Steve Coogan

The cast for What Goes Up is pretty great: Steve Coogan, Molly Shannon, Olivia Thirlby, Josh Peck, Hilary Duff and more (oooh, I love seeing Thirlby and Peck on screen together again after starring in The Wackness). It's hard to decipher what exactly is going on in the trailer (there are nerdy students, there seems to be a death) so I'll leave it to the movie's website to sum up the plot:

It is 1986. An emotionally damaged New York reporter is sent to cover the hometown hoopla for a local hero. But rather than pursue his assignment, which leaves him cold, he follows a group of disaffected students, whose own hero — their beloved, unconventional teacher — has just died under a cloud of scandal. Their passionate and, at times, ludicrous expressions of grief attract the reporter.

Interestingly, this is the kind of independent movie you'd expect to see at the larger film festivals, given the names in its ensemble cast, but it didn't, which is a thing that makes me go "hmm." The movie hits theaters in limited release May 29. To watch the trailer for yourself, read more

While the afternoon took a noticeably somber turn as the news of Heath Ledger's tragic death spread over snowy Park City, the morning was for celebrating as Oscar nomination news came to Sundance. While a lot of the celebrities left with the end of MLK day weekend, there was still swag to be scored for some of them. I was lucky enough to stop by the Pure & Natural Celebrity Eco-Retreat and Iconix "Gift Giving For A Cause" Suite benefiting Save the Children to see all the goodies the celebrities have been snatching up as souvenirs. I also ducked into the Wireimage portrait studio thanks to our friends over there and while I didn't get any big celebrity sightings, I was right on the trail of so many of them who have stopped through to pose.

Mischa and Audrina were definitely enjoying the goodies while Diddy was more about pimping his vodka than taking home free stuff. Luke Wilson was looking scruffy, but hopefully his movie luck has turned since BuzzSugar had only good things to say about his movie at the festival, Henry Poole is Here. I'm headed home to slightly warmer SF tonight, but there's a lot more Sundance to come!

To see a lot more celebrities all over Sundance including Adrian Grenier, Josh Lucas, Rex Lee, Maria Bello, John Legend, Alan Alda, Virginia Madsen and many others just read more

Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.
Variety brings us news of a little something called Hamlet 2 (yes, as in a sequel to Shakespeare's Hamlet), a film starring Steve Coogan and Catherine Keener. The project will be the first produced by Eric Eisner's (son of former Disney chief Michael Eisner) production company L+E.

What's the deal?
The movie is a high school comedy focusing on "a teacher who tries to save his drama department by writing a sequel to William Shakespeare's Hamlet." One of the co-writers is Pam Brady, who has written all sorts of funny (or at least half-funny) stuff like the "South Park" movie, Team America, and Hot Rod.

Could be cool.
As Cinematical points out, the teen romp 10 Things I Hate About You is based on another Shakespearean work (and if you can name the title you can win points!), and that's a fun movie. Maybe this will be hilarious and just as fun.

Now the question is, what's next? What Shakespearean will be fodder for another teen flick?

• The Princes of Wales organized a memorial service held in Buckingham Palace today to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of their mother, Princess Diana. We're happy to see that her life is still celebrated by her friends and family. - People
• Lil' Kim got pulled over in NYC last night in her Lamborghini with no driver's license and no license plates. We may never understand why celebrities don't just get chauffeurs. - TMZ
• A man has pled guilty to his plot to extort $1 million from Tom Cruise for stolen photographs of his wedding to Katie Holmes. Trying to blackmail a celebrity usually isn't a very good idea. - MSNBC
• Despite accusations brought up by Courtney Love, Steve Coogan is denying that he had anything to do with Owen Wilson's suicide attempt. It sounds like Courtney and Steve have some issues of their own to work out. - Page Six

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