Sometimes my job gets spooky. Minutes after I Q&A'd Tara Lipinski (re: an upcoming Malcolm in the Middle), a TV Guide colleague asks if I want to chat up Amber Heard, an ingénue-on-the-rise who plays a big role on tonight's Criminal Minds (9 pm/ET on CBS) but more interestingly got the edgy film role Lipinski just told me she had to pass on. Alpha Dog (in theaters May 12), though, is but one of the many gigs Heard is about to hit you with. In fact, you may be looking at the fledgling CW network's first breakout star. You be the judge.
TVGuide.com: Get this: I just interviewed Tara Lipinski, who opted to pass on a role in Alpha Dog because of the, um, required nudity. That's the gig you wound up with, right?Amber Heard: I definitely think it is. Th
read more
Nominations for the 78th-annual Academy Awards were announced Tuesday morning, and leading the herd was — yep — Brokeback Mountain, lassoing eight nods, including best picture, best director, and acting bids for Heath Ledger (in the lead category), Jake Gyllenhaal (supporting) and Michelle Williams. Challenging the cowboy romance for best-pic honors are Capote, Crash, Munich and Good Night, and Good Luck. The lead-actor race pits Ledger against SAG-Golden Globe winner Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Globe winner Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow) and David Strathairn (Good Night), while the lead-actress contenders are SAG-Globe winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Globe winner Felicity Huffman (Tran
read more
Video-game-turned-movie Doom topped a quiet weekend at the box office. (And I mean quiet. Receipts were down 27 percent compared to 2004.) The sci-fi flick, starring The Rock, grossed a so-so $15.4 million. Horse-racing family film Dreamer opened in second with $9.3 million, followed by Wallace & Gromit (No. 3 with $8.7 million), The Fog (No. 4 with $7.3 million) and Charlize Theron's Norma Rae update, North Country (No. 5 with $6.5 million).
read more