Gawker: defamer, maria bello

The Only Ones Who Really Understand Us are the British

Richard Lawson — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:02:00 EDT

News from sparkly TV shows about music, plus sparkly movies about gays. The British really like our sad American TV shows, while Maria Bello likes to fire people. Plus, Elmore Leonard.

You might not be as excited for Glee as we are, but you must still care that the Fox show about a high school glee club will be given one airing during May sweeps, then disappear until the fall. They're premiering a fall show in May! It's so crazy it just might work! [Variety]

Maria Bello has become an HR director. Hah, no, her career wasn't that tarnished by The Mummy 3: Curse of the Chinese People. She's playing an HR drone in The Company Men, that John Wells movie about corporate downsizing. She has to fire Ben Affleck. No, not for Reindeer Games! It's all pretend! [Variety]

No one understands quiet lives of mid-century American decay quite like the British. Their BAFTA TV awards have bestowed the top international show title upon Mad Men, which beat out shows about murderous, sun-splashed American depravity and indifference (Dexter), shows about flowers that poke through the many cracks of late-century urban America (The Wire), and shows about how America is basically just a big funny, fucked-up, intractable joke (The Daily Show). Obama! Or something! [Variety]

Hang your head. The upcoming video game movie Bioshock has been delayed over budget concerns. [Variety]

Tribeca has its first big sales breakout, and it's from the world of theater. Playwright Conor McPherson's ghost-tinged Irish drama The Eclipse had buyers interested over the weekend. Submarine Entertainment likely snapped up the film, which stars Aidan Quinn, Ciaran Hinds (who can do anything, really), and Iben Hjejle (High Fidelity). [THR]

Aha. Crackle-pop actor Timothy Olyphant has landed the lead in an FX pilot based on a short story by cracklingly good crime writer Elmore Leonard (Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Maximum Bob, ohh... dammit just read it all.) He'll play US Marshall Raylan Givens for creator/producer Graham Yost, who's done good work with Band of Brothers, Boomtown, and (I'm assuming) the upcoming The Pacific. Exciting news. [THR]

Speaking of Mad Men, Jon Hamm and his ladyfriend, actress Jennifer Westfeldt, have started a production hut called Points West Pictures. They have three pictures in development so far, one of which is about gay people and the Christians who hate them. So, oh nice. A production company, together! Look how well that worked out for Jen and Brad and Plan B! [THR]

Touring the Exotic Public Restrooms of China, With Your Host Conan O'Brien

STV — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:38:55 EDT

Viewers who tuned in Wednesday to Late Night With Conan O'Brien were treated to very special vacation slideshow by Mummy 3 star Maria Bello, who, during a recent visit to China, skipped the Great Wall and the Forbidden City in exchange for the more fantastic tour of Misconceived Bathroom Placards. It's not just the mangled English ("handicapped" = "deformed") and malaprops that make the show-and-tell special, however. Just take a moment to enjoy O'Brien's play-by-play, abetted by headlining guest Kevin Costner's awkward sidekick chuckle. If it's not enough to make you forget Andy Richter, it's at least enough to make you forget this man once won an Academy Award. In any case, we genuinely wouldn't mind if they revived this segment every week. [NBC]

Maria Bello Discovers She's "A Cheaper Rachel Weisz Type"

Mark — Mon, 14 May 2007 15:58:28 EDT

· Maria Bello has been cast in the role of "Much Cheaper Alternative to Oscar-Winning Actress No Longer Willing to Slum It in a Mindless Sequel" in the next Mummy installment, replacing Rachel Weisz. [Variety]
· Spider-Man 3 pulled in another $85.5 million internationally, bringing its worldwide box office to $622.1 million. [THR]
· NBC demotes Law & Order: Criminal Intent to its USA Network (with second-run episodes appearing on the network mothership), while the Original Recipe L&O will stay on the Peacock, avoiding a possible banishment to TNT. [Variety]
· CBS goes pre-upfront pick-up crazy, bringing pilot dramas Twilight (about a vampire P.I.) and Laughlin (guy dreams of opening a shitty casino in Laughlin, NV!) to series. [THR]
· Madonna's husband is finally getting back into directing incomprehensible, low-budget gangster films, and will team with Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment on the "action comedy" RockNRolla this summer. [Variety]