Question: I was reading your answer about the play that was based on Dr. Strangelove and that got me to wondering if you know of any other really weird or unlikely movie-to-stage adaptations coming up. Thanks.
Answer: The avant-garde off-off-Broadway theater piece Major Bang, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dirty Bomb, freely adapted from Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), was indeed an odd one. But I have to say, it's at least matched and maybe topped by Grey Gardens, a musical adaptation of the 1975 documentary by Albert Maysles and his brother about an eccentric mother and daughter, both named Edith Bouvier Beale, who lived in abject squalor in a rambling East Hampton mansion. The women, known to friends as "Big Edie" and "Little Edie," were related to Jacqueline B
read more
Scrubs star Zach Braff has decided on his feature-film directorial encore. Having gone behind the camera for Garden State, he next will helm — and take a lead role in — a remake of the Danish film Open Hearts, about two couples whose lives are intertwined after a car crash.
read more
Jean Smart wants to make a cheesy little movie called "All the Scenes I'd Really Like to See on 24."
"Wouldn't it be fun to find President Logan floating in the moat around the western White House?" jokes Smart, who plays Martha Logan, the show's unhinged first lady whose motto ought to be: Just Say Yes... to Prescription Medication. "Or — here's one! — we see Logan coming out of Martha's closet in a little Chanel dress with high heels!"
Smart and her presidential costar, Gregory Itzin, need to "fill in the blanks with our characters," she says, because 24's producers, eager to maintain dramatic tension, "don't want us to know a thing about where our characters came from or where the hell
read more
When Zach Braff and the gang grab their clipboards and return to their shifts at Sacred Heart Hospital for Scrubs' fifth season premiere (tonight at 9 pm/ET), fans will certainly have a lot to look forward to. Not only will the NBC comedy deliver a double dose of new episodes each week, and not only will Arrested Development's Jason Bateman put in an appearance — leaving Braff's J.D. tangled in a bunch of feathers! — but prepare for the crew to pay their respects to the yellow brick road in a Wizard of Oz-themed 100th episode, airing later this month.
With its return, Scrubs will settle in to NBC's Tuesday-night lineup at a time when most of their prime-time counterparts are well into their fall seasons. Br
read more
Natalie Portman isn't a Jersey girl by birth (she's actually a Long Island native), but she certainly makes a convincing one in her latest film, Garden State. She plays Sam, an Annie Hall-like young woman who strikes up a relationship with the film's Benjamin Braddock-like hero, Andrew (played by Scrubs star Zach Braff). The role gave Portman the chance to wear ordinary clothes for once, unlike the elaborate costumes she sports as Amidala in those Star Wars prequels.
"Sam was a fun character to play because she doesn't really hide anything," says the 23-year-old actress. "She gets to have all of this weirdness hanging out. I enjoyed doing a small movie like this. It's not about big special effects or opening-weekend grosses. It's about creating something together that people will enjoy."
Portman agreed to appear in Garden State after meeting with writer-director Braff, with whom she clicked right away. But
read more
