By Romeo San Vicente
Jackman taking road to 'Selma'
Under normal circumstances, the casting of an actor to play Martin Luther King, Jr., in "Selma," the latest project from gay Oscar nominated director Lee Daniels, would be major news. And once the movie is finally shot, cut and released, David Oyelowo, the British actor who'll play the legendary civil rights leader and who'll also soon appear in George Lucas's "Red Tails," will surely see his profile rise in this country. But for now you probably have no idea who he is, and so the real casting news for this movie is about Hugh Jackman. He's going to play a redneck sheriff in the story, which will center around the 1965 marches staged by King in Selma, Alabama, and he will almost certainly not be pouring entire buckets of warm water over his sweat-glistened torso in this one. But that's just a hunch. They're still getting the financing together anyway, so you've got some waiting on your hands, either way.
Sigourney and Silverstone to 'Vamp'
Want more vampires in love? Of course you do. Your job as a member of consumer culture requires you to enjoy astonishing amounts of the thing that's really popular right now. So that's what you're going to get. Welcome, then, "Vamps," the new film from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling. It's sort of a young "Sex and the City"-meets-glamorous-neck-biting and will star Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter ("She's Out of My League") as two young lady-bloodsuckers in New York, both of whom have to choose between immortality and love. It will co-star Sigourney Weaver (it's really about time she got to play a vampire, her lesbian icon status was in jeopardy after that last Tim Allen comedy) as the leader of a blood dynasty. Look, as long as it's a comedy and Alicia is allowed to shop some, it probably won't hurt a bit.
Ashley Tisdale: Hellcat
From the It Sure Took Them Long Enough department (and certainly inspired by a certain show about teen choirs) comes "Hellcats," a pilot from the CW about cheerleading. Starring Aly Michalka as a college girl from the wrong side of the tracks who joins the world of competitive cheering, the series has cast singer-actor Ashley Tisdale as the squad's intensely ambitious team captain. Tisdale almost single-handedly added all comic relief to the "High School Musical" franchise (as the intensely ambitious queen of drama club, so yeah, not much stretching here) so this bit of actor-in-the-right-role news feels like a perfect fit. Better yet, it's for a network that specializes in tart-tongued young things, so we're certain to see Tisdale finally shed some of her squeaky-cleanliness. And you can go ahead and call it "Bring It On: The College Years: The TV Show" if you want. That's what it sounds like to Romeo, too. It also sounds like a damn good time waiting to happen.
Jason Segel's rainbow connection
In truth, there's technically nothing truly gay about The Muppets. They're wholesome and sweet and hilarious. There are openly homosexual Muppets. (Unless you're talking about Bert and Ernie. And we've had our gaydar tripped by Big Bird. And Sweetums. And Miss Piggy "is" voiced by a man. Okay, The Muppets "are" super-gay after all.) But they do resonate with everyone's sense of humor and, more importantly, the human sense of wanting to belong to a big happy group. So the news that "The Greatest Muppet Movie of All Time" is happening and that puppet-friendly funny guy Jason Segal is not only the main-starring human being but also the script's co-writer is more exciting than the announcement of a project featuring actual gayness. It just is. Set for 2012, it can't arrive soon enough, Mayan calendar be darned.
