1. Beyoncé threw on a form-fitting red dress and made her first post-pregnancy public appearance last night at Carnegie Hall, where Jay-Z was performing for the first time. [via Daily News]
2. Alcon Entertainment’s Andrew Kosove is “adamantly denying” rumors that Harrison Ford is in talks to join the cast of the Blade Runner sequel. “To be clear, what we are trying to do with Ridley [Scott] now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we’re going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it,” he says. “The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment.” [via Slashfilm]
3. “I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about, just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK.” — Clint Eastwood responds to the controversy surrounding his Super Bowl ad.
4. Due to time constraints, it sounds like neither one of the two nominees in the Best Original Song category will be performed at this year’s Oscars. We’re curious: What does the Academy have against a domesticated macaw and the Muppets? [via Deadline]
5. Theater columnist Michael Riedel was OK with being referred to as “a Napoleonic little Nazi who writes for the Post” in last night’s premiere episode of Smash. “Well, of course I was flattered to be mentioned,” he tells Vulture. “But to be perfectly arrogant about it, I don’t think you can do a TV show about the Broadway world without including a powerful and notorious Broadway gossip columnist. And who better to play that role than moi?”
Bonus Buzz: 10 “Health Foods” That Aren’t As Healthy As You Think
This week, we got excited by a few first glimpses of Will Ferrell’s upcoming film, Dog Fight, in which he plays a presidential hopeful from South Carolina with a serious side part. We don’t know about you, but we think a movie with Ferrell running for office with Zach Galifianakis as his rival is likely to be highly hilarious. While we’re not sure yet whether Ferrell’s character will be a good guy, a bad guy, or just a doofus, the set photo got us thinking about the fictional politicians we love, and which ones we’d actually like to see run for office out here in the non-HD real world. Click through to read our list, and if we’ve forgotten your favorite, be sure to let us know in the comments!
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Now that the ever-so-eagerly anticipated David Fincher adaptation of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is out in theaters, fans of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy have had the chance to see how Fincher’s take stacks up — not just against the books, but against the previous Swedish film version, and more specifically in the representation of iconic heroine Lisbeth Salander. The role was played in the original films by Noomi Rapace (currently appearing in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows); for the American films, Rooney Mara takes over.
Who’s better in the role? It’s a tricky question — and one that comes up every time multiple actors take their turns playing a beloved literary character. The critics have weighed in on who plays Lisbeth better, but after the jump, we’ll take a look at ten previous cases of “different actor, same role.”
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1. Soon-to-be retired filmmaker Steven Soderbergh wasted no time lining up a replacement project for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.; Vulture reports that he plans to shoot The Bitter Pill, a pharmapsychology thriller, in the brief window he has before beginning work on his final project, a Liberace biopic called Behind the Candelabra.
2. Bryan Singer (X-Men and Superman Returns) is finalizing a deal to both direct and executive produce the pilot of Bryan Fuller’s reboot of The Munsters for NBC. We’re not certain that this is good news for anyone involved. [via Deadline]
3. Variety reports that Harrison Ford is among a group of actors being looked at for the role of Colonel Hyrum Graff in Gavin Hood’s forthcoming adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s award-winning sci-fi novel Ender’s Game. We think it’s a perfect fit — and after 30 years, it’s about time that he returned to space. [via Slashfilm]
4. Here’s the trailer for this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe.” It will premiere on BBC America on December 25 at 9pm, following a marathon of all 13 episodes of the recently aired season six.
5. According to Publishers Weekly, Microwave for One by Sonia Allison is the worst book of all time.
Bonus Buzz: A One-Percenter Speaks
Did you realize that with the release of Cowboys & Aliens this weekend, Harrison Ford has made credited appearances in 40 movies? To celebrate this fact, illustrator Chip Zdarsky created portraits of the actor in character in each of his films for the National Post. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorite Harrisons — excluding Hans Solo and Indiana Jones, because they’re way too easy — after the jump, and we’re challenging you to correctly identify them. Highlight the black boxes to find out if you’re right.
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If your film-industry knowledge is a bit on the stale side, here’s what’s happening: Lots and lots of movies are coming out in 3D. But it’s not just new releases; older movies are getting a 3D facelift too. One of the latest films to undergo this trendy makeover is Battle Royale, the 2000 cult classic from Japan about a group of school children forced to kill each other on a secluded island. Think Survivor with less democracy and more bloodshed.
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Today at Flavorpill, we met Big Brother. We couldn’t believe that Ryan from The Office is a budding photographer. We felt like mindless sheep. We discovered how funny superuseless superpowers can be. We came up with some names for the new Wu-Tang offshoot. We learned how stop-motion babies are made. We wondered how many people still own VCRs. We read some bad Jay-Z metaphors. We tried to imagine what kind of parent would buy a toy replica of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa for their kid to play with. We downloaded a free Gucci Mane mixtape from Diplo. We decided that someone needs to stage an Indiana Jones intervention with Harrison Ford. We looked forward to Breaking Dawn‘s CGI baby. We had our Arrested Development movie hopes toyed with yet again. And finally, we found another reason to be frightened by FOX News. Thank you, Sarah Palin.
