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Dec 23, 2007 11:19 PM ET
- by Ken Fox
It seems Jessica Simpson's new movie, Blonde Ambition, may have set some sort of record. With an opening day gross of $384, it may be one of the lowest grossing theatrical films ever. In what sounds like a shamelessly uncredited remake of Mike Nichols' Academy Award-winning comedy Working Girl, Simpson stars as a sweet, small-town gal from Oklahoma who climbs the corporate ladder at a construction firm in big, bad New York City. My guess is that a credited Luke Wilson stars as the Harrison Ford character. Now in all fairness, Blonde Ambition, which was produced by father Joe Simpson's ickily named Papa Joe Productions, was only released into eight theaters, all in Simpson's and Wilson's home state of Texas. To put this in perspective, I Am Legend opened across the country on over 3600 screens, and Blonde Ambition, which is scheduled to come out on DVD on January 22 anyway, arrived with none of the ad muscle accompanying its holiday season competition, like this week's box-office cha...
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, Vanished's Penelope Ann Miller will play Jessica Simpson's conniving boss in Blonde Ambition, a loose remake of 1988's Working Girl.... Chris Klein, Jake Busey and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst will star in Play Dead, a dark comedy about a former TV action hero (Klein) forced to swing into real-life action when he uncovers a small-town meth biz.... Emily Mortimer has replaced an injured Samantha Morton in Transsiberian, a thriller starring Woody Harrelson and Ben Kingsley.
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Question: It seems like every other movie I see advertised is based on a TV show, like The Dukes of Hazzard. But what about the other way around? I know there was a series based on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but what other TV series have been based on a movie, and were any of them good?
Answer: There have been a handful of top-notch TV shows based on movies. The flop Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) was revived as Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); Robert Altman's acerbic M*A*S*H* (1970) became the long-running M*A*S*H (1972-1983); Neil Simon
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Carly Simon
She's chronicled her romantic angst in song since the '70s, but Carly Simon has always left a piece of her heart in the '30s and '40s. As proof, the 60-year-old singer and songwriter is releasing her fourth CD of standards, Moonlight Serenade, on July 19. We visited the Oscar and Grammy winner at her Greenwich Village duplex in a historic town house.
TV Guide: Moonlight Serenade has a very intimate, mellow feel.
Carly Simon: Our intention was an album that you could make out to. [Laughs]
TV Guide: You actually knew some legendary composers.
Simon: Yes. Arthur Schwartz ("Dancing in the Dark") was my parents' [Simon & Schuster publisher Richard Simon and his wife Andrea] best friend. Oscar Hammerstein was a close friend of theirs, too. I have a personal feeling about these songs.
TV Guide: Can you feel as passionate about these songs as you do about your own?
Simon:
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