David Fincher may be temperamental about having his films come out just so, but he's got nothing on James Ciallela, who shot a fellow moviegoer for interrupting Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

One might think that Fincher would owe Ciallela a note of thanks—after all, the director knows from angry outbursts, and he confessed at a New York discussion last night that he was half-masochist, half-sociopath. However, Fincher turned dovish when bringing up the Button gunman, says the NY Times:

When a cell phone went off in the audience at Frederick P. Rose Hall in the Time Warner Center, Kent Jones, the evening’s ringleader and the associate director film programming of the film center, issued a stern reprimand about turning off the darn devices. “Thank God it isn’t Philadelphia,” Mr. Fincher said. “Some dude got shot for talking on his cell phone. I don’t advocate that.”

However, the director added, if a moviegoer with a pistol in the waistband of their sweatpants just happened to encounter Fincher enemy John Goldwyn (say, at a Paramount screening room, maybe tomorrow at 4?), he or she may find a special gift in the mail: an immaculately preserved Jared Leto dreadlock from the set of Panic Room, with a mysterious note inscribed, "XOXO, DF."

• Of Virtual Replicants and Sociopathic Tendencies [NY Times]

Glenn Goldman, the proprietor of Book Soup, died at age 58 Saturday from pancreatic cancer, one day after announcing he'd be selling the Sunset Strip landmark.

"He knew he was going to die," a friend told the LAT, "and he wanted his two young sons to have the money for their future."

It's a sad farewell to a local entrepreneurial visionary, and we're hopeful that Book Soup will pass on to loving and capable hands, and not some faceless corporate monolith who would deprive us of the kinds of Blanche and Rose Live! delights that made the store such a regular fixture in our To Do listings.

• Glenn Goldman, owner of Book Soup, dies at 58 [LAT]

Hugh Hefner spent some time last weekend recounting his Hollywood obsession for the LAT. Conspicuously missing from his list: Brett Ratner, who is likely to direct a Hefner biopic in the years ahead.

In fact, it's only the pedigree elsewhere on the credit roll — Brian Grazer is producing, Robert Donwey Jr. is a front-runner to star — that seems to reassure Hefner in the face of a B-Rat incursion on his life story:

"It's going to be a very curious change of pace for him . . . but I believe in Brian," Hefner said. "The one thing I would want the film to be is something other than a light comedy, to have something to say and express something about the change in social sexual values. You know, Brian made a comment that I was the only man who had made love to over a thousand women and they all still liked him. And I do take some pride, in fact, that I remain friends with the majority of former wives and girlfriends. I am a romantic."

This can't be reassuring to Ratner, who would hate to have wasted his last year and a half of attempts to convince Hefner that he, too, is a romantic with male-slut sensitivity befitting his legendary subject. The law of averages suggests that the whole girl-ashamed-to-be-seen-with-the-Rat thing is bound to happen on occasion, just as eventually Ratner would have it in him to make a watchable, rewarding non-sequel. You're in good hands, Hef. Just keep an eye on them around the mansion.

• Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's first true love was movies [LAT]

Greasy chicks and dudes compete for male affection tonight on The Bachelor and Bromance, respectively. We try to restrain ourselves, but can't help noting our disdain for the latter, regardless of tonight's Bro-athalon results.

WATCH

The Bachelor [8 PM, ABC] - Single father Jason Mesnick is back after being shot down by last season's Bachelorette, and he's looking for love for himself and his son. Of the 25 women competing for his heart, four are single mothers themselves, which is some sort of twist, but we hope that revelation comes in a post-coital moment like real life and accompanied by a slide-whistle sound effect.

True Beauty [10 PM, ABC] - Vanessa Minnilllo hosts this new Tyra Banks/Ashton Kutcher-produced competition series. Ten contestants (male and female) compete in various challenges to see who is the most beautiful, "inside and out." The winner gets cash and will be included in People's "100 Most Beautiful" issue. Bravo has a similar series in development, but the winner only gets to copy edit the Details power list.

TiVo

Antique Roadshow [8 PM, PBS] - The Price is Right for the NPR crowd. Host Mark L. Walberg (of Temptation Island and Moment of Truth fame) and the squad of experts are in Palm Springs for the Season 13 opener. There they appraise an abstract expressionist painting (how fun) worth half a million dollars, substantially more than anything else appraised on the previous 12 seasons. Grab a bottle of two-buck Chuck and play along at home.

KILL

Bromance, The City & Daddy's Girls [9-11 PM, MTV] - We're not sure how much Ketamine you all have done, but there's a phenomenon associated with Special K called the "K-hole". As Wikipedia describes, the K-hole is a dissociative state where, after taking large amounts of the pet tranq, users may not "remember their own names, or even know that they are human, or what that means." This is how we feel when watching any of these three MTV shows. Whether it's Brody Jenner looking for bros, Whitney Port looking for love and busy work at her fake office in a truncated version of Manhattan, or Rev Run's daughters trying to make it on their own in the real world, this programming makes us forget why human existence matters, which is especially important in a time of global strife. That said, we'll probably watch it online tomorrow morning.

Having journeyed through the dark abyss and emerged to become the current Biggest Star in the World Upstaged by a Mischievous Doggy, junketphobic Marley & Me star Owen Wilson will be counting many blessings in 2009.

And by blessings of course we mean his many Rolexes, whose diamond-bespeckled hands helped lift the actor in his hour of despair. At least that's what this post from Melrose Jewelers's weird, celebrity-focused blog seems to think—in a post so heartwarming, they've already issued a press release about it!

An excerpt:

After a frightening suicide attempt in 2007, Rolex watches and benefits appeared to play an essential role in actor Owen Wilson’s recovery...A People magazine cover story out Friday quotes a friend as saying: "Owen was very despondent. He slit his wrists. He almost did not make it." It was a dark period in Wilson life, and Rolex watches played a key role in helping Owen regain his bearings and his success.

Although Owen Wilson has worn a Rolex GMT Master in the popular films Wedding Crashers and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, he chooses to wear a Rolex Submariner in his everyday life.

The Rolex Submariner is part of Rolex’s Oyster Perpetual Professional line. After returning home from the hospital, Owen was captured by a photographer walking on the beach, wearing his Rolex Submariner. Later, he was seen riding his mountain bike in Santa Monica with the Rolex Submariner on his wrist. Obviously, the quality of a Rolex watch helped Owen realize and appreciate the quality of his own life.

Obviously! From now on, every time Wilson looks at his wrists, he won't be thinking of the end. He'll be thinking of the beginning...of a love affair with the special edition Owen Wilson Rolex LifeAffirmer: a joyous, $24,000 platinum chronometer that can measure the humidity in four continents simultaneously. Hope winds eternal.

• Rolex Quality and the Recovery of Owen Wilson [Melrose Jewelers]

The Producers Guild of America just announced its five Best Picture nominations. So which films made the cut, and which found no endorsement with this leading Oscar indicator?

First, the (mostly predictable) nominations:

The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk

The PGA recognition positions Dark Knight well for the Oscars, though the organization historically misses one Best Picture-nominated film a year (last year, the Academy subbed in Atonement for the PGA-vetted The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and in 2006, the PGA gave a slot to Dreamgirls, which went on to face a surprise Oscar snub in favor of Letters to Iwo Jima). That the Academy likes to sneak in a period drama should serve up some consolation for also-rans like Doubt, The Reader, and Revolutionary Road, but the latter two films are beginning to circle the Best Picture drain (without the sure-shot trifecta of acting nominations that will keep Doubt buzzy throughout its expansion). At least Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein can agree on one thing: someone needs to be so fired for this.

But who cares about those real people movies! The burning question is whether these nominations hurt the chances of Oscar dark horse Wall-E. Pixar's finest actually did score a PGA nom in the animated category (alongside Bolt and Kung Fu Panda), and we've heard that animated films may not be allowed to submit in any other PGA category besides the one set aside for them. Also encouraging: the Oscars weigh their nomination votes according to numerical ranking, and Wall-E fans, who may be among the Academy's most ardent, are likely to list the film as their number-one choice. Sure, it's still a long shot, but Disney: it may be time to send EVE out to those voter-rich Toluca Lake retirement homes!

After several months of negotiations, Universal has closed its deal to sell genre-mill Rogue Pictures to the studio's close financing partners at Relativity Media.

Relativity paid $150 million for the specialty arm and its library, a nifty pick-up featuring acquisitions like Shaun of the Dead and in-house productions including Assault on Precinct 13; Rogue has manufactured roughly three low-budget projects since 2004, led last year by the sleeper hit The Strangers. But Universal has bigger, literally better things to do in these depressive times — namely, keep its art-house label Focus Features in fighting trim for 2009 and get the hell away from Rogue's forthcoming Castlevania adaptation. Uni will, however, continue to release Rogue films for a discounted distribution fee of 10%, starting Friday with The Unborn.

One forecast says this kind of New Economy horse-trading that could actually make films better, and we totally agree: Less money, more accountability, better movies. Not to mention, it's great fun to watch brassy Relativity boss Ryan Kavanaugh at the wheel of his various entrepreneurial toys. Figuratively speaking, of course.

• Relativity Snaps Up Rouge [Variety]

Sherri Shepherd's got an entry for Hollywood PrivacyWatch! On a plane over the holidays, she realized that the "short," fedora-clad man she'd been bothering was none other than the famously mercury-addled Jeremy Piven.

Shepherd recounted the story today to her cohosts on The View—including a bored, openly contemptuous Barbara Walters. As Shepherd tells it, she upgraded with her miles, landing her and her hyper three-year-old son Jeffrey in a seat right next to the Entourage star. Sadly, Piven was not a fan of the childish talk and incessant shrieking (he also disliked Jeffrey). Somewhere, we imagine even David Mamet musing upon a trapped, Shepherd-adjacent Piven and deciding, "There. That's punishment enough."

• The View [ABC]

Regardless of your New Year's party indiscretions, the possibilities are still endless for 2009. Maybe cut back on the drinking, but whoever you made out with in that alley will change your life. We promise.

If today - January 5 - is your birthday: There is no need to do a Jett Travolta bit during your set at the Comedy Store this Friday. The audience will know that you are an edgy, pull-no-punches comic based on your opening bit about your grandparents having anal sex.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19): Even though your pilot wasn't ordered to series, there's no reason to be sad. No one knows what exactly is behind a network's decision, though they probably made their choice based on a confusing storyline, unsympathetic characters and extremely poor testing scores.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18): Don't get us wrong, you do look good in that Facebook photo album you posted over the weekend, but keep those photos private. It's cute when you and your friends do silly lesbian stuff for the camera, but when that real lesbian in Human Resources checks out your profile, you probably won't be getting that development assistant position.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20): The weather outside might be chilly, but your romantic relationship couldn't be hotter. The sex is great, the conversation is intelligent and everything is pretty much perfect. Sure, you'll dump her the second you have any semblance of fame, but that's her problem.

Aries (March 21 - April 19): The career of David Hyde Pierce, a fellow Aries, will show you the ideal lifepath this week. Your solid resume of mainstream and indie stage and screen roles will ensure you a lifetime of recognition from fans, although after seeing you in public, your admirers will immediately report to their friends that you looked sickly.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20): Don't worry, your film will eventually find a distributor, it just might take longer that you thought. It was disappointing that you couldn't get it out in time for 2008 awards consideration, but Nazi guilt movies are evergreen.

Gemini (May 21 - June 21): All celebrity parents want their children to be unique, but you might have gone too far this time. Even though there's a cute story behind it, there's no reason to name your son after an item on the Chipotle menu.

Cancer (June 22 - July 22): Awards season is here and everyone has a theory about who should win. That's all well and good, but stop telling all of your co-workers that Richard Jenkins is your "sleeper pick" for Best Actor. The only thing worse than someone who has to give everyone her opinion is having to listen to it again over the cubicle wall.

Leo (July 23 - August 22): Don't be discouraged about your weak writing skills. They say that true mastery is only achieved after 10,000 hours of practice, and though you've only been working at it for thirty minutes, your screenplay is already marginally better.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22): It was a great Holiday season for you, gift-wise. You got everything you wanted: Blackberry Storm smartphone, MacBook Pro computer and some spending cash from your grandparents. But that New Year's Eve make-out session with Brody Jenner? That's the greatest gift of all.

Libra (September 23 - October 23): You were a distracted executive assistant in 2008 and you need to regain your boss's trust. Bury the past and move forward, and don't forget to pick-up his cat's medicine or you'll be paying for another pet cemetery plot.

Scorpio (October 24 - November 21): Among your group of friends, you have always fashioned yourself as the Randy Jackson, a consensus-builder with a level head and a gregarious nature. Sadly, you have been wrong: You are the the over-the-top rude, unnecessarily critical Simon Cowell. Still, It's better than being the Paula.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21): You think too much with your head and not enough with your heart. Common sense says that the financials for your studio show a company deeply in the red with no chance for recovery during a period of economic contraction, but your heart wants you to keep the doors open so your employees can make a living. Screw your heart, all it got you was three divorces and two bypass surgeries.

In a timely, sort of surprising portent of things to come this awards season, the National Society of Film Critics chose the Israeli animated documentary Waltz With Bashir as its best picture of 2008.

Ari Folman's autobiographical exploration of his role in Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon — literally painted from repressed memories corroborated by his Army mates — had settled into about a thousand Top 10 lists since its release on Christmas, but had managed only also-ran awards status since failing to win the top prize in May at Cannes. Its Oscar chances were equally endangered, facing WALL-E in the Animated Feature category and French sensation The Class in the Foreign-Language running. (It wasn't released in time to qualify for Best Documentary.)

But with Israel now embarking on another bloody military foray and WALL-E safely recognized in second place, the NSFC went topical in Bashir's favor. The rest of the list offered yet another boost to Happy-Go-Lucky, which tied WALL-E as Best Picture runner-up and claimed four prizes for Best Actress (Sally Hawkins), Best Supporting Actor (Eddie Marsan) and Best Director and Screenplay for Mike Leigh. All will go to the Oscars, where Hollywood will commence vanquishing them in favor of Kate Winslet or Heath Ledger or Christopher Nolan and/or whomever else the Academy is more comfortable putting in front of a worldwide viewing audience. The run was fun while it lasted.

Elsewhere, Sean Penn claimed Best Actor, and German actress Hanna Schygulla came out of nowhere to score Supporting Actress for the Turkish film The Edge of Heaven. Best Documentary went to Man on Wire, which is having its own Oscar engraved as we speak. Congrats to all, and may other international current events conspire less violently to prod Academy voters to their recognition in February.

• National Society of Film Critics Awards 2008 [DaveKehr.com]