Archive: August 2009 (241-250 of 357)

Aug 11 2009 06:18 AM ET

Simon Cowell said to be nearing deal for three more years of 'Idol'

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Simon Cowell is negotiating a deal for at least three more seasons of American Idol, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Executives from CKX, the parent company of Idol co-producer 19 Entertainment, said on an earnings conference call that Cowell is finalizing a deal with Fox to continue on the show. He entered into negotiations with Fox earlier this summer, as he heads into the final year of his current contract. Fox tells EW it has no comment on the report.

“We’ve heard from Fox, who has asked us for approval for Simon Cowell to appear for three more years on Idol,” The Hollywood Reporter quoted CZK CEO Robert Sillerman as saying. “They, in their negotiations with Cowell, have asked us to pre-approve him not only for American Idol ’09, which has begun taping, but they have also asked us for approval for ’10 and ’11, indicating to us that they’re finishing their negotiation with Cowell. We did grant approval for that, quite obviously.”

Aug 11 2009 12:03 AM ET

Folk musician Mike Seeger dies at age 75

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Categories: Music

Folk musician Mike Seeger died Friday from multiple myeloma (a cancer of the plasma cells) at his home in Lexington, Va., the Associated Press reports. He was 75. Seeger was the younger half brother of Pete Seeger. The multi-instrumentalist was one of the founders of The New Lost City Ramblers, and throughout his career he recorded more than 40 albums solo or with others. He also documented and taught traditional forms of American music.

Aug 10 2009 11:54 PM ET

Alexander Payne to shoot Hawaii-set 'Descendents'

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Alexander Payne is saying aloha to Hawaii-set family comedy/drama The Descendents, which will be his first film since 2004′s Sideways. Variety reports that Payne is again working with Fox Searchlight on the project, which hasn’t been cast yet. Payne will start shooting The Descendents in Hawaii at the end of this year or early 2010.

Payne is now polishing Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s script, adapted from Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel of the same name. The story follows a wealthy landowner in Hawaii  who searches for his wife’s lover with his daughters, with the aim of keeping the family together. Payne also has satire Downsizing in the pipeline, set to star Paul Giamatti, Sacha Baron Cohen and Reese Witherspoon.

Aug 10 2009 11:44 PM ET

New Hank Williams biopic in the works

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Categories: Movies

Country music legend Hank Williams will again be on the big screen, Variety reports. Nashville’s 821 Entertainment and Strike Entertainment will work together on the biopic; Universal will get a first look at the project through its deal with Strike.

Strike partner Marc Abraham will write the script based in part on Colin Escott’s Hank Williams: The Biography. The deal took five years to set up and the filmmakers have the cooperation of the Hank Williams estate to use his famous recordings. Williams died in 1953 at age 29, and George Hamilton played him in 1964′s Your Cheatin’ Heart.

Aug 10 2009 11:36 PM ET

Will Arnett plans new comedy series with Fox

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Categories: Television

Will Arnett will reunite with Arrested Development creator/executive producer Mitch Hurwitz and co-executive producer Jim Vallely for a new comedy at Fox, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Arnett, Hurwitz and Vallely are writing the project, about a rich Beverly Hills man who falls in love with a charitable, eco-friendly woman who doesn’t agree with his lifestyle.

The single-camera comedy series is the first to come out of a development deal that Arnett struck with Fox in October. Producers are Sony TV and Hurwitz’s Tantamount.

Aug 10 2009 11:27 PM ET

Harold & Kumar creators to direct 'One Night Stan'

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Harold & Kumar creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg have signed on to direct Josh Friedlander’s original comedy script One Night Stan for Lionsgate, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The story is about an engaged man who finds out that his soon-to-be-wife has had more sexual partners than he has, and he gets her blessing to play “catch-up” one night. Hurwitz and Schlossberg, who wrote the first Harold & Kumar film and wrote and directed the Guantanamo Bay sequel, also have Til Beth Do Us Part set up at Warner Bros. and Grandma vs. Grandma set up at Paramount.

Aug 10 2009 10:11 PM ET

Jessica Simpson tweets about Japan earthquake

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Jessica Simpson turned to her Twitter feed to share her experience of a 6.6  magnitude earthquake that rocked Japan at 5:07 a.m. local time. “Thought I was hallucinating durning [sic] a 6.6 earthquake in Japan,” wrote the star, who is in the country working on a new VH-1 TV show The Price of Beauty, according to People. “I have never felt anything like this in my life,” she continued, before finishing by explaining that she was “laying in bed watching CNN.”

Aug 10 2009 08:58 PM ET

Jonah Hill to produce and star in new comedy for Universal

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Categories: Movie Biz, Movies

Jonah Hill (Funny People) will produce and star in The Best Thing About Pam Rooney, a high-concept comedy pitched to Universal Pictures by Hill and screenwriters Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien, reports Variety. Cohen and O’Brien, who like Hill have worked on multiple Judd Apatow films, will now pen the script and serve as executive producers on the project.

Aug 10 2009 05:51 PM ET

MTV announces host, guests for Diddy's 'StarMaker'

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Categories: Music, Television

In a statement released today MTV announced that American Idol second-season alum Kimberly Caldwell will host P. Diddy’s StarMaker, the new talent search show from Sean Combs and Mark Burnett. Caldwell will be joined by guests Pete Wentz, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, Lady Gaga, and Kelly Rowland. StarMaker premieres Aug. 16 at 10 pm EDT.

Aug 10 2009 04:56 PM ET

'Days of Our Lives' to stream online

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Categories: Television

NBC announced today in a statement that the popular soap opera Days of Our Lives will stream online starting today. Fans of the soap can find it at www.nbc.com/Days_of_Our_Lives. The past 10 episodes are live on the site now, with new episodes premiering daily, starting tomorrow. All episodes will be available for 16 days.

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