Big Picture
Kim & Kourt Take Bev Hills Plus, Daniel Radcliffe works his magic and Bruce Jenner blasts to the past. Get the latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (698)
- Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Photos Galore! New Pics From Their Post-Twilight Flicks! (603)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (504)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (398)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (396)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
- Morning Mail! Céline Dion Talks Whitney Houston's Tragic Death (222)
- Blind Vice! Nevis Divine's Sad Past (214)
Top 10 Stories
- Royal Feud Shocker! Sean Penn Slams Prince William's "Unthinkable" Deployment
- Real Housewives' Michaele Salahi & Journey's Neal Schon: Tareq Salahi Is the One Tormenting Us!
- Angelina Jolie Tears Up—Watch Her Get Emotional
- Josh Duhamel Not Coming Back for Transformers 4: Is Anyone?!
- Spoiler Chat Daily: A New Girl Baby on the Way?! Plus, Scoop on Vampire Diaries, Glee and More
- Jersey Shore Sneak Peek: Pauly D Pulls a Fast (and Dirty) One on Deena
- American Idol: Did Tent Girl Get Better? Who Passed Out Onstage? And Who's Headed to Vegas?!
- Survivor: One World Insider: Chivalry Is Dead, Y'All
- Seal Takes Off His Wedding Ring
- Kim Kardashian, Movie Star? It's "Very Much Possible," Says Tyler Perry
Fashion Police
Leighton's Valentine's Look Plus, Ashlee Simpson and Cate Blanchett. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
Downey Going Back to Work
And no, we're not talking about picking up trash off the highway.
The oft-troubled actor, who's approaching the end of a yearlong stint in court-ordered drug rehab, has signed up to star in The Singing Detective, a feature version of the famed BBC miniseries that, for a change, will put him on the right side of the law.
Updating the noirish-fantasy drama, which aired in 1986 and starred Michael Gambon, Downey will play tortured mystery writer Philip Marlow--named coincidentally after Raymond Chandler's fictional detective--who's holed up in a hospital with a debilitating case of psoriasis.
Fading in and out of consciousness, a feverish Marlow takes a hallucinatory trip through his first novel, The Singing Detective, stepping into the title role of the song-happy private eye on a surreal hunt for bad guys during the early 1940s.
The trippy role will mark Downey's first foray on the big screen since costarring in Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys in 2000.
After his release in August 2000 from Corcoran State Prison, where he served a year behind bars for violating his probation, Downey returned to work with a recurring role on Fox's Ally McBeal. Three months later, the onetime Oscar nominee was busted by police in Palm Springs who caught him with cocaine and methamphetamine.
Then, last April, he relapsed and was arrested once again on drug charges. Although he managed to work out a deal to avoid more prison time, he was fired from his Ally McBeal gig, for which he won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy. (Because of his legal run-ins, he had previously been dropped from American Sweethearts and replaced by John Cusack and lost the lead in a proposed Los Angeles stage version of Hamlet to have been directed by Mel Gibson.)
With the exception of one day's work lip-synching in Elton John's "I Want Love" video, Downey has remained in lock-down rehab per judge's orders.
In a progress report last November, Downey appeared before Los Angeles Superior Court Justice Randall White and reiterated his commitment to complete his recovery at the Malibu-based Wavelength International clinic and fulfill his probation requirements. His attorney said Downey was happy and had been seeing his wife and son again.
No word on whether Downey will be doing his own singing for The Singing Detective. Although the actor can croon (witness his contributions to a couple of Ally McBeal soundtrack albums), in the original TV series Gambon lip-synched classic songs à la Steve Martin in Pennies from Heaven.
The Singing Detective is being produced by Downey's old pal Gibson, through the latter's Icon Productions. The two costarred together in 1990's Air America.
The movie, directed by Keith Gordon (A Midnight Clear), starts filming on April 23--as soon as Downey is released from rehab.
0 Comments
Now loading...