The Hollywood 5 & 1 09.20.08

Posted by Steve Gustafson on 09.20.2008

What do James Lipton, Adam West, and Victoria Silvstedt have in common? What actress can say goodbye to winning another Oscar? What is Hollywood doing for politics? Find the answers...AND MORE...INSIDE!

Hey! Welcome back to the Hollywood 5 & 1! I'm your host, Steve Gustafson, and I flip through every gossip tabloid, click every celebrity related web site, and call my vast network in Hollywood to find the slightly offbeat news you might have missed during the week. Or just ignored. Do you have something to contribute? A celebrity sighting? A funny story? Shoot me an email at [e-mail]. Open 34-hours. I should be adding some new things to the column in the next couple of weeks. Oh yeah, look me up on Facebook! Just plug in my name and look for the picture of me holding up a Biz Markie album in a movie theater...AS THE MOVIE IS SHOWING! Stay tuned! Hey, make this site some money and click on that ad right there-------------->

FIVE THINGS THAT GOT ME THROUGH THE WEEK
G's to Gents: I can't explain the draw. I can't. Yet when I see Mr. Bentley coaching those reformed thugs, I have to take pause.
Widow Graphic Novel: If you usually pass on graphic novels I urge you to read this one. An incredible story about 9/11 that doesn't focus on the events, but the impact it made on one person.
Star Wars: Force Unleashed on PSP: This column almost didn't get done because of this! Believe the hype!
Baltimore City Paper: Best of Baltimore: I love the City Paper because it keeps the news grimy! I love the Best of Baltimore edition because it showcases what most cities would try to hide. B'more!
Nate Diaz: The resident UFC badboy talks like a common thug (Hey, maybe someone should get him on G's to Gents!) but backs it up in the octagon.

DO ME A FAVOR
If you happen to see James Lipton, Adam West, Jeremy Irons, Trisha Yearwood, Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Fallon, or Victoria Silvstedt, wish them a happy birthday today.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I've had sex in all 50 states. A lot of it was on a road trip I took when I was younger."
Actress Eva Mendes talking about her adventurous road trips when she was younger. She admits that her best experiences took place in Arizona and Colorado, adding: "Maybe it was the clean air."

FIVE THINGS THAT JUST MISSED THE LIST STARTS...NOW...
Is this supposed to be a happy occasion or a sad one? The MTV show which helped launch the careers of Britney Spears, *N Sync and Eminem (I think I just answered my own question!) is to end after ten years on air. Total Request Live (Trl) has been axed, with the final show expected to be broadcast in November. Hatched in 1998, the show featured new music videos, and viewers were introduced to their favorite pop stars through exclusive interviews. Former Trl host Carson Daly is expected to return for the two-hour special finale. I'm sure we'll have several ripoffs pop up soon enough to replace it.

I think this pretty much guarantees that she will never be nominated again. Actress Tilda Swinton has given away the Oscar she won at this year's ceremony because, get this, she insists the trophy "doesn't mean that much". WHA! The star won the Best Supporting Actress gong for her role in Michael Clayton. But she admits she soon grew tired of having the prize at her home in Scotland, so she gave it away. Swinton says, "I took it to Scotland and everybody got bored of it after four or five hours. Believe it or not, I feel it's almost sacrilegious to say this, but it really doesn't mean that much to people where I live. I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this (trophy). There's no way I would be in America if it wasn't for him. I gave it away to my agent." Give it to her...she's got gumption!

This makes bedtime story telling...awkward. Rumer Willis used to have pictures of her step-dad Ashton Kutcher on her bedroom wall, until he started dating her mum Demi Moore. Willis, whose father is Hollywood actor Bruce Willis, admits she used to have a crush on Kutcher and was shocked when she found out he was romancing her mother. She tells British magazine Cosmopolitan, "It was strange when mum, who is 15 years older than Ashton, started seeing him. I was 15 and he was a heart-throb to me, I had pictures of him on my wall! I remember mum saying her new 'friend' was going to hang out with us. I said, 'What's his name?' and she said, 'It's Ashton'. "And I said, 'Whoa...Ashton Kutcher?' I freaked out a bit and blushed." Speaking for the rest of the world...I think we all freaked out a little.

Hef keeps pumping it out! Playboy boss Hugh Hefner is expanding his empire with a new reality TV series following the success of his U.S. show Girls Next Door. The spin-off series follows Hefner's three girlfriends Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson and Bridget Marquardt as they hop around the Playboy mansion. Wait, isn't that what they already are doing? The business tycoon insists the blonde trio are each deserving of their own half-hour on the small screen. Hefner tells E! Online: "It's amazing. We're about to launch season five, and we're committed to doing season six. We thought it would be a one-season wonder. I think all three girls are likely to get spin-offs. I think they will be interconnected to the main show, and we will all appear on both." I'm not sold...but who can argue with Hef?

If you are a member of this fan club please email. I have questions. Sienna Miller faces a backlash from devotees after editors at one of her largest fan websites threatened to shut it down, slamming her "shameless" relationship with married actor Balthazar Getty. Who says morals are dead? The star hit the headlines after pictures emerged of her frolicking with the father-of-four on a yacht off Italy's Amalfi coast in July. She has since faced a variety of setbacks, including an attack on her London home in which graffiti hooligans sprayed the word "slut" onto brickwork. And now editors at one of the British actress' biggest fan sites, Sienna-Miller.org, have announced plans to close down. Can anyone across the lake confirm this?

RANDOM LIST OF THE WEEK
Ok, I'm sure you all were aware of the Forbes Celebrity 100, right? Yes, big surprise...blah, blah, blah. But what about the BOTTOM 10! Let's show some love. Hey, it was a slow week for lists!
The bottom 10 are:
91 Wolfgang Puck
92 Zac Efron
93 Annika Sorenstam
94 Ashley Tisdale
95 Gordon Ramsay
96 Jennifer Love Hewitt
97 Lauren Conrad
98 Vanessa Williams
99 Tina Fey
100 Paula Deen

STEVE SALUTE!
To my main man, Mr. Actor, Al Pacino! Seems he is pleased his films have given him a tough guy reputation, because it comes in handy in real life. Pacino is convinced that his tough guy image often helps him out in sticky situations. He says, "I was driving past this guy's parked car and I knocked his mirror off, so I stopped. He said, 'Look at my mirror! What did do you?' When he saw it was me, he said, 'No, it's all right. Don't worry about it.'" That's what I'm talking about! Let's see Brad Pitt try that!

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

***SPECIAL REPORT***Hollywood, D.C.***
It's election time and that means we get the best and worst of everything. Let's peek at what Hollywood is doing for politics this week, shall we?

***Actress Lindsay Lohan has slammed U.S. vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin insisting she is unprepared for a job at the White House. Where's that picture of the pot calling the kettle black? Do you think I should start dropping pictures into my column? Does that mean I'm selling out? Anyways, Lohan blogs, "I really cannot bite my tongue anymore when it comes to Sarah Palin. I find it quite interesting that a woman who now is running to be second in command of the United States, only four years ago had aspirations to be a television anchor, which is probably all she is qualified to be." You know, that's cool. I'm all for using your freedom of speech.

***Moving on, Meg Ryan and Jada Pinkett Smith added their opinions on Palin. If you have a scorecard this has them joining Matt Damon, Lindsay Lohan, Pink, and Pamela Anderson in the debate surrounding the Republican nominee. Ryan has spoken out about the politician, insisting she should be respected for her current family situation, but she won't be getting the actress' vote. She tells the New York Daily News, "I guess we have to root for her in that her son just went off to Iraq, that's gotta be really, really tough. (But) she doesn't represent my politics at all." And Pinkett Smith has also denounced Palin, saying: "It's nice to see women in America are being extremely vocal about politics this year. But her being a woman hasn't made me sway to that side. Not one bit."

***BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...Sorry, my Lohan alarm just went off. I gotta check this. Ah, I see. You can always count on this guy to get his name out there. Always. Lohan's father Michael has come to his daughter's defense after U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama reportedly rejected the actress' offer to help raise funds for his race to the White House. The star allegedly offered to host a fundraiser to rally support for his candidacy among young voters. The offer was reportedly snubbed because of Lohan's wild past, she is a reformed drug and alcohol addict who spent several sessions in rehab last year. Hey, I guess Bush has more in common with her than Obama does. But Lohan's dad Michael, who has a turbulent relationship with his famous daughter, has hit out at Obama's people, insisting the actress will turn her life around. He tells TMZ.com, "Everyone is entitled to an opinion and so is Obama and his staff. Then again, you know what they say about opinions. Unfortunately, for them, to make such a comment about my daughter was a big mistake... Look at Angelina Jolie and the wonderful things she has done in her life, and now watch how Lindsay does the same."

***Charlize Theron is hoping to get active now protesting won't get her deported from America. The South African-born Oscar winner was kicked out of the U.S. when she was 19 after a film about Cuba she produced and financed was considered unpatriotic and damaging to America. Wow. Theron is hardcore! The incident made her realize she'd have to become a U.S. citizen before she could protest national politics, war or human rights violations on American soil. Theron, who became an American citizen in 2007, says, "Protesting is different because you can be videotaped and then get arrested and, when you've been arrested, it's harder to get citizenship. I produced and financed a documentary, called East of Havana, in Cuba that was considered unpatriotic here in America and I got deported when I was 19, so I didn't want to push my luck...I've always been very open about my politics. I waited until I got my American citizenship to protest. To say something that comes from a place of questioning government and questioning policies is considered unpatriotic, and that kind of means you don't love the country and you should go back, is something that I don't believe in. I've always been very much about causes and I don't hide from that. This is my home now and I'm here to stay."

***This is AWESOME! And totally New Mexico. Totally. I'll have my NM-Reporter-On-the-Go Diego give me a full report! Val Kilmer is tipped to become the next governor of his home state of New Mexico, by the politician currently in the hot seat. Democrat Bill Richardson has to step down from the position when his second term ends in 2011, and he would love to hand over the keys to the governor's mansion to Kilmer. He says, "I like the idea. Val Kilmer is a New Mexican, he was Batman. You know there have been successful actors going into politics. I haven't talked to him about it, I don't know how serious he is, but you know if he jumps in a race he's got name ID, so it can't be discounted." You have to love any man that equates political readiness with an actor who played Batman! Hey, I might be moving to New Mexico!
***THIS CONCLUDES OUR SPECIAL REPORT***

Actresses Say (AND DO) the Darnedest Things
First up we have Megan Fox, who has leaped to the defense of Disney stars Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus after their 2007 and 2008 private photo scandals. Naked snaps Hudgens took for boyfriend Zac Efron made their way onto the internet in 2007, embarrassing the actress. And Cyrus experienced her own string of scandals this year, when self-taken cellphone pictures also emerged on the world wide web. She also posed for a Vanity Fair photoshoot that was deemed to be too saucy for a 15 year old girl. But Fox is outraged...outraged I say!...the young stars felt pressure to say sorry, insisting those responsible for exposing the candid snaps should be blamed and ashamed. She tells GQ magazine, "I would never issue an apology for my life and for who I am. It's like, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I took a naked, private picture that someone, who is an asshole, sold for money.' Someone betrayed Vanessa, but no one's angry at that person. She had to apologize." I was going to make a joke here, but she has a pretty valid point. Ok, HERE'S where I make my joke. Fox then confessed she once dated a female Russian stripper, but denies she is a lesbian. The star admits she dated the dancer after she was dumped by a former boyfriend at the age of 18. She says, "Well, that year my boyfriend broke up with me, and I decided, oh man, sorry, mommy, that I was in love with this girl that worked at the Body Shop. I decided that I was going to get her to love me back, and I went out of my way to create a relationship with this girl, a stripper named Nikita." But Fox denies she is gay. That's cool. I'm sure the imagery is good enough for 99% of my readers. She adds, "Look, I'm not a lesbian. I just think that all humans are born with the ability to be attracted to both sexes. I mean, I could see myself in a relationship with a girl, Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands. (WHOA!) She's mesmerizing. And lately I've been obsessed with Jenna Jameson, but ... oh boy." All right guys, let's focus here. Some of us have a column to write!

Who wants to live next to twins? Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have infuriated their New York neighbors with their hard-partying ways, just months after moving homes in the city for the same reason. The 22-year-old media mogul sisters abandoned their multi-million dollar New York penthouse in May amid allegations by former neighbors their celebrity lifestyle was a nuisance. But just months after their move into the city's star-studded West Village area at a reported $12,000-a-month price tag, the twins' new neighbors are already eager to see them go. One angry resident tells the National Enquirer: "They are two little brats invading us with a team of bodyguards. These men sit in their Gmc Denalis (sports utility vehicles) with their engines idling and they have spoiled the environment for us. This was such a quiet area. Many celebrities live in Greenwich Village without the need for such high-powered armored protection. The girls come and go at all hours. My wife saw one of them earlier this week arriving back at the house at 7am." Is anyone surprised by this? I mean, watch Full House! They had no manners back then either.

What does desperate smell like? Take a whiff of Mischa Barton. She appears to have put her failed romance with rocker Taylor Locke behind her, after she was spotted leaving a London nightclub with actor Josh Hartnett. The kinda out-of-work star hooked up with Hartnett and a male friend of his at the trendy Bungalow 8 club in the British capital during a party held in celebration of London Fashion Week. Barton was seen chatting to Hartnett at the nightspot, before she and a group of pals accompanied him to his hotel in nearby Soho, according to Britain's Daily Mail newspaper. However, the actor seemed unimpressed with Barton and she left the hotel just an hour later. A source tells the publication, "Josh looked pretty bored and was totally ignoring Mischa. She persisted though, and kept getting closer and closer to their table while dancing provocatively. Lots of girls were trying to get near their table, where the two guys were drinking champagne and vodka cocktails. Mischa had a lot to contend with, but didn't give up." An hour later? Is this the same Hartnett who rocked it in a library for hours? Sir, I'm disappointed!

Actors Say (AND DO) the Darnedest Things
Maybe he's seen his own specials. Maybe. David Blaine has been warned his latest stunt could cause him massive internal damage and leave him blind. **GASP** Starting on September 22, Blaine will hang upside down for 60 hours over New York's Central Park...with no safety net. Even if he doesn't fall, a leading heart specialist claims the rush of blood to his head could leave him seriously injured. Speaking at a press conference in New York on Thursday, Massimo Napolitano, chief of vascular surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, enjoying his 15 minutes of fame, tells WENN, "All the organs pretty much are effected by this. Most importantly the blood rushes to the head. There is danger of brain hemorrhage. There is danger of the blood rushing to the eyes and blinding David." I guess if we keep watching him, and people keeping paying him, he'll keep doing these things.

Ok, to ALL MY BRITISH READERS...Can you give your opinion of this dude? Is he respected? Is he your version of Dane Cook? Give me a clue here. Comedian Russell Brand recently gave sex tips to Britney Spears, but was left red-faced when he tried to demonstrate a bedroom technique. He does know she has two kids right. And was probably highly medicated. The British funnyman met the music hitmaker when he hosted the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this month. And he was happy to pass on his experience between the sheets, but the conversation didn't quite go according to plan. He tells Rolling Stone magazine, "I did describe one very basic sexual technique to Britney, which I think she would have hugely benefited from. But I wasn't able to demonstrate, so it was a dismal failure." Brand also admits he was surprised by the attitude of Americans he met while traveling across the States to film a documentary. Asked about the differences between U.S. audiences and those in his native Britain, he says, "When an English journalist asks that question, they want me to go, 'American audiences are stupid'. But that is not what I've found. I made a documentary about Jack Kerouac a year ago, and traveling across America I met people that look like slack-jawed, gap-toothed hillbillies. I thought, 'This'll be a laugh'. But when I went to talk to them, they talked about Noam Chomsky, the Federal Reserve, the worthlessness of the dollar - there was unbelievable awareness. A mistake that I will never make is to forget that there is a distinction between American foreign policy and the American people." I want to know where he was when people started dropping Chomsky on him! C'mon!

Baldwin Has Heart
Hollywood crank caller Alec Baldwin wanted to jump out of the window of his New York apartment after an answer machine message in which he called his daughter a "thoughtless little pig" was leaked on the internet. Remember that? In his autobiography A Promise To Ourselves: Fatherhood, Divorce and Family Law, Baldwin describes how he plunged into a suicidal depression when the message to 11-year-old Ireland was revealed to the world. And he blasts bosses of website TMZ.com for publishing the tape last year, insisting the despair it caused almost led to him taking his own life. He explains, "She (Ireland) was off for spring break with her mother and her phone was turned off for 10 consecutive days... This had gone on for years now and... when the beep came, I snapped. (TMZ boss Harvey Levin) seemed to be that breed of tabloid creature that realized an almost sexual level of pleasure from ruining other people's lives. He has created TMZ as the updated receptacle of... trash. He leads a cadre of self-satisfied twentysomethings who jump like rats from public relations sinking ship to sinking ship." Baldwin continues to describe the spiraling depression that ensued before he sought treatment, adding: "Driving up the Taconic Parkway, heading to an inn in the Berkshire Mountains, I began to think about what little town I would repair to in order to commit suicide. What semi-remote Massachusetts state park could I hike deep into and overdose there? When I returned to New York, the thought of jumping out the window of my apartment was with me every night for weeks." I put this on here because it relates to my "& 1" at the bottom.

Did You See The Creative Arts Emmy Awards? YOU DIDN'T
Let me catch you up on what you missed! Kathy Griffin shocked the audience at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Saturday night, by delivering a highly controversial acceptance speech for the second year in a row. Didn't I mention what desperation smells like? Try a whiff of her too. The actress' show My Life on the D-List won the prize for best reality program for the second time. Griffin caused uproar at last year's ceremony by peppering her speech with religious references, telling the crowd: "(Jesus) didn't help me a bit. Suck it Jesus, this award is my God now." This year, the comedienne was determined to continue the controversy, opening with: "Well, well well! Here we go again, f**ckers." The 47-year-old made reference to last year's speech, saying "I'm not going to tell anyone to suck it", and went on to show her delight at winning by exclaiming, "I would make love to this thing if I could." Congrats to her. Next up, Sarah Silverman thanked her ex-boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel when picking up her Creative Arts Emmy award, despite receiving the gong for a song about cheating on him with Matt Damon. The comedienne split with the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host in July after a five-year relationship, during which she recorded a comedy music video for his TV talk show entitled I'm F**king Matt Damon. The video, performed as a joke with Damon, scooped two awards at the ceremony, winning best original music and lyrics and a picture-editing gong. On collecting her award, Silverman, 37, joked, "Thanks to the person for whom this whole video was made: Jimmy Kimmel, who broke my heart...oh, who'll always have a place in my heart." Silverman didn't forget to thank the song's star, Damon, but joked that he only played a minor role in the video's success. She added: "I'm going to be honest, (he) had very little to do with this being this popular." The Hollywood 5 & 1 would like to congratulate all the winners.

& 1
Paparazzi...The Future Outlaws?
I've been talking about this since the beginning. Actor Balthazar Getty has called for the U.S. government to curb the paparazzi after his alleged romance with Sienna Miller made him a target for photographers. Ok, even if he wasn't put on blast, it's a good idea. The married actor was pictured with a topless Miller on a yacht off Italy's Amalfi coast in July, sparking reports that they were an item. Weeks later, the father-of-four announced he had separated from his wife, and Getty blamed press intrusion for forcing him to issue the statement. Now the star has urged officials to introduce laws to regulate the behavior of Hollywood snappers. He tells Access Hollywood, "I think somebody in government needs to set up some sort of boundaries because it's really dangerous. Someone's going to get hurt. Look, obviously it comes with the territory. You can't expect to be an actor and then nod your finger at them. But there's a line. When they're endangering people and they're breaking laws and they're, you know, exploiting kids and personal stories." Good point. The only thing we have to be careful is who voices support. Case-in-point: Paris Hilton is supporting proposals by Los Angeles police to curb the paparazzi in the city. Does she realize that if the paparazzi stop following her...her fame is GONE? Think about it. Paparazzi laws have even MORE of my support now.


Thanks again and be safe out there.

Courage!