Russell Brand as Johnny Depp's brother in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Rumors were afloat, now they are sunk, but hey crazier things have been going around. Like Zac Efron being offered $10 million for the role.
High School Musical, that insanely popular tween juggernaut, finally (finally?) made it into theatres with its third installment, High School Musical: Senior Year. Great?
But whether or not you care about Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens and um, whoever else is in that series, Disney is still able to milk approximately $100 million from these dancing, singing, annoyingly versatile Miley Cyrus wannabes and their franchise, but not for much longer.
See, as you get older kids, you start to grow hair in funny places, your voice cracks, and not even the most die-hard HSM fans can be expected to suspend their disbelief that Zefron still hasn't graduated high school yet (he is already 21, btw).
So the big question for Disney execs is: Can they replace the cast of High School with some more Disney-made stars, or will we have to follow the same kids till Retirement Home: The Musical?
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Meet Bo Burnham, YouTube sensation (not of the Chris Crocker variety) and the latest member of the Judd Apatow family. This kid just turned 18 and he's already been tapped to write the music for — and star in — a new Apatow comedy that is being billed as "the anti-High School Musical." Sounds awesome already.
Taking a cue from both PETA's "objectify your body for a good cause" initiative, as well as the rise in popularity for Eli Roth films, MILFs Jessica Alba and Christina Aguilera teamed up with celebrity photographers Mark Liddell and David LaChapelle to create a BDSM fetishist's wet dream for the Declare Yourself voting campaign. This website will either inspire you to go out and vote, or go buy an extra lock for your door:
Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford, who doesn't mind taking his clothes of on camera because "it's why I go to the gym," meets High School Musical star Zac Efron, who's also known to enjoy sweating for his body; at the Teen Choice Awards.
Having just wrapped the third edition of High School Musical, stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Monique Coleman, Corbin Bleu, and Lucas Grabeel will not return for the fourth installment of the Disney blockbuster. Neither will their faux-mances. [USA Today]
Hang on to your Zac Efron — the Disney Channel is ramping up for a fourth cycle of High School Musical. The second edition, which aired last summer, racked up 18.6 million viewers. The third edition hasn't even been released yet, but when it is, it'll first be seen at the multiplex, not your living room. But now that the original cast of the lucrative show is busy with other projects, like sending naked photos of themselves and fighting off gay rumors, don't expect the original cast to return. "At least one approach that's been floated for a High School Musical 4 would simply be to go with a largely new cast and employ a plot that takes place in an early year in high school, opening the possibility for more sequels with new stars" and more forever pre-pubescent leads!
• We asked a lesbian alien, and seeing Christina Ricci and Reese Witherspoon together really is her fantasy.
• Jessica Alba may be having twins! Sorry, we don't just hand out double exclamation points.
• We give up on trying to understand the image Perez Hilton is going for.
• Too bad Zac Efron's handlers can't use his sexuality to deny the rumors of a sex tape with him and "GF" Vanessa Hudgens.
• Dennis Quaid has aged remarkably well, but we still doubt he's rocking his natural hair color.
• Celebrities have butts: An investigation.
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To the untrained eye, the January/February issue of Details might appear to be gay-free. No mention of dudes who enjoy watching their wives enjoy a Mandingo. Nothing about all gay men being stylish. And you already know the back page no longer features "Gay or …?"
Except then you spot Zac Efron, who's not "gay or ___" anything. He just is.
• Barack Obama is leading in the early polls in New Hampshire. Is the Clinton era over?
• New York firefighter and sometime Guy Gone Wild Michael Biserta is back, modeling underwear, showing off his endowment. CONTINUED »
• Zac Efron dresses up as Katie Holmes for Halloween.
• And speaking of makeovers, Neal Boulton's apparently tired of people confusing him for a lesbian rocker circa 1993.
• If Gisele Bundchen was photographed picking her wedgie today, does that mean Bar Refaeli is going to be photographed doing the same thing tomorrow?
• Collagen injections are just like potato chips: you can't have just one. Unlike potato chips, however, if you don't get your fill you'll end up with a pursed pucker that resembles a "deflated balloon."
• In an amazing pre-taped appearance on The Tyra Banks Show, a pre-scandal Vanessa Hudgens lectures Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan on tabloid avoidance, explaining "It’s easy to stay out of those situations. You just have to smart about your decisions." Well, obviously!
• Meanwhile, OK! magazine continues to rain on Vanny's parade by informing us that she and Zac Efron are no longer fake-dating.
• Watch out! According to this sign, there are "children playing while adults have lawnmower sex," just ahead.
• Here it is! The first picture from the set of the superfluous Sex and the City movie, shown from a respectable distance so as to avoid an unnecessary close-up of Sarah Jessica Parker's giant chin pimple.
• Jessica Alba makes bad movies, good wardrobe decisions.
• Fred Goldman continues to chase the black murderer of his son his white whale.
• Kirstie Alley ditches Jenny Craig in favor of her good friend, General Tso.
• Despite the easy one-liners suggesting otherwise, anorexic crooner Amy Winehouse has, as ASL puts it, "retained the integrity of her hit song."
• Paris Hilton shows us she's not the drug-free, spiritually awakened being that no one thought she was.
• Meanwhile, should we be worried that Nicole Richie's "maternity wear" is pretty much the equivalent of our "skinny jeans?"
• Apparently, Zac Efron isn't anywhere near ready for a commitment with his pretend-girlfriend.
• J.Lo gets a little extra support.
• Heather Graham's got chills. They're multiplying.
Click on thru for the NSFW merging of Jann Wenner's current lusted-after cover and the gay sensibility of Dan Peres' back page.
• Cartoonists around the country raise their pens, grab their sketchbooks and blast Barry Bonds in angry cerebral comic strip solidarity.
• Congratulations to steroid impresario Jose Canseco, who may have succeeded in effectively ruining professional sports.
• From Idolator: "The next issue of Rolling Stone has as its cover subject High School Musical cutie/frequent Bop subject Zac Efron, who is captured in an awkward pose that looks like he's sheepishly feeling himself up while showing off his Tegan and Sara-inspired haircut."
• O.J. Simpson still having trouble grasping the whole "I owe $38 million to the parents of that guy I murdered" concept.
Editorial Director
