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Dec 14, 2007 12:01 AM ET
- by Ken Fox
How can I resist you? Hot on the heels of Hairspray, Mamma Mia! -- the hugely popular NYC tourist must-see based on the naggingly memorable ABBA songbook -- is also making the transition from Broadway stage to screen, with original stage director Phyllida Law behind the camera and a pretty stellar cast out front. Amanda Seyfried (Veronica Mars, Big Love) plays Sophie, the young bride-to-be determined to solve the mystery of her birth dad's identity on the eve of her Greek Isle wedding. Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Pierce Brosnan are the three likeliest suspects; Meryl Streep stars as her mom. Universal will be releasing Mamma Mia! in Summer 2008, but the trailer is starting to make the rounds. Will it be the summer’s biggest guilty pleasure? Probably, but who am I to get snarky about ABBA? “Waterloo” was the very first record I ever bought. It cost 98 cents, which makes me kind of pathetic and old.
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Paul Verhoeven will direct Pierce Brosnan but sadly not Rene Russo in a sequel to The Thomas Crown Affair remake. Me, I'm boycotting unless Famke Janssen gets the female lead.... Jada Pinkett Smith will make her directorial debut with The Human Contract, a rom-com whose description makes it sound an awful lot like the old Melanie Griffith/Jeff Daniels movie Something Wild.... Juno director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody are reteaming for Jennifer's Body, a horror comedy about a man-eating cheerleader.... Ridley Scott has signed on to helm Stones, a Stonehenge spookfest. — Ben Katner
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Jerry Bruckheimer is in talks with the National Hockey League about ponying up some $250 million to create a Las Vegas-based franchise, says Variety.... Former James Bond Pierce Brosnan is being investigated for not shaking or stirring but committing battery on a TMZ photographer this past Friday at a Malibu mall. (Funny how the assaulted shutterbugs are never on assignment from Time or Newsweek).... Bonnie Hunt's syndicated talker has been cleared in 55 percent of the country for a fall 2008 launch.... Resurrecting the Champ arrives on DVD Feb. 26.
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It was a magical day on the island of Sodor when Sir Topham Hatt addressed Thomas and the other useful engines."Everyone, I have news! Following in the footsteps of George Carlin, Ringo Starr and Alec Baldwin.... ""Piggy-pig-pig!" peeped James, making the Troublesome Trucks giggle."Enough outta you," Sir Topham Hatt barked. "Now, where was I? Oh yes. I just read in the Hollywood Reporter that Pierce Brosnan will be the new narrator for the Thomas & Friends TV and DVD series starting with the fall release The Great Discovery.""Well, bust my boiler!" scoffed Thomas. "He's certainly no George Lazenby."
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After 18 seasons and 400 episodes, Fox's The Simpsons (Sundays at 8 pm/ET) has attracted more than 350 celebrities to offer their voices to animated doppelgangers. Some have played themselves (Steve Buscemi, anyone?), some new characters (Reese Witherspoon as Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter, for instance), some old characters (Kiefer Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub, who reprise their roles from 24 on May 20) — and in one instance, a mix (Elizabeth Taylor played herself and voiced Maggie's first word). Throughout, producers have attract
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