Party Down

“Party Down” has been canceled? Excuse me while I go quietly sob in the corner…

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Starz has canceled Party Down and Gravity, with an announcement to be made later today by the network.

Party Down just completed its second season, but with Jane Lynch leaving to co-star on Glee and Adam Scott joining the cast of Parks & Recreation, it seemed that perhaps the writing was on the wall.

Sadly, we’ll never see how the Party Down catering gang lives out the rest of their lives. Hrmph.

Update: Here’s the official statement about Party Down’s cancellation from Stephan Shelanski, executive vice president of programming for Starz Entertainment:

“After careful consideration, we’ve decided not to continue on with subsequent seasons of ‘Party Down’ and ‘Gravity.’ We’re grateful to everyone involved in the shows, and are proud to have had them on the channel. Starz remains committed to aggressively expanding our original programming lineup.”

Steve Carell is leaving the office.

Steve Carell is reaffirming his desire to leave The Office and his role as Michael Scott at the end of the hitcom’s upcoming seventh season. “I think [season] 7 will be my last year,” he told us over the weekend at the premiere of his new animated flick, Despicable Me. “I want to fulfill my contract. I think it’s a good time to move on.”

Asked if there’s anything that could change his mind, Carell said, “No. I just want to spend more time with my family.”

Back in April, Carell made headlines when he announced in a BBC radio interview that next season “would probably” be his last on The Office. And he’s not backtracking! (Reporting by Jace Brittain of EW)

It's Coming Back!

Christopher Nolan discusses next Batman & involvement with Superman.

Well, we never figured this was something we'd actually have to report because it seemed pretty obvious and logical to us, but in the latest print edition of Empire which features a cover story on Christopher Nolan and "Inception," they ask him about the possibility of re-casting the Joker for "Batman 3":


“No”, says Nolan emphatically and unhesitatingly. He resists elaborating simply because, quite understandably, he says, “I just don’t feel comfortable talking about it”.
Well, duh. Christopher Nolan is obviously a smart guy and anyone who thought he'd replace the Joker -- ie. Heath Ledger -- with another actor after his Oscar winning turn is frankly, being kind of an idiot. Even in the fake casting rumors that have circulated regarding the third film, even people flat out making shit up about "Batman 3" and its potential villains left the Joker/Ledger out of it. So for the first and last time: the Joker won't be in it.

Nolan has gone on record talking about the potential villain or villains for the third film only to say that it won't be Mr. Freeze. Jonathan Nolan is working on the script that will "finish the story" of Nolan's Batman trilogy rather than expanding it even more (thank God). He has not yet confirmed that he will direct, waiting for a script to be finished first, but will he really give away the last installment of his baby to someone else? We doubt it and we're sure Warner Bros. will do whatever it takes to get him into the director's seat for the film they've already penciled in for a July 20, 2012 release.

So let's move on to "Superman" another major superhero franchise project that Nolan is shepherding for Warner Bros. Speaking to Empire, Nolan cast a little bit of light on the approach screenwriter David Goyer is taking with the project:

"..What it is, while David S. Goyer and myself were putting together the story for another Batman film a few years ago, you know thrashing out where we might move on from the Dark Knight, we got stuck. We were just sitting there idly chatting and he said 'by the way, I think know how you approach Superman'.. and he told me his take on it. I thought it was really tremendous. It was the first time I’ve been able to conceive of how you’d address Superman in a modern context I thought it was a really exciting idea. What you have to remember about Batman and Superman is that what makes them the best superhero characters there are, the most beloved after all this time, is the essence of who they were when they were created, when they were first developed. You can’t move too far away from that."
There's not much there and its pretty much a re-wording of what he said to the LA Times back in March. That said, it is interesting to note that it seems like Nolan and company won't be straying too far from the mythology in rebooting (once again) the famed superhero for the big screen. And placing Superman into a modern context seems fit Nolan's overall approach of trying incorporate superheros plausibly into a living/breathing contemporary environment.

If Warner Bros. sticks to their timeline, Nolan is going to have a crazy busy couple of years ahead of him as they've slated "Superman" for December 2012 and they need to keep on schedule due to the tricky rights issues surrounding the project.