Perez Hilton Sued

Yes, it’s finally happened – after ignoring countless cease and desist notices from numerous photo agencies and media outlets, Mario Lavandeira, a.k.a. Perez Hilton, has been sued in federal court for copyright infringement by X17, Hollywood’s largest celebrity photo agency. X17 contends that Lavandeira, the owner and operator of the celebrity gossip blog PerezHilton.com and the self-styled “Queen of All Media,” has knowingly and willfully used X17’s images on his blog without permission from the agency, thereby violating federal law. Lavandeira’s actions have caused substantial damage to X17’s business in the form of diversion of trade, loss of profits, injury to goodwill and reputation, and the dilution of the value of its rights.

In court papers filed today, X17, the owners of X17online.com, seek over $7.5 million in damages for Lavandeira’s infringing activities.

IT'S A GIRL! Sofia Coppola has given birth to her first child, a daughter named Romy, the filmmaker's spokesman, Robert Garlock, confirmed Wednesday. The baby was born Tuesday in Paris to Coppola and her boyfriend, Thomas Mars, singer for the French rock band Phoenix, Garlock said. "Mother, father and daughter are all doing well," he told The Associated Press. Coppola, 35, is the daughter of Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola. She won a best screenplay Oscar for 2003's Lost in Translation, which she also directed. Her latest film, Marie Antoinette, stars Kirsten Dunst as the 18th-century French queen. Phoenix's critically acclaimed third studio album, "It's Never Been Like That," was released in May. Coppola was married to director Spike Jonze for four years before filing for divorce in 2003.

You'd think over $1 billion in U.S. box office and 17 Oscars would add up to something right? Not if you're Peter Jackson. The mastermind behind the The Lord of the Rings phenomenon is currently in the middle of a bizarre turf war over who controls J.R.R. Tolkien's prequel to the series, The Hobbit.

Not surprisingly, fans have been salivating at the idea of Jackson returning to helm an adaptation of the beloved novel. It didn't seem to be a real possibility until MGM announced a few months ago it was going to team up with New Line to make the movie. Complicating matters was that MGM has long owned the rights to release any feature adaptation of "The Hobbit," but New Line is currently the only entity who can produce it. Confused? Unfortunately, it gets more complicated.

According to Variety, Jackson sued New Line over its accounting practices for the "Rings" trilogy, claiming he had been denied profits from the mega-moneymaking films. It also seems New Line only controls the production of The Hobbit because of a "limited time option" from producer Saul Zaentz. Those rights are close enough to expiring that the studio informed Jackson he would not be directing the project unless he settled his lawsuit against them. Jackson responded by announcing to his kingdom, er, sending a detailed letter of the whole affair to a prominent "Rings" fan site. As you can imagine, that horde wasn't thrilled. Meanwhile, MGM was furious that New Line would set an ultimatum to Jackson without consulting them. An MGM spokesman was quoted as saying, "The matter of Peter Jackson directing The Hobbit films is far from closed."

Needless to say, everyone involved has a lot to lose here. New Line is suffering through a horrible string of box office bombs and probably needs the inevitable Hobbit bounty more than anyone else. MGM is trying to rebuild its brand and is counting on a Jackson/Hobbit formula to be a part of that. Jackson is sitting pretty with the millions he's made off the original series and King Kong, but it's clear he isn't thrilled with the idea of another filmmaker playing in his universe. Rumors floated over the holiday weekend that Spider-Man's Sam Raimi had been offered The Hobbit, but that idea seems as ludicrous as other fan favorites such as Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino directing the flick. There is too much money to be made for it to not work out in the end, but the question is whether Jackson will give on his lawsuit or make New Line (and MGM) sweat it out. The whole drama may just turn into one of the biggest industry stories of 2007.

The Fountain

What if you could live forever? The Fountain is an odyssey about one man's eternal struggle to save the woman he loves. His epic journey begins in 16th-century Spain, where conquistador Tomas (Hugh Jackman) commences his search for the Fountain of Youth, the legendary entity believed to grant immortality. As modern-day scientist Tommy Creo, he desperately struggles to find a cure for the cancer that is killing his beloved wife, Isabel (Rachel Weisz). Traveling through deep space as a 26th-century astronaut, Tom begins to grasp the mysteries that have consumed him for a millennium. The three stories converge into one truth, as the Thomas of all periods -- warrior, scientist, and explorer -- comes to terms with life, love, death and rebirth.

BIG Holiday Box Office = HAPPY Industry Executives

Source: MSN.com

A dancing penguin was king of the Thanksgiving birds among movie-goers. The animated penguin romp Happy Feet remained the No. 1 movie with $37.9 million in ticket sales from Friday to Sunday, while the James Bond adventure Casino Royale stayed in second place with $31 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Over the Wednesday-to-Sunday holiday period, Happy Feet, from Warner Bros., took in $51.5 million while Sony's "Casino Royale" did $45.1 million.Disney's thriller Deja Vu, starring Denzel Washington as a police officer bouncing back in time to try to prevent a deadly ferry explosion, led new movies with $20.8 million for the weekend and $29 million since opening Wednesday.

It was a sturdy but unremarkable holiday weekend overall, with the top 12 movies taking in $208.1 million from Wednesday to Sunday, down 3.4 percent from last year, when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire took in $81 million to lead Hollywood to its second-best Thanksgiving ever. The best Thanksgiving period was in 2000, when the top 12 films grossed $232.1 million.

While Happy Feet started out mainly a family film, good reviews and word-of-mouth pulled in more adults without children, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt celebrated this year’s American Thanksgiving holiday in Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday – these photographs show the couple leaving the ultra hip Temple Club, a temple-turned-restaurant. Insiders reported that the couple dined on noodle soup and spring rolls before making a quick getaway on their rented motorbike.

Happy Thanksgiving

New Best Friends

Cruise Family Portrait

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are officially husband and wife. The couple exchanged vows over the weekend in front of 150 of their friends and family at the Odescalchi Castle in Lake Bracciano, Italy. The ceremony details were confirmed by TomKat’s rep, Arnold Robinson.

The sunset ceremony was performed by a Scientology minister, according to a statement from their reps. The wedding party included Cruise's children, Isabella and Connor, the best man was Cruise's best friend, David Miscavige – the head of the Church of Scientology – and Katie's sister Nancy Blaylock served as the matron of honor. Though initially there were questions about whether Cruise and Holmes's marriage on Saturday was official – the Mayor of Bracciano, Italy, said the couple needed to have a civil ceremony in town in order to make it legal – Cruise's reps say Tom and Katie took care of everything beforehand. "As is customary for couples marrying outside of the United States, Cruise and Holmes made their marriage legal in Los Angeles prior to their departure for Italy," according to the statement. Guests included Brooke Shields, Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony and Victoria and David Beckham.

• The bride: Holmes wore an off-the-shoulder Armani gown with an ivory silk train adorned in Valenciennes lace and Swarovski beaded crystal embroidery. She accessorized her gown with an ivory tulle floor-length veil and ivory silk shoes. Armani, which outfitted the entire wedding, also supplied Katie's bouquet of calla lilies, as well as a champagne evening gown, which she wore at the reception.
• The groom: Armani outfitted Cruise with a navy blue tuxedo from the Giorgio Armani Hand Made to Measure collection. The jacket label read, "Giorgio Armani for Tom Cruise."
• The couple's rings: Their rings were white gold Cartier with diamonds.
• The meal: After cocktails, guests were served Italian hors d'oeuvres, followed by a multi-course meal.
• The cake: Five-tiered white chocolate, decorated with marzipan roses, and studded with white chocolate chips.
• The entertainment: Italian singer Andrea Bocelli.

Saturday's wedding started on a damp note, with scattered rain throughout the morning. Holmes and 7-month-old daughter Suri were escorted into the castle under a cluster of green umbrellas. A little over an hour later, the groom was escorted from the Hassler hotel in Rome to Lake Bracciano 18 miles away. With the sun going down, candles lit up the perimeter of the 15th-century castle as limousines carrying the guests drove through the gates. Fans and media were kept at a safe distance from the castle: Police checkpoints prevented anyone unauthorized from getting too close, and journalists were stationed in the nearby town square.

After their fairytale evening, Tom and Katie left the Odescalchi castle early morning at dawn, for the Ciampino airport where an insider confirmed to us that the Cruises then flew out of Rome for a honeymoon in the Maldives.

O.J. Simpson Confesses.........???

We were completely stunned to read this item.

On November 27 and 29, Fox will air a two-part special titled O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here's How It Happened. Over the course of the two hours, the former footballer reveals to publisher Judith Regan (who, not coincidentally, is putting out his 'If I Did It' book later this month) how he killed ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Oops, we mean how he would have killed them.

"This is... the definitive last chapter in the Trial of the Century," says Mike Darnell, Fox's executive vice president of alternative programming.

FUR

Diane Arbus made a name for herself by trying to make the normal look peculiar and vice versa. Many of her pictures detail "freaks" in very calm, classical poses and spaces. When Steven Shainberg got the notion to cook up a fictional story about how Arbus got her inspiration for her photographic portraits, this had to be on his mind. Somehow, this notion creates an inventive misfire.

Shainberg imagines Arbus, played by Nicole Kidman, as a faithful housewife, very self-conscious of her strange stares and off-putting manner. She's also a devoted assistant to Allan (a superb Ty Burr), her photographer husband who captures the poppy pastel colors of 1950s dresses and various appliances for catalogs.

Her life gets a shock of electricity when she catches the eye of a strange neighbor named Lionel (Robert Downey Jr.). Lionel was featured in a freak show when he was younger as a dog boy, scientifically diagnosed as hypertrichosis. The relationship that builds between Arbus and her hairy friend accounts for her artistic awakening and liberation of feminine constraints.The metaphors are heavy: right after seeing Lionel for the first time, hair clogs up Diane's (it's pronounced Dee-Ann) plumbing along with a small key that opens his door. Shainberg's compositions are full of color and genuinely look pretty, but there's a severe lack of freakishness here. Most of the set design and the camerawork seems pulled from some tropical-flavored Tim Burton piece with hints of Lynchian noir. It's in every restaurant, bar, and funeral home (don't ask) Lionel and Diane visit. The film looks quirky enough, but in the realm of a truly strange person, it seems shockingly proper. Not surprisingly, the truly bizarre images are those of the serene place-settings that Diane's husband shoots.

Shainberg's first film, Secretary, seems a comfier fit for Arbus. The erotic, perverse emotions that Arbus (self-admittedly) felt from taking the pictures of these people and from the people themselves (Lionel) seem to be muffled and given out only in small dabbles. Kidman's blue opals often hint at the vast dunes of wayward thoughts underneath Arbus' plain exterior, but it doesn't add up. Kidman plays Arbus with her entire wanting, but she is severely miscast as the dark, bleak creature. Downey is exceedingly apt for Lionel, speaking in his patented art-teacher-on-meth spurts and letting his eyes dart under the mounds of fur that cover his face for three-quarters of the film.

In its reach for wanton grandeur, Fur doesn't necessarily bore but rather confounds in its attempt to present a perverse life without really getting too strange. Arbus called art "a secret about a secret," and it's possible that Shainberg is purposefully holding us at arm's length to intrigue us. Fascination is a hard beast to wrangle and, at moments, Fur has it but it never enraptures the viewer into this willful world that Arbus existed in. It makes her peculiar world look extremely normal.

Thursday night the hottest ticket in New York was the Black Ball benefiting Keep a Child Alive, presented by the Condé Nast Media Group.

Held at the Hammerstein Ballroom, the humanitarian awards ceremony and live concert brought out celebrity mega-couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, both resplendent in Giorgio Armani—he in a pin-striped suit, lavender silk shirt, and a pearl grey-and-lavender tie to compliment his main squeeze’s soft purple Privé halter gown. The paparazzi-savvy duo skipped the red carpet crush and headed straight to the ballroom, where they mingled with keynote speakers Elijah Wood and Ed Norton, as well the evening’s performers, Alicia Keys, Damian Marley, and David Bowie. Tom and Katie shelled out $50,000 for a table where Cruise kept court with his new best friend Tom Freston. Both Toms were fired by Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. Also, at Katie and Tom’s table were Graydon and Anna Carter, Vanity Fair features editor Jane Sarkin and Diane Sawyer’s Good Morning America producer, Marc Robertson.

Making the rounds outside were a hand-holding Russell and Kimora Lee Simmons, as well as another arm-in-arm duo: the legendary Valentino and his muse du jour, Anne Hathaway, clad in Valentino dripping in Cartier jewels. The two met at a film festival in Venice at a screening for The Devil Wears Prada, and they’ve been madly in love with each other ever since.

Also clad in siren red Valentino was Iman, who explained away her tardiness, saying, “My hairdresser didn’t show up, and that’s why I was late. I had to do my own hair and I’m no good at it!” Prepping for his big couture show in January, as well as a 45-year career retrospective in Rome this coming summer, does Valentino ever dream of throwing a red ball to showcase his signature color? “Oh no, no,” he laughed. “Everyone has to wear what they want to wear. I love black, but red does give a lot of guts to ladies.”

NO BOOZE: Guns N' Roses Cancels Show

Guns N’ Roses canceled a performance in Portland, Maine this week after being told by state officials that the band could not drink on stage. Inspectors from the state fire marshal's office gave the band the no-drinking order when they came to look over the pyrotechnics planned for Monday's scheduled concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Public Safety Department. McCausland said the band had wanted to drink beer, wine and Jagermeister while performing. A couple of hours after being told that would violate state law, Guns N' Roses canceled its concert, he said. Band leader Axl Rose issued a statement through the Guns N' Roses Web site apologizing to fans in Maine. "It was important for us to play there and it is a shame that what should have been a great night for all of us was not possible due to the actions of two people," said Rose, referring to the fire marshals. "I agree with, and ultimately take responsibility for, the end decision not to jeopardize the safety of the fans, the crews, the bands and myself as a result of the methods of these particularly draconian authorities," Rose's statement said. "We hope to find another way to play for you in the future." The Cumberland County Civic Center Web site said refunds for the Guns N' Roses concert would be issued at the point of purchase.

Tribute: Ed Bradley 1941-2006

Brit's Divorce Details Uncovered

• Kevin Federline will not have access or claim to Britney's fortune estimated at $100 million dollars.
• The Malibu mansion that Britney and Kevin purchased after their marriage will be sold and she will divide the profits of the sale 50/50 with Kevin.
• Any gift given worth over $10,000 will go back to the original purchaser. This includes all the cars Britney bought Kevin including a custom-built motorcycle that Britney gave Kevin for Christmas two years ago.
• She will still support him for a little while longer. Britney will pay Kevin $30,000 a month for the period of time that is half the length of their marriage. Meaning Kevin will be taken care of by Britney for at least a year from now.
• Spears won’t ask for child support. Federline will still be responsible for supporting his other two children with previous baby momma Shar Jackson.

The Bureau has learned Kevin Federline may fight for custody of his children. Federline has not had much time to react to Spears' decision to end the marriage, and that's because she didn't tell him in advance that she was even filing for divorce. Kevin was totally caught off guard. Spears has asked for sole custody of the couple's two small children. We are told that Federline is thinking of challenging that, even though Spears has functioned as the primary, if not sole parent, as Federline tours the country promoting the release of his first CD.

The Hollywood Bureau is proud to present our viewers with some of the first pictures of Britney Spears post divorce announcement. Britney was photographed tonight in New York City. Britney dined with a group of friends at the hip New York eatery Baldoria then hit the ice rink at Rockfeller Center for lots of laughs and loads of fun before going on a shopping spree at the GAP.

Bob is Back!!!

Hollywood starlets all over the land of La La are going back to the "bob" haircut -- chic bobs are back.

It's Over!!!!!

Britney Spears has filed a petition for divorce from Kevin Federline. Spears filed legal papers today in Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing “irreconcilable differences.” In her petition, Spears asks for both legal and physical custody of the couple’s two children, one-year old Sean Preston and two-month old Jayden James, with Federline getting reasonable visitation rights.'
Before Britney married Kevin in September 2004, her handlers made sure Kevin signed an iron-clad pre-nup. But with two young kids in the game, nothing is concrete. To ensure her millions are safe, Spears has hired heavyweight divorce lawyer to the stars, Laura Wasser, the woman who represented Angelina Jolie when she parted ways with Billy Bob Thorton.Federline hosted 'Much On Demand' in Toronto yesterday where he spoke nonstop about his kids, Britney and their happy relationship. Interestingly, Britney gives the date of separation as yesterday, the same day she debuted her slimmed down new post-pregnancy body during a surprise appearance on 'The Late Show with David Letterman.'

Borat showed up at the Today show Monday to celebrate his surprise win at the box office, saying "let's get drunk!" Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's alter ego was celebrating his movie opening at number one. It made an estimated US$26 million in less than a quarter of the theatres as the other big movies. Borat says he plans to splurge on a new doorbell for his house. He also asked Matt Lauer to recommend "a good prostitute." Borat says he was told that Lauer was an expert on that.

In 1968 Emilio Estevez was one of millions of Americans who were deeply affected by the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Although he was very young then, his memories of that time have stayed with him and have manifested into his story of the last day in the life of Senator Robert Kennedy. This film is not, however, a film about Bobby Kennedy. Rather it is a statement of the times. If you're expecting a documentary or a docu-drama about RFK, you are in for a surprise as this is neither of those. Bobby tells the story of several fictionalized people whose lives happen to intersect the night of June 4, 1968 in the Embassy Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles - the day of the California Presidential Primary. The film intertwines some of RFK's words and campaign with the drama that is taking place in the lives of the main characters. The film is a look at the times - the late 60's. The Vietnam War was raging, drug use was becoming more prevalent, racial issues were at the front of people's consciousness, and life was very different. Disenchantment with the country and the world was taking over and the idealism of RFK sparked hope in people who felt he was their last resource. Only two months earlier Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated, and the country was still reeling from his death. RFK provided a ray of sunshine in what was often felt to be a very bleak time. "All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world," he said, "but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity."

After the assassination, the Ambassador Hotel was irrevocably linked to the death of Robert Kennedy, as Dallas is linked to the assassination of President Kennedy and Ford's Theater with Abraham Lincoln. The building was closed to the public in 1989, and finally torn down in February 2006, but Estevez managed to film several key scenes in the building before its demolition. Ironically, his father, Martin Sheen, was instrumental in getting the building demolished, at the bequest of the Kennedy family who wanted it turned into a school. Even though most of the filming was done in other places, Estevez was grateful to have shot some of the interior and exterior of the famous hotel before it was gone forever.

1968 was a troubled year. Bobby reflects the year and the changing times. While it is not directly a story about Robert Kennedy, it is Estevez' homage to the man whose memory lives on not only in history books, but also in the consciousness of millions of people.

Bobby opens on November 17 in New York and Los Angeles.