Want to know the status of a particular movie, TV show, or band? Wondering what a certain actress is up to these days? Send your entertainment-related questions to [email protected] – with your first name, city and country – and we’ll try to answer as many as we can.
Question: I loved But I’m a Cheerleader, and I have watched Itty Bitty Titty Committee ten times now. Enough already! When is Jamie Babbit‘s next movie coming out?
ÔÇò Tina, Columbia, MD Answer: Did you check out Babbit’s 2005 feature, The Quiet, starring Elisha Cuthbert, Camilla Belle and Edie Falco? If not, the cast alone should be enough to send you to the video store.
I passed your question along to Babbitt, who told me:
I’m currently casting for my new film called Breaking The Girl. It’s tonally in the vein of Body Heat, with lots of bi beauties and femme fatales. I’ve been working on the script with Guinevere Turner (Go Fish), and a Canadian company is financing the film, hopefully soon.So it sounds like you may have to be patient for a little while longer. However, I have it on good authority that she will soon be appearing as a guest on Brunch With Bridget.
Question: Ok, this sounds crazy but I’m sure that I hear the voice of the one and only Dawn Denbo (Elizabeth Keener) on the new Eminem CD. Am I right? Also, can you tell me again why she wasn’t in the last season of The L Word? That show sucked without her!
ÔÇò Brett, NY Answer: If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me why Elizabeth Keener wasn’t in the final season of The L Word, I’d have enough money to post bail for Alice in that British prison where she’s probably still languishing since The Farm didn’t get picked up. But I guess there are some mysteries in life that we can never fully understand.
Anyway, I contacted Keener and asked if she did in fact appear on Eminem’s new CD, Relapse. She told me that it was indeed her voice that you hear. Actually, what she really said was, “Double D and Eminem (MM)…best two letters in the alphabet, yo!”
You get the picture.
Question: My favorite person in the whole cast of 3Way was Maile Flanagan. She was so crazy and funny! What is she doing next?
ÔÇò Robin E.
Answer: Funny you should ask about Maile Flanagan, as I just went to see her in the hilarious play, Voice Lessons, in Hollywood, starring Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) and French Stewart (3rd Rock From the Sun).
One of the fun things about going to see theatre in Los Angeles is having a celebrity sighting in the audience with you. The row directly behind me was filled with Metcalf’s former Roseanne castmate Johnny Galecki and other members of his new show, The Big Bang Theory. (Also there was John Mahoney, my favorite of the Frasier crew.) If you’re in the Los Angeles area and want to catch the show, it runs through the end of June. Anyway, I caught up with Flanagan, and here’s what she told me:
In July, you can spot me in the feature film 500 Days of Summer, starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Also in July, you can hear me in the animated film Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. I just recorded a voice for a new feature with Johnny Depp called Rango, which will be out in…oh, two years or so.And they said that James Brown was the hardest working individual in show business! (Okay, I know they said “man” but that old phrase really needed to be modernized.)I’ve been plugging away on my cartoon Naruto (just finished my 275th episode, 20th video game) where I play the title role, and voicing a recurring role on Back At the Barnyard at Nickelodeon. I have some great possibilities coming up, so keep your fingers crossed ÔÇò and if you didn’t catch Yes Man in theaters (also with Zooey Deschanel, and no, I’m not stalking her), it’s recently out on DVD, so rent it and you’ll spot me!
Question: I was wondering what the status is on The Runaways movie. Are they still holding auditions, and when are they going to start filming?
ÔÇò Priscilla W., Austin, TX Answer: They’ve got a pretty tight lid on The Runaways, because not much new information is available at this time. Back in 2007, it was announced that the film would be made, and according to IMDb.com the film is still in pre-production. They’ve listed late spring 2009 as the production start date, but since the first day of summer is officially June 21 this year, they don’t have much time left to hit that deadline.
So far, the only casting news we’ve heard is that Kristen Stewart (Twilight) will play Joan Jett and that Stewart’s The Twilight Saga: New Moon co-star Dakota Fanning will play lead singer Cherie Currie. No word yet on who might play the other members of the band, so perhaps they are still casting. Stella Maeve (Gossip Girl) is rumored to be playing the role of the late Sandy West, but no word yet on who will slap into the sizeable platforms worn by guitarist Lita Ford.
For what it’s worth, I’d suggest Lauren Conrad (The Hills) for the role of Lita Ford, for absolutely no other reason than the fact that she looks a little like Ford in her youth. If we’re relying on acting ability, however, then I’ll go back to the drawing board. Plus, Ford would probably kick my ass for that casting pick anyway.
The film will be written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, who’s directed a slew of music videos, including Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People.”
The good news is that Jett is one of the producers, which means that we’ll be getting the real story ÔÇò or at least Jett’s version of it. They’re shooting for a 2010 release, and I’ll keep you posted as more information is made available.
Question: Saving Face (2004) is probably my favorite lesbian film of all time. While I’d love a sequel, I’m not betting on it happening. So instead I will ask, what is everyone from the film doing now?
ÔÇò Kirsten, Phoenix, AZ
Answer: For my sake, I hope by “everyone” you mean the cast and the director, because I’m really not wanting to track down the production assistants. Writer/director Alice Wu has been working on Foreign Babies in Beijing, a comedy based on the memoir of Rachel DeWoskin about how, as a 21-year-old poetry major looking for adventure, she headed to China and became an overnight sensation as the American vixen of a Chinese soap opera. The film is listed as still being in development, so no word yet on when shooting may start or when we can expect to see it.
Michelle Krusiec (who played “Wil”) has a couple of film credits from 2008 (What Happens in Vegas, Henry Poole is Here), and also appeared in an episode of My Own Worst Enemy and several episodes of the recently cancelled Dirty Sexy Money.
According to her website, Krusiec has been cast in the pilot episode of Arrested Development writer/director Mitchell Hurwitz’s new project, Happiness Isn’t Everything, which also stars Mary Steenburgen, Richard Dreyfuss, and Jason Biggs.
Lynn Chen (“Vivian”) was in Lakeview Terrace in 2008, and has a couple of films coming out in 2009, including Why Am I Doing This? (with I Can’t Think Straight’s Sheetal Sheth) and White On Rice (with Maile Flanagan’s 3Way castmate Cathy Shim). She’s currently shooting, The People I’ve Slept With, with Wilson Cruz and…Cathy Shim. Again? Hmm….people lesbians will talk…
Finally, the amazing Joan Chen is in post-production with Tonight at Noon (which started shooting in 2005), starring Ethan Hawke and my personal favorite cast member of Six Feet Under, Lauren Ambrose. Chen recently completed shooting on Mao’s Last Dancer, a drama based on the autobiography of ballet dancer Li Cunxin, which is slated for an October 2009 release.
Joan Chen is also a talented filmmaker in her own right, writing, directing and producing the award-winning film Xiu Xiu, the Sent Down Girl (Tian Yu) in 1998, and directing Autumn in New York in 2000. Since Wu seems to be busy with her Foreign Babies, maybe Chen could take the reigns on that Saving Face sequel that we’d all like to see.
A special thanks goes out to AE reader TruMischief for her invaluable research assistance with the Ask AfterEllen.com column.
A new edition of Ask AfterEllen.com is published every other Tuesday. Have a question for us? Email it to [email protected]. For more entertainment news, read previous editions of Ask AfterEllen.com, and check out AfterElton.com’s weekly entertainment Q&A column, Ask The Flying Monkey.
