The Downsizing of Halle Berry

The one-time movie maven is now shifting her priorities a little bit, considering smaller projects. Also today: Taylor Lautner's dad is becoming a problem, Susan Sarandon wants you to be her teacher's pet, and an inevitable Hunger Games update.

  • A long, long time ago Halle Berry won an Oscar and was a big, big deal. But then came Catwoman and things sorta fell apart. There was The Things We Lost in the Fire, but that kinda came and went, and there were a couple other things here and there, but mostly Halle Berry hasn't been making many movies of late. And now it looks like she's trying to head over to television. A spec script for a show called Higher Learning is currently being shopped around to premium cable networks with Berry attached to star as some sort of college professor. So OK! Halle Berry could be headed to Showtime or HBO or, shudder, Starz. Don't do Starz, Halle. I know it's been rough these past several years, but you're an Oscar winner for god's sake. Anything but Starz. Watch an episode of the Crash TV show and you'll know. Just one episode. Not Starz, Halle. (Though, Party Down was pretty great. So. Who knows.) [Deadline]
  • Sound the Hungah Gongs because it's time for Hunger Games news! I know it looked like we were done with all this for the time being, but ha ha, we're not. First up comes word that Donald Sutherland of all old people has been cast as evil President Snow. That's not really where I saw that casting going? But that's OK. Who really cares about that. Are any of the books' teen fans going to be all upset because the wrong old man was chosen to play the old man? I hope not. Anyway, the other news is that they've decided, Harry Potter and Twilight style, to break the last book up into two movies. Just 'cause it's such a huge story! And because making money from four movies is way funner than making money from three movies. Assuming, of course, that these movies will make money. They might not! I mean who really knows what these books even are? Not that many people. Teen girls and me, I think. Teen girls and me and two of my friends. That's it! [EW, Vulture]
  • Sexagenarian sexpot Susan "Sex" Sarandon has just been cast in the sexy sex comedy I Hate You, Dad as a sexy teacher. And a love interest for Adam Sandler. Wait, what? Yeah, in this movie Adam Sandler is playing Andy Samberg's dad, even though they're only 12 years apart in age, and Sarandon is a sexy teacher who Sandler has a crush on. Also in this bizarro cast is Leighton Meester as Samberg's fiance and Ian Ziering, playing a drugged-out sad version of himself. Also Vanilla Ice. Yes. Why is this movie so weird? It actually seems like it's way more weird than it is sexy. Weirdagenarian weirdo Susan Sarandon has just been cast in the weird weirdness comedy I Hate You, Weidro as a weird teacher. The word's lost all meaning now. [THR]
  • Chipper little mouse Amy Adams has joined the cast of decidedly un-chipper little mouse Paul Thomas Anderson's new religion movie, the one supposedly based on the story of Scientology. (Not like the aliens story. It's the story of Scientology being invented by a dude in the 1950s.) She'll be playing Phillip Seymour Hoffman's wife, because oftentimes guys who look like Phillip Seymour Hoffman wind up with gals who look like Amy Adams. A common occurrence in this weird old world. There's that word again! [Deadline]
  • Rejoice, nerds! Well, actually, don't break out the sparkling cider just yet. There's only a possibility that The Event, a show about Dr. Kerry Weaver going all Lt. Dan on us and getting new legs, might come back to the airwaves. It's done at NBC, totes canceled by NBC, end of its NBC story for sure. But, the show's producer has hinted that it could be going to the SyFy Network For Lonely Friday Nights, possibly as a miniseries. So maybe you can finally find out what The Event is. Wait, do we already know what The Event is? Besides Laura Innes' new legs? Was it when they cast that dude from Gilmore Girls? Maybe this show should be called The Events plural, because I just named two important events right off the top of my head and I've only seen the first episode. Fix that when you bring it back, SyFy. [EW]
  • This isn't a casting thing or a movie deal or anything, but it's in the trades, so in Trades it shall go. Inexplicably popular actor Taylor Lautner (I mean, I guess I get why he's popular, because of abs, but in the facial (Ha/ew Taylor Lautner facial) department he's nothing to email home about and he's actually sort of an awful actor?) has lost his publicist, Daniel Craig and Johnny Depp repper Robin Baum, apparently because his dad is a total stage dad from hell. No specifics on what exactly Tay-Tay's dad was doing to make everyone unhappy, but we can probably guess that he wouldn't stop playing zydeco music on Taylor's washboard abs during important meetings. I mean, that sounds reasonable right? Hey, I should be your manager Taylor because I just thought of a great new endorsement deal. In the commercials you'll be playing zydeco on your washboard and then you'll clap your hands and yell "Zatarains!" You'll be a rice spokesperson. Could be big. Call me. [THR]

[Photo via Getty]