Per the Hollywood Reporter, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Danes have signed on to join Sienna Miller in Stardust, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel. De Niro will play pirate Captain Shakespeare, while Pfeiffer will fill the role of an evil witch.... Variety reports that Jack Black will join Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Squid and the Whale writer-director Noah Baumbach's as-yet-untitled new film.
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Albert Brooks, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
For Albert Brooks, it was a longer trip than expected from Los Angeles to India. His new film, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World — in which the comic, as a version of his real self, visits India and Pakistan on behalf of the U.S. government to learn what makes Muslims laugh — originally was slated for an October release (and lofty Toronto Film festival showing). Instead, it got shuttled to this weekend due to some nervous Nellies. And all because of the title.
After screening some footage almost a year ago for Sony execs, "Everyone felt excited, but I didn't feel as excited as the others," Brooks recalls, "because when I told them the title, one of the big shots made a joke that was weird to me, like, 'Good title. I guess we're going to have to put extra phone lines in to take these calls.' When studios say t
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Before the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild award nominations come out today, let's quickly recap all of the kudos handed out on Wednesday by two other biggies. The Producers Guild of America has Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck, Crash, and Walk the Line vying for best-picture honors, while the Writers Guild gave nods to Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, Cinderella Man, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and The Squid and the Whale in the original-screenplay category, and Brokeback, Capote, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence, and Syriana in the adapted-screenplay competition.
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Eva Longoria of Desperate Housewives
Eva Longoria probably isn't feeling too Desperate this morning. The perpetual award-show bridesmaid scored a long-overdue Golden Globe nod on Tuesday morning, joining cast mates Felicity Huffman, Teri Hatcher and Marcia Cross in the lead actress (comedy) race. Still, Eva's probably not the happiest of the Housewives today. That award goes to Huffman, doubly nominated for the sudser and her gender-bending turn in Transamerica. Housewives itself overcame all that sophomore-slump chatter to score a nod for best comedy, where it will face off against newcomers Everybody Hates Chris, My Name Is Earl and Weeds, as well as HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage. Other newcomers to the Globes race include Fox's Prison Break and its star, Wentworth Miller; The Office's Steve Carell;
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