day 3.216

the amazing spiderman?

um, didn't we watch this same movie not that long ago? when columbia announced it would reboot the spiderman franchise, i expected something completely new and original- not a rehashing of spidey's origin story. while the movie looks good, it's definitely too soon for a remake. we all know how spidey got his spidey senses. why not just skip to the action?

day 3.35

taylor swift, where are your pants?

the latest music video from t. swift has hit the interwebs. "back to december," the second single off swift's latest speak now, is slowly creeping its way up the charts. "december" is reportedly about swift's short-lived romance with twilight star taylor lautner. if you look at the album booklet, swift puts secret messages in her lyrics by capitalizing certain letters; the secret message for "back to december" reads "tay." the video is basically angst ridden with more angst, as swift mopes, pants-less, around her apartment while her love interest wanders the snowy streets. oh, it also snows inside taylor's apartment while she sits naked in a bathtub. normal. hopefully they release a faster song (like "better than revenge" or "the story of us") so that taylor can actually do something in the next video.

andrew garfield is spiderman

sony released the first official picture of the social network's andrew garfield as spiderman. it doesn't look like he'll disappoint.

also, i can't wait for this.

it better not disappoint. even though it probably will...

day 2.307

spidey gets the girl

the lead female role in the new spiderman franchise has been cast. emma stone landed the part of gwen stacey - no, not mary jane watson - in the reboot opposite the social network star andrew garfield. while it was originally rumored stone would take the role of watson (played by kirsten dunst in the first series), casting took a turn when director marc webb saw "stunning" chemistry between garfield and stone. gwen is spidey's main love interest in the first film in the new series, with mary jane playing more of a supporting role. the bright side here is that stone is actually a natural blonde, not a redhead like we know her. basically, she could have played either role. the irony here? bryce dallas howard, who played gwen in spiderman 3, is a natural redhead who went blonde for the part. with stone taking the part of gwen, casting is now up in the air for the role of mary jane. names like glee's dianna agron and the kids are all right and alice in wonderland star mia wasikowska circled with stone's in the casting pool, so those two may duke it out for the role of mary jane. we'll just have to wait and see.

in other casting news, chelsea handler has reportedly grabbed the sidekick role in reese witherspoon's new flick, this means war. chelsea will be playing - shocker - the snarky best friend to reese, who is the object of affection for two cia-agent best friends (chris pine and tom hardy), hence the war.

day 23

a dark new moon?

it seems like everyday more and more twilight bad news is coming out.  today's tidbit involves casting in the second movie.  taylor lautner, currently holding the role of jacob in the franchise, is apparently looking to be replaced by the creative forces behind the blockbuster sequel.  lautner's character plays a pivotal role in the second film as bella's new love interest.  producers feel that lautner is too "baby faced" to hold the emotionally driven role of bella's werewolf boyfriend.  to keep lautner in the part, the actor's camp is apparently working very hard at convincing the producers that he works, even going as so far as to begin talks with the make up crew from the curious case of benjamin button, a movie in which brad pitt ages backwards, to age and butch lautner up.  the other problem facing this new casting direction is the lack of native american actors in the hollywood community.  lautner is only partially native america and, at the time, was the best the casting department could find.  while i have not read the books, it seems like lautner was one of the few actors who carried his character well in the film adaptation.  plus, it always looks so bad when a part is recast in a franchise - its hard to watch the films back-to-back when a different person is playing the same character.  hopefully summit, the studio behind the film, is able to clear all this up before their projected release date of november 20th of next year.

spiderman hits the great white way

"spiderman, the musical" is set to head to new york's famed broadway sometime in 2010 and the leading lady has just been cast.  evan rachel wood has nabbed the part of spidey's lady friend mary jane.  this would explain the recent marilyn manson ex's experimentation with red hair.  wood has allegedly begun work with bono and the edge, from u2, who are penning all the songs for the musical.  producers are supposedly seeking wood's across the universe co-star jim sturgess for the lead of peter parker, though neither actor has professional musical theater experience.  they worked well together in the trippy beatles themed movie, but i don't know how they'll fare on broadway...neither really seems able to fill the shoes of tobey maguire or kirsten dunst. 

desperate housewives to keep kicking through 2013?

while originally planned to run for just seven seasons, ending in 2010, abc's desperate housewives looks like it might be sticking around for 2 additional seasons.  marc cherry, the creator and driving force behind the female ensemble dramedy, is working closely with abc head honchos to increase the seasons of the shows.  cherry, who had always planned for just seven seasons and said multiple times he would never extend the show, has apparently changed his tune due to the recent creative surge caused by the show's 5 year time jump.  as well as the creative surge, the show has had a ratings surge, averaging 16 million viewers each sunday since the beginning of the current season, exceeded only by dancing with the stars.  yep, the housewives are even beating out this season of grey's anatomy.  the show is currently under contract for 7 seasons and has been picked up through its fifth, but if ratings continue to pull through, abc prez steve mcpherson is sure to allow for the additional seasons.  this news is also good for the actresses, who will be able to hold a steady job through the tough economic times.

gossip coupling numero tres?

it looks like everyone on the gossip girl set has a special someone in the form of one of their costars...well, maybe.  in addition to pen badgley and blake lively (who are not breaking up, contrary to many reports) and jessica szohr and ed westwick, it seems that chace crawford and taylor momsen have been heating things up off set.  the two were reportedly seen smooching at a variety of events over the past few weeks.  the major problem here is that chace is 23 and taylor is only 15...quite the age difference.  however, this pairing is hard to believe.  when the two actors' characters had an on screen kiss this season, reports came out that crawford was terribly uncomfortable with the age difference.  as well, multiple close sources to the rumored couple have come out to defend that the story is simply untrue.  and until some photog snaps the two in a romantic sitch, i'm going to have to take this one with a grain of salt.