Meryl Streep, Glenn Close and Barbra Streisand are fighting to play Sunset Boulevard diva Norma Desmond on the big screen, according to Hollywood reports. The ladies are reportedly on a shortlist being considered by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who composed the music for his version of the 1950 film classic.

London’s Daily Telegraph reports all three stars have been in discussions about taking on the role of Desmond, played famously by Gloria Swanson.

Close played the role onstage in Los Angeles and originated the role on Broadway, while Streisand has recorded versions of Sunset Boulevard ballads As If We Never Said Goodbye and With One Look.

Ewan McGregor and Hugh Jackman are reportedly favored for the role of screenwriter Joe Gillis in the musical remake.

Who do you think the role should go to?

Marilyn Monroe: Still dead! But a New York documentary producer claims to have the most startling evidence yet about her alleged murder.

“I have interviewed the FBI agent who is now in his late 80s, with prostate cancer, who was listening in on Marilyn in a van outside her home the night she died,” says producer Keya Morgan.

“He saw [then U.S. Attorney General] Bobby Kennedy and other men go inside the house. He heard them screaming and yelling in the guest cottage. They were in the guest cottage, not in her bedroom where her body was found.”

Conspiracy theorists have long said Robert and John F. Kennedy turned Monroe into a national security risk by telling her too much.

Morgan, a dealer in historical documents and manuscripts, said he was inspired to make the documentary after befriending Monroe’s first husband, James Dougherty. He also knew her third husband, Arthur Miller.

Morgan additionally interviewed former L.A. Police Chief Darryl Gates, first LAPD officer on the scene Jack Clements, Monroe neighbor Abe Landau and Beverly Hills detective Lynn Franklin for the documentary, tentatively titled “Death on Helena Dr.”

One of his L.A. law enforcement sources was also on duty the night RFK was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel.

“He said his job was to keep Ethel [Mrs. Kennedy ] away from where Bobby had a call girl waiting at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” laughs Morgan.

“[The call girl] was crying when he was killed. Very upset.”

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And I loved it!

I asked everyone I know if they would go see “Hairspray” with me, and every single person said “NO!”. Except……. my mom and my 4 year old son.  (He’ll be 5 next week)  I swear everyone thought I had lost my marbles when I told them I wanted to see it.

I love me some musicals, though.  And 2 hours of John Travolta in drag, well – how can you go wrong?  It was song after song from opening to closing credits – and I thought the whole thing was just pure entertainment. My 4 year old sat between my mom and I, and at one point got out of his seat to do a quick dance.

It was a  really fun movie…and to all my friends and family who told me “NO!” you don’t know what you missed.

If you’ll notice in my last post (Post #4 at the bottom) I showed you a VERY grainy picture of the poster, so we were dead on!

J.J. Abrams sure knows how to tease. Earlier this month, the pop auteur (Alias, Lost, and Mission: Impossible III) ignited a firestorm of curiosity by blowing the head off the Statue of Liberty in a grainy trailer for a nameless film. Now he’s upping the intrigue with this teaser poster.

Unofficially known as Cloverfield (the name of a street in L.A. where Abrams has an office), the film, at press time, does not have an official title. If you’re looking at that gargantuan hole bored in the Manhattan skyline and thinking, It’s a monster movie! — congrats, you’re right. Scripted by Lost writer Drew Goddard, the movie reunites producer Abrams with Felicity co-creator Matt Reeves, who’s directing and shooting it cinema-verité-style on digital video. (Think Blair Witch and the City.) The cast is made up of relative unknowns, with the lead being played by Michael Stahl-David (The Black Donnellys). As for the monster itself, contrary to Internet speculation, it isn’t a parasite, and it ain’t a colossal Asian robot, either. (Some suspected Abrams was mounting a live-action version of the Japanese anime/manga classic Voltron. Nope.) For more teasers, visit Abrams’ new site, www.1-18-08.com. To be continued, for sure…

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IN CASE YOU’VE MISSED ALL THE HYPE, HERE ARE THE LAST 4 POSTS ON 1-18-08!

Post #1: Here

Post #2: Here

Post #3: Here

Post #4: Here

UPDATE: So more news… I guess it’s NOT called Monstrous!  Here are the notes from JJ Abrams at today’s Comic-Con!

2:22pm – The original trailer in front of Transformers for Cloverfield / 1-18-08 debuts. JJ Abrams heads to the stage. His very quick statement on the film (as he’ll be back for Star Trek XI):

“I want a monster movie, I’ve wanted one for so long. I was in Japan with my son and all he wanted to do is go to toy stores. And we saw all these Godzilla toys, and I thought, we need our own monster, and not King Kong, King Kong’s adorable. I wanted something that was just insane and intense. It’s almost done shooting and I watch dailies and I’m more excited for them than the trailer, which has had an overwhelming response. We have 6 months before this comes out. We’re going to have a whole bunch of things, a whole bunch more.” He said a full trailer, more clips, full posters, and much more will be coming out over the next 6 monts, including the name, which he will NOT reveal today.

“You think we’d call it Monstrous? No…”

So, the film is NOT a Godzilla movie, it is an original monster movie, and it is NOT called Monstrous!

Hmmm…so at least we have more to look forward to!

I’m totally obsessed with ALL THINGS JJ Abrams.  I’m the biggest LOST freak there is.  So I’m very carefully and thoroughly following all of this 1-18-08 hoopla.  You should be to!  In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out my 3 other posts below.  Now – on to possible spoilers??

After much, much discussion, it seems the mystery (and title) of JJ Abrams’ top-secret monster movie may have been solved. A very interesting (and plausible) theory has popped up on the internet.

Okay, so the apparent title is MONSTROUS. Some kid took a picture of a poster at a comic book store, which depicts a headless Statue of Liberty, with the title MONSTROUS spread out across the top and the release date 1-18-08 on the bottom.

Click here for those pictures, decide for yourself!

THEORY–

If you look at the trailer you can see the number 3 being referenced to everywhere. The 63 degrees on the news channel, The 12:36, the 2004 ACE, numbers that are all dividable by 3.

Last, but not least, you hear the thundering monster sound three times, each sound accompanied by a different event.

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness”

So what in biblical mythology has connections to the slew of references in the trailer? The three great monsters.

In Jewish belief, Behemoth is the primal unconquerable monster of the land, as Leviathan is the primal monster of the waters of the sea and Ziz the primordial monster of the sky.

1) The first monster roar is accompanied by an earthquake (Behemoth)
2) The second monster roar is accompanied by a huge fireball (Leviathan, for it can breathe fire)
3) The third monster roar is accompanied by the flying Statue of Liberty head (Ziz).

Not convinced?

The guy who says “maybe we can get a better view from the roof” has the Slusho logo on his shirt. Slusho is a classic J.J. Abrams icon, and it has appeared in both Alias and Lost, which are his shows.

Slusho.jp has, by now, been confirmed as a part of the viral marketing campaign revolving around 1-18-08. Japan. Strangely enough, the character Rob, who is present in the trailer, was gonna fly to Japan a day after that party and the monster events.

Let’s have a look around on that site. Not all pages are accessible. But there is an odd feature about the pages that are available. The main page background is on land, the Downloads page background is on air, and the History page background is on sea.

Furthermore, the six buttons on the main page cause popups of various animals, namely a Horse, a Whale and a Bird. Behemoth, Leviathan, Ziz.

Source & Theory Source

IN CASE YOU’VE MISSED ALL THE HYPE, HERE ARE THE LAST 3 POSTS ON 1-18-08!

Post #1: Here

Post #2: Here

Post #3: Here

Want more? I’ve got TONS more after the jump… (more…)

I loved Sixth Sense…I liked Signs. I hated The Village. I loathed The Lady in the Water. M. Night should just call it a day and be done with it already. But apparently he’s still making movies, and here’s some info on his next film.

John Leguizamo has joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, “The Happening.”

Set to begin production in Philadelphia next month, “The Happening” is already slated for a June 13, 2008 release date, courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Recent Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg leads the cast as a science teacher who goes on the run with his family in the midst of some natural environmental disaster, some horrible happening. According to Variety, Leguizamo will play the best friend to Wahlberg’s character.

Zooey Deschanel was previously announced for the cast, though her exact capacity is unclear.

Leguizamo stars with a different Wahlberg, Mark’s brother Donnie, in Spike TV’s “The Kill Point,” which premieres this Sunday (July 22). His upcoming features include the indie “Where God Left His Shoes” and the long awaited adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera.”

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