Breaking: Ellen off Idol!

It looks like American Idol’s returning executive producer Nigel Lythgoe may be one step closer to achieving his goal of wiping the judge slate clean. Ellen DeGeneres is stepping away from the Fox program after its ninth season. The network’s full statement follows.

Ellen DeGeneres has decided to bow out from her role as a judge on AMERICAN IDOL next season. DeGeneres served as a judge during the ninth season of IDOL, the No. 1 hit series on television.

“A couple months ago, I let FOX and the AMERICAN IDOL producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me,” said DeGeneres. “I told them I wouldn’t leave them in a bind and that I would hold off on doing anything until they were able to figure out where they wanted to take the panel next. It was a difficult decision to make, but my work schedule became more than I bargained for. I also realized this season that while I love discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings. I loved the experience working on IDOL and I am very grateful for the year I had. I am a huge fan of the show and will continue to be.”

“We love Ellen and understand and support her decision to bow out of IDOL,” said Peter Rice, Chairman of Entertainment, Fox Networks Group. “We were fortunate to receive the humor, energy and love for talent that she brought to the show.”

“It was a joy to work with Ellen,” added Mike Darnell, President of Alternative Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company. “She brought an incredible spirit to IDOL and was a great new addition to the team. While we’re saddened by her decision, we are very appreciative that she gave us ample notice so that we could work through it together.”

“I loved Ellen’s passion for the artists and her nurturing skills,” said IDOL creator and executive producer Simon Fuller. “She brought honesty and optimism to our judging panel and I will miss her greatly.”

“We will miss Ellen, she has been the consummate professional throughout her time on the show, and she’ll always be part of the AMERICAN IDOL family,” added Cecile Frot-Coutaz, IDOL executive producer.

With Simon Cowell gone to pursue his new reality show The X Factor, this leaves two judges on the American Idol panel. Suddenly, Monday’s Fox day at the TCA Press Tour just became a little more exciting.

"Lost" writer taking over for Ridley Scott's "Alien" prequel!

What's the status of Ridley Scott's "Alien" prequels in 3D? Well, other than being two separate films, aiming to shoot in stereoscopic photography and apparently hoping to out-"nasty" James Cameron's "Aliens," not much.

At least not recently. While Scott has said the script was in development, Deadline is now reporting that "Lost" writer and "Star Trek," "Cowboys & Aliens" c0-writer, Damon Lindelof has been hired by Fox to rewrite Scott's gestating prequel which can only mean the current version (by Jon Spaihts, who was one of our five screenwriters to watch) isn't quite up to snuff (even though that draft was evidently good enough to convince Scott to finally come back to this franchise).

Furthering the point, Deadline report says that the Lindelof/Scott meeting, "sparked a take that could well turn out to be a free-standing science fiction film" which suggests a whole new direction. Does that mean it could have nothing to do with everyone's favorite acid-blooded Xenomorph? Hard to tell, but Fox's hopes that "Alien" will be Scott's next picture is diminishing.

Scott likes to work fast and bang out a film every year or two and it sounds like with Lindelof on board they might be going back to the drawing board. Scott also has, as usual, myriad options at his disposal as the filmmaker always has about a dozen film projects in various states of ready.

Of the projects that Scott has at hand, Deadline also mentions "Gucci" which has Angelina Jolie attached (and possibly Leonardo DiCaprio) to star and that's a possible one as its development has been popping up in the pages of Production Weekly of late and it sounds like its in active development. At the "Paul" junket in San Diego for Greg Mottola's upcoming sci-fi film, Sigourney Weaver told us that she'd have no involvement in Scott's "Alien" prequel, but we all pretty much assumed as much. Most recently, Scott's name came up in connection with "The Wolf Of Wall Street," an old Marty Scorsese project that was supposed to star his young muse, DiCaprio.

Dreamworks buys Galifianakis pitch!

In the summer of 2009, burgeoning superstar Zach Galifianakis was just coming off the massive success of "The Hangover" and found himself in the optimal Hollywood position of getting his pick of the project litter. Several projects came his way, and he weighed his options, ultimately choosing Todd Phillips' "Due Date" with Robert Downey Jr. and "The Hangover 2."

One project that fell by the wayside was Phillips' "Man-Witch" that was originally scheduled to star Jack Black. Producer Neil Moritz recently told us at Comic-Con that the project was still alive and Phillips recently referenced it in GQ.

"And that came, quite honestly, from Jack Black backing out of a movie I was doing. I thought, 'Fuck this fucker. I'm going to make a new Jack Black out of Zach Galifianakis,'" he said.

So we thought, could that mean "Man-Witch" is coming back? Possibly, but it likely won't be a Galifianakis' project.

Deadline reports that Dreamworks has bought the comedy, "Reply All," which the bearded comedian is attached to star in. Written by Phil Johnston ("Cedar Rapids," starring "The Hangover" star Ed Helms), there's no details on what the film is about yet, or at least Deadline doesn't have them, but "Reply All" does sound like some sort of debacle created from email, no?

Who knows? "Due Date" hits theaters this November 5 and this writer thinks the trailer looks awesome. "The Hangover 2" shoots this fall and evidently the rumors were true and it takes place in Thailand.

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.