• It's a waiting game to see whether Vivendi will exercise its put option on its remaining 20 percent stake in NBC Universal, possibly sending the network studio hybrid into the fabled lands of IPO. While the anticipation mounts, Vivendi's chair said the company would take the next few months to make up its mind. [Variety]

• Oprah's Harpo Productions, Sam Mendes and Focus Features are teaming up to bring Joseph O'Neill's celebrated cricket pot-boiler Netherland to the big screen. [Variety]

• Spike Lee and Robert DeNiro announced plans to make a series about Alphabet City for Showtime. Alphaville will be an ensemble drama set in the 1980's. [Hollywood Reporter]

• With a mere two months until its release, pre-sales of tickets for New Moon the second installment of the Twilight saga have been brisk, with many locations reporting showings have already sold out. [Hollywood Reporter]

• What you won't read much about in the trades is the rumors about the trades themselves. Yesterday, Nikki Finke declared Variety was planning to take its website behind a pay wall and the Hollywood Reporter to cease publication entirely. The Wrap attempted to find the truth behind the rumors. It quotes a "high level" Reporter exec reacting "with amusement" to Finke's item, while Variety remained oblique about its online plans. [The Wrap]

It should if you read The New Yorker. [The New Yorker, Guardian]

1. Eagle Eye - $29.2 million

This opening —the biggest since The Dark Knight juggernaut took off in July— officially marks Shia LaBeouf's entrance into the elite (and diminishing) club of actors who can actually open a movie. Just goes to prove that if you pay your greenscreen dues by battling nefarious CGI robots and swinging on digital vines (not to mention befriending Steven Spielberg), you too can become a major motion picture star!

2. Nights In Rodanthe - $13.6 million

The latest, thoroughly formulaic film from the canon of literary lightweight Nicholas Sparks was a big hit with the older female quadrant. If house porn is your thing, you could do a lot worse.

4. Fireproof - $6.5 million

Kirk Cameron is back, baby! We can only hope that his agents strike while the B.O. iron is hot and sign him up for a project that reunites him, Boner Stabone and Eddie Zeff in a Superbad meets The Big Chill type of caper, perhaps one in which they could track down the present whereabouts of hotties from ABC's late '80s lineup like Jamie Luner, Khrystyne Haje and Tracy Wells.

9. Miracle At St. Anna - $3.5 million

Despite getting a push from Oprah Winfrey last week, it looks like Spike Lee's latest will have a struggle to top Letters From Iwo Jima's $13.7MM domestic gross. Score one for Clint.

14. Choke - $1.3 million

Opening in limited release (just 435 theaters), the latest Chuck Pahlaniuk adaptation fared admirably with a $3,069 per screen average. That said, we have our doubts as to whether Middle America is ready to embrace a film whose climax involves the passing of lost anal beads.

• Weekend Box Office Results for September 26–28, 2008 [Box Office Mojo]

WHAT'S NEW: Shia LaBeouf reunites with his Disturbia director DJ Caruso for the thriller Eagle Eye, featuring our young hero as a man trapped (alongside Michelle Monaghan) in a mysterious mire of surveillance, espionage and murder also featuring Billy Bob Thornton and Rosario Dawson. Hitchcock comes up in more discussions of the film than he doesn't, with the rap being that Eagle Eye represents North by Northwest to Disturbia's too-influential-for-comfort Rear Window, but that's just adults being adults. The kids will toss rose petals and dump around $30.6 million out their wallets, further anchoring LaBeouf as his generation's most bankable star without a driver's license. Congrats, Shia!

Meanwhile, that generation's parents can shuffle into the auditorium next door for the Gere/Lane reteaming Nights in Rodanthe, adapted from a Hallmark card novel by Nicholas Sparks with enough inoffesnsively creaky cliche and Mom Jeans-wetting romance to attract around $13.1 million.

Also opening in limited release: The Palahniuk adaptation Choke; the Charlize Theron-led propaganda ensemble Battle in Seattle; Tim Robbins' and Rachel McAdams' Iraq-themed The Lucky Ones; Wayne Wang's modest immigrant mish-mash A Thousand Years of Good Prayers; the misanthropic Easter bunny comedy Hank and Mike; the race-baiting terrorism saga Shoot on Sight (tagline: "Is it a crime to be a Muslim?"); the Filipina-tranny doc The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela; and the lyrical, Indie Spirit Award-winning drama August Evening.

THE BIG LOSER: It's not like we actively root against films around Defamer HQ (all right, maybe that one time; it had it coming), and we really would like to see Spike Lee pull off Miracle at St. Anna, his epic WWII semi-mystery focusing long-overdue attention on the Army's 92nd Infantry Division — the only all-black unit to see combat in Europe. He may yet do it with Disney's micro-marketing prowess, but let's be honest: The reviews are brutal, it's 160 minutes long, it's rated R, it rotates between English, German and Italian, and at least a quarter of its intended audience is likelier to defer to one of two sturdy holdovers — Burn After Reading or The Famliy That Preys. If this breaks $5.5 million, we'll be shocked. Sorry, Spike; there's always Inside Man 2.

THE UNDERDOG: We alluded to it earlier this week, but Kirk Cameron's Fireproof — with its born-again title, God-fearing creds and bankable-enough star among Christian audiences — should sneak up on the mainstream, possibly pulling in as much as $4.2 million on 800 screens. Those are Dane Cook-beating numbers, and Lord knows a good Dane Cook beating is something to behold.

FOR SHUT-INS: New DVD's this week include Sex and the City, Leatherheads, the underrated Simon Pegg comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run, Dario Argento's gore opus Mother of Tears and, at long last, Two and a Half Men: The Complete Fourth Season.

So are you planning to drive Shia to the theater, or is it more of an old-people-fucking kind of weekend for you? Are we giving Spike a fair shake? And what to do about this glut at the art house? Call your shots!

"I was at an NBA finals, Lakers versus the Celtics," Lee says. "[At] halftime [I'm] going to the restroom. I saw Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Eddie Murphy sitting together. I stopped by to say hi and Jeffrey jokes, 'Leave Clint alone' and we all laugh.

"But Steven and I went off to the side and discussed it, and I asked him to relay a message to Clint that I meant no disrespect, that I was extending the olive branch," he adds. "Steve called Clint in the morning the next day. And it's finito."

See? Think how much longer that DreamWorks deal would have dragged on without a guy like that at the negotiating table. Next up: Saving Mickey Mouse from Hamas.

• Sugar & Spike [NYP]

"First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," he told ABCNEWS.com. "He's a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn't personally attack him. And a comment like 'a guy like that should shut his face' — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."

"If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I'd like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist," he said. "I'm not making this up. I know history. I'm a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II."

We're pretty sure this means that two-part primary dramatization idea of ours is dead in the water. Whatever — Bruce Vilanch will get a hold of this before we know it, and they'll be co-presenting an Oscar together by February.

• Spike Strikes Back: Clint's 'an Angry Old Man' [ABC News]

Eastwood has no time for Lee's gripes. "He was complaining when I did Bird [the 1988 biopic of Charlie Parker]. Why would a white guy be doing that? I was the only guy who made it, that's why."

"He could have gone ahead and made it. Instead he was making something else." As for Flags of Our Fathers, he says, yes, there was a small detachment of black troops on Iwo Jima as a part of a munitions company, "but they didn't raise the flag. The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn't do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people'd go, 'This guy's lost his mind.' I mean, it's not accurate."

Lee shouldn't be demanding African-Americans in Eastwood's next picture, either. Changeling is set in Los Angeles during the Depression, before the city's make-up was changed by the large black influx. "What are you going to do, you gonna tell a fuckin' story about that?" he growls. "Make it look like a commercial for an equal opportunity player? I'm not in that game. I'm playing it the way I read it historically, and that's the way it is. When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like Bird, I use 90% black people."

Eastwood pauses, deliberately - once it would have provided him with the beat in which to spit out his cheroot before flinging back his poncho - and offers a last word of advice to the most influential black director in American movies. "A guy like him should shut his face." [...]

Eastwood's next project, The Human Factor, is about Nelson Mandela and how he used the country's victory in the 1995 Rugby World Cup as a means of fostering national unity. Will he be sticking with the historical record on that one? He laughs. "Yeah, I'm not going to make Nelson Mandela a white guy."

As amusing as it is to observe Eastwood and Lee embracing the feud fever currently gripping their profession, we'd ultimately rather see these two talented filmmakers reaching across the grumpy-director divide, especially during these hopeful, history-making times. Perhaps the two can settle their differences by collaborating on a two-part political docudrama anthology about the 2008 DNC primary, with Lee's Obama, starring Sean Penn as the junior senator from Illinois, set to release simultaneously with Eastwood's own Hillary, starring S. Epatha Merkerson.

• Dirty Harry comes clean [film.guardian.co.uk]

· Miss Guided casualty Jude Greer was cast in Barry Sonenfeld's HBO pilot Suburban Shootout, about a woman who finds "herself caught between two rival gangs of homicidal housewives as they vie for control of their idyllic town." [THR]
· For the first time, Fox was the overall winner of the strike-marred 2007-08 TV season. [Variety]
· Sony Pictures Releasing launched the Hot Ticket, which will distribute live shows to digital-cinema-equipped movie theaters, giving musical theater lovers who can't be bothered to catch the touring production a viable, Rent-seeing alternative. [THR]

"Clint Eastwood made two films about Iwo Jima that ran for more than four hours total and there was not one Negro actor on the screen," Lee told reporters. "If you reporters had any balls you'd ask him why. There's no way I know why he did that — that was his vision, not mine. But I know it was pointed out to him and that he could have changed it. It's not like he didn't know."

Incidentally, when Eastwood was asked about Lee's comments during Tuesday's Exchangeling press conference, the Cannes moderator reportedly rebuffed the inquiry. But! We digress! Lee also squeezed in a Coen brothers smackdown ("Look, I love the Coen brothers; we all studied at NYU. But they treat life like a joke. Ha ha ha. A joke. It's like, 'Look how they killed that guy! Look how blood squirts out the side of his head!' I see things different than that.") and announced a new documentary about Michael Jordan he's planning to unveil at next year's festival.

Elsewhere, we finally found someone who doesn't like Eastwood's latest, and the Croisette cascades with hype as Steven Soderbergh's two-part, four-and-a-half-hour Che prepares to unspool in its entirety. "From a press and industry perspective, people are definitely talking about the film," writes Karina Longworth, "but everyone seems less interested in what's going to be on screen tonight than in how it'll eventually be seen." All together? Kill Bill-style? Straight-to-video serialization? Buy one, get one free?

Also among the debris:

—Hide the kids! Oscar-fetish grunt and Blurb Whore Hall of Famer Pete Hammond has been hyperventilating over Vicky Cristina Barcelona and co-star Penelope Cruz in particular, and it's all unflinchingly caught on video.

—Sadistic Variety blogger Mike Jones also videotapes a succession of fest attendees mispronouncing the title of Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York. (Don't be fooled — that's a hard "K" at the end of "York.")

—The brilliant if frustrating Argentinian director Lucretia Martel showed off her new film La Mujer sin Cabeza (The Woman Without a Head) on Tuesday; she was rewarded promptly with mystified reviews and the helm of a big-budget film about "alien invaders and their army of giant insects." Like Indiana Jones 4, kind of, but with even less story.

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

Al Pacino over Denzel? When Al doesn't win for Godfather I, Godfather II, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon — they fucked him over at least five times, I know. Then he does Scent of a Woman. Denzel [nominated that year for Malcolm X] already won for Glory: "He's young, he'll be back, he'll be all right. We fucked over Al, we'll give it to him." [Whispering] "Denzel, we'll hook you up, we got you." Training Day! He wins for Training Day. So we don't get it for Malcolm X. It's like the makeup call in basketball. It messes everything up. ...

If you don't get it when you should, it messes everything up. The problem is, you don't get it when you need to get it. And when you get the makeup call, then you're fucking somebody else over and it just keeps going on and on and on. Now I love Marty [Scorsese] — does he think Departed was the best film? Hell, no, he knows that, but would he give it back? Hell, no!

Of course, there are alternatives to Lee's Makeup Rule: the Crash Rule of Hollywood's Conscience Elite concluding Oscar night with its long-rehearsed, autoerotic grand finale; the Three Six Mafia Rule of being the best alternative in a shitty year... We'd love to hear your own rules below. That said, Lee is a Makeup-Rule candidate all the way, positioning himself for that day 10 years from now when his risky collaboration with Diablo Cody, Mo' Batter Blues, results in his best work since 25th Hour.

• Spike Lee on Why He'll Win an Oscar in 2025 [Vulture]

Lee continued on what he called his "little tirade," addressing the African-American industryites in the audience and telling them it didn't matter what kind of car they drove or how big their houses are, "we're way behind in film," adding "None of them look like you. The only black guy I see is the brother man at the security gate."

He joked that the studios are "sneaking black faces" into the board room to make it look like they're integrated, but what they're really doing is plucking blue-collar workers and dressing them up for the meeting. "Then you leave and they kick their asses back to the mail room," he quipped.

Or, in Lee's case, back to Italy, where his relatively low-budget St. Anna and other projects have found the backing that has proven inconsistent at best in the States. Lee's "jokes" and "quips" are likely to change all that, however, as the enlightened crowd of white executives discreetly fleeing the Beverly Wilshire speculated at the valet stand about that hilarious dude with the hat and the earring who might be perfect for his own sitcom this fall. Paired up with Jeff Zucker, for instance? Lee could be unstoppable.

• Spike Lee takes on Hollywood again [Risky Biz Blog]

· The Black Reel Awards awarded Spike Lee, their Scorsese, best director for Inside Man after 12 fruitless nominations, but Dreamgirls was the night's big winner. [Black Reel Awards]
· The LAT editorial page calls for the abolishment of the Foreign Language Oscar, a 50-year-old category "out of step with the multinational nature of filmmaking today," but stops short of also demanding a Best Transgendered Actoress category for performers who transgress old-fashioned notions about the rigid nature of naturally assigned sex-parts. [LAT]

"Like everybody, I was surprised and saddened that James Brown died," Daily Variety quoted Grazer as saying. "Having known him well, and after spending lots of time with him and researching his life, it's somehow not surprising that he died on Christmas Day. He was the ultimate showman, all the way to the end."

We trust Lee won't take this theme to its ridiculous extremes, and surround his subject's hospital death bed with a variety of manger animals and three wise men—not even Brown's William Morris representatives and lawyer, who might have been lurking in the hospital corridors during his last hours to ensure the final paperwork hurdles to filming his life story were signed. Let the casting debates begin: We only pray the role doesn't land on the go-to guy for African American musical prodigy biopics, Jamie Foxx, and perhaps instead falls on the shoulders of the less obvious choice, who will convey everything we need to know about Brown's passion, pipes, and moves through the use of nothing more than an extraordinarily expressive face.

• Spike Lee to direct James Brown movie: report [Reuters]

The National Board of Review makes the first official penetration of the awards season orgy, naming Letters from Iwo Jima best film, Martin Scorcese best director, Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren best actors, and Volver best foreign film. Brace yourself for the imminent deluge of awards and nominations announcements that may or may not have anything to do with a film's Oscar chances over the coming weeks. [Variety]
The Grammy nominations are out! And? These are probably the only words we're going to write about them: Mary J. Blige, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Justin Timberlake are all multiple nominees. [THR/Billboard
At yesterday's HRTS luncheon, showrunners of scripted programming gathered together to bitch about reality television and the absurdity of network censorship guidelines concerning the number of pelvic thrusts one may display during sci-fi show sex scenes. (Answer: as many as you can squeeze in without depicting "rhythmic sex.") [Variety]
· This article about the five actors who've joined Paul Haggis' next directoring effort, In the Valley of Elah/The Untitled Paul Haggis Project, makes absolutely no mention of Crash or its Oscar victory. For a very happy moment, we allowed ourselves to believe the win was just a very bad dream. And yes, we're still carrying around that pain. [THR]
Imagine's Brian Grazer chooses Spike Lee as the directorial vessel through which the superproducer can explore the L.A. riots in dramatic form, signing on to produce L.A. Riots for Universal. Negotiations are ongoing as to whether he can convince his director to bill the movie as "A Brian Grazer (with Spike Lee) Joint." [Variety]

In today's episode: Al Pacino; Spike Lee; Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sargaard; Pamela Anderson; Lou Diamond Phillips, Avril Lavigne, Robbie Williams, Hayden Panettiere, Adrian Pasdar, Milo Ventimiglia, Greg Grunberg, Leonard Roberts, Zachary Quinto, Masi Oka, Rena Sofer, Santiago Cabrera, Tori Spelling, Dean McDermott, Zach Quinto, and Sean Maguire; Lindsay Lohan; John C. Reilly; Adam Brody and Zach Braff; Wentworth Miller; Katherine Heigl; John Mayer; Maria Shriver; Michael Weston; Kim Raver; Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn; Wendie Malick; Chris Daughtry and Taylor Hawkins.

· My boyfriend and I flew back from London on United this past Saturday (25th) and as we were stumbling out of coach after a ten hour flight, I looked up to first class and saw Al Pacino just exiting. He had just been in Dublin, because he was receiving some award or other at Trinity. He looked hot to me, even after all these years, but my b.f. thought he looked gross. I kind of like it when a guy just gets old and doesn't do too much surgery. He was whisked through (i.e., he got to cut in line) customs. Depressing moment for me was when I heard someone yell, "HOO-ah" from that shitty movie where he was blind and I was thinking about how hot he was in "Dog Day Afternoon". I'm oooooooold.

· Spike Lee was on my flight from SFO to LAX on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Flight was delayed and I swear he was on his cell phone the entire wait at the gate...approximately 45 minutes. I don't really care, just wondering how he has such a kick ass cell phone battery.

· Saw Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Baby Ramona Sunday evening (11/26) at Mozza. The three-some were doted on by the manager, which is fine by me because they seem so down-to-earth (unlike a lot of other celebs). The baby is adorable and Peter isn't too bad himself.

· I was at the Chateau, now that Thanksgiving is officially over, and who should I see byt our favorite little divorcee (the little one, not the trag vag...) Pamela Anderson all curled up and cozy surrounded by people. I was very focused on the company I was keeping, so I didn't notice anyone if anyone else was there.

· At the Dixie Chicks concert at Staples Center 11/24...Pretty much the ENTIRE cast and crew of Heroes were seated in the next section (some wearing Vote For Petrelli t-shirts). Cute little Hayden Panettiere graciously signed autographs, Adrian Pasdar rushed around wearing a baseball hat, his bluetooth device in his ear and LOUD lime green patent leather sneakers while Milo Ventimiglia (who was wearing a fedora...to a country concert) followed him around like a little puppy dog. Cast members Greg Grunberg, J August Richards Leonard Roberts, Zachary Quinto, Masi Oka, Rena Sofer and Santiago Cabrera were also in attendance. Also sighted at the show were the pig-tailed Tori Spelling (who got excited to see Zach Quinto since they played best friends on So Notorious) and husband unit Dean McDermott, Lou Diamond Phillipsand fam, Avril Lavigne with a female friend who sat silently the entire show while drinking beers and the oh so yummy Robbie Williams with that hot guy from The Class, Sean Maguire (who apparently is also a pop star in the UK...thanks IMDB).

· Saw Lindsay Lohan in first class on Delta Nov. 27 taking the red-eye from LAX-JFK. She had no make-up and dark hair sans hair extensions and just blended in with the crowd. She was by herself and no one seemed to recognize her. She was one of the first people to board (i.e. she can be timely) and was never on her cell phone and only saw her asking the flight attendant for water so.... no, there was no drama! She slept most of the time but got up several times to go to the bathroom. Saw her sign an autograph and chat for a minute with a flight attendant. She put on a hat and sunglasses before we landed and actually looked more like herself!

· Saw America's Favorite Movie Sidekick , John C. Reilly, cruising out of Amoeba Records last night. Reilly was bundled in an old heavy coat and a wintry porkpie hat that he clearly brought here from Chicago. He was about as tall as I thought he'd be, but not nearly as burly as I imagined. Unfortunately, I didn't get a look at what he bought, so I can't give you any "Hey, John C. Reilly really digs Beyonce!" sorta scoopage.

· Holiday weekend sightings:

Friday, 11/24 - Adam Brody stopped by Abbott's Habit on Sunset for a post-Thanksgiving bagel with his dog. Very skinny and hot in a tight vintage tee (Adam, not the dog.) First time I've ever seen a dog actually bark at a mailman in real life, but it did and we all shared a chuckle.

Sunday, 11/26 - LAX American Airlines Baggage Claim 4 - none other than Zach Braff coming back from the "Garden State." Had a standard Hollywood small dog in tow but seemed normal, unassuming and nerdy in a skinny jeans, hoodie, baseball cap and glasses. Followed him for a little, but then got distracted by a team of hot 7 foot tall basketball players, a Thanksgiving miracle that made my 3rd trip to the airport in 3 days worthwhile.

· Live report. Stranded at dfw. Onplanetola.Airport lost power. Wentworth miller 3 rows away. This is how i want to die - staring @ those eyes. Damn. We are leaving. Only 3 more hours.

· Saw Katherine Heigl (Izzy) of Grey's Anatomy at a Burger King on Sunday afternoon in the Atlanta airport before boarding a flight (ours) back to LA. She seemed very unpretentious while she waiting in line with the little people. She appeared to be traveling with a couple of friends. At LAX, she and friends sat and smoked cigarettes outside baggage claim while they waited for a ride to pick them up.
She's extremely pretty in person and delightfully non-anorexic.

· Saw John Mayer at the Pottery Barn in Santa Monica. He was extremely tall, at least a head taller than anyone else in the store. In person he is really nice to look at, tall, lean, defined cheek bones, and amazing hair; pictures do not do the boy justice (Nice work, Simpson.) He seemed very friendly, was even laughing to himself, and looked a little confused, as I'm sure any 20-something guy would be in a Pottery Barn. He said something about living New York, but wanting to find something cool for his place in LA.

· Tuesday 11/21 at The Counter in Santa Monica: California First Lady Maria Shriver with one of her sons (wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned ARNOLD) and a man we presumed to be secret service. She is starting to look more and more like her mom, and was thinner and more frail than I had expected. Kid seemed tired and cranky. We were right by the window and saw them hop into a giant BMW which materialized like a shark at the curb as they were leaving. Maria rode shotgun; secret service guy rode in the back with the cranky, besweatshirted kid. I like to think Arnold was at the wheel.

· Thursday night, Blockbuster video at Hollywood & Western, around 11:30pm. Walked in and spotted Michael Weston at the counter. Who? I had to IMDB him, but I knew his face—he was Kenny in Garden State (the cop who had once been "doing coke lines off a urinal"). Same sleepy, smoked-a-huge-bowl-before-leaving-the-house look as you might expect—not that tall, but not a total midget. I think this is a strictly C list celebrity Blockbuster—I once saw Ethan Embry trying to work out a deal or something with the clerk because he had $70 in late fees at the same store. Michael just seemed to want something that the clerk needed to go and get...and explain to him somehow.

· 11/26 - Kim Raver (24, The Nine) seated in the last row of business class on my flight from JFK to LAX. She was with her husband and their young son was in coach...hopefully with a babysitter.

· I saw Angie Harmon and her husband, Jason Sehorn, at the UBS parking lot near the Beverly Wilshire tonight. They were waiting in line behind us for the valet to bring our cars. Angie is stunningly beautiful in person (wearing killer thigh-high leopard-print boots), and they were adorable together, laughing and seeming very much in love. Angie totally caught me staring and smiled at me. I'm pretty sure they left in a silver Range Rover.

· 11/30— Just saw Wendie Malick (Nina in "Just Shoot Me" and is in a new comedy coming out called "Big Day") shopping at the Whole Foods in Brentwood. I was starting to get ticked because I shop there all the time and never see anyone famous, yet according to US Weekly, People and even Defamer there are gaggles of celebrities shopping there. Based on reports one would think Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck lived there. Anyhoo, Wendie looks really good for being in her mid-fifties. She's very tall and thin, but not scary thin, and was wearing a Santa Fe style jacket and jeans. She was very low key and nice to a shopper who started talking to her. Still waiting on the Jen and Ben sighting....

· 11/30 The WeHo Starbucks in that hellish Best Buy/Target complex. Nice, nerdy Asian guy, probably new here since he was still packing a thick accent, is behind the counter serving this group of Nickelback types. I hear one of guys order a "vanilla latte" and then turn to the other guys to repeat his order loudly, "VANILLA LATTE." That's when I saw the dude was Chris Daughtry, second cousin removed of Bon Jovi. His "band" cracks up. Prick.

· day after thanksgiving at the beverly center: taylor hawkins (drummer of foo fighters) buying a striped men's sweater at forever 21 soooo random

· It still hasn't totally sunk in that Tom Cruise is going to be running United Artists. We think we all still need some time with this one. [Variety, THR]
Robert De Niro and 50 Cent are in "final negotiations" to star as partners in cop thriller New Orleans, a project that is screaming out to be immediately reimagined as a Lethal Weapon-style buddy comedy. [THR]
Producer Brian Grazer, Universal, and a dump truck full of cash are close to convincing Spike Lee that a sequel to seemingly self-contained bank heist flick Inside Man is a good idea. [Variety]
Madonna-founded Maverick Films is suing a film production company for stealing its ideas for a movie Maverick is making on the Stanford Prison Experiment, which they themselves originally appropriated from a Psychology 101 college textbook. [THR]
Universal's Rogue Pictures will distribute legendary video-game-adapting hack Paul W.S. Anderson's Castlevania movie. [Variety]

Filmmaker Spike Lee and actress Sarah Jessica Parker attend a ceremony for Cartier at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York on June 8. The international jewelry company is launching a Love collection of jewelry, including the Love Charity bracelet. Some of the proceeds from the sale of the bracelet will benefit eight charities.

Seeing an open opportunity to pitch Parker, whose "edgy, dark" work in The Family Stone he so admired, Lee told the actress about an idea kicking around in his head he thought she'd be perfect for: a remake of his own Do The Right Thing, set this time entirely in a Manhattan department store during Christmas, with madcap, screwball romance stepping in for the original's racial rioting. Parker was immediately intrigued, and the two have since been busily developing the project during the commercial breaks of their regular Project Runway encore screening parties.

• Celebrity shots [LAT]