Who's in

Moore and more indie movies

Demi Moore has booked back-to-back indie films, says Hollywood Reporter. The actress will join Parker Posey to star in Happy Tears from filmmaker Mitchell Lichtenstein. She will then team with Woody Harrelson and Josh Hartnett for Bunraku.

Tears, written and directed by Teeth's Lichtenstein, follows a woman (Posey) prone to self-aggrandizement who returns to her Wisconsin home to deal with her bitter sister and father. Moore will play the sister who is fed up with dealing with the hateful father who suffers from a rare form of dementia. The film is set to begin shooting this month in Philadelphia.

Bunraku, meanwhile, written and directed by Guy Moshe, follows a man (Hartnett) on a revenge quest who finds himself in an even bigger fight than he bargained for, says The Reporter.

The film is set in an original universe a la Sin City and draws from a mixed bag of genres. Moore is set to play the enslaved concubine of a warlord who is forced to marry her captor. Harrelson plays a bartender.

The shoot is scheduled to take place in Europe.

Running from The Hills

The Hills star Heidi Montag isn't keen on starring in a movie version of the hit reality TV show - because she sees herself suited to an acting role opposite Hollywood superstar Denzel Washington.

Montag states she has never been approached to feature in a big screen reality venture, but insists she wouldn't consider taking a part in the film if rival and co-star Lauren Conrad was narrating the plot.

She tells US website Hollyscoop.com, "I've never discussed a movie possibility for The Hills and I'm not sure if for my first movie I'd let Lauren Conrad narrate me, so I don't think that would be something I would do.

"If I was doing movies, I'd want it to be with Denzel Washington or something like that. If they were to make a Hills movie, I wouldn't be in it. No, thank you."

Ferrell's dot com anniversary

FunnyOrDie.com, the website started by Will Ferrell (pictured) and Adam McKay, is 1 year old. Its biggest star, Pearl, is 3.

The comedy site is celebrating its anniversary with a video posted on Wednesday of its stars wishing Funny or Die a happy birthday. Among the many making cameos: Pearl, McKay's toddler daughter who became a star in her own right in the site's first video: The Landlord, with more than 55 million views.

In just a year, Funny or Die has expanded to become a repository of professional content created by many top comedians, including Judd Apatow, Jack McBrayer (30 Rock) and the comedy troupe Human Giant.

Their videos are mixed with (the less popular) viewer-submitted videos, which can remain on the site if they are rated highly enough.

Pearl isn't coming out of "baby retirement," as was announced at the end of her last video, Good Cop, Baby Cop. McKay says he'd prefer to keep her out of the spotlight, but figured a little birthday wish was harmless enough.

"It's sort of like when a professional boxer fights a professional wrestler," McKay said. "It's not really a sanctioned bout."

McKay, the director of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, never expected the site - which he founded with Ferrell and partner Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital - to take off like it has.

"I always thought we'd be getting a couple hundred thousand hits a month and it'd be a fun thing to screw around with," McKay said.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/18/2008 page18)