April 11, 2008

The mouse house is on the move to develop another feature film. According to Variety, Walt Disney Pictures have acquired the screening rights of a comedy project entitled "Family Dude".

Further, it is said that the film company will be teaming up with Walt Becker Prods. as "Wild Hogs" helmer Walt Becker is set to produce the movie. Disney have also signed two scribblers to develop the film's script. The two writers, Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Graziosi, are known for their work in Ice Cube's comedy "Are We There Yet?".

The co-star of Ben Affleck in "Hollywoodland", Adrien Brody, will be working for a horror thriller film "Giallo". According to Hollywood Reporter, the Academy Award-best actor recipient for his role as Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman in "The Pianist" has been signed to topline the latest thriller set to be helmed by Italian horrormeister Dario Argento.

By signing in with the project, the 34-year-old New York native will team up with Asia Argento and Ray Liotta. He is also going to shed his acting skills with fellow thesps, Emmanuelle Seigner and Elsa Pataky. It is further explained that the joining of Brody to the film will mark the first time an Argento film nailed a big name to be the star. Additionally, apart from showcasing his acting, Brody will also be one of the film's executive producers.

It is now made official that the third single from Alicia Keys' "As I Am" album will be "Teenage Love Affair". The Grammy-winning singer recently took time to shoot the music video for the song.

A set of pictures, allegedly from the video has been leaked on-line, showing Keys in long-gown sporting classic look and singing on the stage. The video reportedly will arrive for premiere on Wednesday, April 23.

Hollywood's self-published celebrity couple, Katie Price and Peter Andre are recording their duet album number 2. The new album, like the first one, will be sold with proceeds going to charity outlets that they choose.

"We're going to do another duets album because we managed to raise a lot of money for charity so I think we should do it again," Peter told Loose Women. "Some people out there might say 'don't' but we're going to do an extra long album."

After hosting the country music reality series "Nashville Star" last year, this year Jewel Kilcher takes her involvement further. The singer-songwriter is set to be one of the judges on the show alongside John Rich of Big & Rich.

Jewel says that she's honored to work for the show. The "Foolish Games" singer also explicitly revealed her reason to take the job, claiming that at the beginning of her career she also had mentors to help and guide her. "As a young artist, I really benefited from having great mentors like Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard. They took me under their wings and encouraged me to stand up for things that, as an artist, are important," she said. Because of that she plans to share her experience by becoming one of the judges and helps the contestants of "Nashville Star." The show will be premiered on June 9 at NBC.

2008 Music City Hall of Fame has announced a fresh batch of music icons that will grace the path of their 'Music Mile' this year. Those taking the fourth class induction which is presented by Gibson guitar are Hank Williams who is the father of Hank Williams Jr., Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Steven Curtis Chapman among others.

The induction ceremony will take place at Nashville's Hall of Fame Park on Sunday, April 20 at 3 P.M., with sponsorship by Great American Country (GAC). It will involve the unveiling of a sidewalk in commemoration of the artists. Public are welcomed to attend the event for free.

Hollywood's most kept secret is no longer an unconfirmed speculation, thanks to Jordin Sparks who disclosed the not-so-secret romance of Rihanna and Chris Brown. In an interview with U.K. magazine Young Voices, the songbird did reveal that both of them indeed are dating.

Rihanna and Chris Brown apparently are good in keeping the gossip guessing on the status of their relationship. The rumored lovers have repeatedly denied rumors of a romance despite the fact that they've been snapped getting together at several occasions. Both of them always insisted to the press that they're "just friends."

Colin Farrell, the co-star of Angelina Jolie in epic drama "Alexander", is going to star in the Parallel Films-produced movie "Triage". According to Variety, the villain in the superhero movie "Daredevil" has been tapped to star in the dark drama thriller film.

Though it is still unclear what character he will be portraying, the site noted that Farrell will share the screen with Paz Vega and Christopher Lee. Together with the two thesps, the "Miami Vice" actor will be working under the direction of Bosnian helmer Danis Tanovic.

Elton John has slipped as many as $2.5 million to Hilary Clinton's pocket for her presidential campaign. The British singer performed at New York's Radio City Music Hall on Wednesday, April 9 to raise fund for the senator, opening the set with "Your Song" and making time to sing his hits like "Rocket Man" and "Daniel".

While there Elton made his purpose more audible, stating that no one is a better candidate to lead U.S. other than Hilary who is the wife of former U.S. president Bill Clinton. "Having said that, I never cease to be amazed at the misogynistic attitude of some people in this country," Elton told the crowd. "And I say to hell with them, The reason I'm here tonight is to play music, but more importantly as someone who comes from abroad, and is in America quite a lot of the time (and) is extremely interested in the political process because it effects the whole world."

That Gerard Butler and Cameron Diaz are dating, it's just a nasty rumor. Put the brake on the false romance rumors, the movie hunk insisted "it's not true!"

Rumors were mounting over the weekend that Butler and Diaz have been enjoying a string of secret dates. It's been claimed that both stars have been on three dates in just ten days, being spotted at Teddy's Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel, having a romantic dinner at The Chateau Marmont hotel and were seen sharing drinks at Shutters Hotel.

Amidst all the rumors surrounding the upcoming superhero flick "Justice League Mortal", a new report claimed that Jason Reitman, the director of acclaimed drama comedy "Juno", had been offered to tackle the Warner Bros. Pictures' project, but came quick to decline it. According to Slash Film, the 30-year-old filmmaker has admitted his refusal to direct the project in an interview.

The movie news site reported that the man behind the award-nominated satire film "Thank You for Smoking" revealed that he had been persuaded to helm the Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney-written film to Howard Stern on the Howard Stern Show on Thursday, April 10. When asked how the script was, allegedly Reiman stated that the film wouldn't be a great one. "What am I going to do with Justice League of America? So Basically I'll make a movie that is not as good as X-Men, then I'll be the guy who made a movie not as good as X-Men," explained the writer/director.

Daddy Yankee was named the double winner at 2008 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Thursday, April 10. The reggaeton's win is not particularly dominating for more than five other acts also received two wins at the event broadcast live by Telemundo from Miami. Juan Luis Guerra, in particular, received a single honor for Producer of the Year plus two others that he shared with his band 440.

Beside Yankee, others taking double trophies are Gloria Estefan; urban bachata group Aventura; Mexican singer Valentin Elizalde; duranguense group Alfredo Ramirez y Los Creadorez del Pasito Duranguense; reggaeton duo R.K.M. & Ken-Y; and new pop acts Kany Garcia and Camila. Special awards was given to Juanes whose humanitarian work with Mi Angre foundation made him honored with the Spirit of Hope Awards.

Vanilla Ice was busted on Thursday night, April 10 outside of his home on Trianon Place in Wellington for an alleged altercation with his wife Laura Van Winkle. TMZ which was the first to bring that matter to public's notice claimed the arrest occurred at 10:43 P.M. E.T.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office responded to a call from Ice's home, presumably from wife Laura, alleged the rapper and actor "struck" and "kicked" her. By the time deputies arrived at the couple's Wellington home at around 7:15 P.M., they found Ice on his motorcycle, two blocks from their home.

After a series of unfortunate events, singer Brandy is set back on the lane to rebuild her music career. BlackVoices.com reported that the "Moesha" star has been signed by Epic Records that will release her fifth studio album before the year ends. No comment yet from Brandy's camp or Epic.

Brandy severed ties with her label of 11 years, Atlantic Records, in 2004 after a decline in sale of her fourth LP "Afrodisiac". She was label-less for more than four years afte that but reports said that she managed to sign with her brother, Ray J's label, Knockout Entertainment.

Aside from "Quarantine" teaser trailer which came out on the web earlier, Screen Gems apparently got another feature film trailer on their sleeves. Following the outing of "Quarantine" teaser, the studio has debuted the trailer to their upcoming drama thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, "Lakeview Terrace", which lasts nearly two and a half minutes.

The trailer begins with a shot of a peaceful neighborhood and a young man unloading stuffs from the back of his truck to be brought in to his new house. The footage then reveals that the man is married to a black woman. As the video footage continues, it can be seen that the interracial couple get an increasing harassment from their neighbor who doesn't approve the interracial marriage and decide to fight back. But, their struggle to get away from the neighbor leads to a big deal.

Trying to recover from her recent mental troubles, Britney Spears really needs all the help she can get including from her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. In order to help Britney's recovery, her dad, Jamie Spears, has reportedly contacted Justin and asked him to help out. A source said that the "Sexy Back" singer has agreed to meet with Britney. "Jamie reached out to Justin and asked if he'd be willing to come over to Britney's house to talk to her face-to-face, and Justin said yes," so said the source.

The meeting was planned to take place at Britney's family's barbecue this summer. During when Jamie hoped that Justin can have a heart-to-heart conversation with his daughter. Britney's father really believed that after seeing and talking with the pop star stud, Britney will feel much better. "Jamie's hoping that by finally seeing him, she'll be able to get some real closure, some resolution. He thinks that might be a huge help to her," the source said.

Initially revealed her plan to seek plea in her DUI case, Mischa Barton was on Thursday, April 10 in a Beverly Hills courtroom sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation as part of the guilty plea. She, additionally, was also ordered to attend an alcohol education program.

The former star of TV's "The O.C." was pulled over around 2:45 A.M. on December 27, when she was driving on La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. The authorities stopped her after they saw her vehicle straddling two lanes of traffic and failing to signal for a turn. Was briefly jailed before then being released on 10,000 dollars bail, Mischa was charged with four misdemeanor criminal counts; driving under the influence, driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or higher, driving without a license, and possession of marijuana (under an ounce).

Snoop Dogg has teamed up with online entertainment site JibJab.com to have his fans appearing on the video of his single "Sensual Seduction". Users who register to the site will get the opportunity to change the faces of the characters in the video to their own faces using the technology which is called "Starring You!".

Fans can upload their personal photos on the video for free but there will be an additional $3 charge to store, share and post the videos on social networks. "Our audience has made over 10 million 'Starring You!' movies since we launched last year," said JibJab co-founder Grevan Spiridellis. "Working with an incredible talent like Snoop Dogg brings the experience to a whole new level."

"Idol Gives Back" night ended with $22 million raised for charity on Wednesday, April 9. The star-studded event that was broadcast on Fox received donations from various sources including, callers and those who logged on to AmericanIdol.com, Britain via Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as well as the show's four main icons, Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.

The $22 million figure was announced on air during the final hour of the broadcast, but it is not the final sum for Idol is still taking donations. The organizers expects to hit $100 million mark this year after last year raising as much as $76 million.This year, proceeds from the event held at Los Angeles' Kodak Theater will benefit six organizations such as Children's Defense Fund, the Global Fund, Make It Right, Malaria No More, Save The Children and the Children's Health Fund.

The first teaser trailer of "Quarantine", Screen Gems' remake to the Spanish horror film "Rec" has come out on the interweb. The teaser which is reported to be firstly posted on the web by UGO runs for about one and a half minutes and gives out much of the thrilling scenes from the horror pic.

The video footage began with a clip shot using a night vision camera. The clip shows a Hazmat team going into a quarantined apartment complex to investigate the building. Right at the moment the team found something on the floor of an apartment, the footage suddenly is cut off and it goes on to show a scene in which a television reporter and her cameraman follow and tape Los Angeles Fire Station crew on a routine 911 call. Out of a sudden, the crew are attacked by a zombie-like woman. Then, the chaos begins to unravel. The teaser ends with a clip showing the reporter crawling towards the camera before being pulled back into the darkness.

A nude photo of French first lady Carla Bruni has been sold Thursday, April 10 at Christie's auction house in New York for US$91,000 (45,000 pound sterling). The portrait, shows the former model standing bare-breasted with her hands crossed in front of her lap to cover her modesty, was sold to a representative of a Chinese collector. As for the pose, it apparently is a reference to a painting by 19th century French artist Georges Seurat.

Bruni's black-and-white nude image was taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993, when the beauty was one of the world's most sought-after models long before she met and wed French president Nicolas Sarkozy. The photo was expected to sell for between US$3,000 and US$4,000, the auction house said.

Rapper DMX has responded to the riot going on after his concert at Indiana University on Wednesday, April 9 was cut short, refusing to be linked as the cause of the incident. He, through a representative claimed of not knowing that there is an ordinance law that the concert should end at 9:30 P.M..

The concert was scheduled to start at 8:30 P.M. and the University's Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity has agreed to end the concert an hour later. DMX however, not knowing about the deal, came up an hour late and only served three songs when police pulled him off the stage. A riot from students who had paid $25 to watch the concert soon began to erupt and police were forced to mace the front row when they began throwing objects on the stage, aiming them to the officers. No arrest had been made though as in press time.

The co-star of Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen in "Closer", Natalie Portman, is likely to be heading to the feature film production of "Wuthering Heights". On the matter, Variety reported that the Academy Award-nominated actress has been attached to star in the new version of the adaptation film.

The article posted by the movie news site further suggested that the 26-year-old co-star of Scarlett Johansson in "The Other Boleyn Girl" will be portraying the lead character, Catherine Earnshaw. If Portman indeed takes the role, she will slam earlier reports claiming that Keira Knightley and Lindsay Lohan are battling out for the particular role in the drama romantic movie.

In December last year reports spread like wildfire that Green Day had released another side project under the moniker Foxboro Hot Tubs. One of the long-persistent rumors that year, is no longer there after the crooners of "American Idiots" confirmed that both acts are indeed done by the same persons.

"We think that the only similarity (between the Hot Tubs and Green Day) is that we are the same band," Billie Joe Amstrong and Co. confirmed through an e-mail to MTV News on Wednesday, April 9. "That is basically the only similarity. We are Jason White, Jason Freese, Michael Pritchard, Frank Edwin Wright the Third and the Reverend Strychnine Twitch. ...We are four guys who love to play music and be spontaneous, (and) after a few late night jams and a few too many bottles of wine, we were inspired to record some rockin' eight-track recordings."

It was such an unfortunate for P. Diddy that he needed stitches on his foot after accidentally slashed his foot on a champagne glass. The rap artist was frolicking around his pool at 6 A.M. last weekend during an after party at his Star Island mansion when he accidentally wounded his foot on a champagne glass.

Earlier report by WSVN-TV claimed he needed a total of forty stitches at the hospital. TMZ however "has exclusively learned that it was actually just five stitches."

Contrary to the earlier reports claiming that she will have a nude scene in an upcoming film "Florence", Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan won't bare all her skin in front of camera. According to Access Hollywood, the dismissal of the nude scene speculation came directly from The "Herbie: Fully Loaded" star's mother, Dina Lohan.

On the matter, the entertainment site reported that Dina has slammed down the rumors that her oldest daughter is going to strip naked in the indie film in an e-mail sent to Access Hollywood's Billy Bush on Thursday, April 10. In the e-mail, Dina allegedly simply noted, "No she is not." However, she didn't further explain whether Lindsay actually got the role or not.

Jermaine Dupri is set to front a new project which is a joint venture of Island Def Jam Music Group and deodorant brand TAG. Both parties are expecting to net two contemporary artists per year that will suit the Procter & Gamble's brand target market which is pop culture-influenced teens plus reaching out to urban community through programs that will give chances for talented MCs.

"My goal is to find artists that have longevity written all over their face," said Dupri, who is also the president of Island Urban. The label may focus on Hip-Hop but they wouldn't limit themselves to expand to other genres. "The whole process is on a fast track to align itself with TAG Body Spray's re-launch this summer," Durpi added. "I like it because we can't stop the artist process because of the record business' (red tape)."

Having a good looking face is just not enough for Kate Hudson. The actress, who is famously lacking in the cleavage department, was so impressed when her breasts were digitally enhanced in the promotional poster for new movie "Fool's Gold" that she wants to make them a reality.

Having her breasts enhanced digitally in the promotional artwork which shows her posed alongside co-star Matthew McConaughey, Hudson revealed to Cosmopolitan Magazine, "They are so not my boobs - they look too perfect." She then went on saying, "Seriously, if I ever wanted to have them done, I'd take this poster to the doctor and say, 'This is what I want them to look like.'"

Though it was said earlier that the sudden death of actor Heath Ledger would not affect his upcoming feature film projects, the latest rumor apparently shows the opposite. According to CinemaBlend, the 28-year-old actor's highly anticipated film "The Dark Knight" allegedly will have one of the Joker's scene cut off due to his tragic passing.

Reporting on the speculation, the site noted their source has revealed that one particular Joker scene in which Ledger's villainous character is captured on camera pretending to be dead and put in a body bag won't be included in the Warner Bros. Pictures' film. Further, the site explained that the film's executives are considering to lay aside the specific scene after many test audience gave out discouraging reactions towards it.

BET might have arranged one of the biggest Hip-Hop event this year through their "Spring Bling" program. The network has put up almost every big artists in the genre to highlight a series of events that will air on the station starting from April 10 at 7:30 P.M. ET/PT as part of the Summer break specials.

The program will be divided into sections with different artists being featured on each. Those like Lupe Fiasco, Chingy, Soulja Boy, DAY26, J. Holiday, Flo Rida, Rick Ross and Keyshia Cole will be among others who are presented to appear in various programs like "Rides, Rims and Runaway" that will pick automobile theme or "Revamped" that sees a competition among dancers.

Gwyneth Paltrow has come to denial when being asked about the supposed wedding of Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles. The actress insisted she didn't attend the much-covered nuptials despite reports to the contrary.

Paltrow was among the guests reportedly attended Jay-Z and Beyonce's wedding, took place Friday, April 4 at the hip hop mogul's New York apartment. She, according to reports, was seen attending the event alongside her singer hubby Chris Martin of music act Coldplay.