Jason Schwartzman is HBO’s newest leading man
Jason Schwartzman is officially coming to HBO. The actor will play the lead in Bored to Death, a new comedy from the cable network. Schwartzman has been cast as Jonathan, a struggling writer in this thirties who has a drinking problem. The series, which is set in Brooklyn, follows Jonathan’s post-breakup decision to pretend to be a private eye.
Although he’s not qualified for detective work, Jonathan loves the novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. He’ll luck out and solve a few cases, but his lack of experience will often make matters worse for his clients. Novelist Jonathan Ames wrote the pilot and will serve as the show’s executive producer.
I’m looking forward to watching the Bored to Death pilot now that Jason Schwartzman is on board. He hasn’t done a lot of work on television, but he’s had some memorable leading roles in movies like Rushmore and Shopgirl. As far as TV goes, Schwartzman did a guest spot on Freaks and Geeks and starred in the short-lived FOX series Cracked Up.
Can you picture Jason Schwartzman as a private eye?
Nicole Kidman’s Rainy “Golden Compass” Premiere
Nicole Kidman’s Rainy “Golden Compass” Premiere
Despite the rain, Nicole Kidman and thousands of fans showed up on Sunday (December 16) at the Sydney premiere of Kidman’s latest movie, The Golden Compass.
Held at the State Theatre, the Academy Award winning actress hit the red carpet in a striking silver pant suit - spending about 10 minutes meeting fans and signing autographs.
In the film, “Nicole plays a supporting role as scholar and explorer Marisa Coulter in the fantasy adventure based on the novel by the same name, which tells the first story of author Philip Pullman’s trilogy.”
Talking about why she chose to take on the Golden Compass role, Nicole told press, “I mean, my decisions are so erratic, I just choose off the cuff a lot of times, but primarily this was because Philip Pullman wrote me an amazing letter telling me that when he was writing the novels he had me in mind. So that’s hard to turn down; he’s such a good novelist.”
Isla Fisher Opens Up About Her Pregnancy
Isla Fisher plans on taking some time off for her next big project: the birth of her first child with her fiancé, Borat funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen.
“I haven’t got any plans to jump back into [work after the birth],” Fisher told reporters at a recent Los Angeles press event for her new movie, Hot Rod, which hits theaters next Friday.
Due in winter, Fisher, 31, said she has not found out the baby’s gender, nor has she decided whether she’ll give birth in London or L.A., where she and Cohen split their time.
“I’m so happy, very happy, and very excited,” gushed the actress best known for her role as a zany sister-of-the-bride in Wedding Crashers.
The actress – and two-time novelist – won’t be writing again anytime soon, either: “I plan on just coloring in books. I’ll focus on that for the next few years,” she said.
Her Hot Rod costar, Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg, says Fisher will be a good mom. “Yeah, I think so,” he told PEOPLE. “That’s gonna be an interesting family. That kid has got to brace himself. That kid’s got something in for him.”
Asked if the child would be a born comedian, because of his parents, Samberg cracked: “Or it will just reject comedy altogether, because there’s no living up to [them.]”
Natalie Portman to Direct
I always thought that Natalie Portman is too smart to be just an actress. I knew that one day she would become a powerful producer and possibly even a director. But who thought that day would come so soon? This morning it was announced that Portman has signed a two-year deal with Participant Productions and is set to make her feature film debut as a DIRECTOR. That’s right, Natalie is going to direct a film based on bestselling memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness, by Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and professor of literature Amos Oz.
The book description reads:
Tragic, comic, and utterly honest, this bestselling and critically acclaimed new work by “one of Israel’s most gifted and prolific authors” (Helen Epstein, The Forward) is at once a family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation and lived through its turbulent history.
It is the story of a boy growing up in the war-torn Jerusalem of the forties and fifties, in a small apartment crowded with books in twelve languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. The story of an adolescent whose life has been changed forever by his mother’s suicide when he was twelve years old. The story of a man who leaves the constraints of his family and its community of dreamers, scholars, and failed businessmen to join a kibbutz, change his name, marry, have children. The story of a writer who becomes an active participant in the political life of his nation.
Naomi Foner (Running on Empty) in talks to adapt the screenplay.