At the beginning of this year, there was news that Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page were setting their sights on Whip It! -- a flick about snarky chicks, toughness, and roller derby action. It sounded like a whole wackload of fun. The rumored March start date came and went without a sound, but now, luckily, things are on track for this summer. Even better: The Hollywood Reporter posts that joining Page and Barrymore on-screen will be Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, and Zoe Bell.

Page is playing Bliss Cavendar, a beauty queen who runs away to join the roller derby league in Austin, Texas. Harden will play her mom, an ex-beauty queen herself who wants her daughter out of the skates and back on the beauty circuit. Meanwhile, Wiig will play Bliss' rolling mentor, Malice in Wonderland, Lewis will be top star Dinah Might, and Bell will be "a medical technician moonlighting as derby star Bloody Holly." With first-time feature director Drew Barrymore taking on a role as Page's teammate, that's one heck of a roller roster.

I wonder if 5'1" Page will have to take on 5'8" Bell? Hell, I'm trying to imagine how she'd do against anyone, being as teeny as she is. We should find out soon enough -- the film heads into production this summer in Texas and Michigan.

Well, this is a bit of a bummer. I've been waiting, it seems like forever, to see when Jack and Diane, Bradley Rust Gray's endlessly gestating "lesbian werewolf" movie that Ellen Page was supposed to star in, would finally go into production. As I wrote waaaaaaay back in September, the film is supposed to be about:

"Jack and Diane, two teenage lesbians, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane's charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack's tough skinned heart. But, when Jack discovers that Diane is leaving the country in a week she tries to push her away. Diane must struggle to keep their love alive while hiding the secret that her newly awakened sexual desire occasionally turns her into a werewolf."

Moviefone has debuted the trailer for He's Just Not That Into You, due in theatres October 24th (watch it above or over on Moviefone in HD). While it's a charming trailer, I cannot help but feel that every man in the world is actually really into one or more of these actresses (especially Scarlett Johansson) so it automatically loses credibility. Plus, it's a movie based on a dating guide. How will that work out? Happily ever after, I suspect.

The star power in this movie is pretty impressive, though! It was indelibly associated in my mind with Drew Barrymore (who I like; she is impossible not to). I had no idea it boasted the likes of Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, and Justin Long. That speaks well for it, actually, as Connelly especially tends to do the more serious scripts. And I really want to see Affleck make a major comeback, so I hope his mere presence in a romantic comedy doesn't condemn him to Gigli level again. What do you think -- perfect date movie or too reminiscent of real life to be amusing? I think I am in the latter category, myself. The scene with Barrymore at the end of the trailer is like every interaction I have ever had with the opposite sex. Sad, but true.

This is really a cast that I could never have predicted. Variety reports that Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell have all been set to star in Everybody's Fine.

Rewritten and directed by Kirk Jones (director of Nanny McPhee and Waking Ned Devine), Fine is a remake of Giuseppe Tornatore's film Stanno tutti bene. Miramax just snapped up the rights to the film, which will reportedly start shooting later this month in Connecticut.

De Niro plays a widower who realizes that he was only connected to his children via his wife. He decides to take a road trip to reestablish his relationship with his grown kids, and discovers that their lives are anything but fine. A few shades of About Schmidt there -- and hopefully it is along those solid lines, and not total syrup.

So, IMDb has two stories about do-gooder celebs up this morning, one about Cameron Diaz calling the Oprah Winfrey show in support of her friend and fellow Angel Drew Barrymore, who was on the show to present a check for $1,000,000 to the United Nations World Food Program, and the other about Reese Witherspoon. Witherspoon is the cosmetic company Avon's "global ambassador for women's empowerment," and in that capacity, she kicked off Avon's partnership with the United Nations Development Fund for Women by announcing that Avon will be selling $3 "Women's Empowerment Bracelets" online to benefit the fund.

The slogan for the partnership is "Empower women, change our world," and if you go to the Avon website to the bracelet, it tells you to "wear the bracelet that could change the world." A sidebar on the bracelet's product page blithely tells you that the bracelet will "go great with the Speak Out Against Domestic Violence Keychain!" No, I'm not making that up.

For those who were kinda bummed out after they didn't get to see Ellen Page be a real mom in Juno, you'll be glad to know that she's signed on to star as a young mother in the new psychological thriller Peacock for Mandate Pictures. Variety tells us Page will join Cillian Murphy in the film, and this one has nutty written all over it. Here's the description: "The title is derived from tiny Peacock, Neb., where Murphy's character, a split personality, fools the town into believing his two alter egos are man and wife. Page plays a struggling young mother who holds the key to his past and sparks a battle between the personalities." WTF? I mean, Murphy's taken on some f**ked up characters in his day, but this one has to take the cake. Yeah, I'd go see this, like, now if I could.

Newbie Michael Lander will direct off a script he co-wrote with Ryan Roy, and production will begin this May. Peacock marks the third film Ellen Page has signed onto in the last month; she'll first shoot Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, then Peacock, and then take on the starring role in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It. Meanwhile, Cillian Murphy will do his best to practice playing both a man and a wife. On the role, he says, "Peacock stunned me as a script from start to finish. It offers an incredible challenge to an actor -- one I couldn't turn down." Come to think of it, Murphy does have a feminine quality about him, and so I can totally see him making this believable (heck, he's already played a transvestite cabaret dancer); to the point where an entire town would be convinced there were two separate people living under the same roof. But will he convince us? I guess we'll see when Peacock hits theaters at some point in the next year.

Even though Jerry O'Connell's latest comedy video isn't as great as the Tom Cruise parody, they might have helped him land a job. The Hollywood Reporter announced that O'Connell has signed to star with Heather Graham in the romantic comedy Baby on Board for Brian Herzlinger. Herzlinger is a relative newcomer and is probably best known as they guy who made a documentary about trying to get a date with Drew Barrymore.

Russell Scalise and Michael Wright's script follows a happily married couple (O'Connell, Graham) whose lives and high-powered careers are thrown into chaos thanks to an unplanned pregnancy. The cast also includes John Corbett (Northern Exposure) and Katie Finneran as a bitter married couple whose bad advice makes things worse for the soon to be parents. Also on board is Ian Ziering (who knew that Steve Sanders was still kicking around Hollywood?) as a gay obstetrician and Lara Flynn Boyle as Graham's demanding boss.

Well, I figured it was only a matter of time before the "Knocked Up/Juno Clones' finally started to trickle into theaters. So as funny as Jerry O'Connell can be, I am a little less sure of Graham's comedic skills. The last time I can remember laughing at Graham was during her brief cameo on Arrested Development back in 2004. Then again, any show that can turn Carl Weathers into a comedy star seems to have the knack for making anybody funny. Baby on Board is set to start shooting next week on location in Chicago, and should make it to theaters sometime later in '08.

A new interview over at FilmSchoolRejects.com throws some light on Whip It, the upcoming film based on the Shauna Cross novel Derby Girl, about a young girl who finds herself through excelling at roller derby. Cross tells the site that Drew Barrymore wants to take on directing the film and is gearing up for a March start. "It wasn't until after I turned in the script that Drew really fell in love with the idea of directing it," Cross says. "And I'm so glad she did because I think she will do a really lovely job. She's got that whole smiley-sweet persona, but she's one smart cookie with a lot of soul and great creative instincts." And exactly who is Barrymore after to play Bliss, the lead in the film? This is what Cross has to say about that: "Rumor is the lead could be played by an actress whose name rhymes with 'Shmellen Shmage.' But what do I know? I'm just the writer."

When asked about how autobiographical the story is, Cross says that "Like my lead character, Bliss, I grew up just outside Austin and was a pretty precocious teen, full of sarcasm and wit and hijinks (as were my friends, most of whom were older.) But I was also really sensitive, hiding that vulnerability with humor. And of course, I play roller derby." Sounds like Ellen Page material to me. As of now, Page has only a couple of projects in the pipeline -- she seems to be holding off on using her newly-minted credibility from Juno to cash in on something high-profile. Would she want to risk doing something Juno-esque this soon? Should she try to immediately start playing twenty-somethings and get away from teen-roles? Luckily, she has an agent so we don't have to answer these questions.

[via Slashfilm]

Do you like a little dark twist with your holiday movies? Maybe you're tired of always seeing Santa as the good guy, or watching some grouchy old holiday hater redeemed at the end of the movie. Perhaps you're a fan of cult movies with early appearances by unusual acting talent, bizarre and inappropriate music, or acting so amateurish you either have to laugh or run screaming from the room. In other words, you need cult films to get you through the holidays, not that contemporary Hollywood blockbuster stuff.

Originally this post was entitled "Cult Christmas Movies," but I got lucky and remembered a certain Hanukkah-related cult favorite from a few years ago. Once I started, there were so many movies to choose from. I had to decide whether Kiss Kiss Bang Bang counted as a holiday cult film (not yet), whether it was worth including Santa Claus: The Movie just because the title character is played by the actor who played the elder Jeffrey Lebowski in The Big Lebowski (David Huddleston), and whether I should include The Poseidon Adventure (or its remake) simply because I didn't have a New Year's Eve movie on the list.

Feel free to share any favorite holiday-themed cult movies that aren't on this list. 'Tis the season for some of us to enjoy some really good bad movies.

There should be two lists: Which actress makes the most and which actress deserves the most. The Hollywood Reporter released their annual list of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, and leading the pack is Reese Witherspoon, who commands a whopping $15 to $20 million per film. Since winning an Oscar for her performance in Walk the Line, Witherspoon has starred in Just Like Heaven, Penelope and Rendition -- all of which did poop at the box office (save for Penelope which never opened). Will she still be demanding this much next year? God, I hope not. Geez, friggin' Carrot Top entertains more people than this gal.

Number two on the list, of course, is Angelina Jolie (though she only earned $8 million for lending her voice and body to Beowulf). Next up are Cameron Diaz ($15 million per film), Nicole Kidman ($10-15 million), Renee Zellweger ($10-15 million), Sandra Bullock ($10-15 million) and Julia Roberts ($10-15 million). Drew Barrymore, Jodie Foster and Halle Berry round out the list with around $10 to $12 million each per film. Out of all those names, unfortunately, I believe Jolie was the only one to turn in a great performance this year in A Mighty Heart (we'll see if Kidman redeems herself in both Margot at the Wedding and The Golden Compass come awards time). The rest? Blah. So blah. Might as well take all their photos and slide them next to the word 'overrated' in the dictionary. So, in your opinion, who deserves the most? And feel free to list someone not mentioned here.