Did Will Smith actually typify Adolph Hitler as an inherently "good" person with merely employed bad tactics, or were the actor's words taken out of context? Smith has since insisted the latter and underscored his true opinion with a statement calling Hitler "a vile, heinous, vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet." In response, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League tells the AP, "We welcome and accept Will Smith's statement that Hitler was a 'vicious killer' and that he did not mean for his remarks about the Nazi leader to be mistaken as praise."The Scottish newspaper the Daily Record had painted Smith as indifferent to Hitler's acts, quoting the actor — in a misleading context — as saying, "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'Let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'"
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Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey by Jemal Countess/WireImage.com
The "Oprah and Obama" tour arrived in South Carolina on Sunday, where the talk queen urged a crowd of nearly 30,000 to "seize the opportunity to support a man who, as the Bible says, loves mercy and does justly." "There are those who say it's not his time, that he should wait his turn," she continued. "Think about where you'd be in your life if you'd waited when people told you to.... I'm sick of politics as usual. We need Barack Obama."In Day 2 of campaigning for Obama, Oprah said, "I'm beginning to like this because I can feel that you are ready for change."Next to step up for the senator might be big-screen superstar Will Smith, who tells Page Six, "I just gave [Obama] a call and asked him to tell me wherever [he thinks he needs] me. I think he's what the future of America is going to be."Meanwhile, fellow Democrat John Edwards has some star power behind his campaign as well. Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon have both stepped up to support Edwards in Iowa this week.
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Benjamin Bratt (E-Ring, remember that one?) will star as The Cleaner in an A&E pilot about an addict who makes a pact with God to set himself straight in prison and then forms a team of extreme interventionists, says the Reporter.... Will Smith is hot to turn the 2005 film Hitch into a TV sitcom, which he would exec-produce.... The CW is developing The Collection, a drama drawing from the real-life experiences of designer Isaac Mizrahi. Do not expect Scarlett Johansson to guest-star.... NBC has ordered a pilot for Man of Your Dreams, a comedy from Conan O'Brien's production company that is centered on a womanizer who uses his "expertise" to help romantically challenged ladies.
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George Clooney courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
George Clooney is in talks to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in Farragut North, an adaptation of an upcoming Broadway play loosely based on Howard Dean's 2004! Presidential! Election! Campaign!.... Also per Variety, Tobe Hooper will direct a feature film take on Stephen King's From a Buick 8 (shop Amazon).... Will Smith is a global media mogul in Empire, a drama to be helmed by Michael Mann.... Director Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket) will take Will Ferrell to the Land of the Lost, Sleestaks and all, in the big-screen redo of the children's TV series, says Reuters.
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Tobey Maguire courtesy Columbia Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the feature rights to Robotech, a 1980s Japanese cartoon series featuring giant lizards robots. Tobey Maguire is being eyed for the lead role, and will also produce, says the Reporter.... Per Variety, Will Smith will star in Seven Pounds, about a man who falls in love while trying to kill himself.... Ralph Fiennes will play opposite Keira Knightley in The Duchess, a period romance based on the historical bio Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. I'm already asleep.... Sony Pictures Animation is developing Open Season 2 as a made-for-DVD 2009 release.... Did I mention that the Shrek 3 DVD streets on Nov. 13, aka my sons' birthday? Kismet, I tell you.
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Omar Epps, House
Child prodigy. Ex-rapper. Dreamed of becoming the first black president. Who better to take on Dr. House than Omar Epps? As Season 3 of the Fox series draws to a close, TV Guide invited Epps to weigh in on Foreman's fate.
TV Guide: Why does your character, Dr. Foreman, quit Dr. House's team? Omar Epps: The short answer is he doesn't want to become House. House is judgmental — he's callous toward humanity. Foreman is an optimist, [but] he sees the dark side that House always talks about. It's getting to be a bit much.
TV Guide: Will you be back full-time next season? What will Foreman be doing? Epps: I will be back. Obviously, it will be different — but I don't think even the writers know how yet.
TV Guide: Did you like the idea of change? Epps: The show has goo
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Comedy Central has greenlit the pilot Michael Ian Black Doesn't Understand, which Variety describes as a "scripted showcase" for the oh-so-dry, poker-faced funnyman.... BET on Wednesday unveiled a development slate that boasts 16 new series, including projects from Will Smith (Cipha, an animated sci-fi series), Vin Diesel (Hannibal, an animated look at the ancient African king), D.L. Hughley (S.O.B., a hidden-camera reality series) and Orlando Jones (Bufu, an [again] animated sketch-comedy offering). (Nice to see BET drumming up so much on-camera work for black actors.) Also in the mix is the 26-year-old cabler's first original sitcom, Somebodies, based on the indie film of the same name.
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Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have set up two new comedy projects at rival networks, says the Hollywood Reporter. For the CW, the marrieds who proffered All of Us are shepherding a look at divorced mothers who reside in a large apartment complex. Over at ABC, the premise revolves around a conservative, upper-class African-American man and his liberal, lower-middle-class Jewish wife.... Arrested Development alum Michael Cera has been tapped to write, produce and star in The Good Life, a scripted short-form series for CBS' Innertube broadband channel.
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Numbers' David Krumholtz is joining Michelle Williams in Woody Allen's next film, set in Paris.... Speaking of Brokeback babes, Kate Mara (now a nutty CTUer on 24) is Mark Wahlberg's love interest in The Shooter.... Queen Latifah is a Welfare Queen in a fact-based story about a woman who scammed the welfare system.... Will Smith is attached to star in the action-thriller Greenbacks.... Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst will make his feature directorial debut on the indie The Education of Charlie Banks, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter and Chris Marquette.
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Per Variety, Will Smith is now committed to star as a CIA-recruited professional pinch in a big-screen adaptation of the Robert Wagner-fronted TV series It Takes a Thief.... Molly Shannon, currently lensing Evan Almighty with Steve Carell, is in talks to play a pet owner in the comedy Year of the Dog.
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