It’s quite late, or quite early, here on the west coast, so this edition will be swift.
* Captain America has got his girlfriend, and I’ve never heard of her! However, those of you who keep up with your TV may know Hayley Atwell, who’ll be playing Peggy Carter, Cap’s WWII era love interest. Among other shows, she was featured on the not-so well received AMC redo of “The Prisoner.”
* The folks over at Dreamworks have been busy beavers. First, they began the roll out of their “Kung Fu Panda” “virtual theme park” — basically a collection of Panda-based games for kids. Also, their gearing up for the May release “Shrek Forever After.” Today, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg spoke at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) confab about, naturally, 3-D conversions on the first three “Shrek” productions and how they won’t suck like certain live-action 3-D conversions.
Still, there was a fly in the family-friendly ointment, and that was a photo spread that’s coming out in the glossy Vman Magazine that apparently caused some unhappiness at Dreamworks Animation. I could explain why, and you may definitely read the Paul Bond’s THR article about it. On the other hand, I don’t have to tell you how many words a picture is worth.
* If one is to believe the reviews so far at Rotten Tomatoes, “I Love You, Phillip Morris” is probably fairly good. It’s a factually inspired black comedy from John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the writers of “Bad Santa” who also directed the film. Starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as prison lovers desperate to be reunited, it’s definitely somewhat bold. It’s also caught up in a rather complex business hell, which is why we might not get the chance to see it for awhile, even though it was sold post-Sundance back in early ’09.
* Zac Efron’s first serious attempt at filmic adulthood appears to be as the lead in a remake of a Swedish thriller where he’ll be playing a drug runner.
* I’ve got to admire director Darren Aronofsky’s sense of eclecticism. I suppose they would both be considered portraits of remarkable people, but it’s still a very long run from “The Wrestler” to a biopic about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The director’s wife, Rachel Weisz, will star as the glamorous and tragic first lady.
* I’m sure this won’t stop some people, but all signs point to the probability that it’s a little bit early to be deciding that writer-star Seth Rogen and director Michel Gondry’s “The Green Hornet” will suck. It is, however, not too early to be fairly sure it won’t be your usual masked-hero flick. As for the next “Twilight” film, I think most people have already made up their minds one way or the other on that. Anne Thompson has the scoop on both.
* The late, great Stanley Kubrick was, of course, noted for taking years to complete a film, but this is ridiculous.
* I don’t know about you, but I’d stay at the proposed Hollywood sign hotel in a heartbeat. It’s an idea that sounds terrible but actually looks pretty nifty when you read the piece I linked to. And it’s not like the present sign is exactly the Taj Mahal.
