The third movie in the Twilight Saga, Eclipse, will be on the big, big screen. Which means giant Bella lip biting, hot puppy fight action and abs as far as the eye can see.

The director for the third film, David Slade (30 Days of Night), will have to tackle the tricky plot details which are an all out vampire war with the red-headed Victoria, played by Bryce Dallas Howard who replaced the original actress from the first two films. Should be interesting to watch this all happen on a giant screen, but that also means giant drama sessions as Bella is still stuck in this wolf/vamp love triangle. And nothing says IMAX fun like a nice long talk about love between to teenagers, one in jean shorts.

[via Variety]

Mad Max: Fury Road:

Just how big is the set for this film? Says star Tom Hardy:

It's massive. It's enormous," he continued. "It's like turning a mountain upside down and pouring it through a sieve.

Any clue what that means? It sounds epic, anyway. [MTV]

Avatar:

Not sure if we've already run this clip or not, but if not, then enjoy:

And here's a clip we definitely haven't shown you before. I love Neytiri wearing her sunglasses to ride her dragon. [Cineplex via Slashfilm]

The Lovely Bones:

Weird nitpicks: After Stanley Tucci's creepy pedophile murderer tosses his victim Susie Salmon's charm bracelet in the water, but keeps the "house" charm. But then we see all the charms expand into ice sculptures or clouds or topiaries — but the house charm is still among them. Also, before Susie dies we see her reading Seventeen magazine, but after she dies, she fantasizes she's the cover girl in Groovy Teen magazine. Towards the end of the movie, Susie sort of inhabits the body of a goth girl who looks like Emly the Strange, and makes out with Emily's boyfriend, whom Susie loved before she died. Then Susie goes to heaven permanently, and we see Emily and her boyfriend spooning, with no mention of the weird ghost possession make-out that just happened. [Black Book Mag]

Kick Ass:

A new character poster gives us a better look at the Red Mist. Bigger version at the first link. [AICN via Cinemablend]

Endangered Species:

A few new details about Eli Roth's Transformers-meets-Cloverfield movie. It's set against an urban backdrop. He's tweaking the script at Quentin Tarantino's suggestion. He's going to do some visual-effects tests, the results of which will determine how he shoots the thing. It's very character-driven, and he has some actors he's dying to work with. [MTV]

Eclipse:

A new picture of your favorite couple, Edward and Bella. [SpoilerTV-Movies]

Doctor Who:

As you may have heard, the show was filming in Croatia this past week, with the Doctor, Amy and new companion Rory in tow. (And some are claiming that Rory is Amy's boyfriend — is he the new Mickey Smith?) The Croatia filming appears to be for an episode taking place in the past, judging from some of the costumes. But don't believe the British media chatter that it's an episode about vampires — it's almost certainly the Van Gogh episode that Richard Curtis wrote. More pics at the links. [Sky and Hello!]

Here are a bunch of promo pics from "The End Of Time," David Tennant's swansong, one or two of which we may have shown you before. They include your first look at the alien, shapeshifting Vinovicci. [BlogtorWho and BSCReview]

Meanwhile, Britain's Radio Times has another cast list for "End Of Time" part 2, which conflicts with the IMDB version. Notably, no Harriet Jones. Hmmm...

David Tennant - The Doctor
John Simm - The Master
Bernard Gribbins - Wilfred Mott
Timothy Dalton - The Narrator
Catherine Tate - Donna Noble
Jacqueline King - Sylvia Noble
June Whitfield - Minnie Hooper
Claire Bloom - The Woman
David Harewood - Joshua Naismith
TRacy Ifeachor - Abigail Naismith
Lawry Lewin - Rossiter
Sinead Keenan - Addams
Alexandra Moen - Lucy Saxon
Karlo Collins - Shaun Temple
Teresa Banham - Governor
Barry Howard - Oliver Barnes
Allister Bain - Winston Katusi
Sylvia Seymour - Miss Trefusis
Pete Lee-Wilson - Tommo
Dwayne Scantlebury - Ginger
Joe Dixon - The Second
Julie Legrand - The Partisan
Brid Brennan - The Visionary
Krystal Archer - Neys
Lachele Carl - Trinity Wells
Paul Kasey - Ood Sigma
Ruari Mears - Elder Ood
Silas Carson - voice of Ood Sigma
Brian Cox - voice of Elder Ood
Nicholas Briggs - voice of Judoon

[BlogtorWho]

Caprica:

This Battlestar Galactica prequel just cast another actor to play William Adama — no, not the future Admiral, but his grandfather. Aleks Paunovic will play the father of Joseph Adama and grandfather to little Willie in some flashback scenes, and he'll be a recurring character. Paunovic already appeared on BSG, playing Sgt. Fischer. [Aleks Paunovic via Battlestar Blog]

Lost:

A deserted area of Hawaiian rainforest hides a new camp which has been set up for this show's sixth season. It doesn't look like much, though. More pics at the link. [SpoilersLost]

Another new set — a ship of some sort, or rather part of one. It's apparently designed so they can rock the deck back and forth and make it look like the ship is caught up in a huge storm. And considering that some prisoner types were hanging around in baggy brown clothes, it may be the Black Rock. More pics at the link. [SpoilersLost]

Jose Yenque tweeted that he's joining the cast of this show. [Twitter via SpoilersLost]

Also, Fionnula Flanagan told an Irish talk show she'll be back for two episodes as Eloise Hawking, not surprisingly. [SpoilersLost]

Fringe:

The cast reveals the names of the Observers, and discusses their significance. [Fringe Television]

Meanwhile, I'm hard-pressed to tell exactly what's going on in this new set video. I think Anna Torv is being blown across a parking lot by some mysterious force, but hard to say. There are seven more videos from the same person under this YouTube account. I do like one commenter who says the intrepid fan making these recordings should shave his/her head and wear a fedora. [Anon120409 on Youtube]

And here's a sneak peek and "scenemaker" for Thursday's new Walter-and-William episode. [FringeRus]

Supernatural:

The show is casting one of the Four Horsemen for the episode "My Bloody Valentine:

[FAMINE] 50 to 80 years old... He is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He is withered, weak, raspy. This character is a creepy and destructive old man filled with a voracious hunger...GUEST STAR

[CUPID] 30s to 40s, doughy, out of shape, naked, his humorously loving character greets everyone with enormous bear hugs that almost break their ribs. He is overflowing with love and positivity to an almost humorous and narcotic degree (think Will Farrell in "ELF" sptv050769)...GUEST STAR

[SpoilerTV]

Also, Julie McNiven says that when Anna goes back in time and tries to kill baby Sam in episode 13, it's for the best reasons:

Everything Anna does is motivated by wanting to do the right thing, wanting to do what she feels is going to keep this apocalypse from happening. I see Anna as always doing what she thinks is right and she's very strong about that and doesn't want to hear anything otherwise.

And she says there's some great hand-to-hand combat and throwdowns in the episode, and hints that Anna does actually survive to try and kill more babies in the future. [AOL]

The Survivors:

There will be a "high octane" second series of this British remake at some point, but no date yet. And here's what happens:

The series picks up moments after the thrilling cliff-hanger to the first series and the survivors are now struggling not just with the difficulties of day-to-day life amidst the ruins of the post-virus apocalypse but also with the threat of other emerging communities and the machinations of the sinister Lab.

As the series begins, Abby is being held by Whittaker and Fiona at the Lab. There, she learns that the scientists have avoided infection and are looking desperately for a vaccine which they believe her unique immune system alone will generate.

Meanwhile, the family races to save Greg's life as he lies dying from a gunshot wound. Drawn into a burning hospital by their search for the necessary medical equipment, Al and Anya are caught in an avalanche of rubble as the building collapses around them. Tom is faced with the stark challenge of rescuing his friends from a seemingly insurmountable disaster, with only Sarah and Naj to help him.

Characters returning for this high-octane second series are Abby, a devoted mother with a missing son; Greg, a loner, hiding the pain of his past; Anya, a doctor who has seen too much; Al, a playboy who becomes a surrogate father to the young and headstrong Najid; Sarah, a hedonist used to getting her own way; Tom Price, handsome, dangerous and a high-security prisoner before the virus hit; and Samantha Willis, the last surviving member of the British Government.

[Survivors BBC TV]

V:

So just who are the Visitors? Laura Vandervoort explains that they're basically Canadians. Also, she says her character is definitely somewhat evil, but she's not sure how much yet. [Multipleverses]

FlashForward:

Apparently the reason why the show took a week off was simple: Major, huge developments happen in the episodes that were going to be episodes 15 and 16, and the network looked at those scripts and decided they should be episodes 13 and 14 instead (so, less treading water.) And it's not clear whether the original episodes 13 and 14 were scrapped, or just retooled to appear later in the season. Also, the biggest reveals of the season happen in the next two episodes, 11 and 12, says David S. Goyer. [EW]

Chuck:

Episode 3x11 will be "Chuck Vs. The Final Exam." [ChuckTV]

And one more new promo reveals that we'll be seeing a "Whole New Chuck." He's a reluctant spy no longer.

Sanctuary:

In next week's episode, "Penance," Michael Shanks guest stars as an abnormal named Jimmy who has a special David Cronenberg-esque pouch in his stomach, which he can use to smuggle things for the Sanctuary — including, in this case, a dangerous abnormal. Some bad guys get involved, and he's forced to go on the run with Kate, leading to a big secret for the two of them being revealed. And then in the following week's "Sleepers," Will and Magnus are in Mexico looking into some missing teenagers, and they run into vampire Nikoka Tesla, who's up to no good. [Sci Fi Wire]

Additiional reporting by Mary Ratliff.

Inception

Cillian Murphy has apparently read the Inception script. His thoughts? Excited but vague:

"It's conceptual. It doesn't fit into any genre," he explained. "There are elements of different types of things in it but it is all from Chris' imagination. I've never read anything close to it before."

[MTV Movies Blog]

Thor

An eagle-eyed reporter noticed Dominic Cooper was reading casting slides for Thor. Although Cooper cautioned that nothing has been finalized, the part he was reading for is Fandral the Dashing, a member of the Warriors Three, a team of Asgardians who fight alongside Thor. So we might be seeing the trio (and Cooper) in the movie. [Movieline]

Stan Lee is disappointed that Kenneth Branagh didn't consider him for the role of Odin, though he will have a cameo in Thor. [Collider]

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

The TV Obsessed has another spoilerific review of The Plan, including the fact that the Simon who has a wife and kid on one of the ships in the fleet airlocks himself rather than destroy the ship or be revealed as a Cylon — but he gets found out anyway. And Cavil sets off Five's explosive suicide vest himself. Also, we see the beginnings of Leoben's Kara obsession as he sits alone and listens to the fleet traffic. Cavil randomly stabs a little boy for no reason, just so we'll know how evil he is.

And there are some cool apocalyptic images of the Cylon attack on the Colonies. [The TV Obsessed]

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

Interviews with Terry Gilliam and the cast offer a few more glimpses of the trippy fantasy movie:

2012

If the latest stills from Roland Emmerich's disaster porn teach us anything, it's that the apocalypse will be wet. [IGN]

X-Files 3

David Duchovny would like to do a third film, but if it happens, he'd like to focus on the aliens and conspiracy that were central to the show's mythology. [IGN]

Eclipse

Kirsten Prout has been cast as Lucy, a vampire who appears only in flashbacks. A vampire named turns Jasper Hale into a vampire during the Civil War and recruits him for her vampire army. Jasper eventually betrays Maria and two of her soldiers, including Lucy. [MTV Movies Blog]

Dollhouse

It looks like Paul Ballard and Echo are going to lock lips in an upcoming episode, but that doesn't mean Paul has completely given himself over to the Dollhouse. Tamoh Penikett says that although Paul's been drinking the Kool-Aid a bit, he's going to have more issues with his new corporate role. [E! Online]

And we get a better look at Summer Glau and her poor, poor (left) arm in November 6th's episode "The Left Hand." [Spoiler TV]

Supernatural

In the November 19th episode, "Abandon All Hope," Lucifer will capture Castiel while the latter is on a recon mission in Missouri. Lucifer interrogates Castiel by trapping him in a burning ring fueled by holy oil. [TV Guide Magazine]

Heroes

Executive producer Adam Armus drops a few more hints as to which male original cast member will die:

"We always pull surprises on Heroes. That's all I have to say. It is an epic battle. It's an epic struggle between two very well-loved characters, and it's going to be really compelling."

So, who will be involved in this epic struggle? Hiro and Ando? Parkman and Sylar? Nathan and Sylar? [SCI FI Wire]

FlashForward

In the November 5th episode, "The Gift," the apparent connection between a Blue Hand club and some recent suicides leads Mark, Demetri, Gough, and MI6 agent Fiona Bands to investigate. Aaron will receive a surprise visit from an army buddy of his late daughter's. While Demetri reveals his lack of flashforward to Zoey, Nicole will help Bryce solve the mystery of his while volunteering at the hospital. [Spoiler TV]

Smallville

Lois throws some punches in this preview from Friday's episode "Roulette." [via Spoiler TV]

The Justice Society is assembling on Smallville and three of the members have been identified. Stargate SG-1's Michael Shanks will be playing Hawkman, Andromeda's Brent Stait will play Doctor Fate, and Aliens in America's Britt Irvin will play Stargirl. [IGN]

The Sarah Jane Adventures

This Thursday marks the beginning of the two-part serial "The Mad Woman in the Attic." We get an early glimpse of Donald Sumpter as Erasmus Darkening, Suranne Jones as Mona Lisa, and Eleanor Tomlinson as Eve. [Blogtor Who]

And in the second part of the serial, we'll see a pair of very familiar faces: the Third and Fourth Doctors. Granted, we'll be seeing Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in flashbacks using archival footage, but we'll also see Sarah Jane's future — one featuring another familiar Doctor. The vision of the future will involve the phrase, "He is returning, he is coming back," and we'll see the TARDIS appear in the Bannerman Road attic. In another flashforward toward the end of the episode, where we'll encounter none other than the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant. Sarah Jane's robotic sidekick K9 will also be back, supposedly for good. [Den of Geek]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

The Green Hornet

We get some action shots with Kato and a cement truck, while the Hornet just stands around in his pretty suit:

[Spoiler TV]

Astro Boy

New stills show off more of this movie's adorable (and sometimes intimidating) robots:

[IGN]

The Hobbit

Ian McKellen says the scripts for the two Hobbit movies will be delivered soon, and filming will probably start next March or April. At some point, Guillermo del Toro told McKellen they'd be filing for 383 days, a symptom of what McKellen affectionately terms del Toro's "artistic autism." [Empire]

Magneto

McKellen also said that, despite rumors he would appear in the X-Men prequel spinoff, he believes he won't be involved. [Empire]

New Moon

A couple more sepia-hued images of vamps, werewolves, and Volturi:

[IGN]

Eclipse

David Slade might be bringing the blood to Eclipse, but the first official photos still reeks of tortured romance:

[Spoiler TV]

The Fourth Kind

Two new TV spots try to make you believe in alien abductions:

[ShockTillYouDrop]

Supernatural

A new promo for "The Children Are Our Future" is lighter on the urban legends, heavier on the Antichrist:

[via Spoiler TV]

Lost

A set reporter snagged some pictures of the base camp for a scene from the new season's fourth episode. The pictures themselves aren't terribly spoilerish, but the reporter saw a scene between Locke (or someone currently wearing Locke's body) and Sawyer. Locke was wearing green cargo pants and a once-white (now green) shirt and Sawyer was in black jeans and a blue button down shirt.

[Lyly Ford]

In episode six, we'll see a couple of kids likely connected to Sayid:

[SAM] Middle Eastern, 9. Raised in America and has no accent. Typical boy: smart, eager, ready to tackle anything and watches out for his little sister. Happy to see an unexpected visitor but sad he can't stay longer...CO-STAR

[EVA] Middle Eastern, 6. Raised in America and has no accent. Shy and not as willing to plunge into new situations as her brother. Happy to see an unexpected visitor but sad he can't stay longer...CO-STAR

[Spoiler TV]

Stargate Universe

Here's a slew of appropriately ill-lit promo pics from this week's episode, "Darkness:"

[Spoiler TV]

V

A nicely ominous poster of Morena Baccarin and her alien eye:

[TV Guide]

FlashForward

Are flashforwards a good basis for making medical decisions? That's the question in a clip from this week's episode, "Black Swan:"

And it looks like Wedeck will be enjoying a glass of brandy in the Oval Office at some point during the episode:

[FlashForward.pl]

In the show's October 29th episode, "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps," Simon (Dominic Monaghan) contacts a reluctant acquaintance.

And you can see some stills from the episode:

[Spoiler TV]

The twelfth episode will introduce the recurring character Timothy, a charismatic everyman and natural leader. Other people look to him for empathetic counsel. The episode will also feature Marcus, an insect-loving man in his 20s with a perpetually sunny disposition, and Roz, a schizophrenic, emotionally distant woman in her 50s, who alternates between lucidity and breaks with reality. [Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

The LA Times is reporting that New Moon is selling out earlier than any other movie in history. We're not surprised, but what does shock us is David Slade, the director for the next Twilight movie, Eclipse, is talking about how the next film is going to appeal to guys with violence.

"The first one was very focused on this love story and really sweet and it was beautiful, but it didn't have a lot of stuff that guys would go, 'Yeah, I want to go see that,'" she said. "There's going to be a lot more focus on [action], and the fight scene will have more emphasis on it. I definitely think it will be a little more guy-friendly."

If you didn't know, the 3rd movie has a war between vampires and werewolves paired up with the Cullens. It's supposed to be violent... but not as violent as the last book where Bella gets — Spoiler — impregnated with Edward's evil baby and it judo kicks right out of her chest breaking her rib cage. Sex is BAD, people.

[via MTV]

Zombieland

Three new spots elucidate additional rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse:

Iron Man 2

Not promo stills from the movies, but this car will apparently be featured in the new film, likely as Tony Stark's new ride:

[Spoiler TV]

Toy Story 3

Two-time James Bond Timothy Dalton will voice a thespian hedgehog toy named Mr. Pricklepants. [JoBlo]

Dollhouse

In the sixth episode, we will meet Howard Lipman, an intelligent higher up in the Dollhouse with a big sense of humor. He will probably be a recurring character. [Spoiler TV]

Splice

Brendon Connelly at /Film has seen a clip from the genetic engineering thriller. Says Connelly:

The scene we were treated to comes from an early moment in the story. Clive and Elsa, as played by Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, are a young couple who also work together trying to create new life forms from animal DNA. They won't use anything lifted from the human genome for ethical reasons, but everything else is fair game. At this moment, they've created something, their most advanced 'something' so far and it's incubating in the lab.

Clive decides that it should be terminated while Elsa disagrees. What follows is the unveiling of the creature, and a tense scene in a lab wherein the little critter tries to avoid termination.

[/Film]

Fringe

Executive producer Roberto Orci says in the eighth episode, we'll see many Observers and learn a lot about them and their role in the world. He also says that the fourth, eighth, and twelfth episodes will be important to the Observers and the show's larger continuity. [TV Guide]

These set photos come from a scene in which a police officer falls off a parking garage, with a stuntman playing the role of the ill-fated cop:

[CinemaSpy]

Orci talks a bit more about the coming season and Leonard Nimoy in the October issue of SciFi Magazine:

[Fringe Television]

This series is heavily featured in Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV preview issue, out now. Season two, episode five is filming in the grounds of a semi-defunct mental hospital, and it's about a guy who believes his boss is an evil ram-horned creature in disguise. This season, Olivia will get super-hearing. Astrid has a scene with a bottle of leeches and a blender.

And the over-arching weirdness in season two will come from the idea that an army from the alternate universe has declared war on our reality. The people from "over there" will be putting the final pieces of their invasion plan in place. To that end, the alternate universe will recruit a super-spy played by Thomas Kretschmann. [EW]

Heroes

The producers are looking to cast an East Indian girl, age 10-13, for the tenth episode. She will be a student in India, very engaged with her lesson. [Spoiler TV]

And here are several promo images from the first two episodes, many taken from the same scenes as yesterday's images:

[Heroes-France]

New Moon

Scans from the Australian magazine Film In feature interviews with the cast:

[Spoiler TV]

Eclipse

Set photos from the third Twilight balance Kristen Steart with equal parts Team Edward and Team Jacob:

[Spoiler TV]

Stargate SG-1

Amanda Tapping has said that production on an SG-1 movie could go into production later this year, once the first season of Stargate Universe wraps. If that's the case, Martin Wood would direct the movies. Tapping will appear in SGU's premiere. [Spoiler TV]

FlashForward

In the first few episodes, we'll only see snippets of characters' flashforwards, but they'll be fleshed out throughout the season. Joseph Fiennes' character, FBI agent Mark Beford will have a scene with daughter where he rolls and egg toward her and says in an English accent: "As Eggbert Eggbottom the Third, I would
like to egg-spress my desire for you to eat oatmeal this morning. Can I get a 'cluck-cluck?" and the egg shortly falls on the floor. John Cho's character Demetri Noh is about to get married when everyone has their flashforward and, since he doesn't have one, begins to wonder if he should break off the engagement. [EW]

Smallville

In the final moment of the season premiere, we'll find out how Lois is the key to Clark's journey. [EW]

And there's a new Season 9 promo:

[KryptonSite]

Superman/Batman:

Here's a new clip from this direct-to-DVD super-team movie, showcasing Metallo:

Vampire Diaries

The images come from the show's fourth episode, "Family Ties:"

[VampireDiaries Show]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

Doctor Who

A poster at Gallifrey Base claims to have gotten a good look inside the new TARDIS set, which we'll see in 2010. Supposedly, the interior of the TARDIS will have two different levels, joined by a spiral staircase, and we'll be seeing a console room, a lab area, a sitting room, a long corridor, and "numerous other little nooks and crannies." The set is designed to be modular, so that pieces of the set can be moved around and double as other parts of the ship, when we visit other rooms inside the TARDIS.

The console room itself is a shaped like a hexagon attached to a square rather than being circular, the color theme is mostly silver and gold, and the coral finish has been replaced with marble. The roundels decorating the walls are now inverted hemispheres, and while they appear throughout the set, they do not appear on every wall. The roundels have different color schemes for each room: gold in the console room, silver, gray, and blue in the lab, and brown in the sitting room.

You should, of course, take this with several truckloads of grains of salt. [Gallifrey Base, Thanks Bluehinter!]

Iron Man 2

As we've mentioned, Sam Rockwell's character, Justin Hammer, is actually a fan of Tony Stark, but doesn't get the attention he craves from Tony. But Rockwell tells Comic Book Resources that Hammer is also "in cahoots with a couple of people," and "kind of a shyster." And when Hammer feels deprived of Tony's attention, "that's where I think it starts to go wrong for Justin a little bit." He also says that Hammer is more insecure and ambitious than Tony Stark, which may be his downfall. [Comic Book Resources]

Zombieland

In the international trailer, we get a few more of Columbus's rules for surviving the zombie apocalypse and some hints of Jesse Eisenberg/Emma Stone romance:

The Lovely Bones

A new image shows another surreal image from Heaven as Susie Salmon looks out at a figure in the gazebo where she goes to watch the living world:

[MTV Movies Blog]

The Hobbit

Supposedly, the role of Bilbo Baggins has been cast, though just who will play the fur-footed protagonist hasn't been revealed. Some fans speculate it might be Martin Freeman, who played Tim in the UK version of The Office. [Cinema Blend]

Astro Boy

The final poster for Astro Boy has been released:

[CinemaBlend]

Gamer:

Gerard Butler explains the philosophy behind this living-video-game movie: Gamer is "a comment on science, technology, medicine and entertainment. ... How far away are we from people actually saying, 'We can create that. We can create a mini-war every day on our TVs and use people that are useless to us.'" And there's a scene where his character, Kable, confronts his nemesis (played by Terry Crews) stepping out of an elevator — and Kable pounces on him. [USA Today]

Paul:

Jason Batemen explains his character, federal agent Lorenzo Zoil:

He is the government agent that is sent to go out and grab Paul the alien and drag him back to Area 51. He's a very humorless and expressionless government agent, very similar to either Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive or even Men in Black and also Yaphet Kotto in Midnight Run. I've got a couple of ne'er-do-well deputies, Joe Lo Truglio and Bill Hader. It's just really, really fun. It's a road movie. These guys, Simon, Nick and Paul, are in a motor home, and I'm in a late-model black Crown Victoria in hot pursuit.

And he says they did one take of a scene where Zoil says his full name and suddenly realizes that his own name is a joke on "Lorenzo's Oil," and one take where he doesn't. [Sci Fi Wire]

Eclipse

Some blurry set photos have surfaced of Bryce Dallas Howard as Victoria seducing Xavier Samuel's Riley:

[Lainey Gossip]

Supernatural

The fifth episode, which will feature Paris Hilton, was known on audition and draft scripts as "Celebrity Skin," but has been officially titled "Fallen Idol." [Spoiler TV]

True Blood

A still from Sunday's episode shows Bill hanging by the pool with Evan Rachel Wood's character, Queen Sophie. But what's up with the sunglasses?

[True Blood Net]

Chuck

New Malibu-based set photos from the first two episodes of the season indicate that Zachary Levi does, eventually, lose the beard:

[Chuck TV]

Smallville

In the seventh episode "Crossfire," Clark accompanies Lois when she auditions to host a television show on WGBS, "Good Morning, Metropolis." The show's producer recognizes the chemistry between Lois and Clark, and decides he won't hire one without the other. As a bit for the show, Lois and Clark are each set up on dates with other people, with Lois talking into an earbud in Clark's ear on his date and vice versa. Although Lois teases Clark that his admission that he grew up on a farm will earn him either a country mouse or a cougar for a date, he actually ends up dining with a stunning blonde, who leaves Lois shocked and jealous. Lois is intent on making Clark just as jealous during her date, but apparently ends up tipsy as Clark at some point whispers in her ear "The last thing you need is a drink, Lois." At the end of Lois' date, Clark tells her date he's a lucky man, which pleases Lois.

At some point during the episode, Tess is in Zod's mansion, and Zod tells one of his people that if Tess won't reveal who the Blur is, he should kill her. Also, Oliver will meet Mia "Speedy" Dearden, who wears an awful lot of red and yellow. She also happens to be a hooker with a nasty tattooed pimp named Rick, and Oliver tells her he wants to help her. And when she takes Oliver out in his Lamborghini, he jokingly calls her "Speedy." Oliver will also briefly meet up with Lois and the Ace of Clubs. [KryptonSite]

Better Off Ted

In the sixth episode "What Lies Beneath," Veridian Dynamics decides to genetically match up employees with their perfect romantic partners, figuring that they will produce children that will cost the company less money. Ted is matched up with the beautiful and charming Danielle, and though he is initially resistant to Veridian's plan, he finds himself falling for her. Meanwhile, Linda is matched with Greg, who is also attractive and charming, but has one tiny little eccentricity. When working for Veridian makes him feel small and insecure (as it would anyone), he dresses in a bear suit and goes to the park to make himself feel mighty. And a receptionist at the Veridian health clinic has difficulty keeping Phil's medical records from Veronica. [Spoiler TV]

Heroes

The eighth episode of the new season will be called "Once Upon a Time in Texas" — perhaps the episode where Hiro goes back in time to save his sweetheart Charlie? [HeroSite]

Defying Gravity

It's Halloween in stills from the seventh episode, "Fear:"

[Spoiler TV]

Eastwick

In the fifth episode, Roxie will fill in for Bun, the Eastwick tour guide, when he suffers a bout of memory loss. She may not be the best choice, though, as the tourists question her historical accuracy, and at least one thinks she's an outright weirdo when she has a vision mid-tour. One of the tourists also asks about Eastwick's tradition of burning coffins at Halloween to symbolize the release of burdens.

Apparently, the tradition doesn't go well, because later Roxie screams that there is someone in the fire. She begs a fireman to put the fire out, but he misunderstands her because of the loud music playing at the Halloween celebration.

Also during this episode, Kat and Joanna have a fight after Kat kisses Will, which Mrs. Greenberg, an elderly patient at the hospital where Kat works, overhears. Mrs. Greenberg then steps in with her two cents. And Penny approaches a group of folks outside the Eastwick Cafe and asks them if they've seen Joanna recently. When one boy, looking at Joanna's picture, comments that he'd "tap" that, Penny retorts that he's never tapped anything other than himself. [Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown and Charlie Jane Anders.

Dollhouse:

New promo pictures of the season premiere "Vows" show a beatific Echo getting married to Jamie Bamber. So is Bamber a client? It doesn't look that way. In an attempt to use the Dollhouse's resources to do some good, Paul has arranged this particular engagement. Echo has been engaged to be Bamber's new wife...and gather incriminating information on his arms trafficking. Of course, like most of Echo's engagements, this one goes awry, and Paul is forced to try to trick Echo into reverting to a former assignment as a martial arts expert.

[The ODI]

Thor:

Diora Baird announced on Twitter that she has auditioned for a role in the movie as a character described as "pretty, but sturdy with muscle." She wouldn't reveal who the character is, but CHUD speculates it could be an Asgardian, such as Sif or the Enchantress. [CHUD]

Hancock 2:

Director Peter Berg says the sequel may tweak the mythology of the first film, which said that Will Smith and Charlize Theron were the only two gods left alive — there may be a third god in the sequel. Since Smith and Theron weakened each other when they got together, we may get to see what happens when there's a third god in the mix. Also, the subplot involving Jason Bateman's advertising exec character will pick up where it left off, with him starting his charity campaign. [Sci Fi Wire via ScreenCrave]

The Vampire's Assistant:

IGN visited the set of the first Cirque du Freak film, and watched a scene between vampires John C. Reilly and Willem Dafoe:

The scene we observed being filmed that day saw Reilly, adorned in a reddish rockabilly wig, acting opposite Dafoe as Gavner Purl, a vampire general and old friend of Larten Crepsley's. Dafoe is similarly dandified as Purl, sporting a pencil mustache, slicked back hair and dark clothing in a look inspired, we're told, by Salvador Dali. In the scene, Gavner visits Larten's home to arrest his old friend at swordpoint.

IGN also said Dafoe's performance was especially masterful, with shades of intensity, camp, and wistfulness coloring a single scene. [IGN]

Lost:

A fresh casting notice for the sixth season reveals a new character:

Lennon: Scruffy, edgy, charismatic, and slightly stir-crazy, Lennon can be deferential when it's called for. He's the spokesperson/translator for the president of a foreign corporation. He's a wily negotiator, and far more powerful than his lowly position would seem to indicate. Recurring.

The casting director is looking for an actor in his mid 30s to late 50s for the role. [EW]

Fringe:

The latest Fringe promo is heavy on the symbols, light on the spoilers:

Another rumor suggests that Kirk Acevedo's character, Charlie, may not be leaving after all, though one character does die in the premiere. Also, two characters will kiss in the premiere, and another will face "medical uncertainty." [TV Guide]

Eclipse:

Summit has confirmed that Jodelle Ferland will be playing the role of Bree, and has announced casting for a pair of werewolves: Julia Jones will play lone female wolf Leah Clearwater and BooBoo Stewart takes the role of younger brother Seth. [MTV]

Stargate Universe:

SGU recently filmed a scene for the 14th episode, "Human," at the University of British Columbia. The scene shows Rush and Daniel prior to Rush's recruitment into the Stargate Program, and a few fans captured video (sadly, no audio) and photos from the public shoot:

[GateWorld]

Gamer:

A flurry of new promo stills put the focus on guns and explosions, with a couple of arcade cabinets thrown in for good measure:

[IGN]

The Lovely Bones:

Two new images give us another look at the murdered Susie Salmon:

[IGN]

Supernatural:

If the promo images are any indication, we're in for a load of tussling in the Supernatural season premiere, "Sympathy for the Devil:"

[Spoiler TV]

The season's sixth episode will center on the show's version of the Tooth Fairy, whom the casting notice suggests may exist as the result of a young boy's powers:

Jesse: An all-American boy age 11 who is wise beyond his years. He was adopted as an infant and remains perplexed by his unusual powers. He possesses a childlike innocence-he believes in the Tooth Fairy (Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!)! He suddenly finds himself faced with a very adult decision. Recurring role.

[EW]

Defying Gravity:

Things get spooky on the seventh episode, "Fear:"

It's Halloween aboard the Antares and the forces of darkness are revealed in more ways than one, as feverish hallucinations jeopardize the lives of the crew just as they're about to embark on a promotional event for which the whole world is waiting.

[Spoiler TV]

Superman/Batman: Public Enemies:

After seeing the live-action Metallo, we get a look at the animated version in the upcoming DC Universe movie:

Eastwick:

ABC is looking for a few minor characters for the fourth episode:

[CLERK] (Late 20's, Early 30's) Clerk at a hip boutique in Eastwick. She is fashion-forward, trendy in a way that Kat has never been. 1 line. CO-STAR ROLE. PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ETHNICITIES.

[TEENAGE BOY] (18 to play 17 or Legal 18) A regular looking boy, who attends Mia's high school. He is approached by Roxie, who grills him about her daughter Mia's location. Roxie also informs him that his mother has found his stash. 1 Line. CO-STAR ROLE.

[Spoiler TV]

Additional reporting by Charlie Jane Anders and Alexis Brown.

Captain America:

The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier says he's seen the concept art for Captain America:

It's a period piece and it's like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and with more gadgets...[I]t's "Raiders" meets "Rocketeer" and "Saving Private Ryan." It's going to be so cool.

[LA Times]

The Avengers:

Tim Roth revealed that his has signed to play the Abomination in three films, leading to some speculation that the Abomination could appear in The Avengers film, or in some of the potentially interlocking films leading up to it. [Comic Book Resources]

True Blood:

A new promo is up for Sunday's episode, "I Will Rise Up:"

And we're told not to worry about the fates of Godric, Sookie, Bill, and Jason after the suicide bomber appeared in Sunday's episode. Eric may catch some silver shrapnel, but it will lead to an intimate moment between him and Sookie. [E! Online]

Lost:

The title of the sixth season premiere will be "LA X." The space is deliberate. [DocArzt's Lost Blog]

Eclipse:

Kellan Lutz and Jackson Rathbone say Eclipse is much heavier on the action than the previous two films, and the actors have been in horseback training and fight training. At some point, Jasper puts his fellow Cullens through fight training, so the actors have all been working on their stunts and hitting the gym. [MTV Movies Blog]

FlashForward:

Producer Marc Guggenheim talks a bit about Dominic Monaghan's character, Simon:

[He] is the smartest man in the world, and he definitely knows it. He's mysterious, but not just for story reasons. He's a mysterious kind of person. He's someone that's so intelligent that he has a difficult time interfacing with people on a human level, because he's just so much smarter than them. He's an enigmatic figure whom I hope you'll want to get to know over the course of the first season.

[E! Online]

Stargate Universe:

SGU is looking to cast a brilliant waif:

[ELEANOR PERRY] (35-40) and quite attractive. A brilliant scientist who happens to be a quadriplegic. Affected since childhood, her disability has rendered her body physically useless. However, after being brought on board the Destiny as the only person who may be able to save the ship and her crew from certain annihilation, she is given temporary powers that enable her to walk again and to finally experience intimacy.sptv050769..Strong guest lead. NAMES PREFERRED. ACTRESS MUST BE PHYSICALLY THIN. (THINK CALISTA FLOCKHART).

[Spoiler TV]

And, to sate your voyeuristic urges, Syfy will be releasing 30 webisodes centering around the kino, the sphere that floats through the Destiny, spying on members of the crew. The webisodes won't form a discrete episode, but will instead tie into aired episodes. [GateWorld]

Heroes:

The sixth episode will be called "Tabula Rasa."

There's also a new primetime promo for the new season:



[Spoiler TV]

Smallville:

The Smallville season premiere will feature a few familiar faces. Battlestar Galactica actor, Alessandro Juliani, better known as Felix Gaeta, will appear, as will Stargate
Atlantis' Amelia Banks. Banks will likely play Fiona, described as a super-tough soldier, and her role may be recurring. [GateWorld]

We'll also be visiting Zod's past this season with flashbacks to his days in Kandor, Krypton's capital city. [E! Online]

Eureka:

Eureka gets a spaceship promo for episode fourteen "Ship Happens:"

[Spoiler TV]

Chuck:

Fans of Chevy Chase shouldn't get their hopes up for the comedian's return. Chase says his character, Ted Roark, is definitely dead. [E! Online]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Avatar:

Sigourney Weaver describes her character, Grace: "There's a little bit of Jim [Cameron] in her. She's sort of impatient in some ways, a perfectionist, very passionate, can be caustic but also very kind and with a big heart." [Hollywood Outbreak]

Kick-Ass:

The L.A. Times talked to director Matthew Vaughn and actor Chloe Moretz. [L.A. Times via Comic Book Resources]

Twilight:

Jodelle Ferlan has been cast as the "newborn vampire" in the third movie, Eclipse. [Twilight Lexicon]

Here are some images from New Moon, from a new "vertical calendar." [Jasper Cullen Fan via SpoilerTV]

And Jackson Rathbone describes the pivotal scene where he attacks Bella:

Yeah, there's a little bit more violence. It's definitely longer. It's really about the moment where Bella is realizing what kind of world she's into... I was going pretty method. We choreographed it - so I wasn't too worried about attacking Kristen - but I told the guys to hold me back, because you want it to look real.

[MTV]

Dollhouse:

Some set pics from the first episode of the new season show Joss filming on the steps of L.A. City Hall. Is someone getting married? Fighting City Hall? Speaking of fighting the law, Joss play-acted getting "arrested" by one cop/fan, as you can see in one of the photos. More images at the link! [Akinius on Flickr, via Whedonesque]

In episode three of the new season, we'll meet a new recurring character: Cindy, a smart, attractive politician's wife, who's like a young Hillary Clinton. [SpoilerTV]

This year, we're going to visit the Attic and seeing what's inside, and we'll meet some "old friends." And we'll find out first hand why people don't want to go there. We'll also learn more about the origins of the Dollhouse. And there's a new Big Bad — someone Echo has a history with, but is unaware of. (Maybe Caroline's supposedly dead boyfriend?) [Wired]

Supernatural:

Oh no — Paris Hilton will be guest starring in episode five of the new season. But trust showrunner Eric Kripke, say inside sources — once you know what her storyline is, you will die. With happiness. We hope. [E! Online]

Fringe:

Here are some more castpics. I think there are some definite "desktop pattern" candidates here. [SpoilerTV]

FlashForward:

Here's a new trailer, which includes a few new glimpses of the first episode:

Keir O'Donnell (The Wedding Crashers) is joining the cast of this show, but it's not clear whom he'll be playing. [Variety]

Smallville:

CW president Dawn Ostroff says Michael Rosenbaum won't be back in season nine, but may return after that. But inside sources say she's being misleading, and we might actually be seeing quite a bit of Lex in upcoming episodes. [TV Guide]

Stargate Universe:

I think we may have reported these comments already, but just in case... Robert Carlyle says everyone dies in an upcoming episode called "Time," and then comes back to life. (Of course.) And he describes the most recent episode he was filming:

I was floating in a tank, and that was kind of bizarre, in actual fact. A bunch of aliens actually got me. Of course, Rush is left on a planet, which is what he deserves, and then the aliens come and pick him up and stick him in a tank. So that's where you suddenly pick me up again, floating in it. So that was quite cool.

[Slice Of Scifi]

Warehouse 13:

Here are some stills from episode eight, "Duped". [SpoilerTV]

Chuck:

Young Hollywood talks to Zachary Levi. [SpoilerTV]

Vampire Diaries:

A new press release gives you even more insights into the bitey plot of this vampire soap opera:

Four months after the tragic car accident that killed their parents, 17-year-old Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev, "DeGrassi: The Next Generation") and her 15-year-old brother, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen, "Everwood"), are still adjusting to their new reality. Elena has always been the star student; beautiful, popular and involved with school and friends, but now she finds herself struggling to hide her grief from the world. Elena and Jeremy are now living with their cool-but-overwhelmed Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning, "Smallville"), who is doing her best to be a surrogate parent.

Elena manages to find some comfort with her familiar social circle – best friend Bonnie (Katerina Graham, "17 Again"), frenemy Caroline (Candice Accola, "Juno"), and former boyfriend Matt (Zach Roerig, "Friday Night Lights"), but Jeremy is on a more dangerous path, hanging out with the stoners and using drugs to hide his pain. Jeremy is also trying to figure out why Matt's sister, Vicki (Kayla Ewell, "The Bold and The Beautiful"), is suddenly rejecting him and hanging out with Jeremy's rival, Tyler (Michael Trevino, "Cane").

As the school year begins at Mystic Falls High, Elena and her friends are fascinated by a handsome and mysterious new student, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley, "Fallen"). Stefan and Elena are immediately drawn to one another, although Elena is puzzled by Stefan's increasingly bizarre behavior when he appears suddenly at the cemetery where her parents are buried. What she doesn't realize is that Stefan is hiding a dark, deadly secret of his own – the fact that he's a vampire. At a bonfire party the next night, Elena and Stefan are just getting to know each other when chaos erupts after Vicki is attacked and left bleeding from a savage bite to the neck.

Fearing that he knows who is responsible for the attack, Stefan returns home and finds his older brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder, "Lost"), whom he hasn't seen for 15 years. Damon is also a vampire, and the two brothers have a long and bitter history. Damon ridicules Stefan for rejecting their legacy of violence and brutality, but he understands his brother's obsession with Elena, since she looks exactly like a woman Stefan loved more than a century ago; a woman that Damon tried to make his own. Now these two vampire brothers – one good, one evil – are at war for Elena's soul and for the souls of her friends, family and all the residents of Mystic Falls, Virginia.

[SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Jennifer's Body:

New images from Diablo Cody's horror flick show Needy in formal wear, soaked and covered in mud, but she still comes out looking better than a bloodied, demonically-possessed Jennifer:

[IGN]

Dollhouse:

Michael Hogan, better known as Battlestar Galactica's Saul Tigh, will be making an appearance at the Dollhouse in the second episode. Little has been revealed about the role, except that Hogan will be playing a client. [CinemaBlend]

The Dollhouse crew is also looking to cast two guest stars for their third episode:

[NATE JORDAN] Male, Early to mid 30's. Very attractive. Likable but with a distinct edge. Please submit all ethnicities. BIG GUEST STAR.

[NOREEN] Female, Late 20's to Early 30's. A hot, smart go-getter. Please Submit All Ethnicities. ONE DAY GUEST STAR

[Spoiler TV]

V:

Joel Gretsch explains that his priestly character Father Jack believes we're all God's creatures, but he isn't sure whether the Vs fit under that umbrella:

Morena Baccarin explains that while alien ambassador Anna isn't a fighter, but she will do "whatever is possible to get what she needs:"

Flashforward:

David Goyer says that Dominic Monaghan's character will be a "game changer:"

[Spoiler TV]

Eclipse:

Silent Hill actress Jodelle Ferland joins the cast of the third Twilight movie as a newly turned vampire. [Variety]

Breaking Dawn:

Rumor has it that the adaptation of the final Twilight volume will be broken up into not two but three movies. Edward and Bella's wedding and honeymoon will comprise the first, Bella's pregnancy from Jacob's perspective will be the second, and the third will focus on the early years of Edward and Bella's daughter, Renesmee, which makes shelling out for two tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows seem like a bargain.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold:

Two alumni of the 1960s Batman series will lend their voices to an upcoming episode. Adam West plays Thomas Wayne, Bruce's father, who one night goes to a costume party dressed as a bat and fights off mobsters. Catwoman Julie Newmar will voice Bat-mama Martha Wayne. [CBR]

Smallville:

The third episode of the new season, "Rabid," will focus on a zombie plague that infects the people of Metropolis. Former 24 and 90210 actress Cameron Bancroft will play Dr. Coats, a virologist working on the plague, which infects both Tess and Lois. Also, Oliver burns his Green Arrow costume in this episode. [Spoiler TV]

Casting sides for the fifth episode, "Idol," focus on punky teenager Twyla and her slightly younger skater brother Tanner (whom Kryptonsite suspects could be the Wonder Twins). They spot a man with stolen diamonds in a limo, and Tanner spray paints an S-Shield on the limo's window, hoping to catch the attention of the Blur, a.k.a. Clark Kent. The car ends up lurching forward into a storefront, knocking over a power pole. Later, Chloe brings the siblings into the Watchtower, and they are in awe, realizing that she works with the Blur, as well as other heroes. She threatens to obliterate their social media accounts if they tweet a word of this to everyone, but suggests that maybe they can help her watch the Blur's back. [KryptonSite]

The Vampire Diaries:

The new CW series about pretty vampires and the human girls they obsess over gets yet another promo:

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Variety reports on the arguments over just why Lefevre won't be playing vamp Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third movie in Summit Entertainment's trilogy. For her part, Lefevre puts he blame on an uncooperative studio not allowing her to work on another movie:

I was fully committed to the Twilight saga, and to the portrayal of Victoria. I turned down several other film opportunities and, in accordance with my contractual rights, accepted only roles that would involve very short shooting schedules. My commitment to [Canadian indie movie] Barney's Version is only 10 days. Summit picked up my option for Eclipse. Although the production schedule for Eclipse is over three months long, Summit said they had a conflict during those 10 days and would not accommodate me. Given the length of filming for Eclipse, never did I fathom I would lose the role over a 10-day overlap. I was happy with my contract with Summit and was fully prepared to continue to honor it. Summit chose simply to recast the part.

Summit immediately put out a press release that was pretty much "Everything she said? Forget it.":

We at Summit Entertainment are disappointed by Rachelle Lefevre's recent comments which attempt to make her career choices the fault of the Studio. Her decision to discuss her version of the scheduling challenges publicly has forced the Studio to set the record straight and correct the facts... If Ms. Lefevre was, as she describes "passionate," about being part of THE TWILIGHT SAGA, we feel that she and her representatives would have included us in her decision to work on another film that would conflict with the shooting schedule of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE.

Currently, the fans seem to be siding with Lefevre's take on the situation (for which she feels incredibly blessed), but we're waiting to see if that bond will survive the release of New Moon - or the possibility that Howard could just plain be better in the role.

Rachelle Lefevre: Wronged or uncooperative? [Variety]

'

According to the trades:

Lefevre originated the role in "Twilight" and appears in the upcoming sequel "New Moon," but Summit says scheduling conflicts forced her to leave the picture.

Which is sad for Lefevre because third novel Eclipse is where her character takes a stand, with an army of baby vampires at her beckoning. Interesting that a brand-new actress would have "scheduling conflicts" and then be replaced by a big name actress. Sounds like the third installment in the Twilight franchise may be getting classier.

[Variety]

Avatar:

More dirt from E3. Here are some shots of the model of the "Heavy Loader" armor that was on-site. More at the link. [Collider]

Iron Man 2:

Director Jon Favreau appeared on Jimmy Fallon, and... he didn't reveal much. They're filming scenes set at Hammer Industries, the company run by rival industrialist Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). [IESB]

G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra:

Here's a new TV spot, pretty similar to what we saw at the MTV Movie Awards the other day:

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen:

New concept art gives a much better look at this movie's main villain. Who looks more and more like Doctor Who's Sutekh, the more I see of him. [TFG2 via Seibertron]

Ooh, and here are some new TV spots, with a bit of new footage here and there. The first one is the one with all the Megan Fox:

Harry Potter:

Warner Bros. gave Snitchseeker.com an exclusive pic from the new film, showing Harry, Hermione and Ron in the boys' dormitory. Bigger version at link. [Snitchseeker via IESB]

Paul:

More details about Simon Pegg's alien road-trip movie. Sigourney Weaver's on board, and she may play an old crackpot whom Pegg and Frost meet, who claims to have witnessed the crash of Paul's ship and pulled him from the wreckage. The duo are on the run from government agent Lorenzo Zoil (Jason Bateman) and they accidentally kidnap a Christian girl (Kristen Wiig). [Slashfilm]

Planet 51:

Some new details about this animated film, which we've written about a lot, but not lately. The Rock plays Chuck Baker, who's the 37th sexiest person in America, but he wants to break into the top 10 by discovering a new planet. When he lands on Planet 51, he thinks it's an uninhabited rock (he can't scan it from orbit?) and does a "one small step" style Moon landing thing.

Then he realizes it's a 1950s-esque planet full of green humanoids. He runs and hides in the local observatory, where he meets Lem (Justin Long) who explains to him that he's the alien here. Lem helps Chuck avoid the military force who are hunting for him. The main difference between the aliens' 1950s USA and ours is that theirs is flying-saucer based, with saucer-shaped houses and cars. (They used saucers to visit us years ago.)

The film has lots of in-jokes, like the aliens' dogs resemble the xenomorphs in Alien. They have a pet that resembles the Mars rover. And there's an E.T. nod. Jessica Biel plays Lem's love interest, Neera. Gary Oldman plays General Growl, the military man hunting Lem. And John Cleese plays the wise Professor Kipple. [Sci Fi Wire]

Twilight:

Here are a few more New Moon pics, including shirtless Taylor Lautner. [Twilight Sweden via SpoilerTV-Movies]

Meanwhile, the movie series is casting three new characters for the third movie, Eclipse. Riley's a handsome, clean-cut college boy who becomes a vampire after he's victimized by Victoria, as part of her attempt to murder Bella Swan. The Clearwater twins, Seth and Leah, will be played by Native American or First Nation actors. A tall, gangly 19-year-old with a happy grin, Seth idolizes Jacob Black (Lautner). Leah is the only female member of the "wolf pack." She's tall and slender with beautiful skin and short black hair. She'd be lovely, except for her perpetual scowl, due to a broken heart. [On The Flix]

Heroes:

Tim Kring sent out a "Heroes All Access" newsletter to fans and revealed that "we're all very excited" about season four. (What do you mean, "We"?) But actually, his description of the themes and storylines of the next season does sound pretty intriguing:

One of the big issues we'll be exploring is how should a person with abilities live his or her life. Should they try to assimilate by hiding their abilities, or should they live more honestly, exposing their powers to the world?

Claire will be at the forefront of that issue, starting college in Washington, D.C., and trying to discover, as all college kids do, who she really is. But re-adjusting to normal life won't be easy, especially when Claire is caught in the crossfire of her parent's divorce and a mysterious suicide on campus.

Meanwhile, Peter and Nathan are trying to get their lives back on track. Peter is trying to be a hero in the purest sense - saving on life at a time. But that means cutting himself off from friends and family. It's only when Peter makes a romantic connection with a fascinating new "powerful" woman that he'll find out that life means staying connected to others. Nathan is discovering new things about himself everyday, mostly due to the fact that he's actually Sylar.

Matt will have to live with the guilt of what he did to Sylar; making his attempts to live a normal life with his wife and child virtually impossible.

Noah Bennet (HRG), with the help of Tracy Strauss, Angela Petrelli and all of our Heroes, is tasked with forming a new COMPANY. But that new organization won't be concerned with conspiracies and prisons anymore. It will be about people. Finding them. Connecting to them. And figuring out why so many of them have been seduced by another "organization" out there that treats people with abilities in a fascinating, dangerous and potentially deadly new way.

[Next On Heroes]

Meanwhile, when Claire goes to college, she'll meet a "quirky" student, played by Madeline Zima (Californication). Gretchen is an "edgy outsider" who becomes Claire's roommate, and appears in several episodes. [Hollywood Reporter, Thanks MissMercyStreet!]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

Crafty reporter Brendon Connelly over at Slashfilm discovered a slightly older interview with BDK's movie show, where Slade, now directing the Twilight franchise flick Eclipse, decided it was safe to burn down the sparkly vampire bridge Twilight, saying that he wouldn't ever see it, whether drunk or by way of the gun:

Twilight drunk? No, not even drunk. Twilight on acid? No, not even on acid? Twilight at gun point? Just shoot me.

He's now been called to task by the loyal twihards of the world, and responded via email over at the twifan base Twilight Lexicon:

When I made these comments, I had neither seen the film nor read the books. I was promoting a comedy short film that I had made for Xbox, and every pop culture subject was seen as a possible comedy target. I was being silly and none of the statements were from the heart.

Of course, I have since seen the movie and read the books and was quickly consumed with the rich storytelling and the beautifully honest characters that Stephenie Meyer created.

I would like to reassure everyone involved that I am invested in making the best film that I am humanly capable of, and that I am acutely aware of the power of the original books we serve.

Ahhh spoken like a true publicist. But will it keep the Twihards at bay? Looks like there's a mix of forgiveness and a bit of anger. From the commenters at Lexicon...

Eryn E. says:
May 5, 2009 at 1:59 pm

Yep. Forgiven. Moving with great excitement…

Sabrina says:
May 5, 2009 at 2:29 pm

*nods* I like that he went out of his way to direct his statement to the one place that was sure to reach the most fans and his email seemed sincere. All's forgiven in my book as far as his comments go. I am a bit apprehensive about his past films though. Hopefully he will do something spectacular with Eclipse.
Cheers!
Sabrina

Mary says:
May 5, 2009 at 2:13 pm

Well he hated so much all the twilight stuff in the past, but now that he is going to win a lot of money he does't think all those bad things about it. yeah.. i don't know what to say about it..

Charlotte says:
May 5, 2009 at 1:45 pm

I am sure a lot of people made fun of Twilight before they knew what it was. It stormed the news media everywhere, you were drowning in it. For us fans it was a great thing, but for everyone else and especially people that genuinely didn't like it. It must have been awful.
He didn't know what he was talking about and it was wrong, but I can forgive it and forget it. It was everywhere, easy target for a joke.

Megluvstwilight says:
May 5, 2009 at 1:57 pm

I can totally be too trusting but I believe him. Even if he didn't like the books it's not like he wants to make a crap movie. He'll want to make it the best he can. So now that I believe he's into it… I have even more faith that it will be great.

But they're right - Twilight often does make it too easy, but you gotta take the good with the bad - Twicandy and sparkle vamps included. Meyer did create a world that fans cannot get enough of. Let's hope Slade brings back a little of the edge that he learned from his dark vamps in 30 Days of Night to Twilight. Especially since [Spoiler] Eclipse has a massive finale fight with a vamp army, which could be pretty gruesome, should Slade go that direction.

Summit announced that David Slade would be taking over the hit series with Eclipse. So do you think Slade can butch up these fey vampires, and maybe get them to actually kill people on screen as opposed to hinting at a murder in a blurry off camera shot? Probably not, but maybe at last this'll lead to some amazing "The day the 30 Days Of Night vampires game to Washington and killed everyone" fanfic.

Official Synopsis of Eclipse:

In ECLIPSE, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger as Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob - knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella is confronted with the most important decision of her life.

In other news, a movie version of the final book in the series, Breaking Dawn, has been given the green light.

According to Variety, Summit Entertainment have named Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona as the director of the third in the Twilight series, following Catherine Hardwicke and New Moon's Chris Weitz. However, in the LA Times, Summit's President of production Erik Feig denies that any deal has been officially made:

The 'Eclipse' directing job hasn't been offered to Juan Antonio or anyone else... We've met with three or four talented filmmakers and we'll be meeting with three or four more other candidates before we make any decision. No one has been offered the job.

No date for the start of production has been announced, but it probably won't be too long; New Moon hasn't even started yet, and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has already started writing the follow-up. If nothing else, Summit seems determined not to let the Twi fad end before the movies are finished.

Third 'Twilight' film finds director [Variety], Summit hires new 'Twilight' director, right? Wrong! [LA Times Big Picture]

First up in Twilight news, MTV got their vampire-loving mitts on the shiny New Moon title logo, I know isn't just end-of-the-world amazing?

Next up, the date for the third Twilight movie, Eclipse, has been set for June 30, 2010 by Summit Entertainment, while New Moon will hit theaters November 20.

And as you can see in our shiny Twilight gallery we got a hands on look at the new vampire board game which is really very complicated but apparently there's a lion in it and you need to collect all of the scenes to make it through. Also, the merchandise is pretty fantastic.