Lisa Kudrow comes to ‘Cougar Town.’ Now, how about Matthew Perry?

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We keep going back-and-forth about ABC’s freshman comedy “Cougar Town.”

While it did make our list of Must-See fall shows, repeated viewings of the pilot made us think it was trying a little too hard.

This secondary judgment was borne out by much of the first half of the season, although right before it went on holiday hiatus it gave us a one-two punch with a solid Thanksgiving episode and the addition of Scott Foley.

Admittedly, it’s all kind of confusing.

“Cougar Town” returns on Wednesday (Jan. 6) with the much ballyhooed “Friends” reunion between “CT” star Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, who plays the best dermatologist in town who happens to have a mean streak.

It’s always good to see Kudrow play someone other than Phoebe and from the clips we’ve seen this casting works better than Jennifer Aniston’s on Cox’s last show “Dirt.” But let’s face it, the next time Cox gets a friend to come out and play we really wish it would be Matthew Perry.

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‘17 Again’ tops movie gaffes survey

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Body-swap comedy 17 Again has topped a list of 2009’s most gaffe-ridden films.

The movie, which stars Matthew Perry and Zac Efron, is said to contain over 100 mistakes and general continuity errors.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen tied in second place with 71 mistakes apiece, while Night At The Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian and The Twilight Saga: New Moon completed the top five, featuring 29 blunders each.

The survey, compiled by moviemistakes.com, also listed 27 errors in disaster movie 2012 and 25 in sci-fi blockbuster Knowing.

The website’s editor Jon Sandys said of the results: “This isn’t meant to be assigning blame – generally these are noticed by the biggest movie fans, even in films they loved.

“That said, you wonder how some of these blunders get past the editing room.”

Matthew Perry making Dirty Pictures

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Matthew Perry has joined the cast of the highly-anticipated and slightly-feared (by the industry) film adaptation of Peter Biskind’s best-selling novel “Down and Dirty Pictures”.

Like Robert Altman’s “The Player”, the flick both takes the piss and exposes the open wounds of the independent film industry. In particular, it exposes the machinations of Miramax, as operated by Bob and Harvey Weinstein. The film will be shot with actors, but will include segments in comic-book inspired animation, and claymation.

Perry (“17 Again”) joins a cast of recognizable faces in the film – a lot, like him, from the world of TV – including Vincent D’Onofrio (as Harvey Weinstein, no less!), Andy Serkis (“Lord of the Rings”), Sally Hawkins, Hugh Dancy (“Confessions of a Shopaholic”), Bobby Canavale, and Elias Koteas (yep kids! Casey Jones from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : The Movie”!). Indy alumni like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are also rumoured to be making appearances in the flick.

Ken Bowser‘s film tells of Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky, a couple of novice filmmakers who plan – via their new company October Films – to take on Miramax Films. Ray and Lipsky hope to nourish art-house cinema and compete against Harvey and his brother Bob, creating a grueling, emotional battle over the future of independent film.

Shooting begins next month in Park City.

http://celsiusentertainment.wordpress.com/current-projects/down-and-dirty-pictures/

Vincent D’Onofrio Fills Weinstein’s Shoes

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In a period where the studio-based portion independent film industry are on suicide watch, it’ll be fun to relive a time when Harvey Weinstein and everyone competing against him could do no wrong. Ever since we got word that there was a screenplay based on Peter Biskind’s incendiary book was making the rounds (Jeffrey Wells) and there was activity on the production that a crew were in Cannes filming, but now we got word that Down and Dirty Pictures (a 10 million dollar production) has got a great cast in place (Hugh Dancy, Matthew Perry, Andy Serkis, Sally Hawkins, Elias Koteas, Bobby Cannavale, Toby Jones and Michael Rispoli) with Screen Daily reporting that Vincent D’Onofrio is poised to take on the “role” of Weinstein.

Written by Joshua James and Dean Craig, this is based on Peter Biskind’s non-fiction book Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. This is about the mavericks who helped to create, mold, and later reinvent the modern day independent film industry. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast and cameos from Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, this riveting story charts the rise of the Sundance Film Festival, how Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Pulp Fiction got made and the intense rivalry between Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax and Bingham Ray’s October Films as the two companies slug it out for pre-eminence in the world of early 90’s indie filmmaking.

Ken Bowser, the director of the doc film Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood, is directing.

Schlamme has projects in development at several networks

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Schlamme is also working on ABC’s Matthew Perry project, in which the former “Friends” star plays a sports arena manager who hits a midlife crisis at 40.

Matthew wanted to do a show, and I was flattered that he would call me,” said Schlamme, who worked with the star on “Friends,” “West Wing” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” “We thought this was a great backdrop for an office-set show and very exciting visually,” he said.

Perry is penning the script with Alex Barnow and Marc Firek. Jamie Tarses, who once served as Schlamme’s network boss, is his exec producing partner on the project.

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