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Winona Ryder is allegedly being wooed by the producers of the hit Broadway show Urinetown to join the cast, replacing Tony nominee Spencer Kayden, NYPost.com reports. Producers, however, might be surprised to hear it. A spokesman for the show said, "This is the first we've heard of it." Still, all the contracts for the Urinetown players are up at the end of August, and one production source told NYPost.com, "That's when the producers are going to start putting names into the show."
Celebs
Pamela Anderson might be heading for the London stage--joining those other famed blondes Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. Anderson's angling to star in a revival of the 1950s hit musical The Girl Can't Help It, scheduled to go up later this year. Jayne Mansfield starred in the 1956 movie version.A cursed palazzo in Venice, Italy? Sounds about right for the famously neurotic Woody Allen. Reuters reports the director is interested in buying a 15th-century house on the Grand Canal called Palazzo Dario, which apparently has seen its previous owners meeting dark and often sinister ends. Creepy.Movies
Road Trip director Todd Phillips has signed a three-year first-look deal with Dimension and Miramax, making him the Weinsteins' "go-to guy for comedies," Variety reports. Phillips' next project will be directing a comedic film based on the television show Starsky and Hutch with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Thank goodness, it's a comedy.And now, more on Miramax. The studio is jumping on the computer-animated bandwagon and is developing a feature film for kids revolving around Lego Co.'s Bionicle line of action figures known as Toa, heroes who collect legendary artifacts and defeat an evil ruler. Miramax is shooting for a 2004 release.Tube News
Shaq wants to produce. L.A. Lakers basketball star Shaquille O'Neal is pitching to networks a one-hour drama about the friendship between two basketball players, Variety reports. O'Neal plans to executive produce with occasional guest appearances. So far all his shots at getting it made have been air balls.Music News
The Who bassist John Entwistle, who was found dead of an apparent heart attack June 27 in a Las Vegas hotel room, was laid to rest Wednesday in rural England. The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, frontman Roger Daltrey and drummer Kenny Jones all attended the funeral.