The Hollywood 5 & 1 10.04.08

Posted by Steve Gustafson on 10.04.2008

Who knows how to tip in Hollywood? Who knows how to prank in Hollywood? And what goes on backstage during tours? All this and Naomi Campbell...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]. All emails answered! Eventually. Hey, make this site some money and click on that ad right there-------------->

FIVE THINGS THAT GOT ME THROUGH THE WEEK
Karaoke!: Alright, I'm late coming through on this, but shout out to Michaels Pub out my way. Head over to youtube and search for Michaels Pub + Shania Twain for amazing footage!
John Public: Yes, he's a friend of mine, but even if he wasn't, his album, The Thrift Shop Experience would still be on top of my playlist. I've got some extra cd's so hit me on up email if you'd like one. Free, for a limited time!
M&Ms Premiums: My addiction just went to the next level. Hint: Don't eat the whole box in one sitting. I'm speaking from experience.
Paul Newman Films: Yeah, I was all about them this week. From Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Road to Perdition.
Pickles: Don't ask how these got on the list. But they are good and go great on a sandwich.

DO ME A FAVOR
If you run into Rachael Leigh Cook, Alicia Silverstone, Liev Schreiber, A.C. Green, Jon Secada, Russell Simmons, Susan Sarandon, Anne Rice, or Jackie Collins...wish them a happy birthday from Steve. Thanks.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Come over to my house. You won't find a mirror anywhere. I don't like mirrors. They are frightening."
Tough guy Kiefer Sutherland has banned mirrors from his home...because he's scared of them. The star admits he has a fear of the looking glass and avoids being around them. I'm watching 24 in a whole new light now.

FIVE THINGS THAT JUST MISSED THE LIST STARTS...NOW...
Yes! I have to share this with my good friend Bdub. Director Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are returning to the underworld of the New York mob for a new gangster film. De Niro has signed to play Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran in the Scorsese-directed project, based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses. Great book! Sheeran was a mafia assassin reputed to have carried out 25 murders; his victims are rumored to include Teamsters union boss Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared in 1975. The book was written by Charles Brandt, who befriended Sheeran before his death in 2003. Brandt claims Sheeran confessed a number of killings, including Hoffa's.

Staying on the gangster tip. How's this for odd? Ray Liotta is taking his hard-man reputation to the small screen, he's to voice a villain on an episode of children's cartoon Spongebob Squarepants. The 53 year old will lend his voice to the leader of the "dangerous Bubble Poppin' Boys" gang for a special 30-minute Nickelodeon TV special. According to network bosses, the episode sees SpongeBob "wander the ocean, a stranger in his own pants" when he finds himself in a rough area of New Kelp City, where he comes face to face with Liotta's character.

Victoria Beckham has dashed her sophisticated image by admitting she wear woolly socks and gloves in bed with husband David. Socks, ok. Gloves? Seriously? The poised and preened star puts herself through a strict beauty regime before hopping into bed to get her beauty sleep, she smothers her hands and feet in moisturizer before covering them in the warming accessories. And she admits soccer star David finds her nightly ritual bizarre. She says, "I put really thick foot lotion on with socks before I go to sleep. I also use think hand cream with gloves at the same time. David must think I'm a loony, because I get into bed with gloves and socks on." I'm sure he thinks she's loony, but probably not for those reasons.

Every couple of months I have to report on some random celeb who thinks they are going to "break the mold" and be a musician sensation. This time it's Kevin Costner. Yes, Costner is about to release a country music album. The actor fronts rock band Modern West in between making movies, and now the group is to try and win over country fans with their take on the genre. You've been warned.

Megan Fox boasts she's the best fiancé her beau Brian Austin Green could wish for, because she's essentially "a man with a vagina". YIKES! The actress claims she's a tom boy who loves to play video games and watch sports. She tells GQ magazine, "That's the upside of dating a woman that's almost a man. She likes the same things that you like, but she has a vagina." I'm not touching that one.

RANDOM LIST OF THE WEEK
Something a little different this week. I came across 2 lists. No particular order. 10 GREAT TIPPERS out of Hollywood...and 10 NOT SO GREAT TIPPERS.

GREAT:
Jerry Springer
Burt Reynolds
Peter Frampton
Morgan Freeman
Holly Hunter
LaToya Jackson
Angelina Jolie
Craig Kilborne
John Leguizamo
Jennifer Jason Leigh

NOT SO GREAT
Tiger Woods
Usher
Sharon Stone
David Lee Roth
Peter Rose
Ethan Hawke
Richard Dreyfuss
Bridget Fonda
Marie Osmond
Dwayne Johnson

Can anyone out there back this up or have a something to share? Locally, I'll call out former popular radio personality Albie D. Horrible tipper. Can anyone confirm that he's still rocking the ponytail?

Speaking of tipping, here's a nice little story to go with the lists this week. Entourage star Jeremy Piven has denied he once left a DVD of the show as a tip in a restaurant, insisting the rumor was completely made up. Last year, a New York gossip columnist reported that the actor had been banned from the exclusive Nobu restaurant in Aspen, Colorado after leaving the first season of Entourage on the table as a tip following a meal. But Piven insists that the incident never happened. He says, "That's a good one. I don't even have a DVD of Entourage. The idea I would bring it with me and use it as a tip, these are creative people and they put some time and some energy into this. I think these are wasted talents."

STEVE SALUTE!
Who else? Paul Newman. I've read some great words from many, many people about Mr. Newman this past week. His death wasn't a shock, but his life made an impression and serves as a fine example of someone who started with little ended up with much. I really can't add anything of substance, but I've always been a fan of his work, his charity, and now his life.

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

Stars and Their Pranks
Ok, I've lined up 3 pranks that came out over the past week. Who came out on top? YOU decide.
*****First up! Russell Crowe has owned up to a prank he played repeatedly on his The Quick And The Dead co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, which left the Leo convinced his pal was sneezing all over him. DiCaprio confessed he'd spent the last decade thinking he was a carrier of Crowe's mucus, and was relieved when the Oscar-winner revealed his sneezing antics in the make-up trailer were just a dirty practical joke. During a recent promotional interview for the stars' latest movie, Body of Lies, Crowe explained, "I'd wait until he was sitting in the make-up chair and I'd walk past him and go, 'Achew!' and squirt my atomizer, so little bits of fine mist would form on his face and he'd obviously assume it was mucus." DiCaprio laughed at the revelation, adding, "I'm really happy. That's been bothering me for a long time." Sorry, maybe Oscar winning actors have a different sense of humor than the rest of us.
*****Let's try contestant numero two. Sir Michael Gambon once tricked Johnny Depp into thinking he was friends with British monarch Queen Elizabeth II, telling the actor he regularly went to her home for a cup of tea. The pair was working together on 1999 movie Sleepy Hollow in the grounds of a stately home near Windsor, England, when the Queen and Harry Herbert, the 17th Earl of Pembroke, who is also a film director, rode past on horses. And Depp assumed that because Gambon knew the Earl, he must know the Royal as well. Gambon recalls, "Harry shouts, 'Hello Mike' and I replied 'Hello Harry, how are you, mate?' and 'Hello ma'am' and the Queen nods to me. "Afterwards Depp asked: 'Was that the Queen?' (I replied) 'Of course it was the Queen.' Mouth open, Depp replied: 'You know the Queen?' "'Yeah, she's one of my best friends,' I ribbed him, 'I'm always nipping into her house for a cup of tea.'" Yawn...these are so bad that it almost...ALMOST...has me about to put on Punk'd. Almost.
*****Save us! Last we have, celebrity chef Mario Batali who pulled a prank on pal Gwyneth Paltrow when a hitchhiker he picked up on a remote Spanish road turned out to be R.E.M. star Michael Stipe. Hmm...Interesting. Batali and Paltrow were shooting scenes for their new Spanish food and travel show Spain... On The Road Again when the masterchef pulled over to pick up a stranded tourist, under protest from his passenger. Batali says, "Gwyneth was really nervous but it was just our friend Michael Stipe, I had invited him (along) to surprise her. We got her good." Alright, what started out with high hopes has now got me convinced that stars and pranks are lame.

Tours Are Educational
Two different people, two not so very different experiences. Kelly Osbourne was given sex education lessons while on tour with her rocker father Ozzy, because organizers handed out free condoms to everyone backstage. The 23-year-old spent a lot of time on the road as a child, touring with her dad's band, Black Sabbath. And Osbourne admits that the rock and roll lifestyle she witnessed forced her mother, rock matriarch Sharon Osbourne, to tell her the facts of life at a young age. She tells British magazine New!, "I was on tour with my dad and at every single one of his shows, they hand out free condoms. I was about seven or eight and I picked up a packet and was like, 'Mum, what's this?' She had to explain to me what they were. It was something my parents have never been shy about. They always told us what they think and that we should protect ourselves." That's not so bad. I was expecting something worse, especially concerning the Osbourne fam. Maybe this next one will meet my standards. Christian Slater is convinced his battles with alcohol and drugs stem from a drunken showbiz party, when he was just nine years old. Ok, ok, NINE? The actor, 39, has battled with addiction for much of his life, spending time in rehab and even jail because of his wild antics. And he traces it back to his early exposure to vice, on the road starring in a production of Music Man. I wasn't expecting this story to involve Music Man but I'll go with it. Slater tells GQ magazine, "I didn't get high, but I got drunk. We were traveling around, hitting every state. And every time we would go to a different place, we'd have an opening night party. And it was cute to put me in a tuxedo and run me around. There were glasses of champagne floating around, and four glasses of champagne later..." Sheesh, I thought the story was going places. What's up with the celeb news this week? Was there a Kabbalah holiday that I missed or something?

Her Name is Naomi. Fear Her.
You know, whenever the news is slow I can always count on one person to give me something. Example: Supermodel Naomi Campbell wants to donate money to the London homeless shelter she served her recent community sentence in, because she realizes how worthwhile the cause is. That's cool. See, she can be a force for positive influence. We just have to give her a chance. Campbell was ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work at Whitechapel Mission center as punishment for assaulting two police officers on board a British Airways flight at the city's Heathrow Airport in April. She completed her sentence at the start of September, and she learned so much about the charity during her volunteer work that she has promised to return to the soup kitchen soon to donate some cash. She says, "They (shelter volunteers) are lovely people. When I get a chance, I'm definitely going to be donating money to the place." And THERE'S the rub. "When I get a chance..." In the history of the world the phrase "When I get a chance..." is infamously translated to, "There's no possible way for this to happen. I'm being nice because I have to. Now let me go back to assaulting police officers!" Hey, since we are into something here, let's continue with Miss Supermodel. Here's a good one. Campbell has blamed her spat with British Airways on the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Now before we jump all over her, I'm sure she has a good explanation to back this up. The catwalk star was escorted off a BA plane and taken into custody at Heathrow Airport in April after spitting at a police officer during a row over her luggage. Sensing a pattern here? She was subsequently sentenced to community service in London after admitting to the incident, but maintains she was provoked after being called a racial slur. And now Campbell, who had been a loyal BA customer until the fracas, insists she will never step on board another BA plane, claiming the 2001 terrorist attacks in America have changed air travel forever. She says, "I think after 9/11 you can't say anything anymore on a plane. I've flown British Airways for years, since I was a child. The stewardesses will tell you that I would get on a plane, put on the blanket and go to sleep. I'll never fly that airline again, but nothings really lost. I did get my luggage. I was reunited with my Ysl (Yves Saint Laurent), and everything was cool." That Naomi, always gold for the 5 & 1.

Jimmy Smits, Method Actor
This makes it because in the end, all is alright. A TV stuntman is lucky to be alive after actor Jimmy Smits stabbed him for real during a fight scene for TV show Dexter. Hardcore Smits grabbed a real knife instead of a prop knife during shooting and plunged it into action man Jeff Chase. Chase was only saved by a piece of plastic placed over his heart, which Smits miraculously hit. He says, "For the scene, I was bound in Saran Wrap, duct tape over my mouth. I couldn't say a thing as I saw Jimmy grab at the knife. He picked up the real one by pure mistake. It was a mean looking knife. I heard fellow actor Michael C. Hall yelling at Jimmy to stop, but it was too late. I felt the thud in my chest. I didn't have on a metal breast plate like a lot of actors do in a scene like that. Instead I had a piece of acrylic clear plastic about the size of a Post-it note over my heart. It was a quarter of an inch thick and not attacked. In eight out of 10 takes with the prop knife, Jimmy had missed the plastic. But by a miracle, an act of God, the knife landed at the very edge of the plastic. I really thought I'd been stabbed in the heart, but I didn't have a scratch. Jimmy was devastated and couldn't stop apologizing. I told him, I felt more sorry for him than me." WHAA! That's crazy! You know Chase is going to be on Smit's holiday card list...FOR LIFE!

Tom Cruise to Brooke Shields, "Who's the Crazy One Now?"
This was a little out there. Brooke Shields stunned audiences when she swore during a live TV chat show on late night. Ah, the good ole "swearing on live tv" bit. Classic. The actress was promoting TV show Lipstick Jungle on Conan O'Brien's Late Night show when she lost her cool while recalling a row she had with a taxi driver. It happens. Shields explained her cab driver couldn't understand where she wanted to go as she was rushing to get to a recent New York function, and when she tried to show him the address on her iPhone, the man kicked her out of his taxi. She explained, "He shoved my hand back and said, 'You get outta my cab, you f**king crazy person.'" A startled O'Brien said, "Woah... This isn't the story you should be telling." Shields continued the story by revealing she refused to leave the cab and pretended to act crazy, so the driver would get her to her destination quickly. Yeah, she really shouldn't tell that story. She added, "I did not stop talking like a crazy person... He kept jamming to slap me up against the plastic (glass behind him) but because I'm strong and I'm a New Yorker, I grabbed on." The actress paid the cab driver and gave him a tip, but when she refused to close the door as she got out, the commotion between the driver and herself prompted a nearby cop to get involved. Shields went on, "I said, 'Do you really think that I'm the one with the problem...?' He (cop) closed the door and I walked away. I thought I was going to be arrested. It was so harrowing." You know what else is harrowing? Lipstick Jungle is still on the air.

& 1

Find the Next Animal Star...Support Animal Shelter's
My dog is a shelter dog so I'm all over this story. The canine star of new movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua was saved from death when Hollywood animal trainer Mike Alexander discovered him on a California animal shelter's 'doggy death row'. Rusco was set to be put down after he was found wandering the streets of Moreno Valley, and no one came to claim him. But Alexander spotted him on an online directory and decided he would be perfect for the role of Papi in the new film. He then had a race against time to save Rusco from a lethal injection. Alexander told the National Enquirer, "I rushed down to the shelter, but it was so far away and I had traffic to deal with. When I got there they were just closing the doors." He returned the next day and was thrilled to discover Rusco was still alive: "After spending a little time with him, I knew that this was going to be Papi." That's the kind of story I like putting out there! Do yourself a favor. If you are able to, go to your local shelter and save an animal today.


Thanks again and be safe out there.

Courage!