Casting Couch: Simpsons Gets Guests, Imperioli Gets Life; Kilmer Gets Bad
With the Fourth rapidly approaching, it’s a relatively slow time for Hollywood dealmakers, but there is a little action on the Couch.
Homer Simpson is ’tooning in Denis Leary, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and some Internet gazillionaires, Michael Imperioli is trading the Bada Bing for bell bottoms, and Val Kilmer is playing good cop to Nic Cage’s Bad Lieutenant.
Louis-Dreyfus will reprise her role as Snake’s girlfriend in The Simpsons’ season kickoff on Sept. 28, while Leary will take a break from Rescue Me to play a tantrum-prone version of himself whose cell phone winds up in Bart’s hands.
Also getting their yellow on this season: Dallas Mavericks boss and former Dancing With the Stars hoofer Mark Cuban and Amazon.com overlord Jeff Bezos. They’ll give Mr. Burns a run for his money, lending their singing voices to a December episode in which Monty wins a pro basketball team in a poker game.
As for Imperioli, the Emmy-winning former Sopranos star has signed on to star in ABC’s new ’70s-themed drama Life on Mars.
The series revolves around a police detective (Jason O’Mara) who, after a car crash, mysteriously is transported back in time to 1973, where he must track down a serial killer.
Imperioli will be on the right side of the law this time around as Tyler’s rough-and-tumble partner.
Mars has recently gone through a behind-the-scenes transformation after the exit of original showrunner David E. Kelly. He’s been replaced by Stephen Garrett, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg, the braintrust behind ABC’s October Road, which didn’t get a renewal for a third season.
Life on Mars is scheduled to air Thursdays at 10 p.m. this fall in the post-Grey’s Anatomy slot.
Finally, Kilmer and rapper Xzibit are set to costar with Cage and Eva Mendes in director Werner Herzog’s reworking of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 cult classic, The Bad Lieutenant.
The updated film will follow a corrupt cop (Cage) who seeks out redemption as he investigates the rape of a nun.
Kilmer will play Cage’s partner; Xzibit will play a crime kingpin.
Also on board Lieutenant are Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Coolidge, Vondie Curtis Hall, Shawn Hatosy, Denzel Whitaker and Brad Dourif.
Shooting starts later this summer.
Sarah Silverman: best comedy actress?
As the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences tries to whittle the submissions down to actual nominees, it’s interesting to take a look at who has made it to the semifinals. It’s not a nomination, but it’s one step away. Today comes word of the finalists for best comedy actress and best supporting drama actor. There are some surprises.
Chief among those for me is Sarah Silverman. I honestly hadn’t even considered her in the running. I’m not much of a fan, but I do like that she is being considered for the simple fact that the base the nominees are drawn from can always use some expansion. And if she is the most surprising inclusion, the most surprising snub just might be Teri Hatcher. Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman all made the cut, but not Hatcher. Ouch. The rest of the finalists, and the supporting actors from a drama, after the jump.
The complete list of finalists for comedy actress:
- Christina Applegate - Samantha Who?
- Marcia Cross - Desperate Housewives
- America Ferrera - Ugly Betty
- Tina Fey - 30 Rock
- Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies
- Felicity Huffman - Desperate Housewives
- Eva Longoria - Desperate Housewives
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus - New Adventures Of Old Christine
- Mary-Louise Parker - Weeds
- Sarah Silverman - The Sarah Silverman Program
If I can only pick one, it would be Anna Friel. The list of supporting actors in a drama doesn’t look quite as controversial, but with so few spots somebody is going to get overlooked. Lost scores two of the coveted spots, and probably the most surprising name missing from the list. Naveen Andrews and Michael Emerson are great, but I’d take Terry O’Quinn over both of them every time. Not so with the academy. The biggest surprise for me here is Bruce Dern on Big Love. The finalists:
- Naveen Andrews - Lost
- Bruce Dern - Big Love
- Christian Clemenson - Boston Legal
- Ted Danson - Damages
- Michael Emerson - Lost
- Zeljko Ivanek - Damages
- T.R. Knight - Grey’s Anatomy
- William Shatner - Boston Legal
- John Slattery - Mad Men
- Blair Underwood - In Treatment
- Jake Weber - Medium
I could have gone for Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, but I’ll take Christian Clemenson for the win, and consider it a long overdue nod to Briscoe County Jr. Members will now watch the submitted episodes for all of the finalists and rank them from 1 to 10 before the two groups are knocked down to a final list of nominees. What do you think? Who doesn’t belong on the list? Who was overlooked?
Ali Lohan: Troll’s New Girl?
Ali Lohan may be hooking up with a troll.
The reality star is director John Carl Buechler’s top choice for a lead role in the big-budget remake of his 1986 camp classic, Troll.
Lindsay’s little sister auditioned last week for the role of the young Eunice St. Clair, who helps Harry Potter Jr. (no relation whatsoever to J.K. Rowling’s gazillion-dollar creation of the same name) fight the evil Torok the Troll.
“She was great,” Buechler tells me. “The camera loves her. She’s a really good actress…I am personally going to fight for her.”
Buechler says the $25 million remake is being financed independently: “It’s a retelling of the original story with some twists.”
The original featured Sonny Bono, June Lockhart and marked the feature-film debut of Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Top ten recurring characters on Arrested Development
The list of qualities that made Arrested Development such a great show is quite long, but somewhere near the top, right after the cast, is the list of recurring characters who were so hilarious. Here my ten favorite acquaintances of the Bluth family.
1. Barry Zuckercorn (Henry Winkler)
It is a credit to the brilliance of Arrested Development that an actor like Henry Winkler, who will forever be identified with the role of Fonzie, can be identified with a character who could not be more different. The hilarity that comes from Barry’s sexual deviancy and complete legal ineptitude is reason enough to watch.
2. Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio)
When Henry Winkler became unavailable the only logical choice to replace him was Scott Baio. I still marvel at the genius of a lawyer who’s name sounds like “Blah, blah blah.”
3. Stan Sitwell (Ed Begley)
Begley has a knack for acting completely normal while looking like a total freak. I am going to shave my body and go as Sitwell next Halloween.
4. Maggie Lizer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)
I always felt bad that Maggie and Michael never made it work. She was manipulative, conniving and self-consumed. In other words, she would have made a perfect addition to the Bluth family.
5. Larry Middleman (Bob Einstein)
Einstein’s unique ability to act with absolutely no emotion whatsoever made him the perfect choice for this role.
6. Kitty Sanchez (Judy Greer)
It was Greer’s performance as the cross-eyed, silicone enhanced psycho that landed her a starring role on her own sitcom. Too bad Kitty didn’t score a spinoff.
7. Lucille Austero (Liza Minelli)
Anyone who doubts that Liza can do comedy needs to watch her on AD and then go rent Arthur. Not only was she perfectly cast and hysterically funny, she also managed to be oddly alluring, in a “weird lady who lives down the hall” kind of way.
8. Franklin
Whenever GOB was demonstrating his blatantly racist lack of ventriloquial skills, I actually felt bad for Franklin. It was as if he were trapped by GOB’s side and even though he was a puppet, you could still clearly see the look of embarrassment on his face.
9. Warden Stefan Gentles (James Lipton)
Carl Weathers. Thomas Jane. Malik Yoba. Any one of these tough guys could play a warden of a high security prison. However, that’s not how they do things in the Bluth universe. The host of Inside the Actor’s Studio was clearly the only logical choice.
10. Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller)
While this seems like an easy choice, I put Stiller on this list because his performance of Tony Wonder was so funny, it reminded me of the glory that was The Ben Stiller Show.