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Paula Kelly, an actress who earned Emmy nominations for roles on NBC’s 1980s sitcom Night Court and 1989 ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, died February 8 in Whittier, CA, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She was 77.

Her death was announced by her family and Los Angeles’ Ebony Repertory Theatre.

Kelly, who was also a dancer, choreographer and singer, had her breakthrough role of Helene in Bob Fosse’s 1969 film Sweet Charity, sharing the screen with star Shirley MacLaine and Chita Rivera in such musical numbers as “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This” and the showstopper “Hey, Big Spender.” She’d already played the role in a West End stage production.

Other film credits include The Andromeda Strain (1971), Uptown Saturday Night (1974) and Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored (1995).

Kelly appeared in numerous TV series from the 1970s through the ’90s, including Sanford & Son, Medical Center, The Streets of San Francisco,...

Paula Kelly, the actress, singer and dancer who starred in the film version of Sweet Charity and earned an Emmy nomination for her turn on Night Court, has died. She was 77.

Kelly died Sunday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Whittier, California, a publicist for her family and Los Angeles' Ebony Repertory Theatre announced.

Kelly also appeared in such movies as The Andromeda Strain (1971), Cool Breeze (1972), Top of the Heap (1972), The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973), Soylent Green (1973), Uptown Saturday Night (1974) — as Leggy Peggy — and Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986).

After playing the dancer Helene ...

Paula Kelly, the actress, singer and dancer who starred in the film version of Sweet Charity and earned an Emmy nomination for her turn on Night Court, has died. She was 77.

Kelly died Sunday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Whittier, California, a publicist for her family and Los Angeles' Ebony Repertory Theatre announced.

Kelly also appeared in such movies as The Andromeda Strain (1971), Cool Breeze (1972), Top of the Heap (1972), The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973), Soylent Green (1973), Uptown Saturday Night (1974) — as Leggy Peggy — and Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986).

After playing the dancer Helene ...

Kevin Hart is in talks to star in Warner Bros. and Overbrook Entertainment’s remake of 1974’s “Uptown Saturday Night,” an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Sidney Poitier directed the original comedy and also starred in it alongside Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte and Calvin Lockhart. (With Richard Pryor in a supporting role.) The film followed two friends as they barely navigate the criminal underworld in order to retrieve a winning lottery ticket stolen during a robbery.

Will Smith and his Overbrook Entertainment partner James Lassiter are producing the remake, while “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris is penning the most recent draft of the script.

Also Read: Kevin Hart to Host CBS Obstacle Course Game Show 'Tko: Total Knock Out'

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Hart’s most recent credits include “Captain Underpants” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and will star in “Night School,” “The Secret Life of Pets 2” and the “Jumanji” sequel next.

With "The Equalizer" having just premiered in Toronto, actor Denzel Washington participated in a Reddit Ama session where he touched upon a variety of topics and potential future roles.

Naturally, someone asked him about possibly playing a Marvel superhero to which he said: "Didn't they do the Green Lantern? With Ryan Reynolds! Too late! Green Lantern Returns? Isn't there a comic book, the Black Panther or something?"

Later on, he told Cinema Blend in Toronto: "I'm probably getting too old. They didn't make the Black Panther yet, though, did they? I heard that they have been talking about it. That's cool."

Another topic that came up was that of Adam McKay's in development remake of "Uptown Saturday Night" which, according to Washington, is still in development: "I actually have a script for a remake of 'Uptown Saturday Night' that Will Smith wants to put together, that's been...

Denzel Washington, believe it or not, is a really funny guy. You might not know it due to the fact that he's more known for dispensing rough justice in films like Man On Fire and more recently The Equalizer. But before he was giving criminals a stern talking to, followed by a couple of bullets or blows to the chest, he was making people laugh in movies like Heart Condition and Much Ado About Nothing. Yet despite his mid career renaissance as an action hero with gravitas, he's still eager to make us laugh, and he's ready to do it again. The only problem is Will Smith is dragging his feet on making sure that happens. At least, that's what Washington himself said in his Reddit Ama yesterday afternoon. You see, he too remembers that Adam McKay's remake of Uptown Saturday Night is still in play, and he's eager...

Though filmmaker Adam McKay is best known for helming comedic gems like Anchorman and Step Brothers, his future slate sees him branching out a bit into other genres. He’s developing an adaptation of the graphic novel The Boys, he’s set to direct the remake Uptown Saturday Night, and now Paramount has announced that McKay will write and direct an adaptation of the Michael Lewis book The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine, which examines the housing and credit bubble of the 2000s. McKay previously dabbled in politically minded material with the action-comedy The Other Guys, which dealt heavily with corporate greed and corruption, so The Big Short feels like a solid fit for the filmmaker. Brad Pitt—who produced and starred in the Michael Lewis adaptation Moneyball—will produce The Big Short through his Plan B banner. No word on where this fits into McKay’s schedule (he...

Hopefully he won't immediately regret this decision, but Adam McKay – co-writer and director of Anchorman and its super-sized sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – says he and co-writer/star Will Ferrell will not be expanding their beloved comedy franchise into a trilogy.

Ron Burgundy Uncensored: Will Ferrell on the Cover of Rolling Stone

“It’s done,” says McKay in a new interview with Empire. “I think that’s it. It was great to do it, and it was so fun to work with those guys again, but I think that’s it for Ron Burgundy.

Remember that scene in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues where the news team ignorantly quizzes an openly gay co-worker, who they confuse for a vampire? “Do you sleep in a coffin?” asks a befuddled Champ, while his thick-headed pals struggle with the concept of being gay in 1980. The exchange got some of the best laughs in the sequel’s trailer, but if you’ve seen the movie, you know that the scene didn’t actually make the final cut. That will all change on Feb. 28 when Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues: Super-Sized R-Rated Version begins a one-week run in theaters.

After being announced back in 2002, Warner Bros. remake of 1974′s Uptown Saturday Night is (slowly) making its way toward production.

Will Smith and his production company Overbook Entertainment procured the rights to the film and its sequels in 2002, but it wasn’t until 2012 that Warner Bros. announced Anchorman and Step Brothers helmer Adam McKay would direct, while Smith and Denzel Washington would star as the leads.

Now, they’ve enlisted frequent Judd Apatow-collaborator Nicholas Stoller to do a script rewrite.

This will be the third rewrite the film has seen — Cop Out writers Mark and Rob Cullen are reported to have taken a crack at it in 2010, while This Means War scribe Tim Dowling was brought on in August for a rewrite. ...

Click to continue reading ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ Scribe to Rewrite ‘Uptown Saturday Night’ Remake

The post ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ Scribe to Rewrite ‘Uptown Saturday Night’ Remake appeared first on Screen Rant.

Just under six months after Columbia grew a pair of cold feet, it would appear that The Boys has found a second Hollywood home. Don’t take my word for it, but that of prospective director Adam McKay, who quietly announced on Twitter that Paramount have taken his comic book film in for themselves. And it’s developing, too.

Sony let this thing go for the exact reason you’d assume ($), so the question of a reduced budget — or anything along those same business lines — will have to remain in the dark as of now. Regardless of that possible issue, I’m fairly glad to hear The Boys could live once again; it sounds far removed from your typical comic book property, nor does it hurt when Simon Pegg and Russell Crowe were circling major roles. If they stick around — or, had ever really considered it in the first place...

After a short, but well-deserved break between 2010’s “Unstoppable” and this past February’s “Safe House,” actor Denzel Washington is back with the force you’d expect from a man who once yelled King Kong “ain’t having sh*t on me” during a heated exchange in “Training Day.” Anyways, he has the Robert Zemeckis-directed drama “Flight” set to land this November, he’s currently shooting the action picture “2 Guns” alongside Mark Wahlberg, and we just had word he could star alongside Will Smith in “Anchorman” director Adam McKay’s remake of “Uptown Saturday Night." And now we have further info on a long-developing project with Washington attached. Deadline has the tip that Sony Pictures has set the Washington-starring “The Equalizer” for an April 8 production start in (most likely) Boston. Based on the hit 1980s series "The...

Fine. I’ll bite. This kind of sounds amazing.

When rumors of a possible Uptown Saturday Night remake sparked, very little buzz surrounding the project was remotely positive. However, with this new report from Deadline, that’s about to change.

Read more on Adam McKay helming Uptown Saturday Night remake with Will Smith and Denzel Washington...

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Exclusive: Adam McKay is in negotiations to develop to direct Uptown Saturday Night, the Warner Bros remake that the studio hopes will star Will Smith and Denzel Washington. Smith and James Lassiter’s Overbrook Entertainment has been developing the project. Tim Dowling wrote the most recent draft. The idea is for McKay to helm the film after he completes a sequel to Anchorman, the Will Ferrell-starrer that Paramount has set for an early 2013 start and 2014 release. McKay and Ferrell wrote that script and Judd Apatow is producing. McKay most recently helmed The Other Guys, and before that Talladega Nights. He’s repped by Wme. The 1974 comedy starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier as pals who visit an illegal nightclub, and are forced to hand over their wallets to thieves. Turns out one of them contains a winning lottery ticket, emboldening the duo to bump up against the criminal element to get back the wallet.

Early last year, there was news that Warner Brothers was remaking 1974s Uptown Saturday Night with Will Smith and Denzel Washington eying the two main roles. Since then, Smith and Washington have remained interested in the project. David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers) was once on to direct, but dropped to move on to other things. Adam McKay is now in negotiations to take on the remake. Smith and Washington have been wanting to work with each other for awhile and figure this is the best...

Will Smith has chosen his next starring role, and he found it in the only source material grand enough for Hollywood’s last true movie star: the Bible. Smith is attached to star in The Legend of Cain, a re-telling of the murderous sibling rivalry in the book of Genesis; Smith will produce with wife Jada Pinkett Smith, James Lassiter, and Ken Stovitz under his Overbrook Entertainment banner. Deadline reports that the script from Caleeb Pinkett and Dan Knauf (Carnivàle) has a “vampiric twist”, though the nature of the revision is unspecified. There is no studio or director on board, but with Smith reporting to the Men in Black III production in August, there is ample time to position Cain as his follow-up effort. More after the jump:

We have made plenty of “What Will Smith Might Do Next” lists over the last year, but no iteration has The Legend of Cain on it.

Will Smith last appeared on screen in the 2008 drama Seven Pounds. The next film he officially has on the books is Men in Black III, which hits theaters May 25, 2012. I hope the Fresh Prince drops another curse-free album in that time, but at the very least, we can look forward to “Will Smith: Producer.” His Overbrook Entertainment produced this summer’s Karate Kid remake as a vehicle for son Jaden, and Smith is currently developing a feature with James Lassiter and Kevin Stovitz based on the life of Dr. S. Allen Counter, “modern-day explorer and African-American neuroscience professor.” He must have an awesome business card. More after the jump:

Here’s a richer bio of Counter courtesy of Variety:

“Counter began his research on indigenous peoples in the 1970s in Surinam on the rain forest descendants of 17th and 18th century African slaves. Along with David Evans, he produced...

At Sony’s 2009 ShoWest presentation, Rory Bruer (the President of Sony Worldwide Distribution) announced they were developing another Men in Black movie and he mentioned the year 2011. It looks like the plan is coming together, as Showbiz411 is reporting Will Smith has officially signed on to director Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black 3D and Tommy Lee Jones will be back as Agent K.

With Sony not having any big tentpole releases in either May or June 2011 as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4 got shelved, it would make sense to get an already established franchise into next summer’s schedule. And even though May 2011 is busy with Marvel’s Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Hangover 2 and Mission Impossible IV, having Will Smith in your movie is as close to a sure bet as any actor in Hollywood.

More after the jump:

The big news about Will Smith...

It looks like Will Smith has narrowed his many possible projects down to The City That Sailed or Men in Black 3. After over a year of speculation, Variety reports that the actor will likely make one of the projects his next feature. While, the plot of Mib 3 is unknown, we all know what kind of movie it will be: sci-fi action-adventure. But The City that Sailed is an adventure-fantasy we first reported on back in July of last year. Here’s what I wrote about back then:

Written by Andrew Niccol, the story follows a New York City street magician whose daughter, because of family circumstances (read: Daddy likes the whores), lives in England. In exploring a lighthouse one day, the girl discovers a room with magic candles and wishes to be reunited with her father, causing the island of Manhattan to break away and drift across the Atlantic, the...

Latino Review reports that Alfred Hitchock’s Suspicion is getting remade with Will Smith attached to star and produce. I agree with scooper “Pinche Taco” when it comes to Hitchcock: he can be imitated, but never remade…-ed. For those who don’t know, Hitchcock’s 1941 film starred Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine and was about a woman (Fontaine) who marries a man (Grant) whom she eventually suspects is trying to kill her. Hitchcock’s film had a compromised ending where the studio demanded a “happy” conclusion. While I’m not crazy about remaking any Hitchcock movie (Disturbia is the best yet simply because it’s not terrible), Suspicion is not among the director’s best and there’s room to do a fresh take (which would be a re-adaptation of the source material, Francis Iles’ 1932 novel Before the Fact).

Smith would play the Grant role and I support it...