Photo: Getty Images
T.I. Ready to Do His Eight Hours on MTV
T.I. Scared Straight: MTV green-lights a T.I. reality series, following the rapper as he performs 1,000 hours of community service in advance of his jail term for firearms possession. The network will air eight hours of the series, which will document T.I.’s conversations with groups about his troubles. “Hopefully the mistakes I’ve made will be a lesson to today’s youth and they won’t go down that same path,†T.I. said, lovingly caressing the piles of money MTV paid him for the reality show documenting his legal troubles. [Variety]
Elvis Goes to the Movies: Producers David Permut and Steve Binder have picked up the rights to Alanna Nash’s The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley. Parker was the sketchy Svengali who built Elvis into a global megastar (and took half the loot to boot). No writer or director yet, but what about Hilary Swank as Young Elvis and Karl Rove as Tom Parker? [Variety]
Please Sir, May I Have Three: Three wee English lads will share the starring role in the newest West End production of Oliver!, chosen via the BBC talent competition I’d Do Anything. Gwion (11), Harry (12), and Laurence (11) beat thousands of Oliver hopefuls for a chance to dance for judge Andrew Lloyd Webber. Now get on it, England, and cast David Archuleta already. [BBC]
Dafoe Gets His Freak On: Willem Dafoe has joined the robust cast of Universal’s horror-fantasy Cirque du Freak, directed by Paul Weitz. Story centers on a kid who joins an illegal freak show as a vampire’s assistant. Dafoe will play one of the vampires, and for those of you playing Dafoe-Vampire Bingo, this marks the third bloodsucking part after Shadow of the Vampire and Daybreakers. [Shock Till You Drop]
Kaplan and Elfont Go to College: Made of Honor writers Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont will rewrite and direct the teen comedy Big Man on Campus for Sony. The comedy concerns the most popular girl in school who gets rejected by a super-nerd. Her social standing plummets, and he becomes the king of the school. Sounds like working with Patrick Dempsey made them rewatch 1987’s Can’t Buy Me Love. [HR]