The Weekly Ketchup: The Passing Of Heath Ledger

In this week’s Ketchup, the unfortunate passing of Heath Ledger trumps all other news. Other occurences of lesser importance include the Oscar and Razzie nominations, and some new movie stills from the next Star Trek and X-Files films.

This Week’s Top News:

Heath Ledger: 1979-2008
Heath Ledger, star of films including Brokeback Mountain, 10 Things I Hate About You, and the forthcoming The Dark Knight, was found dead this afternoon. He was 28.

Oscar Nominations Announced. Full List Inside.
With the writer’s strike going on, just how the AMPAS will present the Oscars is still unknown. For now, though, we got the who and the what. Awards heavyweights No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood lead the way with eight nominations each, including Best Picture. Other contenders in the category include the Big Sweeping Romance (Atonement), the Annual Beloved Fox Searchlight Indie (Juno), and the Dark Horse (Michael Clayton).

Studio Executives Face Difficult Decisions in Wake of Ledger’s Passing
For most of the people affected by Heath Ledger’s unexpected death, it’s difficult enough to simply absorb the shock and grief. For the executives overseeing Ledger’s final projects, however, some difficult decisions need to be made — and with millions of dollars at stake, they need to be made sooner than later.

I Know Who Killed Me, Norbit, Daddy Day Camp Lead Razzie Noms
No awards season — even a strike-tainted one — would be complete without the Razzies, right? Of course not. And that’s why we’ve thoughtfully assembled all of this year’s nominees in one convenient location.

New Star Trek XI, X-Files 2 Stills Revealed
In a mind-boggling convergence of sci-fi pre-release buzz, new stills from Star Trek XI and X-Files 2 were released yesterday — and since we love nothing more than a good old-fashioned geekout, we’ve got ’em all right here for you to look at.

In Other News:

• Dermot Mulroney and Hope Davis will star in the indie comedy Driving Lessons, with Finnish helmer Vivi Friedman set to direct.
• Adrien Brody will join Jeffrey Wright in the drama Cadillac Records from writer-director Darnell Martin.
• Dan Fogler, Judy Greer and Martin Sheen have joined Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart in Traveling, a comedy from director Brandon Camp.
• Ryan Gosling will star and Kirsten Dunst is in talks to star in the love story/mystery All Good Things, with Andrew Jarecki making his feature directorial debut.
• Ken Watanabe has joined Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly in the vampire flick Cirque du Freak, with Paul Weitz directing.
• Tim Meadows and Gillian Vigman have joined Ashley Tisdale in the comedy They Came From Upstairs, directed by John Schultz.
• Penelope Cruz will provide a lead voice for the animated comedy G-Force, from Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films, joining Nicolas Cage, Steve Buscemi, Bill Nighy, Tracy Morgan and Will Arnett.
• Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Wilkinson will join Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in the drama Duplicity, with Tony Gilroy writing and directing for Universal Pictures.
• Milo Ventimiglia has joined Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne and Jean Reno, among others, in the cast of Armored the heist action film from director Nimrod Antal.
  
  Graduating from High School Musical.

Around The Site:

• Take a look back at the many incarnations of Rambo in this week’s Total Recall.
• Check out an exclusive clip from the new horror/dark comedy Teeth here.