I'm a grown woman that has been a fan of Neil Gaiman for many years; and still, Coraline manages to freak me out every time I see those little button eyes. The first teaser for the big-screen version of Gaiman's fantasy is now over at MovieWeb. Granted, it would probably be a lot more exciting if it was actually in 3-D (the trailer tells you to put on your glasses, so this must be the one that will screen in theaters), but for anyone who is a fan of Gaiman's dark fairy tales, you'll be glad to know that the film seems to have gotten the tone of Gaiman's work pitch perfect.

Coraline is the story of a small girl who travels into a fantasy world where everything is familiar but nothing is quite right. There is an 'Other Mother' who is the spitting image of her own, but with the frightening distinction of having buttons for eyes. Coraline's adventure leads her to become the savior of her family and the other children trapped in this world, while hopefully getting them all back to the real world.

Teri Hatcher voices the 'Mothers', Dakota Fanning is Coraline. The cast also includes Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and John Hodgeman (also knows as 'The PC'). Stop motion master Henry Selick directed the flick based on Gaiman's novella. Last December, Gaiman had posted a short clip on his personal site, but this is the first official trailer I've seen so far.

So, could it be a little too creepy for kids? (The tag line sounds like something from a supernatural thriller.) Maybe, but I miss the old days when children's entertainment had a little more 'bite.' Coraline is scheduled for release in 3-D format on January 18th, 2009.

One thing that has always impressed me about the work of Neil Gaiman -- even though the man writes fairy tales, he never sugar-coats it for the kids. Case in point: the author is now hosting a clip from the upcoming adaptation of Coraline on his personal web site, and it can probably be summed up in one word -- creepy. Based on Gaiman's Hugo award winning novella, the story focuses on a young girl who discovers an alternate world with very twisted versions of her home and family -- for starters they all have buttons sewn over their eyes. The young heroine is then charged with rescuing her family and freeing the souls of trapped children from the clutches of the "other mother."

Coraline stars the voice talents of Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French (or as I like to call them: one of the funniest comedy duos of all time), and Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives) as the "other mother." The film was directed by Henry Selick, who is a stop-motion animation vet and is probably best known for directing Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Stop-motion animation is probably one of the most painstaking processes around, so I can only imagine how long it took to create the clip on Gaiman's site. Not to mention the fact that this film will be the first to use stop-motion animation in a 3D format. It almost makes you forgive the fact that it's going to a full year before Coraline finally hits theaters on January 16th, 2009.

[via ComingSoon.net]

It's a slow news week for film-related celebrities. The big gossip item this week was about Nicole Richie's DUI arrest, and I can't count her as a movie actress -- she doesn't even have a House of Wax credit to her name. No one is divorcing, or adopting children from other countries (although Angelina Jolie is thinking about it again), or forgetting to climb into a limo properly while neglecting to wear underpants.

However, I feel lucky because I have been able to indulge my most guilty pleasure when collecting celebrity news: scary photos. For some reason, it seems to be a week when movie stars aren't looking their best. Perhaps it's all that holiday shopping and stress. The bulk of this week's gossip roundup therefore consists of some of the oddest photos I've seen recently. Enjoy!

• Anna Nicole Smith is back in America, after swearing she never wanted to leave the Bahamas. That ought to improve the amount of potential celeb news in upcoming weeks. She appeared in a San Franscisco court this week as part of legal proceedings regarding her late husband's estate.

News on the screen version of Neil Gaiman's Coraline has been trickling out for what seems like ages, from casting details to animation styles; from animation location to soundtrack news. The last voice names we heard were Dakota Fanning (but of course) and Teri Hatcher (who will have the great honor of playing Dakota's animated mother), but it sounds as if the cast has pretty much taken shape while we weren't paying attention. In addition to Fanning and Hatcher, voices will be provided by Absolutely Fabulous -- in more ways than one -- duo Dawn French (as Miss Spink) and Jennifer Saunders (as Miss Forcible), as well as Al Swearengen himself, Ian McShane. The recently signed McShane will give voice to "Mr Bobinski, an irascible Russian giant who inhabits the alternate world." You say "irascible," I say "perfect casting."

For those of you unfamiliar with Gaiman's work, Coraline is about "The adventures of a girl who enters a parallel universe and encounters a sinister counterfeit mother." Apart from the presence of a Russian giant in one of them, the worlds will be visually distinguishable by the use of different animation styles: CGI for the real world, and stop-motion for the alternate one.

According to the IMDb, the movie is currently being made, and is due for release next year.

It was pretty much inevitable that, like Eva Longoria, Teri Hatcher would eventually start getting movie gigs from producers who, after watching Desperate Housewives and seeing her face constantly in the tabloids, forget that she still isn't a very good actress. According to The Hollywood Reporter, her first post-Housewives gig will be a supporting role in Resurrecting the Champ, a semi-sports flick we told you about a few months ago.

The movie stars Samuel L. Jackson as a homeless man who reporter Josh Hartnett decides is actually a former boxing champion. In fact, though, he's no such thing, which at one time made the story sound awesome and unpleasant. Now, though, more details about the screenplay have emerged and, while Jackson's character still isn't the guy Hartnett thought he was, it turns out that he was a pro boxer back in the day. So the edge is now totally gone -- boo to that. Hatcher will play "the head of a TV channel who teaches Hartnett the ropes of being a reporter-turned-celebrity" (apparently he turns into a big star as a result of tracking down Jackson's character); the movie heads into production this summer.

All because they want to give some money to Music Matters, a non-profit group that supports music education for kids, Rhino Records is letting Ewan McGregor do horrible vocal things to cover Sade. Wow is that scary to type. McGregor's version of The Sweetest Gift is just one track on an album of "night-themed songs and lullabies" called Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars, which Rhino will unleash on April 11.

A saving grace of the situation is that several of the stars - including Jeremy Irons, who will be singing Bob Dylan, and John C. Reilly, singing something called Lullaby in Ragtime - have legitimate musical backgrounds, and the rest of them were forced to work with a vocal coach before stepping into the recording booth. But, really. Can't Rhino just give Music Matters someone money without subjecting us to Teri Hatcher singing The Beatles? Is that too much to ask?