Scoop soup: casting news round-up

July 2, 2:45 PMNY Entertainment ExaminerKevin Fallon

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No summer break for casting agents!  There have been major casting decisions this past week on your favorite TV shows and exciting new films.  Here's your scoop soup: a little bit of deliciousness and some "what kind of vegetable did I just put in my mouth?" absurd casting choices.  All the details below:
 

• Hillary Duff has been cast in Gossip Girl as a movie star-turned NYU student who will be roommates with Jessica Szohr's character.  Lizzie Maguire will take over downtown Manhattan for a multi-episode arc.
• Liza Minelli, Delta Burke, Rosie O'Donnell, and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) will all guest-star on Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva, about an attractive woman who gets hit by a truck and wakes up in the hospital as an overweight attorney.  I can't imagine how these actresses fit into that kind of plot...
• Drea DeMatteo graduates from the mob to suburbs.  The Sopranos Emmy-winner will join the cast of Desperate Housewives to fill the hot and bitchy void left by Nicollette Sheridan.
• Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni have renegotiated their contracts and are set to return for two more seasons of Law & Order: SVU.  Christine Lahti has signed on as the Assistant District Attorney for four episodes.
• Joanna Garcia of Priveleged and Lifetime's endless Reba marathons will play Chace Crawford's girlfriend on Gossip Girl. 
• Christina Applegate will join Drew Barrymore and Justin Long in the romantic comedy Going the Distance.  I wonder if it will be "quirky" and "off-beat"?
• Annette Bening and Julianne Moore will be lesbians and Mark Ruffallo their sperm donor in The Kids Are Alright.  I'm alright with it too.
• Jason Lee and Michelle Trachtenbeg have joined stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan in A Couple of Dicks.  Is there possibly a better title for a Bruce Willis movie?
• Amy Adams is in talks to star opposite Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in the boxing drama Fighter as Wahlberg's gritty bartender girlfriend from Boston.  Wahlberg revisiting his Departed Boston accent?  Awesome.  Princess Giselle getting gritty?  Knock out.
• Topher Grace and Emma Roberts have joined all of Hollywood Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Shirley MacLaine, Bradley Cooper, and Ashton Kutcher in Garry Marshall's Valentine's Day.  At this rate each actor will get three lines and it will still be a four hour movie.  And Emma Roberts is actually Julia's niece.  So we're supposed to think this is cute.  Awww.
• Janet Jackson will reprise her role in a sequel to Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?  It's called Why Did I Get Married Too?  Unclear whether she'll be part of I Also Want to Know Why Did I Get Married? or I'm Very Curious Why Did I Get Married As Well?
• Cher will join Christina Aguilera in her feature film debut, Burlesque, about a small town girl with a big voice making a name for herself at a burlesque club.  In related news, there are no more fake eyelashes or wigs in stock in all of the wo