ROLL CALL: Avril Gets Animated, And Mario Works ‘Eight Days A Week’

Your Daily Dispatch of Celebrity Shenanigans by Tommy Vergason

April 9, 2007

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE LANE : Frankie Muniz may have been the middle child on “Malcolm in the Middle,” but he’s determined to be top dog of the racing circuit. Muniz has reportedly put his acting career on the back burner (at least for now), to concentrate on his new love: racecar driving. “I never really wanted to get out of acting, but now I’m a professional racecar driver,” he reportedly tells PEOPLE. “Seriously, ask any actor if they’d rather be a professional racecar driver or an actor…I’m truly the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”

FROM ‘COMPLICATED’ TO COMIC BOOKS : Avril Lavigne’s music career is still going strong, but she’s added another another talent to her growing repertoire: comic book creator. The graphic novel “Avril Lavigne’s Make 5 Wishes” arrives in stores tomorrow, and tells the tale of a teenaged girl who has an imaginary best friend (reportedlybased onLavigne) whom she turns to for guidance, reports the L.A. TIMES. Lavigne serves as both Character and Creative Consultant on the project, which is presented in the popular Japanese-inspired “manga” format. Lavigne reportedly says of the work, “I know that many of my fans read manga, and I’m really excited to be involved in creating stories I know they will enjoy.”

MARIO EXPERIENCES ‘HELL ON EARTH’ : Incasting news, last season’s “Dancing With the Stars” finalist Mario Lopez and singer/actress Christina Milian have been cast in the CW comedy pilot “Eight Days a Week,” reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. “Eight Days a Week” reportedly revolves around four twentysomethings who work under the top movers and shakers in New York. According to the report, Lopez will play one of the bosses — an impeccably dressed wunderkind with a cell phone attached to his ear. Milian will play one of the assistants, a beautiful, young woman who left behind a law career to start over as a receptionist/gofer at an art gallery.

More Celebrity Scoop After the Video!

PADELECKI PAINTS A PICTURE : “Supernatural” actor Jared Padalecki is flexing his acting muscles, as VARIETY reports that Lionsgate has tapped the actor to portray contemporary painter Thomas Kinkade in a feature film entitled “The Christmas Cottage.” The film, also starring Peter O’Toole, is reportedly based on the events that led to Kinkade becoming an artist. Kinkade, known as “America’s most-collected living artist,” will also serve as one of the producers of the movie. Filming reportedly begins in Vancouver this month with the goal of a holiday release.

‘NEW ADVENTURES’ OF A ‘SEINFELD’ VETERAN : And finally, TV GUIDE interviews “New Adventures of Old Christine” star Julia Louis Dreyfus, who speaks about her successful run on the CBS sitcom, along with her recent return to “Saturday Night Live” as guest host. When asked about the “Seinfeld” legacy that just won’t go away, she is by no means ungrateful about that career-defining experience: “It makes me proud when people mention ‘Seinfeld’ to me or a particular episode or scene or phrase, because it’s sort of iconic,” she reportedly says. “Who wouldn’t want to have that experience in their lives?”