xxx GOSSIP GIRL-A Gossip Girl Fan Site/Blog Thing

Reminder

2009-09-25T19:23:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder, updates can now be found at http://omg-gg.blogspot.com/

Domain Name

2009-09-19T10:17:00.000-05:00

I am currently working on getting a domain name. Right now, I'm waiting for the apporval which should come in a couple of days. If it does get approved, our new URL will be http://omgg.co.nr...I'll announce when I'll be switching the URL. Right now, you can reach us at omg-gg.blogspot.com in preparation for our new domain!

Happy Belated Birthday

2009-09-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

Matthew Settle turned 40 on September17.

New 302 Clip

2009-09-19T09:53:00.003-05:00

Penn Badgley Talks Tattoos ‘N Tennis — Exclusive JustJared.com Interview

2009-09-19T09:53:00.000-05:00

Gossip Girl hunk Penn Badgley rubs shoulders with Brooke Shields and Ugly Betty’s Becki Newton at the exclusive opening of the Renaissance New York Hotel 57 on Thursday (September 17) in New York City.

The 22-year-old Gossip Girl hunk gave JustJared.com an exclusive interview after British singing sensation Mr Hudson’s smashing performance.

JJ: Hi, Penn! How have you been?

PB: I’m great – I can’t complain. You’re always done up more than the rest of the people here! This jacket is very nice – what is this? (tugs at jacket zipper) Zara! It looks even nicer than that, though.

JJ: Thank you! What’d you think of Mr Hudson’s performance?

PB: He’s great – I’d never even seen or heard of him before and it was nice – it was simple, pleasant music.

JJ: How was the US Open [with girlfriend Blake Lively]?

PB: It was amazing – I loved it! I had never watched tennis in person and I’d grown up being aware of it and watching it but it was so much more exciting to see in person. [Roger] Federer with that between-the-legs shot – that was f—in’ incredible. That was really the highlight of my weekend – I was hoping for that kind of moment. At that point, I was expecting it. The game had reached a point where it was either going to end soon or it was going to go on for, like, two hours. So I was hoping, hoping, hoping that would happen. It was great.

JJ: Did you watch the finals?

PB: You know what, I was working and I wasn’t able to see them, so I heard just today that del Potro won! He is two years younger than me! I was looking through the US Open profile thing and he was born in ‘88. Amazing.

JJ: Where’s Blake — is she shooting Gossip Girl?

PB: She’s working tonight.

JJ: I want to talk to you guys together!

PB: I know! She’s the star of the show – what can I say?

JJ: How has Fashion Week been?

PB: I didn’t do anything except for tonight – I did [Tommy] Hilfiger’s show. It was great – a lot of fun. I sat next to Taylor Swift! I’d never met her before – she was very sweet.

JJ: How was the Anna Sui event? How are the clothes?

PB: They were for girls, mostly. The idea is that it’s a Gossip Girl line for cheaper. I support that.

JJ: Have you visited Blake on the set of The Town yet?

PB: I went up to Boston – she wasn’t shooting, but we went up for the Red Sox/Yankees game. And the rest of the time, I’ve been on location shooting. I know what the job entails, so I don’t want to be there distracting her. I like to spend my own time by myself so I give her that respect. In fact, a lot of the time, she wants me to come and I say, “No, I think you should take it.”

JJ: I heard she gets it on with Ben Affleck – are you going to be jealous?

PB: I’ll say this, because we don’t talk about this much, but in another relationship, I might be – but with her, she and I have such an unbelievable trust. So in this situation, no, I’m not remotely. It’s not that I’m an inconceivably jealous person, but in this particular relationship, no.

JJ: Do you have any tattoos?

PB: No, but there’s a design that I’ve had for about four years that I want to get, but it’s a little large and it’s kind of weird.

(Someone from the hotel interjects and asks me if I’m doing an interview. Clearly, I was. I had an audio recorder out this whole time and she asks who I’m interviewing for.)

PB: Just Jared! This is Just Jared here!!!

JJ: Who was that lady?

PB: I don’t know, I met her yesterday.

JJ: Back to your tattoo — what’s the design of?

PB: It’s weird. I’m sure everybody who reads this is going to be, like, “What the f*** is he thinking?” It’s a design that kind of goes up this way (he touches his rib cage underneath his right armpit). It’s weird and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get it.

JJ: Did you draw it yourself?

PB: Yes, because I draw. You know, the first thing I ever wanted to do was be a cartoonist, so yeah. Drawing has been a long passion of mine, so I designed it.

JJ: Have you watched any of the other CW shows yet, like Vampire Diaries?

PB: I saw a little bit of Vampire Diaries and I liked it – it looked sharp and I like the main guy, who I met and is a really nice guy. I actually just met Sara Paxton from The Beautiful Life. She’s a sweet girl. I haven’t seen many of the shows – it seems like they’re doing well, though.

Shopping: Weekend: Teen Vogue Haute Spot hosts ‘Gossip Girl’ stylist Eric Daman and more

2009-09-18T18:44:00.003-05:00

Teen Vogue Haute Spot, South Coast Plaza’s kiosk for stylish teenagers, hosts more happenings this weekend in the Carousel Court.

At 4 p.m. today, Vans will present its Traveling Closet, in which a Teen Vogue stylist will happily rummage and offer back-to-school styling tips and tricks.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, Mandy Robinson, Billabong’s design director, invites the public to view the brand’s latest collection. You can also customize a Billabong T-shirt at a special Haute Spot station. Australian singer Ashleigh Mannix is scheduled to perform.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Head “Gossip Girl” stylist Eric Daman will appear for a question-and-answer session and demonstrate styling tips on audience volunteers. Daman will also offer a behind-the-scenes peek at a special photo shoot.

At 4 p.m. Monday, DKNY-sponsored Model Mondays is again looking for the next Teen Vogue face. Get a makeover and strike a pose for a chance to appear in an upcoming issue.

3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. Noon to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Meester terrifies cops with bloody face

2009-09-18T18:43:00.005-05:00

The Gossip Girl star was dashing home after shooting new thriller The Roommate and had forgotten to wipe the fake goo off her face.

She says, “My character goes through a lot of problems… (and) I ended up with a lot of blood on my face… I looked like I had been in a cage fight.

“The police pulled me over… I might have been going a little fast… They were like, ‘How much have you had to drink?’ and when I said, ‘Nothing,’ they said, ‘Get out of the car’. They made me do the follow the finger and the whole thing and then they were like, ‘When does the movie come out?’

“I was just so out of it from the movie, I wasn’t drunk… I was in a weird state of mind, driving home and it was about three o’clock in the morning… I think they thought somebody had beaten me up.”

Joanna Garcia joins ‘Gossip Girl’ for Romeo & Juliet-type story

2009-09-18T18:43:00.002-05:00

Though Joanna Garcia’s CW series “Privileged” was not picked up for a second year this season, the network is still in business with the star.

Garcia will join “Gossip Girl” in its season 3 premiere this evening, playing a Southern socialite who’s dating Nate (Chace Crawford)… something their families may not be so thrilled about though.

Read on for details…

So, “Gossip Girl”! Good stuff. You’ve been working on CW shows since the network began, but “GG” is sort of their flagship series. Given your long relationship with them, can we assume that you didn’t have to audition for this role?
JG: Yeah, you know, “Privileged” got canceled and I became available and I really admire [executive producers] Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, so it just sort of came together like that.

What can you say about the character you’re playing?
JG: Bree is a Southern heiress. She’s from Texas. She doesn’t really have a ton of Texas in her, except maybe the family loyalty thing. She’s very polished, well educated, she’s a grad student at Columbia and she and Nate meet on an airplane flying home from London. There’s an instant connection and this sort of “Romeo & Juliet” love story plays out.

Ahh, there will be family drama.
JG: Yes… They don’t know anything about each other’s families, they just meet on a plane and, you know, they feel this instant chemistry.

And if she’s a grad student, she’s a bit of an older woman for Nate, no?
JG: A little bit, yes.

Is that an issue or is it not a big deal?
JG: No, not really. I think that [my character is slightly older than Nate] because people knew me on “Privileged” as a certain age, so it was just sort of a direct translation of that.

It has been reported that Bree has an evil side. Is that accurate?
JG: No, it’s actually really not. I don’t know where that came from. We all kind of marveled at that [rumor when it was first started]. If there’s any controversy that’s associated with Bree, it has everything to do with her deep family ties and loyalties. But she’s not evil by any stretch of the imagination. At least not yet!

So far you are shooting just four episodes, yes?
JG: Yes.

Four consecutive episodes?
JG: No, it’s actually four episodes over the first five.

Cool. And is there an possibility of Bree returning after that?
JG: I think that on “Gossip Girl,” anything is possible. There’s always a chance, I guess. I would be happy to do more if they wanted me to.

Is this a character that the audience will like and want to root for?
JG: I hope so. I think the [Nate/Bree] love affair is a very special, little sweet thing and I hope that there’s a likability to Bree that will make people want to root for them. There is a strong connection between them and I think that’s very apparent in all the scenes that [Chace and I] shot together. But, you know, there’s definitely a lot of complications too, so hopefully that makes for interesting storytelling.

Of course most of your scenes are with Chace, but did you get the chance to work with the other cast members?
JG: I actually got to work with every single cast member. It was awesome. We had a lot of fun.

Can you tell us how Bree gets involved with the other characters?
JG: The relationship that Bree has with everyone is pretty much filtered through Nate. You know, she meets everyone because of Nate. But there is definitely some involvement with other characters, I’d probably get my butt kicked if I told you how though.

Cat fight with Blair?
JG: Actually… no. But that’s all I’m saying!

Can you say anything about how Chace rates as a kisser?
JG: [Laughs] You’re the first person to ask me that! No, I’ve told everyone the same thing: Kissing Chace is everything you’d imagine it to be and more. But he’s not paying me to say that.

His publicist is following you around.
JG: [Laughs] We have the same publicist!

Ha! Okay, last thing, I have to ask you about “Privileged” and its premature cancelation.
JG: Yeah, it came as a surprise. We definitely thought that we were coming back for another year. But, you know, the network is much bigger than one show and I think, creatively, they have a lineup this year that is a little more streamlined, that has the same feel and tone to it and “Privileged” didn’t fit in that [formula]. And, ultimately, everything happens for a reason. I’ve been in this business long enough to believe that. “Privileged,” without a doubt, was one of the best work experiences of my life. Every crew member cried when we got canceled. But I was then given the opportunity to be in New York and on “Gossip Girl” and spend the summer in a city that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. So many things have happened in my life here that I’ll forever be grateful for. So I figure, what’s meant to be is meant to be.

If Blair Waldorf Actually Went to NYU There’s No Way She’d Eat at Downstein

2009-09-18T18:42:00.006-05:00

121bdec14532de7c_blair_waldorfGoodbye Central Park, hello Washington Square! This season’s Gossip Girl, which premieres tonight, is sure to be both a tongue-in-cheek homage to and indictment of our lovely university. After fucking up her chances of getting into Yale (after a series of so many mishaps I can no longer even recall them), mean queen Blair Waldorf will be attending NYU, which was probably her last choice after Brown (Ew, hippies).

As we approach tonight’s season 3 opener, we wondered what it would be like if Blair actually attended NYU. Below you can find a few of our best guesses, but we’ll just have to wait and see how accurately the show’s portrayal will be. (Considering how ‘accurately’ they portray life in NYC, it will probably not be accurate at all.) After the jump: where would Blair eat, shop, live and more if she were really an NYU student?

229149448eOOjdI_phLiving

If Blair had to choose a freshman dorm, I’m sure she’d pick the illustrious Hayden, and probably nab one of those corner bedrooms I was always jealous of. Too bad Gramercy isn’t for freshman, because that’s certainly the dorm she’d be most comfortable in, as it not only features the most amenities, but is also the farthest north and therefore closer to home. Of course, realistically, Ms. Waldorf would never subject herself to living with the smelly (soon-to-be) hipster masses at NYU. She’d most likely get a gorgeous apartment in the West Village: a huge loft drenched in sunlight at Perry West, or maybe a quaint brownstone which she could decorate primly as if she still inhabited the Upper East Side.

School

Gallatin would be a nightmare for Blair, a lady so blindly steeped in and devoted to heteronormative gender archetypes!* The second someone identified as “pan-sexual” in class she’d feel another bout of bulimia coming on. Similarly, Tisch is way too artsy, and studio 9am-5pm on Fridays would not sit well with her. That places her in the run-of-the-mill CAS, where she can pursue a career in something like Art History, or even Stern as a Marketing major, so that she could help her mother build her brand as a fashion designer. I’m sure there are some evil business geniuses at Stern who would also be willing to help her draw up a foolproof plan for UES social circle domination. Not to mention the future moneymen she could meet if things don’t work out with Chuck or Nate…

*I actually crowdsourced this and posed the question to the Twitter masses. Almost everyone said that Blair would be in Gallatin, which shocked me because it was the first one I immediately wrote off. However, almost none of those who answered “Gallatin” were actually in Gallatin, so maybe they just don’t realize how unBlair-like it actually is. Or maybe I’m just dead wrong on this one. This is the Most Important Question of Our Time, people. Opinions are welcome in the comments!223chuck

Getting Around

We all know that Blair hates the subway, and despite the fact that there are tons of cute bikes to choose from at places like The Hub Station, I can’t see her wanting to ruin her perfect satin outfits and headbanded hair on something as unladylike as a bike. Blair will walk, or be driven, and that is that.

Eating

I can’t really picture Blair enjoying the eggstravaganza at Downstein. Freshman year does demand a meal plan, but most likely she’d scrap that (what’s a couple thousand dollars, anyway?) for take-out at Prune or a $20 spaghetti entree at Frank, because everyone knows Butter is so last year. Dean and Deluca would deliver all of her groceries, obviously. Of course, that’s only when she isn’t meeting Chuck uptown for cocktails at his father’s hotel. She’d also have to find a nice bathroom to vom up all her food in. Kimmel’s aren’t too bad, and I hear they’re redoing some of the ones at Bobst.

Shopping10-14-08-GOSSIP-GIRL-BLAIR-HAIRBAND-STYLE

Only for a jokey (but potentially epic) “make Blair into a hipster” episode would she ever set foot into NYU sartorial favorites American Apparel and Urban Outfitters. Luckily SoHo can sate her WASP-meets-classy-sex-kitten style almost as well as the UES can, with stores like Intermix and Bloomingdale’s. She’ll probably continue to order her headbands custom-made from some chic online boutique, though.

Friends

Always playing it close to the cuff, Blair’s UES cronies would continue to comprise the majority of her social circle. There’s something about rich people: they can smell it on each other. I’m sure she’d get along just fine with all the East Coast-bred trust fund babies whose parents pad a large part of the university’s endowment. But Blair’s enemies would undoubtedly be the industry-born hipsters who come reeking of California sunshine, weed and glassy mansions from the golden bed of Hollywood. The rich LA kids, all fresh faced and new-moneyed, are undoubtedly her mortal adversaries. Waldorfs are old money and simply do not fraternize with the likes of bigwig producers’ children.

Have any other ideas? Add them in the comments!

CHACE CRAWFORD TALKS GIRL GOSSIP TO OK!

2009-09-18T18:42:00.003-05:00

CHACE Crawford was voted this summer’s ‘hottest bachelor’, his Gossip Girl show is the best thing to hit our screens in decades and he could melt a heart with just a lift of one of those famously luxuriant eyebrows.

So it’s not hard to see why this hunk du jour has been romantically linked to every beautiful girl in Hollywood.

The latest Tinseltown tittle-tattle involves Chace, 24, reportedly snogging the face off Twilight babe Ashley Greene in the back of a limo. But the star has been linked to pretty much every one of his Gossip Girl co-stars in recent months – and notorious party girl Lindsay Lohan is said to have been bombarding Chace with texts too.

The madness around this rising star is only set to intensify as the chiselled sex god prepares to make his first outing as a Hollywood movie leading man, in the remake of classic ’80s musical flick Footloose.

‘I’m training right now in New York, and it’s pretty intense,’ grinned Chace who further delighted fans by adding: ‘I’m getting muscles that I didn’t even know were there!’

Here the Gossip Girl hunk reveals the truth about the supposed romance with Li-lo, lets us in on his style and fitness secrets – and opens up about his co-stars…

We’ve heard you’ve been getting some fruity texts from Lindsay Lohan. Is that true?
It’s funny, I’ve had that question a few times in Europe. I’m not sure where that came from because we’ve been friends and known each other as acquaintances for years and there’s definitely nothing romantic. I’m friends with Samantha [Ronson] and she’s lovely. I wouldn’t do anything to disrespect her or Lindsay I think they’re phenomenal.

You lived with Ed Westwick…
Yeah, yeah we had a blast. We’re like brothers, so we had little fights and then we’d go grab beers at the weekend. It’s interesting because we do these insane 80-hour weeks and then it’s like: ‘What are you guys doing at the weekend?’ So it’s kind of that atmosphere. It’s a good bubble to be in.

The Gossip Girl cast are all very similar ages and you all live in New York – you must go out a lot?
Well we like to go to the quieter places, although it depends. Me, Ed and Leighton [Meester] like to go to shows and concerts.

Are there rules like no going out the night before and you have to be on set by a certain time?
I think we are just expected to be professional. There aren’t really any rules. That’s the thing about being a young actor, you’re forced into maturity. Our private lives are all documented now. The tabloids like to stir up drama about us but we are like one big happy family on set.

Are the rumours about you and your co-star Taylor Momsen true?
No! That’s hilarious. It’s funny she’s only a 16-year-old girl and she’s been thrown into this insane universe, so we all look out for her she’s like our little sister. We really take her under our wing and she’s super intelligent.

The one drag is that she is really young, so she’s not going to get to live a normal life – that’s why we really try to look after her, so any rumours about us are obviously absurd. I knew people would say that as soon as we had a scene together. We had a moment in the second season where we shared a moment, a kiss. And it was like here it comes, here comes the speculation, it’s going to happen.

The second season must have brought a lot more attention from the media. How have you coped?
You’ve got to be aware because the paparazzi are relentless and ruthless and they will stay there until they’ve got a picture. Sometimes we’ll be on set and trying to do a scene and we’ll be forced to stop.

Other times you can give them a picture and they’ll go away. It’s just balance. No one can really prepare you for the kind of conditions you’ll come across. You have to deal with it day by day. Sure it’s going to happen but there’s only a small amount of control you have over it.

What’s the best thing about playing Nate in Gossip Girl?
He’s a stable character – he’s the golden boy and the backbone of the morality. It’s really fun and, as I said before, we’re like a big family on set

Do you have to work hard at looking good?
I’m blessed. I have a beautiful mother and beautiful father so I guess you could say so I’m blessed with good genes. It’s important to have a certain look in the industry but I honestly tend to wake up and comb my hair with my hands. I think I have three pairs of the same jeans, so when I find something I like I tend to stick with it.

Do you go to the gym?
Yes, I’m a big gym frequenter. I guess I got it from playing sports in Texas. I played football from fifth grade onwards so working out was part of my lifestyle. My sister’s a personal trainer and my dad and mom go to the gym so it’s kind of a family thing. It’s a way of life, a lifestyle.

Is there anything you’d really love to do in the movies?
I’m a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, who have had great careers. I want to do some big films. To cultivate a leading man versatility – that is my goal.

Taylor Momsen: ‘Gossip Girl’ Turned Rock Star

2009-09-18T18:41:00.002-05:00

She plays a crafty, fashionista by day, and a rock star by night. “Gossip Girl” star Taylor Momsen is living her dream at the age of 16.

“I’ve actually been singing and writing before I was acting but never did it, because I couldn’t have a record when I was 8,” she told PIX News after performing at Teen Vogue’s Block Party in the West Village Thursday.
Between her roles as the charismatic Jenny Humphrey and the front woman for “The Pretty Reckless,” Taylor says she really doesn’t have time for anything else.
“You know I really don’t have, like, a life outside of it, except for writing of course - about my life,” she said. “It’s great you know, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
As Gossip Girl kicked off a brand new season, Taylor gave us the scoop on the upcoming season.
“So much is happening to everyone. It’s such a big transitional season for everyone because all the other characters are in college, and Jenny is a junior now.”
“It’s a lot of fun, she has some power this season, a lot more money and she’s growing up in the world,” she said
For the fans who think Jenny will one day pick up a mic and belt out a number: keep dreaming
“No, music is my thing,” Taylor said.

BADGLEY: ‘GOSSIP GIRL STARS ARE TREATED LIKE ROYALTY’

2009-09-18T18:41:00.000-05:00

BADGLEY: ‘GOSSIP GIRL STARS ARE TREATED LIKE ROYALTY’

PENN BADGLEY makes sure he doesn’t get swept away in the hysteria surrounding his show GOSSIP GIRL - despite admitting the cast are treated like “royalty” in New York social circles.
The actor is part of an ensemble of good-looking stars in the hit U.S. show, based on the lives of rich Manhattan kids, who regularly get mobbed on-set by manic fans of the series.
But Badgley insists he doesn’t get sidetracked by the attention, especially on the New York party scene - because he’ll never play up to his “teen idol” status.
He tells V Man magazine, “I’m not just a teen star idol. I’m not just that.
“I’ve always tried to distance myself from the character. You don’t want people to think of you as this one guy.
“You barely have to be famous for people to scream when they see you. In certain circles we’re treated like royalty. We’re treated like the Kennedys.”

CRAWFORD TAKES ON DICAPRIO WITH REFAELI DATE

2009-09-18T18:40:00.005-05:00

CHACE CRAWFORD is stepping up his game to become Hollywood’s hottest hunk - he’s reportedly dating Tinseltown’s main poster-boy LEONARDO DiCAPRIO’s supermodel ex.
The Titanic heartthrob ended his relationship with beauty Bar Refaeli earlier this summer (09).
And it looks as though Crawford is keen to step into the actor’s shoes - he was spotted dirty dancing with the stunner in New York on Friday (11Sep09), according to JustJared.com.
A source tells the site, “(They were) dancing on each other, swaying their hips together from side to side.
“At one point, Bar reached down and grabbed Chace’s backside. They were very affectionate with each other. Bar and Chace have been spending a lot of time together since Bar is in town and attending NY Fashion Week events.”
The Gossip Girl actor has been linked to a string of Hollywood beauties recently, including Twilight star Ashley Greene last month.

Off the Cuff With Peter Travers: “Gossip Girl” Star Zuzanna Szadkowski

2009-09-18T18:40:00.002-05:00

Peter Travers and Rolling Stone are wild about Gossip Girl’s Dorota (Zuzanna Szadkowski in real life), so we roped the show’s Polish maid into swinging by our offices to talk about her relationship with Leighton Meester, her cool level, and where the heck she was during graduation at the end of last season. The show premiered last night, but you can only check out Szadkowski screaming out Travers in Polish right here. SEE THE VIDEO HERE!

Chace Crawford: ‘I’m Versatile’

2009-09-18T18:39:00.005-05:00

Chace Crawford has high hopes for his career — he’s hoping to become as successful as Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.
The Gossip Girl star insists he’s versatile actor and is keen to top Hollywood’s A-List.
“I’m a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, who have had great careers,” he said.

“I want to do some big films. To cultivate a leading man versatility — that is my goal.”
Crawford recently insisted he’ll never date one of his Gossip Girl costars, because he wants to keep his personal and professional life separate.
“Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz told me to avoid at all costs dating a costar,” Crawford told Wonderland magazine. “We get to shoot in New York and have that as our playground and do the insane things that we get to be a part of. There’s a part of me that wants to share that.
“But I’m having fun living the bachelor life right now. It’s a good time to be single.”

The Freshman Webclips

2009-09-18T18:39:00.002-05:00

http://www.youknowyouloveme.org/?p=1081

2009-09-18T18:38:00.000-05:00

Usually, recently split-up celebs wince at the “D-word”, but for Kelly Rutherford, divorce is the topic du jour on the September 18 episode of Rachael Ray. While dealing with the painful emotional and legal process, Kelly is also potty-training her son, Hermés, 2, and breastfeeding daughter Helena, 3 months, but Kelly says those things were contentious issues between her and her ex, Daniel Giersch. Addressing the rumors, Rachael asked Kelly, 40, if she had really thrown a laptop at Daniel during one of those arguments – and Kelly denied it. “I wish I had,” she said. Daniel had also claimed that Kelly hid information about her second pregnancy, including her due date, which Kelly contradicted. “He knew the date that I was due. He had wanted to come into the room while I was giving birth in the middle of our divorce. I just don’t think that’s really appropriate,” she told Rachael. In spite of the stressful back-and-forth, Kelly’s focus is on her children. “You’re trying to keep it together for your kids.”

Leighton Meester Interview — JustJared.com Exclusive

2009-09-18T18:37:00.005-05:00

Leighton Meester gives Just Jared an exclusive interview during NY Fashion Week at the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge at NYC’s Bryant Park on Wednesday (September 16). Here’s what the 23-year-old Gossip Girl actress revealed after attending the 3.1 Phillip Lim show:
JJ: Your stylist Logan Horne boy was featured on tastemaster Scott Schuman’s fashion blog The Sartorialist.
LM: Yeah, he showed me! It’s cute. He’s a cutie pie.
JJ: You’ve been attending a few fashion shows this week. When you see a look you like, do you put in a request?
LM: Well, the other night, someone asked me how I dressed myself and I was, like, “My stylist dresses me” but I’d say it’s, like, 80-90% him and the rest is me because I’m very open-minded and we’re always on the same page – just very open-minded and it’s fun.
JJ: You went to a fashion show with Rachel McAdams – how was that?
LM: Altuzarra! Yeah, I met her there and she was nice – [photographers] are always, like, “Can we take a picture together?” but I can’t even describe it. She’s so beautiful in person! Very nice, too.

JJ: How was your Fashion’s Night Out at Bergdorf Goodman?
LM: Yeah, I was working all day long and Alexandre Birman, the shoe designer, I’ve been wearing his shoes a lot – [Logan and I] discovered them and they’re really, really good! I’ve actually been wearing them on the show a lot also. He’s Brazilian and he’s so funny because he and his whole group are Brazilians are so warm and so nice and very sassy. And my stepmother and stepsisters are Brazilian – my dad’s married to a Brazilian woman.
JJ: Do they speak Portuguese?
LM: They speak Portuguese – I know, like, two words because my brother’s baby – he has three children and they’re highly encouraged to speak Spanish, so if I’m going to know any language, it’s going to be Spanish, not Portuguese… and Portuguese is difficult.
JJ: What was it like presenting with Jack Black at the 2009 MTV VMAs?
LM: Lots of fun! He’s really funny. They told me that he was going to be dressed like his character, but… (laughs)
JJ: Where are you with your new album?
LM: It’s hard to say because I’m still working on it so much. I could stop now because I think I have enough material but I’ve come to a point where I’m slowing down. I’m still in the studio all the time working and writing and tweaking but it’s really, really fun.
JJ: Do you have an album title yet?
LM: Yeah, I think I figured it out but I can’t tell you yet. (laughs). Soon!
JJ: If you could encapsulate the essence of your album in one word, what would the word be?
LM: I think that the music itself is very, very fun for the most part. I have a few more ballady, emotional songs. But lyrically, it’s a little more docile – the music is very fun. I guess it’s dance music – it’s electro-driven but it’s still soft.
JJ: Is your leaked song Body Control going to be on the album?
LM: I’m not sure now because obviously somebody leaked it. It kind of sucks, but what can you do? But I was really happy because everyone loves it and I have a Twitter and everybody was always, like, “we love that song!” so it was nice to hear. It kinda did suck that I didn’t have any control over that. I did not have body control over that.
JJ: The next song you leak should be leaked to JustJared.com.
LM: If I ever leaked the music! I don’t know who did it. I think somebody hacked the producer who made the track. It happens all the time, which really sucks, but what are you going to do?

Chace Crawford Gives Taylor Swift Post-VMA “Pep Talk”

2009-09-18T18:37:00.002-05:00

Gossip Girl star Chace Crawford gave Taylor Swift a “pep talk” the day after she was ambushed at the MTV VMAs by Kanye West, a source tells Usmagazine.com.
At the Kings of Leon concert in NYC Monday night, Crawford, 24, spotted Swift and gave her a huge hug.
“I’m so proud of you,” he told Swift, 19. “Don’t let anyone ever take your spotlight ever again.”
Swift thanked Crawford, who, the source says, is “like an older brother type and is very protective over her” (although Swift once told Your Prom magazine Crawford was her “celeb dream date” for prom).

‘Gossip Girl’ gets October premiere on ITV2

2009-09-18T18:35:00.005-05:00

Season three of Gossip Girl will premiere on ITV2 (UK) next month, it has been confirmed.
The first new episode of the teen drama series, starring Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick, will arrive October 7 at 8pm.
ITV2 controller Zai Bennett commented: “We’re pleased to be able to give our viewers their weekly fix of Gossip Girl so soon after it is broadcast in the US.”
The new series, which debuted yesterday in the US, will reportedly feature an appearance from Hilary Duff and a gay kiss involving one of the lead characters.

Simon Miller to Guest Star in Two Episodes of ‘Gossip Girl’

2009-09-18T18:35:00.002-05:00

Simon Miller has been signed to guest star in two upcoming episodes of the hit series “Gossip Girl” (Mondays, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW). In the ‘How to Succeed in Bassness’ and ‘The Grandfather: Part II’ episodes, Miller portrays an actor – famous for playing vampires – who is caught in a triangle between his ex-girlfriend and former co-star, Olivia (recurring guest star Hilary Duff), and Dan Humphrey (series star Penn Badgley). The 25-year old actor has appeared in a number of independently produced films, including “Elah & the Moon,” “Between Love & Goodbye,” “Pickman’s Model,” “Truth Project” and “History of Sexuality.”
He is also a successful fashion photographer whose work appears in Vogue, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, etc. Miller is represented by Ryan Daly of Innovative Artists, and his manager, Cathy Kanner of Kanner Entertainment.
The ‘How to Succeed in Bassness’ episode was written by Sara Goodman and will directed by Joe Lazarov. ‘The Grandfather: Part II’ was written by Lenn K. Rosenfeld and will be directed by Mark Piznarski. Shot in New York City and based upon the best-selling book series by Cecily von Ziegesar, “Gossip Girl” was developed for television by Josh Schwartz & Stephanie Savage and is executive produced by Schwartz, Savage, Leslie Morgenstein, Bob Levy and John Stephens. The series is from College Hill Pictures, Alloy Entertainment in association with Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios.

CW Fall 2009 Promotional Video

2009-09-18T18:34:00.005-05:00

Gossip Girl Season 3 First Night Ratings

2009-09-18T18:34:00.002-05:00

Also having a great night: The CW, which saw strong tune-in for “One Tree Hill” and “Gossip Girl.”
“GG,” in its new 9 p.m. slot, notched its best women 18-34 number (3.3/8) since last December and matched its 2008 fall debut.

The show averaged 2.5 Million viewers.

3.02 Extended Promo

2009-09-18T18:33:00.001-05:00

The Freshman Synopsis

2009-09-18T18:31:00.000-05:00

3.02 The Freshman
September 21st / 9/8c The CW
Blair (Leighton Meester), who is determined to maintain her Queen status in college, embarks on her first day at NYU, along with Dan (Penn Badgley) and Vanessa (Jessica Szohr). Unfortunately, Georgina (guest star Michelle Trachtenberg) turns up as Blair's roommate in the dorms, determined to make Blair a social outcast. As Serena (Blake Lively) prepares to depart for Brown, she and Chuck (Ed Westwick) have a major falling out, so she recruits Chuck's enemy, Carter (guest star Sebastian Stan), to help her get even. Nate (Chace Crawford) and Bree (guest star JoAnna Garcia) decide to explore their relationship further, knowing full well it could cause tension between their families who are political rivals. Taylor Momsen and Matthew Settle also star. Norman Buckley directed the episode written by Amanda Lasher.

(Purchase "301-Reversals Of Fortune" in HD at iTunes)

People.Com Cast Video

2009-09-18T18:27:00.003-05:00

Check out this new video at People.Com, where the cast talk about being back on set.

Exclusive ‘Gossip Girl’ clip: What’s in Dan’s pants?!

2009-09-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

Gossip Girl returns tonight on The CW, but that’s old news. Here’s some new news: I’ve got your first look at Dan and Vanessa’s first season 3 scene together, and it’s a pivotal one. Seriously. At least five major questions are answered, including: 1. Who did Vanessa hook up with over the summer?
2. Who will Vanessa likely hook up with this fall?
3. How has Vanessa’s codependent relationship with coffee changed since last we saw her?
4. Is Dan turning into a metrosexual?
5. What the hell is in Dan’s pants?!
Click to watch the video to find out

NYFW Jessica Szohr Shares Style Secrets

2009-09-12T11:07:00.005-05:00

Glam: What three fashion items are in your closet that you can’t get enough of right now?

Jessica: “I’m liking my Rag & Bone leggings right now. They’re fitted so I feel like my butt is lifted and my legs are pulled together so that’s great. I got these really cool leopard heels that are stacked. I got them from Topshop actually but I saw them by a bunch of designers so I was happy to kind of have a deal with it. And a bunch of blazers I’m liking this year.

Glam: What’s the one thing every woman can wear to make her look and feel confident?

Jessica: A good pair of jeans you can never go wrong with.

Glam: What denim brands do you reach for in the morning?

Jessica: I like Sevens a lot. J Brand I love!

Glam: What can we look forward to in the new season of Gossip Girl?

Jessica: What can you not? It’s a new chapter for all of us. Some of us go to college, some of us are working everyday. We’re kind of growing up. Everyone is coming into their own…

Costar: Kissing Chace Crawford Is ‘Everything You Could Imagine and More’

2009-09-12T11:07:00.003-05:00

When Gossip Girl’s Joanna Garcia needs a sexy inspiration, she doesn’t look further than her costar Chace Crawford.

“This role is a little bit of a departure for me because I’m used to playing characters in funny roles,” Garcia told PEOPLE at the launch of the Gossip Girl-inspired Anna Sui for Target line Thursday. “This is a lot sexier, so it’s definitely nice to have a good partner in my scenes to make me feel sexy and desirable.”

Garcia, 30, will play Nate’s on-screen love interest Bree for four episodes in the upcoming fall season, which premieres Monday on the CW (9 p.m. EST).

Of kissing Crawford, Garcia says, “It’s everything you could imagine and more.” But, she points out, Crawford is even more gorgeous “when you get to know him.”

“He’s such a nice guy and a total dude,” Garcia told PEOPLE. “He’s ready to have a cocktail and kick back and watch sports. And as beautiful as he is on the outside, he’s ten times more beautiful on the inside.”

Does she have anything to say to the millions of jealous fans who wish they could be in her place? “They’re always asking me what it’s like [to kiss Chace],” Garcia says. “And I’m like, ‘Well, it’s not like I slip my tongue down his throat every day.’”

2009-09-12T11:07:00.001-05:00

Chace Crawford & Bar Refaeli Couple Up

2009-09-12T11:04:00.006-05:00

Chace Crawford and Bar Refaeli are starting to get friendly with each other.

The Gossip Girl hunk and Sports Illustrated cover model, both 24, shared a special moment on Friday night (September 11) at NYC hotspot 1Oak.

During Jay-Z’s “Run This Town,” they were “dancing on each other, swaying their hips together from side to side,” a partygoer exclusively tells JustJared.com. “At one point, Bar reached down and grabbed Chace’s backside. They were very affectionate with each other.”

Another source reveals, “Bar and Chace have been spending a lot of time together since Bar is town and attending NY Fashion Week events.” (During Fashion’s Night Out on Thursday, Chace dropped by the Dolce & Gabbana boutique while Bar was at the Ralph Lauren boutique.)

Spotted at the booth next to the unlikely pair: Rihanna hanging out with her entourage. Jay-Z and Kanye also dropped by the club, celebrating their performance together from earlier in the evening at Jay-Z’s 9/11 benefit concert.

Last month, Chace was seen kissing Twilight cutie Ashley Greene. Bar called it quits with Leonardo DiCaprio back in June and has been linked to Brazilian polo player and entrepreneur Ricardo Mansur.

Taylor Momsen Says ‘Gossip Girl’ Is ‘Shocking’ This Season

2009-09-12T11:04:00.003-05:00

Taylor Momsen is ready to take her throne as the Upper East Side’s newest Queen Bee on the upcoming season of “Gossip Girl.” The third season premieres on Monday, and the actress by day, Pretty Reckless rocker by night told MTV News that the writers have cooked up even crazier stuff for Jenny Humphrey and the crew to go through this year.
By now, the cast should be somewhat used to the antics the writers come up with for their characters, but the 16-year-old said she is still amazed by the story lines they create for her. “Every script is shocking,” she said. “You’re just like, what are they going to do this week? It’s amazing how much stuff they come up with for our characters to do.”
She went on to explain — unfortunately, without giving much away — that fans are going to be surprised by the direction the show is going in. “If you had watched the first episode of season one and [then] watched the last episode we just filmed, you’d be like, what?” she said. “What is going on? What is happening?”
But all that drama is makes it so much fun for Momsen to keep coming back as Little J. “It’s a lot of fun,” she said about the upcoming season, adding that fans just need to watch if they want to know exactly what she means. “A lot of mix-ups this year in the season. It’s cool. Stay tuned, for sure.”

MTV Shows

Leighton on Dave Letterman

2009-09-12T11:04:00.001-05:00

Interview part 3: ‘Gossip Girl’ co-exec prod, Josh Safran on funerals, a love child & Henry the cat

2009-09-11T18:46:00.001-05:00

Gossip Girl’s third season premieres this Monday on the CW and the fans are rabid. With the swine flu, sorry, H1N1 virus already posing a public threat, the last thing we need is a rabies epidemic infecting the population. I’ve come up with a solution to this particular strain of Gossip Girl rabies, and it’s sooo much better than getting a shot.
Two days ago, I began posting portions of my interview with Gossip Girl writer and co-executive producer, Josh Safran. So far, he has covered everything from leaked kisses to queen misses. Today, in the final installation, Josh administers the very last drops of what he is able to discuss about the coming season without giving it all away. Let’s just hope there is enough to deter Gossip Girl rabies.

Adrienne Gruben: Let’s get some of the intrigue out of the way early. What can you tell us about this love child situation?
Josh Safran: All I can say about him is that he definitely figures prominently in the show as the season opens, and that he has a complicated romance with one of our leads. You know, by you even saying the term “love child”, it just strikes me as funny. It’s such a soapy turn of phrase. And we might call him the love child too, in the writer’s room. But yet the show never seems soapy to us. Even if the stories seem outlandish - I’m dating an artist who happens to be the son of my best friend’s mother’s new boyfriend — the relationships between the characters, and the characters themselves, are always grounded.
AG: It was announced that Hilary Duff will be on the show this season, and also Tyra Banks, who is a huge fan.
JS: Hilary plays a well-known actress named Olivia Burke who comes to NYU. We try to rip stuff from the headlines, so she’s like Natalie Portman at Harvard, Claire Danes at Yale, Emma Watson going to Brown. That was our jumping off point. Hilary is so kind, so charming. I love the chemistry she has with Dan, with Vanessa. She fits into the world of Gossip Girl completely. And Tyra came in and just ran with what we gave her. Her attitude was, “I am here as an actress, use me,” and she really went for it. She’s excellent. That whole episode (Episode 4) is a blast.
AG: You mentioned trying to rip stuff from the headlines for Hilary Duff’s character. Is this a common practice for the writers?
JS: Yes. Like Law and Order does it. Socialites are in the news, and our show is very much based around, socialites, the Upper East Side, heiresses and the like. We’ll read about things happening to them, and it’s like, “Hey! That would make a great Gossip Girl.”
AG: What else can we expect from season 3?
JS: The other thing to expect from the season is we are very clear that these characters are bridging into adulthood. College is one of the last transitional periods of your life, so we’ve taken that idea and ran with it. There is a scene in Episode 2, “The Freshmen”, written by Amanda Lasher, that to me contains one of the major theses of the season, which is who are you going to be now that you’re out of high school? Do you like who you are? Change happens now — can you actually create your own path now that you’re no longer under your parents’ thumb? Stephanie has always been proud of the fact that we have never entered a classroom in the show. And I agree with her because the show is not about school - and it never was, so in that way the show isn’t changing. The show has always been about kids and their families in New York. It’s just now viewed through the prism of a time of change.
AG: The characters will be in different places in New York, and also out of state. How will you deal with that?
JS: I think kids who grew up in New York tend to circle back to New York after they go to college. I went to Tisch after high school, but I had friends who went to Yale, to Brown, to Sarah Lawrence — you were never too far away to come home on weekends, or when you didn’t have class. Blair and Georgina are at NYU, Nate is at Columbia, Serena is at Brown. Chuck is not going to college, he’s going to run Bass Industries, Jenny and Eric are still in high school. Just know that on the whole, you are going to find people in different places than where we left them. Some, in part, because of their transitions having left home, gone to college. From moving out from their family. And with the adults, Rufus and Lily are engaged.
AG: What is the writer’s room like? What do you guys talk about?
JS: The writer’s room contains some of the smartest, funniest people you’ve ever met. It’s like group therapy you actually can’t wait to go to. We just laugh so much. They’re all fantastic people. I can’t imagine not seeing them everyday. We talk about our lives, our childhoods, we come to the table with our favorite pieces of literature, of art. We’ll talk about things that inspire us, take strong stands on films like Metropolitan and Adventureland. Each writer connects with each character personally. Jessica Queller, a writer from the first two seasons, just had a way with a Blair line, that sardonic, exasperated wit of Blair just flowed from her. She would come in and plop down and at some point during the work day, she was doing it to be funny, but she’d sigh (does high voice) and say, “I want to die!” And [executive story editor] Robby Hull ended up putting a “time of death chart” on the wall because over time, she would say it earlier and earlier in the day, so it went from 6:15PM, to 3:50PM to 2:21PM and by the end of the season she was saying it at, like, 9:02AM. And either moments like that between all of us or the tone they set would go back into what we were writing.
AG: The characters are all so different, and the couple dynamics are all so different. The scene where Chuck and Blair wake up in the limo outside of Georgina’s camp, and they both immediately check themselves in the mirror, and Blair takes out a mint and Chuck uses mouthwash, that is writing that wouldn’t work for any of the other characters, and of course the humor is amped up since it is a couple (they’re weren’t yet, but they were getting there) behaving that way. Writing for them must be a really fun. Do you have as much fun writing for everyone else?
JS: I feel like all the characters and couplings are fun in different ways. Each couple, be it Dan and Serena, Lily and Rufus, Chuck and Blair — each one represents different things we love writing, seeing play out. Chuck and Blair are our longest standing teen couple on the show, so their dynamic is going to reflect that, their history, their issues, but I feel like when you look back, Serena and Dan also had amazing chemistry, they were super fun together, the way their issues played out, and even if they’re no longer a couple, they still have that chemistry in their scenes. Just like Nate and Dan have great friend chemistry together. Their scenes together always make me smile. Writing for Chuck and Blair takes a different part of your brain, the more dastardly, manipulative, bon-mot tossing part, but I’m also grateful to be able to write Serena’s knowing sense of humor, her soul searching, her strength, Jenny’s bold determination and irreverence, Rufus’ steadfastness. All the different sides to each character and coupling is what makes the show interesting, and I don’t weight one over another. You need a well-balanced meal.
AG: Your fans discuss every detail of the show online, and they’re very thorough. Anything they’ve missed?
JS: You know what we talk about a lot, and we are surprised people don’t seem to notice is that one of the things that sets this show apart from other teen shows is that, like Sex and the City, we have a structure every week. Gossip Girl has an event every week. It has never not had an event.
AG: Maybe that is why I’ve always wanted to do a drinking game based on Lily saying the word “caterer.” By the end of each episode, I’d be trashed.
JS: That never occurred to me before. The room is going to love that! But yes, we structure it so that every week, the episode leads to an event. I feel like it is much like a procedural, and you might think you are watching something a little soapy, but there is actually a procedural element in it. The event of the week can be small, like Blair’s birthday party, or as large as graduation. Bart’s funeral. Blair’s annual sleepover. We didn’t consciously decide it. But starting somewhere in the beginning of the first season, it just happened that way and I love that about the show. The writers, we love building to that, it grounds us, it grounds the stories.
AG: Right, it’s like, everybody gets to be in the same room, the excitement of getting ready, everybody saying, “Will you be my date?”
JS: Or the story of not everybody getting to go, or wanting to go. For “The Wrath of Con,” the event was Poppy and Georgina’s Russian Tea room tea, where it was just the two of them, except it wasn’t because everyone was actually there, secretly, watching from the sidelines. That’s another great thing about Gossip Girl — getting to shoot places like The Russian Tea Room. New York is just such an amazing place to shoot. As a city, it’s really opened its arms to us. You get so much production value just from shooting on the sidewalk. Whether it’s Jenny and Dan’s expansive view of the city from their roof, or getting to shoot in the National Arts Club, like [Executive Producer] John Stephens got to do in the amazing upcoming episode he directed — you just can’t build that kind of history, that kind of beauty.
AG: This question will seem outlandish to some, but if people knew what an animal lover you were, it would seem totally normal. If your two dogs, Jimmy, a jindo, and Isobel, an Australian shepherd mix, and your cat Henry were in high school, what group would they fit into?
JS: Henry, would be the head of the chess club. Or maybe Henry would be a cool rider, like Maxwell Caulfield in Grease 2. Isobel is like the really beautiful girl who is also goofy. Jimmy is an anime character.
AG: Any final thoughts on the show before Monday?
JS: It bothers me when people think of this show merely as a guilty pleasure because I think it’s more than that, and I hope it’ll stand the test of time. The show is smart, sharp. The writing staff is full of emotionally intuitive people who pull from their own personal histories as much as they do from headlines. And, of course, we draw from classic works like “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and “The Great Gatsby” as much as we do from pop culture. Blair can quote Chekhov and Britney in the same breath. I feel like it’s that strange mix that makes Gossip Girl special.

Interview part 2: ‘Gossip Girl’ co-executive prod, Josh Safran on characters, catfights & spacesuits

2009-09-11T18:45:00.003-05:00

Gossip Girl’s third season premiere this Monday will give fans a chance to hit the reset button on the “who on Gossip Girl is doing what to whom” part of their brains. To reduce any further cranial atrophy due to inactivity in the Gossip Girl cortex, I came up with a solution.
Yesterday I posted part one of a three part interview with Josh Safran, writer and co-executive producer of Gossip Girl, where he addressed the internet leak of Chuck’s man-on-man kiss, the responsibility he feels writing gay-themed storylines, and better ways to play cat and mouse with journalists and bloggers trolling for scoops.

Today’s post, part two of my interview, is all about the characters: their romances, their friendships, their ascents to power, their secrets, and how, even after all the shenanigans they’ve pulled, the writers are still able to create untried storylines for them.
Adrienne Gruben: How do you keep each character’s storyline fresh?
Josh Safran: There’s always a little bit of a worry, like, “Has Serena done too much? Is there anything left for Chuck to do since it seems he’s done everything?” The fact of the matter is, there is always more. We surprise ourselves with how much story there is still to tell with these characters. I love them. I think Cecily did a great job creating them in the books. I think Stephanie and Josh did a great job of creating them for the series. I think they constantly expand.
AG: So let’s talk about platonic and romantic relationships. What about Dan and Serena?
JS: I’ll say this because Stephanie said it somewhere else: this season isn’t about Dan and Serena as a couple.
AG: By the end of season two, you really got the sense that they were platonic. There were no longing glances or Serena hanging on Dan’s every word.
JS: That is a real testament to what great actors we have on the show. These are two people who in real life are a great couple, and yet, on screen, you believe that they are just friends, that they are no longer in a relationship.
AG: Not to pander, but they practically seem like siblings, in a good way. It’s remarkable.
JS: That’s what I’m saying. These actors are all so good, and I know everyone says that about the show they work on, but our cast is just simply amazing.
AG: Let’s talk about the female friendships and the relationships between mothers and daughters. The two episodes where I cried were “The Serena Also Rises” and “Valley Girls”. Those episodes mined the mechanics of both those kinds of relationships. I think on Gossip Girl, like in real life, they can have some of the same intensity as romantic relationships.
JS: Serena and Blair are the central relationship of the show. They always have been, and always will be. Second to that are the friendships and family relationships across the board. We try to write from that theme, although it isn’t always recognizable on first glance. “Valley Girls,” for instance, was about mothers and daughters, female friendships, and how they grow and change and deepen through surprising circumstances. In “The Serena Always Rises” when Serena told Blair to step out of her light, leading into their catfight the next episode, a lot of the writing of that relationship and its issues came from a very personal place for the writers, myself included. It doesn’t matter that I’m not a teenage girl. The guys on the staff get female relationships, and the girls get things like Nate and Dan’s bromance. We’re good in each other’s skins. This season, with Serena and Blair in different places, their friendship might be tested. But their bond is always so strong underneath. It’s funny, at the very beginning, people talked about how Blair was dark and Serena was light, but as we’ve shown, they each have both. Which is universal. And it’s some of this stuff that we’re talking about that makes me hope people will still be talking about these characters in ten years, like they do about Angela and Rayanne from My So-Called Life, or Rory and Lorelei from Gilmore Girls.
AG: Let’s talk about a few of the characters who provided big surprises at the end of last season. I thought Georgina’s switch from being spiritual to acting like her old self was a little drastic. It was like “Boom! I’m spiritual! Boom. I’m not!”
JS: Just like a lot of people’s relationship to religion, it’s more complicated than that. All I’m saying is wait and see because her relationship with [Jesus] is not that black and white. And as for Michelle, I wish we could clone her because she is on Mercy this season. We just love having Georgina around. The range of her character, from psycho b*tch in season one to “saved” in season two — and you believe both of them completely — is testament to both Michelle as an actress and Georgina as a character. She’s a blast to write.
AG: Did you research the Jesus camp?
JS: Leila Gerstein, the writer of that episode, did. And she was the one who came up with the “OMJC” phrase, which I thought was genius. All that, and she’s a nice Jewish girl from New York.
AG: With Jenny, you will be ping-ponging back and forth between college and Constance, since Jenny is now queen. By the way, Jenny assuming Blair’s queendom surprised me since she is an outsider and she and Blair had that altercation, actually a history of them. Plus for a moment we thought she was going to sell Blair down the river with that piece of gossip.

JS: You know, as Stephanie says, Constance is a major part of Gossip Girl. Eric and Jenny are now the age that Serena and Blair were when they first started. Jenny is going to be a different kind of queen than Blair, and that is what is going to make that story not a retread of Blair’s queendom in seasons one and two. And continuing on from finding people in different places than when we left them, that’s also true where Jenny and Eric are concerned. She’s queen — but not exactly comfortable with it.
AG: What about the relationship between Dorota and Blair? Is their current relationship, the camaraderie, the fact that they are co-conspirators, what you had originally intended?
JS: When Dorota is introduced in the second episode of season one, you watch Blair talk to her as if she’s one of Blair’s parents. Their relationship just came out that way. Incidentally, Zuzanna [the actress who plays Dorota] doesn’t have an accent, but her parents are from Poland. She mimics their accent. We love writing the dynamic between Dorota and Blair.
AG: I love Vanessa, but I feel like because she had a crush on Dan for 14 seconds, and during those 14 seconds, Serena perceived her as a threat, there is a small, but vocal contingent that won’t allow themselves to see how great she is; they won’t let it go.
JS: That is funny to me, especially when you think of everything that Blair and Chuck, or whoever else, has done. I guess there is that group that felt very protective of [Dan and Serena's] relationship.
AG: Plus her one dastardly act, hiding Nate’s letter to Jenny, she admitted it and apologized. I can’t imagine the show without her. I mean, she is a certain type of quintessential New Yorker.
JS: She so is. She’s indie. She’s intellectual. She’s homeschooled. She’s not rich. Her parents never wanted to be rich. Her sister is in a scrappy punk band. The writers love writing for her. We love watching Serena and Blair’s world from her vantage point. Interesting things will be happening with Vanessa, we haven’t seen her family backstory, and we will be delving into that, specifically her relationship with her mother.
AG: Onto the more secondary characters, did you write the bit where Vanya is reading Ann Coulter because Dorota suggested it to him?
JS: No, that was written by [episode writer] Sarah Frank Meltzer. The character of Vanya is someone we introduced in the webisodes, and if you haven’t seen them, you should. You’ll see more of Vanya this season.
AG: Is Gabriel based on Rick Von Sloneker from Metropolitan?
JS: No. Gabriel is based very loosely — and I mean loosely – on someone else. When we initially come up with stories, we’ll take stuff from headlines, but by the time we actually get through the episode, the real story has gone so far in the other direction, that there is hardly ever any real connection to its origin left.
AG: I have a really outlandish question. It came from my wondering if there were any circumstances that could really shake up the character dynamics, and then I realized that what I came up with might bring joy to Gossip Girl fans who are also sci-fi fans–all three of them. So: What would be the challenges for the characters if Gossip Girl took place in space?
JS: The challenges? You want to coop them up? That ship would blow up! We can’t even be on a city block without characters going at each other! The ship would last an hour and a half and then boom!
AG: So let’s put them in suits and let them float around, Major Tom style, but not float away, of course.
JS: Even with no gravity, Blair would still think she’s floating in Serena’s shadow, and that everything revolves around Serena — the earth now, especially - and Serena would still pretend to be oblivious to that fact.

2009-09-11T18:45:00.001-05:00

BLAKE LIVELY’S HIP TRICK

2009-09-11T18:41:00.003-05:00

‘Gossip Girl’ actress Blake Lively says her hidden talent is being able to pop her hip out of its joint.
Blake Lively’s secret talent is dislocating her hip.
The ‘Gossip Girl’ star admits her gifts outside of acting are limited, but she is proud of the way she can manipulate her bones.
She said: “Do I have any hidden talents? I can pop my hip out of the joint. I think that’s weird. I don’t really have that many talents.

“I can’t sing or dance to save my life, but I was very passionate about it at school. It always looked like I was so excited to be there so they always put me front and centre on the dance floor. And people would get so mad because I couldn’t dance.”
Although she admits her skills are limited, Blake is hoping to broaden her talents in future with a range of business ventures.
She said: “I would love to open restaurants and have an interior decorating business. There are so many different businesses that I would love to have.
“Also, I’m trying to become very involved in charity work because I’m drawn to children. I’m hoping to go to college. Maybe I can go to school at Columbia one day a week, so that would be really exciting.”

2009-09-11T18:41:00.001-05:00

GOSSIP GIRL FANS SPARK MORE SECURITY FEARS

2009-09-11T18:40:00.004-05:00

New York City police have stepped in to protect the cast of hit U.S. TV drama GOSSIP GIRL - after fans sparked security fears by storming the set at the weekend (begs05Sep09).
Co-stars and real-life couple Blake Lively and Penn Badgley, and actors Ed Westwick and Taylor Momsen, were filming a party scene at Manhattan’s Empire Hotel when hordes of screaming teen fans prompted complaints from guests.
Police barricades and security guards were needed to keep the over-excited devotees at a distance.
And according to the New York Post, Lively and Badgley’s off-screen romance added to the furor.
A source says, “All the people (were) waiting to get to the rooftop to gawk at them.”
Just last month (Aug09), the cast sparked outrage among residents in the city’s quiet Gramercy Park neighbourhood after fans swarmed the set to get a glimpse of guest star Hilary Duff.

New Spoiler

2009-09-11T18:40:00.001-05:00

Question: Can you do me a huge favor and give me some Gossip Girl scoop pertaining to Blair-Serena? I’m dying to know if my favorite frenemies will be loving or hating each other this season. —Sally
Ausiello: They’ll start out loving each other, but by November, the hate is on! What triggers the war? Let’s just say Blair doesn’t follow the bros before hos belief system (or, in this case, hos before bros).

CW Interviews

2009-09-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

Ed Westwick on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

2009-09-11T18:29:00.000-05:00

Sneak Peek W/Tyra!

2009-09-11T18:11:00.001-05:00

‘Gossip Girl’ Chace Crawford not planning to date co-stars

2009-09-11T18:08:00.002-05:00

Chace Crawford will never date a co-star.
The actor – whose fellow ‘Gossip Girl’ stars Blake Lively and Penn Badgley are in a relationship – wants to keep his personal and professional life separate.
He said: “‘Gossip Girl’ creator Josh Schwartz told me to avoid at all costs dating a co-star. We get to shoot in New York and have that as our playground and do the insane things that we get to be a part of. There’s a part of me that wants to share that.
“But I’m having fun living the bachelor life right now. It’s a good time to be single.”
Chace also dismissed rumours he moved out of the apartment he shared with co-star Ed Westwick because the pair are no longer friends.
He explained to Wonderland magazine: “Frat time’s over. I’m just turned 24, I need my own space. I don’t know why anyone wants to read about the condition of our apartment. It cracks me up. It was actually pretty immaculate.
“I’m OCD [Obsessive Compulsive Disorder]. I had a maid come twice a month. We have a few roof deck parties from time to time, but that’s all.”

2ND ANNUAL EWwy AWARD

2009-09-11T18:07:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK (August 31, 2009) – Entertainment Weekly, a leading pop culture brand dedicated to showcasing the best of TV, film, books and more, is teaming up with Hulu, an online video service that offers hit TV shows, movies and clips at Hulu.com and other online destination sites anytime in the U.S., for EW.com’s 2nd Annual EWwy Awards. Every year, outstanding TV shows and performances are egregiously overlooked, underappreciated and essentially snubbed by the Emmy Awards. Now, fans can turn the Emmys upside down by allowing their favorites a second chance at glory.
Starting today, EW.com and Hulu invite TV fans to log on to www.EW.com/ewwys and vote for their favorite TV shows, actors and actresses. For the next week, voting is in five Comedy Series categories; on Monday, September 7, voting begins in the five Drama Series categories. Six nominees in each of the ten EWwy categories were selected by passionate and discerning EW.com readers, who voiced their outrage when their favorite shows and actors were once again ignored by the voting members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
To vote now, head to ew.com/ewwys. Leighton is voted in the category “Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series”, so go vote for, so we can nab her the win!

Go On the Gossip Girl Tour of NYC!

2009-09-05T10:50:00.002-05:00

Are you so obsessed with Gossip Girl that you sign all of your emails "XOXO" and make your boyfriend wear purple suits and silk cravats? Now you can take your love of GG to the next level, just in time for Season Three! From the people who brought you the Sex and the City NYC tour, comes the Gossip Girl NYC tour! It goes to more than 40 of the coolest places in the city — the ones that appear on Gossip Girl! From the Upper East Side to Brooklyn, you'll see the Palace Hotel, where Chuck Bass and the van der Woodsens live, Blair's fancy Fifth Ave house, Constance Billard and St. Jude's (it's really the Museum of the City of New York!) , every UES girl's favorite store — Bendel's, and way more! You'll even get to eat at the Humphrey's favorite bakery and see the movie theater where Serena stood Dan up for their date. And then you can make plans and do the same thing to a guy you don't want to go out with! Plus your guide will give you the inside scoop about the cast and crew and tons of behind-the-scenes info.
Wanna go on the tour? Tickets are $38 and you can get them by going to screentours.com. Happy Blair-stalking!
Have you been to anywhere that's appeared on Gossip Girl? Are you excited for Season Three? Do you think Chuck and Blair (or "Chair," as we affectionately call them) are meant to be? What about Dan and Serena? Nate and Vanessa? Dan and Hilary Duff? Which Gossip guy should you date? Sound off below!

How Much do they Make?

2009-09-05T10:21:00.000-05:00

TV Guide recently released their list of top earners on TV, and only two actors under 30 made the cut — Chace and Blake. Each of them make $50,000 per episode, which adds up to $1.2 million each annually.

Future Epsiode synopsis

2009-09-05T10:17:00.000-05:00

The Freshman
Blair, who is determined to maintain her Queen status in college, embarks on her first day at NYU, along with Dan and Vanessa. Unfortunately, Georgina turns up as Blair's roommate in the dorms, determined to make Blair a social outcast. As Serena prepares to depart for Brown, she and Chuck have a major falling out, so she recruits Chuck's enemy, Carter , to help her get even. Nate and Bree who decide to explore their relationship further, knowing full well it could cause tension between their families who are political rivals.

The Lost Boy
Chuck decides he is going to open a speakeasy in the 1st few episodes and gets mad at Serena who *beep* it up for him during a meeting by saying something stupid. So, he tries to make up for it by trying to impress the man he is trying to make the deal with by obtaining this painting. It turns out to be the same painting that Blair needs to get into some snobby society (that turns out to be fake, Georgina sets her up). So they big against one another, Serena ends up getting it at the last second-and gives it to Blair. Blair in the end gives it to Chuck and tells him she believes in him. Chuck in turn tells the guy he was trying to make a deal with to go screw himself that he is going to buy the whole damned hotel. And then the episode ends with him and Blair skipping off with a bottle of champagne to enjoy the Penthouse Suite of his new hotel.

3 part series: ‘Gossip Girl’ co-executive producer Josh Safran on kisses and disses in season 3

2009-09-04T20:24:00.003-05:00

Girl power

Gossip Girl begins its third season Monday September 14, and the pre-premiere chatter is louder than ever. So to quiet everyone down (or possibly amp them up further), I’m presenting a three-part interview with Josh Safran, writer and co-executive producer of Gossip Girl. There was much to discuss.

There is the kiss that launched a thousand spoiler alerts. (For those of you just returning from space, journalists and bloggers ran with a leaked storyline where Blair furthers a hairbrained agenda by fooling Chuck into kissing a man.) There is the heightened sensitivity that Safran, the show’s only gay writer, feels towards covering gay themes. There is the story behind Gossip Girl’s more outrageous stories. And the most scandalous of all: there are schemes to foil the leakers. Or at least to try. And so, without further delay, I bring you Josh Safran, part one.
Adrienne Gruben: The kiss leak is born from this new age of spoilers, a relatively new phenomenon that’s been building, but gained more traction this year. NPR even did a story on them. Some people say they create great intrigue and some say they dampen a story’s impact. What is your take?

Josh Safran: First of all, I was surprised [by the leak]. We never intended it to get out there, and we didn’t want it to, either. I understand why they exist and some people like them and some people don’t, and if you don’t like them, don’t look, but what I don’t like is how it feels more and more like everything is being spoiled. Like there isn’t somebody going, “You know what? I have two pieces of information. Why don’t I use one and not the other?” Although not everything gets out, of course, it’s sometimes hard to write stuff when you feel like “can we do this, or will it get out?” It’s just troubles us. I wish that people gave a little more care to what they put out there.

AG: As you know, but some of the readers might not, Gossip Girl was developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage based upon the books by Cecily Von Ziegesar. In the books, Chuck was bisexual. Personalities Examiner Jorge Carreon wanted to know why, in adapting Chuck’s character for the show, he was not also written as bisexual.

JS: Chuck is not bisexual in the first book. The pilot mirrors the first book, and Josh and Stephanie drew from there for each character. We’ve deviated from the books for the show quite a bit, but it’s important to state that there was never a “we don’t want to make Chuck bisexual” conversation. The book was used merely as the launching point for the character of Chuck, for each character. Once the show was up and running, the writers’ room mindset, per Josh and Stephanie, was to “let the books be the books and let’s use them where we can, but let’s also make the series the series.” Also, you have to remember that when we started, the entire series of books is a year of their high school life– their Senior year. Josh and Stephanie made them Juniors for the first season, so we couldn’t even delve into the college stuff yet. And now, we are so far away from the books in a lot of ways, especially after Season 1.
AG: Were you planning to use the kiss as part of the promo marketing before the episode?
JS: All I can say is that the moment that people are talking about was created organically for the story. And there was honestly never any thought that it would be anything other than enjoyable for the audience as they watched. We just thought, “This will be a great episode,” and I think the audience will see when they view the show that [that moment is] not a stunt. I’m proud of how we’ve woven gay characters into the tapestry of the show. I feel like, as the only gay writer on the show from the beginning and as someone who feels a huge responsibility towards the creation of fully realized gay characters in television, I am supremely proud of what Gossip Girl has done with its gay characters.
AG: Like Eric?
JS: Yes, if you look at Eric, in my mind, he is in one of the only, if not the only, secure relationship on the show. He is also one of the youngest out gay males on network television. And starting with Georgina’s outing of Eric, we’ve done, in my opinion, really strong stuff surrounding the reality of being a gay teenager, that how for some people in your world it’s not a big deal, but for other people, they might try to use it against you, hurt you for it. It’s never black and white, and it’s never easy.
AG: On the reality of being a gay teenager, Eric attempted suicide in the first episode. Teenagers attempt suicide more than any other demographic, but then to add the difficulty of being a gay, closeted teenager into the mix, and in a rigid society no less…
JS: After the pilot, where Eric had attempted suicide, Josh and Stephanie gathered all the writers and we met with people from a suicide prevention organization in Washington. They had seen the episode and they wanted to talk to us about the responsible ways to further that story and I was very grateful for that. We all were. We talked about how one of the top reasons for young, male suicide attempts in America is over struggles with homosexuality, and from that moment on it became clear that that was Eric’s story, and Stephanie and Josh were quick to embrace it. For me that ties back to what it’s like to be a gay, closeted teenager who is having issues and doesn’t feel comfortable with coming out. I was hoping that in showing Eric’s story, the way we have from the beginning, we would be saying to someone in a similar situation, “Your life doesn’t have to be so scary, you are not alone.” Eric was outed, but he ultimately found power in that and he eventually was accepted by everyone. He accepted himself. I feel like we still approach any subject matter from the Gay and Lesbian viewpoint with the same kind of responsibility.
AG: Wow. After hearing all that, I feel bad bringing this up, but I’ve read some criticisms of Eric’s story lines online, that you don’t use him enough.
JS: I’ve read the internet talk, some amongst the gay community that we don’t tell enough stories with Eric, I feel it’s important to add that we don’t drive stories through Eric because he is not a regular. That goes for anyone who is not a regular, but I think that actually works because it allows Eric to have a healthy relationship with Jonathan. If we had to showcase him more, that wouldn’t be the case. This is Gossip Girl. I mean, look at the regulars’ relationships - up and down each week! He has a great relationship.
AG: So with all of that back-story on the show’s intentions for gay themes, and your feelings of personal responsibility, let’s get back to the kiss, which it turns out, did not come from a place of gay for the sake of shock value, or gay for the sake of a shocking promo.
JS: Look, of course once in a while we’re like, “Wow, wouldn’t it be explosive if “X” happened?” but that’s usually more like, “Wouldn’t it be explosive if Serena was on the end of a Ponzi scheme?”. We don’t think about the smaller moments. We don’t think about what they’re going to promo. It does not come through our heads because from a logistical point of view, when we’re breaking a story, it’s so far away to its airdate. This kiss happens in episode 6, and episode 1 hasn’t even aired yet, and won’t for weeks! We’d so like to bury things so that people are actually surprised when they watch the episode, but lately with all the spoiler sites that isn’t possible. Our intention for this was that people’s jaws would drop while actually watching the episode because they wouldn’t know we were going there. And the thing is, it’s a great episode filled with so many juicy things. It’s not like we were sitting their pitching promos like “You’ll never believe what Chuck’s about to do!”, and again, when you see the episode, you will see it’s not that kind of moment. It’s truly a tiny character beat in a much larger story. I’d be the first person to say, there’s no way we can do that if it’s going to make people think it’s a stunt. And it’s not even me. The writers are incredible, really sensitive and cool, I’m so proud to work with them, and not one person in that room is driven by stunts or the idea of sweeps. Everything is always character first, be it “I killed someone” or Blair and Nate getting back together [in Season 2]. People have said that we write stunt plot lines for sweeps. I’m not even sure the CW competes in sweeps. Stephanie always says, “On Gossip Girl, every episode is a sweeps episode.” And it is.
AG: They’re never going to totally go away, but is there a way on your end to circumvent, or at least outsmart, people trying to get information?
JS: Well, now we sometimes use fake sides, just in case, because I know of cases on other shows where scripts, or sides, ended up in the recycling, they ended up there totally innocently, and inadvertently got into the hands of someone who realized it was a find. So now we’re just going to have to be creative. When Chuck kissed Blair in the finale last year, we were determined to throw people off. We had a crowd of a couple hundred people, and dozens of paparazzi, and we decided to have Nate also do the same scene – kiss Blair outside of The Plaza — to throw people off. Chace and Leighton were such good sports, Chace came in early, and we had Leighton and Ed do their take, with the hundreds of people watching, and then Chace came out, and he did the same take and everyone was like, “Whoa!”. You heard this loud collective gasp, and it was this great moment because the crowd knew they were being played, they just didn’t know which way. I had my camera and took pictures of the crowd. It was really fun to do, and even though when the pictures of both kisses hit the press, a lot of people figured “it’s got to be Chuck and Blair,” because people kind of knew, it was still a way to subvert the spoilers, and have fun.
AG: Since we talked about how you hate it when things are leaked, anything you can leak yourself before someone finds it in a trash, or taped to a streetlamp?
JS: Well, there’s something we’re putting together right now, an event we’re really excited about. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a while now — a musical. But a musical in only the way Gossip Girl could do it. Sometimes we have an idea like this, but then something else comes up and we put it on the back burner. Hopefully this time it’ll happen.
AG: Ok, this is a bad musical pun, but I will be singing your praises for compromising your beliefs a little and leaking this.
JS: It was either tell you, or find someone digging it out of my recycling tomorrow.
Next time, Josh tells more about what to expect this season, how Gossip Girl is like Law and Order, and reveals some secrets from the writer’s room including the very mysterious “time of death” chart on the wall.
The new season of Gossip Girl premieres Monday Sept 14 on the CW with the episode “Reversals of Fortune,” which Josh wrote. Check local listings. Josh lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Ted.

‘Gossip’ guy Neal Bledsoe kisses (Ed Westwick) and tells: Was it good for him?

2009-09-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

In a matter of minutes last week, Neal Bledsoe went from being a mostly unknown actor to the guy who made out with Ed Westwick on Gossip Girl. The headline-making kiss doesn’t air until Oct. 19, but Bledsoe — who plays a gay NYU alumni whom Blair pimps boyfriend Chuck out to — happily offered us a sneak preview of the can’t-miss episode (and broke some big career news in the process).
How has your life changed in the past week?
NEAL BLEDSOE: My mom is certainly a thousand times more proud of me. And it was my first experience with the paparazzi knowing my name, which was strange. I thought maybe Neil Diamond or Neil Sedaka was standing behind me.

Tell me about your character.
BLEDSOE: Initially I was supposed to play the dean of the freshman class. But then they hired a 28-year-old actor so that seemed like a little bit of a stretch. Now I play a lawyer who is a very well connected alumni at the university who has a hand in deciding who is going to give the famous freshman speech.
An honor you agree to extend to Blair in exchange for the kiss. Is it as simple as you just wanting to say you made out with the legendary Chuck Bass?
BLEDSOE: I will tell you this: I have a very unexpected and darker motivation about it.
Was shooting the kiss awkward?
BLEDSOE: No. We were both professionals about it. [It helped] that we got to know each other a little bit beforehand. And we certainly rehearsed it.
Rehearsed it? How many takes did you do?
BLEDSOE: [Laughs] More than a few.
How would you characterize the kiss? Steamy? A little peck?
BLEDSOE: I would characterize it as a nice kiss.
Complete this sentence: Ed Westwick kisses just like…
BLEDSOE: [Laughs] …he kisses just like Chuck Bass.
What did your girlfriend think?
BLEDSOE: She was happy I wasn’t kissing any of the girls on the show. She might’ve had some Blake Lively envy.
At what point in the process did you find out about the kiss?
BLEDSOE: There was an asterisk on the character breakdown that said, ‘Actor must kiss Ed Westwick in the episode.’
Your first reaction?
BLEDSOE: Things like that shouldn’t matter. Unfortunately for some actors things like that do matter and they’ll turn down projects because of it. I thought it was a really fun episode. I had an awesome time doing it. And I think it would’ve been a shame if I was not open-minded enough to do the episode simply because I had to kiss another man.
Might your character return at some point?
BLEDSOE: I have no idea. That’s up to the writers.
Where do you go from here?
BLEDSOE: I don’t think I’d be breaking my confidentially agreement by saying this: I’m going to be in the Sex and the City sequel.
Who are you playing?
BLEDSOE: Um… It’s a character in the Sex and the City sequel.

Red Carpet Confidential: Leighton Meester Locked in Love Triangle

2009-09-04T20:22:00.002-05:00

Three’s a charm for Leighton Meester, who enjoys the company of both her boyfriend Sebastian Stan and onscreen love interest Ed Westwick while filming Gossip Girl.
Sebastian, 26, cherishes every moment he spends with the 23-year-old brunette beauty.

“She’s probably the most interesting, sophisticated, talented and extremely funny person I know,” he says. “I think she’s really, really hilarious.”
But watching Ed, 22, make out with his paramour can get a little crazy on the set of Gossip Girl.
“The funniest thing that’s happened is probably the looks that get exchanged between me and Ed Westwick,” Seb admits. “It’s work. I think everyone shares the same mentality when it comes to that. It’s pretty simple. The good part [is that I get to go home with her afterwards].”
Of course, Ed also enjoys vying for her affection. “Leighton and I have kissed, and I’ve banged into her teeth sometimes,” he tells me. “I think that hurt her a little bit. I was a little bit clumsy.”
The Brit bad boy takes a shine to her sense of humor.
“Leighton’s quite fun,” Ed says. “She’s got a sense of humor where it’s like you and her have a little gig going, and it’s very personal. She’s very wise for her age. People talk about wisdom being a thing that comes to a person when they’re a lot older, but Leighton’s wise for a young lady — someone that you could talk to and ask for advice.”
In real life, how does Leighton like her man to dress?
“In nothing, honey,” she yuks.
She tells me she once pranked her mom by telling her she was married. “That was really, really mean,” she admits.

‘Gossip Girl’ News! Get A Sneak Peek Of Anna Sui’s Target Line Inspired By The Show

2009-09-04T20:20:00.002-05:00

Have you always wondered if you’re a Blair or a Jenny? A Vanessa or a Serena? Yeah, us too! Which is why Anna Sui’s new “Gossip Girl”-inspired line for Target is uber-exciting. And while we anxiously count down the days until it makes its big debut on Sept. 13 at a Target store near you (or near your, er, computer if you’re like us New Yorkers who have to shop online because we don’t have the shopping mecca nearby), we’re bringing you a little taste of what gossip girls all across the country can expect.
Quick refresher course on the background of the high-end designer’s line: In May, Anna Sui announced she would be collaborating with Target to create a fall collection that would be loosely based on the four main femme characters in the CW’s stylish series “Gossip Girl.” “My collection for Target combines elements of art and the spirit of New York City with my signature prints, silhouettes and use of color,” Anna said in a press release. Fans take note — the official Anna Sui for Target commercial will make its debut during the season premiere of “GG” on Sept. 14!

After the jump, get a sneak peek at the “GG”-approved clothes.
If you’ve always imagined yourself a Blair, then Anna’s line has you wearing lots of big bows and doll-silhouette dresses. Surprisingly, there are no headbands or plans to destroy enemies included in the Blair-inspired part of the line. Pictured above is the “Long-sleeve Tablecloth Dress,” $70.
Jenny has always been edgy, so if you’re like her, then hitting up Ann’s line means you’ll come home with fishnets and torn up leggings, as well as plaid with lots of zippers and girly dresses paired with hip ankle boots. Plans at rock ‘n’ roll domination come separately. Pictured above is the “Silk Labyrinth-Border-Print Tunic,” $50.
Vanessa’s hip outer borough style has been encapsulated in Anna’s line with a mixture of chic bohemian-print dresses and athletic-inspired jackets and vests. So, in case you need to hang out with the rich kids and you’re not quite as wealthy, then you’ll still look incredibly luxe. Pictured above is the “Metallic Jacquard Sleeveless Ruffle Top,” $40 and the “Jacquard Skirt,” $30.
Finally, we have Serena . She may not always make the best choices in guys, but her impeccable style is summed up quite nicely in Anna’s line. The wardrobe, which pairs grey and black as its foundation colors, is a combination of edgy party dresses and comfy casual separates. Pictured above is the “Leather Jacket,” $150 and the “Satin Striped Shift Dress With Belt,” $60.
Which character’s clothes suit your style the most? Which don’t?

Sonic Youth Report In From the Set of “Gossip Girl”

2009-09-04T20:19:00.002-05:00

Sonic Youth have finished filming their cameo for the October 12th episode of Gossip Girl, in which the downtown art rockers meet the uptown rich kids by guesting as a wedding band and performing their Eighties classic “Star Power.” “Kim [Gordon] and I are pretty fanatical viewers of the show,” Thurston Moore tells Rolling Stone. “It’s sort of our dose of Shakespeare every week.” One of the show’s stars, Zuzanna Szadkowski (who plays awesome Polish maid Dorota — Number #7 on our 50 Reasons to Watch TV story in the new issue), tells RS the band was more than welcome on set. “I’m really looking forward to that episode because I think they have a cool contribution to make to that scene.”
A few weeks back, Moore himself sent us an e-mail with a photo of him kicking it with G.G. stars Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick. (His daughter Coco, who is also a huge fan of the show, took the picture.) “Ed and Chace seemed aware of who we are, but they were more interested in Kings of Leon,” says Moore. “Those are their boys.” Moore got a chance to impart some advice to Taylor Momsen, who’s got a budding music career of her own with her band the Pretty Reckless. “I asked her about her [recent] tour and she said it wasn’t exactly the kind of tour she wanted to do,” says Moore. “And I said that it never really is. Then I told her to read Henry Rollins’ Get In the Van.”

Moore has been involved with Gossip Girl before. Last year, he teamed up with ex-Be Your Own Pet frontwoman Jemina Pearl to cover a version of the Ramones’ “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” which aired as background music. But is there any chance of more Sonic Youth cameos on G.G. in the future? “I’d like to have a role on the show,” says Moore. “I’d love to be a 51-year-old ex-indie rocker who hangs out in some capacity. Maybe I can be kind of an art-rock nemesis to Dan Humphrey or something.”

Episode Titles

2009-09-04T20:16:00.005-05:00

3×01 – Reversals of Fortune
3×02 – The Freshman
3×03 – The Lost Boy
3×04 – Limitation of Life
3×05 – Rufus Getting Married
3×06 – Enough About Eve
3×07 – How To Succeed In Bassness
3×08 – The Grandfather: Part II

Check Out the First Official Photo of Movie Star Hilary Duff on Gossip Girl!

2009-09-04T20:16:00.002-05:00

Here she is! Hilary Duff joins the cast of Gossip Girl as movie star Olivia Burke for the Oct. 5 episode titled “Dan de Fleurette,” and we have the exclusive first look at Duff in character on the set!
Duff’s character is assigned to be Vanessa’s (Jessica Szohr) roommate at NYU—their dorm room is the setting of the still above—and through Vanessa, Olivia gets to know Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley). Olivia becomes attracted to Dan, and vica versa. Of course, there’s a twist: Dan is so tuned out to pop culture that he doesn’t realize the girl he’s falling for is a huge movie star famous for her role in a Twilight-esque series of vampire movies.
Still, the two college kids manage to make their odd-couple pairing work, and cuteness ensues. Yay!
What do you think? Does Duff look like a good addition to the Gossip Girl cast? Do you think she’ll be a good match for Dan?

Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively and Hilary Duff have a roaring time on set in Twenties flapper dresses

2009-09-04T20:14:00.004-05:00

Blake Lively and Hilary Duff wasted no time roaring into action on the New York set of Gossip Girl yesterday.
The actresses both arrived in glamorous flapper girl dresses as they filmed scenes for a Twenties themed party.
Blake, who plays Manhattan style princess Serena van der Woodsen, poured her stunning figure into gold sequinned confection, fishnet stockings and peep-toe heels.

Flapper girls: Blake Lively and Hilary Duff arrived on the New York set of Gossip Girl yesterday in glamorous Twenties dresses
Newcomer Duff, who will play Olivia Burke, a famous film star in search of the normal college experience, looked equally as glamorous in a black number, rows of pearls and a jewel encrusted headband.
Penn Badgley, Blake’s on and off-screen love interested, was also suitably dressed for the occasion in a Bugsy Malone inspired outfit.
The hotly anticipated new season, which sees the characters head off to New York University together, should see Blake cement her style icon status – both onscreen and off.
But despite being a regular on ‘best-dressed’ lists, the 21-year-old star urges her fashion fans to find their own look.
‘Don’t be a slave to your style icon. Kate Moss wears Twenties flapper dresses that look incredible on her, but terrible on me.
‘I have boobs and a butt so I find dresses with a loose waist that still have a Twenties feel,’ she said recently.
She added: ‘I also make sure I dress for my figure. I’ll wear a loose cardigan with a tight top underneath, or a slouchy dress with a little belt.
‘Something has to look good on you, not just be in style.
‘If in doubt, wear a bodysuit. Topshop sells great crop tops, but wearing a lace bodysuit underneath stops them from being too revealing.’

Hil's a Flap

2009-09-04T20:14:00.001-05:00

HILARY Duff got in a flap when she dressed up in Jazz age gear for her appearance in Gossip Girl. The singer donned a glitzy sequined black flapper girl frock, pearls and a jewel encrusted headband as she filmed scenes for a themed party set in the roaring Twenties for the show’s third series this week.
She was spotted with stunning Blake Lively, who plays Serena van der Woodsen, on the New York set.
Blake looked gorgeous in a short sparkly gold dress, fishnet stockings and peep-toe heels.
Hilary, who shot to fame in her kids’ telly show Lizzie McGuire, has recently joined the programme as Olivia Burke, a film star in search of the normal college experience.
The 21-year-old recently gushed about her role on the show: “They called me and said come on and do a few episodes. I jumped at the chance.
“Blake and Penn [Badgley] are really amazing. She’s been so, so sweet to me.”

Chace in Wonderland Magazine

2009-09-04T20:13:00.002-05:00

wonderlandmagazine.com:Gossip Girl heartthrob Chace Crawford is graduating to the big screen with Twelve and stepping up to remake Footloose. He talks to Marshall Heyman about making it in Hollywood
When the actor Chace Crawford removes his baseball cap and pulls up a chair at the Belmont Lounge, a relatively low-key Young Hollywood hangout in the centre of Los Angeles that’s akin to a high-priced dive bar, it is impossible not to get lost in his eyes. They are so electric, so transfixingly ice blue that they deserve their own colour in a box of Crayola Crayons. They are such showstoppers that on the set of Twelve (Crawford’s upcoming film, and his first big-screen starring feature role since Gossip Girl became a worldwide phenomenon), his co-star, the rapper 50 Cent, joked that Crawford has “Skyline Eyes”.
“I’m not going to say it’s hurt me,” Crawford says of his boyish features, which also include his now-signature bushy eyebrows. “I’ve got to thank my mom, though. She’s a beautiful woman. She bestowed on me some good genes.”
Indeed, this summer Crawford’s good genes earned him the much-coveted title of People magazine’s Hottest Bachelor for 2009. Not bad for a college dropout who, just a few short years ago, was earning money by valeting cars at the ocean-front restaurant Geoffrey’s in Malibu.
Crawford, who turned 24 in July, grew up near Dallas, the son of a dermatologist (his father) and a teacher (his mother). (His sister, Candice, just graduated from college and hopes to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.) The story of Crawford’s first encounter with acting is right out of High School Musical or the new Fox sitcom Glee. In high school, Crawford was a football player, even if, he says, he was into art and painting. But during his senior year, the drama teacher asked him to audition for a role in a production of The Boyfriend.
“I sang the National Anthem,” Crawford recalls. He got the part. “It was a good little role and something about it was just fun, but it didn’t even really trigger anything in me.”
After high school, he landed at Pepperdine, a small Jesuit college on the beach in Malibu. A year later, he dropped out to do some soul searching. “I was just sort of confused and didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Crawford explains. “Everyone there seemed like they knew what they wanted to do, which is, of course, complete bullshit. So I took off.”
During that time off – a time when he was valeting cars, “flooring down the street and back” – a friend convinced him that he should meet her commercial agent. “I didn’t realise how much money one commercial could give you. I’d done minimal modelling in Dallas, and just hated it. I met him, and he goes, ‘Can you do improv?’ And I’m like, ‘What’s improv?’”
To continue reading and to see more pictures, buy the September/October ‘09 issue of Wonderland – ON SALE NOW

Spoiler

2009-09-04T20:13:00.000-05:00

Question: How is Chuck gonna react when he finds out Blair tricked him into kissing a guy on Gossip Girl? Is there gonna be a revenge? —Amy
Ausiello: The kiss itself isn’t the issue. It’s the general lack of trust between them that causes problems. And the tension grows the following week when another breakdown in trust occurs — this time involving the bar Chuck opens in his new hotel.

New Gossip Girl Pic, only on Twitter

2009-09-01T19:11:00.001-05:00

New 3.01 Episode Clips

2009-09-01T17:52:00.000-05:00

Gossip Girl Creator Josh Schwartz Tapped for New CBS Comedy

2009-09-01T17:51:00.002-05:00

Gossip Girl executive producer, Josh Schwartz is taking his television know-how to the next level by teaming up with Matt Miller to write a comedy script for CBS. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Schwartz’s newest work in progress will follow the lives of a newlywed couple trying to adjust to life together. As reported, Miller and Schwartz were both inspired by their own recent marriages in developing the premise for their writing collaboration. As HR reveals, this isn’t the first time the two will work together as Miller is also a producer on NBC’s Chuck with Schwartz.
Schwartz, who produced the hit television series The O.C., Gossip Girl, and Chuck, will be writing a half-hour comedy series for the first time. If the show gets picked up, it could be part of the successful CBS comedy line-up on Monday nights.

CBS has been a ratings juggernaut with some of television’s most beloved comedy shows on its roster, including the hits How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, which set a full hour of comedies for the well-rounded network. Along with his current projects, Schwartz is keeping himself even busier by writing the screenplay for the next X-Men film, X-Men: First Class. There is no rest for the weary but everything that Josh Schwartz is involved in is certainly becoming television gold and we hope that his next series is just as entertaining.

Spoiler Chat: What Does Chuck’s Gay Kiss Mean for Chuck and Blair on Gossip Girl?

2009-09-01T17:48:00.000-05:00

Ruh-roh! Gossip Girl’s Chuck is kissing a boy, which is well and good, except for…what about Blair? We’ve suffered through two years of will-they-or-won’t-they turmoil, and now that they are, could Blair be losing Chuck to the other team? We’ve got the exclusive scoop on what Chuck’s dalliance with another man means for your favorite Upper East Siders.
Bianca in Palm Beach, Fla.: Can you please put the Chair fandom at ease and let us know that this Chuck “gay kiss” storyline on Gossip Girl does not mean Chuck will be playing for both teams but is really just a scheme and will serve to bring Chair even closer at the end of it? Thanks!
OK…so…the good news for you Chuck-Blair fans is that Chuck is not really playing for both teams on the TV version of Gossip Girl (in the books he’s definitely bisexual). The bad news is that Chuck’s gay kiss is not doing Chuck and Blair’s relationship any favors. Why? Because Gossip Girl’s resident crazy lady (that’s Blair, just so we’re clear) tricks Chuck into kissing that boy, and Chuck’s pissed after the fact. Don’t panic, Chuck and Blair are not totally breaking up over this, but it does put a major kink in their relationship.
Pattywack in Sydney: What brings Vanessa’s mum to New York on Gossip Girl?
Gina Torres is going to be on Gossip Girl—can you believe it? And how is she introduced? Well, Vanessa finds out she is going to give the freshman toast at NYU and invites her mom. Mom, however, disapproves of Vanessa going to college (?!), apparently because Mr. and Mrs. Abrams are superhippie, anti-establishment types. Awww, they’re just mad she didn’t go to Reed or Oberlin.

Penn Badgley Interview — JustJared.com Exclusive

2009-09-01T17:47:00.002-05:00

Penn Badgley attends the Heineken-sponsored U.S. Open Player Party at NYC’s Skyline Studios on Friday (August 28). The 22-year-old Gossip Girl actor hung out in the VIP area with his on-screen dad Matthew Settle (pictured below) and his real-life wife Naama Nativ. Here’s JustJared.com exclusive interview with Penn:
PB: You’re Just Jared? I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity right now!
JJ: I’m just a blogger! Are you a big tennis fan?
PB: You’re so nice! Well, my dad was an avid player, so it’s in my world. (Hence the name Penn, a tennis brand.) I’ve always been aware of it and I’ve always kind of enjoyed it, but I haven’t watched it. In the past two or three years, I’ve started to watch.
JJ: Have you ever been to the US Open or Wimbledon?
PB: No! Every year we’ve been in New York shooting, I’ve wanted to go but I haven’t been able to because of the show. But now, this year, the final is on a Sunday so we’re gonna go!

JJ: Are you working on anything besides Gossip Girl?
PB: Yeah, I’ve got The Stepfather coming out on October 16 – it’s like a thriller. It’s actually very good – I think you’re going to be surprised by how not bad it is.
No, I mean, most thrillers are so bad generally and this one is really surprisingly solid. And hopefully people will see that it’s not full of twists and turns and blood and gore it’s just a simpler, better movie.
JJ: What’s your character’s name?
PB: His name is Michael and he’s a reformed…for lack of a better word, f— up. He’s back at military school and he finds that his stepfather is suspicious.
JJ: During hiatus, you went to Thailand [with costar/girlfriend Blake Lively]. How did you like it?
PB: It was just incredible – the most amazing experience. I was just shocked by it because it was our cheaper alternative to Africa. I don’t know why we chose that. It was such a unique place. I really had no idea they had such a rich culture. I shouldn’t have assumed they didn’t, but for whatever reason, I’d never really thought much about Thailand and I was really surprised by the culture.
JJ: Did you bring home any souvenirs?
PB: Yeah, I got a lot of stuff for my dad, who is very spiritual, so I got him stuff from temples and took video of the temples, which are very special. The most spiritual thing we did was ride elephants. They are incredible creatures and I honestly wasn’t expecting it.
I was, like, “Oh, I’m gonna ride an elephant! This will be sort of terrifying and fun.” Because they’re enormous – but they’re unbelievably smart and communicative. I had a literal, physical feeling in my chest. It was religious, nearly – I’m not religious but it was unbelievable.
JJ: Blake told me they drew…
PB: They paint, man! It’s really mind-blowing. We paid $300 for six hours with our own elephant each. We rode them into the river, we bathed them in the river, got back on them, rode them into the jungle and painted!
JJ: Do you have your painting up in your bedroom now?
PB: Blake’s is beautiful. She has hers. Mine didn’t come out so well.
JJ: What did you get Blake for her birthday?
PB: I got her a painting from a Russian street artist.
JJ: Can I ask where she is tonight?
PB: Working!
JJ: What is your schedule like for Gossip Girl this season?
PB: It’s always different, but whoever works on Friday works until, like, 2 in the morning, so it’s not as glamorous as you’d expect. You do work a lot.
JJ: Is your character [Dan Humphrey] dorming?
PB: No. I thought he was but he’s not. There’s a…well, I don’t want to give too much away…but I guess they’ve already given it away online and stuff. YOU’VE given it away [on your blog]! (laughs)
Dan has a little fling with Georgina. I don’t know what I can and can’t say, you know?
JJ: How was it kissing Hilary Duff?
PB: It’s such an unromantic experience! Not only is the crew surrounding us, but there’s a million f—in’ paparazzi – literally, every time we’d do it, we’d hear a machine gun shutter speed.
JJ: They caught every millisecond!
PB: Yeah, I can tell! It was very…it’s a job, you know what I mean?
JJ: How many Tic-Tacs did you take before kissing her?
PB: None. Naturally minty breath.

See the Script of the Kiss!

2009-08-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks to one excellent Perezcious reader, we now have solid confirmation that Ed Westwick's character, Chuck Bass, will most definitely have a gay kiss this season!!!
And it's being filmed as we type!
Our wonderful informant happened upon the Gossip Girl set on Wednesday, where some careless fool left a call sheet out for everyone to see…and our reader to take a picture of!
As you can clearly see, on the second line of the call sheet, it reads:
INT. BAR- MAIN ROOM (scripted Back Room)
Blair bursts in just as Ellis kisses Chuck
Hell yes!

Mark your calenders for episode six of this season. Things are getting super seksi on the Upper West Side!

New Promo Pic

2009-08-28T18:42:00.001-05:00

Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively Joins The Town

2009-08-28T17:50:00.004-05:00

Another actor has joined the cast of The Town, the second directorial vehicle for Ben Affleck. Gossip Girl staple Blake Lively has signed on to star in the film according to THR. The film is being produced by Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures, and already features a strong acting ensemble.

Find out more on Lively’s role below…

Lively will star as the younger sister of Jeremy Renner’s character, and the troubled ex-girlfriend of Affleck. “The story follows a bank manager (Rebecca Hall), the career criminal (Affleck) who stole more than her heart and the dedicated FBI agent (Jon Hamm) trying to bust the crook and his gang, of which Renner is a part.” Oscar winner Chris Cooper is currently in negotiations to star as Ben’s father in the film.

Production on The Town starts next month in Boston. Lively can also be seen in the upcoming romantic drama New York, I Love You along with every other actor in Hollywood. I wonder how she’s going to manage her schedule, while shooting the new season of Gossip Girl? I would mention that she looks a little young to be playing an ex to Ben Affleck, but this is Hollywood and age is only a number.

Blake Lively Wants Kate Moss on Gossip Girl

2009-08-28T17:50:00.003-05:00

At an In Style/Tiffany & Co. party this past weekend, Blake Lively revealed that she would love for fashion icon Kate Moss to make a cameo on Gossip Girl.

Dressed in a Kate Moss for Topshop piece herself, Blake was also celebrating her birthday at the event. When asked which guest star she’d want the most for her birthday, she replied, “Kate Moss! She actually was supposed to come on last year, but it ended up not working out. I love Kate Moss.”

Did you hear that, Kate?

If the supermodel were to bless the small screen with her stylish presence, doing so would be her first. I’m not too sure how I feel about that—I enjoy wearing Kate’s clothes, not watching her lips move while she slinks around a set.

GG Closet Tour

2009-08-28T17:50:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, we got to tour the Gossip Girl wardrobe closet. As the show’s head costume designer Eric Daman showed us racks labeled “Serena,” “Blair”, and “Jenny,” we were jealous—and gawked at Chuck’s expansive tie collection. The space is huge, with built-in clothing rods that stack up to the ceiling. It’s obsessively organized—and no wonder: Daman and his team have just three days to prep the wardrobes and do the fittings for each episode, and on average there are six outfits per character. (Plus, they dress every actor and actress, including the “BGs”—extras in the background.)

The reason for our visit: Daman, who previously worked with costume designer Patricia Field on Sex and the City, has a book coming out in January, called You Know You Want It: Style—Inspiration—Confidence (Clarkson Potter). In it, he describes his style philosophy, and shares his secrets on shapes and silhouettes, mixing and matching different style elements, and creating your own signature style. The thing that struck us most about Daman is his true devotion to fashion: “If a fire broke out in here, I’d grab all the bags and shoes before I left,” Daman told us. Blair and Serena would be happy to hear it.

allure.com

GOSSIP GIRL BOSSES: ‘DUFF DIVA REPORTS ARE FALSE

2009-08-28T17:49:00.001-05:00

TV bosses have moved swiftly to deny reports actress HILARY DUFF has held up production on GOSSIP GIRL with a number of demands.
The 21 year old is currently in New York City filming episodes as a guest star on the hit TV teen drama, in which she plays a movie star who enrols in a university with Vanessa, played by Jessica Szohr.
Rumours swirled that Duff had infuriated the show’s cast after refusing to leave her trailer as the others waited to film near Manhattan’s Gramercy Park neighbourhood, causing a massive delay in shooting.
A source claims, “No one could believe they would actually hold up taping for her. Nobody in the cast behaves like that.”
But a representative for the U.S. programme tells the New York Post’s gossip column Page Six the rumour is “absolutely not true”

Gossip Girl fans upset New Yorkers

2009-08-28T17:48:00.001-05:00

Leighton Meester, Penn Badgley and Hilary Duff are causing more controversy on the set of hit TV drama Gossip Girl - New York residents have complained their neighborhood has been taken over by crazed fans.

Duff is currently filming episodes as a guest star on the series, in which she plays a famous actress who enrolls at an university with Vanessa, played by Jessica Szohr.

The singer, Badgley and Meester filmed a dinner party scene at the esteemed National Arts Club on Tuesday in Manhattan’s elite Gramercy Park, attracting hordes of screaming teen fans - and complaints from local residents.

A source told the New York Daily News, “Residents were complaining that they couldn’t even walk on the sidewalks because cables were lying all over the place. Plus, there were trailers and crazed fans everywhere.”

Duff sparked controversy on the set this week amid rumours she had infuriated the show’s cast after refusing to leave her trailer, causing a massive delay in shooting. Her spokesperson denied he claims, which she said were “absolutely not true.”

Gossip Girl Season 3 Premiere: Episode 1 Official Synopsis

2009-08-28T17:47:00.002-05:00

Episode 1, “Reversals of Fortune”:

As the summer is drawing to a close, Blair (Leighton Meester) and Chuck (Ed Westwick) are madly in love and adjusting to their new “in a relationship” status, breaking all the traditional rules of dating as would be expected.

Serena (Blake Lively) returns from her European adventure with many secrets to hide and a complicated relationship with Carter Baizen (guest star Sebastian Stan).

Nate (Chace Crawford) returns from his travels with a mysterious brunette, Bree Buckley (guest star JoAnna Garcia, pictured below) in tow.

Rufus (Matthew Settle), Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny (Taylor Momsen) spent the summer in the Hamptons, adjusting to the van der Woodsens’ glamorous lifestyle surprisingly faster than any of them expected.

Jessica Szohr also stars.

J. Miller Tobin directed the episode written by Joshua Safran.

Hilary Duff calls Gossip Girl co-stars “wonderful”

2009-08-28T17:47:00.001-05:00

They may have been spotted smooching on the Gossip Girl set, but there’s no need to worry for Blake Lively — Hilary Duff and Penn Badgley are strictly pals. “I’ve known him for a few years. We lived in the same neighborhood in LA growing up. And they’re wonderful! Blake has been so sweet to me,” Hilary, the newest addition to the CW hit’s cast, told In Touch of her on-screen suitor Penn and his longtime girlfriend, fellow Gossip Girl Blake Lively, at JCPenney and Charlotte Ronson’s launch of I Heart Ronson in New York. The actress also had a chance to work with the show’s guest star Tyra Banks. “I love her. I’ve done her show so many times. It was exciting and fun to work with her in a different atmosphere,” Hilary added. The blond beauty will play a celebrity who attends NYU and rooms with Jessica Szohr’s character Vanessa in the teen drama’s third season, which premieres on September 14.

The Sourcies Are Shocked By These Massive Meltdowns

2009-08-28T17:44:00.000-05:00

Sometimes very, very bad things happen to the folks on The CW — and that leads to some very, very good television. Whether they’re completely freaking out, exhibiting an icy calm that belies the turmoil underneath, or doing their best to burn every last bridge, we love watching these characters react — and that’s why this Sourcie celebrates the Most Dramatic Meltdowns this season. Check it out:

Blake Lively’s Fashion-Filled Birthday! Plus: What’s Next for Gossip Girl

2009-08-28T17:43:00.002-05:00

Blake Lively may have spent most of her day working, but the Gossip Girl star got to celebrate her 22nd birthday in a sexy Kate Moss for Topshop dress, starting with a stop at the Tiffany & Co. and InStyle party honoring Maria Sharapova and Frank Gehry — who collaborated on earrings the tennis star will wear during the US Open. But that was just the beginning. “I have nothing planned. I’m going to a lovely dinner, but it’s a surprise,” Lively told PEOPLE before being presented with a chocolate birthday cake at the party, but one can only assume that she spending the rest of the evening with her beau, Penn Badgley, as she coyly replied to PEOPLE about the most romantic date she’s ever been on, “I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow.” Birthday romance aside, Lively is excited about the upcoming season of Gossip Girl. “We were terrible in high school, so you can only imagine how wild we are in college,” she says. As for the season’s high profile guest appearances, “Hilary Duff is on for a few episodes and Tyra Banks makes an appearance also. I’ve known Tyra since I was a kid, so getting to work alongside her was great. She’s so gracious and kind and Hilary is just a fun, sweet girl. I love getting to know her and having people on that we really enjoy.” So, aside from Ed Westwick’s character, Chuck Bass, smooching another man, what other mass texts will Gossip Girl be sending come fall? “A lot will be happening. Serena is looking for her father, so she’s focusing a lot on that and Chuck and Blair are finally a couple!” Lively reveals. New episodes of Gossip Girl will return to the CW on Sept 14.

Season 3 Serena Style

2009-08-28T17:43:00.001-05:00

Chuck is Gay! (?)

2009-08-28T17:40:00.002-05:00

Spotted: Chuck Bass sucking face with a dude!

It’s true! Multiple Gossip Girl insiders confirm to me exclusively that the CW phenom is currently shooting an episode for its upcoming third season in which Ed Westwick’s legendary lothario kisses another man.

So who’s the lucky guy? And what are the circumstances surrounding the same-sex smooch? Keep reading for all the spoilery details…

First things first: Sorry to disappoint, but no, it’s not Chace Crawford. Westwick’s “romantic” interest is up-and-comer Neal Bledsoe (CSI: NY, Guiding Light), who’s guest-starring in episode 6 as Josh Ellis, NYU’s head of freshman affairs. Since Josh is tasked with selecting an incoming student for the honor of delivering the freshman speech, he’s, shall we say, a person of interest to Blair. In fact, she’s so determined to snag the slot that she goes so far as to pimp out her boyfriend to the gay guy in charge.

The catch? All you need to know is there is one. Oh, and wait until you hear what Chuck says to Blair following the lip-lock. (Must. Resist. Temptation. To. Spoil.)

It was only a matter of time before GG played the maybe-gay card with Chuck, who swung both ways in Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girl books.

What do you think? Surprised? Titillated? Horrified? Choose your adjectives below!

New Episode Titles

2009-08-28T17:35:00.000-05:00

3.03 – The Lost Boy
3.04 – Dan de Fleurette

Happy (Early) Birthday Blake!

2009-08-24T18:57:00.001-05:00

First Look: Ed Westwick as Sick Student on ‘Californication’

2009-08-24T18:54:00.001-05:00

Ed Westwick is no longer a Bass but Balt in the new promo shots of “Californication” season 3. The “Gossip Girl” actor is guest starring in the Showtime series as a college student fascinated at vampire lit. He is photographed in one scene, lying on a hospital bed accompanied by sexy fellow student, played by Eva Amurri.

KO THE LEGEND PRODUCING NEW MUSIC FOR GOSSIP GIRL LEIGHTON MEESTER

2009-08-21T18:51:00.000-05:00

KO THE LEGEND PRODUCING NEW MUSIC FOR GOSSIP GIRL LEIGHTON MEESTER AND FORMING NEW MUSIC VENTURE, HEVIKONCEPTS WITH NFL GREAT ROBERT GRIFFITH
FEATURED ON THE NEW HOT SINGLE FROM THE TING TINGS

Los Angeles–Writer, producer, and performer KO THE LEGEND, who has worked with a wide variety of artists from the likes of Britney Spears and KRS-ONE to Jupiter Rising and Kara Dioguardi, is hard at work in the recording studio producing new music for Universal Republic recording artist and Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester, whose current collaboration with Cobra Starship “Good Girls Go Bad” is currently a top 10 smash on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.”By now, everyone is well aware of Leighton’s extraordinary talents bo th on screen and behind the mic and I’m excited to be a part of her creative endeavors,” said KO. KO, who is often compared stylistically to Kanye West recently formed HeviKoncepts with NFL great Robert Griffith. The brand is a new multi-level entertainment company formed to independently release KO’s music and manage his writing and production interests. The joint venture is already paying off in respects to both recording and production, as KO’s first single, “She Wants 2 Get It” has earned over 3 million impressions, according to Mediabase. He’s enjoying new success with Ting Ting’s “Thats Not My Name” remix, which is rapidly climbing the rhythmic and top 40 radio charts. He’s earned internet success with “I’m Not You Rapper,” a critically acclaimed mixtape with legendary dj and producer Clinton Sparks. The
mixtape features KO’s single “She Wants 2 Get It” as well as his youtube sensation “What You Do” featuring Plain White T’s (Unofficial Hey There Delilah Remix), and was downloaded an estimated 100,000 times. Forthcoming for KO THE LEGEND is productions for new artist Samantha Marq, heiress to SC Johnson Wax fortune, who will be releasing her single “Supergirl” late 2009 and her album “Evolution of Love in Dysfunction” will be released early in 2010. In addition to Samantha, KO is producing and writing music for “S o You Think You Can Dance” star Lil C,

The opportunity to form the musical joint venture HeviKoncepts arose after KO performed at ‘The Party Of The Year’ in San Diego, honoring former NFL great Marshall Faulk. The event draws players from nearly every NFL team and was attended by Reggie Bush, Ladanian Tomlinson, and Matt Leinart, among others. “From the moment I saw KO THE LEGEND, I became a fan as did the entire crowd. His talent is undeniable and he brings down the house every time he grabs the mic, he’s the truth,” exclaimed Griffith. All Pro San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman said “I really enjoyed KO’s performance and he had the club rocking. It’s only a matter of time before everyone will know who he is, he’s that talented. “ Growing up in Arroyo Grande a suburban town on the California central coast was a far cry from the lights of Hollywood. While being raised surrounded by the conservativeness of his community, KO discovered his knack for wordplay and ear for music, gaining diverse writing influences from Michael Jackson, MC Hammer, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Notorious B.I.G, Nirvana, 2pac, the Smashing Pumpkins and more. For more info on KO THE LEGEND=2 0or to download your free copy of Hevikoncepts & Clinton Sparks present KO THE LEGNED “I’m Not You Rapper” the mixtape visit www.kothelegend.com

New Season 3 Stills

2009-08-21T18:44:00.004-05:00

New Season 3 Print Promo

2009-08-21T18:36:00.001-05:00

Gossip girl and Beautiful Life Crossover?

2009-08-21T18:35:00.002-05:00

Meanwhile, it’s not that hard to imagine Blair (Leighton Meester) and Serena (Blake Lively) sitting front row at a fashion show featuring Sonya or Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) flirting with new model Raina (Sara Paxton), so why shouldn’t we expect a crossover between the two New York-based CW shows?

Mike and Karey spilled that they’re already thinking of a way to get the casts of Gossip Girl and The Beautiful Life to join forces in a mega-New York crossover.

While nothing is set in stone for the crossover right now, Mike teased a possible storyline that he’ll be pitching to Gossip’s executive producer Stephanie Savage: “My idea—since these things happen—there are blackouts. The idea is that we have two shows that exist in the same city, and if our cast is on the subway, and their cast is on the subway, and then the subway shuts down. We don’t even have to necessarily cross them; we can simply tell two stories with them in the background and maybe have one or two characters cross through.” Karey also told us she wouldn’t mind Chuck Bass stealing some of the models, natch.

Gossip Girl Season 2 Gag Reel

2009-08-21T18:34:00.001-05:00

Exclusive: Gina Torres Joins Gossip Girl

2009-08-21T18:33:00.003-05:00

Gina Torres will appear on Gossip Girl this fall as Vanessa’s mom, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

Gabriela Abrams, mother to home-schooled vid-kid Vanessa, is described as being warm and outgoing, which will certainly be a change of pace for this show, not exactly known as the paragon of parental virtue. She is a free spirit, a former Brooklynite who lives “off the grid” in Vermont and has definite opinions about things, especially concerning her daughter. Ah, that’s more like it.

Torres is best known for her roles on Alias and Firefly, though she also had a recent blink-and-you-miss-it cameo on Pushing Daisies as the wayward mom of Emerson’s daughter. The actress is married to CSI’s Laurence Fishburne.

Gabriela Abrams is currently scheduled to appear in two episodes, but she will recur on the series. Gossip Girl returns for its third season on Monday, Sept. 14 at 9/8c on the CW.

Momsen ‘has big Gossip stories ahead’

2009-08-21T18:33:00.001-05:00

Gossip Girl’s executive producer Stephanie Savage has revealed that Taylor Momsen will be pushed to the front of the show in the upcoming third season.

Speaking to People, Savage revealed that Momsen’s high-school character Jenny will be on a mission to maintain her new-found Queen Bee status.

“We really do see Jenny struggling with what she is going to do with this power that has been given to her,” Savage said. “She is back at Constance and now she is a junior – the same age as our other girls when the show started – so we have lots of story areas for Jenny that are opening up.”

Discussing what lies ahead for the show’s other pivotal characters, Savage added that Blair’s future will be tainted by Georgina’s arrival early on into the season.

“She is not going to be in our first episode, but she will be in the second episode when our kid’s start college,” she said.

Season three of Gossip Girl is slated to premiere Monday, September 14 on The CW.

Spoilers

2009-08-21T18:32:00.000-05:00

Kelly in Michigan: Please tell me that the Dan-Georgina hookup in the Gossip Girl promos is misdirection!
No can do. Michelle Trachtenberg’s Georgina and Penn Badgley’s Dan really do hook up in season three of Gossip Girl. Naughty! (BTW, in case you missed ‘em, check out our exclusive on-set interviews with Penn, Michelle, Jessica Szohr and Leighton Meester!)

Mickey in Arizona: I can’t wait to see Hilary Duff on Gossip Girl! When does she start?

2009 VMA Promo-Cobra Starship and Leighton

2009-08-15T10:27:00.000-05:00

Leighton is Replaceable

2009-08-14T13:04:00.000-05:00

Leighton Meester's prospects of making it in the music business while still acting on Gossip Girl are slim to none! She'll just bee too busy to properly promote and tour a record.

Like last night!

Meester is featured on Cobra Starship's song Good Girls Go Bad, written by Kara DioGuardi and Kevin Rudolf. The band performed the single on The Tonight Show WITHOUT Leighton.

In her place, they had British singer Estelle sing her parts!

Courtney Love Clears Up The Twitter Feud!

2009-08-14T13:03:00.000-05:00

Last week, Miz Love incessantly babbled about Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen playing "crappy pop" and The Veronicas wearing her clothes, all through her now-locked Twitter account.

Love claims she has no interest in Momsen or GG, that the show "strikes [her] as stuff about the Upper East Side that [she] wouldn’t want my daughter to be around," and she would "never pick on a child."

But as far as The Veronicas feud goes…

What Courtney meant to say was that The Veronicas were literally wearing her clothes - the gals bought them on Etsy through a seller who lifted the goods from Love's closet!

Courtney told all in a recent interview:

… I will say that there’s some sister-pop Perez Hilton-y duo [the Veronicas] and what they did is … I personally Twittered them, about these four dresses from a vendor on Etsy, who had stolen some dresses from me. And I asked them to not physically wear these physical dresses. That’s totally different. And they made those private Twits public. And it made the Australian national news, someone told me. I was like, "What? Over a dress?" That’s retarded. Like, if it’s a million-dollar dress, like my tampon dress, that’s a different story.

Reminder

2009-08-14T12:51:00.001-05:00

The Second Season of gossip Girl comes out on DVD on Tuesday!

Old Penn Video

2009-08-14T12:40:00.000-05:00

New Character Promos: Part of the WTF Campaign

2009-08-14T12:35:00.004-05:00

I've collected all of the new promos for Season 3.
Nate

Dan

Chuck

Blair

Serena

Headbands

Check Out Leighton's Tweet

2009-08-14T11:25:00.004-05:00

Sonic Youth Set to Bring “Starpower” To “Gossip Girl”

2009-08-14T11:25:00.003-05:00

Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and the rest of Sonic Youth are joining Chuck Bass, Blair Waldorf and the cast of TV’s hottest show Gossip Girl… for one episode. The New York band will feature on the fifth show of the upcoming season for a “very special event” that warranted a special guest the magnitude of Sonic Youth, showrunner Stephanie Savage told EW’s Music Mix. Sonic Youth aren’t using their GG appearance to promote their latest masterpiece The Eternal; instead, the band will dig into their back catalog for an acoustic performance of “Starpower,” off 1986’s EVOL.

This isn’t the first time Sonic Youth have contributed to Gossip Girl: Last season, Thurston Moore and former Be Your Own Pet singer Jemina Pearl covered the Ramones’ “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” one of Rolling Stone’s favorite music moments from the hit WB show.

Savage tells EW that Sonic Youth’s affinity for GG first came to her attention when she learned Moore was using Gossip Girl as a backdrop while playing solo Psychic Hearts shows last year. “I hope it was a cool, edgy homage! And it turned out that it was — tongue in cheek for sure, but definitely with love, and that they were fans of the show,” Savage said.

As Rock Daily previously reported, No Doubt appeared on a flashback episode of Gossip Girl last season to perform a rendition of Adam & the Ants’ “Stand and Deliver,” the first new song recorded by the band since their reunion.

Sonic Youth have long been the authority on pop culture and art in New York City — from their performance at a Merce Cunningham dance show to a MOMA installment dedicated to David Bowie — and Gossip Girl has become synonymous with Big Apple culture in its short tenure. Plus, Moore and Gordon’s daughter Coco is 15 now, so she’s likely a fan of the program like every other 15-year-old girl in the United States. Season Three of Gossip Girl premieres on September 14th.

Meet Vanessa's Mom

2009-08-14T11:25:00.001-05:00

Gossip Girl producers are reportedly looking to cast an actress in the role of Vanessa’s mum.

According to Entertainment Weekly, they are seeking an African-American female in her early 40s to play Vanessa’s “attractive, warm, outgoing mother”.

Jessica Szohr, who plays Vanessa Abrams on The CW drama, previously said of the upcoming third season: “Someone ends up not being who they say they are.

“It’s just lots of drama and crazy stuff. It’s like a new chapter in everyone’s life. We’re all off to college, we’re working. There’s a lot of guest stars coming on, new relationships are formed.”

Blake <3's Topshop

2009-08-14T11:24:00.002-05:00

Gossip Girl might be known for its stars’ high fashion costumes, but it’s not all about the couture for the actresses once they leave the set! After long days of filming in hot-off-the-runway looks from Herve Leger and Matthew Williamson, Blake Lively sports her own affordable fashions from Topshop! Blake’s Kaftan Liberty Print Dress (center) is sold out, but you can steal her on set style with the Hawaiian Playsuit, $90, and the orange and black Knitted Stripe Top, $65. Blake isn’t the only celebrity loving affordable fashions, take our quiz to check out more star style steals.

On the Set of "Roomate"

2009-08-14T11:23:00.002-05:00

“Gossip Girl” hottie Leighton Meester is going from prep-schooler to crazy coed in “The Roommate” — and “Extra” is on the set with Meester and her sexy co-stars Minka Kelly and Cam Gigandet!

You can watch the video here.

New Spoiler

2009-08-14T11:23:00.001-05:00

Lily in Detroit: We heard Michelle Trachtenberg might be getting a new love interest on Gossip Girl. Any news?
Not quite yet, but it sounds like Michelle would like to play the field a bit longer on Gossip Girl. “She is making out with all the boys,” says Michelle Trachtenberg. “Nooo, that was my request,” jokes the star. Wanna know what really happens? “You’ll have to see.” (Gossip Girl premieres Sept. 14 at 8 p.m. on the CW.)