A&E is doing a Psycho prequel and they just found the actress who will make Norman Bates the man of your nightmares. Elsewhere in showbiz news: Tom Hardy successfully pitches an anti-poaching movie, Jamie Bell joins a serious upcoming movie, and Cobie Smulders is blowing up.
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Actress Vera Farmiga has just signed on to play Norma Bates, mother of Psycho psycho Norman, in an A&E prequel series that someone is making for some reason. She's not going to be some typically hectoring harridan mama, though. This Norma Bates is described as "complicated, passionate, and compelling, Norma Louise is a smart, multidimensional character who is always capable of surprising us." You mean surprising us by doing things like turning her son into a serial killer? That sort of surprise? Anyway, like we said we're not sure why this thing exists in the first place, but at least Vera Farmiga is a very good actress, so hopefully she'll lend something good to it. They haven't cast Norman yet, which worries us. Farmiga isn't that old, so maybe this is going to have to be a late teens/early twenties Norman? Meaning, they're going to cast Ezra Miller, aren't they? Please dear god tell me they're not going to cast Ezra Miller. [Entertainment Weekly]
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Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and Tobey Maguire were out drinking one night and Hardy started telling them stories about his former military buddies who turned into anti-poaching dudes down in South Africa, and Leo and Tobey were like "Whoaaaa dude" and were totally impressed (and a little intimidated) and then Leo was like "Hey that could be a really cool movie" and Hardy was like "Yeah that's what I'm saying, like Traffic or some sh-t but about animal poaching, y'know?" and so now that's going to be a movie, because these were not just three regular drunk dudes inventing movie ideas, they were movie stars. It's unclear whether or not any of them will actually be in the movie, but they're now looking to hire a writer, transmorgifying their idle cocktail chatter into a paycheck and a screenplay. That night after they exhausted the topic of the poaching movie they told some jokes for a little while and then things got weird when Tom and Leo noticed that Tobey was quietly crying and they were like "Dude, what... what's wrong?" and Tobey told them how much his feelings were hurt by the new Spider-Man movie being a hit and it got really uncomfortable until Tom slapped Tobey on the back and said, "Oi! Man up," and Leo, wanting to be like Tom, also slapped Tobey on the back saying, "Yeah, come on, man up" and Tobey sniffled some and whimpered a bit but he eventually stopped and then the doorbell rang and the models had arrived. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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You have been standing by the lighthouse on the cliff looking out to sea for 18 months now, waiting for Wedding Band, that show about a wedding band starring Brian Austin Green and Michael from Lost, to finally air on TBS, and now, finally, it is time. Wedding Band will be appearing on TBS on Saturday, November 10th at 10pm. Yes. At long last. You've stood a noble vigil and soon it will be done. Wedding Band will be here. In a few short months. You have been faithful. Faithful ever, and now God has given you your reward. [Deadline]
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Lars Von Trier has cast all-grown-up Billy Elliot, real name Jamie Bell, in his latest movie, Nymphomaniac. Yeah, that's this British fellow in a movie called Nymphomaniac. Which... Ahem. [Vulture]
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Would you have ever guessed that out of all the How I Met Your Mother cast members who aren't Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders would be the one to find mainstream movie success? Well, that seems to be just what is happening. First she had a role in The Avengers and now she's been cast as the lady lead in the new Vince Vaughn comedy Starbuck. Sure she's just The Girl in a movie all about a dude, but still. Cobie Smulders is getting big parts in movies now. Not Josh Radnor. Not Alyson Hannigan (American Pie does not count). Not even Neil Patrick Harris. Cobie Smulders. How about that. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Nickelodeon has canceled its show How to Rock after one season. That's the one starring Master P's daughter, Cymphonique Miller. (Yes, that is what that sentence is supposed to say.) How to Rock was another of Nickelodeon's attempts to ape the bright cheery tween-pop shows that have kept the Disney Channel in mouse ears so successfully over the years, but I guess it didn't quite stick. So, that's rough. Telling a cast that their show is canceled must be bad on its own, but when that cast is kids? That must be brutal. "Sorry, children. America doesn't like you. No one watched you. Nobody cared about you, kids. Sorry." Terrible. Sorry, Cymphonique. [Deadline]
Here are two promos for the upcoming HBO movie The Girl, about Alfred Hitchcock's obsession with Tippi Hedren while they filmed The Birds. Or before they filmed The Birds? After? It's not entirely clear. Anyway, the point is that Sienna Miller makes a perfectly passable Tippi Hedren, but Toby Jones makes a pretty terrifying Alfred Hitchcock, doesn't he? Yikes. [Entertainment Weekly]
