On Sunday night, The Simpsons aired its annual Halloween episode, Treehouse of Horror, which opened with Guillermo del Toro's brilliantly executed title sequence. An extended three-minute riff on the iconic couch gag, the Mexican director's treatment recast the citizens of Springfield into a seamless series of classic…

To introduce this year's Treehouse of Horror special, The Simpsons teamed up with a man who knows a thing or two about the genre: Dark fantasy master Guillermo del Toro.

Attend the tale of a movie director who has lost two big pictures in a row. It's a sad one. Also today: more pilot casting news of course, AMC teases their latest show, The Event crashes and burns, and a little Greek send-off.

Sort of for the second time. Also today: Comic Con news from Joss Whedon, two movie stars want to work with Hilary Swank for some reason, TV shows shuffle their actors, and Justin Bieber is involved in a murder.

Due to production delays, Director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) won't direct the two-part film adaptation of The Hobbit. He'll still co-write the script with Peter Jackson, but we had high hopes for del Toro's Middle Earth. Oh well. [AP]

Former actor and current famous AT&T spokesperson Luke Wilson has been cast opposite Laura Dern to star in a new HBO comedy called 'Enlightened." Please let this be the end of those annoying AT&T/Verizon attack ads.

Sean Lennon turns 34 today. Sharon Osbourne is turning 57. Newly retired pro golfer Annika Sörenstam is 39. Former Senator Trent Lott is turning 68. Director Guillermo del Toro turns 45. Tony Shalhoub is 56. Jackson Browne is 61. John O'Hurley of Seinfeld and Dancing with the Stars is 55. Actor Brandon Routh is…

Bobby Flay turns 44 today. You can wish him a happy birthday in person: He'll be the featured attraction at the NYC Wine & Food Festival event this evening at Chelsea Market. Also celebrating: Sean Lennon is 33. Trent Lott turns 67. Sharon Osbourne is turning 56. Pro golfer Annika Sörenstam is 38. Actor John O'Hurley…

Whatever your impressions of would-be bank robber and generally overrated fantasy maven Guillermo del Toro, his new long-term pact with Universal can't be the kind of thing that rouses too much confidence in his growth and versatility — even among fans. After his five-year commitment to The Hobbit, the filmmaker…

Welcome back to another week of Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to the fresh hell of what's new at the movies. After taking a Hancock holiday weekend to find ourselves, we're back in full-on summer anguish mode as yet another massive comics adaptation hits theaters, Brendan Fraser goes a-spelunkin' and…

We know pretty much everyone in the world except a few drones at Defamer HQ can't seem to wait for noted genre waffler Guillermo del Toro's take on The Hobbit, previously reported as a pair of films he'd make over several years in New Zealand with producer Peter Jackson at his side. But last night at the LA Film…

We'll take any opportunity we can get for a furlough from our shackles at Defamer HQ, so off we go to the Los Angeles Film Festival, which opens tonight with the world premiere of Angelina Jolie's emaciated-assassin actioner Wanted. Maybe not the gritty, funded-by-credit-cards entry you'd expect from fest organizers…

Never saying never might be the smart play for Guillermo Del Toro, who once went off so memorably on the Lord of the Rings franchise ("I was never into heroic fantasy. At all. I don't like little guys and dragons, hairy feet, hobbits — I've never been into that at all. I don't like sword and sorcery, I hate all that…

We long ago gave up our illusions about Film Independent's annual Los Angeles Film Festival being any kind of authentic showcase for, well, independent film. Like when Transformers launched the fest last year? Right. But that's the biz, and if it takes Universal to step in on opening night June 19 with its Angelina…

In a blog post last month, before The Hobbit officially landed a director, Lord of the Rings veteran Sir Ian McKellen was more certain he would reprise his role as Gandalf than he was of his former castmates' sexualities. He was even surer in a recent interview with Empire magazine, in which the 68-year-old…

Our dissatisfaction at Friday's news that Guillermo del Toro would inherit the Hobbit reins from Peter Jackson met with a mix of scorn and curiosity over the weekend. "Pony up an alternative, Cochise," wrote a commenter. "Destroy those two GENIUSES and all we will be left with is Lucas and Spielberg. And that is not…

There's been much to-do over the last day about Peter Jackson's hiring of Guillermo del Toro to direct the two-part Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit. Among our favorite dissenting opinions belongs to Salon critic Andrew O'Hehir, who pulls out his Cannes '06 interview notebook to look up del Toro's sentiment at…