Entertainment New from Eye On Weho

Eye on Entertainment
Nathaniel Grey
Entertainment Editor
December 15, 2010

When Amazons Attack

Ally McBeal creator David E. Kelley has secured the rights to making a TV series revival of Wonder Woman. Rumors abound as to who should play the titled character from Megan Fox to Leighton Meester but hopefully smarts will prevail and they'll go with a relative unknown. Which basically means they should hire anyone on the series Skating with the Stars. Joss Whedon was connected to a film version about the Amazonian princess a number of years ago, but he's moved on to other super heroes such as next year’s blockbuster The Avengers. Not the Steed and Mrs. Peel version but the comic book one. The band of do-gooders includes Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are Alright) as the Hulk, Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek) as Thor, Scarlett Johansson (The Other Boleyn Girl) as the Black Widow, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man and Chris Evans goes from having played the Human Torch in The Fantastic Four to becoming Captain America. Pre-production begins in February with a script by Whedon. *** Superheroes will continue to be all the rage into the New Year. Brothers and Sisters Executive Producer, Greg Berlanti who wrote and produced The Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds debuts in June, is already working on Green Lantern 2 and the first motion picture version of The Flash. No word as to who will don the suit of the super speeder but Neil Patrick Harris was being considered on a prior film version. Of course they could make him a Gay superhero and just call the film 'Flashy.'

Some visitors out-stay their welcome but the visitors on ABC's sci-fi hit series V, make a welcome return to prime time on Jan. 4th. The second season will have a cherry line-up position following the Super heroes themed No Ordinary Family on Tuesday evenings. Producers promise more details about the alien culture and special effects though the biggest news comes from casting. Original V series veteran Jane Badler reprises her role as Diana. A character who just happens to be the mother of current V leader Anna, played by Morena Baccarin (Serenity.) Continuing the nod to superheroes, Diana's Granddaughter and Anna's daughter is played by Laura Vandervoot, who plays Supergirl on the series Smallville.

John Cameron Mitchell has come a long way from writing, directing and starring in 2001's Hedgewig and the Angry Inch. What could be described as his biggest project to date, the film version of David Lindsay-Abaire's play Rabbit Hole opens with a limited release on Dec. 17. The story details how a married couple copes with the death of their son in an accident, stars Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight,) Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy,) Jon Tenney (The Closer,) and Giancarlo Esposito (Pinero.)

From the Stranger Than Truth file comes this. Peter Morgan, screenwriter of the Helen Mirren film The Queen has taken on the script for a planned film on rock group Queen for Santa Monica based GK films and Martin Scorsese's Tribecca Productions. Sacha Baron Cohen (Bruno) has signed to play lead singer Freddie Mercury. What? Didn't sound-a-like Mika even get an audition? Filming begins in 2011 and will focus on the bands early days through to their Wembley Stadium performance for the 1985 Band AID benefit. This production could be an overlap to another production that Cohen is attached to. He's supposed to play the title role in Judd Apatow's comedic look at Sherlock Holmes with Will Farrell as Watson, also slated for 2011 start. Let's start praying now that Farrell keeps his shirt on in this movie. Any time I see him topless I can't help but think of a Chia pet commercial. ***

Still no plans for New Years Eve? You can't go wrong with Kristin Chenoweth at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with shows at 7pm and 10:30pm.

The third chapter in Seth McFarlane's brilliant send-up of the Star Wars Saga, titled Family Guy: It's A Trap comes out on DVD December 21st. Now that's what I call a perfect stocking stuffer. You can't go wrong with Peter as a Frozen Han Solo, Lois as Jabba's scantily clad slave girl and best of all - Stewie Vader, who just happened to be the best of all the giant holiday balloon's in this year's Hollywood Christmas parade.

Jeremy Ray Valdez is a man on a mission. Having played Benjamin Bratt's gay son in La mission, he'll next star opposite Daniel Baldwin in Mission Park about four friends in a tough neighborhood who grow apart as two lead a life of crime while the other two join the FBI. The cast includes Victor Perez (Fame - the bad one,) and Jesse Garcia (Quincenara.) The Executive producer on Quincenara, Todd Haynes, is directing a 5-part miniseries remake of Mildred Pierce, scheduled to air on HBO in the spring of 2011. This version features Kate Winslet in the title role, made famous by Joan Crawford. In the role of Veda is True Blood star Evan Rachel Wood with Guy Pearce (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) playing Monty Beragon.

Greek, featuring our favorite Gay college student, Calvin Owens, as played by Paul James, returns for a fourth season to ABC Family on Jan. 3. Also returning will be Charisma Carpenter (Tegan,) Nora Kirkpatrick who plays Katharine and Tiffany Dupont (Frannie.). *** Neil Patrick Harris' hubby, David Burtka, will be joining him in next year's release A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. In this third outing of the trouble-plagued duo, it's six years after their adventures in Guantanamo when Kumar shows up at Harold's house during the holidays and ends up burning down Harold's father's christmas tree. So naturally, the buds are forced to search New York City for the perfect holiday tree. ***

Writer, Producer and Director Thom Fitzgerald (Three Needles) is wearing all three hats on his latest production, Cloudburst. Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis stars in this tale of a Lesbian couple that escapes from their retirement home in order to get married in Canada. Additional cast members include another Oscar winner Brenda Fricker (A Man of No Importance,) and Mary Colin Chisholm (Haven.) Sounds like a winner concept to me, mixing The L Word with The Fugitive. *** Showtime has joined with Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media to develop a series about male hookers, oops, excuse me, sex industry workers in Las Vegas. Now that's good news. More job opportunities for all those out-of-work former Siegfried and Roy houseboys.

Itching to get back to Broadway after his critically acclaimed stint as Peter Allen a few years ago, Hugh Jackman is planning a return to the great white way, as master prestidigitator Harry Houdini. Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) is writing the book while Mystic Knight of the Oingo Boingo member Danny Elfman is doing the music. But don't line up for tickets just yet, the first script reading isn't being considered until early 2011 and following rewrites, costumes and sets, it may not see a curtain rise until 2012. Before that, Jackman can be seen in Butter, a tale about two women competing in a small town's annual Butter carving contest. The comedy includes Ty Burrell (Modern Family,) Jennifer Gardner (Valentine's Day,) Olivia Wilde (House,) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless.) Jackman will return to his tough-as-nails role as Logan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2 when production begins this March. The project re teams the actor with his The Fountain director, Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan) using a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects.) The film will conclude with a battle to the death between Wolverine and Edward Scissorhands. OK, so I'm kidding, it's not a battle to the death but one person will end up looking like a pile of Julienne fries at the end.

Until next time, I'm Nathaniel Grey and I was born this way.

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