The Smart Set

Ignatius Reilly Lives; Michael McKean Goes Down

Reuters
Ray Gustini 2,198 Views May 23, 2012

Welcome to the Smart Set. Every morning we bring you the gossip coverage, filtered. Today: Zach Galifianakis is the latest to sign up for a movie A Confederacy of Dunces, Michael McKean was hit by a car, and everything's coming up Arsenio Hall.

Word is Zach Galifianakis is attached to play Ignatius Reilly in another attempt to make a movie out of A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of madness, New Orleans, and ear muffs. Flight of the Conchords co-creator James Bobin reportedly will direct, with a script by Phil Johnson, who wrote Cedar Rapids. The project has a nasty habit of killing off its potential leading men: John Belushi died days after meeting with executives about the project in 1982, and Chris Farley was circling the project at one point. Will Ferrell -- who did not die -- was also attached to the project back in 2003, when it was going to be directed by David Gordon Green. [Vulture]

It appears that Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez have broken up, or at the very least are "on the rocks," which is tween idol code for breaking up. The evidence: he took a lady who wasn't Selena Gomez to the Billboard Awards and then didn't even thank Gomez when he won a nonsense award for Top Social Artist. Also, last week, a tweet was sent from Bieber's account that said: "thank you for the time i had with you, but i have to move on now.” The tweet was deleted and Bieber's reps "insist it was fake," presumably sent by hackers who live in a wooden horse. Also, the pair hasn't been photographed together in over a month. So until we see shots of them out and about again, capering around The Grove, trying desperately to pretend Bieber that is taller than her, we're calling this relationship kaput. [The Daily]

Oh no! Beloved -- and he is beloved -- character actor and prodigious tweeter Michael McKean broke his leg after being struck by a car yesterday on the Upper West Side. "No criminality was suspected," according to cops. Good thing too, because if anyone tried whacking Michael McKean, we'd come down on them with the force of a thousand David St. Hubbinses. [New York Post]

Raffaelo Follieri -- Anne Hathaway's con-man ex -- is "about to freed," at which point he will face deportation to Italy. Presumably, he'll be able to take that mix CD she made him with him. [Page Six]

Newt and Calista Gingrich are back off the campaign trail and sampling the finest raw fish northern Virginia has to offer. The couple was spotted at Tachibana in McLean Monday night, splitting a platter of sushi. He was wearing a blazer. [The Reliable Source]

Apparently, the television world is once again wild about Arsenio Hall, who won the latest season of Celebrity Apprentice. It seems Hall is "talking to a number of TV networks about hosting a talk show again." NBC is said to be particularly hot to trot. Naturally, there's talk that Donald Trump will have some sort of producer's credit on the hypothetical chat show. [Gatecrasher]

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