the industry

Helena Bonham Carter Unexpectedly Joins the Cast of a Tim Burton Movie

Sloane Tanen’s Feathers (2008).

Might Also Wear Dark Eyeliner?: Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter have joined the cast of Tim Burton’s Wonderland at Disney. Hathaway, who just blew our minds with her jacked-up performance in Rachel Getting Married, will play the White Queen who asks Alice to slay the dreadful Bandersnatch, while Carter will be shouting “off with their heads” as the Red Queen. [HR]

Carell Makes a Smart Move: As part of their courtship in making a Get Smart sequel, Warner Bros. has signed a three-year first-look deal with Steve Carell and his newly created Carousel Productions. The company is staffed by Carell and his two friends, Vance DeGeneres (oh yeah, remember him from The Daily Show?) and Charlie Hartsock (oh yeah, remember him from being Carell’s college roommate in real life?). Their projects are expected to flourish with “this strong base of friendships,” according to Carell, which is a nice way of saying “me and my friends are gonna hang out and drive your golf carts, suckahs!” [Variety]

Philanthropy Is Broderick’s Strong Suit: Master ticket salesman Matthew Broderick will return to Broadway next year in Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of Christopher Hampton’s The Philanthropist. He’ll play a university professor whose life is entirely disconnected from public events, including the assassination of the prime minister, although not from the water-gun assassination of one of his students. [Variety]

Absolutely Fabulouser: Fox is remaking Jennifer Saunders’s British sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous (we refuse to call it a Britcom), to be produced by Arrested Development’s Mitch Hurwitz and Two and a Half Men’s Eric and Kim Tannenbaum. SNL’s Christine Zander will write the pilot, wherein two boozy cougars try to stay hip and cool in Los Angeles. It’s not often that we immediately shout the phrase “Jennifer Coolidge vehicle!!!” but Goddamn it, this is one of those times. [Variety]

Vincent Chase on the Rise: HBO just renewed Entourage for a sixth season to premiere next summer. Let the obsessive watching/self-loathing cycle continue! [Variety]

Ramayan Soon: Mandalay Pictures, Liquid Comics, and producer Mark Canton (300) are teaming up to bring Ramayan 3392 AD to a theater near you. John Collee (Master and Commander) will adapt the reimagined Hindu epic, the story of Prince Rama (an incarnation of the god Vishnu) and his quest to save his beloved from demonic hordes. Kind of an expensive gamble, don’t you think, making a movie out of a “comic book”? It’ll never work! [HR]

Helena Bonham Carter Unexpectedly Joins the Cast of a Tim Burton Movie