By Tony Rizzo
HOLLYWOOD — Did you know that Alan Alda was nominated for 21 Emmys for “M.A.S.H.”? Or that he is the first thespian to win Emmys for acting, writing and directing the same show? In his career thus far, he has been nominated for 31 Emmys and won five times. He was Oscar nominated for “The Aviator,” which won Best Picture, and he won another Emmy Award in 2002 for “The West Wing.” That said, moving on, he is now shooting Judd Apatow’s film “Wanderlust” with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, who play a married couple who escape New York by going to a naturist village, run by Alda. He next shoots “Tower Heist,” starring Ben Stiller as the leader of a team of defrauded workers planning a heist on Alda’s penthouse. But first, he will guest on an upcoming “30 Rock.”
Charlton Heston’s former press agent has started a campaign to get the late Oscar winner (for “Ben Hur”) a U.S. postage stamp. Why not? Bette Davis, Gary Cooper, Frank Sinatra and even Bugs Bunny have stamps, to name a few. Let’s face it, anyone who can part the Red Sea, as he did in “The Ten Commandments,” deserves to part the mail at the post office.
Get ready for a double dose of the Beach Boys. Fox 2000 has plans to make a film with their music, although it probably won’t be about them. It will be more like the Abba play and film “Mamma Mia.” The film will be produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced “Hairspray” and the upcoming “Footloose” remake, due April 1, and John Stamos, who toured for years with the Beach Boys, filling in for their late drummer, Dennis Wilson. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures is moving ahead with its Dennis Wilson docudrama, and to get it right, Sony has brought his daughter and son on board as technical advisers. No scriptwriter or cast has been announced.
Michael Grimm, winner of “America’s Got Talent” this summer, is living the American dream. As a result of his exposure on the NBC show, he has been signed by Epic Records, and his first CD will be released in March 2011.
This 3D thing is not going away. George Lucas has announced he will turn all six classic “Star Wars” films into 3D movies, starting with episode one, “The Phantom Menace.” This isn’t sitting well with longtime “Star Wars” fans, who thought it was perfect the way it was and that this is just pure greed.
It seems everyone is trying to find new ways for us to buy more DVDs. James Cameron, whose “Avatar” is the top-grossing film of all time, says he’s going to turn the former top-spot holder, “Titanic,” into a 3D movie. Meanwhile, a new release of “Avatar,” still in 2D, will have 45 minutes of new footage. We’ll have to wait until next year for the actual 3D Blu-ray release. That means some of you could end up buying three DVD versions of “Avatar” for your video collection.
© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.