Jonathan Frid remembered by Johnny Depp; Catching Fire has a director

Jonathan Frid, from "Dark Shadows. (AP/ABC) Johnny Depp has released a statement full of kind words for Jonathan Frid , the actor who played Barnabas Collins on the soap opera Dark Shadows and died last Friday. Depp plays the character in Tim Burtons film adaptation, which hits theaters this May.

Jonathan Frid was the reason I used to run home from school to watch Dark Shadows, Depp said in a statement. When I had the honor to finally meet him, as he so generously passed the torch of Barnabas to me, he was as elegant and magical as I had always imagined. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. The world has lost a true original. (LA Times; EW)

Read a 1968 Washington Post interview with Frid here.

Francis Lawrence has been picked to direct Catching Fire, the second film in The Hunger Games franchise. His past film credits ! include I Am Legend, Constantine and Water for Elephants. Lawrence also directed Lady Gagas Bad Romance music video, as well as ones for Destinys Child and Jennifer Lopez. (Deadline)

Seth Meyerss animated series, The Awesomes, will debut next year on Hulu. (AP)

After extremely influential person Rihanna posted a picture to her Instagram account that some people believe showed her with marijuana, MTV wrote a story about it and tweeted, Yikes. @Rihanna's marijuana photos from Coachella spark controversy. Rihanna answered with the tweet, Yikes... @Rihanna ran out of [expletives] to give. My reaction to the whole thing? Yikes. (Billboard)

The Posts Hank Stuever has given Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a glowing review. Read it here.

Omar comin ... over to watch Game of Thrones, after the jump.

Michael K. Williams who, yes, currently has a spectacular role on Boardwalk Empire but hes always going to be Omar from The Wire so deal with! it is a big Game of Thrones fan. (MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!) I really cant wait to see what happens when the North and South fight and whos going to win. ... It just has a lot of things I really, really appreciate. A lot of good writing, a lot of good acting. (Vulture)

And my favorite headline of the day goes to... Koala Pees on One Directions Liam Payne & Harry Styles, Sparking Chlamydia Fears. (GossipCop)

This slideshow of The Idris Elba Face is almost perfect. It just needs some Luther. (WarmingGlow)

Anne Hathaway and her short hair look extremely miserable on the set on Les Miserables. (Collider)

Speaking of Game of Thrones, heres a joke cut from last nights Parks and Rec where Ben calls Leslie Khaleesi.