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Picture this, you’re a Starfleet officer, standing on the deck of the Enterprise, doing whatever serious space stuff you do, probably staring at blinking lights and pushing buttons that may or may not destroy a planet. Suddenly, boom! Some guy in a flamboyant robe appears out of nowhere, floating mid-air, smirking like he just pulled off the best prank in the universe.

That, my friends, is Q. The ultimate cosmic troll, the intergalactic trickster, the omnipotent being who could wipe out entire civilizations with a snap of his fingers, but would rather turn Captain Picard into Robin Hood instead. Now, imagine if Q had been just another grim, brooding, all-powerful entity. No fun, no mischief, just another godlike alien wagging a condescending finger at humanity.

John de Lancie as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation | Credits: Paramount Pictures

Boring, right? Well, that’s almost what we got. When...

Armin Shimerman reveals Stephen Macht was second choice for Captain Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Macht portrayed Bajoran General Krim on Deep Space Nine, leading a coup against Starfleet to gain control of the station. Although Macht lost out on the role of Picard, he played Krim with diplomatic honor and made a memorable adversary on DS9.

It's hard to imagine anyone else besides Sir Patrick Stewart in the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine guest star was almost cast as the Captain of the USS Enterprise-d, according to DS9's Quark actor Armin Shimerman. As a hub of activity near the Bajoran wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant, the Deep Space Nine station was host to many Bajorans, Starfleet officers, and colorful visitors, so it's not surprising that casting directors might turn to actors who had...

Patrick Stewart has noted in multiple interviews, at convention appearances, and in his new autobiography "Making It So: A Memoir," that he began to lose his hair as early as age 17. Throughout his decades-long career, Stewart was rarely seen wearing wigs or hairpieces, at least on screen. One might stumble upon his performance as Sejanus in the famed 1976 miniseries "I, Claudius," and see him sporting a curly-haired wig. Or perhaps one might catch his 1974 performance in the BBC's version of "Antony and Cleopatra" wherein his Enobarbus had a mere receding hairline. In both cases, Stewart doesn't look natural. A hairless Patrick Stewart is now so familiar to audiences through his highly visible performances in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and in multiple "X-Men" films that it's difficult to accept him with hair.

But there was a time when Stewart's baldness caused him anxiety. Evidently, he owned a special...

Patrick Stewart's audition process for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" involved a lot of excitement, a lot of uncertainty, and many, many flights from Lax to Heathrow and back again. 

In his new autobiography "Making It So: A Memoir," Stewart remembered his jet lag well. His audition was a whirlwind of activity. Stewart recalls reading script pages in front of a slew of Paramount executives and in front of creator Gene Roddenberry ("who did not address me at all"), learning later that he was reading the lines for Q, the impish trickster deity that actor John De Lancie would eventually play. After reading for Q, Stewart was called back to read for a character that was, at the time, just called "captain." Things were getting more intriguing by the day for the then-out-of-work actor.

Then, once the good news of his hiring came through, his preparation for the role became a somewhat fraught experience.

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" introduced us to pop culture's truest Space Dad in the form of Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a noble, commanding, trustworthy father figure for an entire generation of science fiction-loving dorks. But could you ask Captain Picard about girls? About alcohol? About having a good time? Of course not. That wouldn't be dignified for either of you. That's where Jonathan Frakes' Commander William Riker comes in. The Enterprise's First Officer was younger and a bit cockier (and a lot sillier) than the captain. He was a ladies' man, but one who always seemed respectful. He was always down for a good time, but was ready when duty called. He was charming, but never creepy. Tough, but never macho. Frakes had tapped into something special. He was the Space Uncle we all needed. We aspire to be like Picard. We learn how to live from Riker.

The latest in our series of writers highlighting under-seen gems is an ode to a dark and disturbing 1960 thriller

You’ll find it in the depths of Prime Video, provocatively labelled “Private Property – a psycho-sexual thrill ride”. In the accompanying artwork, a stilettoed blonde bombshell displays her rear to camera, her black and white image garishly colorised in purple and yellow. Among the listed cast, character actor Warren Oates is the biggest name, while if you’ve heard of the film’s director, Leslie Stevens, at all, it’s possibly as one of the minds behind the late-70s TV’s Star Wars knock-off Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Such a package could easily be mistaken for cheap streaming dregs. And Private Property most certainly is cheap, shot as it was largely at its director’s house for less than $60,000, a tiny sum even in 1960 when the film was...

This colorful gangland drama was made by a studio in transition, in the middle of a crippling musician’s strike. Robert Taylor and Cyd Charisse were MGM’s last contract stars; her costumes and dance numbers are wildly anachronistic for the period setting and she refused to take direction from Nicholas Ray, whose career was coming apart at the seams. Yet the maverick director must have done something right, as the show has remained a favorite of audiences and critics. Co-starring Lee J. Cobb, John Ireland and Corey Allen. The Wac’S remastered Blu-ray is a beauty.

Party Girl

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1958 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date November 30, 2021 / 21.99

Starring: Robert Taylor, Cyd Charisse, Lee J. Cobb, John Ireland, Kent Smith, Claire Kelly, Corey Allen, David Opatoshu, Barbara Lang, Myrna Hansen, Betty Utey.

Cinematography: Robert Bronner

Art Director: John McSweeney Jr.

Original Music: Jeff Alexander

Written...

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By Todd Garbarini

By all accounts, Jennie Logan (Lindsay Wagner) has it all – beauty, intelligence, a loving husband (Alan Feinstein) named Michael, and a good friend in whom she confides (Constance McCashin). While they do not have children, Jennie and Michael seem to be unperturbed by the lack of tiny bare feet on the hardwood floors – there is plenty of time for all of that. Or is there? Looks can be deceiving and it is not long before we discover that this seemingly “perfect couple” have their own demons to wrestle with.

Guided on a tour of the sprawling Victorian manse prior to their eventual purchase by a matter-of-fact realtor (Pat Corley) who off-handedly remarks that the unfinished attic is unworthy of even the most cursory glance, Jennie feels drawn to it, though she cannot fathom why. Following their purchase and move-in, Jennie...

The most glamorous movie about the Korean War experience lauds the bravery of Navy aviators while spelling out the downside of fighting an unpopular war. William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March and Mickey Rooney turn in sharp performances, and Charles McGraw gets his best character part as a no-nonsense flight commander. Paramount’s special effects department outdid themselves on this one — the illusions are beautifully matched to the live-action filmmaking. Heaven help the good civilian soldier that finds himself asking how he ended up getting shot at in a ditch in some far-off foreign country.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 30

1954 / Color / Open Matte flat 1:37 (should be 1:85 widescreen) / 102 min. / Street Date February 24, 2021 / Available from Viavision / 34.95

Starring: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March, Mickey Rooney, Robert Strauss, Charles McGraw, Keiko Awaji, Earl Holliman, Richard Shannon, Willis Bouchey, Teru Shimada, Dennis Weaver, Corey Allen, Gene Reynolds, Roger Pace.

Cinematography: Loyal Griggs...

The Fire This Time: Season 9: 10-Minute Play Festival

Directed by Candis C. Jones

Presented by Frigid New York and Horse Trade Theater at the Kraine Theater, NYC

January 15-28, 2018

The consistently excellent The Fire This Time Festival, which features new plays from artists of African descent, is in its ninth season. Among its schedule of readings and performances, the 10-Minute Play Festival is a consistent highlight, and this year's is no exception. Showcasing the work of six playwrights and directed by Candis C. Jones, the festival, performed by a skillful cast to an enthusiastic packed house on the night that we attended, engages a range of topics and tones that nonetheless echo and resonate with one another, creating a whole that is intriguing, affecting, and entertaining right through the curtain call.

Shelley Fort's Poppy kicks off the proceedings, following the eponymous Poppy (Claire Fort) as, having left school and home behind,...

In this edition of Canon Of Film, we look at the James Dean classic, ‘Rebel Without a Cause‘. For the story behind the genesis of the Canon, you can click here.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

Director: Nicholas Ray

Screenplay: Stewart Stern; adapted by Irving Shulman, from a story by Nicholas Ray

When I was 12-years old, I don’t know exactly what it was that possessed me to do so, but I sat down one night and watched ‘Rebel Without a Cause.’ I was into old-time 50s nostalgia, such as ‘Grease,’ and ‘Happy Days,’ and decided to see this movie and the James Dean persona/image that influenced many of that decade. Yet, what I found was something else that day. the realization that a film could reveal hidden messages, meanings, and metaphors that aren’t just what the film is about. I remember it distinctly, Jim Backus, who you...

The Mad Magician

3-D Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1954 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 72 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph, Lenita Lane, Patrick O’Neal, Jay Novello, Corey Allen, Conrad Brooks, Tom Powers, Lyle Talbot.

Cinematography: Bert Glennon

Editor: Grant Whytock

Original Music: Arthur Lange, Emil Newman

Written by: Crane Wilbur

Produced by: Bryan Foy

Directed by John Brahm

Twilight Time, bless ’em, hands us another treat to go with their 3-D discs of Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Harlock Space Pirate 3-D — and this time it’s a fun bit of 1950s horror — with a hot pair of short subject extras.

There have been plenty of theories as to why horror films became scarce after WW2; it’s as if the U.S. film industry took a ten-year break from the supernatural, and partly...

Leslie Stevens' 1960 film noir Private Property is an incredibly tense psychosexual thriller that is years ahead of its time. Stevens was probably best known as the creator of the influential science fiction TV series The Outer Limits, but before that project got off the ground in 1963 he was a writer and director of a couple of feature films that didn't exactly set the world on fire. Private Property was his first in the director's chair and it is definitely a bold debut, even if audiences in the Us didn't get to see it at the time. Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) are drifters making their way down the Southern California coast when they spy a pretty young woman zooming down the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Is this once-lost film the apex of obscure independent Hollywood filmmaking? Made way outside the limits of the Production Code, it's even better than I hoped it would be. Leslie Stevens' 'backyard movie' is the work of a directorial wunderkind with an inspired crew. Totally original, with three unforgettable performances. Private Property Blu-ray + DVD Cinelicious 1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date November 8, 2016 / 34.99 Starring Kate Manx, Corey Allen, Warren Oates Robert Ward, Jerome Cowan, Jules Maitland. Cinematography Ted McCord, Conrad Hall Film Editor Jerry Young Original Music Pete Rugolo Film Technology Alexander Singer Produced by Stanley Colbert Written and Directed by Leslie Stevens

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I saw Private Property for the first time last night, and came away thinking, 'these are the most believably complex, twisted, adult screen characters I've seen in a long time.' I also felt that I had witnessed some really extraordinary acting,...

Over the course of his career, the notoriously hard-living Warren Oates palled around with Dennis Hopper and served as one of many Sam Peckinpah muses. His relationship with Hollywood bad boys extended to John Milius, who directed him in the memorable title role for the B-grade biopic Dillinger. By the time he passed away in 1982, he had over 120 film and television productions to his name.

But in 1960, Oates was a struggling young actor whose broad, bulldoggish face and crooked-toothed smile didn’t exactly scream movie star. He was, however, perfect as a counterpart to Corey Allen in director Leslie Stevens‘ lost film Private Property.

Nearly six decades after its initial release, the black-and-white gem has re-emerged thanks to efforts of the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Cinelicious Pics, a small company with a reputation for digging up valuable works doomed to obscurity. Their latest find provides a glimpse into a...

In Leslie Stevens‘ 1960 picture “Private Property,” a skin-tightening psychosexual thriller shot on the cheap in just five days, two pervy male gazers named Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) have lunch with a beautiful, sexually-frustrated housewife named Ann (Kate Manx, the director’s wife). They have grilled cheese and lemonade, but they really want […]

The post The Sad, Strange Grit Of Warren Oates, Star Of The Newly Restored ‘Private Property’ appeared first on The Playlist.

The story of one or more drifters terrorizing any and all that come across their path is a narrative that’s become something of a cliche in the world of thriller/horror cinema. However, something that is entirely and in many ways iconic in its singularity is the on-screen presence of legendary character actor Warren Oates.

The subject of a new retrospective in New York, Oates’ career began in the late 50s doing regional theater in Louisville, after a run in the Us Marines. Moving into TV acting and ultimately the world of TV Westerns, Oates’ career was full of various guest roles on some of TV’s greatest series, only to meet his cinematic soul mate, Sam Peckinpah, while working on one of those very shows, The Rifleman. However, his first big screen starring role came in the intense, creepy and deeply unsettling lo-fi thriller, Private Property.

Itself the subject of reappraisal,...

A SoCal Rear Window made at the cusp of the sexual revolution is a peculiar but fascinating look at vicious prurience

Determining where trenchant psycho-sexual commentary ends and voyeuristic sleaze begins can be a dicey business, but if all such cases were as energetic and entertaining as Leslie Stevens’s “lost” 1960 independent picture Private Property we’d be better off.

Set in the sun-bleached Los Angeles hills at the cusp of the sexual revolution (and its bloody Manson family nadir), Private Property seems, at first, mere fodder for raincoat-wearing deviants. But there’s too much negative space in the screenplay to leave it at that. Watching in 2016, thanks to an undertaking by the UCLA Film & Television Archive working with Cinelicious Pics, one feels compelled to hurl problematic yellow cards at the screen. Indeed, appealing to a base crowd of perverts may very well have been an original goal from a marketing point of view.

I live in Los Angeles, and my residency here means that a lot of great film programming-- revival screenings, advance looks at upcoming releases and vital, fascinating glimpses at unheralded, unexpected cinema from around the world—is available to me on a week-by-week basis. But I’ve never been to Cannes. Toronto, Tribeca, New York, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, SXSW, these festivals are all events that I have yet to be lucky enough to attend, and I can reasonably expect that it’s probably going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. I never attended a film festival of any kind until I made my way to the outskirts of the Mojave Desert for the Lone Pine Film Festival in 2006, which was its own kind of grand adventure, even if it wasn’t exactly one for bumping shoulders with critics, stars and fanatics on the French Riviera.

But since 2010 there...

'Broadcast News' with Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter: Glib TV news watch. '31 Days of Oscar': 'Broadcast News' slick but superficial critics pleaser (See previous post: “Phony 'A Beautiful Mind,' Unfairly Neglected 'Swing Shift': '31 Days of Oscar'.”) Heralded for its wit and incisiveness, James L. Brooks' multiple Oscar-nominated Broadcast News is everything the largely forgotten Swing Shift isn't: belabored, artificial, superficial. That's very disappointing considering Brooks' highly addictive Mary Tyler Moore television series (and its enjoyable spin-offs, Phyllis and Rhoda), but totally expected considering that three of screenwriter-director Brooks' five other feature films were Terms of Endearment, As Good as It Gets, and Spanglish. (I've yet to check out I'll Do Anything and the box office cataclysm How Do You Know starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson.) Having said that, Albert Brooks (no relation to James L.; or to Mel Brooks...

The Church of Scientology is distancing itself from an art exhibit purporting to be Scientology-related that features an image of a nude, well-endowed Tom Cruise. "The Church has nothing to do with this publicity stunt, and any claim to the contrary is false," church spokesperson Karin Pouw tells The Hollywood Reporter. The exhibit, scheduled to open on Aug. 8th at the Corey Allen Contemporary Art gallery in St. Petersburg, Fl, was announced Wednesday via press release. In celebration of Tom Cruise's 25th anniversary as a Scientologist, the release says, a "nude shroud of the actor" will be unveiled

read more...

What's that? A comedy with the word "high" in the title that stars Ice Cube? I don't believe it. Deadline reports the supporting star of the 21 Jump Street franchise is teaming up with Due Date writing duo Alan Cohen & Alan Freedland for Rocky Mountain High, a new project set up at Universal Pictures. The studio picked up the project based on a five-page pitch that Ice Cube worked on himself with Jeff Kwatizetz. The rapper will star in the film, but unfortunately plot details haven't been revealed, so we don't exactly know what to expect. But if you know Ice Cube, that title probably gives us a pretty good idea. Read on! As you probably know, marijuana was decriminalized in Colorado, and the Rocky Mountains just happen to be located in that state. So we're betting that there's some kind of plot dealing with that. Ice Cube has proven to...

Jane Fonda: From ‘Vietnam Traitor’ to AFI Award and Screen Legend status (photo: Jason Bateman and Jane Fonda in ‘This Is Where I Leave You’) (See previous post: “Jane Fonda Movies: Anti-Establishment Heroine.”) Turner Classic Movies will also be showing the 2014 AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring Jane Fonda, the former “Vietnam Traitor” and Barbarella-style sex kitten who has become a living American screen legend (and healthy-living guru). Believe it or not, Fonda, who still looks disarmingly great, will be turning 77 years old next December 21; she’s actually older than her father Henry Fonda was while playing Katharine Hepburn’s ailing husband in Mark Rydell’s On Golden Pond. (Henry Fonda died at age 77 in August 1982.) Jane Fonda movies in 2014 and 2015 Following a 15-year absence (mostly during the time she was married to media mogul Ted Turner), Jane Fonda resumed her film acting career in 2005, playing Jennifer Lopez...

Pensioners may moan about 'the youth of today', but their generation practically invented antisocial behaviour, with James Dean as their fearless leader. Proof comes in the form of Nicholas Ray's 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause, digitally restored and re-released April 18th alongside the only other two films Dean starred in - East of Eden and Giant - before his untimely death in a high-speed car crash.

Rebel is the film that immortalised Dean, casually reposed in a red jacket (even more vivid in a new 4K print) with a cigarette dangling from one hand, embodying the defiant spirit of an emerging subculture; one made up of young people awkwardly caught between childhood and adulthood. Teenagers. They just didn't exist before the Second World War, at least not in the sociological sense, but the 1950s marked the point at which they decided to stand up and make some noise.

After...

Rebel Without A Cause

Written by Stewart Stern and Irving Shulman

Directed by Nicholas Ray

USA, 1955

That Rebel Without a Cause was such a success upon its initial 1955 release, and that it still stands as a hugely influential classic of American cinema, is not just a result of James Dean’s most iconic performance, nor is it simply the outcome of director Nicholas Ray’s talents. Why this film is truly a triumph has more to do with how superbly it encapsulates the artistic inclinations of these two particular artists. This is the film Dean and Ray were destined to make. And this was the time to make it.

Ray had been focusing on the outcasts, the rebels, and the loners since his first feature, They Live By Night. This emphasis would continue through In a Lonely Place and Johnny Guitar, before Rebel Without a Cause, and Bigger Than Life,...

As it just did with Zombieland, Amazon Studios acknowledged the existence of its comedy pilot Betas after the project was cast and well into production. Set in the land of Silicon Valley start-ups where the right algorithm can make you king, Betas, written by Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard, follows four computer geeks and their quest for nerd fame as they attempt to crack the ultimate code. Ed Begley Jr, Jon Daly, Joe Dinicol, Margo Harshman, Charlie Saxton and Karan Soni star in the pilot, written by Michael Lehmann (Heathers) who will direct and produce with Alan Freedland & Alan Cohen and Michael London. Betas, the eighth comedy pilot added to Amazon’s roster, will be made available — along with the other seven comedy pilots and six children’s pilots — for free on Amazon Instant Video and Lovefilm UK/Germany. “Amazon is giving us a chance to work outside the TV...

by Nick Schager

[This week's "Retro Active" pick is inspired by the based-on-real-life tsunami disaster drama The Impossible.]

A Roger Corman-produced disaster film buried by its own clichéd cheesiness, Avalanche is ludicrous to the point of playing like a parody. As its title makes bluntly clear, Corey Allen's film is fixated on delivering terror via a massive snow slide, though impatient viewers will be disappointed to hear that said catastrophe doesn't arrive until the 54-minute mark—which is to say, long after the various mini-dramas of its characters have been laid out in torturously uninteresting detail. At the center of the cast is Rock Hudson as David Shelby, a Colorado developer determined to finish construction on his hotel resort on a mountain where studly photographer Nick (Robert Forster) warns that the removal of trees is making the slopes unstable. Being a blustery, arrogant prick who could care less about environmentalist warnings, David ignores such cautions, instead spending his time on a brewing scandal...

Will Ferrell and Steve Carell are already set to reunite for Anchorman 2, and it's now confirmed that they'll be working together on a further project. They're both signed up for the Warner Bros. comedy Swear To God, which Justin Theroux will direct.We haven't heard much about this one since late last year, when it was just a project that Ferrell might be doing. There was some suggestion that Adam McKay would direct, but those rumours were quickly scotched.The film's suddenly arriving almost fully-formed is a surprise then, although it sounds as if it'll be thoroughly overhauled before it goes before the cameras. The original screenplay was by Due Date writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland, but Theroux will now be re-writing it himself. McKay will be involved as a producer, since Swear To God is a "Gary Sanchez" picture (his production company, with Ferrell). It involves Ferrell...

Justin Theroux will helm Swear to God. The actor and screenwriter will rework the script before making his feature film directorial debut on the Warner Bros comedy, reports Deadline. Will Ferrell and Steve Carell will star in the movie. The former will play a narcissistic hedge fund manager who believes that he has seen God. The original script was penned by Due Date writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. Theroux (more)...

Justin Theroux is set to rewrite and direct the buddy comedy "Swear To God" at Warner Bros. Pictures says Deadline.

Will Ferrell will play a narcissistic hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God. Steve Carell also stars.

Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland ("Due Date") penned the previous draft. Ferrell, Gary Sanchez, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy are producing and shooting aims to kick off next July.

• Steve Carell and Will Ferrell will star, and actor-screenwriter Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) will direct, the comedy Swear to God. Ferrell, who has been attached to the film for a year, will play a self-involved money manager who believes he has seen God. Carell’s role is unspecified. Theroux will also rewrite the script, first penned by Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland (Due Date). [Deadline/Deadline]

• Heather Graham will reprise the role of Jade, the stripper with a heart of gold, in The Hangover Part III. The character did not appear in the 2011 sequel, but it appears she’s due for a...

Years and years on, I can’t quite “figure out” Justin Theroux. The actor-writer has appeared in great films (Mulholland Dr.) and terrible ones (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle), scripted some quality material (Tropic Thunder) and total dreck (Rock of Ages). I don’t even know where the heck this guy came from. Did David Lynch and Ben Stiller just discover him at the same time?

Then, one evening, I read he’s been tapped to direct a comedy starring Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. (A mystery worthy of its own Inland Empire subplot.) News of the hiring comes from Deadline, who report he’ll direct the pair in Warner Bros. and Gary Sanchez Productions’ I Swear to God, which will begin shooting in July.

The comedy, originally scripted by Alan Freedland and Alan Cohen, is expected to get a rewrite from its director; specific changes notwithstanding, we’ve already...

Exclusive: Justin Theroux has been set to rewrite and direct Swear To God, a Warner Bros comedy that will star Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. They are looking to get this one into production next July. Gary Sanchez is producing. Theroux, who scripted Tropic Thunder and who wrote with an eye to direct Zoolander 2, will helm a two-hander comedy in which Ferrell will play a narcissistic hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God. Ferrell would make the film after he reprises local newscaster Ron Burgundy in the Anchorman sequel. This is a surprise in that Warner Bros doesn’t usually spark to new directors, but they have embraced Theroux, who will be rewriting a script by Due Date scribes Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. Adam McKay and Ferrell and Chris Henchy will produce this for Gary Sanchez. This comes as the label tomorrow releases the Jay Roach-directed The Campaign,...

Actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux will direct the Warner Bros. comedy Swear to God . Deadline has the news, saying that he'll also rewrite the project, set to star Will Ferrell and Steve Carell. The film, originally written by Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland ( Due Date ), will feature Ferrell as a narcissist who believes that God has spoken to him. Ferrell can be seen on the big screen this week opposite Zach Galifianakis in The Campaign . Carell, meanwhile, just starred with Keira Knightley in Seeking a Friend at the End of the World and with Meryl Streep in Hope Springs . Both actors will first reteam for Parmount Pictures' Anchorman: The Legend Continues . Swear to God will be produced by Ferrell, Gary Henchy and Adam McKay. (Photo Credit: FayesVision / Dan...

Hines Ward, the pro football star and most recent winner of Dancing with the Stars, was arrested for investigation of drunken driving in Georgia. Ward, 35, was booked on a DUI charge at the DeKalb County jail near Atlanta at 3:41 a.m. Saturday and later released on $1,000 bail, according to jail records. "Hines is deeply saddened by this incident and apologizes to his fans and the Steelers organization for this distraction," his agent/manager Andrew Ree says in a statement. But Ree adds, "From our preliminary investigation we can tell you that we are confident that the facts will show...

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward, who recently took home the mirrored trophy on "Dancing with the Stars" with partner Kym Johnson, was arrested for investigation of drunken driving in Georgia.

Ward, 35, was booked on a DUI charge at the DeKalb County jail early Saturday morning and later released on $1,000 bail, according to jail records. Ward's longtime friend Corey Allen posted bail.

No other details of his arrest were immediately available.

Update: Hines released a statement through his manager,...

Fox’s The Wolverine looks to be getting back on track. Star Hugh Jackman tells a Toronto radio jock that the film should begin shooting in October and still hit theaters by late 2012. That’s good news for comic movie fans. Will Ferrell is set to star in Swear to God, a new property at Warner Bros. that finds the comic playing a narcissisic hedge fund manager who insists he’s seen God. Deadline reports that Due Date screenwriters Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland will write the script. Chris Hemsworth, better known to summer moviegoers as Thor, has lined up his next project. Hemsworth is attached to star in Shadow Runner – a top-secret project being developed at Columbia Pictures. No plot details have been revealed so far, but...

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Fox’s The Wolverine looks to be getting back on track. Star Hugh Jackman tells a Toronto radio jock that the film should begin shooting in October and still hit theaters by late 2012. That’s good news for comic movie fans. Will Ferrell is set to star in Swear to God, a new property at Warner Bros. that finds the comic playing a narcissisic hedge fund manager who insists he’s seen God. Deadline reports that Due Date screenwriters Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland will write the script. Chris Hemsworth, better known to summer moviegoers as Thor, has lined up his next project. Hemsworth is attached to star in Shadow Runner – a top-secret project being developed at Columbia Pictures. No plot details have been revealed so far, but...

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Director Adam McKay is in talks to reunite with The Other Guys co-stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg for the football comedy Three Mississippi. Already on the project as a producer, Vulture reports that McKay is now in negotiations to helm the pic for Warner Bros. Written by Robert Carlock (30 Rock) and Scott Silveri (Friends), Three Mississippi tells the story of two Philadelphia neighbors whose annual Thanksgiving game of tackle football has become extraordinarily heated. In addition to Ferrell and Wahlberg, Three Mississippi also stars Alec Baldwin as Wahlberg's father and is courting Jeremy Renner for a potential role as well. Three Mississippi becomes the next in a long line of McKay/Ferrell projects. Yesterday, we reported that Warner Bros. had picked up the duo's buddy comedy Swear to God from Due Date screenwriters Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. Of the two, however, it is believed that Three Mississippi will...

Today's casting call begins with the curious case of "Benjamin Button" star Brad Pitt and "The Fighter" director David O. Russell joining forces for a possible "Mission."

Deadline has learned that Warner Bros is trying to wrangle the two Hollywood titans into joining their upcoming flick "The Mission." The movie is based on the six-year mission planned by American and Colombian covert operatives to free 15 people being held hostage in the Colombian jungle. Brad Pitt would star, and Russell would direct the film.

In more casting news past the jump, Chris Hemsworth gets another starring flick, "American Reunion" gets a surprise cameo and Bryan Cranston breaks bad again.

Chris Hemsworth Gets Second Starring Vehicle

After the success of "Thor," it's not too much of a surprise that Chris Hemsworth is lining up future projects. His newest, "Shadow Runner," was just acquired by Sony Pictures according to Deadline, and has lined up several producers as well.

Carter Beats the Devil feels like is one of those books that is always talked about in the context of “Why isn’t this a movie yet?” The story starts off with the main character, a magician, who goes on the run after he’s accused of killing Warren G. Harding, and seems to go many places from there. Glen David Gould‘s novel sounds like it could make a pretty entertaining film, and Hollywood has tried to make it a movie, with Tom Cruise giving it a shot several years ago, before that fell through. Warner Bros. is next in line to try and bring it to theaters, with it apparently being “on the frontburner” for them.

24 Frames says that the studio has just finished another draft of the adaptation, and that finding a star is one of the main goals right now. One of the people in contention...

Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay can’t get enough of each other – they’ve just signed up to work together for a seventh time on Swear To God. The duo most famously worked together on 2004 riot-fest Anchorman, and most recently made The Other Guys with Mark Wahlberg. Swear To God will see Ferrell playing a narcissistic hedge fund manager who believes that he’s seen God. The script was written by Due Date writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland, who will no doubt bring the same oddball humour to Ferrell’s film...

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Having worked together multiple times in the past, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will join forces once again for the comedy Swear To God...

When frequent collaborators Adam McKay and Will Ferrell work together, the results are generally rather good. Personally, I don't think they've ever bettered the sublime comedy, Anchorman, but there's still plenty to enjoy in their later efforts, such as Talladega Nights and, most recently, The Other Guys.

Now, Deadline has reported that McKay and Ferrell will be pairing up once again for the odd-sounding comedy, Swear To God. It's described as a buddy comedy, with Ferrell playing a hedge fund manager who becomes convinced that he's glimpsed the face of the almighty.

The script's from Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland, who previously wrote the rather unpleasant road trip comedy, Due Date. They've also been responsible for episodes of King Of The Hill and American Dad, so it's not all bad.

It would seem that Warner Bros. is keen to keep Will Ferrell working for the studio for a little longer. The comedy actor is already in line to star in political comedy Southern Rivals for the company, and now Warners has snapped up a pitch called Swear to God from Due Date writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland, which just so happens to have a Mr W Ferrell attached to star.There aren’t many details floating around about the plot just yet, but Deadline reports that the script is a buddy comedy that would see Ferrell as a vain financial type who suddenly believes he’s seen the Almighty.Though an early version of Deadline’s report had regular Ferrell collaborator Adam McKay attached to direct, that’s since been amended. And that’s not too shocking, since McKay is already busy developing other projects, including the adaptation of...

I know you've all been waiting for news of when you'll be able to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D and now you have it along with tentative plans for a production start on The Wolverine, a new project for Thor star Chris Hemsworth and just what exactly is Michael Bay going to do next? Get all the details below...

Hugh Jackman has been quoted saying, "We shoot [The Wolverine] in October, so it will probably come out a year after that. That's usually around the timeline." James Mangold (Knight and Day) recently signed on to direct the sequel and Jackman says after Wolverine he will move to making Les Miserables with the Oscar-winning director of The King's Speech, Tom Hooper.

The only curious thing about Jackman's quote is the suggestion The Wolverine will come out next year. With The Avengers releasing on May 4, The Amazing Spider-Man on July 3 and The Dark Knight Rises...

It may be another reunion for actor Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay. Warner Brothers acquired the pitch to a film called “Swear to God,” with Ferrell attached to star and McKay to produce. Earlier today, Deadline reported that McKay may possible direct, but McKay’s reps said he’s not at this point attached to direct. The film is described as a “buddy comedy in which Ferrell plays a narcissistic hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God.” McKay and Ferrell worked together on last year’s “The Other Guys,” and 2008’s “Step Brothers.” The script will be written by the Emmy Award winning writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. There are writers on “King of the Hill” and “American Dad.” They wrote movie scripts for “Due Date” and the upcoming “The Reunion” for Universal Pictures.Source: Deadline...

Even though he has been in a bit of a box office slump recently, for many people, Will Ferrell is still a comedy god. But now his co-star is someone who is literally a comedy god: God.

The always hilarious mix of comedians and religion is once again coming to the big screen, as Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros. has signed Ferrell to headline their new comedy "Swear to God," about a "narcissistic hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God."

Face it, Ferrell fans: your prayers have been answered.

Of course, Hollywood doesn't exactly have the strongest track record when it comes to trying to milk laughs from the udder of the Beast; recent efforts like "Evan Almighty" have proven that even with a bankable superstar and a theoretically winning premise, audiences are very wary of the thin line between humor and mockery.

If mockery happens to be your bag,...

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay may not be able to coax that Anchorman sequel into development any time soon, but the pair could be collaborating on another comedy starring Ferrell as a narcissistic professional. Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has just picked up Swear to God, a pitch from Due Date writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland. Ferrell is attached to star as a self-involved "hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God." McKay would produce and possibly direct the feature under the pair's production shingle Gary Sanchez Productions. [Deadline]...

News broke today that Warner Bros. has bought a pitch for a movie called Swear to God, which is set to star Will Ferrell as a "narcissistic hedge fund manager." At first we thought this might be a biting satire of America's "make nothing but money" economy, and the shadowy tricks played by the ultra-rich to fleece the rest of the populace, but upon closer inspection, it's actually just a buddy comedy where Ferrell's character thinks he's seen God, and probably takes his shirt off and shouts as a result.

Swear to God will be written by Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland, better known on the mean streets of Hollywood as "Howlin' Alan" and "Alan Wrench." We leave it to you to figure out which is which. Alan Squared most recently penned the Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis vehicle Due Date, but while that might not inspire the utmost in confidence,...

Briefly: Could there be another Will Ferrell comedy directed by Adam McKay? The two previously made Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Step Brothers and The Other Guys, and have teamed on shorts for Funny or Die. They're also prepping [1] the ensemble football comedy Three Mississippi. Now Warner Bros. has picked up Swear to God, a pitch by Due Date writers Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland which has Will Ferrell attached to star as "a narcissistic hedge fund manager who thinks he has seen God." Deadline [2] broke the news and initially said that Adam McKay is attached to produce and direct. But the site altered the story slightly with an update that the director's reps claim he is not attached to direct at this point. Given that he's already got Three Mississippi going with Will Ferrell (and is hoping to do [3] the comic adaptation The Boys) I'm inclined to take the reps' claim at face value.