HOLLYWOOD … Tobey Maguire climbs off the bicycle that he rides about town, and gets into a racing car for his next pix, titled “The Limit.” This based on the book by Michael Cannell about Grand Prix drivers Phil Hill and Wolfgang von Trips, who are real-life friends and rivals on the Ferrari team in 1961. Maguire has gone on record as saying he more and more wants to go into producing, which definitely means less acting. So, as the French say, “Chacun a son Goût.”
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Mary Steenburgen is one busy actress, with two projects in the works. One for the big screen, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker, and a comedy pilot for the small one titled “Happiness Isn’t Everything” with Richard Dreyfuss. All this, and a happy marriage to Ted Danson in real life. … Kathy Bates has joined Sandra Bullock in “Blind Side.” This a “sports dramedy” based on the best-selling novel “The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game.”
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I’m always thinking about who reminds me of whom. Maybe you do too. Anyway. Harrison Ford and Richard Gere, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams are some.
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I don’t know whether you caught a TV show naming the 20 sexiest actresses of all time, with Marilyn Monroe coming out “numero uno.” Which brought to mind, why hasn’t there been one naming the most beautiful feminine face of all time? If there is, surely it will be either Elizabeth Taylor or Greta Garbo. And, in re Garbo, my mentor Frances Marion wrote many of her movies and also was a close friend. Garbo was a constant visitor, and because Frances had a Swedish cook, the great Garbo spent much time in her kitchen. Frances always said Garbo had the “most gorgeous face she had ever seen, AND the biggest feet!”
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Will Ferrell’s “One Man Show” was a big success on Broadway, and now he is going into “West Side Story.” One of my favorite songs is “Maria” from this musical, and when he sang it for David Letterman on a recent “Late Show,” he “almost knocked my teeth out.” It was so great!
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It’s going to be a big one for Al Pacino. He’s set to play Napoleon in the screen adaptation of the book “Betsy and the Emperor.” No other cast members have been announced at this writing.
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How’s this for a plot? It’s the film starring Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Zoe Saldana. The title is “Death at a Funeral” and it’s about a dysfunctional family that comes together for the funeral of their patriarch. Chaos ensues when deep, dark secrets are threatened to be exposed by a man who appears and claims to be the gay lover of the family’s much-respected deceased.
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BITS ’N’ PIECES: Clark Gable not only was one of the screen’s greatest. He was also a great American, receiving several medals for bombing missions during World War II. … It is a sad Liam Neeson who has returned to work after the death of his beloved Natasha. … And Gable also lost a love when Carole Lombard was killed in a plane crash. … There’s a new series in the works titled “Films that Changed the World.” Should be great. … And once again it’s quiet in the ’hood. No Lindsay, Britney or Paris howlings this week.
© 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.