Gawker: defamer, canadians

Viewers Stubbornly Refusing To Abandon Writerless Leno

Mark — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:20:41 EST

· For at least their first three nights back on the air, the writerless Jay Leno has triumphed over WGA-sanctioned rival David Letterman in the Nielsen wars. In another sign that the TV apocalypse may finally be upon us, shows like Wife Swap, Supernanny, The Biggest Loser, and Celebrity Apprentice are so far either posting the same numbers as or outperforming the scripted shows they've replaced for their networks. [Variety]
· Walden Media deems High School Musical star/naughty nudie-photo-scandal victim Vanessa Hudgens still pure enough to employ, signing her on to their coming-of-age dramedy Will. [THR]

·Once again indulging the female facial hair fetish she previously explored via her memorable Frida unibrow, Salma Hayek will play the bearded lady in Paul Weitz's Cirque du Freak. [Variety]
· How is the writers strike affecting Canadians starved for imported American TV content? Click through and find out! [THR]
· Christian Bale is "in negotiations" to join Michael Mann's movie Public Enemy as the FBI agent hot on the trail of Johnny Depp's legendarily beschlonged mobster John Dillinger. [Variety]

You know who's kind of psyched about Hollywood...

Mark — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 13:11:23 EDT

You know who's kind of psyched about Hollywood studios trying to stockpile product to prepare for a possible strike by the unions? Canadians! [THR]

Canadian Journalist Uncomfortable With How Closely Apatow Blockbuster Mirrors Own Knocking-Up

Mark — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:33:35 EDT

All too often in Hollywood, the price of success is finding oneself named on a lawsuit by an aggrieved individual who feels that his or her own hard work on a story about, say, the dehumanizing effects of suburban Christmas-lighting competitions or about the so-deep-undercover-we-don't-know-which-way-is-up adventures of whitefaced African-American FBI agents has been unfairly appropriated by a studio hellbent on enriching themselves with ill-gotten material. According to a CBC report, Knocked Up's Judd Apatow could soon find himself sued by a Canadian journalist who feels that her personal tale of an unplanned pregnancy (detailed in the book Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-be—a match!) was too closely mimicked by Seth Rogen's wacky, yet human-condition-illuminating, insemination of Katherine Heigl:

[Rebecca] Eckler said if the similarities ended there, she could let the matter go — but they continue, right down to the religion of the father (Jewish) and the career choice of the film's main character, Alison.
"Both my book and the movie feature one night of passion and the nine months that follow. Fine. Whatever," she wrote.

"But what got me was the fact that 'Alison' was an up-and-coming television reporter; in my book, I was an up-and-coming newspaper reporter."
Eckler admitted that it's difficult to prove that any other woman who became pregnant by accident wouldn't go through the same things she did in her book, but she said she feels she must speak up.

Historically, such claims prove difficult—if not impossible—to prove, and Eckler will probably just have to live with the possibility that she and Heigl's character merely experienced parallel knocking-up experiences. Perhaps she'll feel better after wading through all 15,000* words of last weekend's NY Times Magazine story on the movie, in which at least the scene where star/executive producer Rogen, surrounded by his real-life-buddy castmates, smokes a joint while wearing a fishbowl on his head is accounted for.

[*Not an accurate count.]

Eckler says film Knocked Up too close to home [CBC.ca]
Previously: Screenwriter Sues Fox Over Uncomfortable Similarities Between 'Deck The Halls' And 'Deck The Halls'-Like Script They Didn't Buy [Defamer]