Robert Pattinson, Sean Penn: Together at Last?
Old Hollywood hottie could meet New Hollywood hottie in an upcoming film. What will happen? Will they generate so much heat that the Earth's atmosphere catches on fire? Rounding out a week of late-night news, it's a hottie-filled Trade Roundup!
•Robert Pattinson and Sean Penn are in talks to star in Fox 2000's drama Water for Elephants, about a depression-era veterinary student who leaves Cornell to join the circus. Penn would play a "charismatic but twisted animal trainer" married to equestrian star played by Reese Witherspoon. Pattinson would play the veterinarian. Penn could not be reached for this article because he is in Haiti saving people. Pattinson could not be reached because he's hibernating in a cryogenic beautypod until his creators defrost him for his next role. [Variety]
•Time to sort out the Late-Night Armageddon aftermath: Tomorrow is Conan O'Brien's last show. Jay Leno's back on Tonight after that. Conan gets $32 million straight-up—there's no 'offset clause' which would count money he earned at other networks against that sum, as we previously reported; $12 million goes to his staff and to pay for other "shut-down" costs. The "disparagement clause" means O'Brien can't say mean things about NBC until September, but then he will likely say mean things—maybe on Fox. But nothing's certain except he "wants to get back on the air as quickly as possible." [Variety]
•Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry has been brought back from the dead—in the form of a new TV pilot based on one of his ideas. The Questor Tapes sounds like a Twilight Zone episode: It's about "an android with incomplete memory tapes who searches for his creator and his purpose." The Questor Tapes was made into a TV movie in 1974, but according to Roddenberry's son, Gene Roddenberry always thought the idea could be "bigger than Star Trek." Our 13 year-old self is very excited about this. [The Wrap]
•Conan the Barbarian news: Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa will star in a remake of the old Arnold Schwarzenegger joint Conan the Barbarian. Goggle the guy: That is an impressive mess o' dreads. Ha ha, holy crap: Just read on his Wikipedia page that after filming season 4 of Stargate Atlantis he had his dreadlocks cut off because they were "causing him headaches" during action scenes. This guy's one to watch. [Deadline]
•Rob Lowe is leaving the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters. And the heart says... Whatever. [THR]