Everybody Loves Liberace
Today in show business news: Lots of people wanted to watch Michael Douglas and Matt Damon be lovers in Behind the Candelabra, NBC might want Community's creator to come back, and P.T. Anderson adds to his all-star cast in adapting Pynchon.
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HBO's biopic Behind the Candelabra, the mildly touching story of one of Liberace's gay relationships, was a ratings boon for the network, earning 2.4 million viewers on Sunday night, its best original movie premiere in nine years. Weird. It's almost as if people were curious to see Michael Douglas and Matt Damon playing gay lovers draped in furs and crystals. Isn't that strange? Who would have thought that people would want to see Gordon Gecko and Jason Bourne rolling around in a golden bed together, giggling? What's the curiosity factor all about there? Seems pretty regular and ho-hum to me. Oh well. Hearts want what they want, I suppose. [Deadline]
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There are reports, or rather a report, that Dan Harmon, the creator of Community who was ousted from his own show after its third season, might be returning as show runner for the series's fifth and final season. This is according to remarks he made while recording his podcast in front of a live audience, saying that he's been asked to come back to steer the show home. Harmon was quite publicly given the boot by NBC, amid reports that he was difficult to work with, highly controlling over a fastidiously crafted show, so this would be an interesting reversal for the network. The Harmon-less fourth season creatively stumbled, according to many, so this ought to come as good news for the show's extremely devoted core fanbase. For the rest of us? OK, sure. That's probably for the best, that the show's creator has control over how it ends, but hasn't Community outworn its welcome a bit? It's not really the show's fault, it's just that there has been so much written about it that it feels like it's been on for ten years. So it's hard to get too riled up either way about anything that happens to it at this point. Dan Harmon coming back? Sure, fine, sounds good. That's all I got. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Josh Brolin has joined the cast of Paul Thomas Anderson's next film, an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice. This is shaping up to be quite the cast, with Brolin, Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Martin Short (!), and Jena Malone already on board, and Sean Penn looking to join up too. Not quite as distinguished a roster as the cast of Grown Ups 2, but still a heavy hitting group. I'm especially excited about Reese Witherspoon's involvement, as she seems to be pulling a McConaughey of her own, taking a career in romantic comedy tatters and reviving it with smart, serious choices. Well done, Reese! Could Freeway 2 be too far off? [Deadline]
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Melissa Leo has been cast in the Fox "event series" (guess the word "miniseries" has some stink on it or something?) Wayward Pines. In the ten-part crime drama, Leo will play an "intense, unpredictable nurse" who becomes the antagonist to Matt Dillon's Secret Service agent. It all takes place in a mysterioussss small town where everyone's got secrets and dark things lurk. Which is fine and all, but don't try to bite Bates Motel's style, Wayward Pines. Because it is unbiteable. Anyway, I am very excited to hear that Fox is getting in on this game. Everyone should get in on this game! Miniseries — excuse me, event series — are a great way to tell a good story in a reasonable amount of time. Man, imagine if miniseries or limited series or event series or whatever you want to call them had been popular in Lost's day. It really could have been something. Ah well. To the future! [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Here is a trailer for a movie called Scenic Route, in which Josh Duhamel's car breaks down in the desert, he gets a mohawk, and then goes crazy. Yes, this is a serious, dark, psychological thriller starring Josh Duhamel in a mohawk. And on crutches. He's joined by Dan Fogler, from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. And Balls of Fury. Huh. Who are the ad wizards who came up with this one?
