May 16 marks the date of the NBC Upfront. Mark your calenders and check back at Adoring Amber Heard because that is the date we will find out whether or not NBC has officially picked up The Playboy Club (aka Playboy). Here’s what the Hollywood Reporter says about it:

Meanwhile, Bent and the dramas Reconstruction, The Playboy Club and Stephen Gaghan’s Metro (formerly S.I.L.A.) — which a source described as potentially “too smart” — are all still in play.

Amber Heard and Shiloh Fernandez have joined the cast of Syrup, the film adaptation of the Max “Maxx” Barry novel, Variety reports. The book, a dark satire, is officially described as follows:

The average person has three million-dollar ideas per year. Scat, an unemployed marketing graduate who knows you don’t get noticed calling yourself Michael, has had his first. It’s a sure-fire ticket to the life of shallow fame and fleeting celebrity he craves. But first he has to deal with 6, who is possibly the love of Scat’s life or possibly ripping him off, and Sneaky Pete, marketing genius, refugee from Tokyo, and Scat’s best friend—as far as Scat knows.

Barry also helped to adapt the screenplay with director Aram Rappaport (Summer Song, Helix).

It has not been confirmed as of yet which roles Heard and Fernandez will be taking on, but they are quite likely those of Six and Scat, respectively. A smaller production, it remains to be seen if some of the many celebrities who cameo in the novel might make appearances in the film version.

Sources: Coming Soon, Variety

The gallery has been updated with several new The Ward stills featuring Amber Heard, which were sent in by the awesome Fredy of Danielle Panabaker Source.

A region-free Blu-ray and Region 2 DVD of the film will be released on May 16, 2011. You may pre-order your copy over at Amazon.co.uk!

The Ward will see a limited US release this summer, followed by a Blu-ray and DVD release on August 2, 2011.

Many thanks again to Fredy for The Ward stills and release scoop!

Updates have been slow here at Adoring Amber Heard this past month or so because we have been (and continue to be) very busy with our studies and elsewhere. However, to celebrate Amber’s birthday I’ve caught up uploading photos from the events that she’s attended in April. Namely, An Evening of Cocktails and Shopping to Benefit the Children’s Defense Fund (April 20), InStyle’s Dinner With a Designer for Tory Burch (April 14) and 22nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards (April 10). Enjoy the new pictures!

Today marks Amber Heard’s 25th birthday! She was born April 22, 1986 in Austin, Texas.

We would like to wish a very wonderful birthday to Amber, and many happy returns on behalf of all of the fans! May all your dreams come true!

NBC’s The Playboy Club is already perking up the rabbit ears of one watchdog group, long before the pilot might ever see the light of day.

The contract for actors on the series — which is set in 1963 at the Playboy Club in Chicago — includes a clause stipulating that “nudity as defined above and/or simulated sex acts” may be required, Variety reported. Any such nude scenes would not make it into the broadcast version airing on NBC, but could be edited in for international DVD releases or cable syndication.

Variety noted that no such scenes are featured in the pilot itself, which is now wrapping production in Chicago, but the Parents Television Council is already commenting on the very existence of the nudity clause.

PTC president Tim Winter says in a statement that back when the NBC Universal-Comcast merger was being reviewed by Congress, “[We] called on the FCC to ‘force Comcast to stipulate that it absolutely will not use the public airwaves to distribute pornographic material.’”

Actors on the NBC drama pilot The Playboy Club could conceivably bare more than their souls for the camera.

Contracts for talent signed to the show contain a nudity clause that is typical of pay TV programming but virtually unheard of in the broadcast biz.

Variety obtained a copy of the clause. It stipulates: “Nudity as defined above and/or simulated sex acts may be required in connection with player’s services in the pilot and/or series.”

The language would give studio 20th Century Fox TV, which is co-producing with Imagine Television, leeway to shoot graphic scenes thatmay not get past NBC’s standards and practices department but could be used to sell R-rated versions of the show on DVD internationally or for cable syndication.

Insiders say no nudity was shot for the pilot, nor are there any specific plans to do so should the series be picked up. The inclusion of the clause wasn’t generated by producers, who never pitched Playboy as something with envelope-pushing sex scenes, but may have come from business affairs execs looking to maximize potential backend — ahem — opportunities.