Natalie Portman Has Been Abandoned
Today in showbiz news: Lynne Ramsay abruptly drops out of a movie, Bates Motel scares up ratings (get it?), and Kelsey Grammer's daughter books another acting gig.
.Today in showbiz news: Lynne Ramsay abruptly drops out of a movie, Bates Motel scares up ratings (get it?), and Kelsey Grammer's daughter books another acting gig.
Natalie Portman and the rest of the cast and crew of Jane Got a Gun showed up for their first day of work in Santa Fe yesterday just like they were supposed to. The only problem? Their director didn't. For mysterious reasons that will likely be made clear sometime soon, director Lynne Ramsay dropped out of the movie over the weekend and decided to let everyone know by just not showing up to work. Which is a very mature and gracious thing to do! Forget Kevin, I think we need to talk about Lynne. The movie, a Western about a woman reaching out to her ex-lover to save her husband, is still technically a go, with the actors spending their time rehearsing while the producers scramble to find a new director. But for Portman and her costars, among them Joel Edgerton and Jude Law, that's gotta suck, because I'm sure working with Ramsay was a big part of the draw. Of course, the show must go on, as they say. Hopefully they'll find someone quick. What's Brett Ratner up to these days? Just get him. Basically the same thing, right? [Deadline]
The entertaining new drama Bates Motel did pretty well for A&E, earning 3.1 million viewers over all and 1.6 million in the all-important 18-49 demo. That's a good sign for A&E, which has been trying to go younger. Bates didn't do as well as last year's Longmire, but it doesn't have Lou Diamond Phillips, so it's not really a fair contest. So A&E sallies forth into their new era of scripted programming. Gone are the days of Horatio Hornblower and Pride & Prejudice. Now it's Longmire. And Bates Motel. Hm. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Yay, Casey. Greek alum (and Kelsey daughter) Spencer Grammer has landed a role in a pilot. She'll star opposite Blair Underwood in the remake of Ironside, a police show about a wheelchair-bound detective and his team. Grammer will play one of those team members. Specifically Holly, "who stands up to Ironside and everyone else and would be much higher up in the police department if she would distance herself from the criminals she grew up around." Which criminals? Like Camille?? Are they talking about Camille Grammer?? Let's hope so, guys. Let's really hope so. Meanwhile, the great Jane Adams has joined the cast of Craig Robinson's sitcom pilot. She'll play a junior high school principal who's stressed out a lot. That very much sounds like a Jane Adams role. [Deadline]
David Goyer, the guy who wrote the Blade movies and who helped develop Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, is set to direct a new adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo, which unfortunately is not about syrup-covered sandwiches. It's the classic tale of revenge emulated by shows like the creatively titled Revenge. So will this be some elegant old yarn? Not exactly. Apparently the "approach for Monte Cristo will be akin to the refurbished take Warner Bros. did on its Sherlock Holmes movies." Aha. So it's going to be slo-mo action stuff and anachronisms and whatnot. Except it's an Alexandre Dumas novel, so it's actually more like Paul W.S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers. Which did so well, of course. I dunno. The Count of Monte Cristo is not Sherlock Holmes in terms of cultural presence. This sounds risky. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Here is a trailer for Stuck In Love, which is basically a lower-rent Crazy Stupid Love with Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly instead of Steve Carell and Julianne Moore. Emma Stone is played by Lily Collins while Ryan Gosling is, I guess, Logan Lerman. There's a teen boy too, just like in CSL. I will say one thing, though. Lily Collins as Jennifer Connelly's daughter? That is good, good eyebrow casting. Seriously good job with that, guys.
Speaking of Steve Carell, here is the first full trailer for Despicable Me 2. Those little yellow things are back and Kristen Wiig has joined the voice cast. There's an annoying joke about girls starting to date that every dumb movie makes. The patriarchy, huh?