Random Round-Up 15

I thought this article on Yahoo! sports was quite interesting. It's by Janet Evans and it tackles a few topic pertinent to the Olympic swimmers this year: the new swimsuit, the effect of the schedule flip (NBC is ga-ga for Michael Phelps and so paid beaucoup bucks to get the IOC to move the swimming finals to the AM in China so they can be broadcast live here in the U.S.) and the effect of the too-close-to-the-Games U.S. Olympic trials on the athletes. I'm not a huge Olympic follower - yeah, I'll watch what interests me and sort of keep tabs on things on the Web but it's safe to say I don't keep my finger constantly on the pulse of the Games! - but I do like to watch swimming and found the article to be very enlightening.

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I won't spoil the results of last night's So You Think You Can Dance just in case you haven't yet seen who won... but there was a lot of chatter on the message boards about why Sabra was not featured in the alumni video. I did a little Web searching and found an article with season 3's Danny, Sabra and Neil (from a magazine Danny co-founded, I guess) - but it didn't mention what Sabra's doing now. Helpful. So, I wandered around and found this behind-the-scenes video filmed by season 2's Ivan:

I always feel bad for the dancers that got cut early on (*cough* Jamie *cough*) because no one really remembers them and they hang around for 2 or more hours and only get to dance a total of 30 seconds. And we, the viewers, probably only see their faces for, oh, 5 seconds of that 30 seconds. :o( Poor little losers.

Oh, and if you have seen the finale already, here's a link to EW.com's recap of the show... and here's a link to their recap of Wednesday night's show. I found the latter much more interesting, if only because the recapper really goes to town highlighting what could be the producers' (not so) subtle means of voter tampering. Well, voter bias-ing, I guess I should say. If that was a real word.

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James McAvoy is on the cover of this month's Arena magazine (too bad it's a British magazine and I can't get a copy... boo!!!). That is all.

Today's McAvoy Minute

I know - you are all probably sick to death of my hot men posts. And my saying that every time I post one. And yes, it seems like it's the same two dudes over and over... but that is only because those dudes have projects coming out. I swear. As soon as their projects are over and some other hot dude's project pops up on the horizon, I promise I'll start obsessing over him. :o)

Anyhoo, I came across this blurb on EW.com and thought it was worth a watch. Here's EW.com's summary of the Today Show clip:

While interviewing James McAvoy, the conversation turned to his kiss with Angelina Jolie in his new film, Wanted. McAvoy squirmed as [Ann] Curry tried to get him to admit that it must have been easy work. He squirmed some more while explaining that an on-camera sex scene really shouldn't be a turn-on for an actor because then it would be more like "molesting someone" instead of performing one's job. McAvoy then said he hoped that if their interview included a scripted kiss, he and Curry would both be professionals. What was the wannabe cougar's response? A huge grin right into camera, just before saying she would "throw him on the floor." McAvoy blushed and complimented Curry's shoes.

Awkward!

Random Round-Up 06

I have been busy today, people! I have been helping out in the call center today and have been working nonstop since I got in, with only a 1/2-hour break. Can you believe it?! I'm working at work! Too weird. :o)

As such, today's pickings are slim, slim, slim. Apologies.

1. Here's the new poster for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (supposedly):
Ooh. I am all atwitter. It looks like it's going to be oh so different from all the other Terminators, doesn't it?!! I kid. Supposedly, there will be a teaser trailer shown before The Dark Knight in July... though I doubt Christian will be in the trailer so who cares?! He's still shooting Public Enemies (as far as I know) and no Christian = no interest, y'know what I'm mean?
(Speaking of Public Enemies, JustJared has some hot photos of Johnny Depp on set here.)

2. I do not like Katherine Heigl and haven't liked her for many moons now. From most of the things I've read about her, she seems to be a raving bitch with a humongous ego. I'm just saying. To quote The Wedding Singer: "You a bitch."

And actually, ever since her rant over the inappropriateness of Knocked Up, several people within Hollywood hold the same opinion of El Heigl. How can she re-spiff her image? Well, by not releasing statements like this:

I am truly grateful for the honor that the Academy bestowed upon me last year. I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the Academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.

As Defamer kindly points out, "[j]ust one year after her astounding Emmy win, Heigl has basically given the entire staff of Grey's a giant, nicotine-stained middle finger." Hee! Too true. I know she wants off the show and pissing off The Powers That Be is a good way to go about that, but I don't think that's the real reason Heigl was such a smartass. I think she just sucks.

UPDATE (06/12): Per EW.com,

One day [after Heigl's statement] a key show insider contacted EW.com to express regret that the actress publicly complained about the drama. “The show bent over backwards to accommodate her film schedule, and then she criticizes the show for lack of material?" the insider said. "It's an ungrateful slap in the face to the very writers responsible for her Emmy win in the first place.”

3. As you know, I really like Angelina Jolie. I would never go so far as to buy a Team Jolie shirt from Kitson but if someone wants to get into a pissing match with me about how she wrecked Jennifer Aniston's perfect marriage I am up to the task! :o) But I digress. Seeing as La Jolie won't be putting in any personal appearances to promote Wanted, she has instead sat down with Entertainment Weekly for a lengthy Q&A. You can read all about the tattoo she drew on Brad's back* here.


4. In case you were wondering...

Now that we know which character was killed on NCIS, why did Lauren Holly leave? Was it her decision, [exec producer] Shane Brennan's decision, or mutual?
Mitovich: Brennan tells TV Guide that the death was long in the planning and done primarily for storyline reasons. Holly had not asked to leave.

5. I think I just threw up a little.

NY Mag to Tom Colicchio: "So do shaved heads make you a better chef?" That's just great. Men with shaved heads are always better. Just ask my wife. [To wife Lori Silverbush] Aren't shaved heads great? Silverbush: Much easier on the thighs. Colicchio: [blushing and laughing hysterically] That was off the record!"

6. I feel better now.



* Just in case you haven't seen or heard of Brad's tattoo, here it is: It showed up on gossip sites back in mid-May and there was a lot of speculation that it was some type of schematic of the levees in New Orleans (because that's his big cause these days). Uh, no. Not so much.

Movie Morsels 13 - The Incredible Hulk, Wanted

Neither of these movie blurbs are particularly fascinating but they do revolve around hot men so I can't let them down - I must post! :o)

First, the Hulk. Here's a Moviefone Unscripted segment with Liv, Edward and the director (some French guy).

And here is the new TV spot (in case you have a TiVo/DVR like me and have yet to see it!):

Now, Tony Stark's cameo was supposed to be a secret - a very poorly kept secret amongst those of use in the blogosphere (I knew and I'm not even a comic book 'geek!'), but a secret nonetheless. Obviously, Marvel is sweating the Hulk's box office prospects and decided to dump the cameo in the first 2 seconds of the ad. Will this pique moviegoers' interest and cause more peeps to flood the first Hulk screenings? Well, according to EW.com, the answer is yes. Then again, TunaFlix says not so much.

I tend to side with TunaFlix. People in the know either: (1) were already planning to see it (they're comic book fans - that's why they're in the know!) so Tony Stark doesn't make a difference; or (2) know that it really is a 10 minute cameo and that 10 out of 114 minutes does not an Iron Man make. In other words, they won't be expecting a huge Tony Stark/Hulk storyline and are okay with it. People not in the know, however, run the risk of now thinking that Tony Stark is going to be, like, the Hulk's friend or something and feature prominently in the movie. These are the people that might fall into the commercial's trap, I don't know. Would they spend money on a movie they weren't going to see because all of a sudden they think Tony Stark is in it? I really liked Iron Man but even I wouldn't be persuaded to do that... the first Hulk really was that bad. If people are dumb enough to think that Iron Man is starring in not one but two summer movies this year then, well, I guess they deserve to be duped out of their 10 bucks. I will consider it a deserved donation to Edward's career.

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I really have no intention of seeing Wanted. Yeah, it has James McAvoy, who's a cutie, and Robert loves Morgan Freeman so I'm sure I could talk him into it... but it seems kind of dumb. Sorry James. Still, I may find myself aimless one Saturday night in the future and wander into a showing, who knows? I will consider it a deserved donation to James' career, I guess. :o)

This article is over a year old - it's actually to promote another movie, in fact - but I guess because he mentions Wanted in it, it's suddenly resurfaced. I'd never read it before and James is awfully cute (and funny!) in it, so I thought I'd pass it along... see if I can make any converts out of you.

CS: You're going to have a lot of action in that film I guess.
McAvoy: Yeah, kinda, and they want me to do as much as I can anyway. There's a lot of free running and Parkour and all that kind of stuff. A lot of driving and guns and all that kinda rubbish. But it's quite important for me because the reason I wanted to play this character in "Wanted" was because it still adheres to what I believe in, that heroes shouldn't always be perfect. We shouldn't always have the six-foot-five, chiseled-jawed, good-looking guy. That's why it's so good that Spider-Man is somebody like Tobey Maguire, and that's why I took this role. They wanted someone geeky. I screen-tested for the movie over a year ago and they never gave me the part. Then, it was about seven months later when they went, "Look, we've been trying to find someone who's muscle-y who looks good and all that, but it just didn't work with someone like that so they said, "Could you come and do it?" They basically just said, "You're the runt of the litter and that's what makes it work" so yeah, and that's why I like it. So while I'm doing all this physical work, it's important for me to remain small. I'm sure they want me to get all big, but it's important to remain believably geeky.

Oh, and just in case you haven't heard of the movie (entirely possible, even though it comes out in just 2 weeks), here's the trailer:

UPDATE: Here's a much more current piece with James from Complex.com. It's a Q&A with both James and Common (also in Wanted) - on the first page, James has to answer questions about Common and on the second, Common must answer questions about James. I found it quite amusing and I highly recommend it!

Movie Morsels 09 - The Hobbit

I guess this news is actually a day old but I just heard about it, so it's news to me! :o) Rumor has it that James McAvoy is the #1 guy in the running to play the titular character in The Hobbit. According to ShowbizSpy.com:

Scottish actor JAMES McAVOY has been tipped to take the lead role in the new movie version of LORD OF THE RINGS prequel THE HOBBIT.

J.R.R. Tolkien's novel is set to be turned into a major blockbuster under the direction of Guillermo del Toro and filming is due to begin in New Zealand later this year (08).

Sir Ian McKellen will reprise his role as Gandalf and McAvoy is rumoured to be the favourite to take the lead role of hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

The character was played by Ian Holm in the previous films of the fantasy franchise, but he is due to be replaced by a high profile star for the new movie.

A source tells British newspaper the Daily Express, "A number of names have been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black, but James (McAvoy) is the one the film's bosses really want.

"They're expected to have talks soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future."

And director del Toro adds, "I can tell you it's down to a few names that we all agree upon. For our first choice, completely magically we all have the same name."

James is a bit wee - he's 5'7" - so I suppose he'd make a good hobbit. Elijah is 5'6" as is Sean Astin (is that the "official" height under which an actor will not stipulate to being or what?) so James would fit right in. Man! Robert totally missed his window of potential Hollywood popularity - he's 5'6", too! (But he actually is.) I very much like James McAvoy so if he really is going to play Bilbo Baggins, I'll be excited. Granted, hobbits are never hot (who is with a Greg Brady perm, really?) but it'll be a more high profile role for James and it's always a bonus for actors you like to actually get work...