Two new high-profile lawsuits.

Who doesn't love a Hollywood lawsuit?! Apart from the people actually in them.

Anyway, there are two new high-profile lawsuits:



First up, Judd Apatow is being sued by Canadian author Rebecca Eckler because Eckler says Knocked Up copies her novel Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother-to-Be.

Says Eckler: "A lot of people, I’m sure, will say, 'Well, getting drunk and knocked up, it could happen to everybody.' Well, the fact is, it doesn’t happen to everybody, and no one had written about it before I did. And he didn’t sell the screenplay until after I did."

Nobody had written about it before Eckler? What? That's like saying no one had written about mental retardation before Forrest Gump.

Says Apatow: "The book is about a woman who gets pregnant by the fiance that she loves on the night of her engagement party. The film is about a one-night stand between a pot smoking slacker and an ambitious young woman that leads to a pregnancy and their attempts to get to know each other."

I definitely agree with Apatow here. Anyone who checks out the preview of the book at Amazon will be able to tell that they're two very different stories, and only the first few pages are there. Plus, it's also evident while Knocked Up the movie is brilliant, Knocked Up the book is not. If I ever hear the phrase, "Did I...did we...did he...in me?" again, I will personally hunt down Eckler and rip her fucking head off.

The trial is scheduled to begin in March 2008.



The second lawsuit which, to me, is less interesting, but which is much larger: Fifteen actors from the Lord of the Rings movies are suing New Line Cinema for allegedly withholding an estimated $100 million profit from merchandising. None of the well-known actors either, but that doesn't make the suit any less serious.

New Line must really be a bunch of assholes, because this is the third lawsuit against them in regards to Lord of the Rings alone. Peter Jackson has sued them for withholding profits from Fellowship of the Ring (subsequently losing his chance to direct the forthcoming Hobbit adaptation), while Saul Zaentz settled out of court over the rights to the books.

Man, Hollywood lawsuits. They must suck.

Judd Apatow's at it again!

The man cannot stop attracting quality comedy folk, and it's been revealed that his new project, Year One (unfortunately nothing to do with the great Frank Miller Batman comics), will be directed and co-produced by Harold Ramis (who appears in Knocked Up as Seth Rogen's father) and will star Jack Black and Michael Cera. Ramis also co-wrote the film with Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, both of whom work on The Office. Owen Wilson's exec-producing.

So here we have a mash-up of the folks from Ghostbusters, Arrested Development, The Office, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin, School of Rock, and The Royal Tenenbaums. If the film lives up to its talent, it's the next Hollywood comedy to watch.

Here's to hoping it doesn't go the way of another non-Apatow-directed Apatow project, 2005's Fun with Dick and Jane remake.

Color me cautiously optimistic!

Seth Rogen wasn't the first to get Knocked Up.

Judd Apatow's sweet/vulgar sex comedy Knocked Up hits theaters today, and I've been looking forward to it quite muchly. I'm also a huge Arrested Development fan.

Combine the two...and you get this hilarious mockumentary-esque video that shows Arrested Development's Michael Cera in the lead role that eventually went to Seth Rogen (Cera stars in the upcoming Superbad, which was written by and features Rogen).

Here's to hoping the movie is as deliriously funny as that.