This news is actually more than a few days old -- and it was so buried within a Jennifer Garner press release that I just missed it. No matter, I'm sure it's new to most of you.

According to Variety, Garner has signed a first look deal with Warner Brothers for her Vandalia Films, and one of the upcoming films on her slate is 3 Days in Europe in which she will co-star and co-produce with Hugh Jackman.

Europe is a romantic adventure about a couple embroiled in danger and excitement on what was supposed to be their perfect Valentine's Day vacation. It's based on the graphic novel by Anthony Johnston and Michael Hawthorne. (And published by Oni Press, who just sold The Damned last week, as reported by Scott Weinberg, as well as Scott Pilgrim. ) No director has been named, and no start date. Given how full both actors' slates are, it could be awhile.

Of course this is based on a graphic novel! Jackman is addicted to them. He's obviously given up his plans to revive the musical (drat!) and is just going to adapt all things comic related. In lieu of this information, I've decided I am going to give up my Cinematical gig and write a graphic novel about a 20-something chick who has a specialty in Anglo-Saxon literature, and ... well, I'm still working out the middle. I'll need someone to do the illustrations, but we'll have a buyer.

[via SuperheroHype.com]

Since Ricky Gervais has always been a chatty sort, it should come as no surprise that for his directorial debut, This Side of the Truth, the film would come hand in hand with its very own blog. Gervais is directing alongside Matthew Robinson (they also wrote the film) and the story is set in a future where no one lies -- heck, they don't even know how.

Gervais reportedly plays a history professor who 'invents' the art of deception. At first, he only uses his new found skill to liven up his lectures, but he then turns to the more important task of landing a woman who is way out of his league (as played by Jennifer Garner). Other members of the cast include, Jonah Hill, Rob Lowe and Louis C.K.

Gervais has been massively successful in his previous online adventures, and his blog for Truth will probably be no exception. Even without his usual cohorts on hand, these short clips are still pretty funny. One thing is for sure, Robinson seems to think it's a hoot since you can hear him giggling throughout. There is no promise of how often Gervais will be updating the blog, mainly because production on the film has already started. According to Gervais, casting has almost been finalized and shooting should begin soon on location in Boston. Hopefully he will find the time to keep the updates coming. This Side of the Truth is expected to arrive in theaters later this year.

He was the talk of the red carpet Sunday night after interrupting Ryan Seacrest's interview with Jennifer Garner, only to wrap Garner in a bear-hug and kiss her neck. I'd say the poor gal was a bit freaked out. And then there's Gary Busey's date in the background, trying to push her way in toward Seacrest, smiling like a moron in that ugly green dress. Anyway, Busey, as always, was a maniac. Now, check out what happened after the ceremony (I believe it's after), as an 11-year-old female reporter attempts to approach Busey for an interview.

She sounds like a cute girl, shooting these red carpet things for a website called StarzLife.com. I don't think she runs the website, but they most likely brought her in to do the reporting -- probably because it was the only way they could get a celeb to talk to them. So the girl tries to talk to Busey, and the guy just verbally abuses her. Not so much that he was making fun of her, but treating her like a complete moron -- raising his voice, asking her to repeat the question 30 times, then refusing to give the girl a shout out for the site. "I don't do shout outs," he, well, shouted.

But we'll give her a shout out. Go visit StarzLife.com. There ya go kid. Check out the video above.

[via EW]

The other day, Erik asked you for your ideas on new Oscar categories to shake things up a bit. I don't think it's Jon Stewart's fault the Oscar's tanked, but will he be asked back next year? I'm betting not, but who knows? Meanwhile, Cinematical's Chris Campbell, who also writes for Spoutblog.com with former Cine EIC Karina Longworth, has some excellent ideas for ways to boost the Oscar ratings.

My favorite among his suggestions is the Gary Busey Red Carpet. Hell yeah! Get rid of Regis, who's about as boring as watching bread get moldy, and bring on the Busey action. He can show up drunk with his fly open, and attack all the talent as they make their walk up the red carpet. It'll be almost like adding a sporting event to the Oscars -- duck and run from Gary Busey before he attacks your neck!

Poor Jennifer Garner would probably have to bring an entourage of everyone who's f*cking her husband, Ben Affleck, to be her body shield against further Busey attacks. For added fun, Busey can bring along his son Jake, who can also get drunk and talk loudly to everyone within ear range about how he's Gary Busey's son. The two of them could become a regular Oscar team like Melissa and Joan Rivers ... only drunker and with less cleavage and plastic surgery.

For more of Chris's ideas, including what Diablo Cody should have really done on that stage, go read the full piece.

Maybe I'm just indulging with some wishful thinking, but with a cast like this in a story from the mind of Ricky Gervais, what could possibly go wrong? The Hollywood Reporter announced that Jonah Hill has signed up for a role in Gervais' romantic comedy, This Side of the Truth. Hill will be joining Gervais, Rob Lowe, Jennifer Garner and Louis C.K. in the story of the first man who more or less invents the art of lying.

The official story is described as "a storyteller whose job is to ramble on about the 1300s. Faced with losing his job because his terrain is a boring period in history once he gets beyond the Black Death, he invents lying as a way to save himself." Of course he becomes seduced by this awesome power and uses it to woo a woman who is way out of his league. Garner stars as that woman, Hill will play Gervais' depressed neighbor, and comedian C.K will appear as Hill's loser roommate.

The film is Gervais' first stab at directing a feature film and he will be sharing the duties along with his writing partner Matthew Robinson. Personally I was hoping for someone a little, well, funnier for the part of 'the girl' but maybe this is Jennifer Garner's chance to finally be funny (especially since I like to pretend that the irritating and somewhat sexist comedy 13 Going on 30 never existed). I guess I'll find out just how funny Garner can be when This Side of the Truth arrives in theaters sometime in 2009.

If you ask me, it's about time that Michael Douglas got the chance to play with his reputation as a lady killer and, frankly, a bit of a hound. ComingSoon recently got the chance to speak with The Spiderwick Chronicles director Mark Waters and managed to score a little casting scoop for his next project, The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. According to their sources, Douglas is in talks to appear in the comedy alongside Matthew McConaughey.

The story centers on "a womanizer (McConaughey) who attends the wedding of his younger brother and bride. There, he's haunted by several old flames, including the bride's best friend. Douglas will play "Uncle Wayne, a '70s playboy, who was his mentor and he wears Bob Evans shades and guides him (McConaughey) around the ghost world". The cast also includes Jennifer Garner as one of McConaughey's exes, Lacy Chabert (Black Christmas) as the bride, as well as Anne Archer and Emma Stone (Superbad).

Originally, the film was set to star Ben Affleck with Betty Thomas directing. The production hit a snag when Disney shut the film down and Affleck walked away from the film. Maybe Affleck just wasn't looking forward to all the conversations at home on the subject of previous girlfriends. McConaughey then rode in to save the day and now the film is back on. Plus, I have to agree with Waters when he says that, "There's something great about Matthew. He has an aspect of him that he can get away with murder with women. He's the kind of guy where women are apologizing to him when he breaks up with them, because he's so charming". Girlfriends Past will start shooting February 19th in Boston and will hit theaters sometime in 2009.

Remember that upcoming movie about the guy who is the first person to lie, and "harnesses its power for personal gain?" That's the Ricky Gervais comedy The Other Side of Truth, which is now called This Side of the Truth. Gervais wrote the script with Matthew Robinson, and the two will share helming duties this spring, when the flick jumps into production. In November, he picked himself a cute love interest in Jennifer Garner, and now Variety reports that Rob Lowe has also jumped into the mix. Uh oh. Could Ricky really compete with Robby?

As it's being described now, the comedy focuses on Gervais, who is "a storyteller whose job is to ramble on about the 1300s. Faced with losing his job because his terrain is a boring period in history once he gets beyond the Black Death, he invents lying as a way to save himself." I'm really loving this latest description of the film, as I can't help but be interested in spastic premises from entertaining comedians. So through lying, Gervais' character becomes a success and woos a looker out of his league (Garner), but I wonder how Lowe fits in. Will he ultimately get the girl when Ricky's lies are revealed? Or, will he have charmed her so much that not even Lowe could rip her away? We'll find out some time in 2009.

The pieces have now fallen into place for the upcoming Mark Waters romcom The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Back in September, Jennifer Garner was circling the long-gestating project, which already had Matthew McConaughey so surprisingly attached as the lead womanizer. (Fun note: Jen's hubby was originally attached to the film, but now she gets to run around with another guy instead.) Now The Hollywood Reporter has laid out the plot and main players. Matt and Jenn will be joined by Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Anne Archer, Amanda Walsh, and Emma Stone.

So, McConaughey is "Connor, a womanizer who attends the wedding of his younger brother (Meyer) and bride (Chabert). There, he's haunted by several old flames, including the bride's best friend (Garner)." I have to say, it's strange to think of Meyer as an adult and not a Clueless skater, or to think of Chabert getting married. Man, I'm getting old. Anyway, by "womanizer," they're not meaning just a deluge of sexy women who are Connor's age -- Archer, who will play Chabert's mom, is also "a potential Connor conquest," while Walsh will be the one "bridesmaid he hasn't conquered." (Canadian audiences will recognize her as the ex Much Music VJ.) This suggests that Garner is definitely the school sweetheart, since she's Chabert's best friend, but not the one girl who hasn't gotten it on with Connor. (Unless, for some reason, her best friend isn't in her wedding party.)

Stone, finally, will lead Connor through his womanizing wasteland. A move from Superbad paramour to supernatural guide isn't bad at all. Production begins this month in Boston.

While she's no Gary Oldman, Jennifer Garner has made a pretty decent career for herself in polar opposite parts. Most recently, she's yearned for a baby of her own in the hugely raved about Juno, but she's also the international spy lady behind the old television show Alias. That means, of course, that she has close ties to J.J. Abrams, who was the creator of the hit show. He also just so happens to be the man who is putting together the new Star Trek sequel. Now she's hoping that'll help nab her a part in the new movie, according to MTV.

Talking about Abrams, Garner says: "He rocks; I would do anything for him." But before anything, she's hoping for a little favor. "I want to be a Klingon in the movie. I just want to walk through [the frame] as a Klingon." Just when you think you have her pegged, you find out that she's a Trekkie! Or at least, "something of a Trekkie." Now this dream would depend upon there actually being Klingons in the film. However, MTV did point out that there is also the possibility that this is a slipped detail about the production. Whether Abrams told her about the inclusion of Klingons, or Garner is just being hopeful, it would definitely be another impressive morph for the actress.

On the other side: Will the Klingons provide the dramatic struggle for all of the young lads and ladies working their way towards fame on the Enterprise? Sound off below.

Consider this a spoiler warning for the whole post, if you still haven't seen The Kingdom. The people over at RopeofSilicon have found the time amidst all their holiday shopping to sit down and listen to Peter Berg's director's commentary on the upcoming DVD of the film and it contains some interesting reveals. According to Berg, the original script had a fascinating and very dark ending -- too dark for it to make it through to the shooting stage. Remember the character of Haytham, the Saudi policeman who gets beaten by the scary general early in the film, because the general suspects he was involved with the terrorist plot? Well, turns out the general was on to something. The original ending of the film, scrapped by Berg, comes after the death of Abu Hamza and all his goons. We see the team going to the airport and all the Saudi good guys they've met during their trip are there to say goodbye to them, including Haytham. Here's how Berg tells it:

"In the original draft, at this moment, when Jamie went to say goodbye Jamie hugged him and he realized that [Haytham] was carrying a bomb on him and the character of Haytham detonated the bomb and the entire team was killed and it was a very powerful ending. At the end we decided it was just too much." Boo. That would have been a much more powerful ending, and much more evocative of the cultural ambiguity that Berg tries to set up with his current ending. I wish they would have at least shot that ending so that we could see how it plays out in comparison, on the DVD perhaps.

To celebrate the impending release date of one of this year's best films, Cinematical has been given this exclusive clip of Juno's star Ellen Page and screenwriter Diablo Cody discussing their all-time favorite movies. And let me just say that Cody jumped up several notches on my People Who Are Awesome list for listing Rushmore among her favorites. Page, on the other hand, is a tad more random in her selections -- although I just about lit up when she mentioned Amelie (one of my personal favs).

In case you weren't already aware, Juno stars Ellen Page as a sarcastic teenager who accidentally gets knocked up by her best friend (as played by the very witty Michael Cera). After deciding to hand the baby off to the seemingly perfect couple of Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, all sorts of shenanigans occur. This is one film you'll definitely want to check out. Oh, and feel free to bring along your recently sexually-active ("what does that even mean") daughter -- she might learn a thing or two. Juno hits select theaters tomorrow and opens nationwide on Christmas Day.

Prepare to suspend disbelief -- Variety is reporting that Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner will be romancing each other in an upcoming comedy. Only in the movies (and in Beverly Hills) can people on such opposite ends of the attractive-o-meter find love. The indie flick, currently titled This Side of the Truth, is "set in a world where lying doesn't exist." Gervais wrote the screenplay with Matthew Robinson, and the pair will co-direct as well. The screenplay "centers on an Everyman (Gervais) who figures out how to lie and uses his newfound ability to woo a beautiful woman way out of his league (Garner) and become a success at work."

It sort of sounds like a reverse Liar Liar, and I can pretty much guarantee with Gervais so heavily involved, this will be one funny flick. If you're not familiar with RIcky, by all means check out BBC's The Office, the original (and still best) British version of the hit Steve Carell show. Gervais just won an Emmy for his performance on the very funny sitcom Extras, which will air an hour-long Christmas special Sunday, December 16th on HBO (Yay!). Garner of course is Mrs. Ben Affleck, and might just be in the running for a supporting actress Oscar nomination for her work in the terrific upcoming comedy Juno. I speak the Truth.

Juno director Jason Reitman has been busy hopping the globe, with his film showing at more festivals than you can count as it nears its big premiere date. Oscar sugarplums have got to be dancing in Reitman's head as his second feature film continues to do well with critics and audiences alike. Reitman is keeping a blog as he travels around for Juno, and he's rumored to love getting comments from fans who read it. In a recent entry, Reitman rants about Saturday Night Fever, which he recently saw for the first time in his hotel room in London.

Criticizing a classic can be dicey, but Reitman bravely takes on the disco drama, breaking down the film's high (and low) lights and telling readers exactly why he thinks this film is a piece of crap:

Am I the only one who thinks this movie totally blows? All that wide angle shooting is really wonky. Everyone's acting like they're on a bad rip-off of "All in the Family". The love interests are not that attractive. The highlight is perhaps a cameo by Fran Dresher... which says a lot.

I checked out Saturday Night Fever's Rotten Tomatoes rating and found it sits at an impressive 97% -- not too shabby, which surprised me, as I've never been enamored of it. Juno is sitting pretty too, with a 100% fresh rating, so I don't think Reitman's suffering from professional jealousy. Reitman also talks about getting the news during his daughter's first birthday party that Juno had won at the Rome Film Festival. The film swept three categories -- the youth jury, the adult jury, and ... a psychologist's association. Well, that's cool -- I guess that means that watching Juno won't screw you up for life or anything.

Oh, and Reitman also talks about meeting up with Darjeeling Limited star Jason Schwartzman when he was in London ... how would it be for Schwartzman to star in a Reitman film? Go check out Reitman's blog for yourself, and be sure to leave him a shout-out.

One of the most talked-about films of the fall (due to its popular run on the festival circuit) is Jason Reitman's Juno. I've heard from several different people that it's "this year's Little Miss Sunshine," and I have yet to meet one person who did not like it. With lots and lots of buzz, Fox Searchlight has decided to push Juno's release date up a bit to capitalize on all the good word, deciding to send their baby out into the world on December 5 (in NY and LA only, before tacking on additional theaters across the country in the weeks to follow). The film was originally set to arrive in limited release on December 14. For those of you who are dying to see Juno, and do not live in either NY or LA, fear not -- Searchlight has set up a number of free promotional screenings in several different cities.

Ah, but if you live in NYC, and want to take advantage of those free promotional screenings, your sh*t out of luck -- they're all booked. Seriously, I took a look at the list and every other screening across the country is open except the four or so screenings in NYC. What gives? Do people in NYC just watch more movies than everyone else? And are they hipper to the stuff that's free? Who knows, and perhaps Searchlight will add a few more screenings in the Big Apple. Directed by Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) Juno stars Ellen Page as a teenager who's accidentally knocked up by her awkward best friend (Michael Cera), and subsequently decides to give the child away to an adorable-looking married couple (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). For more on the film, and to check out the trailer, head on over to Juno's official website.

A world within a world comes crashing down in the opening sequence of The Kingdom, the new film from director (and uncredited actor) Peter Berg. An American compound inside Saudi Arabia, where ballgames and barbecues are the norm and uncovered female faces mock the law that applies outside the gates, is attacked by men with machine guns and bombs. The details are thoroughly convincing in this scene -- as machine gun fire sends the Americans fleeing in a panic, one of the terrorists, wearing the uniform of a Saudi policeman, falsely beckons some of them his way before setting off a vest of explosives. Later that night, after first-responders have quarantined the crime-scene and set up their own camp, a second-wave attack hits, destroying the entire area and creating a media event that has to be dealt with one way or the other by the American political machinery. This is a decent set-up for a movie, and it's as well-executed as you'd want a set-up to be, but it gives birth to an oddly-schizophrenic film.

You could almost call The Kingdom a double-feature, although it seems blithely unaware of its bifurcated status. To explain: the first half of the film -- actually, closer to two-thirds -- is professorial and serious, going so far as to offer the audience a tedious lecture on Saudi Arabia's history and political situation, balancing Western-style realpolitik with the needs of a population that seems to prefer living by religious teachings. As the aftermath of the compound bombing seeps back to Washington, an FBI team led by steely-eyed Jamie Foxx and comprised of Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman, seeks an entry point to the situation; they want to go investigate the bombing, but the State Department prefers to recognize the Saudi government's 'no boots on the ground' mandate, lest they come off as looking like puppets. Much screentime is given over to a scheme by Foxx to blackmail a Saudi diplomat in order to get his team access, and everything up to this point is deliberately structured as a political thriller. That's why the second part of the film is so surprising.