By Romeo San Vicente
Amber Heard in talks for 'Paranoia'
Recession still got you down? Ever thought of branching out and going into the corporate spying business? Well, according to Joseph Finder's best-selling novel "Paranoia," this is something you might consider. And both lesbian actress Amber Heard and "Hunger Games" star Liam Hemsworth are considering taking roles in the film version, to be directed by gay filmmaker Robert Luketic ("Legally Blonde"). The story involves a blue-collar worker who becomes a corporate spy and gets himself into hot water as a result. And a hot supporting cast of A-listers like Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford are already on board, which means that the source material – the kind of pulpy thriller you see left on airplanes after a cross-country flight – might be getting the kind of first-class treatment every author dreams of when selling a book to Hollywood. One request, respectfully submitted: If Heard winds up moving beyond the discussion phase, could she please play someone who has something to do instead of just the passive wife or girlfriend? Everyone's ready for that by this point, right?
Magic Mike and the Spice Girls coming to the stage
Not ones to let the bachelorette party wind down so soon, Steven Soderbergh and Channing Tatum are about to extend stripper drama "Magic Mike"'s life to Broadway as a musical. Working with "Magic" screenwriter Reid Carolin, the producing pair hopes to have a working, functioning show up on stage by the summer of 2013 starring hard-bodied guys who can not only bump and grind but sing their hearts out, as well. Just don't call it "The Full Monty 2." Now, if "Mamma Mia! 2" is the first thing that comes to mind when you learn about "Viva Forever!," who could blame you? The long-gestating Spice Girls jukebox musical, written by" Absolutely Fabulous" co-creator Jennifer Saunders, opens on London's West End in December of this year and is "not" a rehash of the supergroup's fantasy biopic "Spice World." Instead, like "Mamma Mia!," it'll focus on a group of women whose lives are reflected in Spice Girls songs. Makes sense because, you know, girl power and all. And if nothing else, it's a reason to hope that the Mayans were wrong about 2012. Because you know you want to see this one.
'The Sound of Music' climbs every delivery platform
It began its life as a stage musical and became an award-winning box office smash movie that found enduring life as a perennial TV favorite and then new popularity as a "Rocky Horror Picture Show"-style sing-along event, complete with audience members dressed as nuns. So what's left for "The Sound of Music"? What about if NBC capitalized on "Smash"'s cult hit status and brought the stage version back to TV as a one-night-only event? Enter gay producing team Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, whose plans involve broadcasting the whole thing live. Sound crazy? It's not; in fact, they used to do it all the time in the 1950s, when families would sit around the TV together for that kind of thing. Casting is underway and airdate will be announced soon. And the more you watch the more likely it'll be more than a one-off experiment.
'Boom,' here's Ron Perlman playing transgender
"Frankie Go Boom" is coming. You ready? It's a sweet-natured romantic comedy from writer/director Jordan Roberts and it stars "Sons of Anarchy" regular Charlie Hunnam (he was also part of the original U.K. "Queer as Folk" cast), Chris O' Dowd (that cute cop from "Bridesmaids"), Chris Noth, Lizzy Caplan ("Two Broke Girls") and Ron Perlman. Perlman plays a transgendered woman and the character is based on Roberts' sister, who used to be his brother, which just goes to show that real life doesn't have to turn into weird reality television – sometimes it can inform oddball fiction instead. What's it about? Two brothers whose love-hate relationship goes viral when one of them pranks the other with an Internet-leaked sex tape. Enter Perlman (looking like, well, a female Ron Perlman) to help. How she helps isn't known at this point unless you jump the gun and read reviews prior to the indie comedy's October opening. But you can wait, right? Sure you can. This one sounds like it rewards the patient.
