Peter Fonda calls Obama 'traitor' at Cannes

AFP/File – US actor Peter Fonda (R) poses on the red carpet at the 64th Cannes Film Festival on May 17. Fonda launched …

CANNES, France (AFP) – Peter Fonda launched a four-letter attack on US President Barack Obama at the Cannes film festival on Wednesday, calling him a traitor over the handling of the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill.

The star of the 1969 road movie "Easy Rider" was in Cannes for the premiere of "The Big Fix" by Rebecca and Josh Tickell, the only feature documentary in the official selection at the Cannes film festival this year.

Fonda -- a keen environmentalist and co-producer of the film which centres on the explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon, the ensuing spill and its consequences -- accused Washington of trying to gag reporting on the issue.

"I sent an email to President Obama saying, 'You are a f(expletive) traitor,' using those words... 'You're a traitor, you allowed foreign boots on our soil telling our military -- in this case the coastguard -- what they can and could not do, and telling us, the citizens of the United States, what we could or could not do'."

Fonda, who said he sent the email last week, appears in "The Big Fix" trying to get on to Louisiana beaches to assess the impact of the biggest oil spill in US history, only to be turned away by BP clean-up personnel.

Johanna Schneller: Fame Game

Hollywood actresses and the art of strategic nudity

JOHANNA SCHNELLER

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

There are three ways that serious actresses show skin in American films, and all are on display this holiday season.

In ascending order of bareness, they are the PG panty flash (exhibited by Rachel McAdams in Morning Glory); discreet A-list nudity (Anne Hathaway in Love and Other Drugs); and flat-out indie naked (Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine).

It’s a given that an actress will appear unclothed on screen at some point in her career. But these delicate calibrations of when and how much can determine whether a woman ascends to Streephood or plummets to Lohanville.

Take McAdams. The Canadian-born actress famously walked out of the cover shoot for Vanity Fair’s March 2006 issue because no one had warned her that she, Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson were expected to pose nude. The other two went ahead without her, along with a fully clothed Tom Ford. But McAdams’s career hasn’t been burning as brightly as people had predicted.

So while I wouldn’t go quite as far as Frank Bruni did in an October essay in The New York Times – “If a young female performer with a relatively strait-laced image wants to take full charge of her brightest future,” he wrote, “she apparently has to do some time on the pole” – I will say that McAdams’s judicious bum-baring as a perky TV producer in Morning Glory was well-timed.

Though the rest of her love scenes with co-star Patrick Wilson play out behind closed doors, we get just enough of a gander to confirm that McAdams’s derriere is as darling as the rest of her. And so what if it threw me right out of the movie, as I wondered how many hundreds of squats she did to prepare for those few moments? It worked – it moves McAdams, um, firmly into the babe territory already staked out by other actresses who undertook similar moon shots.

Christina Aguilera in "Burlesque": Did playing a stripper actually clean up her image?

These include Jessica Biel in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (which forever erased her goody-goody image from the TV show Seventh Heaven), Johansson in Lost in Translation (which said, “I sure have grown up since The Horse Whisperer”), and Natalie Portman in Closer (which paved the way for her current Oscar bid in Black Swan). The contemporary fairy godhottie of all these is, of course, Julia Roberts, who by allowing a long pan across her underpants to open Pretty Woman, announced, “Playing a hooker can make me a star, as long as it’s in a Disney film.”

At the other end of the spectrum, there is nothing cute about Williams’s nudity in Blue Valentine. As a woman falling into and then out of love with her husband (Ryan Gosling), she gives a no-holds-barred, brush-burns-included performance that could (deservedly) net her an Oscar nomination. Even on the tame TV show Dawson’s Creek, Williams was a riveting actress, and all of her choices since then have confirmed her talent and ambition. She gravitates toward tiny, tough indies (The Hawk is Dying; Synecdoche, New York; Wendy and Lucy), or works with name directors on their riskier fare (Ang Lee in Brokeback Mountain, Todd Haynes in I’m Not There, Martin Scorsese in Shutter Island), and seems genuinely more concerned with art than commerce.

Williams’s raw, unadorned nakedness in Blue Valentine is no stunt; it’s appropriate to the emotional nakedness of the movie. Other actresses have gone this route before her, including her Dawson’s Creek co-star Katie Holmes in Thank You for Smoking; Amanda Seyfried in Chloe and Jennifer’s Body; and Dakota Fanning in The Runaways. I call it the “I may be naked, but I’m dead serious” school of thought, and it does confer credibility on those who dare it.

(I couldn’t help but notice, though, that Blue Valentine’s writer-director, Derek Cianfrance, lets the camera linger a whole lot more thoroughly on Williams’s naked body than on Gosling’s. More men may be feeling pressured to develop six-pack abs to stay in the game – witness Ryan Reynolds, People mag’s latest Sexiest Man Alive, and Glee teacher Matthew Morrison on the December cover of Details – but bowing to a higher beefcake standard is not the same thing as baring your privates.)

Hathaway’s exposure in Love and Other Drugs – several glimpses of breasts and bum – falls in between McAdams’ and Williams’. She plays a barista with impending Parkinson’s who tries (and adorably fails) to keep her relationship with a pharma rep (Jake Gyllenhaal) purely sexual. It’s co-writer/director Ed Zwick’s attempt to goose the romantic comedy with some Apatow-style frankness, and it’s Hathaway’s next step down the road of adult roles that started with her Oscar-nominated turn in Rachel Getting Married. (Speaking of Oscar, Hathaway is co-hosting the awards show this February with James Franco. There’s a good chance both will be nominees.)

It’s too bad, however, that Hathaway is floating the kind of “Oops – how did that happen?” coyness deployed so memorably by Sharon Stone after her crotch shot in Basic Instinct. In an interview in The New York Times, Hathaway demurred, “Let me put it this way. I didn’t have a call into my agent saying, ‘Find me a part where I can take my clothes off.’ ” And in last week’s Entertainment Weekly, she tells the story of how in one take, Gyllenhaal accidentally pulled the sheet off her, and wouldn’t you know it, that was the take they used. She also maintains that the poster shot, of her and Gyllenhaal in bed, naked but for strategically placed pillows, was supposed to be a private memento, until the studio somehow saw it and decided to use it.

It’s the same kind of pseudo tsuris that accompanied Miley Cyrus’s semi-nude shots in Vanity Fair, and the Glee cast’s recent Lolita shots in GQ: The public exhibits mild outrage, the star appears appropriately chagrined, but the alchemy is accomplished – the girl is transformed into a babe in the minds of ticket buyers. It would be more believable if Vanity Fair hadn’t been offering photo approval to its subjects for years now, or if I hadn’t myself sat with many an actress while she plowed through movie stills and promo shots, all of which required her okay before they could be used.

And Hathaway would sound a lot more credible if she and Gyllenhaal hadn’t posed topless wrapped in each other’s arms for the cover shot that accompanied the EW article. Yet however disingenuous her strategy may be, it’s safe to say that no one will be calling Hathaway “adorkable” – as she referred to herself in a 2008 interview with me – any more.

There’s also a recent, parallel phenomenon of older actresses who resisted getting naked early in their careers, but are now dropping trou, from Meryl Streep under the covers in the poster for It’s Complicated, through Diane Keaton’s frontal nudity in Something’s Gotta Give, all the way to Julianne Moore’s ultra-naked romp with Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right. They conform to the same three levels of showing skin that I mentioned earlier, but with a twist: These actresses are doing it to add a frisson to their third act, rather than kick-start their second. It’s more “Why the hell not?” than “I have to.”

It’s ironic that one of this holiday season’s least naked movies is the one called Burlesque. Co-star Kristen Bell may be trying to sex up her image, to finally graduate from her TV persona, Veronica Mars. But headliner Christina Aguilera’s music career, slippery with hits such as “Dirrty,” has already thoroughly distanced her from her Mickey Mouse Club roots. She’s in the unique position of playing a stripper to clean up her image.

© 2010 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc

Michael Moore calls Canada 'shameful'

Randy Quaid, wife face burglary charges in Calif.

These booking photos provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office shows actor Randy Quaid and his wife Evi Quaid. Police arrested the Quaids Saturday Sept. 18, 2010 on charges of felony residential burglary and entering a non-commercial building without consent, a misdemeanor. Police also charged Evi Quaid with resisting arrest. (AP Photo/Santa Barbara County Sheriff)Associated Press

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Actor Randy Quaid and his wife are facing burglary charges in California after the owner of the couple's old house reported they had been living there without permission.

A representative of the property owner called Santa Barbara sheriff's deputies Saturday afternoon to report that squatters had been staying in the guest house illegally. When deputies arrived at the house that evening, they found Randy and Evi Quaid, who said they had owned the property since the 1990s.

The property owner's representative provided documents that showed his client had bought the home in 2007. A contractor showed police more than $5,000 in damages to the guest house.

Portia de Rossi aims to change name to DeGeneres

Reuters – Comedian Ellen Degeneres (L) and actress Portia de Rossi pose backstage after Degeneres won the award …

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedian Ellen DeGeneres' spouse Portia de Rossi has filed a legal request to change her name to "Portia Lee James DeGeneres," according to a court document.

The request was filed on August 6 in Los Angeles, but the document, which was posted on the Internet by E! Online, shows that de Rossi signed it in late March.

The couple were married in California in August 2008, during a time when same-sex marriage licenses were being issued. A subsequent law passed by California voters banned gay marriage in the state, but just last week, a federal judge in California declared that ban unconstitutional. The judge's decision is being appealed in a higher court.

De Rossi, who has starred in TV shows such as "Nip/Tuck" and "Arrested Development," previously changed her name, at age 15, from Amanda Lee Rogers to her current De Rossi.

DeGeneres is the popular host over her own daytime talk show.

Oliver Stone apologises for claim Hitler was a 'scapegoat' in World War Two 'who did more damage to Russia than Jews'

By Daniel Bates
Last updated at 12:53 AM on 28th July 2010

Director Oliver Stone has been forced to make a grovelling apology over an anti-Semitic outburst.

The double Academy Award winner claimed that the Russians suffered more during the Second World War and that there was a Jewish 'domination of the media'.

Stone also said that Jews had '****ed up' U.S. foreign policy for years and suggested the British supported Hitler.

Hollywood director Oliver Stone (right) with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Caracas premiere of South Of The Border

The comments brought swift condemnation from Jewish bodies in the U.S. and Israel and forced the 63-year-old to make a contrite apology.

He said: 'In trying to make a broader historical point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and I regret.

'Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry,' he said, adding that the Holocaust was an 'atrocity'.

Mein Fuhrer: In an interview in January Stone claimed Hitler was 'an easy scapegoat'

Stone made the comments during an interview with the Sunday Times last weekend to promote his forthcoming Secret History of America documentaries, which challenge received versions of events.

Stone said the ten-part series will address Stalin and Hitler 'in context' and added: 'Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein.

'German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a taillot of support.'

In a misguided attempt to put the Holocaust into context, he said: 'Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30million.' 

Stone with his wife Sun-jung Jung and their daughter Tara at the London premiere of the new documentary about South American politics

Asked why he focused so much on the Holocaust, Stone said: 'The Jewish domination of the media.

'There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers.

'They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has ****ed up U.S. foreign policy for years.'

American Jewish Committee director David Harris said: 'By invoking this grotesque, toxic stereotype, Oliver Stone has outed himself as an anti-Semite.

'For all of Stone's progressive pretensions, his remark is no different from one of the drunken, Jew-hating rants of his fellow Hollywood celebrity Mel Gibson.'

Stone has courted controversy before. In January he sparked fury when he said Hitler was an 'easy scapegoat'.

He was among 34 celebrities who in 1997 compared treatment of those who follow Scientology in Germany with persecution by the Nazis in the 1930s.

And he also provoked criticism with his 1994 film Natural Born Killers, which glamorised two mass murderers.

Top political strategist Woody Allen thinks Obama would get much more done as dictator; No, really

May 05, 2010

One Conservative at MSNBC Is Too Many for Actor Donald Sutherland

Rock Rebel Embraces ‘The Man’: Sting Wants Bigger Government (For Us)

Former Police frontman Gordon “Sting” Sumner has once again made news – this time with his insistence that “the people” are clamoring for big government (read: a socialist nanny state):

“Well, you can see the enthusiasm out there. And people are here to really tell big government that we want big government to make big decisions about the most important problems we face. And also to pressure our corporations to behave properly, as consumers, but we’re here to — we’re asking for big government, basically.”

First of all, who is this “we?” Don’t include me in that statement, bucko - or the readers of Big Hollywood, for that matter. And don’t include the millions of Tea Party attendees all across this still great nation of ours. Obviously someone’s too busy polishing the Grammys on his mantel to pay much attention to the news – except to watch videos of his own CNN appearances, natch.

And I have to ask the obvious question – is Mr. Sumner even an American citizen, or is he just here because the US (for now) taxes him at a lower rate than the UK? Either way, he’s a blowhard who doesn’t speak for me.

Musicians/actors/entertainers/celebrities like Gordy live in a privileged bubble surrounded by brown-nosed yes men, with the funds available to hire accountants to help them find every single little tax loophole so that less money leaves their bank accounts to fill government coffers as possible. How else could he afford five lavish homes in glamorous locales all over the world? How else could his wife afford private charter flights to the White House Correspondents’ dinner?

I find it ironic that the rock and roll culture has morphed from the “don’t trust anyone over 30″ mantra of the 1960s to the “we’re not gonna take it anymore” Twisted Sister motto of the 1980s to the “smells like teen spirit” posturing of the 1990s to the  slavering “we’re asking for big government” kowtowing of today.

But then, I suppose an independent streak doesn’t get one invited to visit the Community Organizer in Chief so that later, one can gush about The One’s being “very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world.”

The whole thing puts me in mind of an old  Calvin and Hobbes strip, where Calvin says:

“The problem with rock ‘n’ roll is that the generation that created it is now the establishment. Rock pretends it’s still rebellious with its video posturing, but who believes it? The stars are 45-year-old zillionaires or they endorse soft drinks! The ‘revolution’ is a capitalist industry! Give me a break!”

I’d add that they’re not just a part of the capitalist industry they profess to despise, but they’re also now supporters of an overly-intrusive government they once wanted to overthrow, or at least gave that impression in order to sell records to become part of the capitalist industry…

Oy, the boomerang effect is giving me a headache.

Now, if Gordy really is a fan of big government, then I’d like to pass on a suggestion made by Hugh Hewitt, which was passed on to me by John Nolte: let the government run the music business. Can you imagine? Caps on prices for CDs and music downloads, because inexpensive entertainment is a right. No more expensive concert tickets either. It’s outrageous that people should have to pay so much for a couple of hours of warbling! In fact, government should regulate where these concerts are held because because it’s not fair for some patrons to get up close and personal in the front row while others are relegated to the nosebleed section.

It’s also not fair that Gordy and his band get to luxuriate before a show while enjoying chilled Evian water, full-bodied French wines, good quality vodka, champagne, fresh fruit and fruit juices, French cheeses and  six – not five or seven – but six yogurt drinks. What does all of that imported food do for our carbon footprint? Much better to have that regulated as well so that while on tour, Gordy can enjoy cheese curds in Wisconsin, ham hocks in Alabama and coffee milk in Rhode Island. You know, eat locally and all that. And NO plastic bags or containers. I’ve heard plastic is bad. They should eat off of “sustainably harvested” bark plates and drink out of their cupped hands.

Heck, while we’re at it, why not let the government force musicians and other entertainers to perform free of charge for the masses? Shouldn’t they be obligated to share their talent, rather than profit from it? Isn’t that the “big government” way? “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs.” I needs me some free music, because heaven knows I’m not as talented as Gordon Sumner. And a free iPod. Someone get Apple on the horn.

I’d say that’s a really big problem we’re facing, to quote Gordy. Forget illegal aliens, forget Iran getting ready to blow us up as soon as possible, forget the economic collapse in Europe that’s on its way over here as we speak. Nope, free music for all is a winning campaign slogan for some enterprising politician out there.

Believe me, they need all the help they can get these days.

Seriously: I’m all for making money any  way you can (legally, of course), and I don’t begrudge Gordy his multimillion dollar bank account. He earned it. However, in exchange, I’d appreciate him keeping his big nose out of my business. If he wants to admit to being for “big government,” fine and dandy. But please, don’t presume to speak for the rest of us.

Actor, White House staffer Kal Penn robbed

  

AFP/Getty Images/File – Actor Kal Penn, pictured in 2009, who appeared in the TV medical drama "House" and the "Harold …

 

Tue Apr 20, 6:35 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Actor Kal Penn, who appeared in the TV medical drama "House" and the "Harold and Kumar" movies, and worked as a White House aide, was robbed at gunpoint in Washington DC Tuesday, his publicist said.

Penn, 32, who served as a political liaison with the Asian American community, was in the Dupont Circle area of the US capital after midnight when a gunman stole his wallet and other belongings, the Washington Post said.

His Hollywood-based publicist, Jennifer Goodwin confirmed the incident to AFP, but declined to provide further details.

Entertainment Weekly reported on April 2 that Penn planned to leave the White House and return to his acting career, with a Christmas-themed "Harold and Kumar" movie in the pipeline.

Penn was a prominent campaigner during President Barack Obama's 2008 White House bid, and was offered a job in the administration in 2009.

Director Paul Verhoeven doesn’t like all the violence in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion” because Jesus Christ’s suffering freeing us from our sins is ”not true,” is not all that different from the painful way in which a lot of people die (so why make such a big deal out of it?), and is not what Christ is “about.”

Here’s what Christ is “about,” according to Verhoeven’s book, “Jesus of Nazareth”:

Verhoeven constructs a new vision of Jesus as a child born from the rape of Mary by a Roman soldier, as a spiritualist who performed exorcisms by screaming and spitting in the mouths of the possessed to drive out demons, and as a militant revolutionary who urged his followers to arm themselves.

The good news is that Verhoeven would like to bring his interpretation of the life of Christ to the screen. You know, because he’s money-driven, not agenda-driven… Just another greedy Hollywood capitalist. Funny how non-believers spend so much time, energy and aggression attacking something that’s, uhm, not real. You’d think they’d give leprechauns and unicorns a little grief, but for some reason they’re always drawn to Christianity.

Wonder why?

ANNOUNCEMENT: The Era of the Leftist-Hollywood Sucker Punch is Over

The title might be a little overblown.

Everywhere online you’ll find script reviews for upcoming television and film projects. Big Hollywood won’t be breaking any new ground there. However…

Over the past few weeks, thanks to a courageous Whistleblower — a dedicated, savvy and patriotic individual — Big Hollywood has accumulated, not one, not five, not twenty… but nearly fifty television and film screenplays at various stages of development. Some of these scripts represent project that have been completed and await release. So represent projects that will never see the light of day.

But we have them. And we’re going to share them with you.

Not the actual screenplays. That would be wrong. But with the tireless help of a group of Big Hollywood contributors, we’ve created The Sucker Punch Squad. Their mission (and they have been kind enough to accept it) is to give you – the public tired of paying for the privilege of being insulted — a heads up in advance of  the political, social and otherwise obnoxious content Tinseltown’s artless propagandists thought they were going to get away with forcing on those of us they laughingly call The Unsuspecting Rubes.

As this site has pointed out for over a year now, Hollywood is above many of the laws that govern most mortals. Everyday, in their hiring decisions, these enlightened liberals openly discriminate. They call it demographics. In the real world it’s called racism. Everyday, these fighters for the common man relentlessly lobby to benefit from trickle-down economics even as their product and spokespeople savage anyone else who would like to keep more of their own money. And now with “Green Zone,” these despicables proved immune to yet another rule that governs polite society: truth in advertising.

Universal Studios sold two hours of anti-American revisionist lies as just another “Bourne” adventure film. To try and separate hard-working Americans facing tough economic times from the cost of a night at the movies, television ads and movie trailers put Matt Damon’s bitter vinegar in a fancy bottle and called it wine.

You can’t do that.

Well, at least wine companies can’t, but Hollywood does it all the time. Sneaking their bankrupt, nihilist agenda on us and our children is what they’re all about. It’s not like you and I can trust 99.9% of film and television critics to warn us, either. They’re nothing more than the Palace Guards. And since we’re not dumb enough to hold our breath waiting for the government to treat Hollywood like every other industry in America — to crack down on misleading advertising (and openly racist hiring policies), we’ve hooked up with a Whistleblower.

Before sexy, misleading advertising blurs our good sense, and dishonest critics carry the water of obfuscation, Big Hollywood’s newest mission is to get ahead of all that and get the word out. Times are tough and only getting tougher. You work too hard for you money to be conned by the next ”Green Zone.”

On the other hand, we might find something worthy, a pleasant surprise. We’ll let you know about those, as well.

Tomorrow we begin with a review of film already being touted as a 2010 Oscar contender. Not because anyone’s seen it and finds it really, really good.

They just think it’s “important.”

And we all know what “important” means in this town. 

P.S. If there’s an upcoming film or television pilot you’d like us to review, please make a request in the comments. We can’t get our hands on everything, but we did pretty well with our own wish list.

Sean Penn Wants Reporters Jailed for Calling Chavez 'Dictator'

FOXNews.com

If Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had his way, any journalist who called Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a dictator would quickly find himself behind bars. 

'Green Zone' star Matt Damon is disappointed in President Barack Obama; Passes on 'Bourne' torch

Rush & Molloy

Saturday, February 27th 2010, 9:44 PM

Kohen/WireImage.com; Miller for News

'Green Zone' star Matt Damon (l.), who campaigned hard for Barack Obama (r.), is disappointed in the health care plan and in the troop buildup in Afghanistan.

"Politics is compromise," says the actor, who campaigned hard for Barack Obama. But Damon feels his candidate has compromised too much. "I'm disappointed in the health care plan and in the troop buildup in Afghanistan. Everyone feels a little let down because, on some level, people expected all their problems to go away. But real change comes from everyday people. You can't wait for a leader."

Damon, who still thinks Obama deserves time, vouches that "the people who worked on 'Green Zone' come from all across the political spectrum."

His character, Roy Miller, is based on real-life Army chief warrant officer, Richard (Monty) Gonzales, whose Mobile Exploitation Team was charged with finding the WMDs during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"Monty was a Republican - he'd voted for Bush," Damon told us at Nobu 57 after the movie's Cinema Society premiere. "He went to Iraq with the absolute conviction he was going to find the WMDs."

In the movie, Amy Ryan plays a reporter obviously modeled after Bush water-carrier Judy Miller. Greg Kinnear plays the oily Bush operative who leads her to believe an Iraqi general has confirmed the existence of WMDs. A chase commences to find the general.

Paul Greengrass, who directed Damon in the "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum," packs the tale with enough explosives and car chases to rev up any fan of Damon's superspy, Jason Bourne.

And will there be another "Bourne"?

"I think the way is to extend the franchise is to create a 'Bourne identity' that different actors can take on," said Damon."I could pass the identity to Russell Crowe or Denzel Washington or Ryan Gosling."

But is Damon willing be "Bourne" again?

"If Paul Greengrass does it and we have something to say, definitely," said Damon. (Greengrass sounded less willing: "I'm out of it. I'm going to try other things.")

Next up for Damon is a remake of "True Grit." (His current mustache works "either for a Western or a porno movie," he jokes.) He may also play Robert F. Kennedy. ("He was a complex man. He wasn't just a pitbull or a saint.")

And then there's "The Trade," in which he and Ben Affleck would play real-life Yankees Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich, who in 1973 swapped wives. Coming after "The Other Guys," in which fellow Red Sox cultist Mark Wahlberg shoots Derek Jeter in the leg, can "The Trade" be anything but a blatant Boston plot to ridicule the Bombers? "I know it looks that way," laughed Damon. "But, really, there's no mischief. It's just a great story."

Yeah, right.

Michelle Obama & Sarah Jessica Parker: Style Icons Collide!

Fri., Feb. 26, 2010 11:10 AM PST by Ella Ngo

MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Last night Sarah Jessica Parker was hanging at the White House with the Obamas. And you know what that means: two fashion powerhouses in the same room!

SJP was invited to attend the National Arts and Humanities medal ceremony, where stars like Clint Eastwood and Bob Dylan received honors from President Barack Obama. She wore a lovely sleeveless dress by Victoria Beckham (another awesome fashionista, natch) and looked really excited to be there.

And we can see why. Check out how close she came to fabulous first lady Michelle Obama...

 

Mr. Robbins, You’re Trying to Seduce Me, Aren’t You?

One of the nifty things about living in Santa Monica, California is watching Hollywood celebrities mince about Main Street, in their half-hearted attempt to remain incognito. In the past 3 months alone, I’ve been treated to Diane Lane and Josh Brolin in a heated tiff outside our inedible raw food joint, Helen Hunt furtively picking a boogie while idling in her Prius – and Carl Weathers. Carl Weathers, EVERYWHERE.

But arguably the most satisfying sighting in my nearly 16 years by the beach, happened just last week in the back of a corner health food market called One Life.  I stopped in for a tuna on whole wheat, queuing directly behind the legendary Tim Robbins in some stretchy bike shorts, a wool skull cap and open-toed sandals.  So COOL! 

However, Tim seemed distracted.  He kept looking towards the front of the store where an exotically stunning  woman was shopping, next to who appeared to be her boyfriend.  Mind you, I was 3 feet from Timmy and he’s a good 6 foot 5, so he had no trouble looking directly over me, clearly ogling the girl and making that “woo” face consistent with a fella on the prowl. ( In hindsight, I’m pretty sure he was trying for one of those camaraderie moments with me, where complete strangers bond over how hot a chick is.  But I wasn’t 100% sure, so I didn’t engage).

After grabbing his food, he headed towards the check out line and paid.  But before he left, he noticed that the dude the hotty came in with had walked out.  In an instant Timmy doubled back and B-lined for the chick, who now was only a couple of feet from where I was waiting.  Man, she smelled great. Timbo with a huge grin, gallantly says hello in that soft, unmistakable, ”Andy Dufresne the day before he busts out of Shawshank Prison’, kinda way.  He asks where she’s from.  It’s Italy.  He asks if she’s single.  She says no.  He asks if she’s with her boyfriend.  She says yes.  He asks if he can have her phone number.  She says no.  He asks if she’d like to have coffee, she says no.  He says OK, nice meeting you and walks away.  He stops.  He comes back.  He asks if she’d take his phone number, she says no.  He basically empties his entire ‘I’m Tim Robbins’ quiver of arrows without so much as grazing the target.  If only Morgan Freeman (who I saw eating a scone on Main Street about 2 months ago) was there to narrate!

So that seemed like a goodly amount of celebrity silliness for one afternoon, but it ended with an even bigger dollop of dumb. I walked outside just as Tim is mounting his 10-speed bike, while as if on cue, a stocky Mexican kid with a video camera starts asking questions.  “Hey Tim, will you cook me a vegan omelet at your house?”  Yep, it’s TMZ! 

Tim peddles away, right past the Italian girl’s boyfriend. He now has the defeated look of a man who’s actually been tossed into solitary confinement by Bob Gunton.  

Crap day for the Timinator.   Fun day for me.

-ANONYMOUS

The singer makes his controversial claim about the Lord in a new US interview that will enrage America's bible belt.

Elton, 62, declares as he pours out his heart to a magazine: "I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems."

He adds: "Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East - you're as good as dead."

He goes on in the same interview to describe how he and DAVID FURNISH, 47 - now his "husband" - first got together.

The pop veteran tells Parade magazine: "I was attracted to David immediately. He was very well dressed, very shy. The next night we had dinner.

"After it, we fell in love very quickly."

He said of previous lovers: "I'd always choose someone younger. I wanted to smother them with love. I'd take them around the world, try to educate them.

"One after another they got a Cartier watch, a Versace outfit, maybe a sports car.

"They didn't have jobs. They were reliant on me.

"In six months they were bored and hated my guts because I'd taken their lives and self-worth away. I hadn't intended to."

p.samson@the-sun.co.uk

Janeane Garofalo and Rosie O'Donnell Attack Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Hume, Van Susteren and All That Listen to Them

By Noel Sheppard
Tue, 02/16/2010 - 20:40 ET

 

My first instinct when one of my tipsters sent me a link containing a discussion between the astonishingly vile Janeane Garofalo and Rosie O'Donnell on the latter's radio program was to delete the e-mail message and pretend I had never received it.

I had just eaten lunch, and really didn't want to upset my stomach so early in the day, especially given how gorgeous the weather is here in Northern California following so many straight weeks of rain.

But curiosity finally got the best of me, and what I discovered was worse than I could possibly imagine.

From O'Donnell calling Rush Limbaugh a junkie to Garofalo claiming that everyone on Fox News is a liar, I really wish I had gone with my first instinct and ignored this travesty ...

JANEANE GAROFALO: I don't know what makes one a Rush Limbaugh fan. [...]
ROSIE O' DONNELL: And how is it that he's able to be a junkie, literally, and sort of still have reverence, respect, and be heralded as the leader of these, you know...
GAROFALO: Well, look at who he's talking to.
O'DONNELL: I know.
GAROFALO: Look at who he's talking to.
O'DONNELL: Those are the kind of people who if it was a junkie, right? What, because he buys the Oxycontin from a doctor?
GAROFALO: Sure, bought it's very elastic, isn't it? It's always a double standard. When it comes to rightwingers, whatever works for them works. [...]
GAROFALO: But here's another thing with the type of mindset, like, like, I keep saying rightwinger, I don't know what else to call it. A person that lacks empathy...Karl Rove, Frank Luntz, the guy who comes up with the talking points at these meetings. Grover Norquist. They have no shame. You can't embarrass them. They have no problem, and they know that they, who they're lying to. The base if you will. It need not be given facts, need not be fair-minded or open-minded to anything. And you, when you talk that way to people, the way Rush talks to people, the way he lies to people, you can't have respect for him. You couldn't possibly respect who's listening to you if you lied to them the way that they do. They use these people as a blunt instrument.
O'DONNELL: Do you think that they believe it? Rush or Glenn Beck or those people?
GAROFALO: It depends. Sometimes, like, when you meet Sean Hannity, you think, "Oh, he doesn't know he's lying." Some people like the "Fox & Friends" morning douchebags, on "Fox & Friends," real, really limited. You can just see it when you go on the show. Don't make that mistake, don't do that...Brian Kilmeade, they just, you get the sense they don't know they're lying. And they don't care. Then, Greta Van Susteren, Brit Hume, they do know they're lying.

Oy. Are there REALLY people in America that agree with these buffoons?

Heaven help us.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.

Will Matt Damon's politics cost him at the box-office?

Ted Danson Trashes Limbaugh, Religious Right

INSIDE STORY: Nic Cage Blames Advisor for Financial Ruin

By Brenda Rodriguez

Originally posted Sunday November 01, 2009 08:00 AM EST

Nicolas Cage Photo by: Ray Tamarra /

How could one of Hollywood's highest paid actors find himself owing $6.3 million in back taxes and deep in money troubles? The answer is easy if you believe Nicolas Cage.

In a lawsuit filed Oct. 16 in Los Angeles, the National Treasure star, 45, claims that his longtime business manager, Samuel J. Levin, duped "lined his [own] pockets with several million dollars in business management fees while sending Cage down a path toward financial ruin."

That journey began in 2001 when Cage – whose next movie is the crime drama Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans – hired Levin to oversee and manage his business interests, investments and finances. Levin did not return calls seeking comment. A rep for Cage had no comment.

On The Market

Though Cage claims it was only recently that he learned the gravity of his financial condition, the actor started selling off some of his prized possessions months ago. In April, Cage bid farewell to his Bavarian castle, selling it to his German advisor, lawyer Konrad Wilfurth.

Now he has placed other homes on the market in California, Las Vegas and New Orleans, where two of his residences – each worth at about $3.5 million – are up for auction Nov. 12, according to the that city's Times-Picayune. Regions Bank foreclosed on Hancock Park Real Estate Co., the owner of Cage's properties, for $5.5 million in unpaid mortgage debts, the newspaper reported.

Tax Trouble

Cage's home liquidation comes as earlier this month the U.S. government placed a tax lien on his vast real-estate holdings because of $6 million in unpaid taxes dating from 2007, according to court papers. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004.

East West Bank also filed a breach-of-contract complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court that claims Cage had failed to repay a $2 million loan that was extended this past August.

In the lawsuit filed against his business manager, Cage says he "relied on Levin to handle his financial affairs to ensure that he and his family would have a financially secure future built on the foundation of the substantial monies Cage earned through years of hard work."

But "he is now forced to sell major assets and investments at a significant loss and is faced with huge tax liabilities because of Levin's incompetence, misrepresentations and recklessness." (Interestingly, Cage sold off his rare comic-book collection in 2002 for more than $1.6 million, a year after hiring Levin.)

Now as the actor gets ready to hit the big screen again this fall, he faces "catastrophic losses" in upwards of $20 million. The next court hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for February 2010.

Hilary Swank: I Allow a Six Year-Old to See Me Nude

One day a few years ago, back in Scotland, my brother and his friend Kenny were reminiscing about the knocks and scrapes of growing up. It was all fairly normal stuff until Kenny suddenly blurted out: 

‘Yeah, it’s like the first time you win a square go with your dad!’ 

Now for those among you who did not grow up in West Fife let me explain the meaning of ‘a square go.’ This is a game that requires you to take turns punching your opponent in the face as hard as you can, until one of you passes out or begs the other to stop. 

Naturally my brother looked at Kenny in shock. And for the first time in his life Kenny began to suspect that smacking your dad really hard in the face and vice versa was not necessarily a universal bonding experience. 

Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank may be having that kind of moment right now. If she isn’t, she should be. Earlier in the month she gave an interview to Joanna Coles of Marie Claire magazine (one of my favorite reads, of course) when the entirely banal conversation took a surprising turn: 

Coles: What do you sleep in?

Swank: I don’t sleep in anything. Do you sleep in a nightgown?

Coles: I sleep in pj’s. I have two young sons, so I have to be conscious of that.

Swank: Well, my boyfriend’s son is 6 years old, and you wonder at what age you should stop walking around nude. Every morning he comes into the bedroom, and you’re just nude. But he doesn’t look twice; he doesn’t think about it yet. I just toss and turn too much when I sleep, and if I’m in clothes, I get all twisted up.

Don’t you just hate it when you get all twisted up? That’s why I do my grocery shopping nude. Now admittedly, they call the cops every time I get near the entrance. But I just can’t stand restraints on my personal freedom, man.

But I digress. What I really want to do is address Ms. Swank directly (I know she’s a keen Big Hollywood reader). So here we go. 

Hilary: I hate to break it to you like this, but speaking as a former six year old boy… 

HE DOES THINK ABOUT IT. 

Trust me. He’s just not letting on, out of fear that you’ll put some clothes on. In fact, he can’t believe his luck. Every day he gets to see a naked chick walking about the house, just letting it all hang out. Now he doesn’t think about it in the same way a sixteen year-old boy would, but believe me — it’s like Christmas come every day for that little boy in the Swank household. I’ll also wager he races to school every day and boasts about it to all his little friends. And they’re all jealous. 

The truth is, I’m not sure what to make of this story. Is it yet another example of whacked out showbiz values, a bit like Iggy Pop taking his son to seedy nightclubs when all the kid wanted to do was stay home and play with his toys? That didn’t work out well. Pop junior never talks to his dad, I hear. Then I thought maybe Swank had grown up on some kind of hippy commune and that mutual grown woman/little boy nudity might be ‘normal’ for her. But I just checked Wikipedia and Swank’s father was a military officer, so that explanation is out. Or is she just incredibly naïve? Either way, she doesn’t seem very flustered by the fuss her admission has caused in the media. Speaking on the “Today Show,” she said: 

“I think it’s great that people can talk about things that bring up debate… I think every family is different, and you have to know what’s right for you and your family.” 

Well, yes. But different doesn’t mean equally good. I mean, the Manson family, they were very different, but it doesn’t mean old Charlie M. is a good role model. 

So, Hilary, if you’re out there striding about nude and the little lad’s in the vicinity — put some clothes on, eh? Childhood is short enough as it is, especially in a place like Hollywood. You don’t need to make it any shorter.

Does Jennifer Aniston Only Take Three-Minute Showers?

Sun., Oct. 25, 2009 10:02 AM PDT by Leslie Gornstein

Barnsley, Dome, PacificCoastNews.com; AP Photo/Dave Allocca, StarPix; Jae Donnelly/INFphoto.com

I heard this really stupid tidbit, that in an effort to save the environment, Jennifer Aniston takes a three-minute shower in which she also brushes her teeth. Is this even possible? What other stupid things to celebs do to be "green"?
—Janine, via Facebook

What other? Hmmm. Selena Gomez recently announced that her yet-to-debut clothing line will be as green as can be. That may not fall under the category of "crazy," but by law anything that Gomez does is certifiably adorable.

If you're looking for celebrities closer to just plain certifiable, sure, I have some examples, including a rock icon who sells renewable grocery bags—at his concerts...

... and that would be Bob Dylan.

"Eco-friendly cloth Bob Dylan grocery bags were available from the merchandise booth," the Las Vegas Sun reported after a recent concert. "Talk about progressive—and in seasonal colors, too: green or orange."

Indeed, the Aniston tidbit you mentioned is true as well.

"I take a three-minute shower," she told Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen, authors of The Green Book. She even brushes her teeth while she's in there. "Every two minutes in the shower uses as much water as a person in Africa uses for everything in their life for a whole day!"

I know, right?

Some more tidbits:

• Adrian Grenier has lived in an apartment insulated with old pants.
• Vegetarian and planetary crusader Tobey Maguire reportedly has banned all leather products from his house. Per a breathless article in Seventeen, he also "makes everyone take off their leather belts and shoes and leave them by the door!"
• Also per Seventeen, Leo DiCaprio "stays green at home, too—with his $3,200 eco-friendly toilet!"

As for me, well, um, don't print out this column. Consider the trees.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.

Will Ferrell and Co. Answer the NEA Call, Shill for ObamaCare

A couple weeks ago I wondered aloud where Hollywood was in the health care debate. And almost on command, this video appeared.  It looks like the NEA’s call for artists to promote health care initiatives has been heard by some comedy artists.

Hollywood superstar Will Ferrell is surrounded by eight “celebrities” in a satirical defense of the health insurance companies.

And I use the term “celebrities” loosely. One is the only recognizable character from the cult series “Heroes,” another is a star of a popular cable series that was recognized at Sunday’s Emmy Awards, another is a star of a cable series that nobody ever watches, one is from Comedy Central’s Reno 911, another is his best friend, one is the star of the hit movie franchise “Scooby-Doo,” and to give the clip credibility, two of the “celebrities” actually play doctors on TV.  I will give a prize to anyone who can name all eight without using Google®.

Is this the best Hollywood can come up with? Other than Ferrell, most of these people don’t even have a Q score high enough to make it on “Dancing with the Stars,” or “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!”

So where are the A-listers? It seems like most of them have been trying to rebuild their careers. People who were stars in the early part of this century saw their earnings take a nose dive as they learned that a lot of conservatives watch TV and buy movie tickets, CDs, and DVDs.

As for the video, it seems a little hypocritical that Will Ferrell is complaining about insurance company profits since he made scads of money just for wearing tights and doing pratfalls. Meanwhile, health insurance companies do a lot of good for people by providing life saving health care most people would never be able to afford otherwise. They also cite unfounded statistics like 80% of America supports a “public plan” and that insurance companies have denied claims based on spelling errors.

Oh yeah, and it’s supposed to be funny. The clip is posted on the site “Funny or Die”… In the immortal words of Patrick Henry, “Give Me Death!”

Sean Penn steps out with new girlfriend

updated 6:38 p.m. EDT, Tue September 15, 2009

By Charlotte Triggs

 

(People.com) -- The ink's barely dry on the divorce filing between Sean Penn and soon-to-be ex Robin Wright Penn, but the actor didn't waste time getting back on his feet with new girlfriend Jessica White in New York City.

Sean Penn is reportedly dating model Jessica White.

On Friday night, Penn, 49, and White, 25, had dinner at Hotel Griffou (both ordered the chicken and drank vodka) before heading to the Mercer Hotel.

"They were holding hands. They seemed really into each other," a source said. "She was laying on him. She was laying on his shoulder. They were lounging around. He seemed really into her."

The next night, Penn and his Sports Illustrated swimsuit model companion, who met at a birthday party at Kid Rock's house last month, arrived hand-in-hand at Abe & Arthur's in the Meatpacking District for model Noemie Lenoir's birthday party.

"They are together all the time," a source said. "They are pretty serious together. She wants to get serious with him and it seems like he is really into her too."

Penn had previously been spotted out with model Petra Nemcova in 2008. The following year, when tabloids reports linked the Oscar-winner with Natalie Portman, Portman made it clear they weren't an item.

"Sean Penn is a friend and colleague," she said at the time. "The reports that we are romantically involved are completely untrue."

The actor and Robin Wright Penn announced they were divorcing last August after a 13-year marriage with many ups and downs.

 

 

Actor Charlie Sheen is demanding a meeting with President Obama to discuss his belief that the September 11 terror attacks were perpetrated by the federal government.

In an interview with PrisonPlanet.com, The "Two and a Half Men" star unveils a fictional 20-minute exchange he imagines having with Obama – whom he supported in the November election – during which he implores the president to get on "the right side of history."

Sheen, 44, argues that "the official 9/11 story is a fraud" and claims the attacks served as "the pretext for the systematic dismantling of our Constitution and Bill of Rights." Moreover, he charges that the Bush/Cheney "regime" was behind the attacks as a prelude to justify an invasion of Iraq. Sheen also insinuates that Usama bin Laden is working for the U.S. government.

Sheen, who has been an adamant "9/11 Truther" for years, demands in his imagined meeting with Obama that the president answer what he calls a "bottomless warren of unanswered questions surrounding that day and its aftermath."

Sheen is the former husband of actress Denise Richards, who alleged that he was addicted to gambling, prescription drugs and prostitutes. While Sheen has openly discussed his previous struggles with drugs, he has denied Richards’ allegations against him. Still, Richards used his beliefs about 9/11 as proof for a judge that he was "delusional." She later sought and received a restraining order against him.

Sheen is now married to Brooke Mueller, with whom he has two sons.