By Brent Lang
TheWrap

Rex Reed is standing by scathing review of Melissa McCarthy‘s performance in “Identity Thief,” in which he called the plus size actress a “female hippo,” even as a debate over media treatment of the “Bridesmaids” star’s weight has been reignited by a controversial Elle magazine cover.

Bing: Jenny McCarthy slams Rex Reed

McCarthy is pictured on the fashion magazine wearing an over-sized cashmere coat, which some critics have said was used to cover up her curves and is insulting to overweight women. Reed’s blistering New York Observer review was treated as exhibit A in many commentators arguments that the media doesn’t know how to handle confidant women who are not stick-thin.

TheWrap reached out to Reed to get his take on the debate and though he admitted he had not been following the Elle furor, he did not temper his earlier comments.

“All I can say is, I have absolutely nothing personal against Melissa McCarthy, but in my opinion her movies really stink,” Reed wrote via email.

“From Jimmy Coco to Dom DeLuise  to Totie Fields, I have lost entirely too many friends to obesity-related diseases to pretend Ms. McCarthy’s alarming obesity is anything to applaud,” he added.

Like McCarthy, Coco, DeLuise and Fields were all comic actors of generous proportions. Reed’s review made it clear he didn’t find the actress to be in that particular pantheon, although he did call her “tractor-sized.”

Also on The Wrap: Melissa McCarthy Breaks Silence on Controversial Rex Reed Review

“Melissa McCarthy is a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success,” Reed wrote.

In an interview with the New York Times last summer, McCarthy indicated Reed’s words had stung, but she more or less shrugged it off.

“I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate,” she said, without naming Reed by name. ” I just thought, that’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot. I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs.”

Melissa McCarthy Elle Cover Controversy: Magazine Stands by That Coat

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — NBC-Universal employees have been told the recasting of Christian Grey in the company’s film version of the erotic best-seller “Fifty Shades of Grey” will be finalized in the next few weeks.

A company-wide “town hall” on Wednesday covered a variety of subjects but “Fifty Shades” was the inevitable hot topic in the wake of last weekend’s announcement that Charlie Hunnam was dropping out as Christian Grey, according to an NBC-Universal employee who attended the meeting.

The source, who requested anonymity because the meeting was private, also said NBCU officials confirmed “Fifty Shades” will still be released next year and that co-star Dakota Johnson remains committed to her role as Anastasia Steele.

The meeting was held primarily to introduce Jeff Shell, who is taking over as Universal Pictures co-chairman.

By Tim Kenneally
TheWrap

How do you improve on the awesome pile of televised WTF that was Syfy’s “Sharknado“? Duh — add do something about vampires, of course!

And not just any vampires – sea vampires! Which are easily one of the five most awesome varieties of vampires ever.

Bing: What are the other SyFy movies called?

The network that brought the world  the sharks-in-storms epic “Sharknado” revealed its latest original movie, “Beast of the Bering Sea,” on Thursday. The film, due to premiere Nov. 9 at 9 p.m., stars “Sharknado” alum Cassie Scerbo and “Jerry Maguire” actor Jonathan Lipnicki as a pair of siblings who go prospecting for gold and accidentally disturb a colony of blood-sucking amphibious predators (known as sea vampires) in an underwater cave.

“Knots Landing” alum Kevin Dobson also stars in the film, which comes via “Sharknado 2? producers The Asylum.

Also from The Wrap: CNN Reporter’s Sharknado Joke Bombs During White House Briefing

And just to prove that they’re not done with storm-related disaster movies, Syfy also announced the premiere date for another original movie, “Stonados.” In case you couldn’t tell from the totally straightforward title, “Stonados” revolves around a freak weather system that hurls deadly boulders.

“One Tree Hill” vet Paul Johanssen, William B. Davis of “The X Files” fame, and Thea Gill (“Queer as Folk”) star in “Stonados,” which hits the air Nov. 23 at 9 p.m.

‘Sharknado’ Sequel Gets a Name

‘Sharknado’ Stars Walk the Red Carpet at L.A. Live Midnight Screening

‘Sharknado’ Director Dishes on the Sequel, Death-Defying Stunts – and Casting David Bowie

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Muse frontman Matt Bellamy had to be more than just camera-ready for “Muse – Live at Rome Olympic Stadium.” The British rock band’s new concert film was shot in 4K, which meant a whole new level of detail.

“There’s weird things like hair and stuff that you probably would never pay attention to,” Bellamy said. “It’s so much more noticeably sharper that it’s almost unsettling at first.”

“Muse – Live at Rome Olympic Stadium,” directed by Matt Askem, is the first concert film released in the new ultra high definition format. Also called 4K, UHD has a much better resolution than regular HD and is considered the next technological leap in film and television. Thousands of movies have been shot in 4K, but almost all of them have been shrunk down to HD format before being screened. Exceptions include Sony’s 2011 remake of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and Will Smith’s sci-fi adventure “After Earth.”

Fans will get a first look at the Muse film Nov. 5 when it debuts in 20 cities around the globe, before expanding to 700 theaters worldwide the next day in 2K and 4K.

Bellamy said in a phone interview Wednesday from Costa Rica that the band was inspired by U2’s use of then-new technology in the 2008 concert film “U23D,” so they decided to kick up the production values and aim for something a little more grand.

A trailer shows video screens stories tall and pyrotechnics backing the band. Spider cameras crawled over rigging above the crowd during the July concert, and a pair of actors contributed abstract theatrical interpretations of some of the songs.

Even so, Bellamy said when he saw the movie, his eyes often drifted away from the action on stage to the vivid details elsewhere. “You see the sort of big panning (shot) across the audience and your eyes are drawn to the details of so many people’s heads and what they’re wearing,” Bellamy said.

The release of the film and the conclusion next month of a long world tour leaves Muse, which also includes bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard, at something of a crossroads with no concrete plans at the end of a six-album record deal.

“Early next year I think we’ll probably take a break for a few months and at some point next year we’ll start writing new music,” Bellamy said. “I think if everyone is up for it, we’ll start recording music sometime next year.”

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Online:

http://film.muse.mu

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Follow AP Music Writer: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott

WENN

The stepson of movie veteran Mickey Rooney has declared bankruptcy after settling allegations of elder dispute by confessing he owes the actor $2.8 million (£1.87 million). The “Babes on Broadway” star was placed under the conservatorship of his lawyer, Michael Augustine, in 2011 after expressing fears for his safety.

Bing: Mickey Rooney’s screen career

Rooney claimed his stepson Christopher Aber and his wife, Christina, had attempted to convince the actor to sign over control of his assets. Rooney accused the pair of abusing him emotionally and financially and alleged Aber even planned to sell off his 1983 honorary Oscar statuette for his own financial gain. It was subsequently revealed the 93-year-old, who testified before Congress about elderly abuse, was missing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his bank accounts.

Aber has since reached a $2.8 million settlement deal with attorney Augustine but claims he has no funds to pay back the money. So, he and his wife have declared themselves broke. Rooney’s conservators are now looking to sue the couple’s homeowners’ insurance policy holders to obtain the cash, reports TMZ.com.

LONDON (AP) — Judi Dench has been serenaded by firefighters as she arrived for the London premiere of her latest film.

Dench walked the red carpet in Leicester Square Wednesday for the London Film Festival screening of “Philomena.”

The movie tells the true story of Irishwoman Philomena Lee’s quest to track down the son she was forced to give up for adoption 50 years earlier.

Bing: More about Judi Dench

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Veteran character actor Ed Lauter, whose long, angular face and stern bearing made him an instantly recognizable figure in scores of movies and TV shows during a career that stretched across five decades, died Wednesday. He was 74.

Lauter died of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer most commonly caused by asbestos exposure, said his publicist, Edward Lozzi.

Whether he was an irascible authority figure, a brutal thug or a conniving con man, Lauter’s presence made him all but impossible to miss in any film he was in. That was so even on those occasions when he was playing a character more bumbling than menacing, although menacing was clearly his forte.

He was the brutal prison guard who was Burt Reynolds’ nemesis in the 1974 comedy-drama “The Longest Yard” and the sleazy gas station attendant in Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, “The Family Plot.” In “Death Wish 3,” he was the violent cop who teams with Charles Bronson’s vigilante to rid New York City’s streets of criminals, not by incarcerating them but by killing them.

More recently he was the butler to Berenice Bejo’s French ingenue in the 2011 Oscar-winning film “The Artist.”

Lauter described himself in a 2010 interview with Cinema Shock magazine as a “turn” actor, someone who shows up at some point in the film and suddenly turns the plot in a different direction.

He credited the cast of real-life characters he grew up observing in his native Long Beach, N.Y., as inspiring many of the characters he would go on to portray.

He laughed at being someone frequently recognized in public for his roles.

“But sometimes people don’t know my name,” he said. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, yeah! There’s that guy! You were in … you were in … “

He was in “Trouble With the Curve” in 2011 with Clint Eastwood and in “Born on the Fourth of July” with Tom Cruise. He was also in “The New Centurions” with George C. Scott and in “My Blue Heaven,” ”Revenge of the Nerds 2″ and “Not Another Teenage Movie,” among many other films.

TV appearances included “The Office,” ”ER,” ”Murder, She Wrote” and “The Rockford Files.”

Among his favorite roles, he said in 2010, was “The Longest Yard.”

He recalled that director Robert Aldrich told him he didn’t have to read for the part but would have to accompany Aldrich to a nearby park so the director could ensure that he could throw a football like a quarterback would. When he hit former NFL receiver Pat Studstill, who was a stuntman in the movie, right in his jersey number with the first pass, Lauter said Aldrich told him he had the job.

Lauter, who continued to work until a few months ago, had completed roles in several films still to be released.

He is survived his wife, Mia, and four children.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Woody Allen has given his next film a name.

Continuing his European intrigue, “Magic in the Moonlight” is set in southern France and stars Colin Firth, Emma Stone, Eileen Atkins, Marcia Gay Harden, Hamish Linklater, Simon McBurney and Jacki Weaver. Co-stars include Erica Leerhsen, Catherine McCormack, Paul Ritter and Jeremy Shamos.

The Gravier Productions film is being produced by Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum. They’ve worked on a number of Allen’s films, from his latest “Blue Jasmine” to 2001’s “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.”

Allen has delivered a full-length feature every year since 1982. “Magic in the Moonlight” marks his 47th time in the director’s chair and his first time casting both Firth and Stone.

The film has already begun production and is tentatively set to release in 2014.

WENN

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is selling off a signed “Halloween” movie mask after realizing the item is a treasure for fans of the horror franchise.

Curtis was only 19 when she played Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s classic film and she still has a lot of keepsakes from the set, including four masks worn by killer Michael Myers. Now one of them is going under the hammer to help the actress raise money for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Bing: Jamie Lee Curtis blasts Seth MacFarlane song

The sale began on Charitybuzz.com on Tuesday and will run until Halloween.

Curtis tells EW.com, “I had this epiphany about a year ago after I realized that the people that love horror films love them with a fervor that I maybe don’t even understand. I realized that there’s a way to monetize my fame and to try to connect it to something that can raise money for charity.

“I’m not someone who hoards things, but I realized that I have a few things that are potentially very valuable. And the first thing I have are these masks. The second thing I have are the actual clapboards for syncing the film that are at the beginning of every shot in a movie. And I have every one of them from every movie, including the original ‘Halloween’ clapboard. This mask is actually signed by as many people as I could get to, so I would be hard-pressed to imagine anyone has anything with those signatures on it. … This mask has a group of signatures that would be very hard to replicate, and I’ve numbered them. There are five masks, and this is number one of five that is going up for auction.”

By Greg Gilman
TheWrap

A stuntman working on the U.K. set of David Ayer’s World War II tank drama “Fury” was accidentally stabbed in the shoulder on Tuesday and airlifted to a nearby hospital.

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The 35-year-old professional was injured by a bayonet in what a representative from the film’s production company described as “an accident between two professional stuntmen,” according to The Oxford Times.

“There has been an accident between two professional stuntmen which happened in a rehearsed action sequence,” the rep said in a statement. “It was an accident. It is obviously very unfortunate. He left the set laughing and talking.”

Also on TheWrap:  ‘End of Watch’ Director David Ayer at Comic-Con: ‘Hollywood Has Lost Its Way’

The production company did not yet respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Filming in England’s Oxfordshire countryside continued after the injured crew member was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña and Jon Bernthal star as U.S. soliders commanding a tank behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany.

Also on TheWrap: Brad Pitt Gets Tanked With Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman in ‘Fury’