Allison Janney who we most recently saw in Juno is set for roles in two new comedies including Sam Mendes This Must Be the Place tentative title and A Thousand Words starring Eddie Murphy Mendes film features Janney as an abrasive off-kilter woman who reunites with a former employee Maya Rudolph in Phoenix Rudolphs character meanwhile is expecting a baby with her husband John Krasinski and sets off for a nationwide tour to find a suitable place to raise their childIn the Murphy vehicle Janney plays his savvy greedy boss at a literary agency Murphys character meanwhile learns he has only a thousand words left to say before his death If those two films arent enough for Janney fans Im talking to you West Wing junkies the actress will appear in a Broadway musical following her film shoots Is Janney straying too far from her roots Or will it be refreshing to see her in more laughable fare Any movie with the words Eddie Murphy and vehicle in the des
read more
It was gadget-geek heaven at the Sony Cierge Spring Preview party. The event, held Wednesday at PaliHouse in West Hollywood, gave the by-invitation-only members of the Cierge program a sneak peak at the latest Sony cameras, PCs and TVs. Wearing a sparkly silver minidress, Dancing with the Stars' Stacy Keibler checked out Sony's ultra-thin OLED flat-screen television with some gal pals, while Rachael Harris of Notes from the Underbelly strolled around with her husband, actor Adam Paul. Of her ABC comedy, Harris lamented that the remaining eight episodes might not ever see the light of day. "It's disappointing," she said. "But what can you do?" Staying for the evening's big draw — the Sony PlayStation SingStar karaoke event — were Allison Janney and Missi Pyle. Before jumping onstage with Pyle to launch into Elton John's "Rocket Man," Janney told us, "I need to sing tonight because I'm doing [the stage] musical 9 to 5 and I'm trying to get my voice into shape!" The two recei...
read more
Speaking of The Ice Storm.... Allison Janney (who, let's face it, is first and foremost C.J. Cregg) has joined the voice cast of Fox's The Pitts, an animated series based on the short-lived 2003 live-action comedy series about the Spearses the unluckiest family in the world. Janney will voice the mom, while (as previously reported) Dylan Baker, Lizzy Caplan and Andy Milonakis will bring to life Dad, daughter Liz and son Petey. If a table read set for next week goes well, The Pitts will be ordered straight to series.
read more
As reported earlier today, the folks behind American Idol are reviving Match Game. I may be in the minority here, but my restrained response to this news was something akin to "Woo-hoo!" I loved that show — both in its heyday and in reruns on the Game Show Network — if only because it's the strangest anthropological documentation of 1970s comedy, sexual mores and substance abuse that you're ever going to find on network television. It was pretty subversive for a game show (see examples on YouTube), with more cigarette smoking, daytime drinking and winking sexism/sexual innuendo than your average episode of Mad Men.So we asked you who you'd put on the show's inaugural panel. Who are today's Richard Dawsons, Brett Sommerses, and Charles Nelson Reillys? And you responded in kind, with some very interesting suggestions. (Mario Cantone? Genius. Jimmy Fallon? Eh.) That said, here are my humble suggestions for the inaugural sextet. —1) Pamela Anderson: If anyone knows her wa...
read more
Seth Rogen, Scrubs' Elizabeth Banks and Kevin Smith muse Jason Mewes will star in the Clerks director's next comedy, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Says an excited Smith: "Getting Seth in this flick is like suddenly growing an extra six inches in the crotch."... Grownup Panic Room moppet Kristen Stewart has landed the female lead in Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling novel about a girl who is not named Buffy who is in love with a vampire who is not named Angel... The curtain will go up on Dolly Parton's stage adaptation of 9 to 5, the 1980 classic comedy she made with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, on Sept. 21, 2008, in L.A. Allison Janney stars. No, not in the old Parton role, in Tomlin's role. As if....Tim Burton has sealed a deal with Disney to direct and produce a live-action-plus-performance-capture animation version of Alice in Wonderland and remake his own stop-motion short, Frankenweenie, as a full-length feature. Both will be shown in 3-D, and if we're lucky, Alice ...
read more
