February 04, 2008

Former "Party of Five" star Lacey Chabert will be joining the cast of New Line Cinema's romantic comedy "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past". According to Hollywood Reporter, the 25-year-old actress will play Matthew McConaughey's future sister-in-law.

Joining the co-star of Lindsay Lohan in "Mean Girls" are Breckin Meyer, Anne Archer, Amanda Walsh and Emma Stone. Meyer is set to play McConaughey's brother, Archer plays the mother of the bride and Walsh is going to portray the only bridesmaid McConaughey's character hasn't conquered. Additionally, Stone is cast as the supernatural Ghost of Girlfriends Past.

Christina Aguilera will be out and about for the first time since giving birth to son Max on January 12. The "Candyman" singer will greet fans and give out autographs of her live DVD, "Back to Basics - Live Down and Under" on Tuesday, February 5.

The event will take place at West Hollywood Best Buy and start 7 P.M. "Back to Basics - Live Down and Under" DVD is available at Best Buy on February 5 and has been sold on-line at Bestbuy.com. It chronicles the singer's performance during her 'Back to Basics' tour in Sydney back in July 2007.

Is no strange to performing naked, Pamela Anderson is about to make her European striptease debut at the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris.

The former "Baywatch" busty babe is set to take the stage at the famed Parisian cabaret club for Valentine's Day, about to perform four performances at the celebrated club on February 13 and 14, following in the footsteps of other prominent female stars to perform at the Crazy Horse recently, including burlesque star Dita Von Teese and French actress Arielle Dombasle.

Having two box office movies with "Rocky" and "Rambo", Sylvester Stallone reportedly wants to do more action films. According to Hollywood Reporter, the action star has signed a lucrative deal to direct and star in two more action films with his "Rambo" producers Danny Dimbort, Avi Lerner and Trevor Short.

Though it wasn't clear on what film to be made on the deal. Allegedly, several scripts, including sequels to "First Blood" and "Rocky", are being considered for the follow-ups. Further, it was reported that Stallone will also produce the films with Kevin King-Templeton and Lerner, whereas Dimbort, Short and Boaz Davidson to serve as executive producers.

On contrary to reports that U2 may be the latest music act to leave EMI, the rock band's manager, Paul McGuiness confirmed that both parties are in an "excellent relationship". In fact, they have renewed the contract for four more albums last year.

An exodus by Radiohead, Paul McCartney have prompted speculations that EMI is in a crisis, leading to rumors that other acts like Robbie Williams, Coldplay and U2 are leaving the label as well.

Rumors about the signing of the "Rush Hour" helmer Brett Ratner as the helmer of "The Wolfman" has been dished out. According to Variety, Universal Pictures has signed Joe Johnston, the director of "Jurassic Park III" to be Mark Romanek's replacer on Sunday, February 3.

By the signing of Johnston to the horror project, it is more likely that the film will be back on track and will start shooting in London in March. The film, which is said to be set in Victorian England, follows the story of a man who returns from America to his ancestral homeland and gets bitten by a werewolf.

will.i.am has turned a Barack Obama speech to the verse of his song. Through the song, the member of Black Eyed Peas, is hoping that people will go to vote in the upcoming election so that the result will be fair and judge.

"The outcome of the last two elections has saddened me on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful, corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and 'politics' are," he explained.

On Saturday, February 2, Angelina Jolie went to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. On the film event held at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, California, the Academy Award-winning actress was honored with the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award for her portrayal of Mariane Pearl, the wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, in the film "A Mighty Heart".

Arriving on the red carpet, the 32-year-old actress, who is rumored to be pregnant with twins, confessed to Associated Press, "To be honest, I just heard that it was a beautiful festival, and one to take seriously, it is a very nice group that puts it on. So, that's usually how it is. They tell you, like, 'These ones are a bit silly, but these ones are a bit respectable and nice.'" Wearing a black blouse and loose-fitting floor-length skirt, the actress was accompanied by her long-term partner Brad Pitt.

The "St. Elmo's Fire" star Rob Lowe has been set to star in Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming project "This Side of the Truth". According to Variety, the television star will be starring alongside English comic Ricky Gervais and CIA agent Sydney Bristow in television series "Alias" Jennifer Garner.

The movie news site reported that Lowe will star as the arch enemy of Gervais' character. Further, it was said that Gervais is set to play a storyteller whose job is to ramble on about the 1300s, while Garner is reported to be portraying Gervais' love interest.

Paris Hilton is NOT a lesbian. The hotel heiress has slammed persistent Internet rumors on her making out session with Elisha Cuthbert, insisted rumors on that matter as "not true."

Paris and Cuthbert, who were co-stars in the 2005 horror flick "House of Wax", were reported to be "all over each other and making out" at New York's Tenjune club on Tuesday night, January 29. A representative for Cuthbert has denied the report though.

Tori Spelling's pregnancy is now official as it has just been revealed that she has made it into her second trimester.

Report on the actress' second pregnancy arose late last month. It was In Touch Weekly who first brought the report to the surface.

Once again, Joel and Ethan Coen were honored for their work in the gritty crime drama "No Country for Old Men". The director brothers along with their producer partner Scott Rudin were given The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures by the Producers Guild of America at the 19th Annual Producers Guild Awards' ceremony held at Beverly Hilton Hotel on Saturday, February 2.

The Javier Bardem-starring film captured the top honor beating out other strong contenders, "There Will Be Blood", "Juno", "Michael Clayton" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". On receiving the honor, Rudin uttered his amazement on the brothers saying, "The only reason I am standing here is because of these two men. They are completely remarkable artists."

Was initially committed to the UCLA Medical Center's psychiatric ward for mental evaluation Thursday, January 31 and scheduled to be released from the hospital on Sunday, February 3, Britney Spears in fact was required to stay hospitalized at UCLA Medical Center for another 14 days.

Cited a section in the state law that allows patients to be retained for medical treatment if they are found to be gravely disabled or a danger to themselves or others, doctors and a medical officer at the UCLA decided on Saturday, February 2 to keep Britney hospitalized for an additional 14 days, it has been confirmed.

Expected to stand out at the Spanish awards equivalent to Academy Awards, "The Orphanage" lost two prestigious titles to understated femme drama "Solitary Fragments" which is originally entitled "La soledad". On Sunday, February 3, the Guillermo del Toro produced-horror mystery successfully nailed seven kudos at the 22nd Spanish Academy Goya Awards, but has to give up Best Picture and Best Director prizes to the Jaime Rosales directed-film.

Despite the unexpected lost, the Picturehouse Entertainment's movie starring Belen Rueda, Fernando Cayo and Geraldine Chaplin was still honored with Best Original Screenplay for Sergio Sanchez, and Best New Director for Juan Antonio Bayona. For the New Director prize, Bayona beat out Felix Viscarret for "Under the Stars", Tom Fernandez for "Suso's Tower" and David and Tristan Ulloa for "Pudor". Aside from the two awards, the film won five other honors, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction.

Family and celebrity friends of Heath Ledger attended the late actor's memorial service on the lot of Sony studios in Los Angeles Saturday, February 2.

The mega-stars who gathered for Heath's second L.A. service among others were Sienna Miller, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, who once starred together with Heath's former fiancee Michelle Williams in the TV series "Dawson Creek", Heath's "Casanova" co-star Shannyn Sossamon, and director Todd Haynes who directed Heath in Bob Dylan film "I'm Not There" (2007).

With her album "As I Am" still flying high on the chart, Alicia Keys mapped out a tour plan to support the album. The R'n'B singer will be out and about at North American arenas this Spring and Summer and is scheduled to take other parts of the world after that.

Currently 30 dates have been laid for the "As I Am" tour with the first being on April 19 in Hampton, V.A. The tour will also take her to Canada up till June 18 when she will wrap things up at New York City's Madison Square Garden.

Opening only in 683 venues on a normally slow sales on Super Bowl weekend, Disney's "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" proved to be the tweens magnet as it claimed the number one spot of the North American three-day weekend box office. And along the way, it managed to also break the box office record.

According to studio estimation on Sunday, February 3, the 3-D film chronicling Miley Cyrus' recent tour has become the biggest selling film to debut over the Super Bowl weekend as it pulled in $31.1 million. The concert film has outpassed Simon West's "When a Stranger Calls", the previous Super Bowl record holder. Over the same weekend two years ago, the horror thriller starring Camilla Belle successfully opened with $21.6 million earning. The film featuring Cyrus on her concert also tackled down the previous record of the best Super Bowl weekend gross held by "Titanic" which earned $25.2 million in its sixth weekend in 1996.

U.K. televisions will not air Kylie Minogue's video of "Wow" unless it is edited again. The music video has been axed by U.K. watchdogs because it did not meet the standard viewing guidelines.

"Wow" video which uses vibrant color, is considered too flashy with its strobe lighting effects. The video was initially set for premiere on Channel 4 on Wednesday, January 30 but regulator OFCOM has asked it to be re-edited.

Dropped out of school at age fifteen in order to pursue a career in music, Lily Allen who's a nowadays famous singer is set to star in a new cartoon aimed at encouraging people to return to education.

The cartoon, a 10-minutes film, is a promotional short for Unionlearn, the Trades Union Congress (TUC)'s learning and skills organization which aim is to tackle the U.K.'s young skills crisis and inspire people to take more training courses.

Mika is all behind Amy Winehouse's back should she comes back from her battle against drugs to the recording booth. The Lebanese singer said he would love to collaborate with Winehouse in a Jewish album to prove that people from feuding nations of Lebanon and Israel can actually got together peacefully.

"I heard Amy will be recording an album of Jewish music once she gets well and I'd like to make a contribution to it," Mika said. "I really like her music. Think about this - me, a part-Lebanese artist working on a Jewish album - I think that's a nice statement. I'd like to make a statement some day."

Paula Abdul who has not released any album since the 1995 "Head Over Heels" revealed that a plane crash had caused her to abandon her singing career. The singer who was caught in an emergency plane landing in 1992, admitted that she intentionally disappeared to treat her injuries.

"I had four plates and fourteen cervical spinal surgeries," she said at the pre-match entertainment for Super Bowl XLII. "It all happened during the time that I disappeared and no one knew where I went. For five and a half years, I went through paralysis, the worst experience, and then I came back on 'American Idol,' that was my first time back out there."

Eva Mendes has just secured a new contract despite the fact that she's still tackling some "personal issues". The actress has just been named as the new face of Calvin Klein for the brand's Fall 2008 perfume advertising campaign.

In an announcement about Eva's recruitment as their latest model, following in the footsteps of Christy Turlington and Scarlett Johansson among others, Tom Murray of Calvin Klein Inc commented, "Eva exudes an effortless and unpretentious sensuality, which is perfectly in line with the Calvin Klein brand DNA."

Coming with the shocking news that Spice Girls have cut short their world tour, is a confession from member Victoria Adams who said that she is partly to be blamed for the split of the newly-reunited band. Adams felt that singing is no longer her world, but fashion is.

To News of the World, the Posh Spice explained, "The reason I decided to do the tour was to show my kids that mummy was a pop star once. I've been thinking about this for a long time. I'm not in the music industry any more. I'm in the fashion industry."

Katharine McPhee made herself a missus. The American Idol alum got married to her boyfriend Nick Cokas on Saturday, February 2 in Beverly Hills.

Confirmed the good news to People, McPhee's representative Justin Gray Stone, revealed the singer and Nick exchanged vows in a late afternoon ceremony at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church.

Lily Allen has split from boyfriend Ed Simons.

The British singer reportedly has been dumped by The Chemical Brothers musician, leaving her very heart broken. While there has yet any confirmation from Lily's people, a friend of her was quoted as saying "Lily is really upset things haven't worked out for her and Ed."

With the premiere date of "Step Up 2 the Streets" movie coming nearer, a music video from one of the soundtracks of the movie has been outed. The Cassie-sung single "Is It You?" is made the first one.

The video opens with producer Ryan Leslie playing the piano before Cassie begins singing. "Is It You?" is one of the songs in the 16-tracks CD that has not appeared in an album. Rumor has it that it would be included in Cassie's sophomore set, tentatively titled "Internity", which will be released later this year.

In an attempt to put to rest the false persistent rumors that claim their marriage is on the rocks, Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie are planning to renew their wedding vows.

The power couple reportedly are planning to hold a private summer ceremony at their Wiltshire home to show the world that their marriage is okay despite rumors to the contrary following their adoption of Malawian son David Banda.