The daily gossip: January 24, 2020

(Image credit: Karel Bock/iStock)

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1. Disney is prepping a Bambi remake
2. Brad Pitt says he doesn't remember the first rule of Fight Club
3. The Mean Girls musical is headed to the big screen
4. It sounds like Disney+'s Obi-Wan Kenobi show is in trouble
5. Kumail Nanjiani finally got to eat some junk food again

published 24 January 2020

1. Disney is prepping a Bambi remake

It's increasingly clear Disney will not rest until every animated movie in its vault gets a soulless "live-action" remake. The latest on the docket? 1942's Bambi, which will be remade, like last year's The Lion King, using "envelope-pushing CG technology to create ground-breaking photo-realistic and immersive worlds of nature." And you know what that means: A whole new generation of traumatized kids after Bambi's photo-realistic mom gets a photo-realistic bullet shot into her photo-realistic head.

It's been a busy awards season for Brad Pitt, who has taken home an armful of trophies (and one much-scrutinized encounter with his ex-wife) for his work in Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. So you can forgive him for being a little scrambled during his acceptance speech at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, when he confessed that he doesn't remember the first rule of Fight Club despite starring in the movie. (Then again: Since the first rule of Fight Club is "don't talk about Fight Club," it's possible he was just being really method about it.)

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We're still not sure if "fetch" will ever happen, but it's clear that Mean Girls isn't going out of style anytime soon. Tina Fey's Tony-nominated Broadway musical adaptation of her own 2004 movie is headed for the big screen, in what Fey is now calling her "Marvel universe." And for those who are keeping track at home: That's a movie adapted from a musical adapted from a movie adapted from a book.

Troubling news from a galaxy far, far away: Disney+'s live-action Obi-Wan Kenobi show, which would see Ewan McGregor playing Obi-Wan for the first time since the Star Wars prequel series, has abruptly been shut down over concerns that the scripts aren't up to snuff. What happened? A source claims the Obi-Wan scripts, which included the Jedi Master protecting a young Luke Skywalker, were too similar to The Mandalorian — and to be fair, there's no way even the most adorable Baby Luke could hold a candle to Baby Yoda.

It's been a month since Kumail Nanjiani revealed his new, absurdly jacked physique on Instagram — alongside a confession that achieving such a body is only possible if Marvel pays for "the resources and time" it takes because you're starring in a superhero movie. But during his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Nanjiani took a brief break from his extremely strict diet when Kimmel brought out a massive array of cakes, pies, and pizzas. As he dug into the junk food, Nanjiani confided his only snack during the diet had been sugar snap peas — because if your nutritionist won't let you eat actual sugar, you can at least eat something with "sugar" in its name.

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.