Entertainment News from Eye On Weho

Eye on Entertainment
Nathaniel Grey
Entertainment Editor
October 1, 2011

The X-Rated Factor

Among all who lusted for Terrell Carter during his recent X-Factor auction, were some who recognized him from the series Friends & Lovers or the movie Diary of a Mad Black Woman. I found it ironic to learn that this talent show finalist also appeared in the movie Soul Kittens Cabaret with American Idol vet Fantasia Barrino. Other's may have recognized him from the 2009 incident in which his boyfriend at the time outed him by posting photos on the internet. My belief in karma has me crossing fingers that Terrell makes it to the end X-Factor and win the mega prize money. *** The Devil Wears Prada star Emily Blunt joins Inception actor Joseph Gordon Levitt in the sci fi thriller Looper. In a future society where time travel is available, Levitt is a contract killer who works for a mob in the future and discovers his next victim to be his future self, played by Bruce Willis. This marks a reunion between Levitt & costar Noah Segan with director Rian Johnson who previously directed both in the movie Brick. Also in the cast are Piper Perabo (Covert Affairs), Garret Dillahunt (Raising Hope) and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine). Blunt switches fashion sides from Prada to YSL as she has been chose the face of the Opium fragrance line ad campaign. I don't know if Blunt is fashionably/politically correct in not wearing fur, but she's surrounded by it in the pre-Thanksgiving release of The Muppets. The list of fuzzy critters being controlled by unseen hands in the movie is massive and you should see which muppet characters appear as well. In addition to Ms Piggy, Kermit, Beaker & Fozzie, the live human cast includes comedy maestro Neil Patrick Harris, Amy Adams (Julie & Julia), John Krasinski (The Office), Jack Black, Katy Perry, Donald Glover (Community), Kathy Griffin plus Hollywood legends Mickey Rooney, Whoopee Goldberg and Liza Minnelli. What a minute, I thought Liza WAS a muppet character. ***

Tilda Swinton (Orlando) plays a mother coping with the aftermath of her son going on a High School shooting spree in the movie We Need to Talk About Kevin. Based on Lionel Shriver's novel, we'll see other roles filled by John C. Reilly (Step Brothers), Ezra Miller (Royal Pains), Leslie Lyles (Black Swan) and the wonderful Seobhan Fallon. In response to your wondering, who the hell is Siobhan Fallon, she played Vince D'Onofrio's wife in Men In Black who uttered the wonderful line "I've never seen sugar do that." *** Would you name your son after your favorite shoe? Modern Family star SofiaVergara has an 20yr old son named Manolo whom she recently saw off to college. I wish I could report that she has a Lesbian daughter named Birkenstock.*** As the latest season of LOGO's The A-List comes to a close, the spin-off series The A-List: Dallas will debut on October 10th. Not sure if I'll be watching as I'm still pissed the first spin-off series went to some hick town rather than the city of angels. Well, at least the chaps seen in this show are real. ***

The usually testosterone oozing, overtly heterosexual channel known as ESP will raise eyebrows when they air Renee, a documentary about transgender tennis star Renee Richards on Oct. 4 at 5pm and again 10/5 at 7:30pm. For those who don't follow tennis, Renee transitioned from male to female and wrote the autobiography called 'Tennis Without Balls.' OK, yes, I'm kidding about the title. Her 1986 book was called 'Second Serve.' Wow, wait till those who were bitching about Chaz Bono appearing on Dancing with the Stars hear about this. *** I'm often surprised how many people of my generation, limit themselves to familiar music of their youth. To look on their I-tunes list (for those who know what I-Tunes is) you would find mostly artists of the 80 or 90s. Somehow through songs used on TV series & film or links I come across in Facebook or just surfing the net, my musical tastes continue to grow. How many 54 year old men do you know that listen to or have even heard of Plushgun, Evaline, or Harry's Gym? But of all the new artists I've been introduced to over the last few years, none have echoed my passions as much as independent artist Eli Lieb. Having spent 10 years in New York, he was noticed by a number of record companies but after long consideration, Lieb realized to create a first album as a true reflection of his artistry he returned home to Fairfield, Iowa. There he created a debut CD which combines upbeat club sounds with soul empowering tunes that run a gamut of emotions. From my perspective he' seems to echo the best parts of Elton John, Imogene Heap, Cary Brothers, and Howie Day, but with a talent that exceeds all of them. While waiting for the Oct. 31 release of his debut album, I urge you to check out it's first single Place of Paradise or any of his original and cover songs at www.elilieb.com. You will discover why his, relatively unknown, music has received over 1 million views on YouTube. ***

Nathan Lane will be joining Greg Kinnear and Julianne Moore in the comedy film, The English Teacher. The United States of Tara executive producer Craig Zisk will make his directorial debut on the project which introduces a failed playwright whose former teacher, convinces him to stage his original play in the high school auditorium.The project also reteams another couple, Emily Blunt with Prada costar Tracie Thoms. The film is scheduled for release in Sept. of next year. *** Another United States of Tara vet Brie Larson joins Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon in the corrupt cop drama Rampart from award-winning director Oren Moverman. No word on USA distribution yet but the project features Anne Heche, Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Sigourney Weaver, Woody Harrelson plus Ben Foster (The X-Men: Last Stand) and his brother Jon Foster (Pandorum). Larson's dad from The United States of Tara, John Corbett joins Dexter star Julie Benz in the 11/30 original TNT movie Ricochet. Joining them is Haaz Sleiman who played Gay male nurse Moe Moe on Nurse Jackie. ***

The L Word creator Ilene Chaiken and Dick Wolf's Prod co. have sold pilot 2 NBC on Lesbian couple working as doctors at inner-city hospital. No title yet but I'd like to suggest 'Gay's Anatomy.' *** Out actor Guillermo Diaz (Weeds) has joined the cast of Scandal, the mid-season series from Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes coming March 2012. The series about a team of PR disaster fixers includes Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), TonyGoldwyn (Ghost) and Wes Brown (True Blood). *** Will & Grace creators/executive producers David Kohan and Max Mutchnick have been busy developing new series. The duo have sold one series each to CBS and ABC and pilots are in the works. The CBS show is untitled and centers on 2 best friends, one gay, one straight just like Kohan and Mutchnick. It's not exactly new as the producing partners previously made a pilot starring Jay Mohr and Brian Austin Green back in 2007 which didn't make the cut. CBS approached them about revisiting the premise and it looks like a better chance than before. Their other series, called The Help, is a modern comedic Upstairs/Downstairs look at a wealthy family and the people who work for them. It focuses on a new graduate fro a leading culinary school who gets hired as the chef for a dysfunctional family who runs a fashion empire. *** Another Will & Grace vet, Megan Mullally will guest star on Happy Endings October 12th playing Peny's mother. For non-followers, the duo make up the singing duo, Tow Hartz Beat As One and will perform at a Boat show. OK, now that sounds like a funny bit and quite an improvement to Megans last full time TV gig, as the host of her own talk show. No fault of Megan as she's the brunette version of Kristin Chenowith, but her old talk show was not quite flushed out and had terrible writers. ***

NBC's The Playboy Club has brought in below expectation ratings and along with the Hank Azaria series, Free Agents, are not long for this TV World. Yet fans of the movie Latter Days better tune into centerfold series soon and they'll catch that film's star, Wes Ramsey playing a bartender. *** Teach Your Children Well, a new documentary about bullying is the October 16 offering in Kat Kramer's Films That Change the World series. Presented in association with Sunset Gower Studios (formerly Columbia Pictures) and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, the film features interviews with teachers, psychologists, students and parents who have been affected by Homophobia. Comedic icon Lily Tomlin agreed to narrate the film as a result of verbal and emotional abuse she and friends suffered throughout their younger lives. The screening is by invitation only yet you could seek further information at www.teachyourchildrenwell-the-movie.com. Tomlin fans can catch her playing McGee's mother on the October 4th episode of NCIS. Her next film project teams her with Eileen Brennan (Clue) and Harvey Keitel (The Piano) in The Weekend. ***

Til next time, you can follow the latest Entertainment News via my Twitter account @GreyAgenda.

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