When Kristen Wiig wants to make a passion project, well, Hollywood now knows to listen.

Having co-written and starred in "Bridesmaids," the surprise early summer hit that recently became the biggest R-rated female comedy of all time, Variety reports that Wiig has earned a pickup for "Imogen," a comedy she's championed for a while now.

Back in March, Wiig gave Indiewire a synopsis of the film, saying, “It’s basically about a girl who kind of pretends to kill herself... to get her recently ex-boyfriend’s attention. She ends up having to go live with her mom, whom she hasn’t seen in years."

Indiewire has quotes from Wiig on a number of her other potential starring roles, which, collectively, mark a long-in-the-making, well deserved transition from standout supporting actress. Wiig, one of the top names on "Saturday Night Live," had previously excelled in comedies such as "Knocked Up," "Paul," "Date Night" and "MacGruber," the "SNL" big screen adaptation in which she played second to Will Forte.

Wiig also recently nabbed another TV role; she'll voice Lola Bunny in the new "The Looney Tunes Show".

For more on the new film, click over to Variety.

It's no secret that esteemed journalist Patt Morrison is a die-hard Angelino--but no one knew to what end. When Morrison got wind of an alleged anti-La La Land slight by the doe-eyed Zooey Deschanel, the gloves came off.

The opening line of the LA Times opinion column yesterday read, "I can't believe Zooey Deschanel is really the snobby cow she came off sounding like Saturday evening."

As a guest of the BAFTA gala, along with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Deschanel worried that the surroundings wouldn't meet their approval. "I just don't want them to see the worst of L.A," the actress said.

Morrison's article straddles the line between love letter and hate letter--outlining Downtown LA's royal-worthy qualities while continually expressing her shock and scorn over Deschanel's comment. "I cannot apologize enough to Ms. Deschanel that in some places, the sidewalks do not smell like Jo Malone candles."

When Deschanel read Morrison's column, the star decided to fight fire with fire and compose a written response on her website. In it, the actress said that her quote was "taken completely out of context" and was supposed to be humorous. Deschanel also bats down a lot of the writer's accusations and proclaims her "love" of Downtown LA.

Deschanel addressed Morrison's biting insult toward the end of her letter, "You also open your piece by calling me a "cow", which might be your opinion, but I wish a journalist for the Los Angeles Times and KPCC had found a more sophisticated way of sharing a difference in perceived opinion."

Perhaps it's a self-reflexive joke, a commentary on pop culture and its quick churn celebration -- and subsequent abandonment -- of anything that will buzz. But probably not. No, Rebecca Black's just announced new song and video, "My Moment," which will be released July 18th, sounds like a self-serious slapdash biopic of a 13-year old girl who stumbled upon fame and fortune.

And why not?

Black, the singer of the readymade local music studio song and video "Friday," has weathered a hurricane of publicity and mockery since her little production caught fire on YouTube. Her song became the chorus line of the late spring/early summer, and while the fame was nice, she spent much of the time taking on the negative, mob mentality of the internet, from harsh blog posts all the way to death threats.

Now that she appears to be on the other side of the mockery -- starring in a Katy Perry video will do that for you -- Black is set to release her second single, which will celebrate her most recent lifetime achievements. Which, aside for the hit song, include red carpet appearances and hosting an online award show for MTV. Oh, and graduating middle school.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, she'll at least have a true songwriting team behind her; Brandon "Blue" Hamilton, who produced for Justin Bieber, and Quinton Tolbert, who did the same for Hilary Duff, are behind this song. She'll also release a five song EP in August.

The summer of the comic book film is split between success and mild disappointment, and, so fanboys hope, Captain America is dashing in to save the day.

While both "Thor" and "Green Lantern" opened number one at the box office, the headlines were very different for the first two page-to-film extravaganzas: Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman helped Marvel's Norse God film to a surprising $65 million opener and strong subsequent performances, while Ryan Reynolds' CGI-happy DC adaptation sunk below expectations with a $53 million first weekend and cratering follow ups. Now, it's time for Chris Evans and his super patriotic super soldier flick to fight both off Nazis and potential public disenfranchisement with blockbuster superheroes.

To hype up the film, Paramount -- which just opened Transformers to a $180 million five day haul -- has released 20+ new images from both production and the final product, emphasizing Evans' buff, post-experiment, red white and blue costume-clad body over his pre-secret serum weakling Steve Rogers. Heavily stylized to match its World War II setting, the photos promise a lot of action -- and a little bit of romance, too (see: Atwell, Hayley for more on that)

"Captain America" hits theaters July 22nd.
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Kate Hudson gave birth to a baby boy on Saturday in Los Angeles, Us Weekly reports.
The actress and Muse rocker fiance Matthew Bellamy are parents together for the first time; publicly dating since early 2010, Hudson told InStyle in April that a baby wasn't necessarily part of the plan -- not that she was complaining when she found out.
"Well, it wasn't like we didn't know what we were doing," she said. "There were no ovulation kits involved. We were tempting fate, and it worked... I didn't think I was going to have another kid until I was maybe 33 – that was in the back of my mind before I met Matthew. But we were so in love when it happened, it was just so exciting for both of us."
Hudson has a child, 7-year old son Ryder, from her previous marriage to Black Crowes rocker Chris Robinson. Hudson announced the pregnancy in January.

A new generation of "Dallas" is headed for the airwaves.
TNT says it is moving ahead with an updated version of the prime-time soap that aired on CBS from 1978 to 1991. The network announed Friday that the 10-episode season will be broadcast next summer.
"Dallas" veteran Larry Hagman will be back at Southfork Ranch, as will his long-ago co-stars Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy. Hagman will reprise his role as villainous oil baron J.R. Ewing. Gray will again play J.R.'s wife, Sue Ellen, and Duffy returns as his younger brother, Bobby.
The new story focuses on the Ewing offspring as they clash over the future of the family dynasty. Josh Henderson, Jordana Brewster and Brenda Strong are among the newcomers to the cast.
___
Online:
http://www.dallastnt.com

The best thing Beyonce never had? Well, clothing, for starters...

Actually, it's an unnamed man who scorned her back in 1998, according to the brand spankin new video for her latest single, "The Best Thing I Never Had." The second track off her new album, "4," which premiered at number one on the Billboard Charts, the song is a ballad of love and revenge, with her lingerie moments matched to vindictive lines, and later, her wedding (not to Jay-Z, mind you) touching on the positive outcome of her heart break.

It is, to say the least, quite the transition from her first single off the album, "(Girls) Run The World."

For more simmering Beyonce, check out her performance at Glastonbury.

So, Eric has gotten into real estate, Bill has gotten into monarchy, Sookie has gotten all mixed up and Jason has gotten himself in quite a precarious situation.
It all leads up to quite the drama packed third episode of this fourth season of "True Blood."
Want more set up? Check out last week's recap, and enjoy three new clips teasing the action coming Sunday night. Read more

Mila Kunis may pair up with Justin Timberlake later this month in "Friends With Benefits," but that isn't stopping one Marine from pursuing the Golden Globe-nominated actress.
Sgt. Scott Moore, of the 3rd Battalion 2nd Marines in Musa Qala, Afghanistan, has posted a video asking the star to join him at the Marine Corps. Ball on November 18th in Greensville, North Carolina. He even has a YouTube user page set up, dedicated to the cause.
Interested, Ms. Kunis? Contact Sgt. Moore at gowithmemila at gmail.com.
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James Spader will be the new boss on "The Office." For about a day. Then, it's up to corporate.

A press release from Universal reveals that Spader has sealed a deal to join the show on a full-time basis, reprising the character he played during last season's finale's hunt for a new Scranton head honcho. But instead of settling for the desk in Pennsylvania, he ends up climbing much, much higher -- to the top of Sabre.

"James will reprise his role as Robert California, this uber-salesman that has a power to convince and manipulate, like a high-class weirdo Jedi warrior,” said Paul Lieberstein, one of the series’ executive producers and a series regular. "He'll have been hired over the summer as the new manager, but within hours, got himself promoted. Within days, he took over the company. James has an energy that is completely his own, and ‘The Office’ has no tools for dealing with this guy. We're thrilled he's joining our cast."

Of course, that still leaves the boss's chair in Scranton vacant.

Following star Steve Carell's announcement that he was leaving the hit comedy, Dunder Mifflin went on a huge head hunt for star power to keep the show going. Will Ferrell did them a solid by booking a four episode arc as the temporary boss, which was followed by a final episode with a long series of guest stars. But according to TV Line's Michael Ausiello, the plan right now may be to hire from within.

He says that the producers are, for now, deciding between Jim (John Krasinksi), Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Andy (Ed Helms) to take the boss's chair; on the show, Dwight and Andy both vied for the role, while Jim decided he didn't want to be part of management (perhaps he can be convinced otherwise?). All this after a spring of new that led to the blowout episode with Will Arnett, Ricky Gervais, Spader, Jim Carrey, Ray Romano and Catherine Tate.

High school never truly ends, its lessons and laugh, taunts and first times living forever in memories. Those years are a shared (sometimes unfortunately so) experience, so many hands holding on to the electric fence at once, and so movies that touched hearts during that shared adolescence quickly become beloved classics -- and those that can cater to both the emotions of those that can most directly relate, and the viewer looking back at that time, well, those are the stories that stick.

FIrst time director David Robert Mitchell, who to this point has only completed two short films, looks to capture both that present pain and yearning reminiscence in his debut feature, "The Myth of the American Sleepover." A sort of mini-"Love Actually" story, it follows a number of interconnected story lines about teenagers doing their best to grasp on to the last days of the summer -- and make it count for something heavier than pool parties.

"Sleepover" stars a largely unknown cast that is already gaining special critical notice: aside from being a nice metaphor for the sense of invisibility during high school, the group won the Special Jury Prize for Best Ensemble Cast at the 2010 South By Southwest competition.

Filmed in Michigan, near Mitchell's childhood home, it drew freely from his own memories and classic teenage films, he told the New York Times.

"I embraced a lot of things, even some of the clichés, that happen in teen films," he told the paper. "The approach was to try to show them in a more natural way."

Here's the synopsis (via /Film); below that, check out the trailer. And for more information and a (beautiful) review of the film, click over to Pajiba.

He's Natalie Portman's first child, and, if rumors are true, he has a very symbolic and orderly name.

A report at Israel Hayom relays that the Israeli TV show "Good Evening with Guy Pines," revealed that Portman named her and fiance Benjamin Millepied's first son, born in June, Alef, which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Portman, of course, is a native Israeli, having originally been given the name Natalie Hershlag.

The report on the TV show aired last month; The Huffington Post also received a tip last month that Portman had indeed named her son Alef, but her representatives declined to confirm. HuffPost has reached out once again for comment, and will update when more is known.

This weekend, Sean Penn took to the beach in Malibu, showing off his fit physic and his fetching new lady, Stacey Koplin.

Bauer-Griffin snapped photos of the new pair walking along the surf together. Penn and Koplin looked relaxed and comfortable on the sandy shore. Penn later showed off a very toned chest and the two ended the day with a jet-ski ride.

For more photos of Penn and Koplin's beachside stroll, click over to Bauer-Griffin

LeAnn Rimes spent the holiday weekend enjoying her curvy bikini body and she wants everyone to know.
"CURVES....They are there LOL," she wrote on Sunday alongside the below pic of her standing in the sand, providing a back view. LeAnn also tweeted a photo (scroll down) of herself lounging on a towel with the caption "Beach Bum..."
Later that evening she tweeted about dinner plans: "SUSHI tonight......YUM...my heaven."
This is not the first time LeAnn has taken to Twitter to post bikini pictures of herself while defending her weight.
PHOTOS:

There are few things guaranteed in the upside down, always changing world of Hollywood, but here's one thing you can bank on: a successful film, if at all possible, will get a sequel.

And as the summer moves forward, "Bridesmaids" is becoming more than just a success.

A big opening weekend got the speculation started, but having just passed "Sex and the City" as the highest grossing R-rated female-driven comedy of all time, there's little doubt that Universal will be hungry for another helping of the Kristen Wiig-starring, Paul Feig-directed and Judd Apatow-produced laugh factory (with names like those, was there any doubt it'd be a hit?).

Thus far, no green light has been given, but Feig already is licking his chops to get it made -- if the script is worthwhile.

"It's not officially been moved toward, but I'd be very open to it," he told Movieline. "It would just have to be as good or better than this one. What you don't want to do is the one that ruins the memory of the first one. But nothing would make me happier if we could make another one with this amazing cast, and people go, 'That's awesome!' If it's as good or as better than the first one, that would be fantastic. Because everything around it was great -- the cast, the people behind the scenes, the stories we're telling, the fact that we get to do movies for and with hugely talented women. What could be better than that? It would be great to carry that on, but, again, it has to be high quality."

Feig made similar comments back in May, when he wasn't quite sure how well the film would do at the box office.

"Who knows? I mean, it depends how we do in the next couple weeks, but I know there's definitely ... it's already been brought up," he told NY Magazine. "So, um, you know, when you get a group that's this deep and this good, it's a crime to not use them again. You just want to make sure that you do it as well as you did the first one and try to make it better, even. So, we're up for the challenge."

Glee: Brittana & Klaine Kiss on Stage! :
The Glee Live in Concert tour came to an end with a kiss on Sunday (July 3) in Dublin, Ireland.
Read the whole story: Glee: Brittana & Klaine Kiss on Stage!

"Billy Elliot" playwright Lee Hall says his latest project, a community opera involving 300 children, has collapsed after backers demanded he cut words spoken by a gay character.
Hall said he refused to remove the lines "I am queer" and "I prefer a lad to a lass" from his opera "Beached" as requested by the primary school involved.
Writing in The Guardian, Hall said he had worked with the school to make other changes but that this request "seemed to come from an entirely different era."
Opera North, which commissioned the piece, confirmed Monday that its July 15 premiere in Bridlington, northeast England, had been scrapped.
Opera North said it had tried to mediate between Hall and the school and regretted that "both sides have been unable to move forward."

It's kind of like a movie unto itself: two bombshells, one movie franchise. In the beginning of what would become the smash series 'Transformers,' the leading lady was played by the aptly-last-named Megan Fox. After another film and a somewhat offensive historial reference, Fox was replaced by Victoria's Secret angel, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. 'Dark of the Moon' hits theaters this weekend and we're wondering how Huntington-Whiteley will fare in Fox's shoes.

Upgrade? Downgrade? Below are their stats, from birthdays to boyfriends, to help you decide. We can't blame you for comparing notes--we just want to make it a fair fight.
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The name Tom Hanks means something.
With over three decades on our screens, small and large, he's more than an actor: he's a draw, a guarantee, a promise of some sort of emotional experience. When Tom Hanks says 'come see my movie,' well, audiences do just that. And, as it turns out, even in a jaded Hollywood, with its backstage machinations and egos galore, Hanks has the exact same magnetic pull on his fellow actors, no matter how big their stature.
Taraji P. Henson, a veritable star with an Oscar nomination under her belt, felt the pull immediately upon learning that Hanks wanted her for his new passion project, "Larry Crowne." It's the story of a blue collar big box retail employee who gets fired and heads back to junior college, but before she even knew that much, Henson had excitedly accepted the role.
"Apparently, Tom wanted me involved. So he called my manager and my manager called me and said, Tom Hanks really wants you to be in his movie and I said, sure," Henson told The Huffington Post in a conversation Tuesday. "And my manager was like, maybe you should read the script first, and I was like, 'No, I don't have to read the script, it's Tom Hanks, that's a no brainer. I don't care, I could play a tree or a rock, it's Tom Hanks.'"
As it turns out, the "Benjamin Button" star didn't have to play scenery to get into the film; she tackles the role of Hanks' next door neighbor, B'Ella, a working class woman who hits it rich when she and her husband, played by Cedric the Entertainer, win the lottery. Hanks' character, the titular Crowne, isn't so lucky as he struggles to stay afloat amidst house payments, schooling and a job as a short order cook. And while he's a multiple Oscar winner who has played war heroes and detectives, among many other glamorous roles, Henson says his magic lies in his ability to be the everyman.
"He's one of those actors who can just take on any role," she said. "What I think is so great about him is, because he's still a very down to earth, big, big superstar, it makes it easier for him to play these common characters, like regular people, and believe it, and not be Tom Hanks. Some people get too big and you can't separate the star from the character."
As Crowne begins cleansing himself of old, lonely habits, Henson and Cedric are cleansing their lives of all the clutter that accumulated as they held on for dear financial life. Throughout the film, they're found hosting a massive garage sale -- and interestingly, though it was Hanks' invitation that led her to agree to the film, it was the garage sale aspect that sold her on the character she was playing.

n an E! Entertainment special that aired Wednesday night, teen queen Selena Gomez opened up about her parents' divorce.
Gomez, who was 5-year-old when her parents split, blamed her mother for the divorce--something she deeply regrets.
"I blamed my mom a lot [for the divorce] because I wanted a family so bad," Gomez said. "I wanted to have my mom and dad together. I remember just being angry with my mom. I still feel really bad about that."
Her mother Mandy Teefey, who became pregnant at age 16, recounts her daughter's difficulty coping with the split. "[Selena] would vent and yell at me and all I could do is just say, 'I'm sorry--but you'll understand someday,'" she said.
Today, Gomez defends single-parenthood and is grateful for her mother's many sacrifices.
"Having me at sixteen had to have been a big responsibility. My mom gave up everything for me and had, like, three jobs. She supported me, sacrificed her life for me," she said.