Wow!: Against the odds, Julie Taymor’s $50 million Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark continues to be a thing that will maybe actually exist someday with the announcement of the show’s complete cast: Isabel Keating, Michael Mulheren, Gideon Glick, and Natalie Mendoza are among the actors joining Reeve Carney (Peter Parker) and Jennifer Damiano (Mary Jane) in the Bono-soundtracked Broadway musical. Rehearsals begin Monday, allegedly. [Variety]
Thanks, Dad: Twenty-seven-year-old aspiring actor-financier David Ellison — son of Oracle boss Larry Ellison — has raised $350 million (some of it from his dad) for his Skydance Productions, which will pay for between 4 and 6 movies per year (first up: Mission: Impossible 4, Jack Bender’s Jack Ryan movie, and the Coens’ True Grit). But where will he find the time to star in all of them? [HR]
Quitter Hires Flack: Former Jetblue employee Steven Slater has hired a publicist — whose first order of business was, of course, to alert TMZ to his own hire. Slater will be represented by Howard Bragman, who has also flacked for Isaiah Washington, Chaz Bono, and Oksana Grigorieva. Which can only mean that Slater plans on saying something wildly offensive, changing his sex, and releasing unflattering audio tapes of Mel Gibson. Looking forward to that reality show. [TMZ]
Late Pickup for Tim: HBO has ordered a third season of the presumed dead The Life and Times of Tim, which they declined to renew when they green-lit a second season of its lead-in, Ricky Gervais Show, in June. Prior to its surprise pickup, Tim’s makers shopped it to Comedy Central, TBS, and the Cartoon Network, none of whom wanted the animated comedy. This bodes extremely well for the rest of HBO’s upcoming lineup. [Variety]