Getting Ready To Rumba Dancing With The Stars Season 13 Cast Revealed!

By Jolie LashLOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Its time again for sequins and celebrities! On Monday night, Dancing with the Stars co-hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke revealed the new cast set to compete on Season 13 of the show, set to begin on September 19 on ABC. Actress and former talk show host Ricki Lake, Laker Ron Artest (who took his shirt off after his name was revealed), Wilson Phillips singer Chynna Phillips, former The Hills reality star Kristin Cavallari, actor David Arquette, and fashion expert Carson Kressley were the first names revealed on Monday night. In a second announcement made by Bergeron and Burke during ABCs Bachelor Pad, also confirmed were HLN host and former prosecutor Nancy Grace, All My Children actor and war veteran J.R. Martinez, soccer star Hope Solo, Keeping Up with the Kardashians man of the house Robert Kardashian, Italian bombshell (and George Clooneys ex-girlfriend) Elisabetta Canalis, and Chers son, Chaz Bono. When asked if having been a part of the Hairspray cast gave her an edge by an audience member at the cast reveal, Ricki laughed. Oh come on! Youre kidding! Ricki smiled. I was 18 years old, that was 1988, I was 200 pounds and I was faking it the entire time. It was all about the attitude, not about the steps. I assure you I do not have an edge. David, who split with wife Courteney Cox late last year, an actress who is on ABC show Cougar Town, said he joined the show to bring positivity to his life. Well, I love to dance and I love to entertain, he said. Im really looking for positive things in my life and dancing really makes me happy. It really helps ground me and it provides grace in my life and those are all the things that Im looking for. As for Chaz, he said hes already nervous for competition to begin. I think its daunting, the son of Sonny Bono and Cher noted. The new season will premiere on Monday, September 19, in a two-hour show, from 8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. The following night ABC will air Dancing with the Stars: Meet the Cast, which airs at 8 PM, followed at 9 PM by the first DWTS results show. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Lifetime Nabs Eric Stoltz for Modern Love

Eric Stoltz Eric Stoltz has been cast as the lead in Lifetime's dramedy pilot Modern Love, Deadline.com reports. The series, from Sex and the City's Jenny Bicks, is based on a series of columns published in The New York Times. Stoltz will star as science editor Simon McElvane, who's facing a deteriorating marriage. He unexpectedly has to take over the paper's Modern Love column. Lifetime renews Army Wives, sets Diva premiere, orders Project Runway All Stars Bicks will executive-produce alongside Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun, Gene Stein and Alan Poul (Six Feet Under, Swingtown). The 49-year-old actor is best known for his roles in Mask, Kicking and Screaming and, more recently, Syfy's Caprica.

Fox dates 'Wimpy Kid' sequel for next August

Twentieth Century Fox will release "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days," the third installment in Fox 2000's film series on Aug. 3. Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson will produce under their Color Force banner. David Bowers, who helmed this year's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules," the second movie in the series, will direct. Pic centers around "Wimpy Kid" Greg Heffley, who hatches a plan to pretend he has a job at a ritzy country club. But the plan fails and he suffers the dog days of summer vacation, which include mishaps at a public pool and a camping trip that goes wrong. 2010's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" was Jacobson's first film after leaving Disney in 2006. Property became a reliable, relatively inexpensive franchise for Fox. Series is based on the novels by scribe Jeff Kinney. The first two "Wimpy Kid" pics have grossed more than $140 million worldwide with retail estimates for homevideo pegged at $54 million ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules" hit shelves June 21). Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky will pen "Dog Days" while thesps Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Devon Bostick, Rachael Harris, and Steve Zahn will return for the pic. Fox began shooting in Vancouver last week. Contact Rachel Abrams at Rachel.Abrams@variety.com

Suit Over Bret Michaels Concert Discloses His Food and Beverage Demands

Getty Bret Michaels is suing an excursion cruise company and 2 marketers for allegedly breaking an agreement in which the rocker and reality TV star would get $750,000 to do on the "Super Cruise." This isn't the very first time that Michaels has allegedly been stiffed on the cancelled show. Actually, several months ago even today, Michaels prosecuted a promoter for any unsuccessful concert in Syracuse. He lately emerged partly victorious for the reason that situation. Michaels may hope that his latest suit goes along with the 4g iphone. Last August, the Poison singer prosecuted Michael Banks and Aloha Occasions after turning up in Syracuse only to discover his gig have been cancelled. After fans began besieging a nearby news outlet and also the condition's attorney general with news from the cancelled concert and demanding reimbursement, the promoter allegedly blamed the cancellation on Michaels themself, saying he'd a conflicting TV appearance. Banks filed an response to Michaels' complaint that disputed the presence of an agreement and then any comments to some TV station, but Aloha Occasions would be a no-show. Today, New You are able to federal judge David Hurd discovered that Aloha Occasions is at default consequently of "getting unsuccessful to plead or else defend within this action" and purchased the organization to spend $95,000. Michaels has switched his focus on another alleged perpetrator of the "bait and switch" plan, alleging in the latestcomplaint that accused Shoreline Tours, Tim Towle and Willie Donwell never had any aim of having to pay his $750,000 fee after which attempted to coerce him to lessen it to $400,000. The singer has become seeking a minimum of $50,000 in damages. Not for free, but among the fun reasons for these kinds of cases gets a look whatsoever things that rock stars demand when setting up a concert. Note to the concert promoter searching to book Bret MIchaels: Sprite isn't a replacement for Mountain Dew. E-mail: eriqgardner@yahoo.com Twitter: @eriqgardner Bret Michaels

Matt Damon Is Suddenly The Hollywood Liberal That Conservatives Love to Hate

Give Matt Damon kudos for accomplishing his goal last weekend: drawing attention to the Save Our Schools March in Washington. He's been paying the price all week, though, by becoming the celebrity whipping boy of the conservative media.our editor recommends Matt Damon: Next 'Bourne' Role Might Have to Wait Five YearsAngelina Jolie, Brad Pitt 'Are Like Prisoners,' Says Matt Damon Two interviews that Damon, a liberal activist, granted to new-media journalists have gone viral over the Internet, and talk-radio hosts and other pundits have been working overtime to ridicule the actor ever since. Wednesday, for example, Los Angeles KABC talk-show host Larry Elder took Damon to task over his assertion that teachers will do a good job regardless of cash incentives, just like actors will. "He seemed personally offended when someone suggested that as an actor he has an incentive to work hard," Elder said in an eight-minute monologue. (Audio below). "I want to act. I am an actor and actors act, irrespective of tenure, irrespective of pay, irrespective of job security," he said mockingly. Then the host took several calls on the topic. "The guy himself has a couple of small children. What are the chances of him going to public schools?" one caller said of Damon. At the same time Elder was on the Damon topic locally, Rush Limbaugh was belittling actors in general on his national radio show, and he made the topic his "media tweak of the week" at his web site. "Have you seen the study that says dieting forces the brain to eat itself? This explains Hollywood," Limbaugh said. Print media has also had their fun at Damon's expense. On Thursday, Michael Graham of Boston Herald.com wrote: "Damon's position that incentives don't affect behavior puts him in the fiscal Flat Earth Society. He's the equivalent of an economic creationist." Blogger Kyle Smith wrote, "Question for Matt Damon: If Dolph Lundgren, after three movies, was guaranteed the opportunity to star in one of Hollywood's biggest-budgeted films every summer for the rest of his life, what do you suppose the quality of the end product would be?" At BigHollywood.com bloggers have weighed in on the matter just about daily since the weekend rally. "Somebody needs to take Matt Damon's 'word of the day' handbook before he hurts himself," editor John Nolte wrote. "Matt Damon is nothing more than a political animal and propaganda-spewing machine." That blog item contains video of one of Damon's weekend interviews, with a quick scene from Good Will Hunting edited into it. (Video below). The purveyor of BigHollywood is Andrew Breitbart, who weighed in on Matt Damon Wednesday night during a speech to the Hollywood Congress of Republicans. "He was speaking in Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky gobbledygook and showing off for his mom," Breitbart said afterwards. "A pathetic attempt at sounding erudite by using big words. John Cusack made a name for himself doing the same thing in the 90s." At PJTV.com, comedian Alfonzo Rachel cut a video called "Bourne Idiocy" where he begins, "Sinead O'Connor is back from the 80s and sounding brainy as ever." And Glenn Beck took Damon to task on his radio show, accusing him of playing fast and loose with the facts when Damon says in one video that the rich have never paid less in taxes during his lifetime than they do now. But during the Reagan administration, top earners paid 28 percent and today the top rate is 35 percent, Beck said. "To those of us who have studied math," says one of Beck's co-hosts, "28 is less than 35." When Damon says in one of the videos that he's never used a tax cut to start a small business, another of Beck's co-hosts chimes in that the first season of Project Greenlight, a filmmaking contest and TV series co-created by Damon, was in 2001 and the second season was in 2003, years that coincided with the Bush tax cuts. After trying to make a point by quoting Jimmy Stewart (but confusing It's a Wonderful Life with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), Beck says: "Here's what I'd like to introduce to Matt. It's a concept of personal liberty and responsibility. You can actually send your whole damn pay check to Washington." "Why not," says Beck, "instead of taking big salaries for your next Bourne Identity, why don't you just say, I won't work for over $250,000 ... spread it all around that movie lot." And on Red Eye this week on the Fox News Channel, host Greg Gutfeld began a segment with: "Is Matt Damon as much an authority on tax cuts as he is on haircuts?" Country music star Larry Gatlin on the show says Damon is "a perfect example again of an artsy-fartsy letting their alligator mouth overwhelm their hummingbird ass. He does not know what he's talking about." (Video below). On the same show, though, Fox entertainment contributor Courtney Friel, who said Damon is her neighbor, defended the actor: "He is very classy," she said. /p> Related Topics Glenn Beck Matt Damon Fox News Channel Rush Limbaugh Andrew Breitbart

First picture of Henry Cavill as Superman

The very first picture of Henry Cavill as Superman has made an appearance online.The shot, from Zack Snyder's 2013 rework Guy Of Steel, features Cavill/Supes bursting right into a bank vault in the same manner that mere mortals might saunter via a partition produced from, umm, tissue paper and down.We are liking the costume's air of freshly minted shiny-ness. Much less sure concerning the heavily lacquered hair, though.The brand new problem of Total Film magazine - on purchase today - features a unique interview with Cavill. Read a preview here.

Paul McCartney On Music Reality Shows & His Approaching Publish-9/11 Concert Documentary

By Jolie LashBEVERLY Hillsides, Calif. -- Beatles tunes have grown to be standard fare on music competition shows, and Paul McCartney accepted on Thursday he's keen on programs like The American Idol Show and also the X Factor. I believe all that's awesome because its what is happening today, Paul told reporters because he clarified questions via satellite from Cincinnati, OH, in the Showtime part of the tv Experts Association Session in Beverly Hillsides. A person always has to comprehend, if people need it its got a bit of value, he ongoing. Personally i think just a little sorry sometimes for a few of the entertainers simply because they do not have that background [such as the Beatles]. We'd years before we hit it in a major way However I think the shows are fascinating. I watch individuals types of shows. Paul, who had been marketing his approaching Showtime documentary The Love We Make, concerning the Concert for brand new You are able to, following 9/11, stated that although he likes the background music shows, he favors a bit more action about the tube. My style of TV isn't possibly the finest. However I love individuals types of shows. I most likely watch more sports. I love ESPN, he stated. I dispise to express, I sometimes get completely totally hooked on the shopping channels. Pardon me, where do you consider I acquired this collarless jacket? he rapidly added, referencing a reporters earlier question about where you'll get a suit with no collar. Beyond talk of reality shows, Paul described why he's at the moment delivering The Love We Make, the black and whitened film directed by Albert Maysles, that will air on Showtime yesterday the tenth anniversary from the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. There is no particular reason it required ten years. We didnt assemble it and finished it until quite lately, Paul stated. I believe the very fact from the tenth anniversary spurred me into thinking, Wait one minute, Albert required some good footage in those days that people never did anything with, also it just appeared like it might be a great chance. The Beatles legend stated the initial idea to complete the Concert for brand new You are able to, which introduced together a few of the greatest names in rock, including David Bowie, Elton John and also the Who, came very rapidly following the attacks, which Paul observed firsthand in the ground at JFK airport terminal. I was at JFK about the tarmac and also the pilot just all of a sudden stated, We cant remove, were gonna have to return to base. From the window, about the right hands side from the plane, you can begin to see the Twin Towers. To begin with you can see one plume of smoke and also you often see two shortly after that and that i stated, Well, thats an optical illusion or its most likely some little fire or something like that, however it does look pretty serious, Paul recounted. And that we were just searching at this for some time after which all of a sudden among the stewards found me and stated, Theres something serious [thats] happened in New You are able to and weve reached enable you to get from here. I wound up in New York watching it on television wanting to enter New You are able to, but nobody was permitted in, even though I had been sitting available twiddling my thumbs thinking, How to proceed? Was there any role I possibly could play within this? The concept found me that maybe we're able to perform a concert, go together, he stated. Additionally towards the planning from the concert, The Love We Make also features footage of Paul about the roads of recent You are able to talking with people, doing interviews like one with Access Hollywood and taking the sensation about the roads. There is fear up and Id never experienced that, specifically in New You are able to, making this in which the idea for doing the show came into being, he stated, mentioning towards the concert. Nowadays, when he considers New You are able to, a locale the Liverpool-bred star has numerous connections with, he's numerous good reminiscences. Whenever you speak with me about New You are able to now, it is the people [I think about], because I married a brand new You are able to girl Linda and Im going to marry a different one, and so i think I'd think to begin Linda and her family and us and her connections with New You are able to after which my approaching connections, Paul stated. After which, I believe next Erectile dysfunction Sullivan, Shea Stadium, [the] 9/11 concert and several great concerts there. Most lately Yankees, Citifield before that, [the] closing Shea with Billy Joel. So I've got a large amount of connections. I really like New You are able to. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

HAMMOND: While Wall Street Manages to lose Money, The HFPA Provides It With Away

The stock exchange may havecontinued its August dive today, but simply asnervous traders were losing tons ofcash, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was giving awaymillions. At their annual lunchat the Beverly Hillsides Hotel, the HFPA presented an archive $1,579,500 in financial grants or loans to 46 film schools and nonprofit organizations. In the last 17 years, the org most widely known for giving Golden Globes in The month of january has granted $13.5 million through their grants or loans program, based on recently chosen HFPA leader Aida TaklaO'Reilly. All of this philanthropic activity comes even while the sometimes controversialgroup of foreignentertainment journalists remains involved in ongoing lawsuits using their longtime Globes production company, Dick Clark Productions, over privileges for their annualhighly ranked honours show on NBC (as well as an Emmy nominee this season)in addition to anotherlegal dust-track of former publicist Michael Russell. Regardless of the legal worries and bad Wall Street news, the HFPA lunch was an upbeat affair, drawing numerousentertainment executives like Fox's Peter Grain, FX's John Landgraf, Relativity's Ryan Kavanaugh and Fox Searchlight's Nancy Utley, amongst others. There is alsothe usualstarry turnout to assist hands the inspections including Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Walhberg, Gerard Butler, Kevin Sausage, Yoshiki Hayashi, Jessica Chastain, Hugh Dancy, Jum Michele, Rachelle Lefervre, Elizabeth Moss, Elizabeth Olsen, Jim Sturgess, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Gabriel Macht, who all required turns presenting one another within the fast-paced, breezy presentation. Through the years, honours-season strategists havealsoseen the lunch asa great chance to obtain a few of their potential awardscontenders before a captive audience of HFPA voters, also it was nodifferent this season as Butler, DiCaprio, Olsen and Chastain are stars with approaching releases likely to estimate year-finish honours factors. This past year only at that lunch, for example, I observed Annette Bening and Nicole Kidman about the selection, and both did finish track of Globes (and Oscar) nods. The exposure certainly can't hurt as the saying goes, particularly in the excessively crowded fall area of challengers. At the minimum, the lunch kind of serves among individuals "unofficial" precursors from the impending season. "I suppose it's all regulated beginning once again," one honours consultant still suffering fight scars from this past year wearilytold me. Still, the individual obtaining the most attention within the room was one whose primary honours haul continues to be only at fan-chosen occasions such as the MTV Movie Honours, Teen Choice and Individuals Choice Honours, The Twilight Saga's Rachelle Lefervre.Glee's Jum Michele met him onstage just like a drooling fan, "My dear God, it's Rachelle LefervreInch, she shrieked.Andpresenter Mark Wahlberg had words of warning about Lautnerfor fellow presenter DiCaprio. "Leo, I am sitting in a table having a guy who'sbetter searching than you and also in better shape than me. Boogie Nights and Titanic were a very long time ago, friend. It's over," he stated, pointing towards the Twilight werewolf hunk who had been available to simply accept a cheque for that Sundance Institute. DiCaprio, an HFPA favorite that has been nominated seven occasions, won once for that Aviator and nowstars within the approaching Clint Eastwood dramaJ.Edgar, just introduced for any November. 9 opening, was initially as much as accept the annual check with respect to the Film Foundation, among Martin Scorsese's passion projects. "For Steven (Spielberg), Marty, Clint and all sorts of company directors, I accept this with respect to the partnership between your Film Foundation and also the HFPA, that has contributed $3 million during the last fifteen years for the upkeep and film restoration projects," he stated, observing this year's check visits the restoration from the Tales Of Hoffman, Dying of the Salesperson and Analysis of the Citizen Above Suspicion. He also noted that previous HFPA grants or loans assisted restore such classics because the 1933 King Kong, How Eco-friendly Was My Valley, The River, Pathways of Glory, The Red-colored Footwear and many more.

J.J. Abrams talks Star Trek 2

J.J. Abrams is really a busy guy, with Super 8 coming in movie theaters worldwide and all sorts of the attendant press obligations that accompany this type of huge release. However, Abrams may be the kind of character who has one eye about the future, also it shojuld not be a surprise that the Star Trek follow up has already been starting to occupy his ideas."There has been several things that we have been focusing on," he told Collider inside a recent interview. "Lots of important components that people just know we have to really nail lower and solve.""When you say, 'We're all set, but we do not possess a finished script yet," or 'I'm pointing and here's the discharge date but we do not possess a finished script,' you are all of a sudden in production on the movie where you are thinking, 'Oh my god, we were not really ready!'""I wish to make certain we are putting the storyline, figures, cast, crew and, most of all, the crowd first, before we begin speaking about which locations we are likely to be shooting at, and exactly what the wardrobe and visual effects budgets are. We have to obtain the important stuff right first."It may sound like Abrams has Vital wherever he wants on that one, even though Lost supremo reaches pains to indicate he has not really been confirmed as director at this time.InchWe are working very difficult on [that]" states Abrams reassuringly. "Hopefully we'll have something to discuss soon." Amen to that particular.Supply: ColliderLooking toward more Star Trek? Or should J.J. turn his attention elsewhere? Speak the mind!

Trace Adkins Talks Amy Winehouse, the New Nashville and Making Movies (Q&A)

You can put any number of modifiers before Trace Adkins' name: country music star, Celebrity Apprentice finalist, actor, father, recovering addict... It all factors into his music, and perhaps there's no better example than his new album Proud to Be Here (out today). The 49-year-old Louisiana native spoke to THR on the eve of record's release and shared candid thoughts on the music industry, how Nashville has evolved, his bout with alcoholism and whether more movie roles will follow his recent acting turn in The Lincoln Lawyer. The Hollywood Reporter: Your Tennessee home burned down in June. How is everything, and how are you? Trace Adkins:I'm good, thank you for asking. Everybody's doing fine. It's kind of a delayed recognition because every day I think of something I want to reach for, and then I realize, "Oh, I don't have that anymore." So it keeps adding insult to injury almost every day. I thought, "Oh, this is not gonna bother me at all," but it seems like the further I get away from it, the more it seems to affect me..We'd been there 12 years. THR: So there were a lot of memories, physically and emotionally. Adkins: Oh yeah. I had stuff in there that I can't place a value on, like one of those old red-white-and-blue guitars that Bob Nolan gave me -- things like that just can't be replaced... Being a father of five daughters, I think I have the authority to say this: things like this seem to affect girls more. They take these kinds of things to heart a little more than [boys] do. But we're doing great. We're blessed. We have means, so we're not homeless or destitute. I had so many people reaching out to me and wanting to express generosity, and I said, "Please, take those emotions and those feelings and give to the Red Cross or somebody like that because we're OK." THR: I was going to ask you about Amy Winehouse, while not many details have been released... Adkins: I think we can all pretty much guess what happened. And I doubt seriously that there's anybody that's surprised. THR: Do you have experience with addiction, and do you feel the music industry is full of enablers? Adkins:Nine years ago, I had a very caring and responsible manager who forced me into an intervention situation. I went and did my month in rehab, and it worked for me. I've been sober for nine years now. It had gotten to a point in my life where it was probably going to take me down that road, too. If it didn't end up in that situation, it certainly was going to cost me my career -- and my manager saw that, and they cared enough about me to gather my friends and family and co-workers all together, and they put me through one of those gut-wrenching interventions. If you've ever been through one of those things, it's the most humiliating experience you'll ever have. To hear people you respect and love sit there and tell you the kind of pain you've been causing them. They tear you down completely then they haul you off to rehab. So I did that, and yeah, I'm an alcoholic. And are there enablers? There are, but I luckily had a group around me that finally put their foot down. THR: Do you feel part of it is that you're more mature, not having achieved breakthrough success until your mid-30s? Adkins:When I started out 15 years ago, I came right out of the box with a platinum album and some No. 1 records. I thought, "Man, this is gonna be easy!" Well, then you hit that sophomore slump, and then you get to that third album and things are starting to get a lot more challenging, and I just started getting really depressed and self-medicating. ... I'd been an alcoholic for years anyway, and it got worse and worse. Getting sober, these last nine years have been the best, most productive years of my music career. So I've been focused and aware of this incredible opportunity that's been handed me in this life -- to be able to make a living doing something I love to do. All I have to do is try not to screw it up too bad, you know? So far, I've been able to keep going and stay clean, and things are working. THR: How is the state of Nashville right now? Healthy? How would you compare it to when your career began? Adkins:As healthy as it can be. It's still alive, but if I had to compare it to 15 years ago, it's not that healthy. I came in at the very beginning of the Internet and was able to secure my domain name, TraceAdkins.com, and I didn't even think anything about it. It was like, "OK, whatever. I'll have a website if I have to." That seems silly to me now, that I was so trivial about it. I've seen the whole thing go through the changes, and the thing that bothers me the most today is that artists are really just judged by the singles they put out, the songs that go to radio, the tracks that get downloaded. And not as many people have an opportunity to hear what I still call "albums" -- these collections that we record every 12-18 months on. And I get judged as an artist by the things that people hear on the radio, and it's really like just taking one sentence out of a paragraph and not getting the whole story, or one chapter of a book... you don't really have a good sense of where an artist's head is. In this digital-download age where everybody's cherry-picking songs they like and that's all they know about an artist, they don't really get the whole picture anymore as compared to back in the day. Now, I go in and I make an album, and I accidentally record three songs that are commercial, and that's how they know me. THR: Is crossing over into acting or reality TV necessary to be more successful these days? Adkins:Actually, acting is something I wanted to do over the years. I just hadn't been presented those opportunities, or sometimes the timing was wrong and I couldn't fit it into my schedule. This is a time when it did fit in, and I thought it would be fun to do. A man's got to know his limitations, and I know mine. I'm not a trained actor, though I take it very seriously when I get a chance to do it. I'm very selective on the things I choose to do. I have to feel like it's something that's kind of in my wheelhouse, something I can pull off. In The Lincoln Lawyer, there's a leader of a biker club, and I can ride a motorcycle -- so I looked at the part and said, "I think I can do this." I really get a kick out of doing this stuff. I love being in movies and on those sets. I like being around those incredibly talented and creative people. I find it stimulating and very challenging. Anytime you put yourself in a situation where you're outside your comfort zone or throwing yourself into a field where it's not your forte - man, that's an adrenaline rush, where you're just standing there praying to God that nobody discovers that you have no idea what the f--- you're doing. THR: It sounds like you have newfound respect for Hollywood and what Matthew McConaughey and other actors do. Adkins: Absolutely. I reached out to him. I was like, "Dude, you've got to help me here." I went in his trailer, we went over the scenes, and he was very gracious and very giving, and he assured me: "You got this, man. Don't worry about it. It's cool. It's gonna be great." So he helped me have more confidence going into the days we did that stuff together, and I felt real comfortable with it. You know what? I'm glad I was in this movie because it's a good movie, I think. I'm hard on movies -- I don't just always give them a thumbs up -- but this is a good movie. THR: So if something like that came along again, you would do it? Adkins: Sure, of course. I think my ultimate role is a mute gunslinger - that's what I'm looking for. I'd just ride into town and shoot people, and I have a love interest, but I don't have any dialogue. THR: If you were starting your career today, would you try out for American Idol? Adkins: It's hard for me to put myself in that place. I did enter a competition in the very beginning -- it was the Wild Turkey Battle of Country Bands. We won the local thing in Lafayette, La., then we went to Dallas and we won the regionals, then we went to Nashville for the finals -- and we choked when we got there. But it wasn't televised or anything like that. It was not anywhere near the scale it's on today... I look at these kids and the record deals they're having to sign, everything they're having to give away just to get a recording contract. I don't know if I'd do that. They have to give away their website and all their merchandise. The contracts they have them sign these days are so exclusive. They own you. So to answer your question, I kind of lean toward no. I'd probably still be working in the oil field. I'd be making a good living, and probably be content. THR: We might never have known who Trace Adkins was. Adkins: The world wouldn't have missed me. (Laughs.) Related Topics The Lincoln Lawyer The Celebrity Apprentice