IT'S A BOY!! Sean Preston Federline

LOS ANGELES Britney Spears gave birth to a baby boy named Sean Preston Federline at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center today.

Spears' publicist was not available for comment. It has been reported that the 23-year-old entertainer gave birth by Caesarean section shortly before 1 p.m.

Hospital officials declined to comment. Spears was escorted to the hospital by a police escort and accompanied by her husband, dancer Kevin Federline. Spears, who married Federline in September 2004, had been previously reported as saying she planned to have the baby by Caesarean section to avoid the pain of a natural birth.

Federline, 27, has two other young children by his former girlfriend, actress Shar Jackson.

TRIBUTE

Setember 11, 2001 WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

Ewan McGregor The Great Pretender

According to Variety, L.A.-based Relativity Media will finance Ewan McGregor comedy "The Great Pretender," with Arclight Films handling international sales.The $18 million feature, written and directed by Peter Capaldi, starts production next January in London. McGregor, fresh from his sell-out West End run in "Guys and Dolls," will play four roles in two time settings -- 1938 and 1745. The script concerns two ambitious producers in the 1930s who hire the hell-raising Hollywood legend Leslie Grangely to play Bonnie Prince Charlie in a movie about Scotland's Jacobite Rebellion in the 18th century. However, when Grangely hits the bottle and disappears, they trick an unassuming extra with an uncanny likeness to the star to fill his shoes. McGregor plays Grangely and the extra, as well as the two characters they play in the film-within-a-film-- Bonnie Prince Charlie, dubbed the "Great Pretender," and the double used by the prince to confuse his enemies. Richard Holmes and Ron Fogelman of London-based Gruber Films are producing the feature.

Brad Pitt Takes On Jesse James

Warner Bros. Pictures has provided The Hollywood Bureau with your first look at actor Brad Pitt in the upcoming western "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Pitt will play the notorious cowboy gangster, Jesse James, his first starring role developed by his Plan B Films.The movie tells the story of how Robert Ford joined Jesse James' gang, then conspires to kill James, the fastest gun in the West.

The book was optioned last year as a co-production between Scott Free partners Ridley and Tony Scott, and Plan B, the Warner Bros. based production company that was run by Pitt, Brad Grey and Jennifer Aniston. The future of Plan B has been the subject of continuing speculation since, in the span of about a week, Grey exited to take the top job at Paramount Pictures, and Pitt and Aniston separated as a married couple.The feature will be directed by Andrew Dominik, the Australian commercial and music video director who helmed Eric Bana's breakthrough performance in "Chopper."

Award-winning actress Mary Louise Parker has been cast as Zee James, the outlaw's wife, with Casey Affleck playing Robert Ford, the man responsible for pulling the trigger. Sam Shepard has also just signed on to play Jesse James’ brother, Frank. Filming began last Monday in Calgary.

SHELTER: Oscar de la Renta's Dominican Republic Home

With our love of architecture and design it would be remise of us not to pay homage to great works of architecture from time to time – let’s face it Hollywood and extraordinary homes go hand-in-hand.

After much deliberation amongst the staff we finally agreed on the home that would be our first official feature – the Dominican Republic home of Oscar and Annette de la Renta.

Casa de la Renta – an oceanfront compound in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana region was built from coral rock quarried on the island. Designed by Oscar and Cuban-born architect Ernesto Buch the house sits on what use to be large fields of sugarcane, now the grounds are filled with beautiful flower gardens and orchid greenhouses. The main house looks like a fortress with 18 two-story pillars. The guest house, built for Oscar and Annette’s fabulously-famous friends, has a tranquil pool overlooking the crystal-like sea. There is also a romantic Balinese sleeping pavilion – a gift from neighbor and business partner, Julio Iglesis. Oscar and Julio developed the 15,000 acre Punta Cana Resort www.puntacana.com.

“I come here to remind me of who I am,” Oscar says, “and to surround myself with the talent and the pleasures of the world that I come from.”

HOPE for the Gulf Coast

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the people of the Gulf Coast.

Elton John Plans Free Concert at The Colosseum in Rome

Elton John is preparing for his free concert to be held in front of the ancient Colosseum in Rome on Saturday, September 3rd. John has stated that this will be the “highlight” of his 30-year career and he has been preparing the details with almost maniacal zeal .

"I can't wait to be in Rome to play in front of the Colosseum," he said. "I'm honored by this chance I have to perform in such a special place and in such a special city." The pianist, singer and showman will perform his normal collection of songs so that the concert will last a good three hours instead of the usual 90 minutes. He is expected to run through most of his greatest hits, including classics such as Your Song, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Crocodile Rock. He is having a huge, aluminum-and-plastic stage built in front of the Colosseum. At almost 30 feet high, it's twice as big as a normal outdoor concert stage. Organizers say that the construction - complete with 20 tons of lights - will be practically transparent so that audience members will get a great view of the ancient Roman gladiators' arena.

The 58-year-old performer is so determined to get the lights and special effects right that he has built an identical stage on the grounds of his estate outside London. That way he will be able to assess and tweak the planned light show while he is still at home. Elton John, born Reginald Dwight, is reportedly anxious to see that his Rome gig is no less successful than ones given in the same place by Paul McCartney and Simon & Garfunkel. As part of the build-up to the event, Elton John has also revealed that he will perform a special duet during the set with a mystery guest from the world of show business.

Meanwhile here in America, producers prepare for the world premiere of the musical, Lestat, inspired by novelist Anne Rice's best-selling Vampire Chronicle. Elton John and musical partner, Bernie Taupin wrote the songs and music for the upcoming stage delight. This show is a first for the songwriting team of John and Taupin and John's third Broadway musical, following The Lion King and Aida. Hugh Panaro (Les Miserables, Side Show) stars in the title role. Lestat is scheduled to premiere on December 17 at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco before opening on Broadway in March, according to the show's public relations representative.

NEWS: From the Studio Backlots

Lions Gate Films said that it will produce the documentary The US vs John Lennon with LSL Productions. The film has already begun preproduction and will center on Lennon's life from 1966-76, when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.The film has received support and cooperation from Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono. It will be co-written, directed and produced by LSL Prods.' David Leaf and John Scheinfeld."We could not have envisioned a more dynamic nor enthusiastic team than we found in David and John for this project," said Kevin Beggs, president of Lions Gate Television programming and production and head of Lions Gate's documentary feature development and production arm.

Mumbai-based Percept Picture Co. will co-produce Tree of Life, which will be produced by Donald Rosenfeld. Terrence Malick is in talks to direct and write the screenplay, and Colin Farrell is in talks to play one of the leads. Malik directed Farrell in The New World which will be released in theaters later this year. Other cast members are being finalized. Emmanual Lubezki is the proposed director of photography.The film's story outline has not yet been disclosed, but preproduction is slated to begin in January. Some parts of Life will be shot in India, for which Percept will handle ground production.

A week before the launch of the Toronto International Film Festival, Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the opening-night film, screenwriter-director Deepa Mehta's Water. Announced by Fox Searchlight president Peter Rice, the film marks the third project in Mehta's elemental trilogy, which includes Fire and Earth.

Water, set in 1938 Colonial India during Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, has been embroiled in controversy since its inception. The film was shut down in India in 2000 because of its negative portrayal of India. The production faced violent protests and riots by fundamentalist Hindus, and Mehta's life was threatened. It took nearly five years for the Indian filmmaker to produce in Sri Lanka under an assumed name and a shroud of secrecy.

Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures announced earlier in the week that production has commenced on writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's newest project, Lady in the Water, starring Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard and an ensemble cast featuring Freddy Rodriguez from Six Feet Under fame, Jeffrey Wright, Bob Balaban, Sarita Choudhury, Mary Beth Hurt and newcomer Cindy Cheung.

In Lady in the Water, a story originally conceived by Shyamalan for his children, a modest building manager named Cleveland Heep (Paul Giamatti) rescues a mysterious young woman (Bryce Dallas Howard) from danger and discovers she is actually a character from a bedtime story who is trying to make the treacherous journey from our world back to hers. Cleveland and his fellow tenants start to realize that they are also characters in this bedtime story. As Cleveland falls deeper and deeper in love with the woman, he works together with the tenants to protect his new fragile friend from the deadly creatures that reside in this fable and are determined to prevent her from returning home.

Produced by Shyamalan and Sam Mercer, Lady in the Water will film on location in Philadelphia. The director of photography is Christopher Doyle; the production designer is Martin Childs; the editor is Barbara Tulliver; the costume designer is Betsy Heimann and the composer is James Newton Howard.

Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba Awake

According to Variety, The Weinstein Co. and GreeneStreet Films have sealed a deal with Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen to star in the psychological thriller Awake. The two companies have joined forces to finance and produce this feature, which will be the directorial debut of Joby Harold. Harold also served as screenwriter.The story focuses on a man (Christensen) who suffers "anesthetic awareness" and finds himself awake and aware, but paralyzed, during surgery. His young wife (Alba) must wrestle with her own demons as a drama unfolds around them."This film will do to surgery what 'Jaws' did to swimming in the ocean," promised producer Joana Vicente. Production is scheduled to begin in early October in New York.