This story first appeared in the Feb. 8 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. In June 2009, Chris Terrio entered Manhattan’s Paley Center for Media on a quest for information. He had been hired by producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov to write a screenplay based on the real-life story of a fake movie staged by the CIA, which was used as a backdrop to rescue Americans who had fled the U.

The VelociPastor is plotting its return … almost.  The follow-up to the comedy-horror actioner — a viral hit thanks to its pun-tastic title and an insane plot involving ninjas, prostitutes and a crime-fighting clergyman who transforms into a dinosaur when angry — is now taking shape. Writer/director Brendan Steere — who famously made his feature debut for just $35,000 (and was initially inspired by an autocorrect error on his phone) — had previously announced that a sequel was in the works, but has now revealed to The Hollywood Reporter the title, plot and plans for an entire three-part franchise.

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission. Although the teen sex comedy wasn’t the biggest box office hit, Bottoms — which stars Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott — is likely to find its audience on home video. It’s now available to stream in 4K Ultra HD on Prime Video for Prime members only.

You’ll have to excuse Rick Rosen if he appears on edge in the coming weeks. Rosen’s agency, WME, where he heads the TV division, is responsible for nearly 60 percent of new series pickups for the 2011-12 broadcast season. Among them: Fox’s New Girl, ABC’s Last Man Standing and CBS’ Person of Interest, all shows with entries visible on the oversized programming grid resting in the corner of his Beverly Hills office.

X is getting into the ring with the WWE. The Elon Musk-owned social platform, previously known as Twitter, has signed a two-year deal with the WWE for a new exclusive weekly video series. Called WWE Speed, the concept will feature timed matches meant to be completed in five minutes or less. The series, which is planned to be live to tape, will debut this spring, and will feature WWE superstars from across its roster.

Shazam! Jim Nabors, best known for playing Gomer Pyle in The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, USMC, is a newlywed at age 82. The actor married his longtime partner, Stan Cadwallader, 64, earlier this month, he told Hawaii News Now on Tuesday. The Honolulu-based couple, who have been together for 38 years, traveled to Washington — where gay marriage became legal in December — and were married at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle.

Sarah Chalke heads to ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy this week for an episode that is inspired by her real-life experiences in dealing with her son’s Kawasaki Disease. KD, which is often misdiagnosed in children and infants, involves an inflammation of the blood vessels through the body that is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. After struggling — and fighting — to have her young son, Charlie, correctly diagnosed and treated, Chalke decided to open up about her family’s ordeal and speak at a November fundraiser for KD, where her experience with other parents eventually led to a meeting with Grey’s Anatomy‘s Shonda Rhimes.

Andrew Rubin, who played cadet and ladies man George Martin in the first Police Academy movie, died Oct. 5 of lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his manager, Joan Sittenfield, said. He was 69. Rubin also starred opposite Walter Matthau in Casey’s Shadow (1978) and Little Miss Marker (1980) and portrayed Jesus Jarerra, a reporter for the Fernwood television station, on the 1970s Norman Lear syndicated hit Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the Nickelodeon animated megahit SpongeBob SquarePants, died Monday. He was 57. Hillenburg, a former marine biology teacher, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at his home in Southern California. He was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease in March 2017. Nickelodeon on Tuesday announced his death in a tweet: “We are sad to share the news of the passing of Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants.

More than half a million people are shareholders in the Green Bay Packers — and the team’s former quarterback Aaron Rodgers is taking a similar fan-owned approach with his internet startup, the Online Sports Database, which seeks to build a community by crowdsourcing $1.25 million in bridge funding. Rodgers and actor Ryan Rottman launched OSDB in 2021 after chatting about the gap in the marketplace at Casa Vega in Sherman Oaks.