Although the team up of director Bryan Singer and writer Bryan Fuller managed to bring The Munsters back to life in this year’s Halloween special Mockingbird Lane, the potential series didn’t spark with the network.  Starring Jerry O’Connell, Portia de Rossi, Eddie Izzard, Charity Wakefield and Mason Cook, the show featured the exploits of an abnormal family and their attempts to fit in (or not) to everyday society.  Mockingbird Lane was done with Fuller’s usual flair, as Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls fans can attest to, but like those projects, this one is also dead.  Hit the jump to read what Fuller said about Mockingbird Lane, along with the first few minutes of the TV special.

By now you may have heard that NBC has a grave outlook for Bryan Fuller’s Munsters re-imagined series, Mockingbird Lane.  Luckily, fans of the Pushing Daisies creator (and the morbidly curious) will get to see the series pilot repurposed as a holiday special later this month.  You’ll get to see Jerry O’Connell as Herman Munster, Portia de Rossi as Lily Munster, and Eddie Izzard as the vampire Grandpa (or “D” as they’re calling him), along with Mason Cook as Eddie Munster and Charity Wakefield as Marilyn in the Bryan Singer-directed pilot/Halloween special on October 26th.  But you can check out new images of the cast now after the jump.

[Update: The first trailer for the pilot has been released and is now included after the jump.]

In a special, one-night-only movie event, taking place on May 5^th, Syfy is airing the four-hour re-imagining of the classic tale, Treasure Island, featuring an all-star cast led by Eddie Izzard (as Long John Silver), Elijah Wood (as Ben Gunn) and Donald Sutherland (as Flint). In this version, directed by Steve Barron and written by Stewart Harcourt, Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling adventure story about fantastical treasure, youthful courage and murderous greed has a fresh, new feel. The film also stars Toby Regbo, Rupert Penry-Jones, Shirley Henderson and Nina Sosanya.

During this recent interview to promote the film’s premiere, actor Eddie Izzard talked about how he got involved with this project, his inspiration for Long John Silver and how he made the role his own, finding the unique look for the character, the high and low moments during shooting, working with a real parrot, and that they’re already talking about doing another film. He also talked about being a big fan of science fiction and the imagination, his desire to continue doing dramatic work, and being offered a role in the Munsters reboot, Mockingbird Lane, from creator Bryan Fuller and with a pilot directed by Bryan Singer. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Though Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) is still very much working on getting Mockingbird Lane, the series reboot of The Munsters, off the ground for next season, the production of the pilot was pushed from spring to summer to allow production partners to focus on improving the show’s creative aspects. The delay might pay off as EW has learned that stellar British comedian and The Riches star Eddie Izzard is being lined up to take on the role of the old vampire and shape-shifting grandfather in the pilot from director Bryan Singer.

In addition, Izzard will also have a producers credit on the show, and having his comedic sensibilities on the program can only help. Izzard has been long overdue for some primetime exposure after a great turn on the sadly cancelled FX series The Riches, not to mention some great supporting turns in films like Ocean’s 12 and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. For a taste of his comedic stylings hit the jump for a great bit about James Bond’s gadgets.

With Cars 2 now in theaters, Disney recently held a press junket in Hollywood and I spoke with the cast and director John Lasseter (which you can watch here).  During my interview with Eddie Izzard and Owen Wilson, they talked about everything from karaoke to the recording process.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.

Cars 2 is the rare Pixar film that feels like a mess. So many times, you wonder how they are going to balance the different aspects of their next summer hit, but by the time the credits roll you no longer question it. With Pixar’s latest, I still had trouble deciding why they would go in so many various directions all at once. The core audience is going to have a blast, there is little doubt. If you have a young boy, and you collect those little cars, you have a lot more to deal with and it will be shoved down your throat starting with this gorgeous, often funny package. But these days, I expect more from Pixar. My review after the jump.

Last night, we reported that Ian McShane had been cast as the leader of the dwarfs in Universal’s Snow White project, Snow White and the Huntsman. Tonight, it looks as if the actor is getting some company as Heat Vision reports that Eddie Izzard (Valkyrie), Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), and Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger) are in final negotiations to join McShane’s gang of dwarfs. Per the report, Izzard will play the burliest dwarf Tiberius, Hoskins will a blind dwarf named Constantine, and Jones will make a turn as the timid dwarf Claudius. The trio will join a cast that already includes Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, and Kristen Stewart.

In addition to Izzard, Hoskins, and Jones, the report also mentions that Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes) and Steven Graham are currently in talks to play warriors in the pic. Directed by Rupert Sanders, Snow White and the Huntsman features princess Snow White (Stewart) attempting to escape the grasp of her evil stepmother (Theron) with the help of a huntsman (Hemsworth) who trains her to survive. Evan Spiliotopoulos is currently touching up a script by Evan Daugherty. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on June 1st, 2012.

Along with confirmation of our story from earlier today that Elijah Wood will appear in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, we’ve received a press release announcing that Wood will also star in the miniseries adaptation of Treasure Island. The 2-part/4-hour miniseries is being directed by Steve Barron (Merlin) and will air on SKY TV in the UK. Wood will play Ben Gunn in the adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic adventure tale, which also stars Eddie Izzard. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

Though last weekend’s Emmys didn’t give much praise to 30 Rock, fans have plenty to be pleased with for this coming season of the NBC’s comedy series. On the red carpet before the Emmys, series star and writer Tina Fey revealed to EW that Jon Hamm will make an appearance on the previously announced live broadcast episode of season five.  Fey also threw out another season guest star: Paul Gamatti.  Appearing in the second episode of the season, he’ll play a grouchy, Staten Island native who works in a cavernous editing room.  The guest stars of 30 Rock have become one of my favorite bits on the series, and as long as they keep them coming like this, then we’ll all be happy.

After the jump check out casting news for Showtime’s United States of Tara and their new forthcoming series Shameless.

When the Oscars are finally handed out tomorrow night, Lee Daniels’ Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire will probably lose out to that band of blue horse cats or Bigelow’s bomb squad, but at the Independent Spirit Awards it pretty much rode to a complete sweep.

At Friday night’s ceremony hosted by comedian Eddie Izzard, Precious won five awards, including best feature, best lead actress for Gabourey Sidibe, best supporting actress for Mo’Nique, best director for Daniels and best first screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher, all well deserved in this movie buff’s opinion. The only one likely to prevail on Sunday night is Mo’Nique, but we tune in to find out, right?

In other big categories, Oscar favorite Jeff Bridges took the best actor prize for his work as Bad Blake in Crazy Heart, and Woody Harrelson, who had a rather amazing year, took the best supporting actor prize for The Messenger. Hit the jump to hear what the winners had to say and to see a full list of the prizes handed out.

Tom Cruise spent twenty years on top. Or almost. From 1986′s Top Gun through to 2005′s Mission: Impossible III, the man was one of the world’s most bankable stars. Then he married Katie Holmes, and it ruined him. That or the couch jumping. Or the scientology. Or the seriousness. Or the fact that he was on top for so long, but came across as awkward and self-serious, and all those bad movies like MI:2 caught up with him, or something.

Maybe he pissed off Steven Spielberg – who was supposedly not amused that TC hurt the War of the Worlds box office with his schtick – but he left Paramount, which had been his home since Top Gun (he worked elsewhere, but they were his base). Ben Stiller helped him by giving Cruise a show-stopping cameo in Tropic Thunder. And though Valkyrie was looking to be a disaster when it moved from an October to February release date. But MGM did a smart thing and put it out in Oscar season. Sure, the film was never meant to be a contender, but it had the pedigree. And so the film did a little over $80 domestic, and a bit more than that internationally. Strange that this might be considered a comeback. But the film attempted to marginalize its star, and surround him with talents.