The dude from MTV caught up with Aaron Eckhart outside the Golden Globes last night to ask him if Harvey Dent would have a place in The Dark Knight sequel.  Since the film’s still barely at the brainstorming stage, who really gives a shit.  There’s no way the actors would have that kind of information anyway.  Actually, the reason I’m posting this clip is that I’m impressed by MTV’s ability to consistently produce the most socially awkward interviews imaginable.  Starting at the three-second mark, Eckhart chuckles for seven straight seconds.  I know that doesn’t sound like a super long time, but keep in mind no one made a joke or said anything remotely funny.  Yet Eckhart clearly states, “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.”

Does anyone ever give this guy a straight answer about anything?  That is the fakest laugh I’ve ever heard that didn’t come out of Tom Cruise.  MTV: Where normal human interaction goes to die.

[via MTV]

Since I know you were all on pins and f-ing needles wondering who would take home “Favorite Combined Forces”, the People’s Choice Award winners were announced today.  My sources tell me they may have even been on TV.  The big winner?  The Dark Knight.

The summer blockbuster won for favorite movie, action movie, cast, superhero (Christian Bale) and onscreen matchup (Bale and Heath Ledger) during the ceremony, carried live Wednesday by CBS. [THR]

Also taking home multiple awards were The Secret Life of Bees [they frequent gay bath houses under assumed names when they're not making honey] and favorite male movie star and favorite action star Will Smith, proving that people are stupid and not to be trusted. Meanwhile, at the Peebles’ Choice Awards, Sleepin In narrowly edged out Channel Surfin for Favorite Activity. (full list of winners after the jump)

Read the rest of this entry »

Let me preface this story by saying that by all credible accounts, Chris Nolan still hasn’t officially signed on for a Dark Knight sequel, so all casting rumors at this stage could only turn out to be true by sheer coincidence.  Now that that’s out of the way, let’s all bask in the glow of The Sun, who truly deserve a Pulitzer in unapologetic bullshitting.

FUNNYMAN EDDIE MURPHY will play The Riddler in the next Batman movie, The Sun can reveal.  The Beverly Hills Cop star, 47, has been signed up by British director CHRISTOPHER NOLAN to reprise the role played by JIM CARREY in 1995’s Batman Forever.  The surprise move follows speculation linking Pirates of the Caribbean star JOHNNY DEPP to the part.

They don’t even use “may” or “an insider tells us.” They’re just that sure.

The film, set for a 2010 release, is being developed under the working title Gotham.
Execs have also signed up rising Transformers star SHIA LABEOUF, 22, to play Robin.
CHRISTIAN BALE will return as Bruce Wayne, while MICHAEL CAINE will again play Bruce’s assistant Alfred.
Meanwhile, Brit RACHEL WEISZ is said to be up for the Catwoman role.
Insiders also revealed to The Sun the flick will end on a cliffhanger over whether Batman survives a blast at Wayne Towers.

…And in the FOURTH SCENE, sources say ROBOCOP RIDING A UNICORN will face an epic battle with the PATRICK SWAYZE CENTAUR.   Simply breathtaking.  The depth and breadth of their fake knowledge knows no bounds.  Do you think there’s a meeting where they decide how many made up facts to use? Also, they once again use an obviously photoshopped picture to accompany the story, but if you try to right-click and save it, you get a copyright no-use-without-permission notice.  Really?  You’re claiming a copyright on Eddie Murphy with white hands?  I can’t decide whether to be insulted or to admire them for their balls.  Let’s go with insulted.  Last time I tried to admire a guy’s balls he misinterpreted it and was really just unpleasant about the whole thing.

^{Why so serious?  Oh right, because I’m dead.  Carry on, then.}

Heath Ledger won the Australian Film Institute’s Best Actor Award for his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight.  His family accepted the award on his behalf.  And of course, it just wouldn’t be a film awards ceremony without someone using the phrases “legacy” and “psychopathic clown” in the same sentence.

“It was this swaggering, psychopathic clown that turned his career into a legacy and the name Heath Ledger into an ongoing inspiration to actors everywhere,” the Australia Film Institute said at the awards ceremony Saturday night in Melbourne. [Yahoo]

He was great, and he probably deserves the Oscar, no one’s going to argue that.  But keep in mind the Australian Film Institute is run by Chopper Reid, the director of Turkey Shoot, and the feral child from Mad Max.  I hear he’s a Scientologist now!

Here’s a news lede that has everything:

ISTANBUL – The mayor of Batman, a city recently under scrutiny due to unsolved murders and increasing rates of female suicides, will sue the director of the movie “Batman” movie [sic].

Yes, there is a city in Turkey named “Batman”.  And the mayor is suing Chris Nolan.  Not DC Comics, not Warner Bros, but Chris Nolan.  My sources tell me the only reason he didn’t sue Adam West is that he can hear your thoughts.

“The royalty of the name ‘Batman’ belongs to us … There is only one Batman in the world. The American producers used the name of our city without informing us,” [Mayor Hüseyin] Kalkan told to the Doğan news agency.

Mayor Kalkan said last year foreign media picked up on Batman and the city’s increasing suicide rates among women. He said a columnist asked why Batman’s mayor did not sue the movie Batman for royalties while struggling with economic problems. “We found this criticism right and started to look for legal possibilities of a case like that,” he said.

Meanwhile, local newspaper Batman Çağdaş alleged yesterday that Batman residents living abroad cannot use Batman as a title for their business, leading the municipality to think about the royalty rights of that name.

Batman Çağdaş newspaper reported that Şafii Dağ, a former Batman resident, currently living in the Germany city of Wesel, is one of those citizens who cannot use Batman as a title for his business, according to the newspaper. “I named my two restaurants Batman. But six months ago, a team of employees from the production company of the movie Batman made me change the title. Telling them that Batman was the name of my hometown did not change anything,” Dağ said. [Hurriyet Daily News via GeeksofDoom - Thanks to Kevin for the tip]

You might wonder why a city in Turkey would be named Batman.  The answer is that it’s built on the banks of the Batman River.  Duh.