Joel McHale will play a con man in multi-episode story arc on “Sons of Anarchy“: “McHale joins the gritty FX drama as Warren, a handsome con man who picks the wrong person to double-cross. Additional details surrounding his role are being kept under wraps, but we can confirm that he’ll be working closely with ‘Sons’ matriarch Katey Sagal. This guest spot reunites McHale with Sagal and ‘SOA’ creator Kurt Sutter, who both dropped by the actor’s other series, E!’s ‘The Soup,’ last November.” TV LINE
Oscar-winner Celeste Holm dies at age 95: “Celeste Holm, a musical comedy star who also showed a flair for dramatic work and won an Academy Award for her sympathetic role in ‘Gentleman’s Agreement,’ Elia Kazan’s landmark 1947 film exploring anti-Semitism, died July 15 at her home in New York City. She was 95. Her death was confirmed by a great-niece, Amy Phillips, who said Ms. Holm had suffered in recent weeks from dehydration. Her illness did not appear to be related to a fire that broke out in her apartment building last month, Phillips said.” WASHINGTON POST
Venice Film Festival announces its jury: “The Venice Film Festival has announced the artists who will make up the competition jury under president Michael Mann for the 69th running of the event. They are: Serbian artist and performer Marina Abromovic, the recipient of a 1997 Golden Lion; French actress and model Laetitia Casta; Hong Kong producer and director Peter Ho-Sun Chan; Israeli director and screenwriter Ari Folman, whose ‘Waltz With Bashir’ was nominated for an Oscar in 2008; Franco/Swiss helmer Ursula Meier, the winner of a Silver Bear in Berlin this year for ‘Sister’; British actress Samantha Morton, a two-time Oscar nominee, Argentine director and producer Pablo Trapero, whose ‘White Elephant’ was an Un Certain Regard title at Cannes this year and two-time Cannes Grand Prix winner, Italy’s Matteo Garrone. The festival runs Aug 29-Sept 8.” DEADLINE
John Cusack or Matthew Broderick might have been the star of “Breaking Bad“: “But the suits had trouble envisioning Fox’s suburban dad as their star and threw out film-star names including John Cusack and Matthew Broderick (both passed). ‘We all still had the image of Bryan shaving his body in “Malcolm in the Middle.” We were like, “Really? Isn’t there anybody else?”‘ recalls one former exec whose mind was changed when he saw the ‘X-Files’ episode [Vince Gilligan] urged each of them to watch, in which [Bryan Cranston] plays a desperate man suffering from radiation exposure. ‘That was a tricky part to cast on “X-Files,”‘ says Gilligan. ‘We needed somebody who could be dramatic and scary yet have an underlying humanity so when he dies, you felt sorry for him. Bryan nailed it.'” HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
No Doubt debuts their first new music in almost a decade: “It’s been almost a decade since No Doubt released a single, and even longer since they gave us an album. That all ends now! The Gwen Stefani-led Orange County band is releasing their comeback album ‘Push and Shove’ on Sept. 25, and today they debuted their LP’s first single, ‘Settle Down.’ And it’s good! Check out the reggae-infused, summer-loving No Doubt track below and let us know if you like what you hear.” EW.COM
“American Idol” experiences upheaval with judges’ departure: “Steven Tyler is out. Jennifer Lopez is out. Mariah Carey is in? Randy Jackson, whom you’d assume would step away from the judges’ table only if prompted by a swarm of SWAT team laser-sights dancing across his forehead at the end of a 36-hour standoff involving a Comme des Garçons dynamite vest, a Patek Philippe watch trigger, and a diamond IN IT TO WIN IT pin anchoring a suicide manifesto to his lapel, might be stepping away from the judge’s table. The Idolverse is in chaos.” GRANTLAND
