Speaking of Anchorman, it reminds me of this howlingly funny anonymous gossip item.

It's nice to be a film headliner....especially if your Christmas flick ELF made $100+ million, then you can get all your fun former co-stars and friends and boyfriends of your co-star/ friends jobs in your 2005 planned summer blockbuster. Looks like Will Ferrell is stacking the deck in the upcoming SONY "BEWITCHED" film slated to start production September 1st in Los Angeles.

Though Nicole Kidman is the playing the big-screen witch, it is clearly a WILL FERRELL brand comedy, since Will had his ex-SNL buddy and Anchorman director Adam McKay doctor the Nora & Delia Ephron romantic comedy script to fit his co-starring goofball comedy needs.

Next, he plunked his ANCHORMAN co-stars Chris [Ed. Note--Steve.] (Daily Show) Carrell as flamer warlock "Uncle Arthur",and suggested Fred Willard as "Dr. Bombay" (despite the fact that the original tv actor Bernard Fox is waiting in wings to play his old role).

Ferrell also threw a "Gladys Kravitz" cameo to his ELF co-star Amy Sedaris, and the role of his agent to his ELF co-star Zooey Deschanel's boyfriend Jason Schwartzman. Sound cozy?

Luckily, Nora Ephron who is still the Bewitched director (on paper anyway), was able to snag Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine and Joan Plowright without Will's assistance.

Depending on the box-office success of ANCHORMAN, we will see if Nora will keep on smiling and kissing Will's ample bottom.

How dare he attempt to cast such unfunny, buzz-free hangers-on? THANK GOD Nora Ephron righted that crazy wreck with instant box office gold. Shirley MacLaine, baby!

I think the fact that they couldn't get Steve Carrell's name right is an indication that they don't really know what the fuck they're talking about.

I'm watching The Outsiders right now, and off the top of my head I can't remember a worse pan-and-scanned movie. The shots are so cramped, and you can really feel them sliding around and trying to compromise, with everyone bleeding off the side all the time.

I'm inattentive enough that even when I notice egregious scanning, I'm not usually made as tense as this is making me. It's not a technical point -- it's affecting the mood of the piece.

I can't remember a worse pan-and-scanned movie.

A Boy and His Dog was HORRIBLY done.

Luckily I never saw that one fullscreen.

A&E has just taken The Outsiders widescreen for the last few seconds. It would be jarring except it's more jarring how they scrinch the credits over to the left while they run an ad for This Old House with audio right on the tail of Sodapop's ending.

Putative Outsiders remake.

The worst pan-n-scan job I've ever seen was on Wild Things. The fake pans during the threesome were hysterical.

The full-screen version of The Graduate (to redeem what's left of my film cred after just having admitted to seeing Wild Things) has such obvious panning and scanning that the AMMI uses it in their "What is Pan & Scan?" exhibit. (The shot that they use is a gorgeous two-shot of Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft talking to each other, each in close-up profile on opposite sides of the screen. The full-screen version pans back and forth between them, utterly ruining the effect.)

The full-screen version pans back and forth between them, utterly ruining the effect.

I've seen that cited a lot, but again never saw it fullscreen. If you didn't know that pan and scan existed, would it still be egregious, or is it "merely" ruining a beautiful shot?

I've never seen the whole movie fullscreen either, so I'm not sure. My guess is that it probably wouldn't stand out from the rest of the panning and scanning, but you might be left wondering why people think this is such a good-looking film.

When they framed The Outsiders they made it so more than one fullscreened conversation involves half-eyeballs. Distracting.

Speaking of Wild Things, I noticed this in IMDB's trivia section for it:

Director John McNaughton says he deleted a scene that would have shown 'Dillon, Matt' and Kevin Bacon showering together, as it was gratuitous.

Yeah, because they sure were concerned about making sure nothing gratuitous made it to the final cut. Good looking out, BASTARDS.

Yeah! Whatever happened to equal-opportunity gratuitous nudity?