Nicki Minaj: Reality Star
Today in show business news: A pop rapper becomes a reality star, the paparazzi strikes a deal with a movie partly about paparazzi, and we have the rest of our Catching Fire tributes.
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Not only will rapper/singer Nicki Minaj be a judge on American Idol next season, but she's now going to be doing some reality specials for E!, making her a full-fledged reality TV diva. A "source" of some kind tells Deadline that the network is not doing a series with the singer, it's just three specials which have already begun filming. Hm. This will surely further enrage Minaj's old-school fans who think she's selling out or whatever and probably not make a lick of difference for anyone else. Who doesn't have a reality special these days? The politicians each got a week of reality specials last month, so if they're doing it, basically everyone is doing it. So sure, go ahead, Minaj. Do a whole damn series, what do we care? Some people will cluck their tongues and find it all distasteful, but you can feel ashamed all the way to the bank. Do a reality show, sell a perfume (oh wait), slap your name on some dumpy clothing line for Fashion Bug or something. Who cares anymore? Just do it all. [Deadline]
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Here's an interesting bit of irony: When Naomi Watts' upcoming Princess Diana biopic, about the last few years of her life, was filming, the production struck an exclusive deal with paparazzi photo agency Splash to ensure that there wasn't too much flashy-flashy going on during the shooting. So that's a movie about a woman essentially killed by paparazzi making a deal with a paparazzi company to keep other paparazzi away. See what I mean about not caring about Nicki Minaj's reality show, excuse me, specials? What does it matter anymore, really. Everything's pretty much ruined already, so might as well make a home in the ruins instead of crying over the old building, y'know? Whatever. Pap away, paps. Film away, movie. The world keeps spinning. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Eleven more people have been cast in the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, but they're all randos is tiny parts — other tributes, cornucopia fodder. So it's exciting for them, all these actors, I'm sure, but for us? It's basically an article about extras being cast. A couple of the characters have actual names and actual deaths that are in the book, but most of them don't. So, here are your Catching Fire extras, everybody. Eat 'em up. [Entertainment Weekly]
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A production company has decided to adapt a novel about the death of Marilyn Monroe into a movie, so, someone get some chloroform and drive over to Michelle Williams' house. (Don't actually do that.) The book, The Empty Glass, is a thriller about a "young coroner" tasked with investigating the death of the world's most famous woman. I guess he finds something unsavory because the tale supposedly includes "suspense, action and dramatic plot turns." Lemme guess, it was the Mafia that really killed her. Or, wait, no, it was Big Baseball settling a score with DiMaggio. Or, even better, it was a bottle of pills and a whole lot of sadness. That's the ticket. I've cracked the case! [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Oof, we missed this from yesterday, but it is worth mentioning: Tommy Lee Jones is directing another movie and he's in the process of casting and it looks like he's going to snap up Meryl Streep and, ugh, Hilary Swank. The movie is a period thing called The Homesman, about "a pioneer, played by Jones, and a frontier woman as they escort three insane women across the American prairie." Swank would play the frontier woman, which, yeah, I dunno. Swank can do modern stuff OK sometimes, but she's determinedly not good at period endeavors, so this could be messy. Lovely for her that she's being cast in something, people need to work, but this seems pretty high-caliber for someone of her, uh, skill level. Oh well. Meryl Streep will probably be playing one of the crazy women, which is pretty exciting. And who doesn't love Tommy Lee Jones? This is basically a sequel to Hope Springs with Hilary Swank playing Steve Carell. And that's fine. [The Wrap; via Vulture]
TV Land, the nation's number-one employer of actresses of a certain age who were on popular sitcoms in the '80s and '90s, is developing a pilot for Kirstie Alley called Giant Baby. No, no, Kirstie Alley is not playing a giantbaby, unfortunately. Instead she'll be "a Broadway star who finds her life turned upside down when Owen, the son she gave up for adoption 26 years ago, turns up looking to connect after his adopted mother dies." OK, sure, sounds good. Maybe we'll get some theater jokes. Odds are this will probably go to series, right? I mean, it sounds like a sure-thing? But who knows. The only thing that's certain is that a lot of actresses should be really, really grateful that TV Land decided to exist. Just so, so grateful. [Deadline]
Here is a trailer for Melissa McCarthy's Bridesmaids followup, the bluntly named Identity Thief. Jason Bateman plays another one of his Jason Bateman-y guys and McCarthy is the weird-dressin' Florida lady who, well, steals his identity. It looks loud and crude and not terribly funny, but who knows. It could end up being great. Unlikely, but possible.
