Mark Malkin of E! Online reports that Lauren Conrad, star of the hit MTV reality series "The Hills," will be a double presence at next month's Emmy Awards — both as a presenter and as designer of the dresses worn by the trophy girls (see The Envelope story here). Malkin says that Oprah Winfrey will open the diamond anniversary edition of the awardsfest before the five reality show host nominees take over emceeing duties.

Meryl Streep is thisclose to signing to play the lead in a new romantic comedy from writer-director Nancy Meyers, says Variety. Streep would be in a romantic triangle with two men, shades of "Something's Gotta Give," the 2003 laffer from Meyers that earned Diane Keaton a Golden Globe nom as well as an Oscar bid. Streep, who is a likely Golden Globe nominee this year for best actress (musical/comedy) for "Mamma Mia!" (and may pick up a nod for her upcoming dramatic turn in "Doubt"), could also figure in that race next year and now, it seems, in 2010. In the spring, Streep stars as the indomitable Julia Child opposite her "Doubt" costar Amy Adams in Nora Ephron's adaptation of the best-selling memoir "Julie and Julia." Streep's association with Ephron dates to 1983 when she starred in "Silkwood," a film that earned them both Oscar nods.

Mark Wahlberg tells the New York Post that he will be appearing on "Entourage" during the upcoming fifth season of the HBO hit comedy series. The Oscar-nominated Wahlberg ("The Departed"), who earned an Emmy nod last year for exec-producing the laffer, says he enjoyed acting opposite two-time Emmy winner and current supporting-actor nominee Jeremy Piven: "I did one other cameo in the pilot but I didn't get to do a scene with Jeremy Piven. This time it's me and Piven going at it, so it was fun."

Scott Bowles of USA Today offers a sneak peek at "The Road," the upcoming screen version of Cormac McCarthy's 2007 Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a father (Viggo Mortenson) struggling to save his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) after an unnamed catastrophe. Australian director John Hillcoat ("The Proposition") talks of his decision to rely on real world settings rather than computer-generated ones. "We didn't want to go the CGI world. We wanted the heightened reality in the book." Hopes are high for this November release, especially given the success of "No Country for Old Men," the 2007 Oscar-winning adaptation of McCarthy's 2005 best-seller.

Variety reports: "South Korea has selected helmer Kim Tae-gyun's 'Crossing' ('Keurosing'), a drama about a North Korean defector, as its candidate for foreign language Oscar. But the choice has already caused controversy." READ MORE