Anthony Hopkins Is A Wolf-Man's Daddy

If the Wolf-Man remake, with Benicio Del Toro wasn’t looking awesome enough, it just got cooler. Del Toro’s Lawrence Talbot just got his daddy, and the father is: Anthony Hopkins. Although the news has been spun around the rumor-mill for several months now, MTV Movie Blog received confirmation that Hopkins is indeed attached.
Hopkins will play Sir John Talbot, the distinguished father to Larry Talbot (Del Toro) who is bitten by a werewolf and infected. In the original story the father was a pretty important part of the storyline, attempting to help his afflicted son overcome the werewolf curse. I can only imagine the new movie will rival the original in importance.
I don’t know why, but this casting just feels absolutely perfect for a new Wolf-Man movie. Although I’ve been on a “no-remake” kick today, I have to admit I’m pretty excited about this one. Hopefully the talent behind the movie will keep me from regretting that excitement.

Zooey Says Yes To Jim Carrey

Zooey Deschanel is building up her comedic scorecard. She’s already appeared opposite Will Ferrell in a holiday classic (Elf) and in one of the good Tim Allen movies (Big Trouble). Now she’s said “yes” to appearing opposite Jim Carrey in his upcoming picture Yes Man.
The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter who reports Deschanel will be appearing in the picture in the lead female romantic role opposite Carrey and alongside Bradley Cooper, who plays Carrey’s best friend in the movie. As for Carrey, he plays a guy who decides to make a change in his life and say “yes” to everything that comes his way. Hilarity, of course, ensues. Think of it like Liar, Liar only the protagonist has more control over his own life.
I’ve enjoyed Zooey Deschanel in her previous roles, including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I do have to wonder if she’s not a little young to play opposite Carrey; there’s almost a twenty-year age difference between the two. Then again, Carrey’s only a few years older than Farrell, and that relationship sold on screen, although part of that might have been due to Ferrell’s childlike demeanor in the picture.

Hot Stuff, Sophie Monk Shed Her Clothes for Spicy PETA Ad

Sophie Monk is beautiful, sexy, and spicy. The adjectives also describe the latest ad she does for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Shed her clothes for PETA's new spicy, bare it all ad to persuade people to "kick their meat habit," the Aussie beauty said in an interview with the organization, "If you are going to take your clothes off for something, it better be a good cause." Yeah, and one of the example is for PETA's veggie ad.
On her being a vegetarian, Monk commented "There's no doubt in my mind that going vegetarian has made me feel better not only physically but also because I learned about the suffering of animals who are raised and killed for food."
The campaign, features the former Bardot singer lying on a bed of red hot chili peppers, is accompanied wit the tagline that reads, "Spice Up Your Life. Go Vegetarian." The campaign is one more in the series by PETA which has featured other raunchy ads with scantily clad celebrities, such as Alicia Silverstone and Dita Von Teese.
Quit meat when she was a teenager, Monk's boyfriend Benji Madden of band Good Charlotte is a vegetarian as well.
Click PETA.org to watch the exclusive behind-the-scenes video from the photo shoot and check out what Monk said about animal testing and other animal issues.

Joshua Jackson Snagged Part on ABC's Grey's Anatomy

Scored himself a return to episodic TV since the end of "Dawson's Creek" (2003), Joshua Jackson gratefully landed a starring role on ABC's hit medial drama "Grey's Anatomy."
The Canadian actor is set to play a doctor in a multi-episode arc of "Grey's," beginning with this season's 11th episode.
As of his big screen career, Jackson could next be seen starring in horror-thriller "Shutter" and drama "Battle in Seattle," both slated to hit the theaters by next year.
Off screen, Jackson is currently dating Diane Kruger, despite rumors that they broke up in March 2007.

Eva Longoria Teaches Lessons

Desperate Housewives may have raised Eva Longoria’s tabloid profile, but it hasn’t earned her better roles. Before Housewives she was doing awful soap operas like General Hospital and after Housewives she’s now doing an awful elementary school comedy called Lower Learning. The reason for this probably involves some complex mathematical formula related to the increase in her celebrity divided by the increased sag of her aging ass. Hollywood’s a spectacularly unfair place for women.
Variety says that in Lower Learning Eva will play a school inspector assigned to look into shady practices at a school run by an “unprincipled principal”. Also in the film are Jason Biggs, Rob Corddry, Ed Helms, Monica Potter, and the great KG aka Rage Kage aka Kyle Gass.
So on the positive, Kyle Gass is in it. On the negative, except for Elf, Kyle Gass is almost never cast in anything that’s any good. It’s his curse to be awesome, but only in bad movies. To get me to watch this, it’ll take more than Kyle. Eva Longoria will need to be in a bikini… a lot. Since the film’s set in an elementary school, the chances of this happening are pretty slim.

Wahlberg Replaces Gosling On Lovely Bones

There’s been a shakeup on the set of Peter Jackson’s next movie The Lovely Bones. Variety is reporting that one day before the film is supposed to start shooting, they’ve dropped Ryan Gosling as their star and replaced him with Mark Wahlberg.
Sound familiar? Peter Jackson did the same thing on Lord of the Rings. Originally, Stuart Townsend had been cast in the role of Aragorn. Four days after the start of shooting, Townsend was dropped and replaced by Viggo Mortensen. Now it’s Gosling’s turn to take a long walk off a short pier. In the case of Lord of the Rings, it worked brilliantly. Mortensen was perfect as Aragorn, and has gone on to a great career as a respected actor while Townsend has… well… vanished.
Will it work as well for Lovely Bones? I think most would be quick to tell you that Gosling is by far a better actor than Wahlberg. He’d also made a heavy commitment to the role, gaining twenty pounds and growing a beard for the part. Wahlberg on the other hand, has yet to really prove himself as a serious actor. I guess the question here is Jackson replacing Gosling with Wahlberg because he thinks Wahlberg is better, or is he doing it because Gosling just wasn’t working and Wahlberg was the most easily available backup?
Variety’s story says Gosling left the project due to “creative differences”, which could mean just about anything. Maybe it’s Gosling that wanted to ditch it, or maybe they both hated each other. Whatever the reasons, with his track record, you have to believe that PJ knows what he’s doing.
So Wahlberg now steps into the cast to play the part of grieving father Jack Salmon. His 14-year-old daughter, after being murdered by her neighbor, tells the story of what happened to her family from heaven. Also in the cast is Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, and Stanley Tucci.

Dan in Real Life

Release date(s):
October 26, 2007
Genre : Comedy, Romance

Directed by Peter Hedges
Produced by Jonathan Shestack
Written by Pierce Garnder, Peter Hedges
Starring: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney
Music by Sondre Lerche
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures

Single dad and popular family advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell) falls for a beautiful stranger, Marie, (Juliette Binoche) in a bookshop, only to discover she's the very same woman his charismatic brother (Dane Cook) is about to introduce as his new girlfriend at their parents' annual get-together. As the weekend gets underway, Dan and Marie scramble to hide their mutual attraction to each other, resulting in a series of awkward situations. Yet, even under those circumstances, they can't help falling in love.

Saw IV

Release date(s):
October 26, 2007
Genre : Horror, Thriller

Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Produced by Leigh Whannell, James Wan
Starring: Tobin Bell, Scott Patterson, Shawnee Smith, Lyriq Bent, Costas Mandylor
Music by Charlie Clouser
Cinematography David Armstrong
Editing by Kevin Greutert
Distributed by Lionsgate
Budget: $10 Million.

Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his apprentice Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) are dead. Upon the news of Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer)'s murder, two seasoned FBI profilers, Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) and Agent Perez (Athena Karkanis), arrive at the depleted police precinct and help veteran Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) sift through Jigsaw's latest grisly game of victims and piece together the puzzle. However, when SWAT Commander Rigg (Lyriq Bent), the last officer untouched by Jigsaw, is suddenly abducted and thrust into the madman's harrowing game, the officer has but ninety minutes to overcome a series of interconnected traps... or face the deadly consequences. Rigg's citywide pursuit leaves a wake of dead bodies, and Detective Hoffman and the FBI uncover long hidden clues that lead them back to Jigsaw's ex-wife Jill (Betsy Russell). The genesis of Jigsaw's evil is unveiled, exposing the puppet master's true intentions and the sinister plan for his past, present and future victims.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Release date(s):
October 26, 2007
Genre : Drama, Thriller

Directed by Sidney Lumet
Produced by Michael Cerenzie, Brian Linse, William S. Gilmore
Written by Kelly Masterson
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney, Marisa Tomei, Rosemary Harris
Music by Carter Burwell
Cinematography Ron Fortunato
Editing by Tom Swartwout
Distributed by Capitol Films

Hoffman plays Andy Hanson, a businessman who is in desperate need of money. He convinces his brother Hank (Hawke) to rob their parents' jewelry store so they can split the money they know is in the safe. Hank, in turn, hires an acquaintance to help him in the robbery. When the heist goes off, the plan goes awry as the accomplice is killed and the mother (Harris) is mortally wounded. Hank and Andy, along with Andy's wife Gina (Tomei), now have to deal with the repercussions of the botched crime as their father swears vengeance on the culprits.

Rails & Ties

Release date(s):
October 26, 2007
Genre: Drama

Directed by Alison Eastwood
Written by Micky Levy
Starring: Marcia Gay Harden, Miles Heizer, Kevin Bacon, Eugene Byrd, Brian Bogulski
Music by Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
Cinematography Tom Stern
Editing by Gary Roach
Distributed by Warner Brothers

On a beautiful stretch of California coastline, a suicidal mother parks her car on a railroad crossing and awaits the arrival of a speeding train, the sleek and unstoppable Coastal Starlight. Thus begins the story of two families in physical, emotional and psychological collision--of the victim''s relatives and of the train engineer who couldn''t possibly have stopped time.

Music Within

Release date(s):
October 26, 2007
Genre: Drama

Directed by Steven Sawalich
Produced by Brett Donowho, Bruce Wayne Gillies, Oli Laperal, Jr. Steven Sawalich
Written by Bret McKinney, Mark Andrew Olsen
and Kelly Kennemer
Starring: Ron Livingston, Melissa George, Michael Sheen
Music by James T. Sale
Distributed by Articulus Entertainment, Quorum Entertainment

The True Story Of Richard Pimentel, A Brilliant Public Speaker With A Troubled Past. As a young man, Pimentel (Ron Livingston) realized he had a remarkable gift for public speaking. Pimentel's idol is College Bowl founder Dr. Padrow (Hector Elizondo), but upon trying out for Dr. Padrow, the ambitious young speaker is informed that he won't have anything to talk about until he has lived a full life. Realizing that there is some merit to Dr. Padrow's observation, Pimenel subsequently enlists in the military and prepares for duty in Vietnam. Later, while fighting on the battlefield, Pimentel loses his hearing and returns home disabled. Frustrated when others inform him that he will never achieve his dreams due to the fact that he is disabled, the determined veteran makes it his mission to prove them wrong. But it isn't as much about changing other's perceptions of the disabled as it is about altering their perceptions of themselves, and with a little help from foul-mouthed, cerebral palsy-stricken genius Art Honeyman (Michael Sheen), free-spirited beauty Christine (Melissa George), and mercurial, hard-drinking veteran Mike Stoltz (Yul Vázquez), Pimentel will play a pivotal role in creating the Americans With Disabilities Act, and finally discover his inner music.

Mr. Untouchable

Release date:
October 26, 2007
Genre: Documentary

Directed by Marc Levin
Produced by Mary-Jane Robinson, Alex Gibney, Jason Kliot
Starring: Nicky Barnes
Music by Hi-Tek
Cinematography Henry Adebanejo
Editing by Emir Lewis, Daniel Praid
Distributed by Magnolia Pictures

Nicky Barnes was the most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history. A brilliant organizer who combined boardroom strategy with street-level tactics, Barnes became a stunning success and a bone fide folk hero above 110th Street. From humble beginnings he came to dominate the heroin distribution business and make himself and his comrades rich beyond their wildest dreams. Trusted and trained by the Italians, he set up his own black crime family--The Council--a formidable drug collective. The chronichle presents the testimony of Nicky Barnes himself, who has broken the street code and his 23-year silence to tell all in this epic American dream story. Also interviewed are former members of The Council and others in the Barnes drug Collective. The epic provides an inside look at the heroin business from the Kingpin at the top, to the dealer and user on the street.