Shooting is nearly finished for Burlesque, a contemporary musical that focuses on a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles, loosely inspired by Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. Entertainment Tonight recently sat down with the cast to get the scoop on what the movie’s about and what it’s like working with the legendary Cher. The film stars a league of notable actors such as Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Couples Retreat), Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), the now Oscar-nominated Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones), and Alan Cumming (X-Men 2). That’s not to mention two powerhouse pop divas who co-headline the film, Cher and Christina Aguilera, both of whom will be singing in the film.

Burlesque marks Cher’s first real role in about 10 years, minus a small cameo in 2003’s Stuck On You, and Christina Aguilera’s big screen debut. The movie focuses on a fledgling burlesque club owned by Tess (Cher) in which Nikki (Bell) is the premier dancer. Ali leaves her small midwestern town and heads to L.A. where she discovers the club, and turns everything around for Tess when she’s given a chance to perform and blows everyone away.

It’s been ten years since Aguilera’s debut album and she’s had plenty of opportunities to do films but has held off until now. Unlike contemporaries such as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce, after all this time she has yet to appear in any feature films because she was waiting for just the right project. She told Marie Claire in January, “I didn’t want to do something that was easy for me. I’ve actually had my character rewritten to be tougher and a little more spunky.” Aguilera also tells Entertainment Tonight, “I’ve always had tremendous respect for [Cher]. A woman who’s done everything before anyone did it.”

Plenty of pop stars have tried foraying into acting and it didn’t turn out very well. Mariah Carey and Madonna come to mind among many others whose acting projects have become infamous and earned them Razzie nominations. When asked about Christina’s acting chops, Cher had glowing things to say. “I’m shocked, but she’s really good. And the other day we were hamming it up so badly, it was so old — like vaudevillians we might as well have been. And she was keeping up. I mean she was hot. She was really up there. Her game is good.”

Aguilera and Cher recently made an appearance at the Golden Globes to do some early film promotion (Burlesque hits theaters Thanksgiving weekend) which created quite the buzz as both women have been known to do. Certainly Screen Gems is hoping the women will be able to return to the ceremony next January as nominees. With such talented actors and a script by Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant, it isn’t a long shot to predict it just might happen.

Below is the full Entertainment Tonight interview with the cast of Burlesque.

New research reveals–not surprisingly–that female writers, directors, producers, etc. fare better in the world of indie films–though still make up only about 24% of the field.

KRS-ONE says hip-hop needs more women. I’m not sure what happened to female rappers. We used to have Queen Latifah, Lil’ Kim, MC Lyte, where’d everyone go?

In its first weekend, the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It grossed over $100 million dollars across the globe, with 21.3% of it coming from the U.S.

A gay man in Karachi, Pakistan was beaten to death after being caught with another man in his home by an angry mob.

Oprah says audiences may not “enjoy” the gritty Lee Daniels film Precious but she says people will appreciate the experience.  The film opens on November 6.

West Hollywood, a gay hotspot in California, is trying really hard to reach out to gay and lesbian tourists in order to boost revenue for the city.

Black comedian Wanda Sykes is being criticized for using white sperm to impregnate her white wife–the couple now have two white babies.

Are the Bonobo apes riot grrls? An article about whether the primates known for living in an unusually matriarchal structure are feminist friendly.

This isn’t the first time that Spike has talked about this issue so I’m not sure why the media is just now picking up on it (though it’s possible it is the first time he’s specifically mentioned Tyler’s name), but I have to say everything Spike is saying is what I’ve been saying all along about this man’s “films” if that’s what you want to call them.

And yes, Ed Gordon is absolutely right. Black people have no one to blame but themselves for these types of movies constantly being put out by Hollywood. It isn’t white people showing up to the theaters giving this man record box office receipts. And I’ll say the same thing I say to feminists who complain about today’s chick flicks. If you don’t show up for the good ones, don’t complain. Where were you when Miracle at St. Anna was released? Where were you when Akeelah and the Bee came out? If no one goes to see these films, Hollywood will not put them out.

There’s so many problems with Tyler’s films I don’t even know where to begin. But this Entertainment Weekly article puts most of the issues quite eloquently.

On the heels of the release of Hilary Swank’s new Amelia Earhart biopic, which is getting horrid reviews, critics are asking where have the strong female characters gone?

A group of LGBT individuals in Boston are planning to protest President Obama for not being enough of a fierce advocate for gay rights, on issues like DADT and DOMA.

Two Sudanese women were arrested during a raid and  sentenced to $110 in fines and twenty lashes for nothing but simply wearing pants.

A judge in Cook County has dismissed a case brought against Craiglist for not effectively curbing prostitution ads on its website.  The judge says there are plenty of legitimate services being offered.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their crime-fighting ways are moving to Nickelodeon, as Viacom buys the franchise from the Mirage Group for $60 million.

A student in Australia has been attacked by a school supervisor for promoting a rally in support of gay rights.  The teacher yelled “Faggot kid, you don’t know what real marriage is!”

Couples Retreat star Kristen Bell says she’s excited to get back to her “snarkier roots” in the movie musical Burlesque where she plays Christina Aguilera’s rival. She also says Christina has written music for the film.

Ewan McGregor says he enjoyed kissing Jim Carrey in the film I Love You Philip Morris, which is set for a February 2010 release in the United States.

American Idol runner up and out “friend of Dorothy” Adam Lambert has released his first music video which is the main soundtrack record for the movie 2012 starring John Cusack. I honestly think the song is a schmaltzy mess, but hopefully it’s not a reflection of what his album will sound like.

The cast of 5-time Grammy winning pop diva Christina Aguilera’s movie debut Burlesque is shaping up to be a mighty impressive one. So far we have Christina herself, playing a small-town girl from the midwest with a big voice, Cher, the owner of a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club that Christina finds herself in, Veronica Mars‘ Kristen Bell as the rival who Christina knocks off her perch, Twilight’s Cam Giganget–Christina’s love interest, Stanley Tucci–whose role is still unknown, and now today the news has broke that Tony winner for Cabaret Alan Cumming has a part in the film.

Most known probably for his roles in X2: X-Men United, Spice World, Spy Kids, Cumming is actually quite an accomplished actor with great roles in smaller films like Urbania, Investigating Sex, and Suffering Man’s Charity, as well as a ton of great theater work.  One role in particular, his critically acclaimed run as the MC in the 1998 revival of Cabaret won him a Tony award.

In an interview with Sirius XM radio’s Live On Broadway on Wednesday morning Cumming revealed that he’ll be starring in the film as well as singing a song for the soundtrack with Cher and Christina Aguilera.

Cumming and Bell have already worked together on a musical project in a movie called Reefer Madness from 2005.

Julianne Hough of Dancing With The Stars fame has also been confirmed as being a part of the cast, playing Christina’s pregnant friend.

The film is set to be released around Thanksgiving of 2010.

If you happened to miss Drew Barrymore’s recent interview on 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper you should check it out. I’m sure most of you know she was deep into booze and drugs at a very young age (she says she was doing cocaine at 12), but she says she had parents who completely neglected her and was desperate to be a part of movies because the cast and crew were her only family. She got herself emancipated at age 15 and even when she was in rehab her parents still called her and asked for money.

She’s promoting her new film Whip It, which she has a supporting role in but also is her directorial debut. The movie is a bit rough around the edges but overall it’s a really enjoyable film. Unfortunately it hasn’t done as well at the box office as many expected it to. Hopefully word of mouth can give it some legs.

After the terrible tragedy of her mother, brother, and nephew being murdered earlier this year, getting married, and having her first child, it seems as if Academy Award and Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson is ready to get back on the horse and get herself in front of the big screen again.

Roger Friedman over at the Hollywood Reporter gives the scoop:

Hudson is now rumored to be in talks for an indie biopic about South African leader Winnie Mandela. Winnie was a winner during her years as wife of Nelson Mandela during his 27-years of illegal incarceration. But in later years she lost her way, getting into legal trouble and becoming a pariah. She and Mandela have been divorced for some time.

The word is that either the terrific Derek Luke or actor Idris Elba might be up for the part of Nelson Mandela. Details are still sketchy.

Apparently this isn’t the first film about Winnie, Sophie Okenedo played her recently in a BBC film.

I loved Hudson in Dreamgirls; despite what many say I think her actual acting was quite good as well as the singing. She was kind of just there in the Sex and the City movie but that movie itself was a hot mess and so was her character. I did however, like her a lot in The Secret Life of Bees, which if you haven’t seen was a great movie. So I’ll be looking forward to seeing Jennifer stretch her acting muscle and take on a more challenging role.

A male reporter embarrassed himself and George Clooney at the Venice Film Festival when he removed his shirt and proclaimed he wanted George to “take him now”.

Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh talk more about “The Informant”, the film where Damon had to gain 30 lbs to play a man who blows the whistle on his company’s price-fixing scheme.

A gay man in Thunder Bay, Canada was brutally beaten by six to eight men with bricks, and will now require reconstructive surgery to deal with the damage done to his face.

Openly gay Representative Barney Frank is eyeing a position in the Obama cabinet.  I doubt it will happen, but if it did he’d be the first gay person ever in the Presidential cabinet.

Ntozake Shange was slated to write and direct the film adaptation of her play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, but now Tyler Perry has stolen the entire film from her.

Female UK prison officer wins case against correctional facility she claims treated her unfairly for being young, female, and pretty.

More tour dates have been canceled for homophobic Jamaican singer Buju Banton.  One of his most popular songs talks about shooting gays and burning their bodies.

Proud, admitted homophobe Tim Hardaway is now working hard to save gay lives.  He says “we don’t have to accept the act, but we have to accept them as people.” How generous of you.

Gay screenwriter/director Mike White is at the helm of a new HBO comedy pilot starring the fabulous Laura Dern, who caught HBO’s attention with her priceless portrayal of Katherine Harris in the movie Recount.

The Hollywood Reporter scoops:

Mike White and Laura Dern’s comedy project at HBO is moving forward with a pilot order from the network.

The single-camera comedy, tentatively titled “Enlightened,” stars Dern as a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening and becomes determined to live an enlightened life, creating havoc at home and work.

“The only thing I can think of cooler than making a show at HBO is doing it with Laura Dern,” White said. “I am totally stoked.”

I’m a huge fan of Mike’s because of his films The Good Girl (one of my favorites of all time) and Chuck and Buck.  Not so into School of Rock, Nacho Libre, and Year of the Dog, but hey, at least we have a gay screenwriter out there that’s making movies that appeal to mainstream audiences.