Big Loves

Chloë Sevigny's dream roles

Last week Chloë Sevigny introduced Thom Fitzgerald's film '3 Needles' at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival — in which she plays an aspiring nun. The film was shot on location in South Africa, and deals with the AIDS epidemic there.

Sevigny talked to a reporter from the Philadelphia Daily News about some of the projects she'd like to tackle in the future, such as "a comedy that was slightly subversive," citing director Alexander Payne's comedies ('About Schmidt,' 'Election'). She'd also like to do a "sweeping romance or period piece." (photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage.com)

[Philadelphia Daily News]

Inside Scoop

'Wire' writer reveals his sources

"If I only stuck to what I knew, then my books would only be about middle-aged Greek guys," says 'The Wire' scribe George Pelecanos in a recent interview. Dubbed "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world" by Esquire, Pelecanos adds, "I had guys call me and say, 'I really want to let you in my world.' 'The Wire' really opened up a lot of doors for me like that. I've had guys write me from prison, and I've followed them out, and they've taken me under their wing when they've come out."

[City Pages]

[HBO.com]

Bird Watch

Drea de Matteo lends her voice to 'Farce of the Penguins'

Drea de Matteo, Dane Cook and Mario Cantone will be just a few of the voices making cameos in the upcoming 'Farce of the Penguins,' a take-off on 'March of the Penguins.' The film uses real penguin footage, plus voices, to tell the story of one penguin (Bob Saget) taking a 70-mile journey to find love — accompanied by his horny friends. The comedy is due out later this year. (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[zap2it.com]

She Loves the Nightlife

Sara Jessica Parker is executive producing a new half-hour comedy for HBO inspired by NYC nightlife queen Amy Sacco (founder of Bungalow 8 and Lot 61). Sacco will serve as a consultant to the show, which promises to reveal the more humorous behind-the-scenes goings on of celeb hot spots. (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

[contactmusic.com]

Mos Def Goes with Black

Actor and hip hop star Mos Def will play opposite Jack Black in director Michel Gondry's 'Be Kind Rewind.' The story centers on an eccentric junkyard worker (Black) who sets out to remake some classic films after a freak accident magnetizes his brain, destroying the tapes at his friend's video store. Shooting begins this September in New York. (photo: Albert L. Ortega/WireImage.com)

[blackfilm.com]

Trading Places

Chris Noth is getting a new partner on 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent.' Noth, who alterates episodes as lead detective with Vincent D'Onofrio, will be paired with Julianne Nicholson. Nicholson played an assistant district attorney on Dick Wolf's recently cancelled 'Conviction' and will replace Annabella Sciorra as Noth's new partner come the fall. (photo: Jim Spellman/ WireImage.com)

[New York Times]

Sophie Okenedo (of HBO's upcoming 'Tsunami, The Aftermath') and Alicia Silverstone at the London premiere of 'Stormbreaker.' (photo: Jon Furniss/WireImage.com)

Knock-Out

Eva Longoria was on hand to see Sugar Shane Mosley knock out Fernando Vargas in the sixth round of their HBO pay-per-view fight at the MGM Grand in Vegas Saturday, which also drew Oscar de la Hoya and Bernard "The Executioner" Hopkins. At an afterparty at the Wynn's Tryst nightclub, Longoria and an entourage of girlfriends celebrated into the night, according to the New York Post's Page Six, as hip-hop star Lil' Jon rushed to greet the sexy housewife with a kiss on the hand. (photo:John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[NY Post]

Big Cheese

Jeff Garlin's debut as a feature film writer/director, "I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With," screened at the recent Los Angeles Film Festival. Reuters called it, "a winningly low-key 'Marty' lite, bringing a Jewish, showbiz spin to the tale of an overweight man still living with his mother." Garlin tapped comedy pals Bonnie Hunt, Amy Sedaris, David Pasquesi, Wallace Langham and Sara Silverman (among many others) to join his top-notch cast. Garlin, in the lead role, has flirtations with Hunt (both above, with 'Cheese' producer Erin O'Malley), a schoolteacher, and Silverman, a wacky ice-cream parlor worker. (photo:Barry King/WireImage.com)

[Reuters]

California Dreaming

Deirdre Lovejoy goes west

New York-based actor Deirdre Lovejoy of 'The Wire' has had a busy summer on the other coast. On July 15th, she opened with co-stars Janet Zarish and Jackie Hoffman in the San Diego Old Globe production of Wendy Wasserstein's Tony award-winning play 'The Sisters Rosensweig.'

And according to the Orlando Sentinel, she's bought a 1926 Tudor-style house in Los Angeles. Her new place has a rose garden, a lagoon-style pool with a waterfall and a Japanese Zen garden. Nice. (photo:Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[Playbill.com]

Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Shannon Elizabeth celebrate the opening of Club mur.mur at the Borgata in Atlantic City. (photo: Theo Wargo/WireImage.com)

Prime Time

Cynthia Nixon's 'Prime' cast, and an off-Broadway benefit

The casting is complete for The New Group's production of 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,' with Cynthia Nixon in the title role. Rounding out the cast are: Emily Bicks, Ritchie Coster, Lisa Emery, Betsy Hogg, Zoe Kazan, Caroline Lagerfelt, John Pankow, Caity Quinn, Matthew Rauch, Sarah Steele and Halley Wegryn Gross. Performances begin in late September. Meanwhile, July 20th, Nixon will be hosting a benefit performance of 'Trouble in Paradise,' the new Off-Broadway adaptation of Ernst Lubitsch's 1932 film, playing at the Hudson Guild Theatre. (photo: Robin Platzer/FilmMagic.com)

['Prime': Playbill.com]

[Benefit: Playbill.com]

Outkast's Andre '3000' Sings a Toon

In addition to the August Universal/HBO film release of Outkast's musical 'My Life in Idlewild,' singer/writer Andre Benjamin will be the creator and executive producer of the "first true southern cartoon." The Cartoon Network half-hour series 'In the Class of 3000' will star Benjamin as a brilliant rock star and Nobel Prize winner who returns to his native Atlanta to teach at a school for the performing arts. (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[Animation World Network]

[consumerelectronicsnet]

Hall Monitor

Michael C. Hall's new role as a killer cop

Michael C. Hall is jumping into a new role — that of Dexter Morgan, a Miami police department forensic expert who's also a serial killer. But he only kills really bad people. "I have standards," his character tells one of his victims. Stepping up to the challenge of the complex role, Hall told the NY Daily News, "Having encountered this character," said Hall. "I couldn't say no." He's joined by 'Oz' cast members Lauren Valez (playing his lieutenant who wants to be more than his boss) and David Zayas, a slightly compulsive investigator. (photo: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage.com)

[NY Daily News]

Clea DuVall and Carla Gallo celebrate Prada. (photo: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com)

Drama Queen

Kim Cattrall (left, with Alan Wyse) will be appearing at the Donmar Warehouse in London in a new production of David Mamet's 'The Cryptogram' this fall. Before slipping into clipped Mamet-speak, however, she spoke to a reporter for the Daily Mail about her views on being too rich and too thin: "Marilyn Monroe was the last of the voluptuous women. If you saw a woman like that now they'd say: 'Oh my god, she's so fat!' That's how it has become, and that's a shame." As for being rich, she's all for the benefits, which allow her to do daring theater: "I say to myself: 'What am I playing it safe for?'...I've been fortunate enough to be financially successful so I can take some time away from sure things and still pay my mortgage." (photo: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic.com)

[Daily Mail]

Krause-at-Large

This week Peter Krause heads to New Mexico to start shooting a new limited series for the SciFi Channel, called 'The Lost Room' (previously titled 'Motel Man'). Elle Fanning (Dakota's sister) will play his daughter in this thriller. Krause plays homicide detective Joe Miller who stumbles upon a motel room full of mysterious, charmed objects. He becomes a hunted man himself when his daughter disappears in the motel room, in this 'Fugitive' meets 'The Twilight Zone' series. (photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com)

[Comingsoon.net]