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French President Nicolas Sarkozy was "very effective" in helping Roman Polanski convince a Swiss court to allow him to go home, according to the director's sister-in-law. “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is thanks to the President that Roman has been freed, but he has been super,” Mathilde Seigner told Le Parisien newspaper. But why would the president go out on a limb for a man who had sex with a 13-year-old girl? His wife probably told him to. [NYDN]
If it wasn't already clear that the video game industry is in far better shape than Hollywood this should cement it: the Call of Duty franchise just surpassed the $3 billion sales mark. The success comes on the back of the recently released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the sixth in the series, which made $550 million the first five days it was out. Finally, something to explain why Mountain Dew's sales are doing so well. [THR]
All hope may not be lost for the great Jay Leno experiment. Since the start of September The Jay Leno Show has experienced a pretty steady ratings decline, but in the 11 episodes leading up to this weekend the decline stopped. In fact, those episodes have each either maintained or improved on their adult demographic compared to the previous week.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Sandra Bullock's football-flick The Blind Side and people eager to escape their families for a couple hours helped break records at the box office this weekend. New Moon's $42.5 million, which puts its total take at $230.7 million, won the box office race for the second week in a row, followed by The Blind Side's $40.1 million. Overall, the $278 million earned at the box office this weekend was an all-time high and confirmation that Americans would really go nuts for a romantic fantasy about a football playing vampire.
Box office: 'New Moon' wins first place during best Thanksgiving weekend ever [EW]
Photo: Getty Images
If they want to get the big ratings that the American Music Awards did, they just might have to. The rules that we're referring to have to deal with NARAS's longstanding policy of not letting acts that perform on the AMAs also do their thing on the Grammys. But seeing as how Dick Clark was able to convince just about every pop artist capable of generating ratings buzz (Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, etc.) to perform on his show this past weekend, the music-industry bible Hits Daily Double is openly wondering whether the Grammys will be forced to retract their position. After all, the only current chart topper that didn't perform on Sunday night was Taylor Swift. Well, her and Chris Brown. But we're pretty sure that after the events of last February, his invite to this year's ceremony is likely to get lost in the mail. As they say, this one is developing …
Oh, and on that note, happy Thanksgiving! Your friendly Vulture editors are currently in the midst of preparing themselves for a tryptophan hangover of epic proportions. As such, we won't be back until Monday morning. Until then!
STEALING GRAMMY THUNDER [Hits Daily Double via Maura]
At a press conference yesterday, Nine actress Fergie told reporters that, on the set of the film, her co-star Daniel Day-Lewis was so immersed in his role that he left love notes in her dressing room from his character to hers: "I'd find this little note. I'd open it, and it would be Guido's stationery. He would write me little notes as Guido," she explained. "They were very cute and very charming." But here's the problem: In the musical, Fergie plays Saraghina, a prostitute Guido Contini meets when he's 10 years old (her big scene is a flashback). Therefore, it's doubtful that the adult Guido portrayed by Day-Lewis would even know Saraghina, much less write her love letters. Come on, Daniel — that's some bush-league Method acting. [PopEater]
"Any time I get a phone call, it doesn't come up as a normal number; it's like a five-digit code. I'm like, 'What kind of spy organization is this?' I've never seen that before. I've had phone calls from people in the government, and they don't have that. Marvel is some crazy underground world."—Natalie Portman on being contacted by Marvel for her role in Thor [WENN via Contact Music]
"Not too long ago, my mum ran into one nun at home, who'd known me, and the nun told her, 'Oh my God, I watched the "She-Wolf" video, and Shakira looks phenomenal in it! I love how she looks, how she does the splits, and how flexible her legs are.' This was an 80-year-old nun. Times are changing."—Shakira [Guardian UK]
Photo: Major Productions
Hey, this is adorable. New teen-pop group OMG Girlz features not one, but two offspring of current hip-hop megastars: Lil Wayne's daughter Reginae, a.k.a. Baby Carter, and T.I.'s daughter Zonnique, a.k.a. Star (there are also two other members unrelated to famous rappers, Beauty and Lolo). T.I.’s fiancée (and Star’s mother) Tiny is managing them, and they’ve already played shows and recorded a single, “Ain’t Nobody” (available in snippet form here), that we totally don't hate. It's a classic kiss-off, draped over a beat that's almost certainly a Paper Trail outtake, and features some serious knowledge-dropping from Baby Carter ("Don't get it twisted, boo / I'm way too cute for you”); it's definitely the best teen-nepotism-pop song we’ve heard so far this morning. Also heartwarming: Wayne has promised to collaborate on a song with them before he goes to prison next year.
T.I.'s And Lil Wayne's Daughters Start Group, OMG Girlz [MTV]
After ABC decided that their viewers couldn't stomach acts of mock fellatio before they get a chance to properly digest their breakfast, Adam Lambert and his crack team of guyliner technicians hightailed it over to CBS this morning for an interview and performance on the decidedly older-skewing Early Show. Although the CBS headlines trumpet that Lambert "offers no apologies" for his sexually charged AMA performance that so thoroughly freaked 1,500 people out that they felt compelled to call their local affiliates to complain, a closer read of Lambert's comments show that he has spent some time practicing his responses with some sort of crisis-management flack over the last 24 hours or so.
Photo: Courtesy of ABC
There's a lot at stake in this week's installment: Most episodes just have to lure you back next week. This one has to lure you back next year.
So, appropriately, the show starts with a literal bang. Gunshot! Then we see Georgie is down, with Erica scrambling to help him. But what's this? Ryan, the renegade V, approaches, pistol drawn! Pointed right at our heroine!
And he's out of there, maybe! The AP reports that a Swiss court has okayed a $4.5 million bail offer from Roman Polanski's lawyers, the terms of which would have the director monitored electronically under house arrest in his enormous ski chalet in the Swiss Alps. Polanski will remain in jail for now, awaiting extradition to the U.S., while Switzerland's Justice Ministry decides whether to appeal the ruling. Hilariously, the Swiss court says it still considers Polanski a "high flight risk," but $4.5 million was "significant enough to offset those concerns." An announcement is expected shortly on the date and venue for Polanski's "Welcome Home" party in Paris.
Get set to riot, Glee fans: Now that the high-rated show-choir drama has helped propel Fox to its first-ever November sweeps victory, it'll be shelved for four freakin' months following its December 9 mid-season finale. Last night, the network announced its winter schedule and a return date of Tuesday, April 13 for Glee (meaning it'll air on the same night and during the same time slot as Lost's final episodes). According to the Hollywood Reporter, this is all presumably to accommodate creator Ryan McGinley Murphy, who'll be busy these next few months directing the movie adaptation of Eat, Pray, Love. So if you feel the need to direct all of your anger and outrage at just one person, we'd recommend Julia Roberts.
Fox reveals midseason lineup -- full schedule and premiere dates [Live Feed/HR]
With not much better to do now that his Hank has been yanked, Kelsey Grammer will headline Broadway's upcoming London-transferred revival of Jerry Herman's La Cage aux Folles, opening in April. He'll play the non-cross-dressing half of the musical's starring couple — a role that nearly went to Mandy Patinkin, so Grammer's costars sort of dodged a bullet here. [NYP]
Lest anyone worried that Oscar voters would have trouble filling this year's acting categories (and it doesn't seem like The Lovely Bones will be much help!), here comes the trailer for Michael Hoffman's last-minute awards entry, The Last Station, featuring a sexy cast of respected British thespians (plus a Canadian) — including: the 79-year-old, never-nominated Christopher Plummer as Leo Tolstoy (who'll sneakily campaign in Supporting, even though his seems to be a lead role), Helen Mirren as his long-suffering wife, and James McAvoy as his hapless new assistant, unwittingly inserting himself into a feud over the writer's inheritance. Most reviews out of the Telluride Film Festival were raves, this trailer looks fine, and we certainly wouldn't mind sitting through any of these actors' acceptance speeches.
A-Muse-Ing: Move over Scarlett Johansson, Woody Allen has found a new muse. Her name is Carla Bruni, and she's the first lady of France. She's also set to star in Allen's next film. “He offered me a role in his next movie,” Bruni told Bloomberg News. “I don’t know for what character, but I said yes. I’m not an actress at all. Maybe I will be terrible. But, in my life, I cannot let such a chance go.” More than her performance, we're looking forward to the inevitable Allen/Sarko throwdown over Bruni's heart. [Bloomberg]
Quay Cowboys: Invictus scribe Anthony Peckham has signed on to write the script for Deep Sea Cowboys, an adaptation of a Wired article about a salvage crew trying to recover a capsized Japanese cargo ship. The story will take place in real time as the crew fights to salvage the ship's cargo so it can claim the reward, which may or may not be a valuable cache of Japan's favorite commodity — poop hats. [THR]
Dancing With the Stars crowned Marie Osmond's brother the champion of its ninth season earlier tonight after he beat out Mya and Kelly Osbourne by stomping a blistering Argentine tango. Well done, Donny. And welcome back to temporary relevance. [ABC]
Jersey Shore is a new MTV reality show combining elements of The Real World with elements of Hot Chicks with Douchebags. Some people are very excited about this. And others, especially UNICO, an Italian-American service organization, are not. The group's president, Andre Dimino, has asked MTV to pull the show because it perpetuates the stereotype of young Italian men as mindless drunk oafs with more hair gel than brain cells.
"Trash television sells, and they'd be more interested in making money than how they're offending a great group of people," Dimino says. Weighty ethnic issues aren't really our thing, so here's the show's trailer so you can decide for yourself.
Fox: Thanks, Glee!
Thanks to a highly rated World Series and its most solid lineup in years, Fox is set win November sweeps for the first time ever. And if the network's projections are right, it will be the largest sweeps victory margin in five years. Fox's 3.6 adult demo rating for the month leads ABC's 3.1, CBS's 3.0 and, in last place, NBC's 2.6. The network's newfound success is due to strong nights of crude-animation Sundays, cranky-doctor Mondays, and sing-song-dance Wednesdays. And with brilliantly conceived shows like Our Little Genius coming up in the spring, things are only going to get better.
Fox projected to win November sweeps for first time [Live Feed]
A creepy old man in Michigan went all vampire on a 17-year-old girl's neck after a showing of Twilight: New Moon last weekend. Police are looking for the unshaven, 45-year-old man, who would be forgiven for thinking the girl was into older men. After all, he's 64 years younger than that "dreamboat" Edward Cullen. [Cinematical]
Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones premiered in London last night and, astonishingly, not everyone is as enthusiastic as Harry Knowles. Total Film and the Sun loved it, but the Guardian gives it two stars, apparently because it does not feature enough rape and murder: "[Lovely Bones] is so infuriatingly coy, and so desperate to preserve the modesty of its soulful victim that it amounts to an ongoing clean-up operation." [Sun, Total Film, Guardian, Screen Daily via In Contention]
overnights, chat room, abc, kudos, nbc, video, mad men, quote machine, twilight, news reel, trailer mix, new moon, slideshow, robert pattinson, vampires, 2012, fox, oscars, beef, broadway, 30 rock, avatar, hbo, james cameron, james franco, oprah, precious, v, adam lambert, alec baldwin, cbs, curb your enthusiasm, glee, jay leno, kristen stewart, michael jackson, oprahpocalypse, chris brown, chris weitz, flashforward
By Dan Brown, September 15, 2009
Copyright © 2009, New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Brothers Premiere
The Road Premiere
Diddy's 40th-Birthday Celebration
Twilight: New Moon Premiere
MoMA Celebrates Tim Burton Exhibit
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee Screening
The Kubrick Masterpiece He Never Made
Bob Dylan, the New Bing Crosby
Edelstein on Brothers and
Up in the Air
Fela! Gets Broadway Audiences to Shake It
