By Romeo San Vicente
Taylor Lautner. Photo: Summit Entertainment
Bryan Singer in for hot 'X-Men' prequel
Of all the movers and shakers in Hollywood, no one likes to keep more projects in development than Bryan Singer. Barely a month goes by without his name getting attached to something new. So here's the next one: a return to the "X-Men" universe for the man who directed the first (and best) installment. Singer is currently in talks to take on "X-Men: First Class" for Fox. The "first class" thing isn't about how fancy they are; it's an origin story about the first class of X-ers to make it through the "Xavier Institute for Higher Learning," aka mutant high school. New characters are being planned to mingle with the older (but younger) characters and the prequel will also explore the first meeting of Charles Xavier and Magneto. When's it scheduled to graduate from idea to green light and then production schedule? Not even Magneto knows.
'Go Fish' gals reunite for 'The Owls'
Every lesbian (and lesbian-loving gay guy) remembers the scruffy 1990s indie hit "Go Fish," the film that launched actor Guinevere Turner and "L Word" collaborator Rose Troche onto the scene. It was a blast of fresh, hip lesbian energy into the world of queer-themed media and paved the way for a cooler brand of girl-on-girl entertainment. And now two of its stars, Turner and her crunchier companion V.S. Brodie, are set to appear in the new film from lesbian director Cheryl Dunye called "The Owls." It's a thriller about older lesbians accidentally (?) killing a younger one, then trying to hide the body of evidence and running into the usual movie complications that arise when that sort of thing takes place. Sounds like the perfect way to rehab Dunye's directing career after that unfortunate "My Baby's Daddy" situation. It should be swooping into theaters sometime in 2010.
Taylor Lautner: Shirtless again in 'Cancun'
When you're more famous for your abs, pectorals and personal training saga than your acting, you've already reached gay icon status. And so it is that Taylor Lautner (Team Jacob, in case you've been living on a different planet this year) will make sure that his next non-"Twilight" project will allow for plenty of attention on his body. The young star will appear in an action thriller titled "Cancun," in which he'll star as a misfit college student who has to save his girlfriend from a Mexican drug cartel. How will he do this? With martial arts, of course. The actor showed off some skill on a recent episode of "Saturday Night Live," backflipping and chopping fake would-be threats to his girlfriend Taylor Swift. And that's all you need to inspire a film in Hollywood, really: youth, a willingness to get semi-nude and the threat of righteous violence. Congratulations, Mr. Lautner, keep striking while it's still hot.
Hugh Jackman gets gay again
In the most recent flurry of Hugh Jackman, Inc. activity (not counting his fictional appearance on "Inside the Actor's Studio" for "30 Rock," the moment that inspired the now-legendary line, "I'm not gay, I'm BI-LARIOUS!") something monumentally odd almost slipped through the cracks. In all the hoopla over the next "Wolverine" movie and the planned remake of "Carousel," a smaller entertainment seedling sprouted. It's called "Avon Man." It's about a down-on-his-luck guy who winds up selling Avon cosmetics, recruiting other men in his town to join him on his lipstick and moisturizer-based journey. Because men doing things ladies do is automatically funny somehow. The comedy is still on Jackman's back burner, but expect major Skin So Soft synergy to take place when it gets closer to a release date.
