Mysterious Olsen Sister Casts Spell Over Sundance

The Other One, the not-twin, is stepping out from behind Mary-Kate and Ashley's dual shadows at this year's indie film fest. Also today: news from said film fest, a Grey's alum gets a new gig, and a Mad Men update.

Elizabeth Olsen, the curious foundling child who appeared in Mary-Kate and Ashley's house one strange stormy night in 1998, is the big hit A-girl at Sundance this year, appearing in two films and scoring deals for upcoming movies. Next she'll star in Red Lights, alongside Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, and Sigourney Weaver, directed by the guy who directed Buried. So good for her! That's a good little bump in the profile department. Meanwhile, brother James Olsen, the crooked and strange dark-haired brother who returns from boarding school every year sterner and more withdrawn than before, watches this all from a high window of the manor, his school chum and confidant Mordrid whispering sinister things in his ear. [THR]

Remember on Grey's Anatomy when Izzie fell in love with that guy that died, Denny, and it was so so so sad and you cried for days? Well, it turns out Denny is actually just an actor named Jeffery Dean Morgan and he continues to act in other things and be a person even though Denny is dead. I know it's hard to process and sounds crazy — next thing I'm gonna tell you is McSteamy is actually married to the Noxzema girl, right? — but just go with it. So anyway this "Jeffery Dean Morgan" is getting pretty close to signing up for Magic City, a Starz series about 1950s Miami, when big Cuba shut its party doors and Little Cuba became a haven of gangsters, crooked politicians, and sexy people. So it's Starz's grab at some HBO-style prestige, what with its Boardwalk Empire-ian stylings and all. I wonder if the Starz thing is ever actually going to happen. So far most of their shows have been utter crap. I mean, even Showtime has been aping HBO for a long time and gotten quite successful in its own right, but it isn't quite on HBO's level in the taste-level department, y'know? Like, if The Tudors had been on HBO it would have been a lot better. There would have been less gratuitous sex, sure, but like quality-wise, it would have been better. So Starz has a real long way to go. We wish them luck. [Deadline]


Oscar nominations come out tomorrow, meaning we'll be entering the final leg of the awards season race. Thank the heavens, right!! (Not right! Awards season is fun and good. Well, not good, but y'know.) For a while it was looking like The Social Network was just going to cruise to victory, no problemo. But aha! On Saturday night The King's Speech won the Producers Guild award, significantly closing the Facebook movie's wide lead. So maybe the Producers Guild was paid or otherwise incentivized to make the Best Picture race a bit more competitive so people will watch? Just a crazy theory I'm throwing out there. Whatever the truth is, it means there's no sure bet. The weirdest part of all of this? Would you have ever imagined when you first heard about the Aaron Sorkin movie starring Justin Timberlake about the making of Facebook that it would be the frontrunner for best picture of the year? Shows what we all know. [The Wrap]

Let's talk some more Sundance news:

Purchases are happening all over the place, one of the more recent ones being Homework, the teen dramedy starring Emma Roberts et al. Fox Searchlight has purchased it "for north of $3 million." Meanwhile, I've got three million copies of North I'm trying to unload. [THR]

IFC has purchased The Ledge a drama about a man on a ledge and his various religious conflicts and stuff. Liv Tyler is in it, acting Liv Tylerly. (Or so I've read.) The deal was apparently in the low seven figures, which I guess is a lot for IFC. Probably means ticket prices will be going up at their movie theater. Which is fine, seeing as I've boycotted it since it showed me Zoo and scarred the inside of my head irrevocably. [Deadline]

Apparently My Idiot Brother, with Paul Rudd, is quite good. Apparently Red State, and director Kevin Smith's big ol' fuck you moment after the screening, are not so good. [EW]

OK, out of Sundance and back in the real world. Well, real-ish world. Matthew Weiner has not started writing season five of Mad Men yet. But it's not his fault! AMC is trying to figure out some details with Lionsgate, who produces the show, and because that Weiner has not yet been officially contracted for the fifth season. So... whenever these two companies can figure out their shit, Weiner really needs to get cracking. I don't like this waiting over a year nonsense that Break Bad's pulling on us. Move it along, guys! [THR]

[Photo via Getty]