Taylor Swift may have stolen the spotlight from country cuties everywhere this year, but Carrie Underwood is right on her blond trail. The former American Idol is taking a page out of Swift's book and making a move to the silver screen in the upcoming indie drama, Soul Surfer.
The movie is based on the autobiography of Bethany Hamilton, a dedicated young surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack but still went on to beat the odds and win championships. Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid and AnnaSophia Robb will also star, with Underwood set to play a church youth leader.
I'm kind of relieved that Underwood will be playing a supporting character—not that I don't have any faith in her acting skills, but pop stars don't always succeed when they try to dive right into leading roles (that's right, Glitter, I'm looking at you). I can definitely see Underwood being well suited to the movie biz, though, and to be perfectly honest, I'm kinda surprised it took this long to happen.
Are you interested in seeing Carrie take a break from belting out country tunes, or do you wish all these singers would stay behind the mic where they belong?
Sounds like Bradley Cooper is riding the Valentine's Day movie right into another romantic comedy. He's attached to star opposite Reese Witherspoon in This Means War, a rom-com about a pair of best friends who fall for the same woman. Witherspoon will be the point of the love triangle and apparently the battle for her affections gets so out of hand that it leaves New York City in ruins. Um, I guess that's where the "war" part comes in? 
Witherspoon clearly shines bright in rom-coms, but sometimes I can't help but wish she'd take a break and try her hand at Oscar-worthy fare again. How do you feel about this news—and who should play the missing piece in Cooper and Witherspoon's love puzzle?
Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens went on a romantic date to the basketball in LA last night and watched their team, the Lakers, win a close game over Charlotte. The two laughed and cuddled their way through four quarters, while just a few feet away Taylor Lautner kept his eyes on the action. Next week the Twilight star will be up on the big screen playing high school sweethearts with his ex, Taylor Swift, in Valentine's Day, meanwhile one of his fellow New Moon wolf pack members lamely felt the need to diss the film on Twitter. 
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We’ve had Boob Watch (Michael Buble), Will Watch (Prince William) and now we’re stalking Swifty, as in Taylor Swift (in a nice way, of course!). After winning four Grammy Awards on Monday, the 20-year-old didn’t even have time to celebrate at an after-party and immediately hopped on a plane to Brisbane. She kicked-off her Fearless Tour last there last night and is headed to Sydney this weekend, where she has two sold-out shows at Acer Arena. While she's on tour Down Under, there’s a lot going on back home in the US. The head of her record label has defended her Grammy performance with Stevie Nicks, saying the star experienced “technical issues” during the gig. Meanwhile, speculation continues about her love life—is she dating John Mayer or Glee’s Cory Monteith? Plus Aussie Ryan Kwanten has said he wants her to appear on True Blood. But Swifty is taking it all in stride. She spoke to the Today show’s Richard Wilkins this morning and also talked to the Herald Sun about her new BFF’s Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman. Taylor has said that she'll be filming behind-the-scenes footage of her Aussie tour in 3-D and that it will be made available online. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the ringlet-licious star as soon as she touches down in Sydney.
Lauren Conrad squeezed in another NYC book signing for Sweet Little Lies yesterday, after her cryptic comments about Heidi Montag's plastic surgery, on a US morning television program. LC is also on the March cover of US Seventeen, opening up about her former life on The Hills, dating dos and don'ts, as well as some of her favourite fashion tips. Here's more: 
- On relationships: "I've never really understood cheating because I've never cheated on anyone. I feel like if you are in a relationship with someone, and you want to be with other people, then you shouldn't be in a relationship—it's that simple! Once you start having a wandering eye, it's time to reevaluate the relationship you're in because you're obviously looking for something else."
- Lauren on The Hills: "You set out to do a show based on your life, and you end up living a life based on your show. Everything you do has to be cleared—where you work, people who come to your birthday, people you date, what clothes you wear. I had to get the paint colour for my apartment approved by the director of photography. It was things like that that I don't miss."
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One good flick deserves another, right? Franchise happy Hollywood has a block of sequels in the works and today's three include one that makes me groan, one that's actually fun and one that we all saw coming.
- Fifth time's a charm: The Fast and the Furious's next installment has been confirmed, with Paul Walker and Vin Diesel attached yet again. At least there's a more creative title than the fourth's, though; Fast & Furious: Fast Five. This time, Dom and Brian's characters are fugitives on the run from authorities. I bet they have the perfect getaway vehicles in mind.
- Get Enchanted all over again: Disney is going full steam ahead with a sequel to the 2007 fairy tale. There's no news about the story and none of the original actors, like Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey, are attached yet, but Variety reports that Disney "will likely try to bring [them] back." A new director has been hired, though: The Proposal's Anne Fletcher.
- Da Vinci's Third Decoding: Finally, Dan Brown's latest book about Robert Langdon, The Lost Symbol, is also getting the film adaptation treatment. No shocker here, since its predecessors The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons did so well at the box office. Tom Hanks is not yet confirmed to reprise his role as Langdon, though I can't imagine why he wouldn't.
Personally, I think that The Lost Symbol's movie future was a total given, while Disney always finds a way to extend its fairy tales and Enchanted's delightfulness almost begs for more to the story. But I'm kind of reeling that The Fast and The Furious is getting another sequel. I thought the fourth, such a close replay of the first film, was its swan song—and kind of unnecessary in itself. What more can be said about these men who love fast cars? But what about you? Do you want to see more of Paul and Vin, driving furiously?
Robert Pattinson will appear on the March cover of Details magazine and the Internet is abuzz with goss about the shoot. Some reports said the issue features a shirtless Rob in some rather compromising positions. But according to Gossip Cop, he’s fully clothed in the dozen or so photos, but the pics are still “super sexy.” Um, yeah...The issue hits newsstands in the US on February 23, but copies will be available a few days earlier and of course, we’ll bring you the pics as soon as we get our hands on them!
Jessica Biel proves she's adventurous by eating bugs and talking about her Mt. Kilimanjaro trek, while Taylor Lautner's New Moon costar criticises Valentine's Day. Lindsay Lohan confesses she's a big pack rat and Paris Hilton sports a very sparkly dress to read Dave's Top 10.
