Star Jones vs The View

The nasty divorce between Star Jones Reynolds and the ABC morning show "The View" rages on. Star Jones surprised the network and her co-hosts by announcing live, just before a scheduled discussion on air-conditioning, that she was departing the show. This announcement pissed off Barbara Walters and the brass at the network and she was asked to clean out her dressing room and never return!!!

"Star, regrettably, will no longer be on this show," Barbara Walters, the show's co-host and co-owner, told the audience yesterday.

ABC executives and Barbara Walters thought a deal had been worked out for Star's departure, a decision that had been made by ABC "months ago," Ms. Walters said on the air yesterday.
Even though Star's contract had another month to run and she was to appear on the show yesterday, ABC informed her after Tuesday's broadcast that she would not be allowed to continue. Her surprise statement Tuesday came two days before a previously agreed-upon date for the announcement of her departure.

After Tuesday's events, which also included the release of an interview Ms. Jones Reynolds had granted to People magazine, the show's producers decided they could not risk having Ms. Jones Reynolds appear on the live broadcast another day, a point Ms. Walters made clear in her statement on the show: "She made further announcements that have surprised us. So it is becoming uncomfortable for us to pretend that everything is the same at this table."
According to people on both sides of the dispute, "The View" had planned to send Ms. Jones Reynolds off with a farewell show and party on July 13, but those plans have been canceled. In a radio interview yesterday Ms. Jones Reynolds said she felt betrayed because of critical comments directed at her by Rosie O’Donnell, the incoming host on "The View."

In her statement Ms. Walters said the show and network had been working with Ms. Jones Reynolds's representatives to allow her to "leave with dignity," but that Ms. Jones Reynolds has "made another choice." She added, " 'The View' helped make Star a star, and Star helped make 'The View' the success that it is."

A representative of the show said no replacement for Ms. Jones Reynolds had been named yet. The show will use guest hosts until Ms. O'Donnell appears as Meredith Vieira’s replacement in September. Ms. Jones Reynolds is said to be working on plans for another television show and on her line of jewelry.

Michael Jackson Announces Plans For Future

Michael Jackson, who has been living in Bahrain since he was acquitted of child molestation charges a year ago, is moving to Europe, has fired his business managers and has hired a New York-based firm to oversee his business affairs, his spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The announcement from Raymone K. Bain said that she has been named general manager of the new Michael Jackson Company which will replace Jackson's MJJ Productions. She said that Jackson also is planning public appearances and will begin performing again. "He is reviewing numerous offers to tour musically, which he plans to embark upon within the next several months," the announcement said. "Mr. Jackson has previously announced plans to record an album which he predicts will be released in 2007," it said.

Bain's press release said that Jackson has severed ties with his Bahraini lawyers and his longtime accountants and business managers, Bernstein, Fox, Whitman, Goldman & Sloan. She said he has hired L. Londell McMillan and The McMillan firm, "known for business restructurings and turnarounds." In a deposition during a lawsuit about to go to trial in Santa Monica, Jackson was asked about his longtime business manager, Alan Whitman, and said that he thought he had never met him. The revamping, which Bain's release called "the first of a sweeping restructuring of his personal and business affairs," is an apparent attempt by Jackson to salvage his financial affairs.

Jackson is currently in Ireland "on personal business" and is making plans to relocate to Europe, the press release said. "He is continuing to build his management team and other appointments will be forthcoming," said the announcement. Jackson had been rumored to be on the verge of bankruptcy for some time. But in April his Bahraini lawyers announced that he had restructured his finances in a deal with Sony Corp. which shares ownership of his valuable music catalog that includes the Beatles' hits. Details of the deal were never confirmed by Jackson but published reports said he had negotiated a $325 million debt refinancing plan that would deprive him of part of his share of the Sony ATV music catalog which is said to be worth $1 billion. Jackson acquired the catalog in 1985 for $47.5 million but sold half of it to Sony when he confronted other financial problems.

Jackson had to lay off his staff at his Neverland ranch in Santa Ynez because of unpaid salaries and insurance fees.

Death for Harry Potter??

According to The Associated Press, author J.K. Rowling has stated that two characters will die in the last installment of her boy wizard series, and she hinted Harry Potter might not survive either.

"I have never been tempted to kill him off before the final because I've always planned seven books, and I want to finish on seven books," Rowling said on Monday's Richard and Judy television show. "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, 'Well, I'm gonna kill them off because that means there can be no non-author written sequels. So it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character'."Rowling declined to commit herself about Harry, saying she doesn't want to receive hate mail. "The last book is not finished. But I'm well into it now. I wrote the final chapter in something like 1990, so I've known exactly how the series is going to end," she said.

Rowling said people are sometimes shocked to hear that she wrote the end of book seven before she had a publisher for the first book in the series."The final chapter is hidden away, although it's now changed very slightly. One character got a reprieve. But I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die," she said. "A price has to be paid. We are dealing with pure evil here. They don't target extras do they? They go for the main characters. Well, I do."

Superman Returns

Warner Bros pushed the release date for Superman Returns forward to June 28th to give them a few extra days before going head to head with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Fortunately for Warner Bros, who have a $250 million sum to pay for Superman Returns, the push in release date will also give the film a whopping seven day weekend thanks to the Fourth of July.

Just like the second episode of HBO’s hit series Entourage, the big question is whether or not Superman Returns will be able to beat out the opening weekend box office for Spider-Man 2. Having also opened on the Fourth of July weekend, Spider-Man 2 was able to rake in $180 million by Monday with $40 million alone from the Wednesday opening.

Can Superman Returns beat Spiderman??? We shall see.

Warner Bros is hoping that their latest comic book revival will come closer to War of the Worlds, which scored a take of $112 million on its opening weekend. So far things are looking good. Besides the early crowds, the film has also received a nice run of positive reviews.
As if Superman's return to the big screen isn't a big enough event in and of itself, the producers of the film have gone the extra mile with "Superman Returns" by simultaneously releasing it in IMAX 3D. Approximately 20 minutes of the film has been converted from 2D to 3D with IMAX's proprietary digital re-mastering technology.

Superman Returns opens in theatres today.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban married today at the Cardinal Cerretti Chapel at the St Patrick's Estate in Sydney, Australia in a traditional Catholic ceremony. Kidman wore an ivory gown designed by Nicolas Ghesquiere for French fashion house Balenciaga.

Nicole travelled from her estate in Sydney to the church with her father in a cream-coloured vintage Rolls Royce -- the wedding motorcade was slowed to a virtual stop by large crowds of fans and photographers outside the estate while Nicole waved and smiled at the well-wishers. Police had to clear a path for her car to travel to the church in the Manly Bay area of Sydney.

The guest list was limited to 230 family and friends including Hugh Jackman who sang Peter Allen's classic Tenterfield Saddler during the ceremony, Russell Crowe, Rupert Murdoch, director Baz Luhrmann and Naomi Watts. Nicole's children - Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11 - were bridesmaid and usher.

The large chapel was heavily guarded by security to keep out unwanted observers and so it was only when the church bells rang out 90 minutes after Nicole entered, that those on the outside knew that the ceremony had finished.

Keith’s manager spoke about the event on Saturday, saying the couple just wanted "a normal wedding with their friends and family. They’re both just happy to have their family around them at this time and both are really excited."

New Line Cinema is in negotiations to sign Matthew McConaughey to a two-picture deal, with one being resurrected – Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and the other a Southern-fried comedic action movie titled The Grackle.

In October 2003, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was four weeks away from production – with Ben Affleck attached to star, when its studio, the Walt Disney Co., pulled the plug putting it into turnaround. New Line is now in negotiations with Jon Shestack one of the original producers, to serve as a producer. New Line had a similar project in development but liked the idea of pairing a high-concept-driven romantic comedy with McConaughey, a proven rom-com star, seeing the project as something that could have broad mass appeal.

HiddenDoor Documedia announced that it will release the feature-length documentary I'm Rick James in October of 2006 to give the public a real glimpse into the life and career of one of music's greatest personalities and most widely recognized names.Singer and songwriter Rick James indelibly shaped the face of American music, creating the funk punk music genre and producing some of the most popular songs in the industry, including "Superfreak," "Give it to Me Baby," "Mary Jane," and "Party All the Time."

With the death of James in 2004, the music world lost one of its most captivating personalities. Now, HiddenDoor, with the help of Ty James, will bring the King of Funk Punk - still one of the industry's most sampled artists - back to the stage for one final encore.The film chronicles James' entire life and begins with his birth in a Buffalo, N.Y., ghetto in 1948. A young Rick, or James Ambrose Johnson, Jr., begins learning different instruments while he accompanies his mafia-connected mom to different nightclubs. Music becomes a central part of Rick's life, and the budding artist travels to Toronto and forms a band with Neil Young and Bruce Palmer. He learns to play the sitar during his stint as a drug runner and pimp in South America and Asia, and he later returns to the streets of Buffalo to craft his famous song "Superfreak."After Rick's music launches him into stardom, he becomes a well-known figure at the legendary Studio 54, an energetic rival of Prince and a close buddy of Eddie Murphy. Throughout the documentary, HiddenDoor relies on existing camera footage of James to give the artist an active presence in the film and includes extensive interviews with many of his closest friends, colleagues and contemporaries."We're trying to give people an accurate glimpse into the energy, charisma and magnetism that Rick James possessed throughout his life and used to become a superstar," said Perry Santos, producer and co-director of the documentary. "Through his own words and many interviews with everyone from club owners to Hollywood's biggest celebrities, you really get a good look at Rick in all his glory."Filled with the same unstoppable energy and outrageous humor as the artist himself, I'm Rick James is an unapologetic celebration of the man and his music. His powerful songs drive the documentary, featuring both never-before- heard tracks and signature hits. Tales of James' encounters with the U.S. Navy, Rod Stewart, parking attendants, and his personal crack cook, Chef Boy R Dee, keep the documentary moving at a brisk pace.James' candid comments and thoughts are heard throughout the documentary, including "I abuse drugs, not women," "Cocaine is a hell of a drug," and the famous line, "I'm Rick James, bitch."

Josh Lucas has signed on to star in the biopic, Smart for Bruce Nash Entertainment; Lucas will also produce the film.The film is based on the eccentric life of GQ and Esquire magazine founder David Smart, reports Variety. It will center on the magazine mogul whose life was almost entirely consumed by his germ phobia; he and a circle of colleagues created a long string of classroom instructional films on health and hygiene. Josh Lucas will star as a fictional FBI investigator who infiltrates Smart's world; no one has been cast as the lead character.Charlie Peters wrote the script for Smart the screenplay.

Gallery of the Absurd

The Hollywood Bureau staff was blown away by the TMZ.com blog spotlighting the genius of the Gallery of the Absurd.

http://galleryoftheabsurd.typepad.com/14/

Posted Jun 19th 2006 2:25PM by TMZ StaffFiled under: Train Wrecks, Wacky and Weird, Tom and Katie, Britney and Kevin, Paris Hilton

Love those paparazzi photos of your favorite celebrity? Now you can go one step further. Gallery of the Absurd features paintings of today's most talked about celebrities, in drawings that portray the scandal that often surrounds them. The humorous paintings feature llustrations like Tom Cruise with a pre-nup, Nicole Richie as an example of the human skeletal system, Britney Spears on a Cheetos bag, and Brandon Davis sweating in self disgust. TMZ contacted the talented artist who calls herself 14, to see if any celebs had contacted her about her work. 14 says that a girlfriend of a famous celebrity commissioned her to do a piece on her boyfriend, but she can't reveal the name.

Public interest in her work has grown so large, her originals are going for upwards of $2,000 and she has an upcoming art show in Chicago to feature all her work. 14 is currently painting a huge canvas of George Clooney eating a hotdog, and she wants him to buy it. We'll see if that happens, but for now take a look at 14's take on tabloid darlings here.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is going to be a busy man in the next year; the Oscar-winner has signed on to star in the drama, Charlie Wilson's War for Universal. He's also going to join the cast of the drama, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead for Capitol Films.

Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are already part of the cast for Charlie Wilson's War, directed by Mike Nichols; Variety reports it's the adaptation of the George Crile book about a rogue congressman and CIA agent who found the means to secretly arm rebels to fight against invading Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the early 1980s. Hoffman will play the CIA agent. Sidney Lumet has written the script and will be directing Before the Devil Knows You're Dead which is about brothers who try to rob their parents' jewelry store, only to botch the job. The film also stars Ethan Hawke, Albert Finney and Marisa Tomei.Shooting for Devil begins next month in New York; he'll then head over to the production for Charlie Wilson's War which starts shooting in October.

The Guardian

Touchstone Pictures has given The Hollywood Bureau an exclusive first look at the The Guardian movie poster! The Coast Guard themed film will be released in theatres on September 22 and stars Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Neal McDonough, Clancy Brown, Melissa Sagemiller, Brian Geraghty and Sela Ward.

After losing his crew in a fatal crash, legendary Rescue Swimmer, Ben Randall (KEVIN COSTNER), is sent to teach at A School, an elite training program for Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers. Wrestling with the loss of his crew members, he throws himself into teaching, turning the program upside down with his unorthodox training methods.While there, he encounters a young, cocky swim champ, Jake Fischer (ASHTON KUTCHER), who is driven to be the best. During training, Randall helps mold Jake's character, combining his raw talent with the heart and dedication required of a Rescue Swimmer.

Upon graduation, Jake follows Randall to Kodiak, Alaska, where they face the inherent dangers of the Bering Sea. In his initial solo rescue, Jake learns firsthand from Randall, the true meaning of heroism and sacrifice, echoing the Swimmer s motto... So Others May Live!

Design Team Trovata Becomes Trio

On Monday, Trovata won the CFDA’s Swarovski’s Perry Ellis Award for Menswear. On Thursday, founding partner Josia Lamberto-Egan revealed that he was leaving the company. His departure will take place in the next two weeks and there are no plans to directly fill his position. Lamberto-Egan, who served as the product director at the company he formed with Jeff Halmos, John Whitledge, and Sam Shipley, plans to move to Seattle, where his girlfriend of the last 12 years, Maria Matijasevic, will complete her residency at the Swedish Medical Center. Lamberto-Egan will continue to be a shareholder in Trovata and still contribute creatively to the brand including having an input in business and creative strategies. Trovata, the four-year-old men’s and women’s label based in Newport Beach has accumulated several accolades in the short time the company has been in existence including the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation grant and last year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund grant.

MIA: Charlie Gibson

TV news blogs were buzzing Thursday over the fact that Charles Gibson was missing from Good Morning America during the heavy coverage of the U.S. attack that killed insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The TVNewser blog observed that since Gibson is now also anchoring World News Tonight, "he's only supposed to host the morning show Monday through Wednesday. But wouldn't the new face of ABC want to help cover this big story as it breaks? He wasn't sleeping in -- he appeared on Regis and Kelly this morning." The nightly news anchors on NBC and CBS also did not appear on their respective networks' morning newscasts. However, NBC's Brian Williams did preside over a one-hour report on the death of al-Zarqawi at noon Eastern Time (9:00 a.m. in the West). ABC, incidentally, scored a pyrrhic victory over its competition Thursday when it broke the news of al-Zarqawi's death at 2:38 a.m., a full 38 minutes before NBC and more than an hour before CBS -- but unfortunately at a time when hardly anyone was watching TV.

People and Hello! magazines spent millions of dollars for exclusive rights to the first images of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's newborn daughter, only to have one of the images wind up on the Internet before either magazine was on sale.Tuesday, several blogs posted an image of the upcoming cover of the U.K.-based celebrity magazine Hello!, which shows the couple and their infant, Shiloh Nouvel. The photo is a vertical, close-up shot of the napping baby with the two parents looking down from above. "The biggest exclusive of the year," says the headline.Attorneys for People magazine promptly sent letters to blog owners asking them to delete the image. Hello! said it was cooperating with People in legal actions against those who published the photo.Responding to an e-mail from the Hollywood Bureau, Hello! features editor Juliet Herd confirmed the cover was authentic but said it was obtained illegally. The presence of a bar code on the image suggests that it may have been from late in the magazine's production cycle. Hello! goes on sale Thursday in Europe; People hits U.S. newsstands Friday.While some web sites pulled the image, it was proving difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube.Getty Images is licensing the images on behalf of the family, with the proceeds to benefit unspecified charities. Getty says it will not profit from the sale. The prices People and Hello! paid for the photos were quickly leaked to The New York Post. In total, the photos could gross more than $10 million worldwide, widely believed to be the most ever paid for the rights to a photo shoot.People spent $4.1 million for rights to the photos after winning an auction over the weekend held at Getty's New York office, the Post's Page Six gossip column reported Tuesday. Hello! magazine won the U.K. rights for $3.5 million, according to a Post story Wednesday by media reporter Keith Kelly. The story also said People settled for the North American rights only after offering $5 million for exclusive worldwide rights.One bit of information that remains a mystery is who took the photograph."It was a Getty Images photographer," not a family member, Getty spokesperson Deb Trevino said Wednesday, but she said the shooter's identity was confidential.The photo agency kept security around the photos so tight that even Getty GEO Jonathan Klein said he had not seen the images."The reason I haven't seen them is because of the security around the pictures," Klein told CNN. "It's the first time we've done a major shoot where the only people who have seen the pictures are the photo editors and the sales people." Getty is letting Hello! and People handle the legal action around the Internet leaks, Trevino said.

When Blink-182 went on hiatus early last year, singer Tom DeLonge all but disappeared. He didn’t just withdraw from the pop-punk band that had clocked some 12 years together and 10 million in record sales; he also withdrew from his wife and daughter and re-thought his life. Then he thought some more. Today he knows where he’s headed — his new band, the unabashedly anthemic Angels & Airwaves, hits with a new CD this month. But DeLonge, 30, still has his head in the sky as he sits in the group’s rehearsal studio. It’s in Carlsbad, California, about a half-hour north of his San Diego home. The walls are covered with murals of planets, twinkling stars and deep-space scenes, and DeLonge sounds like an astronaut himself. The new CD, he says, thinks big.“The two things I want to tackle are love and war, the best and worst of mankind,” says DeLonge. “We’re starting to be aware of things like quantum physics and time travel and mapping the human genome. And yet we’re still creating war as if there were no other ideas.” We ask what his new band will have that Blink didn’t. He reflects before answering.“Lasers,” he says finally. “The last six months of Blink I was fighting really hard to get lasers, and somehow they just didn’t want them. So now we’re going to have lots and lots of lasers, so strong they burn the retinas of everyone in the audience. Everyone’s gonna need surgery.”

CFDA Awards

Francisco Costa, who took over the reins of Calvin Klein three years ago, was named Womenswear Designer of the Year at the CFDA awards last night. Arriving with Scarlett Johansson at the glittering ceremony held at New York's Public Library, Costa said he was unfazed by being nominated up against Marc Jacobs and Proenza Schouler's Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough. "I'm not nervous," he told reporters. "I'm very excited. I just want to have a good time and fun tonight." The presentation was hosted by actor Jeremy Piven, who delighted the audience with his signature liveliness and sense of humor. He shared the stage with presenters Harry Connick, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Jessica Lange, Karl Lagerfeld, Lindsay Lohan, John Legend and Bernadette Peters. A roster of the most influential names in American fashion design were joined by celebrity guests Amanda Bynes, P. Diddy, Terence Howard, Janet Jackson, Heidi Klum, Sandra Oh, Rihanna, Chloe Sevigny, Jessica Simpson, Kerry Washington.

Michael Kors, who lost out in the accessories category to Tom Binns, was feeling the heat, however. "I'm nervous," admitted the designer, who arrived with actress Kerry Washington. "The lights are so bright you can't even see the audience." Other winners last night included Thom Browne as Menswear Designer of the Year and Olivier Theyskens as International Designer of the Year, while the Perry Ellis awards for up-and-coming talent went to Doo-Ri Chung for womenswear, the Trovata team (Jeff Halmos, Josia Lamberto-Egan, Sam Shipley and John Whitledge), for mensweranar and Devi Kroell for accessories. As well as a roll call of all the world's most respected designers, including last year's Womenswear winner, Vera Wang, Diane Von Furstenberg and Donna Karan, the event gave plenty of celebrities a chance to show off their style. Lindsay Lohan arrived with Karl Lagerfeld to present Binns with his award, Harry Connick Jr presented Browne with his, and Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson and Chloe Sevigny (who arrived with the Proenza Schouler boys), all upped the glamour factor. It was Tommy Hilfiger, however, who really got the flashbulbs popping. With the fashion world still gossiping about his fight with Guns 'n' Roses frontman Axl Rose two weeks ago, the designer turned up wearing a T-shirt featuring the band's logo.

For the first time, this year's celebration incorporated "Upstairs at the Library Hosted by Swarovski" a lounge-like space from which a larger group of fashion designers, editors and other industry supporters watched a live simulcast of the awards and listened to music by DJ Cassidy. The sold-out event featured a committee that included designers Nak Armstrong and Anthony Camargo of Anthony Nak, Dean Harris, Johnson Hartig and Cindy Greene of Libertine, Derek Lam, Jane Mayle, Rafe Totengco; editors Brian Coats of GQ, Treena Lombardo of W, Sylvana Soto-Ward of Vogue; models Gabriel Aubry and Mariacarla Boscono; and fashionable women Lauren Davis, Allison Sarofim and Victoria Traina.

Apocalypto

Touchstone Pictures has given The Hollywood Bureau a first look at the poster for Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. From Academy Award® winning filmmaker Mel Gibson ("The Passion of The Christ," "Braveheart"), comes "Apocalypto": a heart stopping mythic action-adventure set against the turbulent end times of the once great Mayan civilization. When his idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, a man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.