By Romeo San Vicente
Zooey and Rashida are 'Idiot"s lovers
When it comes to announcements about movies currently in production, you had Romeo at "Paul Rudd." Ah, but the dreamy and hilarious Rudd is just one of the tasty ingredients in a new comedy called "My Idiot Brother" from director Jesse Peretz. (The one-time member of The Lemonheads previously directed Rudd in the indie movie "The Chateau.") Rudd plays the titular moronic sibling whose sunny disposition and unchecked honesty wreaks havoc in the lives of his three sisters, played by the very funny Emily Mortimer, Elizabeth Banks and Zooey Deschanel. Add Rashida Jones (the "Parks and Recreation" actress played Rudd's fiancee in "I Love You, Man") as Deschanel's lesbian lover and Adam Scott ("Party Down") as Banks' neighbor, and "My Idiot Brother" boasts one of the strongest comic casts to come along in a while. The idiocy will commence sometime in 2011.
Everybody loves John Logan
Sure, right now you may be thinking, "Who's John Logan?" But that's because you aren't watching the credits. Logan is the Tony Award-winning gay playwright and screenwriter whose "RED" just took home the Tony for Best Play and who also penned "The Aviator," "Any Given Sunday," "Gladiator" and "Sweeney Todd." And he's got -ahem – a few more projects up his sleeve. Like, currently eight. But the most immediately forthcoming are "Rango," an animated feature starring the voice talents of Johnny Depp, Timothy Olyphant, Abigail Breslin, Bill Nighy and Isla Fisher; and the Ralph Fiennes-directed Shakespeare adaptation "Coriolanus," starring Fiennes, Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave. And because he's apparently still not busy enough, now he's teaming up "The Hurt Locker"'s Kathryn Bigelow on an HBO pilot called "The Miraculous Year," about a New York family, that will feature a cast of Broadway veterans like "RED"'s Eddie Redmayne, Hope Davis, Frank Langella, Norbert Leo Butz and Patti LuPone. Somebody give this guy permission to take a Ferris Bueller day.
'Elf' travels through the Candy Cane Forest to Broadway
Probably the most delightful – not to mention quotable – Christmas movie of the past decade would have to be "Elf," which gave Will Ferrell one of his most adorably awkward and naive characters, Buddy the Christmas Elf. So with movies-turned-stage-musicals (and holiday extravaganzas) being one of the hottest tickets on the theatrical scene, it's perhaps no surprise that "Elf" is the latest big-screen hit that's being groomed for a new life on the Great (Snowy) White Way. Written by Thomas Meehan and Bob Martin, the team behind the charming hit "The Drowsy Chaperone" – with music and lyrics by the creators of Broadway's "The Wedding Singer" – "Elf" is set to hit the boards this November for a limited run that would last through New Year's. Early buzz has "Avenue Q"'s Christian Anderson pegged to play Buddy, but nothing definite has yet been announced. Here's hoping it's good for goodness sake.
Oprah makes Carson Kressley's showlessness all better
There was a moment, post-"Queer Eye For The Straight Guy," when it looked like Lifetime wanted to be in the Carson Kressley business. He was due to have his own talk show, sort of like Graham Norton with a different accent. And then, like so many things in the world of entertainment, it just didn't happen. And that's a shame, because Kressley is good at bossing people around and giving them makeovers they didn't ask for. But Oprah knows his talents and is said to be currently developing shows on her new Oprah Winfrey Network for both Kressley and lesbian chef Cat Cora. True to form, both shows are said to be designed to play to the strengths of their respective hosts, with Kressley dispensing advice on style and living well and Cora dropping in on families to help them cook a little better. Add these two to the forthcoming Nate Berkus show on OWN and there's the beginning of a gay self-improvement power mafia primed to step in and take over basic cable. It also probably means no more tater tots for the unwitting recipients of either shows' good intentions.
