BITS AND PIECES 10/30
PUSSS...@aol.com
--SHOCKINGLY enough, no one in New York wants to hear Kevin Federline
rap. Our spies at Webster Hall say that so few $20 tickets have been
sold for Federline's Nov. 4 show that "we may just cancel it. New
Yorkers are clearly not fans of 'Popozao' [Federline's pathetic first
single]." Britney Spears' hubby - who claims he is the most underrated
person in Hollywood - should be used to rejection by now. We hear his
Cleveland show was also canceled due to lack of interest.
--FIRST daughter Barbara Bush , watching a screening at Soho House of
Pedro Almodóvar's "Volver," starring Penelope Cruz, told fashion
designer Alvin Valley that she'd don a dinosaur costume on Halloween
night. Bush is going to Alison Sarofim's "Seven Deadly Sins" party.
Valley is going as Vanity, wrapped in bandages like a plastic-surgery
patient just released from the hospital. We'll guess most of the female
revelers will go as Lust, since they already have the appropriate
costumes.
--THE Kennedy clan is on the warpath over Eve Pollard's new
HarperCollins novel, "Jack's Widow," a fictional tale of Jackie
Kennedy's life after JFK's assassination, in which she spies for the
CIA and gets brutally raped. Her stepbrother, Hugh Auchincloss III,
told Globe, "It should simply not be allowed . . . It is terrible to
toy with a historical figure's memory in such a cavalier manner. None
of these things are true, and [they] paint an awful picture, presumably
just to make money from Jackie's name." Pollard and her book will be
feted tonight at Peter Brown's Central Park aerie.
--DON'T expect Cher Tenbush, winner of the CW show "Beauty and the
Geek," to show up at your next party if porky porn legend Ron Jeremy is
also invited. Tenbush's flack has fired off a breathless note to
newspapers and magazines "respectfully" asking that all photos of
Jeremy holding onto her at the Reality Remix Really Awards show last
week not be used. The rep said Tenbush "was surprised and appalled"
when Jeremy - star of such classics as "Boobs a Poppin' " and "Colossal
Orgy 2" - "imposed himself on the photos, grabbing her waist" as
paparazzi snapped away. "She does not respect his career and wishes to
discourage publication of any photos which make it appear that she
condones pornography. She particularly regrets that, when she realized
who had grabbed her, her response was one of those
so-horrified-that-all-you-can-do-is-laugh reflexes that so ill reflect
the revulsion one feels." Jeremy, a former teacher with a master's
degree in education, says, "Does she have a problem with teachers? Does
she have a master's? She can kiss my dissertation!"
--RUFUS Wainwright couldn't have cared less about the other luminaries
at the Whitney's Fall Gala the other night. The musician spent much of
the time making out with his boyfriend, Jorn Weisbrodt - and they took
their antics to the party's photo booth, blocking a long line of people
waiting to take their own pictures. Also spotted at the party, which
raised $2.4 million for the museum, was Michelle Williams - who, when
asked for her coat-check ticket at the gift-bag table, huffed, "I don't
need a ticket. I am Michelle Williams!" Uma Thurman freaked when caught
smoking a cigarette by paparazzi lurking outside and shrieked, "Oh,
[bleep]," before running back inside.
--DEVON Aoki can do no wrong in the eyes of her dad, Benihana founder
Rocky Aoki - even when it comes to guys. New York magazine reports that
when Devon started dating 30-something Lenny Kravitz around her 18th
birthday, "I say to her, 'No problem,' " Aoki said. "She says, 'He's
half-black, half-Jewish.' I say, 'That's OK. That's America! I can't
get away from the blacks and the Jews!' " The mag also credits Page Six
for noting that Devon was "hotter than a Benihana grill."
--MICHAEL EALY, best known as the ex-beau of bombshell Halle Berry,
seems to be over his superstar squeeze. Page Six spies say Ealy "was
quite fixed on" Grammy Award winner Ciara Wednesday night, when the two
partied down for her 21st birthday party at Marquee. In addition to
Ealy, the singer's gaggle of birthday guests included Missy Elliot,
Busta Rhymes and New York Knicks star Jamal Crawford.
--Seventeen magazine wouldn't put Paris Hilton on their December cover
unless she agreed to appear in a full-page public service ad against
drunken driving.
--Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, while shooting his new video
"Lapdance" at the Headquarters strip club, presented the strippers with
brand-new harmonicas.
--"Access Hollywood" siren Nancy O'Dell will host Jennifer Lopez, Naomi
Watts and Tom Ford at tonight's Accessory Council ACE Awards at
Cipriani 42nd Street.
--Lyons & Panda, the literacy agency that reps Elke Gazzara, the
Teutonic wife of Ben Gazzara, has gotten an offer from the Carroll &
Graf publishing house for "Madison Avenue Maxi," the charming story of
their beloved, world-traveled, miniature dachshund.
--SOFIA Coppola looking very very pregnant as she shopped with a
girlfriend at the Organice market in Paris.
--ROCCO DiSpirito, Jackie Martling and Gilbert Gottfried waiting tables
at Palm West to raise money for prostate cancer research, as Fox News
entertainment guy Bill McCuddy emceed.
--ERIC Clapton at Pop Burger talking to owner Roy Liebenthal.
--DAVID (Talking Heads) Byrne at the bar at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall
during the intermission of "Making Music: Steve Reich" standing next to
Reich's son Ezra, an up-and-coming glam-rocker.
--RONALD Perelman and his ex-girlfriend Anna Chapman at Nobu 57 with
Shirley MacLaine and Andrew Stein.
NY DAILY NEWS/CINDY ADAMS...
--THE Hassler Hotel in Rome is where Tom and Katie flowered before he
jumped on Oprah's couch and before he even, possibly, jumped on Katie.
It is not answering questions, neither confirming, nor denying nor
whispering any hushed secretive information about Mr. & Mrs.
Scientology's Nov. 18 wedding. They won't even discuss that they've
heard there is a wedding. It's like, Tom who? We might assume they
might be bound by some confidentiality agreement, might we not? Me, I'm
not bound, so I can tell you ain't nobody nailing a room, suite, entire
floor, or just two lousy sinks and a toilet at this place the week
before, during or after. As I told you last week, you cannot get a
reservation. Don't believe me? Try. Put it this way. If Cruise and the
lady cruising to be Mme Cruise are not exchanging "Do you take this
cult to be your lawfully wedded religion?" vows in the Hassler, they
are either bunking there or their guests are sleeping there - or my
name isn't Gloria Schultz. Which reminds me. This guy went to a
psychiatrist and asked, "Doc, could I possibly be in love with an
elephant?" The psychiatrist said, "Of course not." The guy then said:
"In that case, you know where I can get rid of a very large engagement
ring?"
--Martha Stewart applied for a visa to China. It was refused.
--Hamptons Film Festival proved the Heather Graham and Star Room owner
Charles Ferri romance. She arrived on his arm, then snuggled into his
other arm, as they danced and kissed.
--She grew up in Texas, so Eva Longoria's L.A. eatery will specialize
in Tex-Mex.
--Kathleen Turner and freshly divorced husband of many years Jay Weiss
made the opening of B'way's "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
Separately.
--JOY Behar got herself a publisher, Crown, an agent, Bill Adler, and a
book idea, "When You Need a Little Lift . . . By Joy Behar and
Friends." She's asking celebrity friends to share whatever picks them
up when they're in the dumps because, as her letter says, "Even Richard
Simmons is sometimes down." So far contributors include James Earl
Jones, LeAnn Rimes and D. Trump.
--HUGH Jackman is lending his lungs to a Brit animation thing titled -
pardon the expression - "Flushed Away." It's from the "Wallace &
Gromit" people, and he plays a mouse named Roddy. When co-star Kate
Winslet praised his "impeccable British accent," the impeccable Aussie
citizen replied: "My parents are British. My father went to Cambridge,
so my character has his exact accent, or the one I'd have had if I grew
up in England." Added Hugh: "But Roddy is better dressed than my
father."
NY POST/LIZ SMITH....
-- FROM HIS stormy marriage to Dyan Cannon, the film icon Cary Grant
had one child - Jennifer - born in 1966, the year Cary retired from
movies. After, he devoted himself solely to his daughter and to
personal appearances for Fabergé and lectures about his career. He did
get married again - to Barbara Harris in 1981, five years before he
died. Now Jennifer is shopping a book about her dad and, no, it's not
"Daddy Dearest." The title is "Good Stuff," which is what Jennifer says
she and her dad had. So it's a tribute with loads of unpublished photos
and documents. Even Sophia Loren is contributing to this book, and
that's notable. She and Grant fell in love while making "Houseboat,"
and she seriously considered marrying him. In the end, she stayed with
her longtime husband, Carlo Ponti.
--OK, OK! So "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington has now apolo
gized for coming to blows with his co-star Patrick Dempsey and for
referring to their now openly gay "Anatomy" fellow actor T.R. Knight as
"a faggot!" This leads me to ask: What if Dempsey had referred to
Washington using the N-word? Would he still even be employed on "Grey's
Anatomy"? Or anywhere else?
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLY...
--We told you first that Janet Jackson's boyfriend, Jermaine Dupri, was
bolting his job as president of Urban Music at Virgin because of his
beef with chairman Jason Flom. (A source says Dupri, below, didn't
bother to tell Flom he was issuing his own press release insisting he
quit.) Dupri is now said to be talking with Virgin's parent, EMI, about
running a new label. We also hear Island/Def Jam honcho L.A. Reid may
have his eye on him. Insiders wonder whether Dupri would be cool with
reporting to Def Jam chief Jay-Z, who has the job Dupri had at Virgin.
"We have not had any discussions with Jermaine about coming to Island
Def Jam, but we think he's extremely talented and we would love to have
him here," says a rep for Reid. ... How will you spend Doomsday? At the
Xchange Space exhibit of photos by Dan Eldon, the 22-year Reuters
lensman stoned to death in Somalia in 1993, director Jon Turteltaub
told Webster Hall's Baird Jones, "When I was directing 'Jericho,' the
consultants said that in a soft nuclear-bomb attack, the greatest
danger is the panicking people rushing into hospitals with absolutely
nothing wrong." Meanwhile, Fox News chief Roger Ailes says in David
Friend's new 9/11 book, "Watching the World Change," that "When the end
of the world comes, we'll be able to cover it live until the last
camera goes out." But who'll be around to to check the Nielsens? ...
Will Smith may have less to fear from the vampires he fights in "I Am
Legend" than from the angry residents of 2 Fifth Ave. Co-op President
Adelaide Polsinelli got fed up with the "aggressive" film crew that
flooded the building with light until 11:30 p.m. "It ended when I
called the police and threatened to go down there and hurt someone,"
she told us. And while the movie crew asked playwright Larry Kramer to
park his car around the corner from the set, former Mayor Ed Koch's car
was allowed through the barricade. ...Will men from Leo to Ludacris
soon be wearing Zac Posen? We hear the fancy-frock favorite of female
celebs has chopped Barry Miguel off the top of Z-Zegna, which the
globetrotter had grown into a $100 million men's wear business without
ever losing his cool.
--A member of Lindsay Lohan's entourage called for a security guard
when the actress' past antagonist Brandon ("Firecrotch") Davis and
record producer Scott Storch approached her table at the Baume &
Mercier party at Area in L.A. "But Lindsay waved the guard away," a spy
tells us. "Brandon and Scott ended up chatting with her and sitting at
a table next to hers." Trouble loomed, though, when Davis didn't like
the tab a waitress gave him, according to our source. "Storch grabbed
the bill and paid for it." Also on hand were Molly Sims, Leo DiCaprio
and Kevin Connolly.
--Lauryn Hill kept the crowd waiting for more than an hour at last
week's private party for American Express' Starwood Preferred Guest
Card. But the Fugee mama made up for it by turning the 30-minute show
into a 90-minute one. Promoters had to turn the lights on to make her
go home.
--The invite to Jay-Z's party for the one-year anniversary of his 40/40
Club in Atlantic City Nov. 9 is festooned with a scratch ticket.
Beyoncé's main squeeze will draw the winning digits at the bash, and
the lucky scratcher will walk away $10K richer.
--A royal rumble loomed at The Plumm when the entourage of a man we're
told was Indian prince Dhiraj Jain brushed up against Seth Myers, Paul
Rudd, John C. Reilly and others coming from "Saturday Night Live." A
spy says that when a woman in the comic crew got too close to the
prince, one of his bodyguards grabbed her, prompting the lady to "slap
him silly." Owner Noel Ashman says he pacified the prince with a
private room - and sold about $20,000 of Cristal in the process.
--New couple alert: Kieran Culkin and Anna Paquin canoodled at the
after-party for "The 24 Hour Plays." Earlier this fall, Paquin giggled
at Culkin's every antic as he played Buff in Second Stage Theater's
"subUrbia."
--Kevin Federline, the self-proclaimed "most underrated performer" in
rap, is facing underperforming ticket sales. A source tells us the plug
may be pulled on Mr. Britney Spears' performance at Webster Hall this
Saturday because there's just no interest. The Hall's event department
seemed to think the show was still on last week, but when asked about
ticket sales, a rep quipped, "I can't talk about that." Calls and
E-mails to Federline's publicist went unanswered.
NY DAILY NEWS/RICHARD HUFF....
--Here's a twist on a holiday CD: Susan Lucci singing. The "All My
Children" star is one of the ABC daytime stars who have recorded
holiday songs for "A Very Soapy Christmas," which will hit stores on
Nov. 12. Lucci, who plays Erika Kane, sings "I'll Be Home for
Christmas" on the CD. The performers also include Kassie DePaiva of
"One Life to Live" ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") and "All
My Children's" Eden Riegel ("Santa Baby") and Vincent Irizarry ("Please
Come Home for Christmas"). The CD will be available to fans attending
ABC's Super Soap Weekend, Nov. 10-12 at the MGM Studios at Walt Disney
World. It arrives on store shelves on Nov. 12, priced at $18.95. In
addition, tracks will be available on ABC.com and other digital music
sources. The CD also includes songs sung by Tika Sumpter, Jason
Thompson, Kathy Brier, Scott Clifton, Jacob Young, Bobbie Eakes and
Renee Goldsberry. Some of the tunes will be worked into ABC's daytime
story lines as a way to push sales of the album. Likewise, ABC's cable
channel SoapNet will air a one-hour behind-the-scenes special looking
at production of the CD, including interviews with the stars involved.
It'll air Dec. 2 at 1 p.m.
--Court TV anchor Jami Floyd will turn up on Fox tonight. That's
because Floyd, who hosts Court TV's daily series "Best Defense,"
appears in a cameo on Fox's legal drama "Justice," set to air at 9 p.m.
"Justice" centers on a legal team that is adept at using the media and
the legal system as it works to get high-profile clients cleared of
various crimes. Tonight's story line has the legal team led by Victor
Garber dealing with a lawsuit following the death of a millionaire and
his girlfriend in a plane crash. Floyd, a former defense attorney, will
play herself.
--Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity interviews President Bush today; it
airs tonight at 10 p.m.
http://janetcharltonshollywood.com/.........
--Maybe Everybody Loves Raymond, but no one with an ounce of sense
loves Patricia Heaton any more! Michael J Fox's poignant TV ad urging
stem cell research has the christian fanatics all lathered up. Last
night Patricia Heaton cranked out her own celebrity ad OPPOSING stem
cell research - it's set to run during the World Series. Heaton says
that if stem cell research occurs, "Low income women will be seduced by
big checks" for donor eggs. Shame on you, Patricia. This sentiment
isn't acceptable in progressive California. Even our Republican
governor has the sense to back stem cell research. It's not a political
issue - it's a religious issue and Heaton is an embarrassment to
evolved women. Readers, express your outrage by BOYCOTTING Albertsons -
they employ Heaton is spokesperson. We can show Albertson's we don't
agree with Patricia Heaton by shopping anywhere ELSE!
3 A.M. GIRLS...
--KYLIE Minogue proved she could 'old a pose - as she mimicked
Christine Keeler's iconic 60s photo for a magazibne cover. The pop
princess, 38, sits for the classic shot in December's issue of
Australian Vogue. Unlike sex scandal girl Christine, who posed nude,
the Aussie beauty looks classy in a sheer top and white thigh-length
trousers. And Kylie's clearly getting used to being in the seat of
power - she's the magazine's guest editor. She appears on the cover and
several inside pages in Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana designer outfits. In
an emotional editorial, Kylie thanks everyone who gave her valuable
support during her breast cancer battle. She says: "My whole world
changed. I have learned and experienced so much about myself and
others. "It's great to be able to make those first steps back into the
life I knew before - the one I now know better." Real Vogue magazine
editor Kirstie Clements said: "She's a natural and knows all about
meeting deadlines."
--BUM the word as Daniel Radcliffe finds himself next to a woman in
hotpants while out with his mother. The 17-year-old Harry Potter star
must have wished he had the boy wizard's powers to help get him out of
the embarrassing predicament as he averted his eyes. Daniel took
casting director mum Marcia Gresham, 48, to dinner at London's Embassy
club at the weekend. Dressed in a smart blue suit, the actor was on his
best behaviour. The sober pair avoided the venue's nightclub and left
for Marcia's home in Fulham before 1am. Daniel will be baring all on
stage in 2007 for a West End production of Equus, about a boy's erotic
fixation with horses. If mum's in the audience he may be in for another
spell of embarrassment with the fillies.
--HEATH Ledger knows how to get his teeth into a part - though going
from an Oscar-nominated gay cowboy in Brokeback Mountain to The Joker
required a lot more makeup. It will be 2008 before fans see the Aussie
hunk as Batman's white-faced arch enemy in the latest Caped Crusader
movie, The Dark Knight. But Heath, 27, looks set to score again as he
tries to top Jack Nicholson's 1989 role as the nemesis of the Gotham
City hero played by Christian Bale. The punchline should be well worth
waiting for. As director Christopher Nolan says: "His interpretation is
incredible."
LAS VEGAS JOURNAL/NORM CLARKE...
--News that Nicolas Cage is selling his Bel-Air estate in Los Angeles
has quickened some heartbeats in the local real estate community. Cage,
who has his home on the market for $35 million, caused a stir in 2005
when he was spotted checking out a home on the Las Vegas National Golf
Club off East Desert Inn Road. The house was key to a funny scene in
the 1995 movie "Casino." Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro, who played
mobbed-up characters based on Tony Spilotro and Stardust boss Frank
Rosenthal, watched as FBI agents who were conducting aerial
reconnaissance on them, ran out of gas and had to make an emergency
landing on the golf course next to the house. There have been published
reports that Cage is up for the lead role in a Liberace film. Earlier
this year, Cage showed up at the Hofbrauhaus with friends and delighted
patrons by performing on an alphorn. After Cage looked at the home,
there were rumors that another interested party planned to buy the
house and convert it into a museum dedicated to "Casino" and Las Vegas'
mob days. That idea was shot down, I hear, by the neighbors. A project
known as the "Mob Museum" is going into the old post office and federal
courthouse site on Stewart Street.
--Fox News Channel's 10-year anniversary tour comes to town on Monday,
with Shepard Smith and Greta Van Susteren doing their shows from
Caesars Palace. Van Susteren will interview Celine Dion today and air
it during the show. Don Marrandino, president of Harrah's and the
Flamingo, will appear on Smith's show in a pretaped interview. The
broadcasts, from sets near the fountains and the terrace atop Pure
nightclub, will not include studio audiences. A VIP party at Pure will
cap the visit.
--Ivanka Trump and Topher Grace of "That '70s Show," dining with
friends at Fix (Bellagio) on Friday before Grace went on to the Vegoose
kick-off party at Light. Later, Trump and Grace hung out at Pure
(Caesars Palace). Also at Pure: Prince and Gene Simmons of KISS, in
separate VIP areas.
--LeAnn Rimes, singing to nine couples at their wedding reception
Saturday after they got hitched at the Luxor wedding chapel. It was
part of a radio promotion.
--At the Pro Bull Riders event Saturday at Mandalay Bay: Greg Maddux
and Adam Sandler.
--Greg Kinnear, at Tryst (Wynn), hanging with nightclub operator Victor
Drai on Friday.
--Roger Clemens, at Caramel (Bellagio) and later playing blackjack at
the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood's high limit salon with friends.
--Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler, dining at Social House (Treasure Island). At
Tangerine: Julius "Dr. J" Erving.
--David Spade and Kevin Farley, chowing down on the Pigs in a Blanket
appetizer at Stack (Mirage) on Friday.
--The Web site www.fivehundy bymidnight.com reported on Sunday that
David Hasselhoff is expected to play Franz, the former crazy Nazi, when
"The Producers" opens at The Venetian next year. This will be big news
in Germany, where the 'Hoff is idolized. The Web site is predicting an
announcement this week on Prince's deal at the Rio that includes the
singer's takeover of the Rio's Fiore restaurant, which will be renamed
the 3121 Jazz Kitchen.
--Nicolas Cage, adding more fuel to speculation that he might be moving
here, attended Lance Burton's magic show (Monte Carlo) on Saturday, his
third visit to see Burton in recent months. Cage plays a Las Vegas
showroom magician with powers to see the future in an upcoming thriller
entitled "Next." He's also in pre-production for "Amarillo Slim," the
story of poker legend "Amarillo Slim" Preston, winner of the 1972 World
Series of Poker.
--Prince, throwing his guitar into the crowd as a souvenir after
sitting in and playing guitar with Maceo Parker at the latter's
late-night House of Blues show, which started at 1:20 a.m. and didn't
conclude until 4 a.m.
--George Clooney and Rande Gerber, hanging out at a Halloween party at
Cherry, Gerber's nightclub at Red Rock Resort.
--Dennis Rodman, dressed as Kiss frontman Gene Simmons, surprising
Simmons when they met for dinner Saturday at Social House (Treasure
Island). Later, they headed for Tangerine. Also in the house: Ivanka
Trump, dining with members of Maroon 5, and Ryan Cabrera.
--Petra Nemcova, the Czech supermodel who survived the 2004 Asia
tsunami, dancing barefooted at Tryst (Wynn) on Saturday.
--Fiona Apple, a headliner at the Vegoose festival, dining at the
Garden of the Dragon (Hilton).
--Former race car driver Sam Schmidt, receiving a $500,000 donation for
his paralysis foundation from developers Leonard and Susan Mardian
during Schmidt's Walk of Stars presentation Saturday at Capital Grille
at the Fashion Show mall.
--In the closing-show crowd at the Stardust, comedy icon Shecky Greene,
no stranger to tough crowds, was wearing a yellow hard hat.
L.A. DAILY NEWS/By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
--Comedian Kathy Griffin is acutely aware of the scarcity of female
standup comics these days. "When I was starting out, there were more
girls out there. Now the ratio is about 20 to 1. It's just
unbelievable," she says. "I'm going to do the Vegas Comedy Festival,
and my mom called up and said, 'You and Whoopi Goldberg are the only
women.' I mean, call your local comedy club and ask them to read you
their lineup. You'll see," she adds. Griffin's got enough work for a
couple of careers right now. She recently finished the second season of
her hit TV series, "Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List." She's having
a blast as the celebrity blogger for Mark Burnett's pop culture online
reality game, Gold Rush (www.goldrush.aol.com). Her sassy observations
have provoked thousands of user comments as the tournament is on the
home stretch toward its Nov. 9 finale. "You've got to have a good sob
story whether it's true or not," she tells us. "There was one woman
playing for $100 grand, who wanted to buy her mom a Mercedes -- playing
against a guy who said his father needs a new kidney and he wants the
money for the surgery. Well, come on. If I was on the show, I'd go to a
village and promise them all new kidneys." And then there's her current
comedy concert tour -- 25 cities in 30 days -- which is proving a
sellout in many venues, including an upcoming gig at the Kennedy
Center. "Not to brag," she notes, "but I know I'm selling more tickets
than any other woman out there." Not that there are that many. Griffin
knows better than just about anyone what female comics face. "You're
going to have guys in the audience yelling, 'Take your top off!' And
people coming in with low expectations. I can't tell you how many times
guys have come up to me after a show and said, 'My wife dragged me
here, and I'm surprised how much I laughed. Normally I don't think
girls are funny.' But I have so many women in my life that make me
laugh so hard. I know a lot of really funny chicks."
--"Every convention I go to, everybody I talk to, the first question
has always been, 'When are we going to get another movie?"' says Mike
Mignola, who is famous for creating the Hellboy comics. It's been two
years since the last live action movie, but he tells us pre-production
is starting "soon" for the franchise's second film, which will star Ron
Perlman. "Up until very recently, I hadn't known what to say. It's been
kind of stuck between studios, and we've been trying to hammer out
budgets and things like that. I can't say much about it yet, but at
least I can say we're working on it." More recently, Mignola has been
using his talents to oversee the creation of "Hellboy Animated: Sword
of Storms," premiering Saturday on Toonami on the Cartoon Network. He
hopes the animated version, which introduces new storylines, will bring
in more fans, but he still doesn't expect his comic hero to become
mainstream. "I'm realistic. Hellboy is never going to be Spider-Man or
Batman. It's a much weirder thing," Mignola notes of his demon
character. "It's got 'hell' in the title, which means you can't sell
toys in Toys 'R' Us. You can't do a Saturday morning cartoon. But
Hellboy wasn't created to be a mainstream superhero. The fact that it
has gotten as much exposure as it has makes it all the more amazing."
--Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran isn't one of those recording stars you'll
find pressing to make his mark as a thespian, a clothing designer or
anything else. "All want to do in my life, really, is music. I don't
want to open a restaurant. I don't want to pursue movies. This is it
for me," he says. "The ideas haven't dried up. There's lots of good
stuff ahead." Duran Duran is currently recording its next album. BRIGHT
IDEA: Preproduction has just begun on the big-screen adaptation of Ted
Dekker and the late Dr. Bill Bright's popular novel, "Blessed Child."
It's the story of an orphaned Afro-European boy who's rescued from a
violent area of Africa and brought to Los Angeles, where it becomes
apparent "he has a divine gift of healing. Everything breaks loose
after that; some people want to exploit the gift, some want to get him
back to Africa, and, when he discovers something about a presidential
candidate, some people want to kill him," says Matthew Crouch, whose
Generation Entertainment company has already greenlit the feature.
Casting-wise, "What we need is the equivalent of a young Haley Joel
Osment who looks like he could have a European mother and an African
father." Dr. Bill Bright was the creator and driving force behind the
immense Campus Crusade for Christ movement, so his book has a built-in
interest in a particular segment of the public. "Two months before Dr.
Bright passed away, I did an interview with him on camera in which he
looks into the camera and asks people to support the movie," adds
Crouch.
--"Weeds" actor Kevin Nealon says to call the National Guard. He and
his wife, Susan Yeagley, are having a baby! "They're on standby,"
laughs Nealon, who is becoming a dad for the first time at 52. "We're
expecting a baby around Valentine's Day. I waited a long time for this,
and I'm just over the moon. We don't know what the sex of the baby is,
but we actually don't want to know ... ever. We're never going to find
out, even after it's born," he continues to joke. When asked if he's
nervous about the upcoming daddy duties, Nealon responds, "Not so much.
I had a younger brother growing up, and when I was 16 or 17, he was a
baby, so I took care of him a lot. I know it's a lot of work and it's a
challenge, but I'm ready for it." Meanwhile, Nealon and his "Weeds"
castmates are looking forward to revealing the season finale of their
hit Showtime series tonight (10/30). "There are some big events that
happen. There's a big showdown at the end," he reveals. "A few of the
situations are tied up neatly, but others are left hanging." So will
our questions be answered in a third season? "We don't know for sure.
We haven't heard anything, but I'm hoping we'll be back. From the way
the show's been going and with the response, they'll probably bring us
back."
--British actor Andy Serkis keeps finding himself at the crossroads
between old and new film techniques and he's happy about that. Known
for playing the fantastical computer-generated character Gollum in the
"Lord of the Rings" trilogy, as well as for his performance as the
title character in last year's "King Kong," Serkis is featured in a
liveaction way in the current "The Prestige." And he provides the voice
of Spike, a hit rodent bent on destroying Hugh Jackman's Roddy the rat
character in the very funny Nov. 3-opening "Flushed Away." He tells us,
"It's a very different challenge, doing an animated movie. You only
come in to do the voice every so often. Although the animators put
reference cameras on you, you're not acting the whole part" -- as with
motion capture CGI. Serkis also voices Spike in the "Flushed Away"
online computer game (www.AOL.com/FlushedAwayGame). "They've produced a
great one. It's such fun," he says.
--When you're as successful and forceful a writer as James Ellroy, you
get to have it your way. That's what becomes obvious as Ellroy lets us
know his stipulations for doing an episode of Court TV's new "Murder by
the Book" series for Nov. 13. "I explained that the case I did would
have to be my mother's case, and if I was going to be on camera, I
would write my own stand-ups," says the man whose best-selling books
include "L.A. Confidential" and "Black Dahlia." The cable network
agreed, and the resulting program is Ellroy's favorite among the eight
documentaries that have been done on him. "It's just the way I wanted
it," he says. It's also the last time he intends to publicly discuss
his mother's never-solved killing, when he was 10 years old, "the thing
that dogs me, that bites me in the a--," he says. "This is a concluding
salvo of what is a very long, almost 20-year discourse on these two
events: the story of my mother's death and its conjunctions with the
death of Elizabeth Short." Ellroy is referring, of course, to the
never-solved Black Dahlia murder case and his book about it, Brian De
Palma's recent feature film adaptation of which is currently in
theaters.
ASSOCIATED PRESS....
--The redneck woman has a tender side. Country singer Gretchen Wilson,
known for songs that flaunt her hardscrabble roots and wild ways like
chewing tobacco and drag racing on back roads, has written a memoir
that discusses her rise to fame and her defining moment in life:
becoming a mother. An excerpt of the book, published in People
Magazine's special issue on country music currently on newsstands,
shows a vulnerable Wilson fearful when she found out she was pregnant.
"Initially, I felt downright miserable. I saw myself as fat and ugly
and pregnant. At the same time, I started feeling that my dream that
lead me to Nashville was slowly slipping away," she writes, according
to the magazine. But, she talked to her friends and loved ones who
helped her through the worry. And when her child, Grace, was born, she
was ecstatic. "The bottom line is, Grace is my life and music is my
talent and passion. ... I'm a mom first, a singer second," she writes.
The book, "Redneck Woman: Stories from My Life," from Warner Books,
will be released Nov. 1. Her 2004 debut album "Here for the Party,"
entered the Billboard's Country Albums chart at No. 1 and the Top 200
Chart at No. 2. Her latest album, "All Jacked Up," released in Sept.
2005 debuted at No. 1 on both charts and sold more than 264,000 copies
in a week.
--Michael Jackson will make a rare public appearance at the World Music
Awards in London next month, organizers announced Sunday. The reclusive
king of pop will receive a Diamond Award, given to artists who sell
more than 100 million albums, at the industry ceremony on Nov. 15. "We
are thrilled to be bringing the World Music Awards to London, the music
capital of the world," said founder Melissa Corken. "The presence of
Michael Jackson is very exciting for us." Jackson has made few
appearances since being acquitted of child molestation charges in June
2005. He left the United States soon after and has spent time in
Bahrain and Ireland. Jackson last performed in Britain in 1997. In
2001, he addressed the Oxford Union student debating society. The World
Music Awards were held in Monaco for 15 years before moving to the
United States in 2004 and 2005. This year's event at London's Earls
Court Arena is to be hosted by Lindsay Lohan, with performances from
Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Katie Melua and Andrea Bocelli. The annual show
business awards select winners based on the strength of their worldwide
record sales. Previous recipients of the Diamond Award include Rod
Stewart, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion.
http://www.worldmusicawards.com