Jennifer Hudson’s a Diva

Uh duh – of course Jennifer Hudson had to be added to the roster of performers of the upcoming Divas show airing live on VH-1 on Sept. 17 from the Brooklyn Academy of Music Howard Gilman Opera House.

Hudson joins fellow American Idol alumnae Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks in the lineup, as well as Adele, Miley Cyrus, and Leona Lewis.

Additional special musical guests for the show include Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper, and Martina McBride.

Kathy Griffin, Toni Braxton, Ryan Kwanten (HBO’s True Blood), Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port (MTV’s The City), and the cast of the upcoming Fame (Asher Book, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Kherington Payne, Naturi Naughton, and Walter Perez) have all joined the Divas show as presenters.

Mmm…Ryan Kwanten.

Photo: StraightFromThea.com.

Now I Get the Sweater…

Last month, True Blood hottie Ryan Kwanten was spotted walking around L.A. wearing a sweater – in the middle of summer.

I didn’t get it, but I didn’t question it, either. Because Kwanten’s H-O-T in whatever they put on him.

OK, so I knew it was for a photo shoot, but I was just not getting it. You know, paparazzi shots hardly ever do stars justice….

Turns out, the look was for a story in GQ that is just smokin’-looking. Click here to see the Armani Collezioni sweater (and more) under the right circumstances.

And yeah, I could’ve used the official photo of Kwanten in the sweater – but isn’t this one so much better?

Photo: Men.Style.com.

Cat 5 Kwanten

There he is!

Ryan Kwanten (Rio, Eu Te Amo, HBO’s True Blood) has been tapped for a major role in next year’s Category 5, a sure-to-hit blockbuster to be helmed by Rob Cohen, the director of The Fast and the Furious. The project will center on a team of hackers who set out to pull off a $600 million robbery from a coastal U.S. Mint facility during a disastrous Cat 5 storm.

Not terribly convenient much?

Maggie Grace (the Taken franchise) and Toby Kebbell (the upcoming Ben-Hur) are also on board, and, together with Kwanten, they will attempt to stop dem thieves.

Photo: DigitalSpy.com.

Kwanten’s Buzz

Ohhowcute!

It’s been a while since I had anything to say about Ryan Kwanten, so thank goodness he got a buzz cut, which he debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival this week at the Right Kind of Wrong premiere.

Totally cute, right?

Photo: TorontoSun.com.

Suck Me Dry, Why Dontcha

Summer must be comin’ because the fashion magazines are rolling out their most scorching covers of the year.

Details got a leg on the competition by scoring the hottest vamp of them all, Alexander Skarsgård, a.k.a. True Blood’s Eric, for a May cover story I simply must read now.

I mean, thanks to this tease I’m flooded with images of the beyond-hunky actor in his Swedish Marines uniform. Hello!

Photo: EW.com.

Update: Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me?

Skarsgård is not the only True Blood stud to be getting his own Details cover: Ryan Kwanten and Stephen Moyer are also striking a pose for the May issue.

Each looks super-H-O-T, but Kwanten has an abs-olutlely edge, if must be said.

True Hero

He’s sexy, he’s funny…he’s a hero?

True Blood star Ryan Kwanten reportedly got his Good Samaritan on last week when he assisted an injured man in Hollywood while bystanders looked around doing nothing.

The story goes the actor was driving his car through busy intersection when he spotted the bloody and injured lying in the middle of the street. A witness says Kwanten got out of his car, tore his T off, and raced over to see if he could help.”

OK – so the T-shirt part didn’t happen, but wouldn’t it had been too cool if it had?

Good going, Ry!

Photo: TrueBlood-News.com.

Just Because, Pt. 41

Ryan Kwanten’s just one of the reasons why I must get my hands on the first-season DVDs of HBO’s True Blood double-pronto.

Boy’s adorable.

Kwanten was spotted a couple of days ago at a restaurant in downtown L.A. for a photo shoot.

Delicious!

Photo: UsMagazine.com.

Take a Bite!

Is anyone out there watching HBO’s True Blood?

I think I need to start because evidently, Aussie actor Ryan Kwanten is delivering “a breakout performance.”

And he’s pretty, too.

(Does Kwanten play a vampire? Because I’d let him take a bite.)

Photo: PhotoBucket.com.

A True Tease

I think it’s pretty much agreed Ryan Kwanten is a hottie and a half.

The Aussie recently teased to my pal Ted Casablanca – who told the actor his nakedness on True Blood was a welcome change of pace on – that the upcoming third season of the HBO hit will please fans quite a bit.

“You’re going to be very happy this season,” Kwanten said. “There’s going to be a lot more [nudity] from the other characters.

“I actually keep my clothes on a bit more...[but] I’ve paved the way for them.”

Yeah, I’ll say. And thank you for that, Ry.

Photo: JustJared.BuzzNet.com.

Evil Ringleader

James Marsden has found quite the meaty party into which to sink his teeth.

The actor will trade the shiny roles for which he has become famous and oh-so-lusted after for a really dark one: that of Charles Manson (how very Ryan Kwanten of him).

Marsden will headline the upcoming The Dead Circus, which will follow the case of singer Bobby Fuller, whose death, though ruled a suicide, raised suspicion of foul play and potentially murder.

The still-in-the-works script reportedly will focus on allegations that Manson and his Manson Family were behind the murder.

Michael C. Hall (Showtime’s Dexter) will play one of Fuller’s managers, while Oscar winner Melissa Leo will take on the role of a former Manson Family member.

Photo: Snarkerati.com.

Romancing Adorable

What do you do when your cable show is on break?

You go network.

That’s exactly what True Blood stud Ryan Kwanten is doing later this season when he pops on TV’s freshman hit comedy New Girl.

The Aussie is set to catch Zooey Deschanel’s Jess’ attention during the show’s Valentine’s Day episode. Problem they two won’t have anything in common. Which wouldn’t stop your truly from like, sealing the deal, if y’ know what I mean.

Photo: AccidentalSexiness.com.

A Time for Killers

Trend Alert!

Serial killers movies seem to be hottest thing these days: Ryan Kwanten (True Blood) is going to play Charles Manson, while both Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney are set to portray very bad guys in two separate projects.

And now, Revolutionary Road Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon (pictured here), Benicio Del Toro, and James Franco will star in The Iceman, the true story of Richard Kuklinski, a notorious mob contract killer and loving family man who earned his nickname by freezing the bodies of his victims, disguising the time of death, and throwing police off-track.

Del Toro will play the guy’s employer, the notorious mobster Roy Demeo, while Franco will take on the role of his mentor assassin known as Mr. Softee.

Photo: LabTheater.org.

Faerie Love Interest

That Sookie on HBO’s True Blood sure can’t go a season without some new supernatural entity wanting her dead – or a new paramour coming a-knockin’, huh.

Lucky magical-vaginad beeyotch.

Well, good for her...and for Anna Paquin, who gets to make out with the oh-so-hot likes of Alexander Skarsgård, Joe Manganiello, and, of course, real-life hubby Stephen Moyer. In the name of her art.

Come next summer’s Season 6, the actress will have a new tonsil hockey partner: English actor Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders), who’s joining the show full time as a highly charismatic faerie who takes an interest in Sookie and her brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten).

He will be entangled in that way with only on Stackhouse, though. The girl. So quit being icky.

Photo: BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.

In the Kidnapping Biz Now

Finally! A little news on my beloved Sam Worthington.

I’d been a good while there since I last had anything to share on that amazing Aussie.

Evidently, he and Jim Sturgess and Ryan Kwanten have signed on to co-star opposite Anthony Hopkins in Kidnapping Freddy Heineken. The erstwhile Hannibal Lecter will play the titular beer heir, for whom the once-largest-ever ransom was paid in 1983.

That would be approximately $50 million of today’s dollars, yo.

Imma guess Worthington and his fellow young actors will play the bad guys in this one.

Photo: Heraldsun.com.au.

Life’s a True Beach

So good to see that the cast of HBO’s True Blood is keeping busy now that the show is done with production on the final season.

Let’s see here.

Deborah Ann Woll has moved on, to Netflix’s Daredevil.

Carrie Preston’s on her way back to the Chicago of TV’s The Good Wife, if memory serves.

And Ryan Kwanten? Well, he’s still giving ’em what they like by hitting the beach and putting it out there. Just like he did earlier this week in Malibu.

God save Australia!

All kidding aside, looks like the guy o.k.a. Jason Stackhouse has Rio, Eu Te Amo coming out, a star-studded anthology film à la Paris, Je T’aime and New York, I Love You.

Can’t wait.

Photo: UsMagazine.com.

Working the Beat

Aussie movies...they don’t scream wide American release.

Perhaps Red Hill releasing on Nov. 5 will have better luck since it stars one Ryan Kwanten, a.k.a. True Blood’s Jason Stackhouse.

In the movie, the actor plays a police officer who moves to a small country town for peace and quiet, but instead finds chaos in the aftermath of a local prison break during which a convicted wife killer escapes, dead-set on revenge on the officer’s new outpost.

With luck we’ll see this one at a small little art house.

Photo: TheFilmsmith.com.

Sex God

Ryan Kwanten believes in diversifying, and in doing what one does best.

The True Blood star is leveraging his sexed-up persona (thanks, Jason Stackhouse!), and will publish a sex guide titled The G-Strategy.

The Aussie’s book is due out sometime next year and will appeal to both sexes.

“Predominantly with men, it’s more the finance-type world. With those, you’ve got the Wall Street guys that lap up anything that’s a chance to make a quick buck,” he said of his audience. “And then with the women, I guess it’s sort of the more...emotional sort of type stuff that’s gonna make you happy.”

Yeah, OK, take your shirt off and explain that again.

Photo: JustJared.BuzzNet.com.

Of Pretty and Men

Photographer John Russo released a book about pretty men earlier this month, and I think it’s about time we thank him, don’t you?

Shot using only natural light and ultra-crisp black-and-white Polaroid 55 film, About Face features unretouched headshots of male models and celebs, such as Michael Ealy, Jason Lewis, and True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten (pictured here) in one of three poses – side, three-quarter, and front.

And I likey.

Photo: VGLMen.blogspot.com.

Coming Up on True Blood...

True Blood executive producer Alan Ball and co-star Sam Trammell, a.k.a. Sam Merlotte, know that we’re all waiting with breath that is bated for next summer, which is when the HBO hit show will return with a new season’s worth of episodes.

In the meantime, Ball and Trammell are giving us a taste of what’s to come. Aside from obligatory shirtlessness courtesy of Ryan Kwanten.

Ball says that Season 3 will be “a lot about what it means to be who you are, or what you are,” adding that Sookie (Anna Paquin) “will get closer to figuring out why she has these random powers that show up when they do.” (Hint: Sookie may have a bit of a Tinker Bell thing going on, but, y’ know...minus the adorable factor.)

For his part, Trammell, “is going to be trying to find my biological family, who put me up for adoption or abandoned me. I have a feeling they’re going to be very creepy, sketchy, weird, shape-shiftery weirdos. They’re going to be bad news.”

Summer 2010 cannot get here soon enough!

Photo: TVGuide.com.

Scares on a Plane

Ryan Kwanten will be meeting the not-so-friendly skies real soon.

The True Blood stud stars in the upcoming horror thriller 7500, the new one from The Grudge maestro Takashi Shimizu.

The pretty boy plays one of the passengers of an L.A. to Tokyo flight that goes bump because of something way more scary than just regular ol’ turbulence. Check out the trailer and try to figure out that the boos are all about in this one.

7500 also features Amy Smart, Jerry Ferrara (HBO’s Entourage), and, hey, is that Leslie Bibb?

(So glad I don’t have any flying trips coming up right now....)

Photo: EW.com.