Will Smith Preps '9 to 5' Remake

Aug. 23 -- Move over, Dolly Parton: Will Smith is planning a remake of the hit movie 9 to 5 with an all black cast.

Smith is planning to produce a remake of the 1980 workplace comedy with a trio of black women that may include his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

The original starred Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda as disgruntled secretaries who kidnap their sexist and abusive boss so they can run the office themselves.

We can only assume there will be a hip-hop remake of Parton's hit theme song for the movie. So when you wake up in the morning, stumble to the kitchen, it looks like there may be a new reason to pour yourself a cup of ambition, if we can borrow from Dolly's lyrics.

Woody Allen's Comedic Curse

A lot has been said about Woody Allen.

One rumor he says is absolutely false is that he's a tough director. The filmmaker is known for assembling huge ensemble casts, and keeping details of the story quiet until they arrive on the set.

He says he may be controlling, but he's still pleasant.

"[It's] just total mythology," said Allen. "I mean, people think that I'm a formidable character — nothing could be farther from the truth."

Allen is promoting his new comedy Curse of the Jade Scorpion. He directs and stars as a hapless insurance investigator who is transformed into a thief when he falls under the scorpion's curse. Helen Hunt and Charlize Theron appear in the period comedy, which is set in the 1940s.

Allen says he strives for spontaneity and has maintained the same approach to filmmaking since he started out.

"I'm doing now what I did in 1968 when I first started making films," he said. "I go with the idea that I have at the moment."

Moreover

Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays the kid with the fragile immune system in Bubble Boy, says the people complaining about the new movie are missing the point. He tells The Associated Press the movie makes his character look good because he's "the hero." He says anyone who hurts the boy "gets their share of bad karma in the end." … Do you want to be possessed by the devil? Producers of The Exorcist are in Chicago this week for an open casting call. The ideal candidates are African-American boys between the ages of 12 and 15 … Ellen Burstyn, who starred in the original Exorcist, says she's writing a memoir called Lessons on Becoming Myself. Burstyn may have played the mother of a demonically possessed daughter, but she insists she won't be using a ghost writer.