If you’ll remember, The Reader was the movie that caused the big fight between Les Grossman look-alikes Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin – a Jewhaha, if you will.  The movie will be out January 9th (not in time for awards season like Harvey wanted) and the trailer just hit today.

It stars Ralph Fiennes as a German who discovers the older woman (Kate Winslet) who touched his ding dong when he was younger is on trial for being a member of the SS.  She liked it when he read to her – from “The Odyssey”, “Huck Finn”, and “The Lady with the Little Dog” – hence the title.  It was adapted from the book by Bernhard Schlink.  Meanwhile, The Lady with the Little Dog was adapted into a critically acclaimed film starring Linda Lovelace.
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^{Weinstein and Rudin tied for first in the Les Grossman Lookalike Contest}

So despite the fact that studio head Harvey Weinstein (left) and producer Scott Rudin (right) are basically the same person, they’re in the middle of a big fight.  At issue is The Reader, a movie Billy Elliot director Steven Daldry did for The Weinstein Company.  The film was first delayed 8 weeks by Nicole Kidman’s pregnancy, then faced another, even sexier delay when they had to wait for one of the actors to turn 18 so she could shoot a sex scene.  Even though it started shooting four months behind schedule, Harvey still wanted it finished in time for awards season (deadline is in November), despite that the director, who officially had creative control, said that was basically impossible. Rudin, who backed the director, claims Weinstein explored a number of sleazy options for forcing him to finish earlier, including claiming recently deceased producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella “would have wanted” the movie finished in 2008 (I use that strategy with chicks all the time).  But this is all backstory.  You can get the full rundown here.

Today’s news is that Weinstein offered to give $1 million to charity if someone could produce the supposed email in which Rudin accused him of mistreating Anthony Minghella’s and Sydney Pollack’s families.  It seems a charity is in luck, because Nikki Finke just published it:

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Kate Winslet will be replacing newly pregnant Nicole Kidman in The Reader.

The film is based on German author Bernhard Schlink‘s 1995 bestseller, which Oprah Winfrey also picked for her book club… The movie adaptation is to be directed by Stephen Daldry, who directed Kidman on her way to an Oscar-winning performance as author Virginia Woolf in "The Hours."  [Yahoo]

So let me get this straight, Winslet is replacing Kidman in an Oprah Book Club movie directed by the guy who did The Hours?  I don’t think this could be more boring if it was called Lord and Lady Sussexshire Discuss Gardening Whilst Drinking Chamomile.  

On an unrelated note, the source article had one of these ads.  Uh, who the hell designs these things? They’re terrifying. I can just imagine someone sitting at work thinking, "Fiddlesticks, I can’t afford my house! Maybe you can help, dancing halter-top lady!"  Way to go guys, I really wanna take financial advice from a drunk chick who’s alone at a karaoke bar alone on a Wednesday. (I didn’t mean you, mom, stop pouting).