Dirt

Well hello you dirrrty boys and girls. Enjoy the break? I hope so because it’s O-V-E-R. Let’s see what I can do to give you something mindless to play with while ignoring those syllabi.

Press butcher Kutcher

That ’70s star Ashton Kutcher’s new flick The Butterfly Effect was smeared across review pages last week, despite a $17 million No. 1 opening at the box office this weekend. Kutcher fled from interviews at the Sundance Film Festival after the movie was reportedly booed at a screening.

Both reps for Kutcher and New Line, Effect’s distributor, confirmed to MSNBC’s The Scoop that interviews had been cancelled because of Ashton’s hectic schedule. News of bad reviews does not bode well for Kutcher’s future. Last month Hollywood was flooded with reports that Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire director) fired Kutcher from his latest project due to Ashton’s lack of talent. Perhaps Demi Moore could teach him a thing or two.

Gellar holds Grudge

Hollywood princess Sarah Michelle Gellar has signed on to The Grudge, a remake of successful Japanese horror flick Ju-On. Grudge, which will star Gellar as nurse to an old mute woman who has witnessed the horrible deaths of her family members (among them Carnivale’s Clea Duvall) and is literally a fit of anger that consumes its victims and passes along like a virus.

Gellar will star opposite WB hunk Jason Behr (Roswell). Web site Filmjerk.com reports that several principle roles have yet to be cast but the flick is moving full speed ahead via Ghost House Productions. The English-version of the film will be helmed by the original director Takashi Shimizu. Production began last Monday in Tokyo.

Mel facing Hell

Mel Gibson’s brainchild and labor of love, The Passion of Christ, is certainly inciting passion from all fronts. Controversial from the jump-off, Passion will follow the last hours of Christ’s life before crucifixion.

Accused of anti-Semitism (the film allegedly depicts Jews in an unattractive light) no distributor will touch it, leaving Gibson no choice but to put his money where his…money wouldn’t normally go. Mel’s been on a relentless campaign trying to find soft spots in faith communities for his little flick.

International Movie Database reports that Mel will make an appearance on ABC’s Primetime Feb 16, just days before the movie’s Ash Wednesday opening. Outside of press interviews, Mel will have little else to propel butts-in-seats for the film. Besides prayer.

Talk bout…

Didn’t you miss Talk About? Shut up, you know you did. Now, talk about…endings. Friends taped its final episode last week, only a handful of scenes in front of a live audience. Barbara Walters tendered her resignation to 20/20, effective September 2004. The girls on Sex and the City are down to four more episodes. They’re leaving but, Temple, we’ve only just begun. Here’s to a successful (and dirrrty) spring semester.

Matt Donnelly can be reached at mattdonn@temple.edu