In spring of 2007, Dorothy Snarker challenged us to cast the upcoming biopic of the '70s girl-group-punk-band, The Runaways.

The production team has finally begun to do the work for us. It was announced today that Kristen Stewart has been cast as young Joan Jett.

I’ve read a few comments indicating that some folks find this to be terrible casting, but I’m not yet sure how to react. I know that I want this movie to be done well. The Runaways paved the way for other women rockers and their legacy deserves respect. Additionally, I’m quite impressed that the band members generally survived teenage punk stardom quite well.

Bassist Jackie Fox is an entertainment lawyer in Southern California. Lead singer Cherrie Currie owns a chainsaw art gallery in Chatsworth, Calif. … continue reading

Dear poster makers of the world, I have a bone to pick with you. Never, ever do this to Lena Headey's head again.

The new poster for Lena's upcoming thriller, The Broken is, um, shattering. Actually, the poster is pretty cool. It's just the unsettling thought of Lena's cracked head that gives me pause. But then I guess that's the point. And just in case the one-sheet wasn't getting the message across, the international trailer amps up the fright factor.

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Television has given us many great mysteries. Who shot J.R.? Who killed Laura Palmer? Who keeps supporting David Caruso’s acting career? But, come January, the only mystery every gay, bisexual and just bi-curious shoe-wearing gal will care about will be, “Who will Ilene Chaiken kill?” Well, if you can't wait or you already know, we need to talk.

Let me say, in the clearest and most emphatic terms possible: This is a spoiler post about the sixth season of The L Word. Let me repeat, this is not a test. This is a huge, big, red, flashing SPOILER ALERT. If you do not want to know what happens in the new season, stop reading now. I mean it. This is your final warning. Spoilers lie ahead. I cannot and will not be held responsible for what happens to your childlike innocence if you click “continue reading.”

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A bit of musical theater advice: If you live in or near New York or are planning to visit in the next month, and you have not seen Hairspray on Broadway, now is the time. The six-and-a-half year Broadway run ends on Jan. 4, 2009. To send it out in style, Harvey Fierstein is reprising his role as Edna Turnblad, and Marissa Jaret Winokur, the original Broadway Tracy Turnblad, returns next week to close out the show.

However, it seems the end of the Broadway run won’t stop the beat. Apparently, we can expect Hairspray 2: Electric Boogaloo in 2010. According to Adam Shankman, director of the movie version of the Broadway musical (not to be confused with the original John Waters film), there’s a concept and an outline, and it’s “going out to writers.”

In the Hairspray sequel, Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) and company will deal with the next wave of '60s music and '60s politics, and Link (Zac Efron) will “channel his inner Austin Powers.”

My first reaction is pretty much summed up in an article I found titled, “Hairspray 2: Why, God, Why?”

Is a sequel really a good idea? Have there been any good movie musical sequels? The Disney musical sequels have all gone direct to video. Did The Muppet Movie sequels even have songs? And as much as I love Grease 2 — and I love it very, very much — I would never argue that it’s actually a good movie. … continue reading

The January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair magazine devotes the cover and a lengthy article to writer/producer/TV star Tina Fey, whom AfterEllen.com readers voted the hottest woman of 2008 earlier this year because she's smart, sexy, funny, feminist, and gay-friendly. (Tina's response? She told a magazine she was "flattered" to top the AfterEllen.com list, because "I think those girls take more of a 3-D picture before they decide they like somebody.")

Maureen Dowd's four-page profile in Vanity Fair is full of great information and new comments from/about Tina, on topics ranging from 30 Rock, sexism, Sarah Palin, that scar on her cheek, and why she didn't have many dates in high school.

In the beginning of the article, Tina and her husband Jeff recount a story about how, when they were first dating, he and some of his friends suggested they go to a strip club "ironically."

Tina's response? "I was like, 'The f--k you will!'"

It only gets better from there. … continue reading

Hollywood thinks Evan Rachel Wood plays a great lesbian. I can't disagree, I have enjoyed all of her roles, especially the ones in which she ends up kissing other girls.

As a preteen, she was playing gay on the TV show Once and Again, where she fell for her BFF, played by Mischa Barton.

In the film Thirteen, she wasn't a lesbian, but she did share a few French kisses with her best friend, Evie (Nikki Reed). The two had a very close friendship, as you can see.

Now Wood is appearing alongside Mickey Rourke in the Darren Aronofsky film The Wrestler, where she plays a retired professional wrestler's estranged lesbian daughter, Stephanie. … continue reading

Death. Accusations. Investigations. Prison. Yes, yes, that's all fine and good for the final season of The L Word. But we really want to know is how the women who long love lust actually look in the sixth season. Showtime released the first stills for the new season this week. After seeing them I've decided I don't care who they kill off as long as Jennifer Beals' arms get to live.

While I'll never fully understand some of the frilly, flouncy fashions the characters wears on the show, I always appreciate how the actresses pull them off. Let's take a sneak peek at what the new season has in store. We'll go alphabetically, so as not to play favorites.

Alice (Leisha Hailey): I had a momentary panic when I thought this was her new season 6 haircut. But it is just pulled back. False alarm, people, back to your stations.

Hey, sweetie, you need to work on your “Officer, I-didn't-do-it face.”

Bette (Jennifer Beals): Wait, is she wearing a giant BeDazzled butterfly bow?

Damn, she is. … continue reading

The Grey's Anatomy surprises keep rolling in. The latest is that writer and actress Jennifer Westfeldt will join the cast this season for multiple episodes and will be playing a patient. No word yet on when her storyline will premiere, or any details about her character.

Westfeldt had a role on the recently canceled ABC sitcom Notes from the Underbelly, and is working on Then Again, a Hallmark Channel original movie slated to premiere in 2009.

But Westfeldt is perhaps best known for co-writing and starring in the indie romantic comedy hit Kissing Jessica Stein (2001), in which she tormented her girlfriend (Kissing co-writer Heather Juergensen) with a variety of neurotic objections and ailments before they split and she moved on to aggravate a new (and this time male) partner.

Helen Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt in Kissing Jessica Stein

Since there's scant information about the role she'll play on Grey's Anatomy, I can't help but picture Westfeldt as Jessica Stein checked in at Seattle Grace Hospital, where an array of tests are being run to determine whether or not being annoying is an incurable condition.

The only good part of my imaginary storyline? The amazing Tovah Feldshuh, who played Westfeldt's mother, Judy, in Kissing Jessica Stein. She would undoubtedly be there to both coddle and pester her skittish daughter, and maybe even successfully set her up with a nice doctor.

Any chance that doctor could be Callie Torres? If Westfeldt/Stein's stay at Seattle Grace coincides with sweeps week, then it just might happen! … continue reading

I’m ashamed to admit that I was part of the Arrested Development problem. I didn’t listen when people said it was the best show that nobody was watching and did not appreciate its brilliance until it was too late. Of course, I didn’t have a Neilsen Box, so I didn’t actually affect the ratings — and I eventually did my part by purchasing all three seasons on DVD — but if I had begun watching when it mattered, perhaps I could have done something to keep it on the air. At the very least, I could have cared.

But now Arrested Development is back! I don’t know if there is a screenplay or even a plot outline, but the word about town is that the producers have signed a deal and that all of the actors — except one — are set to return. The lone holdout is a mystery at this point. Apparently, several people confirmed that there is one, but nobody will say who it is.

I’m wishing with all my might that the holdout is not one of the women. While the show was enhanced by some memorable recurring women (Liza Minelli as Lucille Austero, Judy Greer as Kitty, Charlize Theron as Rita), the Bluth/Fünke women were some of the funniest, most horrifyingly appealing women on television. It would be wrong to go forward without any of the women, but if one if them is the holdout, I’m trying to imagine how it could work. … continue reading