Hm. Noted crazy Mel Gibson will star in the film The Beaver for noted lesbian Jodie Foster, who will direct and co-star. The film, once thought to be a project for Steve Carell, is about a man who finds comfort in a beaver hand puppet. So it'll be a cheapish quirky indie type affair, although it will star one of the most vociferously strange movie stars of the past twenty years. Could be great! Could be awful. [Variety]

The Green Lantern is nearing the end of its major casting process, mulling over three actors for the lead role of a hotshot Air Force pilot who meets a dying alien and gets deputized into a space police department. (That is an actual plot of a movie. And a comic book!) Warner Brothers is trying to decide between Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Timberlake, of all people, but is apparently having some trouble reconciling their favorite with the director's. So we'll either get a kind of boring Green Lanternt, a wise-cracking kind of annoying Green Lantern, or a singin' dancin' Green Lantern. None of which sound terribly thrilling. [THR]

The Minnie Driver/Uma Thurman comedy Motherhood, which premiered at Sundance this year, has set an October release date. The movie is about a crazed mommy trying to plan a birthday party for her daughter while the crazy city world provides obstacles along the way. Obstacles like Isn't This Basically the Plot of Jingle All the Way and Uma Thurman Is Never Funny. [Variety]

Quirky comedy queen Zooey Deschanel has signed on to play James Franco's love interest in the David Gordon Green comedy Your Highness, about a lazy prince (Danny McBride) who must go on a quest to save his kingdom. Other than the fact that Natalie Portman plays McBride's wildly disproportionate love interest, this film is weird because it looks as though Gordon Green really is going down this broad comedy route. Will we ever get a George Washington, All the Real Girls, or Snow Angels again? [THR]

Nicole Kidman will star in and produce a movie version of the book Little Bee, about a wealthy British couple who has an encounter with a Nigerian orphan while on an African vacation. No word yet on whether Jerry Seinfeld will voice the orphan character. [Variety]

Everwood surly teen Gregory Smith has joined the cast of that Canadian Grey's Anatomy-with-badges police drama Copper that will air on ABC in the States. Treat Williams is wondering if maybe there's a part for a tough-but-principled chief or something. [THR]

Ugh. Shoulda-been-gone-by-now Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder has landed a Comedy Central sitcom. It's about a laid-off IT worker who leaves his urban life to return home to the small town where he grew up. Which has been the idea for basically everything these days. In a nifty little distribution deal, if the sitcom's first batch of episodes do well, an automatic 90 more will be ordered. Yeesh. [Variety]

· Tony Scott's remake of 1970s subway-hijacking classic The Taking of Pelham One Two Three gets more then just a digitized-title upgrade: it also gets James Gandolfini as the NYC mayor. Unfortunately, it also gets John Travolta. [Variety]
· Jon Heder and Dax Shepard Career Death-Rattle Watch: They both get one last wheeze playing Kristin Bell love interest in When In Rome. [Variety]

In today's episode: Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber; Kate Bosworth; Michael Bay; Faye Dunaway; Jon Heder; Nancy Reagan; David Hasselhoff; Kevin Connolly; Soleil Moon Frye; Adam Brody; Ian Ziering; Jason Priestley; Kevin Weisman; Kelly Osbourne; Camryn Manheim; Tom Bosley; Maria Menounos; Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Angelyne.

· @ the new Pinkberry in Brentwood Wed 7/11 8:30pm. We had just picked up our order when my boyfriend (who is as "non-Hollywood" as it gets) spots a dude in a red hooded sweatshirt at the cash register and asks, "Hey, isn't that some actor guy?" Actor guy turns out to be Liev Schreiber, and as I'm preoccupied explaining this to the bf I almost fail to notice a very pregnant Naomi Watts a few inches away from me, walking up to get her yogurt. She looks different in person and didn't seem to be wearing makeup, but kudos to her for braving the ever-present crowd at Pinkberry au naturale AND pregnant. After they left the store a few passers by stopped and talked to them, but other than that they seemed to go unnoticed. A very casual, seemingly down to earth and normal couple.

· Kate Bosworth at Pinkberry. July 10. She stood patiently in line, by herself, looking perfectly small and gorgeous.

· A bit late (sorry) but rather apropos, given your repeated references to all that is 'Transformers'. MICHAEL BAY himself, hanging poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel, July 4th. He joined a group of heavily-enhanced / worked out OC-types who were drinking / sunning their surgeried bodies in a cabana. Arrived just in time to chow down on a burger & fries (Dude! Eat something! You're too skinny!). Checked out my 3 girlfriends & I; I don't care how much your movie just grossed; dream on, buddy! Left early, no doubt to battle Malibu traffic in time for the (fogged in) fireworks.

· Tuesday, 7-10: A 5:00 show of "Broken English" at the Sunset-5 is interrupted when a batty specimen, none other than Faye Dunaway herself, walks into the theater and sits down halfway through the movie. Notably on her person are a distinctive white baseball cap and a single, white glove on one hand, which has faint traces of hair dye. The movie ends, Faye stays firmly put in her seat, while the humbled theater staff cleans up waste and carefully watches the movement of their trash pails so as not to disturb her, because she is now immersed in a trancelike stupor, eyes closed, sans footwear. An hour after the next show has started, Mommie Dearest finally emerges, and walks out the front door, while an aura of wonder/horror lingers in her wake.

· July 11: Just saw Jon Heder and his twin brother at the Kwik E Mart in Burbank. No one recognized him, they were too busy getting squishees.

· so i know this is not as goovy as most, but yesterday (7-12) at Jessica nails on sunset plaza i saw Nancy Reagan coming out from getting her nails done.....i even intro'd myself to her, but she couldn't shake my hand cuz her nails, light pink were still damp. she got into her red (isn't it nancy reagan red) car, she was wearing a lovely light blue pants suit, with a driver and a guy with a ear piece. she looks amazing for being what 150 years old! i kinda felt like i had just met the 'queen'..........

· Looking like a tanned caricature of himself, David Hasselhoff ate lunch at Iroha on Ventura today (7-11). He's very freckley in person. I looked away.

· Tonight (7/11) around 10 pm at Blowfish Sushi, Kevin Connolly was chatting 3 tables down with some woman and one (or was it two?) guys. My girl spotted him first, I didn't even see him sit down. She's dying to see Jeremy Piven, but by the way she was, uh, "admiring" (staring at) him, E was a good find. Bigger than I expected.

· Just saw Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) walking down Larchmont talking on her phone (7-10). It's been about five years since I last saw her wasted at the Circle Bar, she seems much more mom-like now. Still very cute, still got those giant but tastefully deflated boobs. Remember before the reduction when she guested on that episode of Wonder Years where she pushed Kevin Arnold into the lake and when she bent over to try to catch him....woah.

Also, just remembered I saw Adam Brody dorking out at the Decemberists on Sat night, but looks like others found him too.

· A very tan Steve Sanders, ahem, Ian Ziering hiking up Runyon Canyon on Tuesday (7-10). He's, gasp, better looking in person than I would have thought, seeing as how I never gave him notice on 90210. And Brandon was hotter than Dylan. Just saying.

· I haven't sent any of these before, but these celebrities are everywhere! Today, about 30 minutes ago (7-12), Jason Priestley at the Trader Joe's on Riverside in Toluca Lake...with an older woman that had to be his mom...Later!

· Yesterday (July 12, 2007) Kevin Weisman patronized Starbucks on Sunset and Gower (where I happen to work). After he ordered his drink I let him know that he was the best part of "Alias." His response: "Ok, well now you get the rest of the money... becuase you were niice" said with a smile. Then he thanked me for the compliment and (hopefully) enjoyed his tall non-fat cap. Nice guy, that Kevin fellow.

· Tuesday July 10, spotted Kelly Osbourne in the VVIP area at the Klaxons' El Rey show with members of the Like (was it a daughters-of-rockers night out?) and a bunch of record label douches. Kelly was FREAKING OUT because she thought someone had taken her jacket.

· Today (7-11)on Abbot-Kinney in Venice, at 7pm, I saw Camryn Manheim (of "The Practice" and "This one's for all the fat girls" fame) crossing the street, smiling and laughing with her cute, shaggy-haired son, Milo. She looked good!

· "Mr. Cunningham" Tom Bosley at my eye doctor in BH yesterday (7-11). He was just sitting in the exam chair wearing dark glasses. Someone there told me he either loves you or hates you, nothing in between.

· On Monday, 7/10 at about 2:30 PM, I decided to take a quick break from work by taking a walk outside. I spotted some teamsters sitting on their butts on apple carts that said "Access Hollywood". Second later, I spotted Maria Menounos, full of attitude, wearing her "I'm-too-cool-for-you" aviators and a summery dress coming out of Madison with a beefy bald man-handler/producer wearing a Simon Cowell-esque black t-shirt. I'm guessing she was there to film something at Kitson.

· Saw Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds (the guy that Eddie Murphy's girlfriend used to be married to) with a surprising small entourage making his way through the baggage claim last night (7-10). Still looks in shock from all that money Tracey took from him. He looks like he's 50.

· On the 10th, I saw a suspiciously pink Corvette parked in front of the newstand on Beverly Drive. Could it be? Was it she? Yeah it was! I love Angelyne sightings.

Bearing a passing resemblance to Jon Heder probably won't get you much in this town, but it's apparently at least good enough to get some wire service shooting gallery time at a porn-star-studded gala where Coolio is the highest-profile guest. Over on his blog, comedian Marc "The Guy Who Lived In A Reasonably Priced Foreign Car For A Week" Horowitz posts this video about his short, but heady, experience breathing the rarefied air of Napoleon Dynamite-level celebrity at prodigiously becocked thespian Ron Jeremy's recent birthday party, during which he enjoyed the brief attention of some adult performers impressed by the belief that they were in the presence of an actual B-lister. Now that the Hollywood event-throwing world has been alerted to this doppelganger in its midst, we imagine that the security at the upcoming Blades of Glory premiere will be air-tight, with Heder himself a likely victim of a red carpet stun-gunning from a hair-triggered publicist who thinks she's just bagged herself an interloping imposter.

• Ron Jeremy's Birthday - Mistaken as Jon Heder - silly paparazzi [I Need To Stop Soon]

UPDATE: A friend from back East informs us that Heder might be a victim of an opportunistic stock photo agency, rather than a brain-freeze-courting sellout: "The Jon Heder photo is also used in some sort of free computer circular handed out in NY. I think he posed for a stock agency pre-Napoleon Dynamite."

• Defamer At Sundance: Napoleon Dynamite Superstar [Defamer]