Kaley Cuoco to host People's Choice Awards

Kaley Cuoco is set to return as host of the 2013 People's Choice Awards, CBS announced today.

Cuoco, who stars as Penny on CBS' hit comedy "The Big Bang Theory," first hosted the awards show in January, replacing five-year veteran Queen Latifah. Her lively, self-deprecating performance -- along with cameos from Neil Patrick Harris, the cast of "Parks & Recreation," and others -- garnered significant praise.

"She is such an engaging performer who brings an undeniable energy and passion to our stage," People's Choice Awards executive producer Mark Burnett said in a statement. "There is no doubt she will be a key part of what makes this year's show a can't miss event."

The People's Choice Awards have aired annually since 1975, with winners selected entirely by viewers and fans. The show is designed to celebrate highlights in pop culture -- last year's nominees included, in various categories, Katy Perry, Glee, and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2."

The 39th annual People's Choice Awards will broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre on January 9, 2013.

By Josh Stillman, EW.com, October 9, 2012

Kevin James talks physical comedy, 'Here Comes the Boom'

Kevin James trained for 14 months to play a biology teacher who moonlights as a mixed martial arts fighter to raise money for his school in "Here Comes the Boom."

James said training included working out three times a day, drinking greens, running and sparring. Yet, he was moving pretty slowly when he dropped by CNN last week.

"I threw my back out ... getting into a town car. That'll show you the kind of shape I'm in now. How far I've let myself go," the self-deprecating comic said.

James co-wrote and co-produced the action comedy, which hits theaters on Friday. It's already garnering positive feedback.

Among his favorite early viewer reactions: "God forgive me, I think I honestly liked this Kevin James movie."

Some people have the idea that "Here Comes the Boom" is "just going to be Paul Blart falling around a ring, being the fat guy, tripping over his own feet," James said. "But the UFC gave us their blessing to make this movie. ... I had to promise them I'm going to make this thing as realistic as possible and it's going to be something that they haven't seen in me before."

As several MMA sites have reported, this is the first film that's actually been allowed to use the UFC brand name.

So far it seems MMA fans like the way the sport is represented. Fight Network's Sarah Davis wrote, "I can appreciate all the cameos made by UFC personalities and fighters, whether they play themselves or not and there are a lot of fight scenes with superman punches, Kimura locks and body shots."

Since "The King of Queens," James has made a name for himself in the PG arena, headlining family films like "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Zookeeper." And then there are his PG-13 endeavors, which include ensemble comedies like "Hitch," "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and "Grown Ups."

Despite some critical reviews, James' flicks have consistently performed well at the box office.

As Entertainment Weekly reported after "Zookeeper's" 2011 release, 41% of moviegoers listed "actor in a leading role" as their reason for seeing the flick about talking animals.

James said he doesn't feel the need to defend his recent films, and he won't apologize for playing "the goofy guy falling down."

"I love doing it," he said. "It cracks me up sometimes what people will say about 'Paul Blart,' " the 2009 flick he co-wrote and starred in as a Segway-riding security guard at a New Jersey mall. "This is for families and for kids."

"Here Comes the Boom" is a very different kind of physical comedy, full of knockouts and arm bars.

Everything that happens in the film is something that has happened during a real MMA fight, James said, noting, "There was a ring that broke. A guy got thrown through the ring. There was a rain fight. These are all from real life."

James, who was a wrestler and a football player once upon a time, has been a fan of the UFC since watching the first fight in 1993. He said it was his "love of trying to be physical and trying to portray what these guys go through" that led him to the project.

As for the other half of the story: "I also have teachers that I remember from when I was going to school that have inspired me," he said. "I've also had really crappy teachers, unfortunately, where they don't really care that much and you think it's a great time then because you're in class ... but literally there is nothing for you later on down the road. I kind of just wanted to tie these two worlds together."

"It's tough," he added, "because you're trying to blend a big comedy with inspiration, with heart and realistic fighting. ... There are a lot of ingredients in this one."

James hopes audiences will enjoy the idea of a "common, everyday guy" fighting in the Octagon for a good cause.

"You can watch 'James Bond' and enjoy it because it's something that you would never do," he said. "I could never be James Bond. And then there are movies where you watch because you're seeing yourself through the eyes of the character. And I think I'm the latter."

Part of James' appeal as the everyman is his size, which is occasionally written into his story lines, as fans of "The King of Queens" already know.

While he said he doesn't mind the jokes, his mother is not a fan.

"If I do a movie where I have to have (a son) and it's a chubby kid, my mother is always like, 'You were never like that.' She gets so upset about it," he said.

It's his own kids, who are 7, 5 and 17 months, who have greatly influenced his professional decisions.

"I want to do movies that I'm proud of where my kids, at some point, can see and I can feel comfortable sitting there watching it with them," he said. "And just that move people. That make people feel a little bit better about themselves when they leave the theater."

James will next appear in "Little Boy" and "Grown Ups 2," which is due out in July 2013. He's also gearing up to star alongside Kevin Hart in "Valet Guys," the comedy he co-wrote about two valet parking attendants who witness a murder.

By Stephanie Goldberg, CNN, October 10, 2012 

ABC Family ends 'The Secret Life of an American Teenager'

Now Shailene Woodley can pursue that film career fulltime: ABC Family has decided not to renew the five-year-old "The Secret Life of an American Teenager" for another season.

The drama from Brenda Hampton ("7th Heaven") will air the first of its final 12 episodes beginning in March, according to Deadline.

"Teenager" not only served as a springboard for the Golden Globe-nominated Woodley — who starred in "The Descendants" opposite George Clooney — but served as a beacon of light for the Down Syndrome community because it cast Luke Zimmerman as Tom, the high-functioning son of Kathleen (Josie Bissett).

The drama that addressed teen pregnancy first bowed in 2008.

By Lynette Rice, EW.com, October 10, 2012

Former CIA agent gives take on 'Taken 2'

Liam Neeson was already an Academy Award-nominated star when director Pierre Morel's "Taken" was released in 2008, but the movie's sleeper success made audiences look at the actor differently.

His portrayal of Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative on the hunt for his daughter's sex-trafficking kidnappers, became a cult success and made him a full-fledged action star at almost 60. As such, "Taken 2" barreled into theaters this weekend, bringing in $50 million. It's the first film to make that much in three days since "The Dark Knight Rises" in July.

"Taken 2" is not so much a sequel as it is an extension of the first movie. The Albanian brothers of Neeson's victims demand vengeance. "The dead cry out to us for justice," says Murad Krasniqi, the film's villain played by Rade Serbedzija.

This time the director is France's Olivier Megaton, who reportedly adopted his last name because his birthday falls on August 6, 1965, 20 years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. It would seem subtlety isn't his forte or his movie's.

Espionage is synonymous with explosions in the "Taken" series, along with pretty much every film representation of the CIA -- from Jack Ryan to Jason Bourne. "That's always the intention in Hollywood," says Melissa Boyle Mahle. "That's the Hollywood shortcut."

A covert CIA operative for 16 years, Mahle knows about what she's talking. "My area of expertise was the Middle East and counterterrorism," she says. "I did the classic work that Americans think spies do overseas."

She chronicles her experience, as much as she's able to, in her book "Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA." The book takes a look at Mahle's work as well as the post-Cold War culture and structural issues with the agency.

Considering Mahle's blond hair, you think she'd stick out like a sore thumb in that part of the world. "You can certainly blend in if you are of Middle Eastern ethnicity, but we adopt cover stories that allow us to live, work and move through these societies in ways that look very natural and normal within the context of their engagement with foreigners," she says. Sometimes that also included traditional dresses and veils. "We know the language, we know the societal norms -- things we can and cannot do and what will draw attention to you."

Neeson throws any form of clandestine operations out the window as the Albanian terrorists take him and his ex-wife, played by Famke Janssen, into their desolate torture room of chains and pipes.

After his ex-wife is hung upside down with a bag over her head, Mills calls his daughter Kim (who was taken in the first "Taken" film). The first plan is for her to make her way to a U.S. Embassy, but she refuses. She needs to help her father despite the post-traumatic stress disorder she may be suffering from after her own sex-trafficking experience.

"You can only train so much for something like that," Mahle says of an abduction scenario. "We know that when you're caught by a terrorist, you have a bad outcome in front of you, and you hope for either immediate rescue or a quick death." But operatives know the risk, Mahle says. "If you're going to be so focused on the risks, you're not going to be able to do your job."

Mills' Plan B involves his daughter using a shoelace, a sharpie and some hand grenades thrown on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, to help pinpoint his location. From an audience standpoint, it makes no sense and perfect sense all at once.

"It's very hard to be a clandestine operator if every time you walk through the door something blows up," Mahle says. "That makes a good film, but it doesn't make very good operations. Espionage, by its very nature, is a mind game. People don't wake up and decide to trigger countries in vengeance on a whim."

The vengeance in "Taken 2" is in full force as Kim and her father seek to sort out the group of Albanian misfits. This includes a wild ride through the streets that is a bit of a ridiculous premise but does allow for some father-daughter bonding time that's important given the pair's somewhat rocky relationship. Mills' relationship with his ex-wife is also strained because of his former career as a CIA operative.

"It takes a special kind of person to live in a world that we create for ourselves," Mahle says. "In your personal relationships that are not part of that clandestine world, there is an element of omission and people can feel that."

Despite the opportunity for leaving out details about her life, Mahle points out that her whole career was based around figuring out people. "I've been married to my husband for forever, and we figured out a way to make it work."

But living undercover means lying to everyone -- including children.

"Here we are trying to (raise) upstanding, honest Americans, but we're lying to them from Day One, and we're doing it for the specific reason of protecting national security," Mahle says. "When you choose that moment to say, 'By the way son, I've been lying to you all along,' that's hard.' "

By Scott Pierce, Special to CNN, October 9, 2012

Box office report: 'Taken 2' scores explosive $50 million debut

Liam Neeson has had an indisputably amazing year.

Though the quality of the actor's movies remains up for debate (We're looking at you, Battleship. Well, you too, Wrath of the Titans. Oh gosh, The Grey as well. And, as much as I hate to say it, perhaps even The Dark Knight Rises... don't stone me!), the fact that 60-year-old Neeson is at the peak of his career, recognized as an almost mythic Chuck Norris-esque figure and opening a new action tentpole every couple of months, is nothing short of remarkable.

And now Neeson has another chart-topper to add to his already impressive resume: Taken 2, which debuted to an astounding $50 million from 3,661 theaters this weekend, good for a sizzling $13,657 per theater average. Taken 2's debut is the third-best ever in the month of October, behind 2011′s Paranormal Activity 3, which started with $52.6 million, and 2010′s Jackass 3D, which started with $50.4 million.

The revenge sequel also earned more than twice as much as the original Taken did in its opening weekend — that film surprised Hollywood when it bowed with $24.7 million in 2009, and it also served as the catalyst for Neeson's career jumpstart. Thanks to great word-of-mouth, Taken chugged all the way to $145 million total.

Time will tell whether Taken 2 can match its predecessor's gross, but that may prove challenging.

While the film did score a solid "B+" CinemaScore grade, reviews were even harsher this time around and much has been made of the fact that Taken 2's storyline adheres so closely to the original. (Of course, this didn't exactly crush The Hangover Part II.) Thanks to up-front excitement, Taken 2 will almost certainly fall hard in the weeks to come, but considering Fox spent just $42 million to make the film, that won't matter. This is already a huge winner for everyone involved.

Hotel Transylvania finished the weekend in second place, falling by an excellent 38 percent to $26.3 million. Sony's $85 million animated venture has earned $76 million in its first ten days — far ahead of Sony Pictures Animation's most successful performer, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which had earned $60.5 million at the same point in its run. With Halloween still three weeks away — and competition like Frankenweenie apparently not a threat — the Adam Sandler-voiced kiddie flick will continue to hold well at the box office and glide right past the $100 million mark.

In third was Universal's $17 million a cappella comedy Pitch Perfect, which earned a solid $14.7 million out of 2,770 theaters. Thanks to strong pre-release buzz — Pitch Perfect garnered an "A" CinemaScore grade and Universal opened the film a week early in 335 theaters last weekend-- the singing competition flick hit a box office high note with $5.1 million. Though its per theater average understandably dropped from $15,371 to a still-strong $5,320 due to its expansion, Pitch Perfect is already a big success story. When the original trailer hit the net earlier this year, Pitch Perfect appeared to be an ill-conceived companion to marginally popular teen titles like Step Up or You Got Served. But thanks to a dose of Glee-ful vocals and strong reviews overall, the film no longer looks like a direct-to-DVD sibling of Bring It On 5: High-Five, We're Alive! (We kid.) In fact, Pitch Perfect may just be a new Bring It On in its own right. The zeitgeisty film was cheap to make and is now well on its way to profitability. Plus, it seems tailor-made for home market success with young women (74 percent of Pitch Perfect's opening weekend audience was female) and repeat-viewing. While Pitch Perfect may never earn as much as Taken 2 did in its first three days, it will end up being a well-liked success story for Universal.

Looper enjoyed a second weekend in fourth place, dropping by an encouraging 41 percent to $12.2 million. TriStar's well-reviewed $35 million time-bending thriller, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, has now earned $40.3 million after 10 days, and it could climb as high as $65 million total. A nice example of original content clicking with audiences. (See, Hollywood? It is possible!)

Rounding out the Top 5 was Disney's Tim Burton-directed Frankenweenie, the kooky, spooky tale which debuted with a rather disappointing $11.5 million. The $39 million film, about a boy trying to resurrect his deceased pooch, just didn't click with audiences. There are a few factors at play here. For starters, domestic moviegoers traditionally don't like stop-motion animation all that much. The Pirates! Band of Misfits proved that earlier this year, when it sailed away with just $31.1 million. Furthermore, it likely didn't help that Frankenweenie was in black and white — kids are used to bright, candy-colored options like Madagascar or Toy Story. Frankenweenie didn't fit that mold. On top of that, there's been a glut of creepy-ish kiddie titles in the marketplace lately. Not only is the well-performing Hotel Transylvania cleaning up at the box office with its own brand of monstrous mayhem, Laika's ParaNorman (which has earned $54.4 million so far) had a similar Frankensteinian sensibility. How many animated movies about undead characters do families really want to see in the course of two months?

The sad part for Disney is that critics loved the film. Frankenweenie earned wonderful reviews overall and a "B+" CinemaScore grade. Perhaps it can find its legs in the weeks to come.

1. Taken 2 -- $50.0 million

2. Hotel Transylvania -- $26.3 million

3. Pitch Perfect -- $14.7 million

4. Looper -- $12.2 million

5. Frankenweenie -- $11.5 miilion


By Grady Smith, EW, October 8, 2012

Review: 'Taken 2' same as original, but different

You know what happens in "Taken 2," don't you? The same thing that happened four years ago in Taken, but different. (But the same.)

Directed by French tough-stuff Transporter 3 specialist Olivier Megaton, the movie is simultaneously silly, nasty, a lazy festival of stereotypes, and a cleverly made piece of merchandise — i.e., it's the devil we know. This time the blithely violent revenge thriller takes place in Istanbul, which, like Paris in the original, is infested with evil stubbled Albanian gangsters. And now it's retired CIA intel pro Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his ex-wife, Lenore (Famke Janssen) who get taken too. Miraculously, the couple's singularly hostage-prone daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), avoids captivity, and even proves a worthy bad-guy opponent, primarily through the use of her near-magic iPhone.

By the way, the chief evil stubbled Albanian gangster, Murad Hoxha (Rade Serbedzija, who is Croatian), wants revenge because Bryan killed his son in the previous movie after that son kidnapped Bryan's daughter to force her into prostitution. Suffice it to say, things do not go well for Murad. Chained up and locked away along with his ex-missus, Bryan, with his very specialized set of skills, nevertheless wriggles free. Then, on the way to rescuing his ex, he alternately beats the crap out of people, shoots the crap out of people, runs the crap over people, and growls the crap out of people.

Anyone who thinks any of the above constitutes a spoiler is not the audience for the phenomenon of the "Taken" oeuvre, a pair of icy-eyed movies laid over a gooey core of aspirational family bonding. In these films, by sheer dint of will, strategic career planning, and physical training sessions suited to his now 60-year-old chassis, Neeson sets himself the goal of becoming a Harrison Ford-like action hero. And this he does: He's sturdy, solid, efficient, opaque, and wears a black leather jacket well. Ta-da. He's an action hero. (Seems like a waste of a career arc to me, but guess who's the millionaire?)

The apex of the star's work here is when he manages not to betray a giggle when directed to whisper into the phone to the perpetually edge-of-panicked Maggie Grace, ''Your mother and I are going to be taken. Listen to me very carefully.'' As Oscar Wilde almost said in "The Importance of Being Earnest," to be taken once may be regarded as a misfortune; to be taken twice looks like carelessness.

cnn.com, October 7, 2012

Jimmy Page on another Led Zeppelin reunion: 'I don't see it'

At one point in "Celebration Day," the new film of Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion concert in London, the camera stays long and tight on Jimmy Page's hands as they execute the introduction to "Stairway to Heaven" on the six-string neck of his double-neck Gibson guitar. It is one of rock's most iconic riffs, played in full and close-up by the composer, at one of his band's greatest and most important shows.

"With Led Zeppelin, it has always been that mystique of how the music is done -- how it works, why it works," Page says on the phone from London a couple of weeks before Celebration Day's worldwide theatrical premiere on October 17th. "The closer you can get in on that and the more lingering it is, the better."

"Celebration Day," which will be commercially released in various audio and visual formats on November 19, is nothing more or less than Zeppelin's entire two-hour performance on December 10, 2007, at London's O2 Arena. The concert, a benefit and tribute to the late Atlantic Records chief Ahmet Ertegun, was the first full Zeppelin show by Page, singer Robert Plant and bassist John Paul Jones since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Bonham's son, Jason, took his father's place for the night, which is shown without backstage footage and includes minimal shots of the ecstatic audience. Instead, director Dick Carruthers -- who shot the concert with more than a dozen cameras -- provides extended close-ups of the band members in action: Plant in bluestrance moan during "Since I've Been Loving You"; Jones threading the folk-rock gallop of "Ramble On" with low-end countermelodies; everyone turning to Jason in admiration during his volcanic solo at the end of "Rock and Roll."

"Celebration Day" is "almost like being onstage with us," Jones says. "We always had that interaction," he adds, referring to Zeppelin's legendary concert prowess in the Seventies. "But nobody could see it, because the lighting wasn't there." Before the O2 show, Jones notes, "I remember Dick saying in one of the early meetings, 'I'm going to need 14 cameras.' Everybody went, 'What?' It paid off."

Page recalls walking off stage after the reunion concert feeling "really high. That's the truth. It was a serious test, and we passed it, all of us. And we had an extraordinary communion on the stage. That's alive and well when you see it." But it was quite a while -- Page can't remember how long -- before he saw a rough cut of Carruthers' footage ("We didn't rush into the editing suite to have it out for Christmas").

In fact, Plant and Jones viewed that cut first. "We came away raving," Jones says. "It was very fitting to the experience. We called Jimmy and said, 'You've gotta see this.'"

"The thing about Led Zeppelin was that it was always four musicians at the top of their game, but they could play like a band," Page says. "Even in the first couple of rehearsal days, running up to the O2, we were playing pretty good. But we really wanted to shine as a band." He cites the set list's opening sequence -- from the surprise opener, "Good Times Bad Times," from 1969's Led Zeppelin, into "Ramble On" and the tortuous crunch of "Black Dog." "I wanted people to feel, 'They're taking this seriously.'

"And I have to tell you, the rehearsals were all quite different," Page says, "so much in that Zeppelin spirit and character." To prove it, a deluxe edition of the DVD will include footage from the band's only full-scale production rehearsal before the O2 concert. "You get the urgency of that night, but also the determination that was in rehearsal."

Inevitably, Celebration Day has set off more reunion talk. At a London press conference announcing the film, Plant raved about the O2 performance: "To get back in the middle of that music was a spectacular experience." But he and Page evaded questions about additional shows. When asked if the movie marks the end of Zeppelin, once and for all, Jones -- who is busy writing an opera and collaborating with Robyn Hitchcock and the Norwegian group Supersilent -- responds, "When I move house, I never look back at the house and go, 'Oh, that's the last moment I'll see there.' I always move forward."

"That's a good answer," Page says, laughing. But he is more direct. "I think if there had been any more concerts to be done, we'd already be talking about them. So I don't see it." Celebration Day, he adds, "is a testament to what we did in 2007. There it is."

By David Fricke, Rolling Stone, October 8, 2012

'30 Rock' premiere rating lower than 'Community'

Two new dramas and a beloved returning comedy were dealt unfortunate hands in the ratings Thursday night, but there were some bright spots for broadcast too.

The final season return of NBC's "30 Rock" performed quite poorly out of the gate. The Emmy-winning veteran comedy had only 3.4 million viewers and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 at 8 p.m. That's down 28 percent from "Rock's" premiere last year and down 24 percent from last season's premiere of "Community" in this space.

Meanwhile, the ratings for ABC's "Last Resort" (7.9 million, 1.8) dive, dive, dived for its second episode. The action-drama was down 18 percent for Week 2. The other newbie on the grid, CBS' "Elementary" (11.2 million, 2.6), dropped too — down 16 percent, but continued to win its time period.

Overall most shows dipped a bit this week, but CBS had some good news. The network was out in front overall Thursday night with "Big Bang Theory" (15.4 million, 4.9) and "Two and a Half Men" (12.7 million, 3.5) winning 8 p.m. The Ashton Kutcher comedy was an exception to the downward trend, climbing 6 percent this week despite its "Big Bang" lead-in getting a bit softer in the adult demo. "Person of Interest" (14.6 million, 3.1) was also up a tad. Not to be an Eeyore, but I should point out that with 9 p.m.'s "Person of Interest" rising it makes 10 p.m.'s new show "Elementary" declining more of a bummer.

Fox was second with "X Factor" (9.1 million, 3.1) down a tenth, followed by "Glee" (6.2 million, 2.6), up 8 percent.

ABC ranked third in the demo. In addition to "Last Resort," the network had "Grey's Anatomy" (10.6 million, 3.7) winning 9 p.m., yet falling 16 percent after last week's strong return. Scandal (6.8 million, 2.1) was unchanged.

And that left NBC. "Up All Night" (3.1 million, 1.4) and "The Office" (4.1 million, 2.1) were unchanged from last week. But hey, "Parks and Recreation" (5.2 million, 1.9) jumped 19 percent this week. Just a few tenths higher and "Parks" would be NBC's highest-rated Thursday night show...

By James Hibberd, EW.com

Perez Hilton comes full circle

Over the past year, Perez Hilton has been doing a mighty fine job reinventing himself.

The gossip blogger -- known for doodling peculiarly placed white lines over revealing paparazzi photos, and exposing the homosexuality of closeted celebrities -- has turned over a new leaf: becoming an advocate for anti-bullying; penning a children's book; hosting celebrity-friendly TV specials and softening his daggers on his popular website.

It's a far cry from the man who in the past caught flack for being mean-spirited and riled a nation of teeny-boppers by posting a picture of Miley Cyrus sans undies.

"I have a lot of regrets definitely," the self-proclaimed "Queen of All Media" told CNN. "I am definitely aware of my past, I'm not trying to run from it or hide it, but I'm also not going to be defined by it. So while I have definitely reached out to certain people and apologized to certain people, I'm not going to be on a tour of atonement, necessarily, because I'd rather focus on the now and the future."

The "now and the future" entails Hilton starring in 'Newsical the Musical,' a long-running off-Broadway sketch comedy riffing on celebrity tabloids and political punditry. In the Tom D'Angora-produced musical -- where Hilton is one of five cast members who sing and dance -- news headlines and pop culture references are brought to life accompanied by piano.

"I am so happy doing 'Newsical,' it's been an amazing run," he said, last week, after a full house vacated New York's Theatre Row -- Kirk Theatre. "It's been a great marriage of their brand and mine and a great first look, introduction into the New York world of theater. And hopefully it leads to more opportunities."

Hilton has always made the most of his opportunities. In addition to his gossip blog he has launched a fashion blog, as well as his own musical series, and become well known as a TV personality.

The lens of fame has been turned on him often with high profile stories including a well-documented fight following a disagreement with artist Will.I.Am.

Though the Cuban-American legally known as Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. has made a name for himself by writing about actors and others, the realm of acting itself isn't foreign to him. Unbeknownst to the masses, Perez Hilton had lofty goals of one day becoming an actor long before starting his blog in a coffee shop on Sunset Boulevard back in 2004. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from New York University, where he studied acting.

"New York has been like a hug for me, just awesome," he said. "You can never get enough. I went to school here ... so in many ways I feel like I'm a freshman -- all over again, only wiser and happier."

Not that Hilton's foray into off-Broadway has been any less daring than his earlier career.

In one scene, Hilton portrays a nude Prince Harry during his much scandalized romp in Las Vegas. It's a very daring and vulnerable part of the show where the only clothing he wears is tight-fitting, flesh colored skivvies. It's a prime opportunity for him to show off his newly sculpted frame. "No Photoshop though, it's real," he said.

"I was looking forward to it," he said of the racy scene. "I was hoping it would get me some dates."

It may seem strange for someone to readily open themselves up for public ridicule and critical scrutiny after being the agent of it towards so many others -- especially in front of an audience of hundreds on a nightly basis.

But with his new body and new attitude, Perez Hilton isn't fazed at all. "Ummm, I am definitely hyper-aware of things because I've been in it -- in front of the camera and behind it," said Hilton who ends his limited run with the show on October 7.

"I think it's healthy to put yourself out there. It's the law of attraction -- as Oprah (Winfrey) says -- if you put energy out there, it would come back your way and hopefully if you're putting yourself out there in a positive way, you'll get positive things back."

"And this experience 'Newsical' has been nothing but positive."

This Zen-tric version of Perez Hilton could come as a surprise to many, especially considering the fast rise of snarky celebrity gossip blogs. He -- the guy Rolling Stone magazine once referred to as "the queen of mean" -- and TMZ's Harvey Levin are quasi-architects of what many now refer to as the blogosphere culture.

"I think it's very subjective," Hilton said of today's World Wide Web. "I obviously think the Internet is a very positive thing and it can bring people together and it entertains people and as we've seen in many instances it can be a great conduit for social change, but there's also a lot of negativity in the Internet. I'm not going to generalize and say that it's all of this or it's all of that. I used to be a negative blogger, but I'm personally more mindful of my words and the energy and what I'm putting out there these days."

"It was just growing up and becoming happier and wanting to share that with the world and evolving."

By Karu F. Daniels, Special to CNN, October 6, 2012

Darren Criss on 'Glee's' breakup

Darren Criss should really stop making his fans cry.

On the eve of Thursday's emotional “breakup” episode of "Glee," Criss — who plays the dreamy-eyed and dreamy-voiced Blaine, one half of one half of the show’s two power couples — penned an open letter to his fans on Facebook.

The 25-year-old covered a lot of ground in the note, outlining some of the early successes that laid the foundation for his breakout two years ago. Criss recounted the highlights, from starting work on “A Very Potter Musical” — the YouTube sensation that gave him his first boost of stardom — to first hearing about "Glee."

"I have a pretty wild imagination, but I never thought any of that could actually happen, let alone in such a relative short period of time," Criss wrote. "Here’s the deal - I work hard, I try to make the right decisions and do the best I can with everything I do and all that good stuff - but really, that can only go so far. There are so many contributing factors to what has happened for me that go far beyond my control ... And that’s where you come in.”

Acknowledging  in advance that Thursday's episode was going to be tough for many, Criss wanted his fans to look on the bright side: With their support, he's gone much further than he thought he would.

"[M]uch of your support has allowed me to be on this show long enough to reach a breakup in the first place; it has created a relationship that people cared enough about whereby it was even worth writing an episode about its potential end," the actor wrote. "I never thought I would get to be around long enough for something like that. And I really have you, the fans to thank for it. It’s something to be proud of."

The episode featured Criss performing an acoustic version of "Teenage Dream," "which so many of you have supported since I sang it as my first song on my very first episode. I started playing this version at shows as a sort of 'thank you' to the fans, for making it such a big song for both myself and the show. It was the song that started everything":

As for what the future holds, executive producer Brad Falchuk told TVLine that "nothing is set in stone. For now things are different. But there's an enormous amount of love there, so there's a great chance of a lot of them getting back together."

What about you? Was last night’s “Glee” (and its break-up) the saddest thing ever — or does Criss’ note top the list?

marquee.blogs.cnn.com

Review: 'Frankenweenie' is Tim Burton at his best

Tim Burton's most enjoyable movie in a long time, "Frankenweenie" suggests this improbable blockbuster director is at his best when he's playing to an audience of one: himself.

It's never hard to spot Burton's signature: the baroque ghoulish visuals, macabre humor and topsy-turvy morality are always front and center. Johnny Depp is usually in there somewhere too. But lately Burton has seemed more like a stylist or a decorator than a director. Though his recent movies retain his signature style and visual panache, they seem to lack compelling characters and stories.

"Frankenweenie" is different. There's a direct emotional connection. This time it's personal. It's also perfectly scaled.

John August's witty screenplay is based on a short film Burton came up with nearly 30 years ago, the story of a boy who plays Frankenstein to try to revive his dead dog. The running time has stretched by more than 80 minutes, but that's still the essence of the new film, a lustrous black and white 3D stop-motion animation that doubles as a love letter to old horror movies and a classic boy-and-his-dog story.

Victor (voiced by Charlie Tahan) is an introverted youngster, but also an ingenious kid who likes to make monster movies starring his best friend, Sparky. Encouraged by his dad to get out and play some ball with the other kids, Victor enjoys an unexpected moment of glory when he hits a home run. But triumph turns to tragedy when Sparky chases the ball into the street and is struck and killed by a car.

And that would be that, except that Victor's new teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau) inspires him to think big for the science fair; and then there are the electrical storms that are a peculiarity to this otherwise normal small town.

Reveling in the expressionist, shadowy style of early sound films, Burton doesn't quite match James Whale's 1930 original "Frankenstein" in the resurrection scene, but he does have a lot of fun crafting a contemporary echo chamber in which Victor's classmates are shrunken clones of old Universal creature feature stalwarts. One kid is a gap-toothed, hunchbacked Ygor; another is a sinisterly cerebral Asian; then there's the weird girl who thinks her kitty's litter carries evil portent. Creepy as the kids are, the parents are worse, transforming into a lynch mob when their little darlings start taking too much interest in science. (They do have a point though: When several assignments get out of hand, the town's parade turns is crashed by a group of rampaging monsters.)

But Victor is a fine hero, immediately a more sympathetic figure than his famous namesake, and the patched-up Sparky has personality -- and limbs -- to spare. In fact, bits keeping dropping off, and when he takes a drink, he leaks a little, but it's nothing Victor can't fix.

After "Paranorman," "Hotel Transylvania" and "Frankenweenie" it appears Hollywood has pretty much got the family horror category covered.

More sensitive children may find the gothic pet cemetery upsetting and freak out at the violent climax. Burton's film should appeal most to mom and dad, anyone with a soft spot for Boris Karloff, and twisted teens looking for ideas to reanimate their own science projects. Just add relish.

By Tom Charity, Special to CNN, October 5, 2012

Adele's 'Skyfall' theme: What's the verdict?

Just in time for International Bond Day, Adele's theme for "Skyfall" has made its debut (albeit via an initial leak, but here we are).

With vocals from Adele, we were confident that this would, at the very least, be listenable - and we're happy to hear that we were right.

The Brit songstress, who wrote the song with producer Paul Epworth, admitted in a statement to the BBC that she was "a little hesitant at first to be involved," thanks to the "instant pressure and spotlight [that comes with] a Bond song."

"But I fell in love with the script and Paul [Epworth] had some great ideas for the track and it ended up being a bit of a no-brainer to do it in the end," she said.

So how did "Skyfall," recorded at London's Abbey Road studios with a 77-piece orchestra, hold up for critics?

The Los Angeles Times found that Adele's Bond song lands "somewhere in the middle" of past themes, the better of which were memorably filled with attitude while the forgettable ones "took themselves too seriously."

Initial listens show "Skyfall" to be neither the best nor the worst, "but Adele fans should be pleased," the LAT says. "This song has far more to recommend it than not."

People magazine agrees, saying that it's unsurprising "Adele's take on James Bond doesn't sound half bad at all. ... Some are comparing Adele's singing style on the new Bond song to that of Dame Shirley Bassey, who recorded the 'Goldfinger' and 'Diamonds Are Forever' themes."

The Wall Street Journal observed that "Skyfall" "has sweep and drama, [with] orchestral support [that]  gives it a classical timelessness that sets it apart from typical pop songs. Because it is a theme for a Bond film, after all, the song is also shot through with the threat of violence and death."

Over at E!, Adele's Bond theme sounded like "a cross, and a good one at that, between the 1971 Bassey classic and a more-focused version of Garbage's 'The World Is Not Enough.'"

Take a listen to "Skyfall" above - what's your verdict?

marquee.blogs.cnn.com, October 5th, 2012

Chris Brown: Is there such a thing as loving two people?

With a revealing video he posted via Twitter Thursday, Chris Brown wants to show his true self.

Admitting to an unseen cameraman that he was "a little drunk," the 23-year-old singer expresses the desire to be honest and confesses that he's  been "stressed out."

"It ain't about the music, I love my fans, I love everything," Brown said. "It's just ... when you share history with somebody, then you tend to fall in love with somebody else, it's kind of difficult."

It's unclear when Brown taped the video, but it would be easy to presume that he's referring to his current state of affairs. As Brown speaks, the video cuts to images of Brown partying recently with his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, whose relationship with Brown imploded after he assaulted her in 2009. The video then cuts to footage of Brown with his latest ex, 24-year-old model Karrueche Tran.

"Is [there] such a thing as loving two people?" he asks. "I don't know. I don't know if that's possible. But for me, I just ... I feel like that."

Brown posted the video following his unsolicited admission that he'd broken up with Tran in the midst of rekindling a friendship with Rihanna, whom he's being edging closer to over the past several months. Since the beginning of the year, the two have collaborated on music together, embraced at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, and this week they were spotted more than once hanging out together.

In his statement Thursday explaining his decision, Brown said, "I love Karrueche very much but I don't want to see her hurt over my friendship with Rihanna. I'd rather be single allowing us to both be happy in our lives."

At the end of his confessional video, Brown said that he was "being real. I don't want to hurt either/or ... I'm  not trying to be a player, a dog. I'm not none of that. ... I just care. Too much sometimes."

marquee.blogs.cnn.com, October 5th, 2012

Jay-Z brings exclusive content to YouTube launch: Himself

Jay-Z will launch his new YouTube channel Saturday night with a live stream of the last concert of his eight-show run at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, USA Today reports.

The rapper's Life + Times channel, an offshoot of his pop-culture site by the same name, comes as part of a push for original programming by YouTube, which is owned by Google.

It's the latest brand expansion for Jay-Z, who co-owns the 40/40 Club in Manhattan, owns a minority share in the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, has a stake in the Rocawear clothing line, serves as co-brand director for Budweiser Select and was executive producer of the new video game "NBA 2K13."

For Life + Times, Jay-Z partnered with IconicTV, a company that will run the channel like a television network with video content including a Brooklyn Nets series called "The Road to Brooklyn," the fan-interaction show "Roc Nation Check-In" and "Well Dunn With Jourdan Dunn," about the British supermodel.

"The site really is a way for Jay to showcase the breadth of his interests, from fashion, architecture, music, style, food, consumables, electronics, and so forth," said Michael Hirschorn, the co-founder and chief creative officer of IconicTV. "We're approaching this channel and programming it, not at the level of an MTV or a BET -- at least, not yet -- but really programming it as a real channel that will have regular content, some featuring him, some under his creative direction, but that when he wants to reach his audience, he's no longer going to have to go through an intermediary to get to that audience."

The Barclays concert will stream beginning at 9:30 p.m. EST on Saturday.

By Rolling Stone, October 5, 2012

'Arrested Development': Now hiring fans

If you've been obsessively watching for updates on "Arrested Development's" return and regularly come up with ways to slip "Come on!" into the conversation, Netflix is looking for you.

The streaming entertainment service, which announced last fall that it'll host new episodes of "Arrested Development" in 2013, is seeking six fans for walk-on roles.

Starting now, fans in the States (sorry, international "Arrested Development" obsessives!) can enter the contest by creating a relevant, imaginative piece of "Arrested Development" content.

It can be in the form of video (but if so, it has to be under two minutes), a photograph, original artwork or whatever else the contestant comes  up with. Entries can be submitted on Tumblr, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #BluthWalkOn, or they can be submitted to the website YoureGonnaGetSomeWalkOns.com. No pressure, but you should know that the cast and producers will review the contributions and select the winners.

Entries will be accepted through Tuesday, October 16, so get to work! The six winners will be sent to Los Angeles (expenses paid, of course) to shoot a walk-on appearance that will appear in one of the upcoming fourth season's episodes.

Series creator and executive producer Mitch Hurwitz said in a statement, “The Bluths have walked on so many people we thought it was only fair to let a few fans walk on them. Come see behind-the-scenes and for God's sake, please don't touch anything!”

marquee.blogs.cnn.com, October 4th, 2012

As you wish: It's a 'Princess Bride' reunion

"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Not a day goes by without someone asking Mandy Patinkin to say this famous and oft-repeated line. Despite Patinkin's numerous other accomplishments and recent hit turn on the Showtime drama "Homeland," "The Princess Bride" is what people want to hear from him, "and I never let them down," he told CNN.

"I get asked for that line, too," laughed Chris Sarandon, who played the dastardly Prince Humperdinck. "They always want me to quote Mandy, or Wally Shawn: 'Inconceivable!' And once in a great while, I get a plea for 'I'm swamped.'"

"A girl once showed me a tattoo of 'As you wish' on the back of her neck," said Cary Elwes, who played Westley.

Such is the love -- some might even say true love -- for "The Princess Bride." The New York Film Festival celebrated the film's 25th anniversary (and release on Blu-Ray) on Tuesday with a special screening and cast reunion at Lincoln Center. En route to the event from LAX, even Billy Crystal was told, "Have fun storming the castle" (in reference to his cameo as Miracle Max) when he showed his boarding pass. It's a line, by the way, that an army sergeant told Elwes that he tells his men when they leave the barracks to rile up the infantry.

"So many different generations find this movie not only appealing, but have such a strong affection for it," Sarandon said. "It's a film people see when they're young, and then they watch it with their own kids. Someone even told me that they hired an actor, got him ordained online, and had him perform a marriage ceremony exactly the way it is in the movie." ("Mawwiage is what bwings us together...")

Along with director Rob Reiner and author and screenwriter William Goldman, the "Princess Bride" cast -- including Robin Wright (Buttercup), Wallace Shawn (Vizzini) and Carol Kane (Valerie) -- reminisced about the making of the film, which they hadn't seen with an audience since before its release, and a small private screening for friends at that, since it didn't have a big premiere back in 1987.

The Cliffs of Insanity? Made of rubber. The Rodents of Unusual Size? Played by little people, one with a talent for scurrying, one with a talent for lumbering, and one with a talent for getting arrested. And that sword fight between Inigo and Westley as the Dread Pirate Roberts? Done for real.

"Our greatest pride is that there's not a single stunt man doing a single move except for the flip in the air," Patinkin said. "I trained with an Olympic fencing coach for two months with just my left hand -- it's like ballet first position, second position -- and then Cary and I trained for four more months, so six months together, for 10 hours a day. Except for the flip, we did everything."

Elwes revealed another talent that in addition to sword fighting cinched him the job in the first place -- a dead-on Bill Cosby imitation. "I had no idea if he had a sense of humor, but he looked the part," Reiner said. "And when he did schtick, I was surprised. Wow, this beautiful looking kid, he looks like Douglas Fairbanks, and he does schtick!"

Elwes demonstrated his sense of humor at last December's Jason Reitman-organized stage reading of "The Princess Bride," when he played the part of Prince Humperdinck instead of Westley, allowing that role to go to Paul Rudd. "And I did a dreadful job," Elwes told CNN, laughing. "I was awful. It was so hard stepping into those shoes, and it was so weird because Paul Rudd was being me and doing a better job than me, two chairs down. So it was a very surreal experience." (Upon hearing this, Sarandon deadpanned, "Oh, I've got to talk to Cary now. I want to hear what he did with me, if he screwed me over or not.")

Even though "The Princess Bride" is "a perfect movie," as Kane called it, Goldman has been toying around with the idea of a follow-up, which is mentioned in the later editions of the novel, some of which feature a sample chapter of "Buttercup's Baby."

"See, I told him he should call it 'Humperdinck's Revenge!'" Sarandon joked.

"I smell a sequel!" Elwes laughed.

The plot involves the kidnapping of Buttercup and Westley's daughter, Waverly, and at first it was a fiction (along with other faux-dramas Goldman created as part of the "Bride"-verse), but then it started to become a reality of sorts. "I've been trying to write it," Goldman admitted, "and it's a total failure. I was looking at it today before coming [to the reunion]. All I can say is that I would love some day to have written it."

If Goldman can finish the book, and if the book were to ever be turned into a movie, count on most of the original cast members to make cameos.

"If they call me, I'm there," Patinkin promised.

"Ask me!" Sarandon begged.

"I would probably find myself begging to do a cameo in anything Goldman wrote," Kane said. "And I would riff all day long [with Billy Crystal] if he would let me."

Crystal noted that he had several unused lines that ended up on the cutting room floor that he'd be happy to trot out, such as, "Don't bother me, sonny. I had a bad day. I found my nephew with a sheep." (Would that be as memorable? He's not worried, because there's no danger of any sequel tarnishing the original anytime soon.)

"I'm in something that is really important, that is so beautifully made, and it's all about the right things," he told the audience. "What better life is that for the life of a movie? That's the 'As you wish' for the movie."

By Jennifer Vineyard, Special to CNN, October 5, 2012

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees announced

The nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2013 have been announced, and for the first time ever fans will get a say in who will be inducted.

First-time nominees Rush, Deep Purple, N.W.A., Public Enemy, Albert King, The Marvelettes and Procol Harum join previously nominated acts Chic, Heart, Donna Summer, Kraftwerk, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Randy Newman, Paul Butterfield Blues Band and The Meters.

To be eligible for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination, artists must have released their work at least 25 years prior to appearing on the ballot. That means this year's hopefuls released their first single in 1987 or earlier. Blues guitarist Albert King has been eligible since 1987, while 2013 marks the first year the seminal hip-hop acts N.W.A. and Public Enemy are eligible.

From today through December 5, fans can vote at several sites including Rockhall.com to boost their favorite artists' chances of making the cut. The top five acts selected by those votes will become part of a special "fans' ballot" that will be counted alongside the international voting body of more than 600 artists, historians and industry members.

The winners will be revealed in December and the 28th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on Saturday, April 18, 2013. The show will be broadcast on HBO at a later date.

Who do you think deserves a place in the hallowed halls of music history? Share your favorite rock 'n' roll memories at CNN's iReport, or take it to the comments to tell us which of the 2013 nominees should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

By Lisa Respers France, CNN, October 4, 2012

Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey caught in taped tiff

We've heard plenty about the rumored bubbling feud between new "American Idol" judges Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, but now TMZ appears to have captured some evidence.

The website's obtained video of "Idol's" auditions in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday, which were reportedly interrupted when Minaj blew up at Carey at the judges' table.

It's hard to hear exactly what Minaj is saying in the clip, but it is pretty obvious that she's not pleased. (Or, pretending not to be pleased - this is a reality show, after all.) TMZ reports that at one point, Minaj can be heard saying, "I told them I'm not f****n' putting up with her highness over there ... Figure it the f*** out."

The site reports that the disagreement happened over a contestant's performance, with "Idol's" third new judge, Keith Urban, stuck in the middle.

Gossip of a feud between Carey and Minaj surfaced before the colorful rapper even officially signed on to "Idol," and the two gave an attempt to squash the rumors at a press conference in September.

"We’re getting along wonderfully, darling," Minaj told press at the time. Carey, meanwhile, joked that a feud wasn't possible because they simply hadn't had enough time to stir one up.

"How are we going to feud in two days?!" she said with a laugh. "Like, a feud takes a little longer to ... you know, spread out."

What do you think - real feud, or a ploy to draw in viewers come "Idol's" return in January?

marquee.blogs.cnn.com, October 3rd, 2012

Comedian Lisa Lampanelli: 80 pounds lighter

Lisa Lampanelli is looking pretty fit these days.

The comedian has lost 80 pounds since undergoing gastric sleeve surgery in April, according to In Touch.

The surgery works by reducing the size of the stomach so patients will feel full faster.

“I was such an overeater,” said Lampanelli, who weighed 248 pounds at one point. “Now, I get full quickly - at three, four bites, I have to stop.”

Currently a size 12, the Queen of Mean says, “The size I am right now is the size I was always meant to be,” adding, “I feel so much healthier.”

The 51 year old also recently stopped by “The Dr. Oz Show” to share details about her weight loss.

In an episode to air on Wednesday, People reports that Lampanelli said, “I order food like a normal human being. If I'm out to lunch I'm going to order three courses like everybody else.”

“I'm not going to feel like some kind of freak,” she continued. “So I always order soup, dessert and a sandwich or whatever, a main course. But then the idea is you have to eat such a small portion of it and bring the rest home. So I’ll pretty much eat two bites of soup and get the taste. You get the flavor. You still get to enjoy good food and not deprive yourself because that’s a failure of a lot of diets.”

marquee.blogs.cnn.com, October 2nd, 2012

Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez near 'X Factor' host deals

Mario Lopez and Khloe Kardashian are in the final stage of negotiations to co-host the "The X Factor," a source close to the show told CNN Tuesday.

"Those two want to do it, and the show is keen to have them," the source, who asked not to be named, said.

Producers of the Fox TV music competition and managers for Lopez and Kardashian are putting final touches on the hosting deals, the source said.

The 2012 season's "live" shows, which require a host, begin on November 1.

"X Factor" started second season on U.S. television last month with audition episodes in which Britney Spears and Demi Lovato joined L.A. Reid and Simon Cowell on the judge's panel.

First season host Steve Jones left the show earlier this year, along with judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger.

By Alan Duke, CNN, October 2, 2012

McKayla Maroney's second act

At 16, gymnast McKayla Maroney has already accomplished enough to give her license for a break. But the gold- and silver-medalist isn't stopping, even while on the mend from a recent injury.

Maroney hurt her left leg after suffering a fall during a stop on Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions in September, and she's been recovering slowly but surely, she recently told CNN. One upside to her time away from the tour, though, is that she was able to squeeze in an appearance on The CW's "Hart of Dixie," which returns for a second season Tuesday.

Yet for Maroney, it wasn't simply a fun opportunity -- it's part of a larger goal to one day become a working actress.

"I've always wanted to be an actress ... Ever since I was very little, I really liked being in front of a camera. I've always been drawn to it and I've always wanted to pursue it, just like gymnastics," she said. "It's something that you kind of put in your brain and you never let go of. "

With gymnastics being a sport that retires its athletes at a young age, Maroney has been putting all of her energy toward her athletic goals while she has youth on her side. But "after it's all said and done with the Olympics and Worlds and whatever I get the chance to do, I think that would be my time to really get into acting, something that I want to have as my job when I'm older," she said.

If there was one actor she looks up to and hopes to pattern her career after, the gymnast said, it'd be Angelina Jolie.

"I really like Angelina Jolie, all the jobs that she's done," she said, pointing to Jolie's turn in the action thriller "Salt" as a favorite. "I'm kind of more into movies, because I'm really into getting into [character] and being that person and selling it as well as she always does."

"I like comedy, I like romantic stuff. I think the movie 'Easy A' is super cute and I love Emma Stone, she's an amazing actress and I love how she does all different sorts of things, and that's what I'd like to do. I'm not one kind of person, and that's the whole thing about being an actress, being able to play all different kind of roles."

And so, with help from an agent she acquired a few months before the Olympics, the 16-year-old champ has been looking for ways to break into the industry. The "Hart of Dixie" guest appearance in an upcoming episode came through said agent, and, given that she was momentarily at home from the tour, she went for it.

"It was my first time ever doing anything like that," Maroney said. "Gymnastics, you're in the gym eight hours a day and acting, that's a full-time job as well. So I finally had the time to do it, and I had the best time."

The CW show stars Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.") as Dr. Zoe Hart, a city doctor who's had to adjust to living in small-town Alabama after accepting a job from a physician who left half his practice to her in his will. Maroney will portray the friend of Rose (McKaley Miller), herself a friend of Zoe's.

"Zoe has this guy that she's going on a date with, and Rose really likes this guy, and there's a little bit of drama and I'm kind of backing up Rose," Maroney explained.

Maroney may be green, but she's without trepidation, saying that learning lines and acting on set felt like it came naturally.

"I've done acting classes before, and school plays, and I've always loved it," she added. "It's weird, I was watching ['Hart of Dixie'] the same day that my agent told me that they might want me on the show. I really like the character Rose on the show ... and I thought if I was ever going to be on the show, I'd really want to play her, and then I ended up being her best friend. So it was really surreal and kind of special."

She's also lined up a guest actor role on "Pretty Little Liars" (as a huge fan, she said, "I kind of always thought that it was Toby" who was the elusive "A"), which she hopes to shoot at some point in the future.

"Everything that I'm doing, I love to do. I really just take things one step at a time. Even when things get hard, I just believe that everything happens for a reason," she said. "Life goes on, and you have to make the best of everything. You really do have to enjoy life, because it's short."

But before fans of her athletic prowess fear Maroney's cutting her gymnastics career short in favor of Hollywood, rest assured that she's not done yet.

"Right now, I'm only 16, and gymnastics will always be a part of me," she said of her future plans. "I'm really an athletic person and I don't think I could let go entirely of the sport. I really want to try to go to this next Olympics, [and] after I heal up I'll be back in the gym working as hard as I possibly could just like I did for this Olympics. You can't just say that you want to try ... you have to be focused for whatever you do, just like acting. So I'll really be getting into trying to work for the next Olympics, and in between that I'll be doing, hopefully, little things like what I just did."

By Breeanna Hare, CNN, October 2, 2012

A look at 'Looper's' potential for real world time travel

"Looper," this past weekend's mind-bending futuristic thriller from writer/director Rian Johnson, follows "The Terminator's" time traveling mantra: There's no fate but what we make. The destiny audiences forged helped "Looper" land at the box office in second place, earning the film a cool $21.2 million. Not bad for an R-rated action flick whose big questions would have made sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick smirk.

In the film, bottom barrel assassins are handpicked to do the future mobster's dirty work by killing targets in 2044, 30 years before time travel is even invented. Unfortunately, the hit men collecting silver bounty off of bodies sent to the past tend to die young (sort of). They retroactively commit suicide by murdering their future selves, giving them three decades to live life to the fullest. It's also full of space-time paradoxes. What if you could change the future by altering the past? That's precisely what happens when Joe the looper, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, makes the mistake of letting his future form, played by Bruce Willis, escape.

Time travel is obviously a sci-fi staple, but sometimes it's best to keep things simple.

"We'll be sitting here all day making diagrams with straws," Bruce Willis yells at his younger self after being hounded by questions about the history of things to come. But believe it or not, there are scientists who study the real world possibilities of time travel, and it's a lot of information to sip up.

Edward Farhi is a theoretical physicist from MIT who works with equations in a lab. Naturally, he has a pretty good understanding of the special and general theories of relativity that illuminate the legitimate possibilities of time travel. However, his studies also discredit the entire premise of being able to go back in time.

"The laws of physics were smart enough to not allow a causality violation," Farhi says. "That means that you put the effect before the cause, which is what you do when you time travel backward." An example of this would be lighting a match near a gas canister and having it explode: You can't have an explosion without the lit match because that would be a causality violation.

However, causality violations lead to some of "Looper's" most terrifying, gruesome and memorable moments. One scene in particular features the bodily breakdown of a looper sent to the past. Scars act as notes on a looper's body as they're being carved into the past version of his being. Soon afterward, his limbs, tongue and nose disappear. As his 2044 self is being tortured, we witness a paradox made of nightmares.

Farhi was able to further prove his point by showing that if someone wanted to construct a device that would warp space enough to go back in time, they would need to assemble and collect half of the mass of the universe. In "Looper," the time machine is just a shoddy mechanical sphere covered in coils.

"We wrote a paper called 'An Obstacle to Building a Time Machine' in the laboratory," Farhi says. "It would require a huge warping of space-time and have huge cosmological effects." These effects are dramatic enough that they would have serious consequences for the entire universe.

Theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner Gerard 'T Hooft further studied what could happen if one tried to travel back in time, Farhi explains. "He showed that before you had enough time to go back to the past, the entire universe would collapse so that the universe would end in a big crunch, the opposite of the Big Bang," Farhi says. "That really meant to me without really much further investigation that the laws of physics abhor time travel backward."

Farhi also doesn't favor the belief that one could jump into the past of a parallel universe. "I'm not usually a fan of describing the ultimate universe," he says. "Maybe if you go back in time you end up in another universe and you somehow cannot affect what happens in the future."

In theory, there would be different outcomes in different universes. "I have trouble understanding that, but one of the things that bothers me about that is this: How come in our universe we never see time travelers?"

Albert Einstein introduced the idea in 1905 that the amount of time that elapses between two occurrences can depend upon the speed of the observer. "He was talking about the actual flow of time," Farhi says. "These texts only become really dramatic when you move close to the speed of light."

This means that while time travel to the past is virtually impossible, hopping into the future is an entirely different matter.

If you managed to hop on a rocket and travel around Earth at the speed of light and one year has elapsed according to your clocks, you could return to find that it's actually a thousand years in the future. "You may wonder if that's science fiction or if it's real, but we believe it's real because every prediction that the special theory of relativity has ever made has been born out of experiment," Farhi says. "These effects aren't dramatic if you're moving slowly, but they're still there."

A less dramatic effect of this is the use of GPS. The clocks in satellites that triangulate where you need to go move at a different rate because they're moving at a high speed. "They're not moving fast, but they're moving at a speed relative to you on Earth," Farhi says. "There's enough of an effect that if they didn't correct for the slowing of the clock that you would not be driving on the road."

If you couldn't travel at light speed on a rocket as a shortcut to the future, a hypothetical alternative would have you creating a strong gravitational force replicating a black hole.

"I could put you on a rope, and I could lower you into the very strong gravitational field of the black hole," Farhi explains. But there's a certain point that couldn't be passed. "Once you get too close to a black hole, there's no force that can overcome the force of the gravitational force, and you're doomed."

The proposition is scary: "You can just hover near the boundary where doom occurs," Farhi says. "If you were hovering there, then your clocks would be running slower than mine." Being closer to the black hole would allow one to age less and experience time differently.

"We could have a reality TV show," Farhi proposes. "A whole day would go by for me, and I would just see you reaching for your breakfast." Technically, the subjects of this time travel experiment could stay in touch through electromagnetic waves.

"Finally, we could come together and I could pull you out of the strong gravitational field," he says. "You could see that you hadn't aged very much and I've aged a lot, but you wouldn't be surprised because we've kept in touch the entire time."

Long story short: If you have the ability to travel at light speed or a strong gravitation field, taking a short path to the future is possible. However, "Looper" presents a one-way trip to the past aside from montage sequences that show what's happening to Bruce Willis in the year 2070.

That begs the question: If we're unable to go back to the past, how can the past exist?

"The past exists as memory," Farhi says. We have books, we have movies, and we have memories. "The past exists in the present because it has an imprint on the present, but the future doesn't," he says.

But we do have the ability to see the past. "You just need to look at the light from a distant galaxy," Farhi points out. "It depends on how far the galaxy is, but it could be a billion years ago. Astronomers are looking at ancient images all the time."

Despite whatever causality violations and problematic backward time traveling devices Rian Johnson presents, "Looper" is a strong sci-fi depiction of time travel. The audience holds the ultimate key to its plausibility: The suspension of disbelief.

By Scott Pierce, Special to CNN, October 2, 2012