Lunch w/Greg: Terry Gilliam on Heath Ledger; Megan Mullally back on Broadway; Year-end honors for Serena and Federer

Good Morning everyone!

I don’t know about you, but I love going to the movies on Christmas Day. There are several new movies opening including one that’s first on my list: It’s Complicated starring Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin and my queen, Meryl Streep.

If that’s not your taste, then maybe you’ll want to take in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a fantastical morality tale directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Heath Ledger in what was to be his final role. Heath died during the filming of the movie so Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law stepped in and the film was able to be completed.

Gilliam spoke with The Wrap about the loss of Ledger:

“He wasn’t a neurotic James Dean or any of those things. Occasionally the gods send us down someone extraordinary, and we get to see them briefly, and then the gods pull them away. That’s how I feel about Heath.

The sad thing is we’ll now never get to see all his talent and capabilities fully realized. This was a guy who’d be directing, and he’d make a great director.”

BROADWAY BOUND: When you are as talented as Megan Mullally, you have plenty of options.

The Emmy winning star of Will & Grace has had a tough time achieving follow-up success on television with her talk show being a quick failure and a sitcom she co-starred in last year being cancelled.

But Megan is just as gifted as a stage actress and is set to return to Broadway in April in the Terrance McNally play Lips Together, Teeth Apart. Her most recent Broadway appearance was in Mel Brooks‘ musical Young Frankenstein. She has also starred in revivals of Grease and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Lips Together tells the story of two siblings spending July 4 at a beach house on Fire Island with their respective spouses.

Megan just finished an acclaimed run in Adam Bock’s The Receptionist at LA’s Oddyssey Theatre.

TENNIS ELITE: Roger Federer and Serena Williams both won Wimbledon singles titles this year and this week, they were named International Tennis Federation World Champions for 2009.

Federer had a stellar year winning Wimbledon for the sixth time and the French Open for the first time. Those wins propelled him past Pete Sampras as the winner of the most grand slam tournaments in history (15). He also reclaimed the number one ranking from Rafael Nadal, made it to the finals of the US Open and the Australian Open and won five tournaments overall.

Serena, who was also named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, played her best when it counted winning Wimbledon for the third time, the Australian Open for the fourth time and the year-end championships for the second time. She regained the number one ranking toward the end of the year as well.

But Serena’s year has a few blots on it: She played abysmally in all of the other tournaments which is why she was ranked second most of the year. Then in the semifinals of the US Open, she exploded at a lineswoman after receiving a horribly wrong call at a crucial point of her match against Kim Clisters.

But she was the best out there and it’s nice when she lives up to her considerable talent. Serena, who set a prize money record in 2009, now has 11 grand slam titles on her resume. One more and she will tie Billie Jean King but will have to win a lot more if she wants to match Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova (both 18) or Steffi Graf (22).

All she’s gotta do is watch her temper!