Outlander may finally be on its way to the big screen

This is pretty exciting for those of us who are obsessed with mildly enjoy Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books. Yesterday, she posted the following on her website :

I’ve been getting a number of enquiries, since press releases have started appearing about the movie production of Outlander—excited folk asking “Is it true?” “When?” and (I hope you’ll pardon a brief roll of the eyes here), “Who would you cast?” (I couldn’t begin to guess how many thousands of times I’ve been asked that over the last twenty years.) It’s very early days as yet, but I’ll answer what I can.

Yes, Essential Productions —is developing Outlander as a “major motion picture.” (What that means is that they want to make a two-to-two-and-a-half hour feature film.)

And yes, Randall Wallace (the talented gentleman who wrote both Braveheart and Pearl Harbor—hey, ancient Scots and—WWII, how about that?) is writing the script.No, I have absolutely nothing to say about the casting of the movie. The production people do occasionally ask me what I think of this or that person, but this is simple politeness on their part. No, I have no control whatever regarding the script.

It goes on a bit and you should check it out if you're one of those people who've read the books many, cough, five, cough, times. (Apparently the deal was announced in Variety a couple of weeks ago, so it's not really news. I missed the bulletin, however, so it's news to me. Good news).

I interviewed Gabaldon a couple of years ago and I remember she said she would love to have Joss Whedon direct any eventual Outlander movie, which sent my little fangirl heart into double leaps of joy. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, but still, neat news. At least now we can start speculating on the casting of Jamie for real.

Gabaldon ends her blogging with casting of Jamie thoughts:

P.S. Well, I can also tell you that a) yes, Gerard Butler is a fine-looking specimen of Scottish manhood, even if he is a Lowlander, but b) I think he might have difficulty playing a 22-year-old virgin; c) Keira Knightley would probably make an excellent Claire (she has the accent and the capacity for sarcasm), if she gained forty pounds, but d) James McAvoy is probably a wonderful actor, but he’s only 5’7”, for heaven’s sake.

TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

More from Britney's documentary

Here's a promo for On The Record. She's really deep and stuff.

Afternoon delights

Congratulations on your epic love lasting two years It's Tommy and Katie's second wedding anniversary today. OK! says that Tommy will be in the audience for All My Regrets at Having Given up My Life to Become a Robot or whatever Katie's Broadway play is called. Furthermore, "Don't be surprised if he presents her with a huge bouquet of roses as the cast takes their bows," a friend of Tom's tells OK!. "And her dressing room will look like a florist shop!" She likes that. Then she can cry and cry and just pretend it's allergies. MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS

Billy Ray Cyrus is a dumb-ass He told Us at the Bolt premiere that his 15-year-old daughter and her 20-year-old underwear model guy "... are great friends, and they make a good team. They write a lot of songs together, and they sing – it's incredible." "Incredible" is perhaps not the word I would have gone with.

So, what's really happening in the Star Trek trailer? The awesome people at io9 have a break-down, scene by scene - including sad news for someone named Chief Engineer Olsen and his red shirt as well as glimpses of snow planet monsters and a green babe in Kirk's bed. I wish I had time to do things like that. I bet I would be all kinds of happy.

So you think you want to go see some dancers live? So You Think You Can Dance Canada comes to the ACC, February 13. Tickets go on sale at Ticketmaster this Friday at noon.

Cute animal alert

I never really planned on posting videos like this one, in which a hamster tastes broccoli for the first time. That was not part of the plan for this blog. But then I see it on one site and then I see it on another site and a third site and all of a sudden I get really nervous that somehow I'm not tapped into the hamster Zeitgeist. So, here' s Mr. Hamster eating broccoli. It's from Wired's top 10 amazing animal videos.

Britney lives the same day over and over

The Sun reports that Britney, in a new documentary, says she feels like she's living in a certain movie. “There’s no excitement, there’s no passion. I have really good days, and then I have bad days. Even when you go to jail you know there’s the time when you’re gonna get out. But in this situation, it’s never ending. It’s just like Groundhog Day every day.” I don't know what her problem is. Groundhog Day is hilarious.

What's going on here?

A) John Travolta got himself some new hair for the Bolt premiere. B) At last night's premiere of Bolt, John Travolta proudly showed off the latest in hair restoration. Said Mr. Travolta: "It's the best thing I've ever done for myself." C) Miley Cyrus is very excited to be at the premiere of Bolt. And to witness first-hand what a quality wig can do for a man. FRED PROUSER/REUTERS

PS: I just realized that that's two posts in a row about hair. Lest you think I'm some kind of weirdo with a hair fetish or something, I just want to make it clear that I'm really not all that interested in hair. Except for, A) John Travolta's, B) The weird, magical entity that lives on top of Robert Pattinson's head and, C) The classic tragedy that is William Shatner's toupee.   

Robert Pattinson's hair finally hits the red carpet

Twilight had its official premiere last night in L.A. and I think it's a good thing the publicity storm is about to be over. The hair is so over it. It's starting to look as detached and slack-jawed as its owner.

AP reports from the premiere that, Hundreds of shrieking fans — mostly teenage girls — lined the streets outside the Mann Village and Bruin Theatres on Monday for a chance to peek at the stars attending the Los Angeles premiere of "Twilight." Some enthusiasts of the popular vampire literary series-turned-movie camped out overnight, while many arrived at dawn to secure a place in line.

"I'm on basic motor functions right now," actor Robert Pattinson, who plays sexy vamp Edward, said amid fans' screams.

More than 600 people were allowed inside special holding areas along both sides of the premiere's red carpet. The self-proclaimed fanpires gawked, squealed and begged for autographs and photos with the stars. Others spilled out beyond the barricades and across the street from the premiere. Many held up handmade signs. Most just wanted face time. What question did they ask the most?

"`What's it like kissing vampires?'" said actress Kristen Stewart, who plays human teenager Bella.

MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS

While you were sleeping

Kiefer didn't like jail one bit People has a sneak peek of the December Men's Vogue cover story on Kiefer Sutherland. Turns out being incarcerated kinda sucked. "There's no smoking. The lights never go out, 24/7. You can't cover anything. You can't even put your head under a blanket. All the cells have cameras in them." Awww. BTW, Jack Bauer is back this Sunday with a in-between-seasons two-hour 24 thingy called Redemption. I've seen it and Jack is sorta trying to do some good by looking after some boring orphans. Fortunately that doesn' work out too well, so it's back to the Jack we love: killing, maiming, getting tortured, dealing with nefarious nemeses (nemesi?).

Date night for poor, sad Jen and that singer People breathlessly reports that Jen and John had a meal at some hotel and that they were "positively glowing in the candlelight." I would have that looked into. They could be radio-active or something. Or they could have been injected with blood from those glowing cloned cats.

Mediums and ghost whisperers didn't see it coming Someone stole a bunch of stuff from Jennifer Love Hewitt's trailer on set of Ghost Whisperer, TMZ reports. Meanwhile Bruno aka Sasha Baron Cohen infiltrated set set of Patricia Arquette's Medium by pretending to be an extra. AP.    

You're so old that ...

... you can’t expect us to believe you don’t miss slapping Joan Collins around (see awesome clip). Linda Evans turns 66 today. Other birthdays include actor Brad Sullivan (77), actress Brenda Vaccaro (69), singer Jacky Ward is (62), actor Jameson Parker (61), actress-singer Andrea Marcovicci is (60), singer Graham Parker (58), comedian Kevin Nealon (55), actor Oscar Nunez (50), singer Kim Wilde (48), actress Elizabeth Perkins (48), Kirk Hammett of Metallica (46), Tim DeLaughter of Polyphonic Spree and Tripping Daisy (43), actor Owen Wilson (40), singer Duncan Sheik (39), actress Peta Wilson (38), actress Chloe Sevigny (34), rapper Fabolous (29), rapper Mike Jones (28) and actor Nathan Kress (16).

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

The fan site. johnny-depp.org, claims this picture - by someone named Wicked Wench - is the first made public of my imaginary husband as The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. He does look slightly mad and he is wearing a hat. I'll buy it. Although, there's also the possibility that it's Burton's wife Helena Bonham Carter out doing some shopping. Or it could be Vivienne Westwood on a good day.