Pax and Zahara Jolie-Pitt Are Ready for Their Closeup
Today in showbiz news: Two more of Angelina Jolie's kids are going into the family business, CBS and NBC make surprising choices about some new shows' futures, and Al Pacino is going to be a rock star.
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Months after the news that her daughter Vivienne would be joining her in the film, two more of Angelina Jolie's twenty-three children, daughter Zahara and son Pax, will be appearing with her in her upcoming Disney Grendel ripoff, Maleficent. The children, 7 and 8 respectively, will be playing small parts, but they will be parts nonetheless. Which leads one to wonder: Whose idea was it? Had the kids just seen enough of mommy and daddy at work that they wanted to do it too? Or was this their parents' weird doing? I can get going into the family business at a certain point, but, like, my mom never had me doing physics experiments in the lab, and I never taught a history class with my dad or anything. Doesn't it seem strange? This whole quite literally bring your kids to work thing? I guess it's different in Hollyweird. They have use for children there, unlike in most (respectable) jobs. Guess that means that any day now Kingston Rossdale will be laying down tracks with Tony, Adrian, Mommy and the rest of the crew. Or that, I dunno, who's another celebrity kid, Pilot Inspektor, that's one. Yeah, he'll soon be playing some foul-mouthed jerk in a new Kevin Smith movie. It's just odd, that's all. The whole thing. The kids will likely have a blast, but will it mean that they want to do it as a career? Because that could prove more difficult. I mean, you feature in Heartburn with your mom when you're a baby, and 28 years later? You end up on Emily Owens, M.D.. [Deadline]
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CBS has ordered full seasons of two of its new shows, the actually pretty entertaining Sherlock Holmes procedural Elementary, and the bad to the point of dumb incoherency '60s mobster procedural Vegas. Both shows have large numbers of regular viewers, because that's just what CBS does, though Elementary is much stronger in the 18-49 demo. We had Vegas on our list of possible cancellations last week, which just goes to show you how much things can change in a matter of days. It's still not assured a second-season renewal, far from it, but this ups its chances considerably. Which, fine, whatever. The three leads are likable enough and we wouldn't actively wish anyone out of a job, but good grief it really is a bad show. But again, it's CBS. And that's just what CBS does. [Entertainment Weekly]
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Elsewhere in surprising TV news, NBC has ordered five more scripts of Guys With Kids, the once sure-to-be-axed new sitcom about childless women. Haha, no, come on, it's about guys, who have kids! The show somehow survived having Animal Practice as its lead in, struggling on though AP has been sent to the great monkey morgue in the sky. Or just the regular monkey morgue. Doesn't have to be in the sky. Anyway, point is, Guys With Kids always performed slightly better than that sad little show, and so NBC isn't quite ready to pull its plug. Plus the show is produced by Jimmy Fallon, so they probably don't want to rustle feathers with him. This seems partly political. Or not. Maybe they really do like the show. Stranger things have happened. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Al Pacino has signed on to play an aging, washed-up, sell-out rockstar who one day discovers that John Lennon sent him a letter when he was a teenager that he never received and it inspires him to turn his life and career around. So it's basically the Ringo Starr episode of The Simpsons but with Al Pacino instead of Julie Kavner. No matter, they're basically the same person anyway. The movie will also star Jeremy Renner as Pacino's son and Julianne Moore as a new love interest for the faded, fuzzed-out rock-'n'-roller. This could be fun and interesting, or it could be an awful soupy mess. The fact that it's written and directed by the sap who wrote Crazy, Stupid, Love means we're guessing it's more likely to be the latter. Here's a fun fact: The writer, Dan Fogelman, sold this script for $3 million. Three million dollars! A Simpsons episode redo crossed with Bill Nighy's character from Love Actually. That was a lucrative weekend of watching reruns of things for Mr. Fogelman, huh? [Deadline]
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Jane Fonda has signed on to star in a comedy pilot for ABC. Yes, Jane Fonda, star of Coming Home and Klute and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and The China Syndrome, will be starring in a network comedy pilot. And guess what it's about. It's about this: "a mother moving in with her daughter after the daughter publicly criticizes her in a blog post entitled 'Dear Mom, Here’s Why I Hate You…'" Hahaha, oh sweet god, the world is over. That would be a step down for, like, Jaclyn Smith. For Jane Fonda? That is a tumble into the pit of Tartarus. Yikes, Jane. Yikes, everyone. Yikes. [Deadline]
A Boardwalk Empire writer has just sold two different shows to two different networks so congrats to her. Ah, but not so fast. What are they about, exactly? Well, the one she sold to CBS is a modern take on Sense and Sensibility, which, ugh, how necessary is that? And the Fox one is about "a down-on-his-luck documentary filmmaker sent by a crime reality show to cover a trial of a heinous crime that has engulfed the local town of Paradise Falls, Penn. As he looks into the facts surrounding the slaying, he uncovers corruption and deceit at every turn and realizes the case is merely a smokescreen for the town's twisted ambition for fame and profit." Which, well, wait, actually that sounds kind of good? It has potential to be interesting, let's say that at least. And, y'know, Boardwalk Empire is pretty good, so we should probably trust this Margaret Nagle lady on most things. OK, proceed. Sorry everyone, still a little jumpy after the Jane Fonda news. This here is not bad news. This is fine. Carry on. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Here's a new international trailer for Django Unchained that shows a little bit more than we've seen but not very much and, I dunno, who's excited for this? I guess I am. But, honestly, the more I see, the more it seems like a strange comedy, and I think Quentin Tarantino needs to try something other than strange comedy. I liked all the drama in Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglourious Basterds, and while a slavery story certainly has potential for drama, I just haven't seen it in these clips so far. But, who knows. They may be deliberately obfuscating the seriousness of the movie. Let's hope so, anyway.
