The peeps over at TMZ have managed to grab the first pic of Brad Pitt from the set of his new film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ... and he's gone bald ladies and gentlemen. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first time Brad has gone bald since Fight Club -- not that it matters much, but I'm sure all you Pitt fanatics will be interested to see what the dude looks like without any hair. Of course, Brad didn't really shave his head, he just threw on one of them bald caps and, well, he looks kind of disheveled.

Personally, I'm really looking forward to Benjamin Button -- of course, the obvious reason being that this is David Fincher's next film after Zodiac. And since early buzz on Zodiac is telling us the film doesn't feel Fincher-esque, I'm real curious to see what he does with a plot that's a little more "out there." Benjamin Button also marks the third time Fincher and Pitt have worked together, and the other two films they collaborated on (Se7en, Fight Club) were outstanding pieces of work. For those not familiar with the film, Pitt plays a guy who begins aging backwards and winds up falling in love with a woman who is 20 years younger than he originally was. Sounds groovy. As of now, it looks like bald Brad will be arriving in theaters in May 2008.

While browsing around online this morning searching for a good poll topic, I happened upon The Movie Blog where our buddy John was pondering (when is he not pondering?) the decline of Denzel Washington's career. Sure, Deja Vu opened third this weekend with a respectable $20 million, but there was a time when it was all about Denzel -- you couldn't mention the words 'black actor' without his name coming up, while women everywhere fantasized about Denzel sweeping them off their feet. However, and John points to this as his possible downfall, ever since the man took home a Best Actor Oscar for Training Day, his star power has slowly faded and, now, his appearance in a film does not guarantee it a number one slot at the box office. That's not to say his acting has gotten worse -- in fact, he's one of the only actors who consistently makes good films. But something is missing. Denzel is no longer Denzel.

Personally, I feel we're at an interesting time right now, and those huge, A-list box office champs are slowly fading from power. In its fourth week, Babel has only grossed $12 million, despite the fact that Brad Pitt is in it. Granted, it's only played in over one thousand theaters for two of those four weeks, but that's still a low figure for such a big name. They're offering Will Ferrell $29 million to do Elf 2, but Stranger Than Fiction tanked in theaters (only $22 million). Pretty soon George Clooney will find his way back onto the big screen in The Good German, though there's a pretty good chance that film won't do too well either. And what about Blood Diamond -- will Leo DiCaprio attract a decent audience for that pic? Probably ... not. So, is it that these men are still popular, but only when surrounded by three or four other supposed A-listers? Have we gotten so used to ensemble pieces (Ocean's Franchise, The Departed), that one man just can't carry a film anymore? Or, are our favorite hot shots on their way out?

So, I ask you: Does the power of an A-List actor still exist? Or, does it only exist when it's surrounded by two or three other A-list actors?

The celebrities, they are just like us. So many of us in the U.S. have been dealing with Thanksgiving plans this week -- which relatives should we invite? Jennifer Aniston decided to invite the parents of her ex, Brad Pitt, for Turkey Day. And of course this caused the same stir that it might if you did the same thing (with your ex's family, I mean, not Pitt's) -- allegedly Angelina Jolie was unhappy about this. (via Radar Online)

However, Aniston's invite may have freed up Pitt and Jolie's Thanksgiving plans -- they escaped to Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, where they toured the city on a motorcycle, then had yummy Vietnamese food. How many of us have tried the same thing when our family plans have turned out to be disappointing or unrealistic? Maybe we should.

Despite the holiday, many celebrities were kind and thoughtful enough to keep on providing us with news. Michael Richards seemed to be working overtime to make the gossip rounds, as did Kelly Ripa, but other notable stars also helped:

Is there anyone reading who wasn't aware that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were just married in Italy? If so, I envy your imperviousness to celebrity news. The rest of us have been hearing all week about possible locations for the wedding, who was or was not on the guest list, what the ceremony might be like, what they've been wearing around town ... and other speculation that is not really suitable for polite discussion. I believe I have heard more about their wedding than some of my relatives' ceremonies. No clear and interesting photos are yet available from the big event, so you'll just have to imagine what happened and how everyone looked ... if you're that interested.

After much scouring of websites, desperate for gossip and news not related to the couple, I did manage to find a few items of interest:

• One related item: Defamer took a close look at the "For Your Consideration" ad for Thank You For Smoking and notes that a single cast member is absent from the list: Katie Holmes. Later, they learned that Holmes may have pulled herself from consideration.

One night my friends and I were walking by a university dorm discussing Things to do in Denver When You're Dead. I asked my friends why it couldn't have been called something shorter. Suddenly, a booming voice echoed me and said: Dead in Denver. Lately, there's some sort of obsession with long titles. We've got Borat: Cultural Learnings on for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and the upcoming The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. They could be titled Borat, Studio Sixty, and The Assassination of Jesse James, but then culture reviewers wouldn't get as much finger exercise.

Regardless of the long title, the curious have been reaching out to see the film. Originally set to come out in September, Warner Brothers pushed the release back to an ambiguous date in 2007. Now, producer Tony Scott has told Kevin Williamson of the Calgary Sun that the film will be released in February.

The ever-elusive date doesn't bode well for the movie about Robert Ford, a man who joined the outlaw Jesse James' gang, disliked living in James' shadow, assassinated him, and then had to live with the consequences. The star-studded cast includes Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Mary Louise Parker, Zooey Deschanel and Sam Shepard, but it's anyone's guess whether this will be a curse, or a blessing.

And, on a side note, check out the Wikipedia entry on Jesse James. Doesn't he bear an uncanny resemblance to Chris Eigeman?

[via canoe.ca]

Sometimes celebrity news stories drag on for weeks or even months. Madonna is still fielding criticism for her decision to adopt an African child whose father is still around, Anna Nicole Smith is still in the Bahamas, currently recuperating from pneumonia, and Snoop Dogg did in fact get charged with possessing a deadly weapon. Meanwhile, I am scrabbling around to find stories about Johnny Depp or George Clooney, preferably with lots of flattering photos, but the actors appear to be reclusive this week. (George, what about your promise?) It's an unfair world.

I am consoling myself with this week's gossip, which at least does seem to focus on the naughty, although not with the movie stars I ideally would like to hear make such admissions.

• More admirable than naughty: Neil Patrick Harris has outed himself and is apparently quite pleased with it. So I guess his, er, chick-obsessed character in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle truly was acting.

I'm writing this week's column at the very quiet hour of 5 am. Normally, 5 am is an hour when I am dead to the world, unless my cat decides it's time to play and sinks his claws into my back. However, I have one of those nasty little colds, and can't sleep, and I finally gave up. I discovered that this is a great time to read and write about Hollywood gossip, especially when you're drinking a big cup of cocoa. It doesn't require a huge amount of brainpower, the photos are often cheering and I need not worry that my husband will read over my shoulder and shake his head sadly at the content, like last week. And when I'm done, I can go back to bed, although I hope and pray that the following celebrity news doesn't infiltrate my dreams.

• Oh, Madonna. She's been at the top of the celebrity news heap all week. You try to adopt a poor little underprivileged child, and it's nothing but grief. First the father says he's confused about the adoption, then he supports it outright and wants everyone to leave Madonna alone. I'm not entirely sure why you'd adopt a kid whose father is still living, anyway; that seems like nothing but trouble. Must be an awfully cute little boy.
• I also can't avoid mentioning that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have set a wedding date of November 18. The wedding will take place in Italy, Holmes' dress will be designed by Armani, and I'm sure we'll see dozens of photos, no matter how private they try to be.

With Babel opening today, we at Cinematical thought we'd provide links to two seperate festival-circuit reviews of Babel -- one, from Cannes, by Editor-in-Chief James Rocchi; the other, from Telluride, by Managing Editor Kim Voynar.

Kim's Take:

"There are filmmakers who make good films, even great films, and then there are filmmakers who take making a movie to a whole new level of artistry, so far above the mean as to be incomparable to anything else. Alejandro González Iñnáritu is such a filmmaker, and with Babel he tells his story with such power and control that by the end of it you are at his cinematic mercy, utterly exhausted and spent. ..."

James' Take:

Just like Amores Perros and 21 Grams, Babel is gorgeously shot and made with real filmmaking talent; at the same time, while Iñárritu's working on a worldwide canvas here, he is making very similar strokes to those in his prior films. Part of me watched Babel with a feeling of apprehension -- is Iñárritu in a groove, or a rut?

Odds and ends from a very busy Thursday:

• While I'm not overly excited for David Fincher's Zodiac, I am definitely looking forward to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Pic has just added Julia Ormond to its cast for a little reunion of sorts with her Legends of the Fall co-star Brad Pitt. Here, she'll play the daughter of Cate Blanchett's character, a woman who finds herself having to listen to mom go on and on about some dude who ages backwards. Yes, that would be Benjamin Button (Pitt). Man, I am dying to see what Fincher does with this one.
• Rob Corddry (the latest Daily Show correspondent to jump ship and start a movie career) has hopped onboard the new Farrelly Brothers flick, The Heartbreak Kid (aka Seven Day Itch, aka Untitled Farrelly Brothers comedy). Pic stars Ben Stiller as a newlywed who falls in love with another woman while on his honeymoon. Apparently, Corddry will play Stiller's best friend. Also starring in the film are Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman and Carlos Mencia.
• Heck, it's not an animated comedy unless you have 72 actors signed on to provide voices, and the upcoming Igor has just added Jeremy Piven (that's right, he's important enough to start voicing animated characters now) and Molly Shannon. Pic, which is based on the short film of the same name, revolves around the assistant of a mad scientist whose main goal in life is to win first place at the annual Evil Science Fair. The three main actors from the short (Steve Buscemi, John Cleese and Christian Slater) have already signed on to reprise their roles.
• Finally, guess who's back to making good-looking films? If you said Steven Soderbergh, then go ahead and give yourself a gold star. The director's latest film, The Good German, now has a trailer online ... and the thing doesn't look too bad. Perhaps George Clooney should stick to black and white from here on out. Starring Clooney, Tobey Maguire and Cate Blanchett (man, she's everywhere today, huh?), The Good German follows an American journalist who is lured into a murder mystery that involves his former mistress. Is it me, or did Clooney appear to be missing something in that trailer?

It's not that I have anything against Jennifer Aniston, I just don't think she's a very good actress. Or even a moderately decent actress at that. I tend to believe that if she wasn't involved with Brad Pitt when Friends ended, it's quite possible she would've wound up in some crummy "Help, I'm in my thirties and life is so confusing" sitcom on either CBS or ABC. I can totally see it now: The Trials and Tribulations of Wendy Warner, starring Jennifer Aniston and Rob Lowe. Please, you know something like that was pitched to her. It's a given.

Needless to say, Aniston rode her high-profile romance and divorce straight onto the big screen, and by breaking up with Vince Vaughn twice a week, it seems her name will remain in the gossip rags and on our minds for quite some time. In fact, Universal just picked up Counter Clockwise, a script written by Paul Bernbaum with the intentions of having Aniston produce and also star. Story centers around a real-life study conducted by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer in which she "reversed the aging process of her subjects by making them believe they were younger." Aniston, a Harvard psychologist? I don't buy it. You?

Back in September, the rumors were confirmed that Angelina Jolie had officially signed on to star as Dagny Taggart in the adaptation of Ayn Rand's paperweight of a masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. There had been hopes that the pic would mark a re-teaming of Brangelina, as gossip predicted that Brad Pitt would be in tow. Well, as it turned out, Angelina was flying solo (bad pun, I know).

Well, the next stage of production on the film has begun, as Variety announced that writer-director Randall Wallace has agreed to pen the screenplay for Lionsgate. The film has taken the scenic route to production, with different stars including Clint Eastwood and Faye Dunaway attached at some point along the way. But now, Jolie's manager is one of the producing partners along with Howard and Karen Baldwin (Ray) -- so I guess that means it has a better chance of becoming a reality? Wallace is best known as the writer of Braveheart and director of We Were Soldiers (we won't hold the Mel Gibson connection against him), and apparently will start work on the Atlas Shrugged script immediately. Wallace is known for tackling epic themes in his scripts, so this seems like a good choice for him. Jolie and Wallace will be working together again in the upcoming The Mercenary, which is a period piece set in Russia during the American Revolution.

Eight years after forming Section Eight to make films for Warner Bros. as cheaply as possible in exchange for minimal creative interference, George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh have closed the door on Section Eight for good. Their last picture under the banner will probably be the sequel Ocean's Thirteen, to be released next summer.

Vanity deals in Hollywood used to be handed out by Hollywood to everyone with a SAG card it seemed. However, once the belt-tightening of spiraling production costs and sagging box office receipts began to hit in the mid-90s, those deals evaporated faster than swag bags around Lindsay Lohan. High profile deals have been hitting skids lately, with Tom Cruise's Cruise/Wagner Productions being let go by Paramount, and Section 8 shuttering this month. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's own Plan B Entertainment seems to be surviving, after Aniston left the company and Pitt (the more bankable of the two) signed a new deal with Paramount, no surprise since they formed the company with Brad Grey, the current president of the studio.

Ironically, for a company that set out to make films as cheaply as possible in exchange for minimal creative interference, their only real financial successes were the very expensive (and highly profitable) Oceans's Eleven series, which has spawned two sequels and grossed over $800 million worldwide. Although they enjoyed plenty of critical success with Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck, they did not turn large profits for the studios, and failed to break into television despite repeated attempts.

Clooney and Soderbergh are both extremely talented, with Clooney being just as versatile behind the camera (see his own Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), and will have no problem continuing being successful. However, this was one of the most unique combinations of film talent in recent years, and I for one would have liked to see them continuing to put out the types movies that they were slowly but surely becoming known for; smart films that made you think well after you'd left the theater.

Related stories:

Clooney and Soderbergh: The Demise of a Vanity Shingle?

Clooney, Soderbergh Break-Up Official: Aug. 1

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• If the BBC is correct, it looks like Brad Pitt's "interest" has turned into an official casting as far as that big-screen Americanized version of the BBC miniseries State of Play goes. Jim Abbott (writer and exec producer) confirmed Pitt's involvement after receiving a surprise phone call from the actor. Pitt will play a journalist named Cal McCaffrey who finds himself wrapped up in a murder conspiracy involving his former boss. [via Dark Horizons]
• What the hell is wrong with Tonight, He Comes? After going through THREE directors (Michael Mann, Jonathan Mostow, Gabriele Muccino), a new name is surfacing and we're praying this one actually sticks. According to Production Weekly, Peter Berg is close to helming the pic which finds Will Smith playing a superhero suffering through a mid-life crisis. If this is supposedly one of the "best unproduced scripts in town," then how come no one wants to direct it? Inquiring minds definitely want to know.
• Hey, remember how we told you that Orlando Bloom's character may not survive through a fourth Pirates installment? Well, Moviehole spoke with a rep for Disney who denied everything saying, "We are working closely with Disney and want you to know that while we cannot comment on specific plot points, such rumors are completely unfounded." Even if these rumors were true, it's not like Disney is going to come out and go, "That's it, you got us!" Personally, I say they kill off everyone except Captain Jack, then bring him back for a spin-off TV series on Cartoon Network called, The Adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow Jr. Whaddya think?

Here's a quick casting round up from the past few days:

• Tilda Swinton is close to watching Brad Pitt age backwards, as she's in negotiations to star alongside the Hot One in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Based on a story from F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by David Fincher (who we're hoping learned a lesson from the dismal Panic Room and will get himself back on track), pic also stars Cate Blanchett and revolves around a man who, at age 50, suddenly begins to get younger and younger.
• Kristin Scott Thomas will play Lady Elizabeth, the mother of Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman in The Other Boleyn Girl, based on the novel by Philippa Gregory. Eric Bana is set to become the envy of every male in the world, as he will play the role of King Henry VIII, the man with whom Johansson and Portman both fight over. Bastard!
• James Caviezel (aka Jesus Christ Superstar) is in talks for the lead role in Outlander, The Weinstein Co.'s epic sci-fi flick. Directed by Howard McCain (off a script he co-wrote with Dirk Blackman), pic tells of a human-like alien who accidentally winds up on Earth in 509 AD and sets loose some horrific creature that he subsequently must destroy. The one question on his mind: What would Jesus do?
• Comedian Carlos Mencia has hopped on the Farrelly Brothers bandwagon, taking a part in their upcoming comedy, Seven Day Itch. Mencia will join Ben Stiller. who plays a man that, while on his honeymoon, accidentally falls in love with another woman. Co-starring in the flick are Michelle Monaghan and Malin Akerman. I'd expect Mencia to play some wacky guy Stiller meets (and subsequently looks for advice from) while on his trip.

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• I'm not exactly sure how a sassy girl can turn a guy's life upside down, but that's apparently what will happen to Jesse Bradford, as he's just signed on to star opposite Elisha Cuthbert in My Sassy Girl. Directed by Yann Samuell, pic is a remake of a South Korean romantic comedy about some small-town guy and the "reckless, brazen" (yet somehow "sassy") girl that disrupts his entire life.
• Though at one point considered a wild rumor, Angelina Jolie is now officially set to star in Atlas Shrugged, based on the 1,100-page book by Ayn Rand. Jolie will take on the powerful Dagney Taggart, a role she's been interested in for quite awhile having been a fan of Rand's for years. No word yet on whether Brad Pitt will join her, though I suspect Lionsgate (who's producing) will do what they can to land them both.
• I can't see how a script called Little Lover Boy has anything to do with aliens, but according to Variety it most certainly does. Universal has acquired the spec comedy from writer Rick Overton, with Mary Parent, Scott Stuber and Mosaic Media's Jimmy Miller set to produce. Story is said to follow a "small-time crook who gets abducted by aliens, swipes their spaceship and teams with an alien pilot for a Robin Hood-inspired intergalactic road trip." Sounds fun enough, though I have one question: How do these aliens not have The Club?