9021-Oh Shit: Brenda’s Back

Photo: WireImage
Too Bad for Kilmer and Xzibit: Val Kilmer and part-time ride-pimper Xzibit have joined the cast of Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant remake. Kilmer will play Nicholas Cage's partner. Xzibit will play their nemesis named Big Fade. Herzog will play a crazy director who once ate his own shoe. [Variety]
Madden in Debt: John Madden, the non-football-commentating director of Shakespeare in Love, is in talks to helm The Debt for Miramax. Drama follows an Israeli intelligence agent who let a Nazi war criminal escape in the 60s, and then must catch him when he resurfaces in the 90s. According to Madden, "It's a lot like missing a key tackle early and then making up for it with a sack when Coach calls a Dime-Normal Engage Eight blitz." [HR]
Imperioli Heads for Red Planet: Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli will co-star in ABC's new drama series Life on Mars, about a detective who gets knocked out and finds himself transported back to 1973, where he then still works as a sleuth. Imperioli will play a politically incorrect colleague who presumably gets murdered after a car wreck in the fourth to last episode. [HR]
The Beards are Back: ZZ Top has signed a new record deal with Rick Rubin's American Recordings, in the hopes that he might shake out their beards and find a platinum record among all the usual crumbs and chicken bones tangled up in there. [Billboard]

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