Lots to catch up on before the Comic-Con coverage starts rolling in here. Last I saw, Prisco was attending a sparsely-populated Danny Elfman panel.
Oliva Munn, who is dumber than Twinkie filling but hasn’t managed to ruin “The Daily Show” yet, will now attempt to ruin “Chuck” by guest starring on the season premiere as a CIA Agent. I’d complain about casting a hopelessly attractive, somewhat dim actor as a super-spy but that’s kind of “Chuck’s” forte. (EW)
I thought this was amusing. Deadline is reporting EXCLUSIVELY that Halle Berry will star in Shoe Addicts Anonymous, a movie that will look at the lives of four Chicago women from different ethnic backgrounds. Why is that amusing? Because we reported that EXCLUSIVE news back on April 1st. Looks like someone forgot to do a Google search. (Deadline)
Sharon Stone will play the mother of Mary in Sweet Baby Jesus, a quirky retelling of the Nativity Story that will also star Adrien Brody and Bette Midler. (Deadline)
Here are the first couple of images from Drive Angry 3D, featuring Amber Heard and Nicolas Cage. (Hitfix)
Nate Corddry has landed a gig opposite Kathy Bates in David E. Kelley’s new legal drama, “Harry’s Law,” which will be airing on NBC. (Deadline)
Larry Charles (Bruno) will direct Jim Carrey in Pierre Pierre, which will be about an obnoxious Frenchman transporting a painting from Paris to London (Deadline)
Here’s a fun fact: Jenna Fischer was married the other day. Her officiant? “Survivor’s” Jeff Probst. Whatever. I thought it was cool. (People)
As we reported way back in, like, 2007, Julia Stiles is now confirmed as producer and star of a movie based on Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. (NYTimes)
Cole Haddon is penning the script for The Strange Case of Hyde, a Jekyll and Hyde in a Victorian-era action-adventure. (Heatvision)
Here’s your first image from Jackass 3D. (Yahoo via Collider)
CBS is putting together their own version of “The View,” which will replace “As the World Turns” this fall. It will feature Julie Chen, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, Sharon Osborne, and Sara Gilbert. Oh, Darlene. Really? (Deadline)
Finally, here’s the trailer for Lucky, a documentary about lottery winners from Jeffrey Blitz, who directed the outstanding Spellbound and Rocket Science. Lucky is currently airing on HBO.
Each Time You Like, Share, Tweet or Stumble a Pajiba Post, An Angel Does the Paul Rudd Dance
Olivia Munn really has poor comedic timing and I kind of cringe during her solo pieces with the Daily Show. I think she's qualified to be the Senior Opi Nail Lacquer Correspondent or Senior Chi Flat Iron Correspondent, cuz she's smokin' hot, but she completely lacks the improv skills of many of her fellows. Every segment seems scripted beyond belief and incredibly awkward (not in the good way).
Posted by: Ulterior Motive Girl at July 22, 2010 4:30 PM
To be fair, Olivia Munn is a bad actress, but no one on Chuck is especially great.
I just wish she'd have stuck with Attack of the Show. She's much better when Kevin Perrera just riffs on her outfits for several minutes.
I’d complain about casting a hopelessly attractive, somewhat dim actor as a super-spy but that’s kind of “Chuck’s” forte.
Wait, how is that Chuck's forte? I actually think Yvonne Strahovski is a pretty good actor (Seriously. We just wanna bag on her because she's hot but she's really good), and Zachary Levi is inoffensive. Also, Adam Baldwin is pretty Awesome (with, as you can see, a capital "A".) So who EXACTLY are you referring to??
And ChristianH, I hardly think putting Olivia fucking Munn on the same par as anyone on Chuck is fair.
Why did they cast her on Chuck??? Gah!!! I'm annoyed now.
Lucky was pretty interesting. One woman tried to continue working at a factory job that looked a little like a sweat shop until her husband made her quit.
Sometimes if I'm having trouble falling asleep I'll imagine what the houses I would buy for my family would look like if I won the lottery. Though when they piss me off later in the week I usually start mentally revising the blueprints to make their houses smaller.
Posted by: becks at July 22, 2010 4:49 PM
Don't you dare imply that the cast of Chuck is comprised of anything less that bright and intelligent actors. Zachary Levi started Mensa on a whim because he had finished reading every book ever!* Yvonne Strahovski spent 39 years in Madagascar teaching kids calculus!** Adam Baldwin (despite his political views) was invited to lecture at Oxford on the evolution of the African Toad!***
Don't you make fun of them because they go for the dorky pun jokes. The cast of Chuck is made up of the bestest most smartest group of actors ever.
But Olivia Munn is starting to bore me to tears and her cameo is not entirely shocking.
I realize Olivia Munn is not the only marginally talented person to get media gigs, but seriously, why is NBC pushing her - as in this cross-promotion gig on Chuck. Do they think Chuck audiences will go for that cringe-worthy (to judge by clips posted on the web) "comedy" she's made for them? Does someone seriously think they can make money off her? Is there that big an untapped audience of gamer boys? Would they watch a tired ole' sitcom?
All of a sudden I realize that even these mundane questions are more interesting than Olivia Munn.
Posted by: miri at July 22, 2010 5:25 PM
Oliva Munn, who is dumber than Twinkie filling
Is she? I mean, I'm not questioning your opinion I just know next to nothing about her. I wouldn't have even recognized her name before she signed onto the Daily Show. Is it self-evident in her "acting", of which I've seen none? I haven't been overly impressed by her on TDS, but she hasn't been that bad. Although, once I started hearing about her after seeing her first "reports" I had an overwhelming sense of dread that she got the job because she's doing Jon Stewart. This is terrible on many levels, first of all showing my cynicism of show business and famous people, admitting my own sexist stereotypes, and not wanting to think of Jon Stewart as the kind of guy who would cheat on his wife and ruin his family. But it's not like I'll eat my hat or anything if that's what comes out.
Posted by: katy at July 22, 2010 5:37 PM
Jenna Fischer getting married is not a "fun fact." It is a heartbreaking fact.
I actually think Yvonne Strahovski is a pretty good actor
She absolutely is. No bad actor could make people care so much about a character that has no personality.
Posted by: Todd at July 22, 2010 5:42 PM
So there's a Jackass 3D movie (because of course there is) and I didn't know about it. I don't know if I'm glad I didn't know about it before. Or if I'm disturbed I didn't know about it before. Either way it is apparently a thing and I know about it and it cannot be un-known.
Posted by: greer at July 22, 2010 5:45 PM
I presume Berry is gonna play a, white woman?
Posted by: BarbadoSlim at July 22, 2010 5:53 PM
Is this dumber than a twinkie filling cause of acnecdotal evidence of people asking her world geography questions, or just a perception derived from her tv persona up to this point?
John Oliver sucked when he started on the The Daily Show, and he had lots of comedy experience. That 'you're welcome' guy is sporadically funny at best, tying himself to his schtick far too strongly and not in a super invested Lewis Black way - just in a crutch way.
The worst thing I could see about Olivia Munn's last segment was what I saw as her trying way too hard to channel the way Samantha Bee interacts with the interviewee. So from a certain perspective she's aiming correctly. Skills are learned.
Lot of creatively worded vitriol aimed at a pretty gal based around oddly stereotyped notions of her being dumb.
As for suggesting a persons best contributuon should be to stand there and shut up while someone else riffs on their outfit?
Isn't that in a very literal sense objectification? WTF are we the modelling industry?
Yo momma raise you to discuss ladies like that boi?
Isn't that - the shut up and let me tak about how your tits are concealed - exactly the kind of douchebaggery we all pray gets burnt out of the media landscapr for ever? I'm all for comic foil / straight guy stuff but that just sounds demeaning.
Posted by: PyD at July 22, 2010 5:58 PM
Olivia is my kinda bimbo, she might have little to offer but she's got it where it counts.
Posted by: BarbadoSlim at July 22, 2010 6:15 PM
A movie of The Bell Jar?
Great, now I can bawl all over again. Shit, that book just destroyed me. I earnestly hope that Julia Stiles can do it justice.
Posted by: Sassafrass Green at July 22, 2010 6:37 PM
I really didn't find Lucky very good. One guy lost all his money, one couple started acting nouveau riche, one guy used his money to fund some new interests, one guy was mentally handicapped and lived frugally, only spending his money on a cheap motel room, stray cats, and strippers. It just wasn't anything revelatory.
Posted by: Wednesday at July 22, 2010 6:47 PM
Yvonne Strahovski did the voice work for one of the main female characters in Mass Effect 2 on the Xbox 360. She did an amazing job, but it doesn't hurt that she used her natural Australian accent. I have the voice on my car GPS set to "Australian female" because I think the accent is so goddamn hot.
I never thought she would break out of her niche hawking video games on G4. That's what she did, right?
Posted by: Mr. Tusks at July 22, 2010 7:47 PM
I’d complain about casting a hopelessly attractive, somewhat dim actor as a super-spy but that’s kind of “Chuck’s” forte.
I assumed Dustin was referring to the guest stars they pick to be the super spies more than the regular cast. Mini Anden as Carina, Nicole Richie (not hopelessly attractive, but definitely dim) as Sarah's old classmate/spy, and Jordana Brewster as Chuck's ex, just to name a few.
Posted by: Even Stevens at July 22, 2010 7:50 PM
Did anybody inform Miss Stiles that the protagonist from The Bell Jar is supposed to be a model? She has always seemed like the girl from school that had tuna stuck in her braces. whatevs, mate.
Posted by: adam at July 22, 2010 9:19 PM
Hey Dustin,
I hope you sent a link over to Ms. Nikki regarding your exclusive Halle news. Her ego needs that reminder every now and then.
Posted by: Barnes78 at July 22, 2010 9:32 PM
Here’s your first image from Jackass 3D.
WHY?
So, Munn gets a nice, juicy dig at her intelligence, but this just gets a bare mention? Although, I suppose the idiocy is just that palpable, that it doesn't need mentioning.
I was watching the episode of Craig Ferguson where he interviewed Stephen Fry (one of my favorite pieces of television EVAR), and Ferguson made the point that is seems as though the public, especially on the internet, don't want attractive people to be talented.
It seems like this aversion to double-dipping. Apparently there is this hotness/talent equilibrium that must be maintained. Too much of one, and you aren't allowed to have very much of the other.
I am not saying Munn is some untapped comedic genius or something, but all this focus on her looks just put that in mind. It could never be that she is having a hard time adjusting, it has to be that whoever is in charge is dumbstruck by her sex. It is insulting to both genders, really.
And yeah, it is messed up that an attractive woman can't have a hard time doing a job without folks saying she has to be sleeping with the boss. Jeez, didn't know being pretty meant you automatically had to be a prostitute of one form or another.
Well, outside of Slim's extension-cord-round-the-neck fantasies, of course.
I don't think Olivia Munn is all that dumb, but I am surprised by how poorly and gracelessly she's been handling the controversy over her spot on TDS. To me, that's a version of being dumb, as in total-lack-of-strategy dumb.
Posted by: samantha t at July 23, 2010 6:39 AM
I didn't know who Olivia Munn was until last night, I caught a bit of her on some web show on G4. I turned to Pissboy and said who the hell is that? Her voice is AWFUL.
I couldn't listen to her speak.
I really think Nic Cage wants someone to stage a hair intervention for him. I suspect that if it doesn't happen soon, one day he is going to come out with a pile of live snakes on his head, or a crown of bees (BEES!) or something. I feel like his raggedy blond wigs are a cry for help.
I fucking guffawed at that Cage picture. Beautiful.