Movie

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IS PULLING STRINGS

Now that he’s pled guilty to impaired driving, Justin Timberlake has his team working frantically behind-the-scenes to get him a waiver to visit Canada. According to my source, Justin was a shoe-in for an upcoming movie role in a romantic comedy, but the production is taking place in Vancouver, and Canada has very strict laws against allowing non-citizens to enter the country who’ve had DUIs. Exceptions can be made however, so Justin is working overtime to do what he needs to do, since he REALLY wants this role.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW…

Desperate times call for desperate measures, just ask Donald Trump. We just heard that Donald is freaking out now that Kamala Harris and not President Joe Biden is who he’s running against. Reports just circulated that Trump is looking for black surrogates to take to the airwaves and sing his praises. He’s SO desperate that he even reached out to his former friend, Kanye West, and asked the troubled rapper if he would appear on his behalf. Kayne hasn’t agreed yet, but my source says the attention seeking Kanye will likely do it just to stay in the limelight.

Record-breaking gold Olympic medalist, Simone Biles has big plans once she retires from gymnastics. We just heard that Simone is set to host her own sports related talk show on ESPN and none other than her pal Magic Johnson will be producing! Details are just trickling out, but expect to see Simone’s show in 2025.

It was just announced that Britney Spears inked a deal with Universal Studios to turn her autobiography, The Woman In Me, into a big screen movie. As we previously reported, Britney also wants to turn it into a Broadway musical. We just heard that as part of her seven figure deal Britney has the right to not only approve casting of the movie, but also to launch the musical. A worldwide search is underway for an undiscovered singer with real chops who can portray Britney.

In sad news this week, Taylor Swift was devastated that three innocent girls were stabbed to death in the UK at a dance studio featuring her music. Taylor does not want any publicity for this, but we just heard that she is picking up the tab for all of the funeral arrangements and anonymously made huge contributions to the Go Fund Me pages launched to help the victims’ families.

Jennifer Aniston was photographed this week filming her popular series, The Morning Show. Photographers caught Jen filming one scene where she was splattered in oil and another where she’s having a breakdown. We just heard that Jen has a big surprise for viewers. She persuaded her ex-husband and still good friend Brad Pitt to appear in upcoming episode. Brad hasn’t filmed his spot yet, but it will likely air later in the year or even as the season finale.

Finally, the biggest news of the week is who will current Vice President Kamala Harris pick for her own vice presidential running mate. While our secret political source has a few theories, we do know is that Kamala just filmed various television commercials touting her choice. She was proactive enough to film different variations of the commercial featuring the top three contenders for her running mate. No one knows who she’s going to pick, but Kamala wanted to be ready to blast the airwaves with television commercials once she makes her choice. For what it’s worth, my political source says Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona seems to be the front runner but Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro is a very close second.

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA Trump and Kanye hugging in 2018

AUSTIN BUTLER: BUT CAN HE SNEER LIKE ELVIS?

We were disappointed that Aaron Taylor-Johnson didn’t land the Elvis role in Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming film, but we realized that Aaron MIGHT not be much of a singer, so Austin Butler could be the logical choice. Austin, 27, DOES have the right hair for the role (did you know Elvis was born a blonde?) Hard to believe, but Austin and Vanessa Hudgens have been together since 2011. Come to think of it, she would be a really cute Priscilla Presley. No doubt Austin is busy practicing how to curl his lip like Elvis.

Above, Austin Butler and Vanessa Hudgens talk to a fan from their limo window

Photo Credit: BACKGRID-USA

ENTOURAGE MOVIE: THE WRENCH IN THE WORKS IS JEREMY PIVEN

We weren’t the least bit surprised to learn that Jeremy Piven was the cause of the salary stand-off that’s holding up the “Entourage” movie. He seems to be a lot like his scheming character Ari. However, there ARE extenuating circumstances, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Jeremy was originally the highest paid actor on the TV series and he did earn several Emmys. He was first to sign for the movie and got a lot more money than the others. The other guys want to be paid closer to what Jeremy is getting but the movie budget won’t allow it so they are disgruntled. They ARE expected to back down simply because everyone DOES want to get the movie made.

WE WANT SOUL TRAIN ON THE BIG SCREEN!

The death of Don Cornelius just might reignite the possibility of having a Soul Train movie. For years, Don had been working on launching a movie set in the world of Soul Train. (The music – the afros- the fashion – the dancing- we love it already!) According to the Hollywood Reporter, several versions of the story – an action comedy, a coming of age dance movie, were created, but the studios were never happy with the scripts. Soul Train had a huge impact on American culture and with renewed interest in the franchise, the door is open to try again. And if the movie’s a hit – how about Broadway? (And who would YOU cast as Don? We suggest Dennis Haysbert – the Allstate guy)

JOHN TRAVOLTA’S GOTTI MOVIE IS FALLING APART

Producers of that overpublicized “Gotti” movie must have promised John Travolta a humongous salary or else he would have dropped out of the troubled project by now. According to Showbiz 411, producer Marco Fiori (who happens to be an excon) failed to raise enough money to keep the January start date for production, so they found a new producer. So far there’s a lot of bad blood between the players and investors are questionable. The Gotti family has been actively involved in casting and promoting and publicizing their movie – they even courted Lindsay Lohan to costar, but THAT didn’t work out. Too many press conferences and not enough action. Somehow we don’t see this movie ever getting made.