Actress Judy Greer calls it pure luck that she keeps landing smack dab in the middle of pop culture events.

First, Greer scored a recurring role on the beloved Fox comedy “Arrested Development.” More recently, she snared a gig on the revamped, post-Charlie Sheen “Two and a Half Men.”

Her latest coup had nothing to do with happenstance. On Nov. 4, Greer picked up the 2011 John Cassavetes Award from the Starz Denver Film Festival. The acting honor typically goes to leading men – or ladies – but this time festival judges honored a character actress with an impressive body of work.

Greer is Hollywood’s go-to comic foil, the best best friend a romantic comedy starlet could have. She’s also an in-demand actress starring in one of the year’s most anticipated films, Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” as well as a key gig on “Two and a Half Men.”

Her career began with a role in the 1998 Chicago-based feature “Kissing a Fool.” The film’s premiere was slated to be held in L.A., so she drove west in a car her father bought for her.

“My agent said she would send me on auditions while I was in Los Angeles,” she recalls, already plotting a Plan B in case the acting career didn’t catch fire.

“When it stops, I’ll move back [to Chicago], I’ll go to grad school and pick a new career,” she says. “Now I can’t  because I don’t know how to use computers.”

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In 2006, while accepting the Academy Award for playing a husky, grizzled version of himself, George Clooney famously gushed, “…this Academy, this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I’m proud to be a part of this Academy. I’m proud to be part of this community. I’m proud to be out of touch.”

My apologies for bringing up old crap, but Clooney’s statement, especially the part about how he’s so proud to be out of touch, is one of the most bafflingly odd things I’ve ever heard coming from Clooney, who’s also famous for telling anyone who’ll listen that everybody tells him all the time how brave he was for making a black and white movie about the red scare. It’s very revealing that Clooney would say this, to cheers, a mere three years after a child-rapist was handed an award by that same Academy. (more…)

As Big Hollywood’s self-proclaimed Arrested Development Superfan, it is my sacred obligation to make fellow enthusiasts aware of The Arrested Development Documentary Project, which just recently came to my attention.  The film’s website is a bit confusing, especially when it comes to ascertaining where and when one might actually see it, but the trailer seems promising (be forewarned, Keith Olbermann makes an appearance):

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Hopefully the finished product will explore subjects beyond the (understandable) bellyaching about Fox’s shabby treatment of the show, abysmal ratings, regrettable lack of audience, etc. 

Note to readers: This documentary is not to be confused with the Arrested Development feature film, reportedly in production. (more…)