and felt she got lost in it,” Chuck told us. So, she made a last-minute run to outlet store Nordstrom Rack to hunt for a replacement. ”I literally brought that blue one on set just before they rolled cameras. Then Catherine said, ‘Wendy saved the day!’ That made me a hero.”
Luckily, Edward’s pea coat was one of a kind.
What do you think of the suit, PopWatchers?
Jim Carrey's 'I Love You, Phillip Morris' delayed for the umpteenth time: most cursed movie ever?
Image Credit: Glenn WatsonI Love You, Phillip Morris is making a convincing case for itself as one of the most cursed movies of all time. Originally screened at Sundance in January 2009, the indie comedy starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor was scheduled to be released this year in February… then in March, then April 30, then July 30, and now it won’t even make that summer release date due to a court injunction. In April, the French movie studio EuropaCorp, which produced the film, sued indie distributor Consolidated Pictures Group. EuropaCorp claimed that Consolidated had failed to pay a $3 million advance for the movie’s U.S. distribution rights. And now, according to Reuters, a California judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing the movie’s release until the dispute is settled in arbitration. Consolidated is reportedly targeting October as a new potential release date.
In the movie, directed by Bad Santa co-writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, Carrey plays the real-life con man Steven Jay Russell, a married man who falls in love with his prison cellmate, Phillip Morris (McGregor). The film has already grossed $14.2 million overseas, where it’s been released throughout Europe and in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Taiwan, and Thailand. And yet, fate continues to intervene and prevent American audiences from seeing Phillip Morris, which Carrey has stated was one of only three scripts he knew he wanted to do immediately. (The other two were The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind).
PopWatchers, do you think we’ll ever watch I Love You, Phillip Morris in that building known as a movie theater? Were it not for its gay content, do you think a film with such marquee stars would be having so much trouble being released? And does its repeated postponements make you any more or less curious to see what’s being kept hidden behind the curtain?
'Cops' booked for 23rd season, 'Girl With the Red Riding Hood' nabs a leading man (Excess Hollywood)
- Fox has decided to renew Cops for a 23rd season. It’s not necessarily a good thing that the show never stops finding material, right? [THR]
- After starring in The Last Song, Liam Hemsworth is in talks to star alongside Dennis Quaid in The Throwback, a basketball drama. Score. [The Wrap]
- The Catherine Hardwicke-directed Girl With the Red Riding Hood has found its male lead in actor Shiloh Fernandez. The actor will play “an orphaned woodcutter” who romances star Amanda Seyfried. Things we know about Fernandez: He’s appeared in United States of Tara and Jericho. Also, he tested for Edward Cullen in Twilight, which means he has great hair — and he should be great at battling Riding Hood‘s wolf. [THR]
- Jerry Weintraub has purchased the rights to The Producer: John Hammond and the Soul of American Music, Dunstan Prial’s biography of John Hammond, the man who discovered famous music acts like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen. Okay, but when is someone going to finally make a movie about the man who discovered Lou Bega? [THR]
- A Los Angeles judge has rejected a lawsuit filed against Starbucks by Carly Simon, who claimed the coffee chain didn’t make good on agreements to release her album. Now if only the chain would make good on my demands that they start selling their a-mah-zing chocolate cream cheese muffins again. [Reuters]
- The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is proposing that in light of the decreasing number of traditional television theme songs, the Main Title Theme Emmy category be dropped. In its place, it suggests a new category, Music Composition for a Nonfiction Program. The music branch of the Academy has the final say and is still debating the change, which would go into effect in 2011. [Emmys.org]
'The Boondock Saints II': A cult hit gets a second shot
As writer-director Troy Duffy recalls it, the cast and crew of The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day were more than a tad nervous when they began work on their Boston-set, vigilante-action sequel. “Everybody was terrified to be the guy that screwed it up,” he says of the Toronto shoot for his movie, which is released October 30. “They knew the fans would find out where they lived and burn their f—-ing house to the ground.”
If you’ve never heard of Troy Duffy or his films you’re not alone. The Boondock Saints, a violent slice of Tarantino-esque Irishsploitation, was released to just five cinemas in 2000, grossing a mere $30,000. Even Dexter actress Julie Benz, who plays an FBI agent in the sequel, was unaware of the first movie before she auditioned for the second. “I accepted the role and I told my trainer, ‘Oh, I’m going to Toronto to do this sequel to some movie called Boondock Saints,’” she recalls. “He flipped out. And this is a man who’s never flipped out over anything. I started telling people I was going to be in it, and they would foam at the mouth.” Oh yes, and about that audition? Benz says it wasn’t exactly your run-of-the-mill acting showcase: “I was reading the first scene and Troy just went, ‘Holy s—, you’re hot!’ And I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’ And he goes, ‘Well, on Dexter, you’re not hot!’ He kept looking at my resume and looking at me. It was like, ‘Are you sure you’re Julie Benz?’ It was really, really, funny.” READ FULL STORY »
Exclusive: Brett Ratner talks about new Polanski doc
Earlier this week, Brett Ratner told BlogTalkRadio’s “Movie Geeks United” podcast that he would be producing a follow-up to the 2008 documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired – a film that yesterday became snarled in controversy after one of its interviewees recanted a confession he made in the film that would have helped Polanski’s side in the 31-year-old unlawful sexual assault case against him. The interview with Ratner was recorded just hours before Polanski’s September 26th arrest. The Rush Hour auteur tells the show that Polanski will participate in his film, although that now seems highly unlikely in light of recent events.
The “Movie Geeks United” segment will not air until this Sunday. But we have an exclusive audio clip from the show, during which Ratner vehemently defends Polanski, saying, “This case has just been going on too long and it’s just ridiculous.” Ratner adds, “The family’s forgiven him, the girl, the victim has forgiven him, the rest of the world should forgive him.”
Do you agree? Take a listen and tell us what you think about the Polanski arrest and Ratner’s comments.
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