In the new book “The Obamas,” New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, writes about a secret White House cover-up. What officials at the nation’s capital tried to keep under wraps wasn’t classified military information, but apparently a 2009 Halloween party attended by the cast of Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland:

White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged.

I can see why Kitty Kelly, whose claim to fame is being the author of unauthorized biographies of Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, the Bush family and Oprah, skipped this one. There may be a juicy story lurking somewhere in the Obama White House, but this isn’t it. For me, the picture brought an unexpected bout of 2009 nostalgia. Read more…

Hollywood couples who decide to work together sometimes find it’s a double edged sword. The high pressure atmosphere of a movie set can strain even the healthiest relationships. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise famously ended their years long marriage shortly after co-starring with each other on Stanley Kubrick‘s Eyes Wide Shut. Kate Winslet‘s marriage to writer/director Sam Mendes also wasn’t strengthened by their collaboration on Revolutionary Road. The movie was a success, but the same couldn’t be said for their relationship, which ended soon after the movie was released. In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, actress Helena Bonham Carter who is married to director Tim Burton revealed that she was forced to lay down the law on the set of Alice in Wonderland in order to save the relationship. Although they have successfully navigated the treacherous territory of working together several times, she said it hasn’t always been smooth sailing:

We went through a really bad time on Sweeney Todd. … I didn’t get one compliment (from Burton). He really had this whole thing, like he didn’t want to seem as if he was favoring me. So he’d go in the opposite direction. And Tim and Johnny (Depp), they have their lovely relationship, you know, they get on so well. So that was a difficult one. … Read more…

I never thought that anybody could top the strange/borderline creepy visual style of Robert Zemeckis‘ animated films (his grotesque rendering of Jim Carrey as Scrooge is more frightening than any of the ghosts he encounters), but Tim Burton has managed to do so (judging by this new teaser poster that Disney has just unveiled). The half-spooky, half-trippy visual cues are the perfect fit for Lewis Carrol‘s Alice in Wonderland. Is it me or does Helena Bonham Carter look like one of the Wild Things in a drag show? And the mushrooms are a nice touch. It reminds people what they should be snacking on when viewing this film. More teasers after the jump. Read more…

Tyler Perry had his third best opening ever at the box office this weekend with I Can Do Bad All By Myself. The melodrama, which features his trademark character Madea, took in an impressive $24 M (it only cost an estimated $13 M to produce). Bad may not have been Perry’s Read more…

Throughout his roller coaster of a career, Paul Reubens has remained doing what he loves. That is to say, acting. He’s made something of a second career as a character actor appearing in movies like Blow and on TV in shows like 30 Rock. In the last few years, he’s been trying to resurrect his original claim to fame, Pee-wee Herman. He appeared as the character at Read more…