Jodie Foster might look to cable for next project

Actress Jodie Foster, from the upcoming film "Elysium", poses for a portrait during Comic-Con on Friday. ASSOCIATED PRESS Enlarge

SAN DIEGO -- Jodie Foster is looking to cable TV as a future site for her Oscar-winning talent, joining other big-screen stars who are finding pay TV can pay off.

The 49-year-old actress and director says she is "developing a few things" likely destined for cable, calling the format "a good outlet for what I do."

"I think I may spend some time on cable," Foster said at July's Comic-Con, where she was promoting her next big-screen role: Starring opposite Matt Damon in Elysium, writer-director Neill Blomkamp's follow-up to his hit Oscar-nominated debut, District 9.

Due in March, Elysium is set 150 years in the future in a world where Earth is polluted, diseased, and overpopulated, so the wealthiest citizens create a utopian habitat in space.

Foster wanted to work with Blomkamp after seeing District 9, which she called "a perfect film ... the movie I wish I would have directed."

Foster said she intends to direct again, but hasn't found her next project. Her directorial credits include 1991's Little Man Tate, 1995's Home for the Holidays, and last year's The Beaver.

"It's a long process," she said. "Because I do make personal films, they're hard to get off the ground, especially nowadays."

That's why cable might be her next stop, as it has been of late for such big-screen staples as Nicole Kidman, Kevin Costner, and Julianne Moore.

"I think it's a good outlet for what I do," Foster said. "What I do are personal stories and, in some ways, usually involve family and they have equal amounts of comedy and drama, sometimes an absurdist twist, and they're very verbal. And I like constructing complex characters and hopefully seeing this sort of tapestry of how they interact with each other over time evolve. Well, TV's the place for that."

So would the two-time Oscar winner helm a series?

"Maybe," she said with a smile. "You never know."

Room makeover from Vanilla Ice

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Nesty and Michelle Nunez couldn't believe it. Vanilla Ice, '90s rapper-turned-renovator, was outside the Lake Worth couple's house.

Surprise, surprise baby.

The couple were chosen -- from almost 1,000 photo and video submissions -- to receive a $30,000 room renovation as part of DIY Network's VIP: Ice My House special.

"I'm still shaking. I can't breathe," Michelle Nunez said, after Ice (whose real name is Rob Van Winkle) ambushed her house Tuesday.

"When we heard the knocks, the dogs started going crazy," she said. "That's when we looked at each other. We couldn't even speak. We just ran [to the door]."

Snoop says he'd love to be a judge on 'American Idol'

NEW YORK -- If Randy Jackson yells "Yo Dawg!" during the next season of American Idol, he could be talking to Snoop Dogg, if the rapper (aka Snoop Lion) has his way.

After hearing of the millions of dollars Idol judges earn on the Fox competition, Snoop, in an interview this week, said: "I'll do American Idol."

Idol returns in January. Mariah Carey is filling one of the two seats made available following Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler's exits last month. When told Carey is earning about $18 million a year for a one-year contract with a renewal option, Snoop looked to his manager and jokingly yelled: "Get on it!"

Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman in buddy comedy?

LOS ANGELES -- Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman shared only fleeting screen time in the Batman trilogy now concluded.

In a recent interview, the two Oscar-winning actors had such warm, relaxed camaraderie that it's a shame they didn't get to show more of it in those films.

Caine and Freeman do appear in the upcoming crime thriller Now You See Me, in which they collaborate on what they promise will be a "really good scene."

Still, the 79-year-old Caine and 75-year-old Freeman are two of the most personable older actors in Hollywood and deserve a full-blown buddy movie of their own, a rare thing for actors their age.

Ricky Gervais to launch comedy Web series

NEW YORK -- Ricky Gervais wants to teach you English.

The comedian announced Tuesday on his blog that he's working on a Web series called Learn English with Ricky Gervais. It co-stars Gervais' frequent collaborator and foil Karl Pilkington.

Though Gervais didn't describe the series, it can be expected to be more comedic than educational.