Two of Mad Men’s brassiest ladies have just landed new projects:

• Christina Hendricks will play the lead role in Campbell Scott’s (Company Retreat) adaptation of the Joan Didion novel A Book of Common Prayer.

• Elisabeth Moss, Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed), and Ted Danson will star in The One I Love from first time director Charlie McDowell (Fighting Jacob).

Hit the jump for more on each casting announcement.

Let the speculation and online campaigns begin!  Months after HBO decided not to renew comedy series Bored to Death for another season, it appears that the network is mulling over the prospect of a feature film sendoff for the quirky show.  The speculation began when star Ted Danson revealed to a French journalist that there was a good chance of a 90-minute movie happening.  Vulture reached out to HBO for comment, and the network responded that there had “been some conversations” but cautioned, “it’s at a very early stage.”  That is, don’t hold your breath.

Fan outcry (and continued DVD sales) led to an Arrested Development revival as the show is now returning for one more season on Netflix followed by a feature film, and Community fans have rallied early with the “Six Seasons and a Movie” battle cry becoming the show’s unofficial motto.  Whether a Bored to Death movie actually happens or not is still very much in the air, but stranger things have happened.  The final season of the show ended last December.

It’s always a fun treat when a now-famous actor pops up in a small role in an older movie you haven’t re-watched in a while.  We previously posted a “Before They Were Famous” supercut, but now someone has edited together a montage of actors in their very first feature film roles. While you’re most likely aware of the majority of these appearances, I’m willing to bet you’ll find at least a few surprises in this video.  I had no idea Jon Hamm was in Clint Eastwood’s “old guys can be astronauts too” movie Space Cowboys, but I now feel compelled to move the pic to the top of my Netflix queue.

Watch Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen, Emma Thompson, Zach Braff and many more make their feature debut after the jump.

Big Miracle (opening in theaters on February 3^rd) is inspired by the incredible true story of a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle, and how an entire Alaskan community fought to save them, with the help of rival world superpowers. For the film, Ted Danson, who is a real-life advocate for cleans oceans and safe water practices worldwide, took on the role of stanch anti-environment businessman J.W. McGraw, while Dermot Mulroney took the honor of portraying Alaska National Guard commander Col. Scott Boyer, based on real-life hero Tom Carroll.

At the film’s press day, the co-stars talked about how playing characters based on real people inspired their performances, that whale meat doesn’t actually taste like chicken, how they dealt with spending so much time in such cold temperatures, and how impressed they both were with the challenges that director Ken Kwapis took on with this film. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

Universal has released the first trailer for Ken Kwapis’ feel-good whale-rescue movie Big Miracle.  Formerly titled “Everybody Loves Whales” (not a great title, but far more informative than the generic “Big Miracle”), the story is inspired by the true story of a group effort to get three gray whales back to the ocean after they’re trapped under ice from the Arctic Circle.  Combined with Dolphin Tale and Shark Night, it looks like people are ready to care about sea life again.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film stars Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root, and Ted Danson.  Big Miracle opens February 3, 2012.

We just learned about the addition of Jason Sudeikis in a new recurring role on HBO’s hilarious comedy series Eastbound & Down. We now know that some familiar faces will return for the third and possibly final season later this year as well. THR reports that Will Ferrell and Matthew McConaughey will both reprise their respective roles in the series from the first and second season. Ferrell appeared in two episodes as cocky BMW dealership owner Ashley Schaeffer while McConaughey showed up in the second season as openly gay Texas baseball scout Roy McDaniel. The series starts shooting this summer and, if it’s really going to be the final season, I’m sure it’ll go out with the type of bang only Kenny Powers can deliver.

For details on Ted Danson replacing Laurence Fishburne on CSI, hit the jump.

A “red-band” trailer (it’s from the Motion Picture Association of Antigua, Inc.) for the Beastie Boys inspired short Fight For Your Right – Revisited.  The trailer is long on swears and stars but short on laughs.  The story seems to be that the young Beastie Boys (played by Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, and Elijah Wood) meet their future selves (John C. Reilly, Jack Black, and Will Ferrell) and have a dance off, which seems like a fun premise.  But even though the short film also features Will Arnett, Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Ted Danson, Rainn Wilson, and plenty of other famous faces, there aren’t many laughs to be had.  Watching Will Ferrell break out a cowbell or Arnett shout “Come on!” feel like stale attempts at humor.  Hopefully the short comes together better than the trailer.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The 30 minute short will debut alongside the release of the Beastie Boys new album “Hot Sauce Committee Part 2″ on May 3^rd.

Novelist and makeshift private detective Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) is back with his ragtag team of friends and occasional colleagues, cartoonist Ray Hueston (Zach Galifianakis) and magazine editor George Christopher (Ted Danson) for the second season of HBO’s film noir inspired comedy series Bored to Death. While the first season seemed to be more about the bumbling antics of Ames’ moonlighting as an unlicensed private detective and the silliness that came from Ray and George tagging along (with some choice herbs always handy), this season seems to be focusing more on the characters themselves. There’s just as much fun to be had as the first season, but the series stiff suffers from inconsistency in its comedy, and a lack of focus and progression from our main character.

Post-Sopranos (and to a certain extent post-Six Feet Under, The Wire and Deadwood), HBO has been trying to find its signature shows. They’ve had some success with comedy, but though Entourage has been running for a while now, many (like Flight of the Concords, Extras, Eastbound and Down) have had one or two season runs by the nature of their creators. It’ll be interesting to see how long they can go with Bored to Death –it has the potential to go for a while – mostly because both Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis are movie stars. But these days, maybe you can do both TV and movies. My review of the Blu-ray of Bored to Death: Season One after the jump.

Ted Danson (Bored to Death) and Vinessa Shaw (Two Lovers) have joined the cast of Everybody Loves Whales.  The film will tell the story of a reporter (John Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who try to save trapped gray whales under the arctic circle in 1988.  The film will be directed by Ken Kwapis (He’s Just Not That Into You) and is based on Tom Rose’s nonfiction book Freeing the Whales: How the Media Created the World’s Greatest Non-Event.

THR reports that Danson will play “a win-at-all-costs oilman who has no interest in saving the mammals.” Meanwhile, Shaw will play a “White House staffer who wants the government to help the whales.”  Kristen Bell and Tim Blake Nelson were also previously cast in the film which starts shooting this month in Alaska.

HBO has released a brief trailer for the second season of the Jason Schwartzman comedy series Bored To Death. The high concept comedy about a struggling writer’s second life as an unlicensed detective. Hit the jump for the trailers and some thoughts on why this show is worth your time. The new season of Bored To Death is set to debut this September on HBO.

You probably have fond memories of Three Men and a Baby, the 1987 comedy that thrust an infant into the unqualified hands of Tom Selleck, Ted Danson, and Steve Guttenberg.  Are they fond enough that you’d be up for a sequel two decades later?  Disney sure hopes so.  When questioned about a potential third entry in the franchise to follow 1990’s Three Men and a Little Lady, Selleck responded,

“It is true that Disney checked my availability.  And I know they checked Ted’s and Steve’s, and then had a script written, I think tentatively called Three Men and a Bride, which kind of says it all.”

If I recall, Guttenberg mentioned the possibility that “Bride” would be affixed to “Three Men and a . . .” awhile back.  It’s definitely an interesting choice in brand to revisit — as long as they get Leonard Nimoy, who directed the first film, back on board.  Hit the jump for a clip of the interview.

I love it when stuff like this slips underneath my radar because it gives me something new to be excited about.  A new show on HBO staring Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis where Schwartzman plays an amateur private investigator?  Yes, please.  Oh, and it also has Ted Danson.  Yes, Danson’s most recent TV jaunt was in FX’s “Damages”, but I’ve always preferred the guy in comedy, not because of “Cheers” or “Becker” (although I have no problem with those shows), but because of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.  And did I mention that Schwartzman bases his sleuth off the novels of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler?  Way to make September (when the show debuts) feel like an eternity away.

Check out the promo after the jump.