J.K. Rowling to Publish First Novel for Adults

Christian Bale and Natalie Portman Last year's big Academy Award winners - Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman - will take the stage again on Sunday, but this time as presenters, the academy announced Thursday.Chris Rock to present at OscarsBale and Leo both received Oscars for their supporting roles in The Fighter, while Portman (Black Swan) and Firth (The King's Speech) took home Academy Awards for their lead performances.Hugo, The Artist lead Oscar nominationsThe foursome joins an impressive list of previously announced presenters, including Halle Berry, Bradley Cooper, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Chris Rock - and even The Muppets, Kermit and Miss Piggy.The 84th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, airs Sunday, Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. ET/ 5:30 p.m. PT on ABC.

'Descendants' makes Scripter Award

"The Descendants" needed home the 24th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award on Saturday within an elegant gala locked in the historic Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library round the college's campus.Although director Alexander Payne was unable to visit the ceremony, screenwriters Jim Rash and Nat Faxon were available to just accept the award with novelist Kaui Hart Hemmings."This can be this type of recognition to sign up a thing that puts books around the pedestal," Rash told everybody else.Faxon, who's an actress-author like Rash, joked about finally getting a chance to accept Payne's options in stars. "It might be a great call casting George Clooney rather than me," he conceded.USC alumnus and Company company directors Guild leader Taylor Hackford and also the wife, Helen Mirren, offered as honorary dinner chairs. Hackford spoke beautifully in regards to the delicate balance between remaining faithful to source material and creating a compelling script."It's a real artform. And therefore important and fragile. Do not be too conservative," Hackford mentioned.Mirren spoken about how precisely crucial the library might be for stars researching an element.InchThe books in this particular library tend to be worth more when compared to a page on Wikipedia," Mirren mentioned.Oscar-winning film author Paul Haggis recognized the Literary Achievement Award and mentioned of his career choice, "You have to be considered just a little psychologically unstable to remain in this profession," but added that to have the ability to work authors have to embrace the "absurd" character from this.An additional Scripter runners up incorporated "Mess Tailor Soldier Spy" and "Moneyball," because both versions are up for modified script Oscars next weekend, and "A Dangerous Method" and "Jane Eyre."USC Libraries Dean Catherine Quinlan offered as mistress of occasions and expressed feigned dismay about how precisely handful of movies have proven the exciting lives of librarians. "Where would be the library movies?" she asked for, garnering laughs within the audience. Contact Christy Grosz at christy.grosz@variety.com

Pilot Season: Chuck's Zachary Levi Joins Fox's Let It Go

Zachary Levi For those lamenting the end of Chuck, Zachary Levi may not be away from your TV screen for very long. Levi has landed the leading role in Fox's Let It Go comedy pilot, which lifts the cast-contingency on the project, TVGuide.com has confirmed. Deadline first reported the news. Pilot Season: Get the scoop! Let It Go is an ensemble comedy about a married couple, his best friend and her sister as they try to navigate, negotiate and sometimes manipulate society's unspoken rules. Levi, who previously worked in half-hour comedy on Less Than Perfect, will portray one half of the married couple. D.J. Nash will write and executive-produce the pilot alongside Rescue Me's Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer.

Desperate Housewives Episode Recap: "Is This What You Call Love?"

On this week's episode of Desperate Housewives, Susan gets a big surprise when Julie comes into town. Gaby must face Juanita about Carlos' whereabouts. Lynette tries to start dating again (for real this time!). And the three ladies finally open their eyes to Bree's downward spiral. SUSANHalf of this episode felt like Susan and Gaby competing for who could be the worst mom, which Susan wins by a long shot. I mean, MJ who? Anyway, Susan and Mike get a visit from Julie and - surprise! - she is preggers! Quicker than you can say MJ, Susan is offering her and Mike's services to help raise the baby and to have Julie move back in the house. But there's a catch, Susan! Julie tells her that she's giving the baby up for adoption because the dad doesn't want to be involved and Julie isn't ready to be a single mom. Susan is clearly not supportive of the decision. (Um yes, your daughter is getting her doctorate, but it's much more important for you to be a grandma). However, she offers to have the adoptive parents over for dinner. It's easy to see a mile away, but Susan can't resist the golden opportunity to sabotage the dinner. She goes so far as to tell the parents that the family has a serious history of mental illness and that Julie once took pills, something that sends the potential mom and dad running. Julie finds out and lectures her mom that she doesn't want to be a single mom because she remembers having to coddle her mom and take care of her when her dad left. Funny how Susan doesn't remember that at all! Mike gets Julie to reconcile with her mom and Susan tells Julie no matter what, she'll always be the best thing she ever did. Although Susan is seen folding baby clothes to put them away, something say that this won't be the last we hear of Julie and her baby. And hopefully not, this is probably Susan's best story line all season. GABYWhy is Gaby the worst mom, you ask? Because she finds out that Juanita has a crush on a boy at school and when she hears Juanita asking more and more questions about why Daddy is in Europe for so long (aka rehab), she decides to distract Juanita and make everything magically OK by giving her a Valentine from her crush. The big problem is that Juanita is her mother's daughter, which means the instant she sees "XOXO," she attacks this poor boy on the playground and makes him kiss her. The principal almost kicks Juanita out for sexual harassment and Gaby must tell her the truth about the man of her dreams. Gaby, unlike Susan, realizes the error of her ways a little more quickly and independently and decides to tell Juanita the whole truth, which also means about where Daddy really is. LYNETTE After deciding that she's truly ready to date again (or so she says), Lynette ends up talking Renee's hairdresser, Frank, into giving her a second chance after she bossed him around way too much the first time. Their second date goes extremely well and Lynette even invites him over to her place for dessert. Like any man above the age of what, 18 would, he assumes dessert is code for sex and is taken aback when Lynette hands him a pudding cup (sexy). Unlike any man on the face of the planet, he actually tells Lynette that he thought she meant sex and puts her on edge a little bit. She says she's not ready yet, but they decide to go out again. After a talk with the girls, which means Gaby telling her to do it and Susan telling her to wait, Lynette decides she likes Frank enough to sleep him and jumps into the sack with him to get the awkwardness out of the way. They have strong chemistry and a nice little back-and-forth about how many lights are allowed to be on in the room, but Lynette later reveals to Renee the next day that she ended up crying in the middle of sex because she's so upset that she is no longer married. Apparently, before it only occurred to her that Tom would be moving on, but not that she would be. She assumes Frank won't call, but he does the opposite. He stops by for a chill date with pizza and wine and says he would be worried if she didn't have a strong reaction over sleeping with a new guy after 20 years of marriage. (He's a winner, Lynette.) They sleep together again, seemingly with no such kinks and it looks like Lynette might really and truly be moving on from Tom. Yes, I know I've written that so many times this season, but she has good chemistry with this guy and if producers are going to insist on keeping her split from the love of her life, it may as well be so she can be with this guy? BREEBree's love life is as eventful as ever, and the other ladies are just really starting to take notice. At first, Lynette says Bree doesn't deserve help after what she did, but when Renee tells Lynette that she took Bree drinking, the red flag is raised and Lynette rallies the other ladies up. They decide to stage an intervention and Bree finds them waiting in her living room late at night when she comes home drunk with her latest suitor. The women confront Bree and tell her that she needs help and they want to be there for her, but she drops them with the bombshell about her almost suicide attempt and rubs it in their faces that when she did ask for help, they slammed their doors in her faces. She says that in their group, she was always the planner and when the plan to cover-up the murder went awry, they all blamed her and her alone. She tells them to leave and doesn't seem willing to get out of her bad groove. She comes close when a patron at her favorite bar - familiar with her usual games - gets too pushy and insists on going back to her place with her. She leaves her drink and tries to leave him, but he follows her and takes her keys. Just when you think Bree is going to get raped or something, Orson comes rolling onto the scene from the shadows and literally tasers the guy. He explains to Bree that her friends called and said she needed help and she begins to cry and tells him she screwed up her life. It's so hard to see Orson come back in this way, as a wheelchair-bound vigilante dressed in all black, coming to help Bree put her life together after she turned into a drunken slut. Is Orson the one who's been watching her? Do you think he wants her back? It's unclear how long he'll be back for, but I'll always take more Orson. So what did you think of tonight's episode? Are you glad Orson and Julie came back into the picture? What do you think of Lynette's new lovah? Sound off in the comments below! show less

Auditions for Toronto Debut of 'Honeymoon in Vegas' Musical Introduced

The brand new Broadway-bound musical "Honeymoon in Las vegas" will debut in Toronto included in Mirvish Productions' 2012-13 season, and auditions for that world premiere production are just introduced.Tony Danza ("Taxi," "Who's in charge?Inch) will star like a Las vegas wiseguy within the show, which is dependant on the 1992 movie of the identical title starring Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, and James Caan. The musical informs the storyline of the reluctant groom whose bride-to-be is courted by Tommy (Danza). T.R. Dark night and Mary Faber performed charge couple, opposite Danza, inside a backer's audition last fall in NY City.The Toronto production is anticipated to spread out in November and near the coast late The month of january, prior to the musical moves to Broadway early in the year of 2013. The musical features music and lyrics by Tony Award-champion Jason Robert Brown ("Parade") along with a book by Andrew Bergman, who authored and directed the film. Danza has made an appearance on Broadway within the Mel Brooks' musical "The Producers" as well as in the 1997 manufacture of "A View in the Bridge."Casting company directors Jim Carnahan and Stephen Kopel holds Equity principal auditions on Thursday, Feb 23 and Friday, Feb 24 in NY City. To learn more and audition particulars, see the full casting notice on BackStage.com. (Subscription needed.)Carnahan's recent Broadway casting credits include "The Mountaintop," "On the Obvious Day You Can Observe Forever," "Jerusalem," and "Anything Goes."

Free L.A. Screening of 'The Artist'

The Weinstein Company is presenting a free screening of the Oscar-nominated film "The Artist." You and a guest are invited to attend a screening on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the DGA Theater #1 (7920 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles). The screening will be immediately followed by a Q&A with actress Missi Pyle, director of photography Guillaume Schiffman, executive producer Richard Middleton, executive producer Antoine De Cazotte, casting director Heidi Levitt, and location manager Caleb Duffy.To attend, please email TheArtistEvent@gmail.com and indicate if you plan on bringing a guest. You will not receive a confirmation email, but your name will be on a list at the door. Free parking is available.Please arrive at least 30 minutes early. Screenings are overbooked to compensate for no-shows. RSVPs do not guarantee seating.

New posters for Wrath From The Leaders

A glut of recent posters happen to be launched for Wrath From The Leaders, plus they perform a pretty decent job of taking the scope and size the experience-packed follow up.The brand new one-sheets show Mike Worthington planning for fight using the sword-waving Makhai, and starting themself at fiery Titan, Kronos.Sadly, Worthington's new mullet does not get a try looking in, but we'll have the time to feast our eyes on its luxurious curls once the finished film arrives.A set of new ad banners are also launched, one showing Worthington's human co-stars, and also the other grouping together the fearsome Leaders he'll be rising against.Everything looks rather epic, and our hopes are high that that one is a much more spectacular affair than its disappointing predecessor. Wrath From The Leaders will open within the United kingdom on 30 March 2012.