Jaime King and Paz Vega have joined the cast of the Frank Miller-helmed Will Eisner's The Spirit, playing Lorelei, a phantom siren, and the knit-wielding Plaster of Paris, respectively.... Also per Variety, Radha Mitchell is a temptress who comes between Antonio Banderas and his partner in thievery, Morgan Freeman, in The Code.... Ving Rhames has come on board The Goods: The Don Ready Story, starring Jeremy Piven as an ace used-car liquidator.... The Reporter also has Queen Latifah making a cameo in the Ashton Kutcher/Cameron Diaz rom-com What Happens in Vegas.
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A 40-year-old caretaker was found mauled to death early Friday morning at the Los Angeles home of actor Ving Rhames. According to authorities, the victim had been attacked on the lawn of Rhames' Brentwood home by as many as four mastiffs, the actor's favorite breed. The dogs, which weighed close to 200 lbs. and were known to roam free on the property, were seen being taken away by Los Angeles animal services. The victim had been caring for the dogs for the past two years, and has yet to be identified. Rhames was not at home at the time of the attack — he's currently on location in Europe shooting a movie.Rhames, who most recently appeared as a gay cop in the Adam Sandler comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, is best known for his roles in Pulp Fiction and the Mission: Impossible movies. He was quoted in a 1999 interview with the Los Angeles Times as saying the mastiff made an excellent guard dog, and were originally bred to guard slaves. "It could be around you every da...
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Some goodies in today's pilot-casting news!• Former SNL funny lady Molly Shannon (as in, from back when SNL was funny) has been tapped to play Natasha Richardson's sister (and a possible murderess) in NBC's comedy soap, The Mastersons of Manhattan.• Big-screen bruiser Ving Rhames has joined the cast of ABC's Americanized version of Footballers Wives, called Football Wives, as the team's general manager.• O.C. cutie Samaire Armstrong has been tapped to play, in essence, Paris Hilton in ABC's Dirty Money drama, with Peter Krause.• Boston Public principal Chi McBride can expect a bouquet from ABC for joining its drama, Pushing Daisies; in it, he plays a private dick who goes into business with a guy who can make Lazarus of anyone.• And finally, someday-star (trust me on this) Jennifer Esposito has been signed to ABC's amnesiac comedy, Sam I Am, though unfortunately not as the amnesiac.
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Ving Rhames! Yes, let's have a big round of applause for the Pulp Fiction tough guy. According to gossip columnist Janet Charlton, when a scene in Adam Sandler's gay-marriage comedy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, called for Rhames to kiss another guy, the actor refused, forcing producers to replace his leading man with a boyish actress in male drag. All together now, folks: Ving, it's called acting.
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The CW network's Smallville spin-off — dubbed Mercy Reef by some unofficial accounts — has reeled in a new leading man: Soap hunk Justin Hartley (Passions) has been tapped to replace Will Toale as A.C. Curry/Aquaman. "We have made the decision to go in a different direction with the role," a CW spokesperson says in making the announcement. Sources tell the Hollywood Reporter that CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves was a major catalyst behind the recast. As reported yesterday, the spin-off costars Ving Rhames as McCaffery, A.C.'s mentor, as well as Denise Quiñones as Rachel Starling.
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