The movie is set to be released in 2008, and I hear my girl Jennifer Hudson has been cast as Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant. I wonder if that means we’re gonna see J.Hud with her legs behind her head on the big screen? As much as I love her, I don’t think that’d be a pretty sight.
Source: Film Stew
Former Sex and the City star is building up her feature resume; this time with the Screen Gems suspense thriller Vacancy.
She recently scored in the romantic comedy genre with Failure to Launch, a surprise hit for Paramount Pictures, and now former Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker is ready to try her hand at a suspense thriller. Daily Variety reports the Emmy-winning actress has signed on to topline Screen Gems’ Vacancy, with production set to begin in the fall.
Vacancy centers on an unsuspecting couple that checks into a motel and, not knowing that there is a hidden camera in their room, they become the unwitting stars of a snuff film. Parker plays one half of the couple who is still in utter grief from the death of her infant son. Mark L. Smith penned the original screenplay for the project.
Sony-based producer Hal Lieberman will be producing the project, while Brian Paschal and Stacy Cramer will be the executive producers.
Parker, repped by CAA, will soon be seen with her husband Matthew Broderick and recent Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman in the Amy Sedaris-starring Strangers With Candy. She recently completed Mark Brokaw’s Spinning Into Butter, about a hate crime on a New England college campus, and is attached to star in the Todd Graff comedy Slammer.
You can still catch Parker in theatres in Failure to Launch, which has brought in over $85 million domestically to date.
All last week, the jokes were flying endlessly about the title of Paramount Pictures’ new romantic comedy Failure to Launch, starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Many critics and analysts claimed that the title may as well be a self-fulfilling prophecy for the film’s success. Whomever came up with that title is indeed getting the last laugh today, as the movie took an easy victory at the box office, claiming the #1 spot from Madea’s Family Reunion with an estimated opening gross of $24.6 million, an impressive per-theatre average of over $8 thousand in upwards of 3,000 theatres.
Proving that there was an audience eagerly awaiting a strong romantic comedy, the movie make almost a million more its opening weekend than McConaughey’s previous rom-com hit How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days made three years ago. That movie went onto make over $100 million.
The original comedy was joined this weekend by two very different remakes fighting it out for second place. According to estimates, Disney’s The Shaggy Dog, starring Tim Allen as a man who changes into a dog, eeked out the victory with an opening weekend take of roughly $16 million in over 3,500 theatres.
The Wes Craven produced remake of his own 1977 horror film, The Hills Have Eyes, this time directed by Alexandre Aja, was off to a good start on Friday, but dropped back over the weekend to a respectable opening of $15.5 million in 900 fewer theatres than The Shaggy Dog.
Dropping down to fourth place, the Warner Bros. thriller 16 Blocks, starring Bruce Willis and Mos Def, had the smallest second weekend decline of the movies opening last week, and it stayed perched above the other returning movies with $7.3 million, bringing its gross to $22.7 million.
Having passed the total gross of Tyler Perry’s previous film over the weekend, Madea’s Family Reunion took another 54% drop and ended up at #5 with $5.8 million and a cumulative gross of $55.7 million.
Disney’s other dog movie, Eight Below, lost some of its family business to The Shaggy Dog, but still earned another $5.4 million over the weekend. So far, it has grossed $66.4 million in four weeks, and is currently the third highest grossing film to open in 2006.
Last week’s other new films took sharp drops with 20th Century Fox’s teen comedy Aquamarine pulling slightly ahead of Kurt Wimmer sci-fi-action film Ultraviolet, starring Milla Jovovich, in their second weeks. The former made $3.65 million in its second weekend, while the latter took in $3.6 million, putting it neck and neck with Sony’s hit comedy remake The Pink Panther for eighth place. Starring Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, the latter has grossed more money than any other movie opening in 2006 after just five weeks.
20th Century Fox’s romantic comedy spoof Date Movie held onto the Top 10 with $2.5 million, bringing its box office gross to $44.2 million. Having doubled its production budget, one can probably expect the inevitable Date Movie 2 to spoof Failure to Launch.
After a brief Oscar run in 2005, the long delayed period drama The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp, finally received a national roll-out into just 815 theatres where it made an unimpressive $2.2 million.
Surprisingly, the sharpest decline from last weekend was suffered by the concert film, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, which took a 68% drop in its second weekend, despite strong reviews before opening. Apparently, Chappelle’s many fans were expecting something different from his comeback. It made less than $2 million this weekend, to bring its total to $9.6 million, but it dropped down to the bottom of the Top 12.
After losing the Best Picture Oscar to Crash last Sunday, Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain took a 49% tumble after losing 395 theatres. Still, it has grossed over $81 million, significantly more than the controversial Oscar victor.
Opening in limited release, the erotic drama Ask the Dust, starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek, made roughly $72 thousand in 7 theatres, while the Alfonso Cuaron sheperded Mexican comedy Duck Season made roughly a third that amount in 6 theatres.
It seems to be all in good fun, but apparently Matthew McConaughey had a little falling out with current squeeze, Penelope Cruz, on the set of his latest movie after admitting his attraction to co-star Sarah Jessica Parker.
McConaughey almost left Penelope Cruz broken-hearted after comments he has been smitten by the former ‘Sex In The City star’ for many years. When the chance came along to work with her on the ‘Failure To Launch’ he was rumored to be quite worked up.
He explains, “I’ve had a crush on her for a long time, since ‘Honeymoon In Vegas’ and then all through the ‘Sex In The City’ stuff. I’ve watched all of that stuff. I like her, and like that show,” he’s quoted as saying.
“I don’t know how to explain it, but she’s, like, manicured, mischievous, and she’s sophisticated but yet she can blush. She’s fun to work with and a pro.”
“And, you know, incredibly easy to be attracted to.”
We wonder if Matthew Broderick is flattered.. or not. If you go by McConaughey, Broderick has nothing to worry about. He seems to be quite content to worship his sultry brunette for the time being.
Alerting all women and homos! Matthew McConaughey to dance nude on screen for two hours! Okay, that was just a fantasy.
But he does have a new Romantic Comedy coming out with the fabulous Sarah Jessica Parker on February 10. It looks very promising. And…it’s Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. What the fuck else matters? 
Walk the Line burned burned burned the competition at the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards.
The Johnny Cash biopic announced itself as a serious Oscar foil to the Brokeback Mountain buckaroos, snapping up a trio of trophies Monday night: Best Picture, Musical or Comedy and Best Actor and Actress honors for leading duo Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, who portrayed Cash and June Carter Cash in the film.
Phoenix offered his thanks to “John and June for sharing their life with all of us,” while Witherspoon said the film was “about where I grew up, it’s about the music I grew up listening to, so it’s very meaningful.”
Brokeback Mountain continued its awards season winning streak, scaling yet another lofty pre-Oscar peak with four Golden Globes: Best Picture, Drama; Best Director for Ang Lee; Best Screenplay for Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana; and Best Original Song, “A Love That Will Never Grow Old.”
Entering the night with a field-best seven nominations, the gay cowboy romance fell short in several key categories, including Best Actor, Drama (Heath Ledger) and Supporting Actress (Michelle Williams), something Lee chalked up to stiff competition.
“I think this has been an amazing year for American cinema,” Lee said. “So, I just want to give my first thanks to my fellow filmmakers for strengthening my faith in movies.”
Felicity Huffman’s turn as a cross-dressing man desperate to become a woman in Transamerica earned her the award for Best Actress, Drama, while Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of author Truman Capote’s obsession with the murders of a Kansas family in Capote earned him the Best Actor, Drama prize.
George Clooney, a triple Globe nominee, walked away with the Best Supporting Actor award for Syriana, while Rachel Weisz earned the Best Supporting Actress prize for The Constant Gardner.
On the small-screen side, the HBO miniseries Empire Falls was the lone contender to notch multiple wins, earning the awards for Best Miniseries or Movie and Best Supporting Actor for Paul Newman.
ABC’s plane-crash-survivor saga Lost was found worthy of the Best Drama Series hardware. Hugh Laurie took the Best Actor, Drama prize for his work as a grumpy but highly skilled doctor on House, while Geena Davis won Best Actress, Drama for playing the president on Commander in Chief.
Though four out of five of the leading ladies nominated in the Best Actress, Musical or Comedy television category were Desperate Housewives stars, Mary-Louise Parker, the lone nominee not featured on the ABC show, took home the award for her work on Showtime’s Weeds. Backstage, Parker expressed surprise that Huffman didn’t repeat her Emmy success and win the Globe, too.
But some solace for the ladies of Wisteria Lane came in the form of the award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, won by their show for the second straight year in spite of its questionable comedic status. (Ironically, the Golden Globes moved this year’s show from Sunday to Monday to avoid a showdown with Housewives.)
Less in dispute were the comic talents of Steve Carell, who won Best Actor, Musical or Comedy for playing an incompetent boss on The Office.
Notable shutouts included Good Night, and Good Luck (four nominations, zero wins), Match Point (four nominations, zero wins), The Producers (four nominations, zero wins), The Sopranos (four nominations, zero wins) and The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (yup, four nominations and, you guessed it, zero wins).
The night’s only sure winner, Anthony Hopkins, was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award by his pregnant Proof costar Gwyneth Paltrow, who called him “the greatest actor of our generation.”
“Ready when you are, Mr. DeMille,” Hopkins quipped upon accepting the award.
Globe recipients were determined by the 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization made up of foreign journalists based in Los Angeles.
While not infallible, the Golden Globes have a relatively strong track record when it comes to predicting the eventual winners of the Academy Awards. Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 31, and the awards will be presented Mar. 5.
Brokeback Mountain goes into tonight’s Golden Globes with 7 nominations–more than any other film.
These nominations include: Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for Heath Ledger , Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) for Michelle Williams, Ang Lee for Best Director, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as the film being nominated for Best Motion Picture (Drama) itself, among others.
Brokeback is expected to take Best Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Directors, with a tight race between Heath Ledger and Capote’s Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama).
When it comes to the Television nominations, ABC has a lot to be happy about. Ratings juggernaut Desperate Housewives is nominated for 5 awards–Best Actress in a Television comedy for all four of its leading ladies as well as a nomination for the show itself.
Cult hit Lost is up for 3 awards, Best Actor in a Television Drama (Matthew Fox), Best Supporting Actor in a Television Drama (Naveen Andrews), and Best Television Drama.
The addictive hit Grey’s Anatomy is nominated for 3 awards as well–Best Actor in a Television Comedy (Patrick Dempsey), Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy (Sandra Oh), and Best Television Comedy (Grey’s Anatomy).
New drama Commander In Chief nabbed a Best Actress in a Television Drama nomination for Geena Davis, Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture For Television for Donald Sutherland, and a nomination for the show in the Best Television Drama category.
With a nomination for Halle Berry in Their Eyes Were Watching God, that’s a total of a whopping 14 nominations for ABC!
The Housewives better do some cleaning up tonight! Either Felicity Huffman or Marcia Cross should take home that trophy tonight, and the show should as well. Though this season does pale in comparison to its first, its still the best comedy on television.
The Golden Globe Awards start at 8 pm tonight on NBC.
Sarah Jessica Parker thinks fans of hit TV drama Desperate Housewives should thank the cast and crew of Sex And The City for helping to get the hit show on air.
Although she accepts Sex And The City could never compete with the ladies of Wisteria Lane in the ratings, she credits the show with giving TV executives the notion that a programme all about women could be a hit.
Parker, who played lovelorn columnist Carrie Bradshaw in Sex And The City, says, “I think HBO (US cable network) did a really clever thing, creating this standing date on Sunday nights (in America) at nine.
“I think that’s really a lot what this is about. There was a show that was successful to a smaller degree.
“This idea of this standing date for women (was) brilliant and now I think they need to do Monday night.”
