• The Wrap reports that Project Runway's move to Lifetime has not quite worked out as Harvey Weinstein and company expected. After a very strong debut, ratings have fallen off more than 20 percent. Worse for Lifetime, having the show on its network, for which it paid a hefty price, has done little for its overall ratings picture. In fact, Lifetime's ratings in the critical 18 - 49 female demo are off 13 percent from last year. On the other hand, after losing its signature show, Bravo's ratings are up this year by 5 percent in the 18- 49 demo, and it had its "best ratings quarter ever this summer." So who is auf now Frau Klum? [The Wrap]

• Anthony Hopkins has signed on to play Thor's dad Odin in the Marvel film adaptation of its comic book series. Chris Hemsworth will star as the thunder god, while Natalie Portman will take on the thankless love interest role. Kenneth Branagh is, amazingly, directing. [Variety]

• And the new Mad Max will be...Charlize Theron. Little is known about the working script, but the Oscar winner will apparently be the front woman in director George Miller's reboot of the classic series. [Variety]

• Sethe MacFarlane's American Dad has been renewed for a sixth season. [Hollywood Reporter]

• Sony reported its fourth straight quarter of losses, although the hurt this past quarter was not as bad as analysts had predicted. The company saw sales fall off another 20 percent overall. The motion picture division saw a "30.4% year-on drop in sales — or 20% on a U.S. dollar basis. But as the NY Times reminded us this weekend, what matters is that Michael and Amy really really like each other. [Variety]

• Tensions flared at the wrap of the theater owner's ShowEast conference over the taking forever rollout of digital technology. The Hollywood Reporter reported, "it sounded more like a threat than a promise when University Mall Theatres' Mark O'Meara kicked off one d-cinema presentation by declaring, 'Digital cinema is here to stay.'" [Hollywood Reporter]

• Prepare yourself for Fish Hooks. The first new animated show to be greenlit by the Disney Channel in three years will soon be tormenting your dreams as it is forced down grown-up America's throats by a nation of over-hyped children. [Hollywood Reporter}

"Oh, I loved him, but he was... scary. I was going to invite him up to Maine; I have this beautiful home in Maine... but then I reconsidered because I saw that movie again. Do you want someone eating your brain while you are sitting in your beautiful dining room in Maine?...I would have probably had a very nice relationship with Anthony Hopkins, but I couldn't get past the Lecter thing."

Regardless of whether or not it happens to be taking place in an elegant New England estate, we'd imagine that the eating of one's own brain on a first date is almost always a foreboding sign of things to come. Good for Martha, then, for identifying the problem early on and avoiding future romantic disappointment; too many women would have gladly allowed a world class catch like Hopkins to feast on the contents of their skulls, not realizing that while they may be sacrificing in the short run their ability to do long division and/or speak Spanish, what they are ultimately doing is compromising a huge part of themselves.

Bonus link: March 16, 2001: Top 16 things overheard on their date.

• Stewart Stopped Dating Hopkins Because of Hannibal [WENN]

Lawrence Grobel: You make acting sound simple. Learn your lines, show up, get on with it. Is it really that easy?

Anthony Hopkins: I take the script, sit down with a bunch of pencils and markers and go through it very thoroughly until I feel relaxed inside. I learn the script. Then I go through the preparation, the wardrobe, and I know where I am and what I'm going to do. If they start rewriting on the set I say, 'No, no. I've done my preparation, don't start rewriting it now.' I always make sure that the rewrites come in time so I can learn them. When I worked with Chris Rock on Bad Company, the producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, would rewrite stuff, and I said to him one day, 'Why do you do this? To torture us? I just want to let you know when you send me these new pages I throw them in the trash.' People were shocked: 'You talk to Jerry Bruckheimer that way?' Yeah, screw it. If he sends me pages on the day we're shooting , they go in the trash can.

Lawrence Grobel: Did he send you new pages after that?

Anthony Hopkins: No.

Of course, humiliating a power player like Jerry Bruckheimer is a strategy best employed by an actor of Hopkins' stature. Rumor has it that Jerry O'Connell tried the same stunt on the set of Kangaroo Jack, but instead of easing up on the rewrites, Bruckheimer had him killed, then reassigned his lines to the movie's titular rapping marsupial.

• Jerry Bruckheimer Gets the Gasface [The Corsair]
• Defamer Counterpoint: Respecting Jerry Bruckheimer [Defamer]