Have your doubts about Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs? How about Avengers director Joss Whedon helping turn Nikki Reed into a funnylady? Or can Malin Akerman sing a Blondie song like Debbie Harry?
We've done some digging to get you inside scoop and some of the most buzzed about movies coming to a theater near you. Read on for all the deets—that's if you don't mind a spoiler or two.
Ashton Going for Oscar?!
Ashton Kutcher has gotten himself a horrible boss.
Matthew Modine has just signed on to play John Sculley in the Two and a Half Men star's Steve Jobs biopic, jOBS (yes, that's the way it's being styled). Sculley is the former Apple CEO who infamously pushed Jobs out of the company in 1983, only for the cofounder to return years later and rescue the company.
Modine, 53, has been in touch with the real Sculley to set up a meeting with him later this month.
"I didn't know much about him," Modine tells us. "I knew a little bit that there was a guy that had come from Pepsi to run the company, because like so many of us we all know that amazing 1984 commercial that Ridley Scott directed. I knew that Sculley was part of the genius behind that."
Kutcher, 34, is also doing his part to get Jobs right. Have ya seen his hair lately?
"He's got hair extensions in right now and he's wearing the tall mom jeans," his pal Danny Masterson told us at the Sundance Institute dinner at Soho House in L.A. "He's really working hard. He's rehearsing hours and hours and hours every day for the last month."
Modine said, "Ashton Kutcher is looking to challenge his integrity as an actor," Modine tells us, adding, "I think Ashton can make his mark on his career with this role and I hope he succeeds."
Sounds like the road to the Oscars may be paved with Apples.
Joss Whedon Post-Avengers Movie Makes Nikki Reed Funny
No word if Nikki Reed has hit up Joss Whedon for a role in the Avengers sequel. Heck, we don't even know if he'll be directing the followup.
But we do know the Twilight star, 24, has Whedon to thank for showing us a side of her we haven't seen. He wrote and produced Your Eyes, one of three indies Reed shot when she wasn't shooting Breaking Dawn.
"I play a really fun character [with] a goofy Southern accent," Reed says. "Most people are afraid to cast in any sort of comedic role because they don't think that's up my alley."
CBGB Casting Underway, Gets Way Sexy Blondie
Malin Akerman may not be getting the chance to play late porn star Linda Lovelace in Inferno, but as we told you before she is set to star as Blondie singer Debbie Harry in Randall Miller's upcoming indie flick CBGB!
The movie will tell the story of Hilly Kristal, the owner of CBGB, the legendary New York City music club known for being a center of the New Wave scene in the '70s followed by '80s hardcore punk.
We already known Akerman has some pretty impressive vocal chops thanks to her duet of "I Want to Know What Love Is" with Tom Cruise in the upcoming Rock of Ages.
So, is she warming up to sing "Heart of Glass," "Call Me," "The Tide Is High" or any other Blondie classics? "There's two songs that will be in there," Akerman, 34, teased. "I don't know if I'll actually be singing them or if it's going to be her and I'm lip-synching. We'll see."
Funny enough, the flick will not be shot in NYC, but rather in Savannah. CBBG, which closed in 2006, is now home to a John Varvatos clothing boutique. A casting call for this weekend in Georgia reads, "Currently seeking as extras: music lovers, musicians, motorcyclists, '70s car owners and people with '70s look."
Break out the bell-bottoms!
Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden Movie? Soooo Secret
It's one thing for the likes of extras, production assistants and crewmembers to sign confidentiality agreements when working on a big top secret script.
But sometimes even the stars of the movie have to!
We caught up with Mark Duplass the other night at the Sundance Institute dinner to talk about his role in Kathryn Bigelow's Osama Bin Laden project.
Only one problem.
"I can tell you that they made me sign a non-disclosure agreement," Duplass, one of the movie's costars, told us the other night at the Sundance Institute dinner. "There's stuff in there that I didn't even know about."
So how was it working with our fave Jessica Chastain and Parks & Recreation funnyman Chris Pratt?
Um.
Duplass, 35, smiled, "I can't say exactly who I worked with."
Come on, we promise not to tell.
Teen Wolf Star Does Indie, Gets "Not Too Naked"
Get ready to see a Teen Wolf starlet even sexier than she is on the hit MTV series—who knew that was even possible!
"I play an ex-ballerina turned stripper," Crystal Reed, who plays Allison on TW, tells us of her starring role in the indie flick Too Late. "I'm not too naked. I'm wearing a little top and some fringy thongs. It was an interesting experience."
Not only did she learn how to pole dance, but the 20-year-old beauty also had to seduce 52-year-old Winter's Bone Oscar nominee John Hawkes in the movie. "I feel like I'm constantly fighting the good girl image," she said. "It's great to be able to do something else."
Naughty, naughty girl.