Casting Sinatra Biopic

Awhile back we were casting the Steve McQueen biopic. But now that Martin Scorsese has signed on to direct the Frank Sinatra biopic, I think this casting call is the more interesting one. Word on the street is that the front-runners areLeonardo DiCaprio, Harry Connick Jr and Justin Timberlake.

• While DiCaprio is not a singer, that may not be as much of an issue, since Scorsese and the Sinatra family favor using Frank's own singing in the film.

• Also key to the project were family concerns about how Sinatra's reported ties to the Mafia would be recounted.

• The working script by ''Field of Dreams'' writer Phil Alden Robinson does include a Chicago scene -- so we might see some filming here, though the bulk of the picture will be shot in New York, New Jersey, California and Vegas.

• It's also expected that Scorsese will incorporate material from his long-stalled film about Sinatra pal and fellow ''Rat Pack'' member Dean Martin into the Sinatra movie.

• Word has it, Scorsese is looking at telling Sinatra's story in a non-traditional way -- with hints it might look something like Todd Haynes' 2007 Bob Dylan biopic, ''I'm Not There.'' Though unlike the Dylan film, which cast six actors to play the music legend, Scorsese has made it clear he will go with one actor to play the Chairman of the Board.


I like Leo for it. Who do YOU like?

EDITED TO ADD: Perez is reporting that Johnny Depp is Universal's first choice to play Ol' Blue Eyes. If Depp signs on to this project it will be his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese. VERY exciting!

Steve McQueen Biopics In The Works

Like most thirty-something year old guys, my husband is a HUGE Steve McQueen fan. Get him started and you'll hear how cool McQueen was, how he was a REAL MAN, how he was like THE MAN. Me? I don't get the Steve McQueen thing mainly because I've never seen any of his movies. Don't judge - I hate action and the 70's kind of give me a rash. Just because I don't get it doesn't mean I dispute it, tho! In fact, I'd like to get to know Steve. In a world full of Zac Efron's and overly thought out hair and eyeliner, I long for a real man's man.
(with Natalie Wood)

Not too long ago my husband came home from work all excited because a Steve McQueen biopic is in the works. Competing biopics for that matter! According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The first project, titled My Husband My Friend, is being developed by McQueen’s former publicist David Foster with Roderick and Bruce Taylor, writers of The Brave One, working on the script. It’s based on a memoir written by Neile McQueen Toffel, the star’s first wife.

The second is to be penned by Jesse Wigutow for producers Michael Cerenzie and Christine Peters. It will be based on Marshall Terrill’s biography Steve McQueen: Portrait of an American Rebel. Joining the project as producers are Paramount and Brian Oliver and Chuck Rock of Arthaus Pictures.

Wigutow’s script will chronicle the scope of McQueen’s life, from his early days in reform school to his death from cancer in 1980 at age 50. “McQueen wasn’t only the leading man of his era, he was the prototype for the modern-day movie star,” Wigutow said.

Upon hearing the wonderous news, my husband and I started casting Steve McQueen biopics ourselves. Turns out, it's fun! And...turns out, I think Zac Efron is sniffing around. Ew!

Efron mentions McQueen in this month's GQ: "He’s been getting into Newman’s films lately, he says. Him and Steve McQueen. When-men-were-men kind of actors, and guys who never seemed to put a foot wrong, careerwise, despite not appearing to give that much of a shit about anything but the work.”

Now, I'm not saying there's no place for Zac - but starring in a STEVE FREAKING McQUEEN biopic is NOT it! Here's our list:


Daniel Craig seems to be a favorite choice. He certainly LOOKS like McQueen, especially in his older years - but what about the younger years? I dunno. (It has been reported that one of McQueen's wives would like to see Craig as her late husband.)

I said Leonardo DiCaprio because he could do young and he could be aged. While DiCaprio is in his 30's, I think he could easily pull off 20's and 40's. He's got legitimacy as a REAL actor, but it would have to be one hell of a script and one hell of a director to make it happen. Marty Scorsese?

Then my husband said, "What about James Franco?" And I squealed. I love Franco because he's so cool and he's legit - but not TOO "popular." He's pretty, but not TOO pretty. I like it....do you like it?



Let's hope the dueling biopics don't fight with eachother and stop either one from happening like all of the Janis Joplin biopics we've been teased with for years.

Leo Partying At Paris' Place

SO. Gross.

Why would Leonardo DiCaprio be hanging out with Paris Hilton?!

*shudder*

EVERY home should have a built-in party space. Paris Hilton tells Esquire about her place in Los Angeles: "The best thing I've ever bought with money is my house. Having a nightclub in your house really helps for having a party." Leonardo DiCaprio (above) apparently agrees. He and Kevin Connolly hit her place the other night for some "drinking and chilling out." DiCaprio "was on his BlackBerry most of the night," said our spy, possibly with girlfriend Bar Refaeli, who was not at the shindig.
(Source: Page Six)

Kate Winslet & Leo DiCaprio: BFF's!

Ah!! Do you love it or do you love it that Kate Winslet considers Leo DiCaprio her BFF?!?!

KATE WINSLET felt awkward filming a sex scene with LEONARDO DiCAPRIO for a forthcoming movie - because her husband SAM MENDES was directing.

The pair, who played lovers in 1997's Titanic, are working together on upcoming film Revolutionary Road, and are again playing a couple.

But is was during a love scene that Winslet suddenly felt uncomfortable having her husband directing the picture.

She says, "I just kept saying, 'This is too... weird.' And Leo was like, 'Oh, get over it.' And I'm going, 'Yeah, a little reminder: You're my best friend. He's my husband. This is a bit weird.'

"I hadn't realised how much my chemistry with him since Titanic would still stick. It's great to discover we can just slip right into it, like muscle memory."

And Winslet confesses that she knew she would work with DiCaprio again, and orchestrated getting him on-board the movie.

She adds, "We knew that if we were going to do something again, it had to be something big and emotional. I played this very clever cat-and-mouse game to get my husband and then my best friend involved."

(Source: Showbiz Spy)

Page Six Blind Items

WHICH friendly actor recently fell off the wagon? Though he's been in rehab several times, he was spotted stumbling out of a Hollywood hotel at 7 a.m. looking totally "wasted" . . .

My guess is definitely Matthew Perry. "Friendly" actor? Rehab several times? That's a pretty easy one.


WHICH young soap starlet made networks execs extremely nervous when she was starting out? She was known for fooling around with her much older producers?

My guess is Leven Rambin who has been stalking Mark Ronson.

WHICH Hollywood hunk cheats on his gorgeous model girlfriend all the time? They've been together for a while but he's clearly not ready to settle down.

My guess for this one is Leo DiCaprio.