Ben Foster and Sharon Stone at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Alpha Dog.' (photo: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com)

Hope Floats

JJ Abrams to team with HBO?

He directed 'Mission Impossible III' during the height of the Tom Cruise media flurry, created 'Felicity,' 'Alias,' 'Lost' and is executive producer on several other network shows. Now the Hollywood Reporter reports JJ Abrams (hardest working guy in show biz?) is talking to HBO about exec producing and directing a new medical drama pilot that looks at cancer from the patient's point of view.

The untitled show is based on 'The Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness,' by Harvard Med School professor Jerome Groopman and details the stories of his patients' hope in the face of their diagnoses and treatments. (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[Hollywood Reporter via Backstage]

They Like Us, They Really Like Us

Tooting our own horn: HBO garnered a network-leading five nominations from the Producers Guild of America when the final list of 2007 awards contenders was announced on Wednesday.

From HBO Films, 'Elizabeth I' and 'Mrs. Harris' go head-to-head for the David L. Wolper Producer of the Year in Long-Form Television Award; our mob family hour 'The Sopranos' is up for the Norman Felton Producer of the Year Award in Episodic Television-Drama, while 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' contends for the Danny Thomas Producer of the Year in Episodic Television-Comedy and 'Real Time with Bill Maher' vies for the Producer of the Year Award in Variety Television. (photo: Seth Browarnik/WireImage.com)

[LA Times]

Bringing Sexy Back

The Chicago Sun reports that Mr. Skin's website named several of the sexiest moments on cable television in 2006 as having occurred on HBO. Top of the list? E's (Kevin Connolly) three-way with girlfriend Sloan (Emmanuelle Chriqui) and her pal Tori (Malin Akerman) on 'Entourage.' And rounding out the list at 9 and 10 was Trixie's (Paula Malcolmson) skirt heisting moment before shooting Hearst (Gerald McRaney) on 'Deadwood' and high-class hooker Eden (Alicia Loren) snorting coke sans top with Christopher (Michael Imperioli) on the 'Sopranos.'

The list also credited moments on 'Huff' and 'Brotherhood' to HBO, but don't tell Showtime. (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[Chicago Sun Times]

Kyle MacLachlan and David Lynch at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Inland Empire' last month. (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

Clubbing with Dad

Kevin Dillon spent some quality time with his father over the holidays bonding the way many men do — over sports. His pop, the portrait artist Paul Dillon, must be the one who taught his son to golf; Dillon père was past president of the Metropolitan Golf Association and coached golf for Fordham University. Father and son were spied teeing off at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck New York, as well as watching Fordham beat Fairfield on the basketball court. (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[NY Post]

McKidd Stuff

He depicts the love/hate passions of the human flesh on 'Rome' in his role as the volatile Lucius Vorenus, but Kevin McKidd will be appearing in a film that deals with a different kind of taste for human flesh in 'Hannibal Rising.' This second prequel to 'Silence of the Lambs' looks at Hannibal Lecter's formative years...from his childhood in Lithuania, years spent in Europe, and those who made him the man eater he becomes. The film is due out in February; meanwhile, you can catch McKidd on the new season of 'Rome' starting next Sunday, January 14th.

[Movies online]

[Watch the trailer]

The Good Ole Days

Chloë Sevigny may be starring in a golden-globe nominated TV series now ('Big Love') but in her E Online profile, you can trace the actress's early doubts and the career risks she took to get where she is today. Sevigny, who started in truly indie films, told Details in 1997: "Making independent films is not really important to me. But it just happens to be what I've done so far. Was 'Trees Lounge' even independent? No, it was Orion. People can say it's an independent. The same with 'Gummo' [written and directed by Harmony Korine, Sevigny's live-in boyfriend, who also wrote 'Kids'] it's Fine Line. That's not really independent. I'm not anti big budget at all. I want to get paid all that money. I haven't gotten paid any money for the films I've done."

Presumably her asking price changed after her big acting breakthrough playing Lana Tisdel in 'Boys Don't Cry.' Sevigny told Detour in 1999: "I went all out because I felt like before in all of my movies, I was never very emotional. I was kind of stiff. I wanted to try something I'd never done before and go crazy. I looked like shit, I didn't get any sleep, none of us saw the light of day for four weeks because we were shooting everything at night. I just hope it comes across well." (photo: John Shearer/WireImage.com)

[E online]

Lindsay Lohan, Kelly Rowland and Queen Latifah celebrate New Year's Eve in Miami. (photo: Seth Browarnik/WireImage.com)

Ere We Saw Elba

Idris Elba (Stringer Bell on 'The Wire) will be opening on the big screen next month in Tyler Perry's new film 'Daddy's Little Girls.' (Perry is the writer/director behind the hits 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' and 'Madea's Family Reunion.') Elba plays single-father Monty, who works as a mechanic and struggles to take care of his three daughters — until he loses custody to his drug-dealing ex-wife. But Elba gets to trade drama for romance, taking on the role of romantic lead when his character meets an ivy-league educated attorney (Gabrielle Union) who helps him win back the custody of his daughters. Will they be able to overcome the obstacle of their very different backgrounds? With the film opening on Valentine's Day, let's hope so. (photo: Mychal Watts/WireImage.com)

[Comingsoon.net]

Intrepid Actor

Blair Underwood is branching out. The actor ('Sex and the City,' 'Fight for Glory' and HBO's upcoming series 'In Treatment') has formed a TV production company, Intrepid. First on the docket: a pilot for TLC called 'Easy Money' about a group of social services workers who win the lottery.

Next month, he'll be in Los Angeles to pick up the Canada Lee Award as part of the 15th annual Pan African Film and Arts Festival. (Canada Lee was the first African-American actor to perform roles intended for white actors, playing them in "white face" and was blacklisted in the 1950s for his fight for racial equality.) The PAFF's founder and executive director Ayuko Babu told The BV Newswire. "[Blair] has consistently put out great work and helped to improve the images of Blacks with every role he's taken on. It's an honor to be recognizing him for his talent this year." (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[C21 Media.net]

[BV Entertainment Newswire Blog]

Ricky Gets the Star Treatment

He's worked his way up the hard way, but now Ricky Gervais is getting treated like an A-lister. While filming his role as an oddball museum boss in 'Night at the Museum,' Gervais told All Headline News: "My girlfriend and I were flown first class to Vancouver and put up in this amazing hotel with this huge room. Then I arrived on set and was shown to this enormous trailer. Shawn, the director, said to me 'How is your trailer?'and I said 'It's bigger than my hotel room.' Then he actually said to me, 'Would you like a bigger hotel room?!' It was brilliant."

As for his favorite line in the new film, currently in theaters, Gervais reports: "The best part has to be Ben Stiller slapping a monkey. And then Robin Williams walks in and says, 'What on earth are you doing slapping a monkey?' That has to be one of the best film lines ever. It's right up there with, 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.' " (photo: Ron Wolfson/WireImage.com)

[All Headline News, 1]

[All Headline News, 2]

Tobey Maguire and Kevin Connolly at the LA premiere of 'The Good German' in December. (photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage.com)

Party Girl

Back home in Melbourne over the holidays, Rachel Griffiths packed her visit with baptisms and weddings. She christened her second daughter Adelaide, alongside the children of three of her best pals — with her uncle Father Andrew Hamilton pouring the holy water. (He declared the event miraculous: "no baby cried.") Rachel hosted the after party in the school hall next to the church, requesting no gifts, but "Christmas leftovers appreciated." Then on the following Saturday she celebrated her friend Rita Arrigo's 40th birthday (the inspiration for Griffith's character in 'Muriel's Wedding'). Today she's presumably resting up from her husband Andrew Taylor's 40th on January 1st. (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

[The Age]

King for a Day

Tony to reign at his parade

What do William Shatner, Bob Hope, Nicolas Cage, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston and, now, James Gandolfini have in common? As of February 18th, they will all have reigned as celebrity King Bacchus at the New Orleans carnival parade, which takes place two days before Mardi Gras.

Hollywood.com reports that Gandolfini developed a soft spot for New Orleans while he was shooting 'All the King's Men' and wants to do what he can to help get the city back on its feet post-Katrina. (photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage.com)

[Hollywood.com]