Director Cuts Loose From Footloose Remake
Paramount Pictures
That Footloose remake is looking less and less like a High School Musical sequel.
First Zac Efron bailed. Now his HSM director, Kenny Ortega, who was set to helm the Footloose remake, is high-stepping away after having issues about the tone and budget of the dance flick, according to Variety.
The move comes just days before Ortega's next directing project, the behind-the-scenes Michael Jackson concert film This Is It, hits theaters.
"Coming off of the extraordinary project, Michael Jackson's This Is It, director Kenny Ortega has decided it is premature for him to commit to his next film and will not be moving forward with Footloose as previously reported," Paramount Pictures said in a statement to E! News. Neither the studio nor Ortega would comment on the reason behind his exit.
Production on the film is still set to commence in March, with Chace Crawford and Julianne Hough reprising the famed lead roles once played by Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer.
______
Need some high-stepping hoofers? Check out our Dancing With the Stars Season Nine gallery.
Party Crashing With Cristina: The Week's Best Bashes!
What, you couldn't make it to the hottest star-studded parties this week? No problem, we've got you covered. Come party-crashing with me as I count down the three hottest celeb bashes of the week.
Discover where all the Girls Next Door past and present partied together for a special occasion and what fashion fetes the Gossip Girl cast has been spotted at all over the Big Apple. Plus, Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson hit the same bash, but are Marissa and Summer still BFFs?
Hit the clip above to find out!
Want more A-list action? Check out our Party Pics: Hollywood gallery!
Derek Hough: Dancing Partner Needs to Loosen Up
ABC/CRAIG SJODIN
There's at least one person out there who thinks politico Tom DeLay has an actual chance of going far in Dancing With the Stars.
"Some people who you think are going to do great, you see them and you think, Wow, they're not as good as I thought," professional hoofer Derek Hough says. "Or some people, like Tom DeLay, might come out here and rock everyone's world."
Oh, really? Read on for Hough's explanation...
Ashley Greene and Chace Crawford: New Couple?
INFphoto.com
Good thing Twilight vixen-hon Ashley Greene's neck wasn't thrown out in Vancouver while shooting Eclipse last week: She was spotted locking lips with Chace Crawford this morning in the back of her limo as she made her way to LAX. We ran into Ash yesterday at the Teen Choice Awards and she told us her body has been taking quite the beating up north.
"Eclipse is going to be great," Miss Greene eagerly exclaimed to us. "So far we've been doing lots of fight training and lots of stunt training. My body is kind of in shambles, but it has been fun."
By the looks of things Ashley wasn't in too much pain to let it keep her from a morning-after smoochfest with Chace, though. This girl is a man-handler, and we love it.
So are she and C.C. going to take it to the next level? Maybe he saw something he liked with those nude pics that were cruelly leaked earlier today...
Jeremy Piven: Emmy-Winning...Pool Boy?
Tim Ogier / ABC
Zac Efron just finished filming a guest spot on Entourage, so it would only make sense for someone like Chace Crawford to be next in line…right?
Not if the hit HBO show's star Jeremy Piven has anything to do with it! The Piv has someone completely different in mind...
Another Breakup! Chace Moves Out on Ed
Kevin Parry/WireImage.com
First Jessica and Tony, now this!
We've all heard the tales of stinkiness, sloppiness and unneighborliness coming from the apartment of Gossip Girl babes Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick, but we always thought their togetherness was sweetly bromantic.
But now, word is that Footloose star Crawford is hot-stepping out on Jessica Szohr's man and moving downtown to be closer to Wall Street.
Why Wall Street? Yeah, we're not sure, either.
Someone hand us a hankie as we look through a gallery of the bromances that continue to warm our hearts.
Week in Review: Pattinson Bumped! Speidi Bounced? Brangelina Gives Back! Jon & Kate Giving Up?
LEFRANC/BENAINOUS/GAMMA/EYEDEA/ZUMA; Frank Micellotta/Getty Images; Brad Barket/Getty Images; Jason Merritt/Getty Images
So it's the weekend already! Although, really, it couldn't have come fast enough for us. Robert Pattinson can only have so many brushes with death, David Letterman can apologize only so many times and Brangelina can donate only so much money before we declare it a day and retire to our caves with the first season of True Blood and a case of Mike's Hard Lemonade.
Here's what else haunted our dreams last week...
1. We might stop talking about Heidi and Spencer. Seinfeld pulled off being about nothing, but the hourglass has about run out on the Pratts' vacuous run. Al Roker votes yea, but sometimes Speidi are fun for all the wrong reasons, so you still have plenty of time to state your case before a final ruling is announced Monday during E! News.
2. This is getting serious. Ladies, you know Robert Pattinson isn't really immortal, right? At this rate, he may not make it to the Twilight-mad Teen Choice Awards in one piece! And then who would Kristen Stewart spend all her time yearning for?!
3. David Letterman threw himself under the bus and offered up a more sober apology to Sarah Palin, who accepted the Late Show host's kinder mea culpa. And yet people still protested the poor schlub!
4. The next episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 will feature a "special announcement." We're thinking divorce, but isn't that what TLC wants us to think? Won't we feel silly when it turns out they're just planning a trip to Mall of America or something. Mom and dad did spend a few minutes together, after all...
5. A couple of cops in Ohio are being investigated for allegedly breaking into the home of the woman who's carrying Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick's baby in order to dig up tabloid dirt. Have you no shame, sirs?
Update
Julianne & Chace: Footloose Dance Partners?
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images; Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Update: Have Julianne Hough supporters been a little too enthusiastic in claiming she’s the Footloose top choice? I’m now being told that while the filmmakers certainly consider her among their favorites, they’re hoping she’ll be able to improve on her acting skills before the cameras start rolling.
Fingers crossed for ya, Julianne!
_________
Chace Crawford is pretty darn close to having one hot country gal by his side.
Sources tell me that Dancing With the Stars hoofer and rising country music singer Julianne Hough is finally in negotiations to star opposite People magazine's Hottest Bachelor in the upcoming remake of Footloose...
Chace Crawford Tops Rob Pattinson for "Hottest Bachelor" Mantle
People
Carrie Underwood was clearly not on the voting panel. Neither, no doubt, was any member of the Twilight nation.
Gossip guy Chace Crawford was named People's Hottest Bachelor in the magazine's latest of its unending tributes to eye candy, beating out the likes of Chris Pine, Shia LaBeouf, Adam Lambert and—horror of horrors—Robert Pattinson for the top spot.
What the list lacks in A-listers (it's not nearly as loaded with established star power as the mag's Most Beautiful or Sexiest Man Alive roll calls), it more than makes up for in controversy.
Among those bachelors whose hotness was deemed less incendiary than Crawford: Pattz's Twilight costar Kellan Lutz along with 90210 bromancer Ryan Eggold, Dwayne Johnson, reality stalwart Brody Jenner, Common and Taylor Kitsch.
Exclusive
Kyra Sedgwick: Kevin Bacon Gave Chace Crawford Footloose Pointers
The Kobal Collection / Getty Images, Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
While we don't yet know who will play Chace Crawford's love interest in the upcoming Footloose remake, we do know he has some big shoes to fill.
At a brunch event for Trop50 and The Juice, Kyra Sedgwick opened up about what her hubby, original Ren Kevin Bacon, thought of the casting.
"We met him at the [White House] Correspondents' Dinner and our daughter's a big fan," she told E! News. "We were like, 'If he's good enough for her, he's good enough for us.' "
More importantly, Bacon imparted a little wisdom on the Gossip Girl star.
"Kevin said good luck and gave him a couple of thoughts, but I can't remember what they were. Something about wearing really tight jeans and Herbert Ross saying to him, when he was doing the final dance scene, 'These aren't tight enough!' So he kind of warned Chace about it, 'You're gonna have to wear really tight jeans. Just so ya know.' "
Several of Crawford's GG castmates were equally as amused...
Julianne Hough: Just Steps Away From Footloose?
Denise Truscello/Getty Images
Guess who loves Julianne Hough?
Kenny Ortega, the director of the upcoming remake of Footloose.
Nope, the Dancing With the Stars hoofer and country singer hasn't landed the female lead opposite Chace Crawford yet, but...
Exclusive
Miley May Cut Footloose; Chace Definitely Will
The Kobal Collection/Getty Images, John Shearer/Getty Images, AP Photo/Matt Sayles
Not everybody can star in Footloose, but they certainly seem to be trying.
On the same day that Paramount finally confirmed what we've been telling you for weeks—that Chace Crawford would headline the remake of the song-and-dance extravaganza—Miley Cyrus has surfaced as the latest hot young thing being considered for the leading-lady role.
"They've expressed interest in Miley for the part," a source close to the tween queen said.
A source close to the production further added that Cyrus "is definitely in the mix."
As it stands, that mix currently includes Hayden Panettiere, Amanda Bynes and Dancing With the Stars pro Julianne Hough, all of whom have auditioned in recent weeks for the part of Ariel Moore, the independent daughter of a preacher man, originated in the 1984 classic by Lori Singer.
The Big Picture
Ooh La La! Rob arrives in Paris to promote New Moon...and brings some extra sparkle to the City of Light
More PhotosMost Commented
- Would Kristen Work With Rob Outside of Twilight? (861)
- "Exhausted" Rob and Kristen (Kinda) Get Personal (764)
- Robsten Begin Publicity Tour Together—Kinda (605)
- Did Rob Come Across Badly in Vanity Fair? (599)
- Is the Pressure Getting to Robsten? (571)
- "Puppy Dog" Rob and Kristen Play the Newlywed Game (510)
- Overworked Rob Needs a Break! (375)
- Blab Blab Blab: Robsten Ain't Outta Thin Air (354)
- Rob and Kristen Keep the Mystery Going (327)
- Bitch-Back! Angelina Bouncing From Man to Man? (250)
Top 10 Stories
- More Lindsay Tapes Leak: She Was "Dating" Heath at Time of Death, Has "Problem With Her DNA"
- Ugly Betty May Steal Eastwick Slot From Lost
- Carrie Prejean on Solo Sexy Tape: "I'm Humiliated to Be Talking About This Now on National TV"
- Mya Finally Impresses All Three Judges on Dancing With the Stars
- James Woods Takes Brother's Death to Trial
- Katt Williams Not So Funny When He's Arrested for Burglary
- Justin Timberlake Puts the Brakes on "Obsessed, Mentally Unstable" Woman
- D.A.: Sean Penn's Pap Smack Not a Felony Matter
- Singing Burglar Suspect in Protective Custody
- Kelly Osbourne: Why I Won't Weigh Myself
Fashion Police
Sloppy SuitingPoor Eva is a mess from head to skirt at the New York City premiere of her latest flick
More Photos
-
-
Sex May Sell, But Diddy Ain't Buyin'
On I Want to Work for Diddy, Sean Combs puts the crotch in crotchety more >> -
Sexual Infidelity's a Bozo No-No on Cheaters
Cheaters goes under the Big Top to uncover a circus of bad love more >>
Fun & Games
Latest Movie Reviews
Shop
-
All New Shop E! Online New site, new stuff!
-
Chelsea Lately Coffee Mug Check out the new Chelsea Lately section at Shop E! Online for more
Get Your E! News Now
