Back in Time

That cutie-patootie filmmaker known as J.J. Abrams wants to get in on some Stephen King action.

And I want to get into some Abrams action.

The Star Trek Into Darkness helmer is looking to serve as executive producer on a made-for-TV adaptation of the best-selling author’s time-travel novel 11/22/63.

Following the travails of a teacher who journeys back in time to try and prevent the JFK assassination, the book actually has the protagonist travel back to five years before the actual event, so a TV adaptation could very well work

And if anybody can make sure of it, that would be Abrams.

Photo: CNN.com.

One of the First

I gotta say I think Ryan Murphy’s forthcoming adaptation of The Normal Heart is coming together with the best-looking cast this side of Magic Mike.

Not only has Murphy recruited Jim Parsons (TV’s The Big Bang Theory), Matt Bomer, Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, and Taylor Kitsch in his HBO Films adaptation of the 2011 Tony-winning revival, now comes word that Jonathan Groff is also on board.

The Glee scene-stealer is set to play Kitsch’s boyfriend in the telefilm, a man who becomes one of the earliest patients to fall victim to the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1980s New York City.

HBO’s The Normal Heart is set to premiere next year.

Photo: Verge.is.

Sing to Me, Skarsgård!

Oof.

So Alexander Skarsgård recently sat down with Peter Travers to talk up his latest movie, Disconnect (I have to catch it before I head back to Peru!), and, by golly, was the True Blood hunk in the mood to be a ham.

Not happy with just sitting there looking pretty, giving major Skars-gaze, the actor decided to burst into song – singing a football anthem in his native Swedish.

I. Am. Molten.

Boy, you can sing to me any time you want. Just F to the Y to the I.

Up next for Skarsgård is the indie spying-on-anarchists thriller The East, which will begin unspooling at the end of May.

Photo: Zimbio.com.

Go On and Hate: G.P.’s the Most Beautiful

Well, this is both a blessing and a curse: People has named Iron Man 3 star Gwyneth Paltrow the World’s Most Beautiful Woman for 2013.

So, haters – go on and hate.

Seems the magazine made the choice going on five all-important criteria, one more fabulous than the other.

Chief among them, though, was the fact that G.P. is just so thoroughly G.P., meaning true to herself, which I think we can all agree is the most beautiful quality anyone can possess.

Sure, she polarizes her audience with the lot of her GOOP-y comments, but this honor isn’t about the budding action star’s feelings or thoughts but about what the eye can see instead.

And girlfriend’s quite fetching.

I know for a fact.

Photo: People.com.

To France with Woody

Emma Stone’s awesome Hollywood ascension is about to get a major vote of confidence.

The actress is in talks to join the cast of Woody Allen’s next project, an untitled film set in the south of France.

As usual, Allen hasn’t released any details about the shindig – no title, no plot hints, no nothing about Stone’s involvement.

The director’s Blue Jasmine, starring Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin, is coming out this summer, though.

Photo: StyleFrizz.com.

The Great Soundtrack

I don’t gotta tell you that the world perked up when it heard that Baz Luhrmann had tapped Jay-Z to score his upcoming Great Gatsby film.

Well, the soundtrack – featuring Beyoncé (natch), Fergie, Jack White, Florence Welch, Lana Del Rey, The xx, and Mr. Z himself – sounds amazing.

Click here to sample some of that Gatsby sound.

And be there on May 10 to watch Leo & Co. dazzle you on the silver screen the Luhrmann way.

Photo: Amazon.com.

America’s Sweetheart...Booked!

Reese Witherspoon has been a bad, bad girl: The Oscar winner has been arrested!

Indeed, America’s Sweetheart and her husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, were briefly thrown in jailed last Friday night in Atlanta (where she is shooting The Good Lie), after the Ford Focus he was driving (rather erratically) was pulled over by police.

While Toth was being arrested on a DUI charge, Witherspoon allegedly became belligerent and pulled that ol’ starry nugget: “Don’t you know who I am?”

The officer reportedly told the actress to simma, but she woudn’t have it. She got out of the car to keep throwing her quickly diminishing star power around, and ended up getting arrested herself, on a disorderly conduct charge.

How upsetting.... They were on a Ford Focus?

Anyway, Witherspoon put on a brave face and attended last night’s New York premiere of Mud, getting a warm reception like nada had happened, and issued a very good apology this morning.

Wonder how this will play out for her in the long run.

Photo: NYDailyNews.com.

Focusd Instead

Not that long ago, Ben Affleck and Kristen Stewart were supposed to do it.

Work together, that is.

But then he dropped out of the project – a movie titled Focus, about a young grifter who teams up with an experienced con artist for a big-payday job – and now comes word that she’s also stepped aside.

So what’s a project to do to live to die another day? My, call on Will Smith, of course.

Smith is thisclose to nabbing the part of the seasoned criminal.

No word on who could be coming on board to replace K. Stew.

Photo: Zimbio.com.

He Will Walk Among Us Again

Thank the gods for giving me a reason to blog about anything Chris Hemsworth.

The sexy Aussie will be back as Thor in this November’s sequel, Thor: The Dark World, and I just got the chills looking at this teaser poster.

Get it? Oh, just look at the pic.

Aside from whetting my appetite for Hemsworth, the poster also lets us know that Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, and Anthony Hopkins all will be back for more adventure, but it fails to mention that former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston will be playing the main villain this time around, Malekith the Accursed.

So there ya have it, nerds – GTS and get your plot theories on.

Photo: EW.com.

Update: Ooh, honeys: We have us a first trailer, too!

Aca-mazin’, Y’all

Last year’s surprise hit Pitch Perfect is getting ready for an encore.

The studio behind the movie confirmed-announced today that the rumors and wishes of millions will become a reality, and that a follow-up will sing its way into theaters some time in 2015.

A no-brainer, really, considering the movie cost $17 million to make and earned like, $112 million worldwide.

Such a sensation it is, it even has spawned a hit single for lead Anna Kendrick, complete with a video and all.

Original screenwriter Kay Cannon is already on board, and from the showcase the cast gave at last weekend’s MTV Movie Awards (which were hosted by one of the movie’s MVPs, Rebel Wilson), it is safe to aca-ssume all involved – from Kendrick on to the first grip – will be back for more.

It would be foolish to mess with a winning formula.

Photo: EW.com.

Fighting the JAM

Sci-fi seems to be what Tom Cruise is liking these days.

The Cruiseter just opened Oblivion internationally and he has All You Need Is Kill coming out next spring. And he’s eyeing the starring role in the adaptation of Chohel Kamayashi’s book series Yukikaze. 

The plot? Simple: A portal to another dimension opens up over Antarctica, through which these very hostile aliens (known as the JAM – hey, that sounds fun!) start invading the planet, right. Humans, in response, form a special combat force that includes 2nd Lt. Rei Fukai (whose name surely will be Americanized some for Cruise to play him).

Fukai, of course, will be the one who saves the day after he travels solo through the passageway to gather intel on this new enemy. “Yukikaze” is the code name for his fighter plane, btw.

High concept, huh. Hope it has a high payout, too.

Photo: AceShowbiz.com.

A Very Special Message from General Zod

Believe it or not, Zack Snyder’s Superman blockbuster Man of Steel is almost here.

My comment has a faint stink of disbelief ’cause I have yet to see like, bus stop posters for the film...or huge billboards advertising its much-anticipated June 14 opening.

Yesterday, though, brought us a message from General Zod himself. I guess the file transfer from Krypton takes a while?

In the message – clearly designed to go viral – Michael Shannon as Zod demands that Earth return “one of my citizens,” meaning Henry Cavill’s Superman (whom he addresses by his given name, Kal-El).

And to Kal-El he offers this warning: “Surrender within 24 hours. Or watch this world suffer the consequences.”

Uh oh. We in it now.

Thank goodness Superman is coming.

Updates: OMG, I see the logic behind not overusing footage of Man of Steel leading up to opening date: this latest trailer that was just released looks e-friggin’-pic.

So that can only mean the film is gonna be out of this world.

Ha! See what I did there?

The Spare Piece

Kate Upton’s so hot, Hollywood wants us to believe a man would cheat on Cameron Diaz with her, on top of already cheating on Leslie Mann with La Diaz.

Yeah, I can buy that – I’ve seen Upton’s Sports Illustrated covers.

Indeed that would be the case in Nick Cassavetes’ The Other Woman, though, the story of a man who gets a double serving of his after his mistress (Diaz) teams up with his wife (Mann) to teach him a lesson he will not soon forget.

Upton’s previous big-screen credits include The Three Stooges and Tower Heist.

Didn’t see ’em. Did she acquit herself nicely?

Photo: HighSnobette.com.

To the Races

Chris Hemsworth and fast cars – how could I ever resist.

So thank you, Ron Howard, for giving me us Rush, your new film about Formula 1 driver James Hunt and his dangerous rivalry with Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl, from Inglourious Basterds).

Check out the trailer, you guys.

I am so there, pedal-to-the-metal-style, when this one opens on Sept. 20.

Motor running for Hemsworth in his driver’s outfit, of course.

Photo: TotalFilm.com.

Feeling the Fury

Brad Pitt is in into wars these days.

He may not have had the easiest time making World War Z, but, by golly, that don’t mean he won’t try to have a good experience making a World War II film.

Pitt is set to star in Fury, a 1945-set drama from End of Watch writer-director David Ayer that centers on the five-man crew of an American tank called the Fury and how it does battle against a crumbling, desperate German army.

America - f--- yeah!

Photo: TNP.sg.

The Motherf---ing Princess Is Baaack

Avril Lavigne is back, yo...sounding as Avril Lavigne as ever, defying everyone to stay young for as long as possible, living like rock stars, dancing on every bar and stuff.

She does so in a new single titled “Here’s to Never Growing Up” – while singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs.

’Cause...’cause why not.

I guess to Lavigne that band is the classicest thing.

The song will be available on the iTunes in a couple of days, and you can expect to find it within her upcoming fifth, as-yet-untitled album this summer.

Here’s to...having the little ditty stuck in our heads for a moment now.

Photo: Buzzworthy.MTV.com.

The Craigs Are Doing Broadway

Yay!

I will be heading to New York this fall, quite possibly for my birthday: Daniel Craig is going back to Broadway (he hit the New York stage for the first in 2009, in A Steady Rain), and he’s taking his wife, Rachel Weisz, with him when he goes.

As expected, the pair will take on the Great White Way together, in a Mike Nicholls-directed limited-engagement revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. This will mark her Broadway debut.

Previews begin on Oct. 1 for a Nov. 3 – three days before my 31st. 

Life of Pi’s Rafe Spall will play Craig’s best friend, a.k.a. the man with whom Weisz’s character is having an affair.

Ooh, kids – I am so excited.

Photo: EW.com.

Uncle Jim

Looks like great adventure awaits Dan Stevens in life after Downtown Abbey.

The erstwhile Matthew Crawley is negotiating a starring role in Swallows and Amazons, a new adaptation of the 1930 Arthur Ransome children’s book.

The story follows a group of six kids – the four Walker siblings and the two Blackett children – who band together one summer against a common enemy: the Blacketts’ uncle James Turner, a withdrawn writer the group nicknames Captain Flint (after the pirate from Treasure Island).

Stevens would play Turner.

Someone has great designs on what is to come. And I likey.

Photo: HuffingtonPost.co.uk.

Ab Fab Keri!

Dayum, Keri Russell – you just had a baby when?

Bitch.

Of course I keed, I keed...y’all know I live for my favorite fickle pickle (Felicity 4ever!), and so do, evidently, the powers that be at Women’s Health, who think Russell has the best abs in the business right now.

A statement with which I like, so agree wholeheartedly.

Time to catch up with FX’s The Americans now. For realsies this time. I can see she can kick my butt if I don’t.

Photo: UsMagazine.com.

Chanel Girl

She makes the sci-fi geek within me get there – that’s for a friend and me only to know why – and, now, Diane Kruger’s gonna make ’em boys and girls come to her yard.

That’s because thanks to her “natural elegance and beauty,” the German The Host actress has been chosen as the new face of the Chanel skin care line of products.

Having seen her up close and personal, I can totally vouch that Kruger is the real deal, and she totally deserves to hawk whatever she puts on that punum of hers.

In other words, I would totally buy anything she tells me to.

Photo: ModernLuxury.com.

Feeling Colombiana

Next time we see Jada Pinkett Smith on the big screen, she just might be practicing her español.

The actress is starring and co-producing a new drama titled La Escribana de Uraba, a Colombia-set story of a journalist covering the murder of an employee of a multinational corporation.

Pinkett Smith already got the Colombian government on board – she’s met the country’s film-buff president and its minister of culture and stuff, so she means business – and is set to let the cameras roll in the fall.

Up next for Mrs. Will Smith, though, is supporting After Earth, a blockbuster starring her husband and their son Jaden that she produced.

Photo: HollywoodLife.com.

She & Him Are Doing It Again

I know some people out there live for Zooey Deschanel, so this one’s for them.

I...used to enjoy her quirky ubiquity, particularly in small doses (which I know is a bit oxymoronic). Having said that, I do think she’s charming on her TV show New Girl, but find her oh-so-adorable off-screen persona a bit strained.

Deschanel does have a lovely singing voice, as I’ve discovered through casual listening of She & Him records.

She & Him is an indie band the actress fronts with M. Ward, which just dropped its new album, Volume 3, the first single off which is “I Could’ve Been Your Girl.” Have a listen, yo:

Sweet, huh.

A Class Thing

The year will be 2154, and Matt Damon will be fighting for equality.

No, the actor’s not starring in a movie about the ongoing plight of the gay community in America – let’s trust by then everyone will be treated the same, legally speaking – but in Elysium, Neill Blomkamp’s much-anticipated follow-up to District 9.

The film will follow the story of man (Damon) who will stop at nothing to bring the Richie McRichies who call a pristine, man-made space station named Elysium down a notch or two, in the interest of making sure everyone has a shot at thriving. ’Cause Earth has been overrun by growing numbers of people and crime and stuff.

Which does not sit well with Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt, a security enforcer-type played by Jodie Foster.

So cannot wait for this one to come out.

Photo: Collider.com.

So Is It Namiah? Or Jerenate?

Congratulations go out to Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent, who announced they have decided to spend the rest of their lives together.

The pair has been dating for almost nine months...and made it official atop Machu Picchu in Peru earlier this week.

Best to ya both, kids!

Photo: Towleroad.com.

Ready for Winter

Chris Evans is all suited up and ready to go: His Captain America is poised for all kinds of drama in the sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Remember, we met Cappie in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, a movie set in WWII, then saw him again, brought back to life in modern-day New York, kicking alien ass in The Avengers, but we never got to really sit with the guy and find out how that little change of everything felt.

This follow-up promises to explore that situation (more than one familiar face from the first Captain America movie will be back), and lots of cool action, of course.

Per Marvel, Evans is going to be paired up with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow to battle a very powerful evil in D.C.

Can’t wait!

But we gotta: Captain America: The Winter Soldier is not due out until next April. 

Photo: EW.com.

The Guy’s Got a Hot Plan

No Divergent, no problem: Alex Pettyfer will do something else.

Like setting his next movie on fire – but on a decidedly much different way than he did in Magic Mike.

The British bad boy has signed on to play a sort of Romeo in Endless Love, the adaptation of the 1979 Scott Spencer book about two lovers forbidden to be with other.

Gabriella Wilde will play his Juliet, the daughter of a man who, for whatever reasons, forbids Pettyfer’s character from coming into their home. And here’s the kicker: In order to gain favor with the girl’s family, the guy decides to set fire to the house, hoping that by saving everyone he will be embraced with arms wide open.

Now, I didn’t see the 1981 version with Brooke Shields and some guy named Martin Hewitt, but I am willing to guess things go awry?

Right?

Photo: FanPop.com.