‘Twilight’, Kiefer Sutherland and the ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ all in Everyday Hero headlines

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Today’s edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe ...

‘Twilight’ heartbreak: Remember the stories about the record labels that rejected the Beatles? Or how the makers of M&M’s passed on product-placement opportunity in ‘E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,’ allowing Reese’s Pieces a dream opportunity? Now here’s the tale of the Hollywood executive who thought that ‘Twilight’ sounded like a lame idea for a movie, brought to you by blogger Patrick Goldstein: ‘Long before ‘Twilight’ hit the bookstores in 2005, MTV Films chief David Gale had read the novel in manuscript form and optioned the movie rights. MTV was always looking for teen-friendly film properties and Gale felt the book had a great mix of genre elements -- notably the vampire angle -- and a surprisingly sweet take on teen romance. ‘This is one of those projects we were especially passionate about,’ says Gale, who now is an exec VP of new media at MTV. ‘We put a writer [Mark Lord] on the project, who did a couple of drafts. We never got the script where we wanted it, but when it came time to renew the option, we needed Paramount’s approval and, for whatever reasons, we couldn’t get a commitment, so the project went into turnaround. I’m disappointed that we didn’t end up making the picture, but I’m thrilled that someone saw it through and that it’s turned out to be such a big event.’ As is often the case when a studio lets a hit slip through its hands, no one wants to take the blame. Gale would not say who at [MTV parent] Paramount refused to renew the option. But I spoke to three ex-Paramount executives who all pointed the finger at Brad Weston, now the studio’s production chief ... MTV executives who were involved with the project say Weston questioned the genre’s commercial prospects, telling them to watch ‘Cursed,’ a 2005 teen-oriented werewolf film that he’d made while an executive at Dimension Films that had failed at the box office.’ Ouch! Cursed? Yeah, you got that right. [The Big Picture blog]

More ‘Twilight’ (is there ever enough ‘Twilight’ for you people?): Our very own Denise Martin continues her daily countdown to ‘Twilight’ on our sister blog, Entertainment News & Buzz, and one of the latest postings is a great interview with ‘Twilight’ author Stephenie Meyer. Interesting tidbit in the post is how Meyer butted heads with Robert Pattinson on his version of the vampire Edward: ‘He’d sit there arguing with me telling me I’m wrong about this character. He thinks Edward is a lot more depressed than I do. He thinks Edward is on the point of suicide. I’m like, ‘No! He’s got his family that he loves. He‘s got Carlisle.’ And Rob would go (putting on a British accent), ‘Well, why does he like Carlisle so much? This man changed him into a vampire! What are you thinking?’ [Laughs] There were very intense conversations. But it was hysterical after the fact. I was worried though. I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s going to go in there and play Edward like Edward the Emo. Nooooooooo.’ But he didn’t! And it’s exactly what I wanted to see. It was crazy, but he got it. It’s on the screen and that’s all that matters.’ [Entertainment News & Buzz blog]

And MORE ‘Twilight’: A photo gallery from the premiere in Westwood.

Bea Arthur and the wookies: I read the Los Angeles Times last Sunday and I was deeply jealous of a piece written by a freelance writer named Donald Liebenson who apparently didn’t get the memo that I am supposed to be the paper’s go-to geek. The article that treads on my beloved turf is a wonderful history of the excruciatingly bad ‘Star Wars Holiday Special,’ which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The plot of ‘TSWHS’ plays like a demented ‘SCTV’ sketch: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Han Solo and Chewbacca are racing to Kashyyyk, Chewie’s home planet, in time for them to be with Chewie’s family for the annual Life Day celebration. Chewie’s wife, Malla, his son, Lumpy, and his father, Itchy, anxiously await his arrival, while Imperial Stormtroopers, under direction from Darth Vader, exhibit very un-Life Day behavior, ransacking homes, imposing curfews and shutting down the cantina. But here’s where it gets weird. Mixed in with all the principals from the original ‘Star Wars’ movie are Bea Arthur singing a Brechtian tune in the cantina; Diahann Carroll entrancing Lumpy as his virtual reality fantasy; and Harvey Korman cooking up an alien Julia Child impersonation. This is what OMG looked like in 1978.’ Genius piece, be sure to read the whole thing. [Los Angeles Times] ... If you want to see a YouTube snippet of the show, you can find it at the end of this post.

My reaction? Meh: When it comes to new words in the dictionary, meh.Yes, that’s right, ‘meh,’ the most overused fanboy expression consisting of three letters or less is now enjoying some newfound legitimacy. Here’s an excerpt from the wire story: ‘The expression of indifference or boredom has gained a place in the Collins English Dictionary after generating a surprising amount of enthusiasm among lexicographers. Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday the word had been chosen from terms suggested by the public for inclusion in the dictionary’s 30th anniversary edition, to be published next year. The origins of ‘meh’ are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of ‘The Simpsons’ in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa. ‘They both just reply ‘meh’ and keep watching TV,’ said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries. The dictionary defines ‘meh’ as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include ‘the Canadian election was so meh.’ The dictionary’s compilers said the word originated in North America, spread through the Internet and was now entering British spoken English.’ [Associated Press]

Jack Bauer, doing time: The new season of ‘24’ begins on Nov. 24 and poor Kiefer Sutherland is going to have to recount his time in lock-up for every journalist who outs a microphone in front of him. Oh, look, here’s one now, from the People website, which got an excerpt from an upcoming magazine interview not yet online: ‘’There’s no smoking,’ Sutherland, 41, tells Men’s Vogue in its December/January issue, which hits newsstands Nov. 25. ‘The lights never go out, 24/7. You can’t cover anything. You can’t even put your head under a blanket. All the cells have cameras in them.’ Although Sutherland has resumed smoking, the knowledge that he could go 48 days without his Camels is a comforting thought. ‘My drinking was not a daily thing, so it wasn’t an issue. And, oddly enough, neither was the smoking,’’ he tells the magazine, adding, ‘I was very glad to know that I could quit. And one day soon I will.’ One thing that didn’t work out, he says, was the roommate situation. ‘I was told, you know, ‘You’ll have your own cell.’ But I didn’t for the first two or three weeks; I had a cell mate,’ he says. ‘He got out –- but not for long. He came back in pretty quick.’’ Here’s hoping that Sutherland, who did seven weeks for a DUI charge, doesn’t run into that roomie again. [People]

-- Geoff Boucher

‘Twilight’ photo courtesy of Summit Pictures. ‘The Simpsons’ image courtesy of Fox. ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ image from vintage Lucasfilm press materials.

Here’s that ‘Star Wars Holiday Special’ snippet...