Gwyneth Paltrow to Bless Us With a Song Once More

Yes indeedy, the blonde wisp-angel is performing at this year's Oscars. Also today: turns out The Walking Dead actually does need writers, Ben Affleck might be headed to Tehran, and MTV finally says no to Lauren Conrad.

The burning question on all of America's minds has finally been answered. Yes, future country star Gwyneth Paltrow will perform the nominated song "Coming Home," from Country Strong, at this year's Oscars. Phew. And just think about it: Gwyneth Paltrow and Anne Hathaway, doing things at the same awards show??? Be still my heart. Oh wait, it already is. I'm dead. From misery. [THR]

Two months after The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont fired his entire writing staff, with plans to use freelancers rather than a regular pool of talent, he has hired an executive producer who will in turn hire five staff scribes. No word yet on whether the five writers will be the reanimated corpses of the axed first season crew. It's likely, though. [Deadline]

Up-and-coming director Ben Affleck is reportedly in talks to helm a film about the Iran hostage crisis that's being produced by George Clooney and his frequent creative partner Grant Heslov. The movie will be called Argo, and specifically tells the story of a plan hatched by American and Canadian agencies that "used a disguise expert and concocted a scenario that involved [six U.S. diplomats] being a Hollywood crew scouting a movie titled Argo. Under those disguises, they were able to flee the country." The script is based on a Wired magazine article about the stranger-than-fiction canard, and contains some bits of humor among all the political intrigue. Sounds good, Benny! Though, I'm confused about one thing. Did part of the Iran hostage crisis take place in Boston? I guess it must have! [THR]

NBC has officially pulled the much beleaguered Chase from the airwaves, meaning it's effectively dead forever. Which is too bad, because the star of the show, Kelly Giddish, is pretty likable. And it is also too bad for cast member Jesse Metcalfe, who hopefully will not go back to doing this. [TV Line]

Listen up, girls! The boy of your dreams, Jesse McCartney, has landed a plum role on a new Fox pilot. He'll play teenage-ish brooder Tyler in Locke & Key, a supernatural thing about a mysterious Massachusetts manor called Keyhouse (yes the family's last name is Locke, so you get it, right?) that's haunted by an malevolent spirit. McCartney's character, sad over the murder of his father, is basically the lead male. Man of the house! Eyugh. I sort of hate that term/concept, y'know? [Deadline]

Jason Segel has signed on to star in Undercover Cop, about an undercover cop. In the '80s! Crazy. [THR]

Awww, glitterfrowns. MTV has decided not to pick up Lauren Conrad's latest reality series, saying it just wasn't going to work on the network at this time. The star of The Hills filmed a pilot episode for a series that would track her progress as a fashion designer. May I suggest the Style Network or perhaps even OWN, if you ask really nicely? Or, y'know, maybe just stop with the reality shows for good? Maybe? And take Olivia Palermo with you. And everyone else. I guess Whitney can stay. I mean, Genuine Ken is culturally vital, after all. [EW]

Eva Green, from Casino Royale and this, has been cast as the witch Angelique in Tim Burton's big screen Dark Shadows. She'll play opposite Johnny Depp's Barnabas Collins. Sigh. I hope they don't ruin this. Growing up, one of the few videos we owned when we first got a VCR was a Best of Dark Shadows compilation thing, just various clips from favorite episodes and whatnot, and man were my sister and I so obsessed with that thing. How it was so cheesy and melodramatic but also genuinely grim and scary. Why must Tim Burton be reimagining everything we loved as children and ruining it? First they came for Charlie Bucket... [Deadline]

[Photo via Getty]