The new ABC drama series Nashville, premiering on October 10^th, tells the story of music legend and entertainment icon Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton), who has been one of the industry’s top female vocalists for two decades.  Now, she is forced to compete with the new generation of talent lighting up the charts, putting her in direct contention with the sexy and sassy Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere), currently the hottest act in country music.  With a pilot written by Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise), the show also stars Powers Boothe, Eric Close, Jonathan Jackson and Robert Wisdom.

While at the ABC portion of the TCA Press Tour, co-stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere talked about what it’s like to do all of their own singing, mastering the archetype of the Southern woman, how this show compares to their previous television experiences, what inspired their performances, portraying the generational divide, and whether they’re fans of country music themselves.  Check out what they had to say after the jump.

Over the Wall, a racing thriller written by debut director Steven Christopher Young has landed two new cast members. Hayden Panettiere (Heroes) and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) will join Nick Stahl (Sin City) and Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror) in the love story set in the world of stock car racing. The plot follows the characters as they get past the turmoil of a tragic event.

Alona Tal (Supernatural) and Natalie Martinez (Death Race) will star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Broken City. The Allen Hughes picture follows an ex-cop private eye (Wahlberg) who is investigating a murder while a mayoral candidate (Russell Crowe) is embroiled in an election scandal. The film also stars Catherine Zeta-Jones. Hit the jump for more on both projects.

Working Title is doing its very best to secure an A-list cast for the upcoming Les Miserables adaptation, leading with Hugh Jackman as Valjean.  It’s On The Grid reported last week the studio is courting Russell Crowe for Javert, Geoffrey Rush for Thenardier, and Helena Bonham Carter for Madame Thenardier, respectively.  The site also identified Hayden Panettiere, Miranda Cosgrove, Lucy Hale, and Emma Watson as candidates to play Eponine and Cosette, and suggested Amy Adams and Rebecca Hall were up for the role of Fantine.  Make of all that what you will.  Sorry to do this so soon, but I have to make it more complicated.  Broadway World [via The Playlist] hears Anne Hathaway is set to play Fantine, at the recommendation of Jackman.

Hathaway meets the aforementioned A-list requirement, and she sure can sing.  Of course she’s on the list.  It remains to be seen if the rumor will lead anywhere, but it is believable that the role is Hathaway’s if she wants it.  Director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) is scheduled to shoot Les Miserables early next year, so we should receive a final cast list before the end of the year.  Read the synopsis of the Victor Hugo novel that led to the source musical after the jump. [Update: Entertainment Weekly confirms that Hathaway is in talks to play Fantine.]

Hoodwinked Too! Hood Vs. Evil comes out during a time when unoffensive animated films just aren’t good enough anymore. For the film watcher, this is a great time with the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks upping the ante, with a few dark horses here and there and some old mainstays like Disney still staking a claim. Unfortunately, Hoodwinked Too isn’t a shining example of the current times. Instead, a bizarre plot, uninspired animation, and worst of all, a lack of more than a handful of laughs keep this sequel from pushing the genre forward. The shame is that there is some quality work done by some of the voice cast, but the rest of the film falls flat around them. Hit the jump for the full review.

The Scream franchise is a series of horror movies whose greatest asset has never been horror.  They provide the occasional jump scare, but the strength of the series lies in crafting a critique of the slasher genre, audiences (Scream 2), and Hollywood (Scream 3).  The first Scream did the best job in balancing scares with satire, but eventually the series devolved into ninety minutes of misdirection finished by a twenty minute speech where the killer explains his or her motivations.  In between the movie gropes at subtext, but rarely in a coherent way that’s clever or rewarding.  Scream 4 carries on this sad tradition but adds a heavy dose of resentment to the proceedings as it bitterly attacks everyone who left the snarky franchise behind.

Scream 4 premiered this week at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, and  returning cast members Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette were there to celebrate their 15 years with the successful horror film franchise, helmed by horror master Wes Craven.

Joining the film’s original cast was a who’s who of young Hollywood, including Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, True Blood star Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Community’s Alison Brie, Friday Night Lights star Aimee Teegarden, Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hall, 90210 star Shenae Grimes, Britt Robertson (in the upcoming CW series Secret Circle), Marley Shelton, Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson, Rory Culkin and Nico Tortorella, all of whom appear in the film. Along with the film’s cast, other celebs on the carpet were director Eli Roth, who was accompanied by rocker Marilyn Manson, Freddie Highmore (who co-stars with Emma Roberts in Homework), Jamie Kennedy, Jesse Metcalfe, Seth Green, original Scream star Matthew Lillard, guitarist Pete Wentz and director Robert Rodriguez. Check out all of the exclusive photos after the jump.

While reuniting original cast members Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Scream 4 also brings in a whole new cast of possible victims and sets the stage for further installments of the highly successful horror franchise. In the 11 years since Scream 3 was released, and with 15 years having passed since the debut of the first film, the world as well as the landscape of horror have changed, and all of that is taken into account while still nodding its head toward its origin. You can watch some clips from Scream 4 here.

At the film’s press day, Scream newcomers Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere talked about what drew them to the franchise, being the new guys on set with the original trio of actors, working on a film that is so secretive, and what scares them in real life. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

Hard to believe that fifteen years ago marked the first appearance of the Ghost Face killer slashing his way onto movie screens. Wes Craven’s Scream 4 will be the first installment of the franchise in ten years and we have bloody new TV spots and stills to share with you. While the trailer promises the return of some of Woodsboro’s most familiar faces, you can rest assured that Scream 4 will feature barely clothed hot girls doing stupid things and Ghost Face getting his stab on. We get older, they stay the same age. Hit the jump to check it out.

Dimension has released four new images from Wes Craven’s Scream 4.  You can check out the images after the jump.  The film stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox Arquette, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, and Hayden Panettiere.  Scream 4 opens April 15th.

The Lifetime Television original movie Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy explores whether Amanda Knox (Hayden Panettiere), the Seattle honors student accused of murdering her college roommate Meredith Kercher (Amanda Fernando Stevens) in 2007, with her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito (Paolo Romio) and acquaintance Rudy Guede (Djirbi Kebe), actually committed the crime or was herself a victim. Referred to as “Foxy Knoxy” by her Italian prosecutor, Guiliani Mignini (Vincent Riotta), and the press, Amanda was painted as an oversexed, remorseless killer during the two-year trial leading up to her conviction and subsequent sentencing to 26 years in jail. The film is also accompanied by an hour-long documentary, called Beyond the Headlines: Amanda Knox, featuring Amanda’s mother and father, as well as friends, investigators, prosecutors and legal scholars, as it takes viewers inside the Italian justice system to reveal what it’s like to be a foreigner who is locked up and convicted in another country.

During a recent conference call to promote the film’s premiere, actress Hayden Panettiere talked about what interested her in this project, her preparation to play the real-life Amanda Knox, what she thinks about the reaction the family has had to the film, why she never got a chance to actually meet Amanda and why she was so intrigued by the controversy surrounding the case. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

After already releasing two bland posters, Dimension is taking another run at their Scream 4 marketing by high-lighting Ghostface and his killer chin.  If the whole movie has Ghostface running around chin-stabbing his victims, I will declare Scream 4 as the best movie in the franchise.  Anything less will be a disappointment.

Hit the jump to check out the poster.  Directed by Wes Craven, Scream 4 stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox Arquette, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, and Hayden Panettiere.  The film opens April 15th. [Update: We've updated the article with a larger version of the poster.]

Over the years, Lifetime Television has had great success producing original movies, in particular, films inspired by true stories. Amanda Knox: Murder on Trial in Italy, premiering February 21^st, stars Hayden Panettiere as the young woman who was accused and convicted of the crime of murdering her college roommate in Italy, but who many still believe is a victim of injustice.

During a recent interview to promote the film, Hayden Panettiere talked about playing a real-life person, how intense the emotions of this role were, and being true to who Amanda Knox is, regardless of her guilt or innocence. She also talked about her 4-year experience on Heroes, and what it was like to be a part of Scream 4, alongside the original cast members. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), and Nikki Reed (Twilight), have agreed to star in the Bret Easton Ellis scripted Downers Grove. Based on a novel by Michael Hornberg, the story, per the Hollywood Reporter, is about a high school student (Pannetierre) who fears she may be the next victim in a series of murders targeted at graduating seniors. The film, to be directed by Nelson McCormick (who helmed the remake of Prom Night and somehow made it worse than the original), will more than likely feature teenagers in various stages of existential crises who, in an attempt to suppress and quell the emptiness inside, turn to drugs and drinks and sex and extravagant spending and sports and makeup and pills and commercial entertainments and well, anything and everything – as is par for the course with all of Ellis’s writings (see: Less than Zero or The Informers or The Rules of Attraction or Imperial Bedrooms for proof on said matter; and by see – I mean read, as the books are all of superior quality to the movies).

The Scream 4 promotional tour is really kicking off this week.  The Weinstein Co. released the extended trailer, and now we have some brand new high resolution pics from the Wes Craven-helmed flick which stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, and Hayden Panettiere.

For more on Scream 4 and horror legend Wes Craven, be sure to check out Steve’s interview with Craven at The Scream Awards.  He said that the sequel “is a lot about looking back at the last ten years of horror and comparing it and contrasting it and having fun with it.”  Hit the jump to see new images of nubile actors being terrorized by Ghostface.

This weekend, a teaser trailer for Wes Craven’s Scream 4 leaked online after premiering at Spike TV’s 201 Scream Awards.  Now an extended version of that teaser trailer has gone online.  The picture quality is much higher, but the trailer itself doesn’t do much more than say, “It’s Scream!  There are different rules but the outcome is still the same!”  So it’s not much of a re-invention of the franchise as much as “We promise this won’t be predictable…unless you’re predicting that teenagers are going to get murdered by Ghostface.  Then your prediction skills are spot on.”  However, I love the joke that closes out the trailer.

Hit the jump to check out the teaser trailer.  The film stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, and Hayden Panettiere.  Scream 4 opens April 15, 2011.