The Hollywood 5 & 1: 5.03.08
Posted by Steve Gustafson on 05.03.2008
Finding the wack news out of HOLLYWOOD...so you don't have to!
Welcome to the Hollywood 5 & 1! I'm your host, Steve Gustafson, and I'll be giving you the rundown of all things quirky out of Hollywood. I comb the corners of every gossip site, every tabloid rag, and listen to every message on my cell from my network of informants living on the left side of the country. All for you! Do you have something to tell me? A story? A celebrity sighting? Email me at stevethegoose@gmail.com. It's there 24-hours a day!
Before we begin, I have to get some things out of my system. First, the buzz around town is the battle between Iron Man and Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA-IV) over the wallets of fan boys this weekend. The game, which went on sale on Tuesday, is drawing the attention of the key demographic that populates movie theaters, teenage males and their dates. While many analysts have predicted that Iron Man, which debuted Thursday, will earn about $70 million this weekend, sales of GTA-IV are expected to exceed the record of $300 million for first week sales set by Halo 3 last year. When did the GEEK get so powerful?!? Really! If GTA-IV does impact the movie stubs, this would be a major blow to the already unstable movie market. No matter what, competition is good for us!
Let me take a moment to send a Steve Salute to my readers in Memorial Hall out at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland. Thanks for reading. Now get back to the books...GO BLAZERS!
Give me a second. I have to reach into my bag-o-email and pull out a message I received from Charlene. She asked me a really good question that I would like to share with you...
"I am a photographer, I mainly photograph architectural elements, old buildings, landscapes and such...I don't do people, been there done that. BUT, while I was marketing to publishers this week I remembered that any photo of a person must usually be submitted with a "model release". If I were to take a picture of some unknown person on the beach or coming out of a supermarket or whatnot, I probably could not sell it without a model release. Why is it that paparazzi do not require a model release for celebrities? I suppose this is true of any public figure, but I do find it interesting... Just a thought."
Thanks for the question Charlene. After much research, and a headache, I've found an answer! Sorta. Celebrities, public officials, and private citizens involved in newsworthy incidences are all legally defined as public figures. Turns out, public figures have fewer rights to privacy than an "ordinary person." A good definition of a public figure is a person who has achieved fame or notoriety or who has voluntarily become involved in a public controversy. Think movie star or politician. Due to their fame, their image and likeness can be used in the media. Bottom-line, it's the nature of the beast. The law is vague and loopholes exist that make it difficult to maintain even a small degree of privacy. These exclusions of the law give the paparazzi their rights. That is not to say that paparazzi don't break laws in the pursuit of a shot. But as long as there is a high demand for what they do, breaking the law becomes an acceptable risk. So until harsher laws are made, no release is needed and with public demand for celebrity dirt at an all time high, those laws are far from coming to fruition. Awesome question that can be debated for a long time to come.
One more email before we get started. Is Beyonce pregnant? I got an anonymous email from saying she is…
"Please don't use my name. You probably heard that Beyonce is pregnant. She is. She is 100% pregnant. Hence the quick wedding."
Thanks for passing this along…I think. 100% pregnant? As opposed to being 75% or 50% pregnant? I appreciate the email but I'm going to wait a little bit before I go putting this on blast. Pregnant or not, it doesn't change the details of the INFAMOUS BEYONCE story I have yet to share with you.
Alright, let's get down to business. What's the Hollywood 5 & 1? It's real simple; I go through 5 things out of Hollywood this past week that made me scratch my head and 1 item that's not so bad. Got it? Good. Let's go!
THE 5
More Tom Cruise You Say?
Making an unprecedented 3 appearances on the 5 & 1! He is to me what Angelina Jolie is to US Weekly. Cher's decided to rip the covers off a romance that probably would've been best left covered. Seriously. A fling with Tom Cruise. Cher and Tom Cruise. Together. Where to begin? The diva told Oprah, according to Vegas Confidential, that she and Cruise had a "long date" when he was 23 and she was 39, and that she "lived in his apartment" in New York. Cher even says that Tom was "a shy boy" when they hooked up. "He was so wonderful ... And he was so, like, different," says Cher. Somewhere Katie Holmes is looking over at Tom and saying to herself, "Ew." Trust me, being called different is no compliment. That's like telling someone their baby is "interesting looking". Who would guess that this paring wouldn't be the oddest of the week?
She Dated WHO? She MARRIED who?
Actress/model Angie Everhart has been arrested for drunk driving, just days after splitting from longtime love Joe Pesci...*SCREEEEECH* Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Joe Pesci and Angie Everhart? Really? Even if he wasn't in Goodfellas. Or Casino. Or even part of the greatest crime team of all time, that being the Wet/Sticky Bandits, I would still love Mr. Pesci. But this puts him over the top. I salute you sir. It hasn't been a good week for Sylvester Stallone's ex either; Pesci ended his engagement to Everhart, nine months after proposing and then she gets arrested. The couple had been together for seven years. Yes. Seven years. The only thing more random than that pairing would be if Mariah Carey wed actor/rapper Nick Cannon...Wait. They did? Get this. According to the latest reports swirling around the couple's shock marriage, Carey and Cannon staged a spontaneous marriage ceremony earlier this week after dating for just a month. New York gossip columnist Paula Froelich, who broke the wedding story, claims Carey refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before marrying for a second time. Alright, put your predictions for how long this will last in the comment section below. Person with the closest guess gets a prize! This may be a really short contest or a really long one. And I'm guessing...short.
Whatchoo Talkin' Bout, Judge?
Sometimes your column just writes itself. Case in point: Former child star Gary Coleman and his wife are heading to reality legal show Divorce Court in an effort to save their seven-month marriage. Again. Seven months. The couple has taped a TV showdown with Divorce Court Judge Lynn Toler, hoping her advice can help them reach their first anniversary. The actor, 40, and his 22-year-old bride wed in a secret ceremony last year but the love has already been replaced with hostility. In an interview with news show Entertainment Tonight, Coleman's wife Shannon admits she's had enough of the former Diff'rent Strokes star's tantrums. She says, "If he doesn't get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a five-year-old does." Now this is the part where I usually make a joke about his size. But that's too easy. I will not lower myself to that level. I will not say that he just doesn't measure up. Or he has a short temper. That's just rude. And unoriginal. *WINK* Meanwhile, the actor insists his wife doesn't listen to him: "If I have to throw something or break something, that's what's going to happen." C'mon, what would Mr. Drummond say? After taping the show, Judge Toler asked the couple to return to her courtroom in six months for an update hearing. *SNIFF* *SNIFF* I smell reality show!
Foxy Lady Indeed!
Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Jimi Hendrix...Wait, what? What a week! A 40-year-old sex tape featuring guitar legend Jimi Hendrix has been unearthed by a rock memorabilia dealer. The unnamed collector has passed the saucy footage, which features a head-banded Hendrix frolicking with two brunettes, to the bosses of porn video giant Vivid Entertainment, who are set to release the film on DVD. Head-band, huh? That's my new style! Vivid officials went to infamous rock groupie Cynthia Plaster Caster, to make sure that the guy in the sex film was the late rock icon. What a great thing to be "known" for. Good for you Cynthia! She and another famous groupie, Pamela Des Barres provides commentary on the new DVD, Jimi Hendrix: The Sex Tape. Very original title. I expected more from an adult film company. The only thing more random would be if celebrated newswoman and broadcaster Barbara Walters confessed to having a lengthy affair with a married senator in the 1970s...wait...she did? Oh c'mon! What's going on in the world? In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, which will air on TV next week, Walters revealed she romanced Republican Edward Brooke, the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate, from the late 1960s. Let that image run through your head a while. Walters confessed she was "infatuated" by the Massachusetts politician, adding, "He was exciting. He was brilliant. It was exciting times in Washington." But she refused to go public with the affair, insisting, "Had this come out, it would have ruined my career and his." Oprah is just killing it with interviews! If Bea Arthur goes on Oprah and says she has a sex tape…I quit!
Humorous Title CENSORED
Originally I was going to talk about something that broke out earlier in the week but after consideration to privacy I thought decided against it. But I will report on the fall out. Seeming to toss aside another ethical standard that most journalists abide by without hesitation, the gossip website TMZ.com on Wednesday revealed the name of the 14-year-old son of a movie star who is the "alleged victim of unlawful sex" with a 22-year-old woman. "TMZ Hits New Low," headlined Kevin Roderick in his L.A. Observed blog. The Smoking Gun website, which has published its fair share of scandalous news items, reported on TMZ's revelation but said that it had decided to "redact" the boy's name. It noted that besides disclosing the child's name, TMZ also ran a photo of him taken when he was 10. This brings up a good point. Where is the line when it comes to the children of celebs? At first glance I was amused by the story, and then thought it was weird that this case involves a minor and they were putting his name out there. Would they do it if he wasn't related to a movie star? Of course not. Shame on you. Shame. And don't email me asking about the identity of the actor or his kid!
& 1 The Awww Story
This is just a feel good story for me. A 21-year-old Londoner, Nuru Rimington-Mkali, has been crowned the winner of the yearlong film contest sponsored by Web-based production shingle Filmaka. As his prize, Rimington-Mkali will receive funding of about $5 million for a feature film he will direct. He's prepping to pitch his ideas to Filmaka partners Deepak Nayar, producer of such independent pictures as Bend It Like Beckham and Buena Vista Social Club, and former Fox TV Entertainment Group chief Sandy Grushow. LaBute called Rimington-Mkali's final winning short, And I Refuse to Forget, a "wonderfully impressive paranoid thriller that was told with great economy and vivid imagery." He also cited Rimington-Mkali's innate skills on the technical aspects of directing. Congrats to him. Hopefully he'll do some great work and I won't come across his movies at the $1 bin at the Dollar Tree.
