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It all started in December of last year. Columnist and The Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington set forth a series of tweets -- with pictures! -- from the set of a Lana and Andy Wachowski production set in the future and focusing on the Iraq War. A couple months later, Jesse Ventura mentioned during a radio interview that he too had been involved with said shoot. He went into more detail than Huffington did, describing his costume -- which included dreadlocks and a third eye -- and his performance: after being outfitted, he was asked to vent his feelings on the Iraq War.

Now, thanks to Production Weekly, we know that casting has begun on the movie, and that the title is "CN9." Rumors indicate that the story focuses on a homosexual relationship between a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi, and that it is told in flashbacks from a near-future setting.

New stuff from the Wachowskis? I'm all for it, and for a variety of reasons. Let's run through them after the jump. Read more...

Tags Andy Wachowski, CN9, Lana Wachowski, wachowskis

Hey "Star Wars" fans! You know this year's fan convention, Celebration V, is in Florida at the Orange County Convention Center, right? Here's something you didn't know though: Mark Hamill is going to be in attendance. That's right, Luke Skywalker himself. Lucasfilm exclusively confirmed to MTV that the celebrated actor will be on hand to meet fans and sign autographs. He'll also put in an appearance on the Celebration Stage. None of the specific scheduling has been announced just yet, but the convention runs from August 12 to August 15, so count on all of this happening sometime during that timeframe. This is in addition to the already announced Jon Stewart interview with George Lucas, not to mention all of the other "Star Wars" fan-fulfilling craziness that's planned.

Although he previously appeared at Celebration Europe and Celebration Japan, Celebration V marks Hamill's first appearance at one of the U.S.-based conventions. Hopefully things will go better for him than they did when he appeared at BiMonSciFiCon on "The Simpsons." Tickets are still available, so head over to the Celebration website to get yours now.

Tags Mark Hamill, star wars, Star Wars Celebration

A lot of people are going to see "re-shoots" and shudder in fear. I don't get the feeling that that's the case here though. EW.com is reporting that, as part of the recently completely (and planned) re-shoots for "Tron Legacy," Pixar veterans Brad Bird and Michael Arndt came in to collaborate with the film's original writers to better bring out the film's "character, emotion and theme."

I don't see this as a knock on writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz as much as it is Disney using all of the tools available to make sure "Tron" is every bit as amazing as the debut trailer makes us want it to be. Pixar does an exceptional job of imbuing computer fabrications with real, human emotion, even when the subjects are a handful of talking toys. As good as the movie is looking so far, I find it hard to consider this news as anything other than a positive thing. What do you think?

Tags brad bird, Michael Arndt, pixar, Tron Legacy

Look. I know you're still interested in "The Hobbit." You know you're still interested in "The Hobbit." But if we in the media stop covering marginal not-news about the still not greenlit, still director-free adaptation, Hollywood might forget about it. ...Right?

This is one of those rare occasions when the actual news is less interesting than the coverage around it. Here's the leading info: "The Hobbit" writer, producer and suspected director Peter Jackson is in the midst of meeting with actors in the United Kingdom, Los Angeles and New York for potential roles in the two films. The Hollywood Reporter ran that news late yesterday. The funny thing there, as Deadline's Nikki Finke points out in a blogged response, is that her own site reported the exact same news on June 25.

Oy. Read more...

Tags peter jackson, the-hobbit

One of the wonderful things about living in New York City for an artist is having the opportunity to share your work with any number of people at a moment's notice. No matter the time of day, whether you're in the park, strolling along the sidewalk or traveling via mass transit, there's always someone around, always a captive audience.

Enter Improv Everywhere, a New York City-based group of roving performers who create scenes in public spaces without warning. One of their more recent forays plunged into the city's subway system, the number 6 train to be precise. I'm not going to spoil it for you; just know that you're getting a memorable scene from "Star Wars," reenacted to the amusement of the gathered subway riders.

Also note that none of the Imperial Stormtroopers are carrying fake blaster rifles. Hey-- it's still New York! Read more...

Tags star wars

Twitter-Wood pulled out its New York City pride today in remembrance of late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Horatio Sanz, Damon Lindelof and Michael Ian Black may all remember him for different reasons, but they all sent memorial shout-outs to him in their feeds.

A handful of "Twilight" actor posts showed up today, too, and if you read on, you can find out who calls Olivia Wilde "Muffinhead," who surprised someone with his acting abilities and who's ready for his new film "Loosies" to start filming. It's all retweeted below along with Richard Kelly's micro-review of "The Kids Are All Right."

I'm @brianwarmoth, and this is Twitter-Wood for July 13, 2010. Read more...

Tags alex meraz, damon lindelof, Edi Gathegi, horatio sanz, loosies, michael ian black, peter facinelli, richard kelly, seth meyers, the kids are all right, Twitter-Wood, Weird Al Yankovic

"Seinfeld" is the easy pop culture moment to talk about in relation to George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees owner who died earlier today after suffering a massive heart attack. He only appeared on the show once, but series co-creator Larry David frequently appeared -- the back of his head anyway -- as the baseball mogul while Jason Alexander's George Costanza held a dream job working for the Yanks. It's great stuff and I don't mean to take anything away from it.

As I was browsing around the Internet this morning after the news broke, I stumbled across a cameo he had in a fun little '90s sports comedy starring Brendan Fraser and Albert Brooks.

I'm talking of course about "The Scout." Read more...

Tags albert brooks, brendan fraser, George Steinbrenner, The Scout

I haven't actually seen "Inception" yet, but the word from every one of my colleagues is that it's quite a trip. The trailers paint enough of a picture in that regard already.

This is hardly the first example of Hollywood burrowing into your brain and screwing with the way you think, however. There's a lengthy history of mindf--k movies out there, stories which keep you guessing all the way through. So as these final few unbearable days tick away before the release of "Inception," why not settle in and appreciate some of our favorite WTF-filled predecessors. Read more...

Tags In the Mouth of Madness, inception, Jacob's Ladder, rear window, The Thirteenth Floor, The Usual Suspects

Haley Joel Osment is back! It always warms my heart to see a child actor carry that work on into adulthood. The "Sixth Sense" star has lent his voice to a fair few video games and an animated film or two, but he's been pretty quiet on the acting front in recent years.

Osment is now in the midst of staging his comeback. He's got a couple of smaller-market efforts in the works right now, and The Hollywood Reporter confirmed yesterday he'll also star in "Sex Ed," a raunchy high school comedy. He'll play a college grad who is forced into the position of having to teach a sexual education course. There's a catch though: he's a virgin. A wacky cast of characters assembles around him, including "an unlikely mentor in a blues bar, a ruthless enemy in the local PTA, and a gorgeous Polish girl for whom English is a distant second language." For more, check out the full story at The Hollywood Reporter.

Tags haley joel osment, Sex Ed

I've been shoring up my strength all day in preparation for writing this post. The growing Legend of Betty White has taken on a life of its own at this point. She simply can't be stopped. There's nothing wrong with it of course-- White is a national treasure, a talented performer with a knack for playing her sweet seeming naivete as uproarious comedy. But I wonder if her reborn celebrity is leading the higher powers in Hollywood to pitch her for inappropriate roles.

George Burns was hilariously funny in a very dry and straightforward way. It's a persona that played perfectly opposite John Denver in the classic comedy "Oh, God!" Now Deadline is reporting that producer Jerry Weintraub, who has reportedly been working with Warner Bros on getting a remake going for some time, has pitched the idea again with White envisioned for the lead Burns role.

My initial response to the idea was, "Oh no, the overexposure continues." After turning it over in my head for a few hours -- and accounting for the John Denver replacement that Weintraub has in mind -- I'm starting to warm up a bit. Read more...

Tags Betty White, Oh God!, paul rudd