Beck/Smith Hollywood

Paul Marcarelli

Filmmaker and Verizon pitchman Paul Marcarelli  is in talks with an actress he calls “an icon in her own right” to take on the lead in his dark comedy, “Clutter” — about you-know-what. 

 ”On its surface, it’s about the complicated relationships between a compulsive hoarder and her grown children.  But it’s really about the stuff we hang onto that no longer serves us,” Marcarelli says.  He and his producing partner, Molly Pearson, expect to have “Clutter” before the cameras in March.

They have “The Green” in video-on-demand release available in some 55 million homes as of this month, on Amazon.com — and soon, in DVD release.  The film, about a gay drama teacher who is accused of inappropriate conduct with a student, is “the most exciting thing I’ve done in my career,” says Marcarelli.   It’s won a collection of top festival prizes, but even more important to him is the fact, “Wherever we’ve shown it, someone has stood up and said, ‘This reflects my experience.’  I’m not referencing teachers — although we have had quite a few teachers say, ‘This is my worst nightmare.’  But people from different walks of life who say the film reflects an experience in their own lives that they haven’t seen depicted before.”

Marcarelli makes it clear, “It’s definitely fiction, but I think these headlines are sort of common fixtures around the country.  They’re an easy attention grabber that lasts the life of a news cycle and then goes away.   But what happens in the life of someone accused, someone who is innocent?  What kind of toll does it take on them professionally and in their lives at home?”

MEANWHILE:  Marcarelli is generous with his praise for certain other familiar spokesactors.  Like Stephanie Courtney, a.k.a. Flo, the Progressive Insurance girl — “She’s fantastic!”  And Carly Foulkes, T. Mobile’s omnipresent girl in pink?  “A genius,” says Marcarelli.  “I love her.”

So what special something does it take to make a performer just right for the task of becoming the face of a product?  “I don’t know.  Is it lightning striking the right person at the right time?  I consider myself very lucky,” he says.  And he probably has incredibly good phone service?  “Of course I do.  It doesn’t hurt that I believe in this great product I use myself.”  Despite reports to the contrary, he’s still doing his Verizon gig.  “I’m at the ready for them whenever they want me.”

David Giuntioli, Russell Hornsby NBC photo

 The cast and crew on NBC’s “Grimm” have been toiling away on so many 14-16-hour production days, “We’ve had what they’ve labeled ‘Fraterdays’ — with people literally racing home to beat the sun,” reports Russell Hornsby.  “It’s crazy, but the reality is, when you’re working on an ambitious project like ‘Grimm,’ trying to create 43 minute-movies every week, that’s what you expect: long hours.”

 For those who’ve managed not to see the heavily-played “Grimm” promos, this is the show, premiering tonight (10/28), in which David Giuntioli plays a homicide detective who discovers he’s the last of a long line of men and women with the special ability to see horrible monsters walking among us.  And those dark Grimm’s fairy tales were real.  Hornsby is his police partner.

 Hornsby is well aware that his new show is a far cry from his critically-lauded “Lincoln Heights” ABC Family drama that was canceled after four seasons last year. 

“I go from ‘Father Knows Best to Man Friday,’” he quips.  “‘Lincoln Heights’ was great.  I had a wonderful time working on it.  And now I’m playing a police officer again.  I like playing police officers, playing men of authority.  But these two characters are very different.  Instead of a family man with one wife and three children, this guy has been married four times, and who knows where the children may be.  His approach to his work is completely different.  He’s more cynical.  Hank represents the world as you and I know it, who keeps the world solid and real.  I’m sort of there to balance things out, I believe, and keep the fantastical and supernatural elements in their proper context.”

Hornsby’s intrigued by those elements.  He says he enjoys fantasy, counting “The Wizard of Oz” and “Alice In Wonderland” as two of his favorite stories.  The classically trained, Obie Award-winning actor used to pair his rendition of the Cowardly Lion with a Shakespeare piece to show his range on NY theater auditions.

With eight episodes of “Grimm” in the can so far, “I can say honestly that the cast is getting into a groove.  Once you sort of get on that train, you’re good.  The first episode or two, just dealing with the hours is challenging.  But you start to incorporate sleep when you can and adjust your eating habits and exercise, and you’re okay.   It’s a very good show.  The writers and producers (including Sean Hayes and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s” David Greenwalt) think the possibiliteis are limitless as to what the show can be.  Our hope is that NBC gives us a little time, and the audience gives us a little time to find their show groove.  We need audience support.”

Kali Hawk

“Bridesmaids” actress Kali Hawk says she was taken by surprise by the instantaneous success of her hilarious “Black and Jewish” video with “Vampire Diaries’” Katerina Graham this past summer.  “It got a hundred thousand views the first hour it was up on FunnyorDie.  I think a lot of people responded to it for reasons we didn’t expect, and there are a lot more people of this mixed ancestry than we realized,” she says. 

The hit, a takeoff on “Black and Yellow” came naturally to Hawk, whose roots are African American, Native American and German Jewish.  “It was a pleasant surprise.  I got to bring out my Yiddish, go on radio stations and perform Yiddish rap.  My grandmother always spoke Yiddish in the house, which had this great Jewish vibe omnipresent, but I didn’t even realize it.  I didn’t know these words, like, ‘Move your tookis,’ weren’t spoken everywhere.”

 The internet was a vital force early on in her career, too — in a whole different way.  She was working on her music career in New York City, and, impatient with a slow spell, decided to try acting one day because she couldn’t stand inactivity.  She found a casting ad on Craig’s List, answered it and wound up landing a part in Todd Bridges’ 2004 movie, “Issues.”  Craig’s List!  Her Craig’s List movie also brought her to Hollywood, and “before too long, I was thinking, ‘I can do this,’” she recalls.  Of course, her background as a drama major at SUNY Purchase (before she was 16) didn’t hurt.

Now, Hawk has the indie comedy “Let Go” with Ed Asner and David Denman on the festival circuit.  She recently wrapped work on Tyler Perry’s “We The Peeples” with Kerry Washington and Craig Robinson.  And, come Dec. 2, she’ll be seen starring opposite Dane Cook, Julie Benz, Elizabeth Mitchell, Zach Gilford and Barbara Hershey in the thriller “Answers to Nothing.”

“It’s really different for me — a drama after doing comedy after comedy.  My character is a writer who’s struggling with some deeper issues,” she says.  “The stories are intertwined.  It’s a lot like life; it’s never who you think it’s going to be that gives you the lightbulb of truth.  It’s part of the magic of people, how each person is kind of a mirror of us, our outlook and our perspective on things.”

(clockwise from right) Gillian Jacobs, Joel McHale, Chevy Chase, Yvette Nicole Brown, Donald Glover NBC photo

NBC’s off-beat “Community” continues to be an island of freshness and originality in a sea of TV sameness.  It’s beloved by critics and loyal fans alike.  Now, if only they could get anybody else to watch.  The numbers continue to be weak against competition including “The Big Bang Theory” and “The X Factor” (not to mention post-season baseball).  But that’s what a DVR is for, right? 

Still, the mood on the set is positive, according to the show’s Gillian Jacobs.  “We’re very proud of the show we create.  That’s about all we can control in the whole equation, so that’s what we focus on,” she notes. 

 Tonight’s (10/27) Halloween-themed episode, “Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps” is another inventive piece by creator Dan Harmon.  It’s a scary story-telling anthology that “gives you a chance to peek into people’s minds,” as Jacobs sees it.  

“After having two big party episodes back-to-back the last couple of years, it’s important to try and change it up,” adds the actress, who plays billboard vandal-turned-dream girl Britta.  “There’s a great and different structure for this episode that shows character development within the stories.” 

The company is currently shooting its musical Christmas episode, with “Saturday Night Live’s” Taran Killam as Greendale College’s quirky choir director.  The story has the “Community” study group subbing for the school’s glee club — and performing all original songs.  Jacbos says she doesn’t want to give too much away.   

Besides getting the chance to flex her music muscles on the series, the beautiful 29-year-old has been getting in “as much work as possible” in films between “Community” seasons.  She’ll be seen in two high-profile movies next year — “Seeking a Friend At the End of the World” with Steve Carell, Kiera Knightley, Connie Britton and William Peterson.  And “Revenge for Jolly” that boasts a cast including Kristin Wiig and Elijah Wood.

In the first, she plays “a waitress who is high on ecstacy,” she reports.  “She’s not all that far from Britta, but she’s a lot happier.”  In the latter, about a man out to avenge the death of his dog, she plays “a prosititue in a really cheap motel.” 
 What’s with all the lowlife characters?  Isn’t it time for the Juilliard graduate that the New York Times marked as having the glow of a star to play a more elegant role?  A princess or something?  What would she like to do next?

“I’d do that, yes,” she laughs.  “Maybe a princess.”

Nicole Polizzi, better known as Snooki, Tacky Taste Award Winner 2010. Who will win this year?

 Sure, you’re thinking trick or treat, but the fact is, it’s less than a month now until Thanksgiving, which means it’s time for our annual roasting of celebrities who’ve exhibited the tackiest taste this year.   Readers decide this, you may recall, not us.   How far we have come from this contests’s beginnings, when a simple extramarital affair or wardrobe malfunction could be enough to land the prize.  With tacky reality notoriety a way of life, show business celebrities have to work extra hard to out-tacky one another now.  And yet, they do.  So what do you think?  Will Snooki win again?  Or does Susan Sarandon have a chance for calling the pope a Nazi?  Or Hank Williams, Jr., for comparing the President to Hitler?  Or maybe the Kardashians will inspire Kontempt through their Klothes.  Who knows?   Tell us who’s your choice for Tackiest celeb and be sure to include why.  Send emails marked Tacky Taste to Stacy@becksmithhollywood.com.  The results will be posted Thanksgiving week.

Corbin Bernsen

“It’s the 75th anniversary of the all-American Soap Box Derby,” proclaims Corbin Bernsen.  And if the “Psych” actor and independent filmmaker has his way, he’ll be bringing back that once-vastly-popular pasttime of creating and racing non-motorized cars — with his upcoming “25 Hill” feature starring himself and “Dolphin Tale” kid Nathan Gamble.  He’s in the midst of a slew of grassroots activities, working to make it happen.

Already, he’s been on the road fronting screenings and Derby Tour racing events across the land for months.  Now, with Season 6 of “Psych” newly in the can, the one-time “L.A. Law” star says he’ll be going pedal to the metal even more with his promo activities. That will be for most of the next six or seven months, until the movie’s general release.  To say he’s full of passion is an understatement.

“Every weekend I say, ‘What am I doing?’” he confesses.  “But when I did this film in particular — when I found out what had happened to the Derby, that it had collapsed, that kids aren’t making cars anymore…When I met racers and started talking to people, I started realizing, sometimes you just have to follow your heart and you don’t know what it’s for.  There are core values that are intrinsic to the Derby — family, community, team work, sportsmanship, the great things.  These are values that are deteriorating.  I know it sounds simpleton, but I really believe it: our problems are so related to the breakdown of values, values we’ve fought wars for, crossed the country in covered wagons for.  Still, they do exist, that spirit is alive.  I see it.” 

Bernsen wrote, produced and directed “25 Hill.”  He was in meetings with distributors in L.A. last week, insisting, “I just can’t hand it off straight to distribution without being sure it’s going to be properly sold, if you will, for its greatest impact.  ‘Hill’ is taking a lot more effort than a lot of things we’ve done,” he concedes.  “There’ve been a lot of sleepless nights and working my butt off, but you know something?  That’s how change happens — getting out there and doing something.”

MEANWHILE:  Bernsen is psyched about “Psych.”  “The big thing to look forward to this season is the incredible lineup of guest stars,” he says of freewheeling USA Network crime dramedy, in which James Roday plays a fake psychic detective and Dule Hill his longsuffering partner.  And what a list.  Already, Malcolm McDowell has appeared.  Ahead are guestings by Danny Glover, Wayne Brady, Cheech Marin, Molly Ringwald, William Shatner, Greg Grunberg, Cary Elwes, Louis Gossett, Jr., Liza Lapira, Joey McIntyre, Jason Priestley, Wade Boggs, Sara Rue — and more.  This week’s Halloween episode featured big-screen “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Kristy Swanson in a murder mystery that involved a vampire. 

Bersen believes the attraction is, “It’s a really, really fun show to work on.  If you’re an actor, sometimes it’s, ‘Hey, if I’m going to spend 10 days somewhere, I’m going to have a good time.’”

“Walking Dead” leading lady Sarah Wayne Callies doesn’t want to talk about creator Frank Darabont’s unhappy departure from the hit AMC show.  “To be honest, I feel it’s family business and I’m not prepared to discuss it.  It shattered my heart in a thousand pieces when he left,” says the actress, who plays survivor Lori Grimes.

However, she has no problem going on at length about the actors who play the primary men in Lori’s life, her husband, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), and his best friend Shane, (Jon Bernthal).  “We surprise each other, scare each other, feel danger, feel unexpected emotion.  You think you know what a scene is about, and then you get with them and, oh God, you could go in directions you never expected,” gushes Callies.

Asked for an example, she recalls her first scene with Lincoln — the reunion of the couple they portray after their long time apart, during which the apocalypse occurred and she thought he was dead.  “We hadn’t acted together before, and it was a very intimate scene.  I say, ‘When you were in the hospital, I never thought I’d see you again,’ and he silences me.  In one take, he put tabs on my mouth and in one look at his best friend and his wife — he knows.  You could see it in his eyes: he knows, and he doesn’t want her to talk about it.  In another take, he’s oblivious.  In another, he’s angry.  This is the joy of acting — to have someone come in who you can never be 100 per cent sure what they’re going to do.”  As much as she’s pleased by the series’ record-breaking numbers and fan appreciation, “no question about it, my favorite part is the part betwen ‘Action,’ and ‘Cut.’”

Wendi McLendon-Covey, David Spade CBS photo by Ron P. Jaffe

Since the female raunchfest “Bridesmaids” became a runaway hit, can “Bridesmaids 2″ be far behind?  “I know there’s talk of it, and I know people would like to see that,” says funny lady Wendi McLendon-Covey.  “But I think Kristin (Wiig) and Annie (Mumalo), the writers, don’t want to do it just to do it.  They don’t want to grab the money and run.  If they do it, they want it to be amazing.”

As far as imitators now in the works?  “I’m sure there’s a rush to put out all kinds of things,” she says of the coming onslaught of female gross-out humor.  “But something ‘Bridesmaids’ had going for it was the casting.  People have called it the female ‘Hangover,’ but I see it more like the female ‘Swingers,’” she says of the 1996 film with real-life friends Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston and Patrick Van Horn.  “Putting them all together was like a dream situation.  And that’s how I feel ‘Bridesmaids’ was.  It wasn’t all about the disgusting bridal show scene.  It was the cast, that was lightning in a bottle.  Something clicked,” she says.  The “Bridesmaids” company was full of former members of the Groundlings improv troupe who were friends — including McLendon-Covey, Wiig, Mumalo, Maya Rudolph and Melissa McCarthy.

McLendon-Covey is at the forefront of “Rules of Engagement” viewers’ minds right now, with her Liz character having wound up as the unwanted wife of Russell (David Spade).  “Their being together is just so wrong, it’s right,” opines the actress, who is doing the first five “Rules” episodes of the season, then heading to Canada to film “White Trash Christmas” with Jennifer Love Hewitt.  After that, she will likely return to “Rules.”  The schedule is being worked out now, she says. 

As for what will happen to Russell and Liz, “I only know a little bit of it.  He is just begging for an annulment and I want nothing to do with it.  Then a situation arises where it really is for the best that we do part — but I don’t know if we do it.  Maybe it will end up like, okay, we’re divorced but we can’t stop seeing each other.  I don’t know.”  She does know, “I just had the best time working with him, and I’m so proud of this.  It’s laugh-out-loud, disgustingly funny.”

She also knows that she wants to keep the painting, seen in last week’s episode, in which Liz is naked except for strategically-placed cats.  But, surely such a gem should go to the Smithsonian?  “It’s too good for the Smithsonian,” she replies.  “It belongs on my bathroom wall, or maybe in my closet.”

Eric Matheny

Leonardo DiCaprio

It’s only been about a month [originally published June 2011] since Clint Eastwood wrapped production on “J. Edgar” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as controversial F.B.I. Chief J. Edgar Hoover — and the Oscar buzz is already intensifying.

Eric Matheny, who plays Hoover’s “Dr. Feelgood” medico in the feature, likens it to an American King Lear “in a lot of ways.   Hoover really did have a sense of keeping the kingdom together at all costs — while at the same time being driven mad by his own secrets and lies.”

Says Matheny, “There was one scene with Naomi (Watts) in Hoover’s office that was very much like [Lear].  If this gets any kind of Academy nod, well, I’m sure it is a scene that people will be looking at.  When I saw it, I thought, ‘I’m so glad I’m here for this.’  We’re talking about one of the greatest actors of our generation,’” he says of DiCaprio, whose performance spans decades.  He spent six hours in makeup daily for the scenes of Hoover as an elderly man.  “He has a grip on Hoover — the voice, the stance — he was compeltely immersed in the character.”

Already there has been much talk of “J. Edgar” not holding back when it comes to the notorious secret-keeper’s rumored  homosexual proclivities and cross-dressing.  But Matheny puts it this way:  Oscar-winning writer Dustin Lance Black, he says, “wove in the story of a conflicted man.  He was conflicted because of his upbringing and the societal mores of the time, coupled with his own personal demons and his idea of secrecy, and his fear of being found out — and all these things that were mirrored in his personal life.  It’s a fascinating tale and sort of historical biopic that shows how Hoover formed his ideas, his thoughts on patriotism, his country, right and wrong — conflicted by his own desires.  By the end of the film, the conflicts had festered into a man who was sort of broken and stabbing out in all directions.”

Of his own role, he notes, “Dustin’s research shows there was a doctor and/or a nurse coming to his office.  Well, he doesn’t need someone to come to his office to give him a glass off water and a pill — they’re coming to do something.   It was a pretty common practice among the wealthy and powerful of the time to get influenced by these doctors: ‘You’ve got a problem?  Let’s drug it up.’  They could call it vitamins, but there were probably some kind of amphetamines in there.”

Eastwood lived up to his standards as a great filmmaker in Matheny’s eyes as well.  “He’s light-handed, incredibly succinct, never forced.  He’ll let that first shot go however it goes, then he’l adjust, not from a mechanical perspective but a creative one.  He gets the maximum effect with the minumum effort.  It’s amazing.”

Next, Matheny is set to head to Oregon to make the big-screen “Freedom For Joe,” about a pro quarterback who has to deal with becoming paralyzed.  “There is a spiritual idea in it, of what traps people in their lives, and getting over that.  It’s going to be a special film, I think,” he says.  “Things are going in a good direction.”

AND:  DiCaprio’s G-man lover in “J Edgar” is played by Armie Hammer of “The Social Network” — who is now getting ready to play the title role in the new “The Lone Ranger,” in which Johnny Depp is playing Tonto.  The part-Cherokee Depp intends to reinvent the classic sidekick character in the Disney film that brings together his fellow “Pirates of the Caribbean” fellows, director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.  This “Lone Ranger” is in preproduction as subsidiary roles are being cast, and is already set to ride into theaters Dec. 21, 2012.

It Actor Hammer is also playing the Prince in “The Brothers Grimm: Snow White” opposite Lilly Collins.  Talk about a nice variety of movies.

OH, THE REALITY:  Casting is underway for a new reality show, “L.A. Dog Walkers” for which the producers want real-life dog walkers of the rich and famous.  Candidates should be 18-40 ears of age, either gender, and be trusted members of the celebrity households for whom they do pooch duty.  The show is going to pay a thousand bucks per episode to the lucky dog walkers who get signed.  Here, Spot!

Also en route to our living room screens is “The Sexperts,” in which title professional psych types will be assisting couples who are finding things blah between the sheets.  Casting forces for the show have been on the lookout for committed couples in their twenties and thirties whose relationships are in a rut, and who don’t mind embarrassing thems– er, talking candidly about their sex lives on national TV.  They’re only getting 500 bucks an episode.

Poppy Montgomery, Dylan Walsh CBS photo

Dylan Walsh reports that Marilu Henner will soon be in New York to play the aunt of Poppy Montgomery’s character on their “Unforgettable” CBS crime drama.  The red-haired one-time “Taxi” star, as you may know, serves as a consultant on the show in which Montgomery plays a detective who can recall all the moments of her life with perfect clarity — the extremely rare superior autobiographical memory that Marilu has in real life.

Walsh says he’s looking forward to seeing Henner again.  “With her role as consultant, there’ve been a lot of telephone calls between her and Poppy, but I haven’t talked to her since last summer,” notes the actor, who plays Montgomery’s colleague and former lover. 

Now if only “Unforgettable” can take hold.  It’s been a ratings toss-up, and right now, its fate remains up in the air.

“We’re waitng to hear what our future is on the schedule.  Nobody talks about it,” according to Walsh.  “I hope to get some good news about continuing soon.  We’ve put in a lot of hard work, and there’s a lot more hard work ahead.  It’s been bumpy, but the reason it’s been bumpy is something I’m as proud of as anything — it’s that people are trying to do more than just your dry procedural.”   

He goes on, “Everyone assumed that her superior memory would be a superficial way to get people into the show.  But the writers have really cleverly used it as an integral part of the stories — including the fact there’s this romance, albeit in the past.  She keeps remembering, and people get to see this couple without betraying what the show is in the present.  There are a lot of flashbacks to their relationship.” 

As far as what that means to him as an actor?  “The challenge is the fun,” says Walsh.  “I get to play a younger guy, a guy who is in love, more of a suburban guy than in the present, a guy rising up through the ranks.”

Walsh, who lived in L.A. while making “Nip/Tuck,” is extremely glad to be back in his former NYC stamping grounds for his current show.  “It’s the best part of all of this.  I’m so happy here.  I’m in Tribeca right now,” he tells us via phone.  “On the weekends, one of my hobbies is learning all the architecture, building by building.”

Whatever the future of “Unforgettable,” Walsh is already thinking ahead to the holidays.  “I’m having my kids come out for Thanksgiving,” he says, “and I suspect the same for Christmas.”