PR-Inside.com Entertainment News

SEAN PENN was the first choice to play BATMAN’s biggest foe, THE JOKER, in the BATMAN BEGINS sequel, according to internet reports.
Top Batman fansite Batman-on-Film.com reports Penn was offered the role ahead of HEATH LEDGER, who will play the villain in THE DARK KNIGHT - but he turned the part down.
Penn’s good friend JACK NICHOLSON played The Joker in the first 1989 Batman movie.

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NICOLAS CAGE’s first horror movie is a tribute to late pal JOHNNY RAMONE.
The movie star is producing and starring in a remake of cult 1973 EDWARD WOODWARD film THE WICKER MAN - a nod to punk icon Ramone, who introduced him to the spooky psychological thriller.
Cage explains, "I’ve been wanting to make a horror film for quite some time.
It was my late friend Johnny Ramone who showed me the original and I was very affected by that." And the actor is thrilled he took the trouble to remake the classic - because he’s convinced the project will scare film fans senseless.
He adds, "I don’t want you to just go ‘Arrrrgh.’ I want you to four nights later wake up in your bed at 3am and go, ‘I can’t get that image out of my head.’ That’s how I want to scare you with The Wicker Man."

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Movie star MATT DILLON was left so stressed out after making his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed CITY OF GHOSTS, he fell into a boozy stupor that led to a frightening bar brawl.
The CRASH star recalls returning to Cambodia, where he made the 2002 film, and finding himself hooked on local alcohol.
But what started as a break from Hollywood led to a boozed-up Dillon picking a fight with a backpacker.
He recalls, "I got into an altercation with some a**hole Australian backpacker." The traveller reportedly headbutted Dillon in the fracas that followed and the actor admits he just went crazy.
He adds, "I got up. I don’t talk about it much, because it’s kind of embarrassing. I started pounding him. He was trying to get away from me. I was out of my mind." Dillon now tries to keep himself busy because he accepts beer and boredom do not sit well with him.
He concludes, "I wasn’t used to being idle and just being alone with my thoughts and feelings."

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Musicals mogul ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER’s next stage spectacular will be inspired by MIKHAIL BULGAKOV’s Russian novel THE MASTER AND MARGARITA.
The theatre impresario made the announcement on his website yesterday (25AUG06), calling the project his "most ambitious undertaking I have ever embarked upon".
The brains behind hits like CATS, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and EVITA says, "After six months of agonising about what I should write next I am going to attempt the impossible. I am going to see if I can turn Mikhail Bulgakov’s extraordinary novel… into a stage musical or, more probably, an opera.
"I know it has been done many times before but never, that I am aware of, completely in music… I am very aware that this will be almost certainly the most ambitious undertaking I have ever embarked upon.
"It will therefore almost certainly falter and will depend on who my collaborators are. At the moment I have not approached anyone." Bulgakov’s novel, set in JOSEF STALIN’s regime, follows the exploits of Satan as he wreaks havoc on Moscow and is challenged by the beautiful Margarita. The book was completed in 1940, just before the author died, but it wasn’t published until 1966, when it became an instant classic.
Until 1973, parts of the book were censored in the Soviet Union.

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The mystery surrounding Oscar winner JIM BROADBENT’s decision to quit the HAIRSPRAY movie musical has been solved - he was offered a part in the film’s rival project, SWEENEY TODD.
Broadbent initially signed on to play a cross-dressing JOHN TRAVOLTA’s husband in the quirky all-star musical, but he recently walked away from the film, prompting producers to replace him with CHRISTOPHER WALKEN.
Now, Broadbent’s name has been mentioned in connection with TIM BURTON’s SWEENEY TODD movie, which will star JOHNNY DEPP as the demon barber of London’s Fleet Street.
If internet reports are true and Broadbent plays JUDGE TURPIN in Burton’s film, his new project will hit cinemas at the end of next year (07) - exactly the same time as his former project, Hairspray.

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Beloved US comedian JACKIE MASON has filed a lawsuit against missionary group Jews For Jesus after they used his name and likeness on a pamphlet without permission.
The funnyman is seeking $2 million (£1.1 million) from the organisation and the immediate destruction of the pamphlet, which Jews For Jesus members have been handing out across New York.
Mason, 75, was far from amused when he saw his likeness on the pamphlets, next to the words, "Jackie Mason… A Jew for Jesus." He says, "While I have the utmost respect for people who practice the Christian faith, the fact is, as everyone knows, I am as Jewish as a matzo ball or kosher salami." In court papers filed in New York, Mason adds, "The pamphlet uses my name, my likeness, my ’shtick’ (if you will), and my very act, which is derived from my personality, to attract attention and converts." Jews For Jesus officials have since hit back at Mason, with one spokeswoman stating yesterday (25AUG06), "Shame on him for getting so upset about this." The Jews For Jesus organisation is a Christian group which practices aspects of Judaism.

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Rocker JOHN MAYER will play himself in the new season premiere of hit crime drama CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, which airs in America next month (21SEP06).
The singer/songwriter will perform two new songs from his upcoming third album in the two-hour special.
Mayer, who is currently on tour with SHERYL CROW, will be caught up in an investigation on the drama when he has to perform at a Las Vegas, Nevada crime scene.
Former PARTRIDGE FAMILY star DANNY BONADUCE will also make a cameo in the special - as a fallen rock star who is found dead.

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BOB DYLAN regrets trying to record two albums at the same time in the late 1980s - because he failed to give his best on either.
A scheduling conflict meant the folk-rock icon was recording with supergroup the TRAVELING WILBURYS by day and then hitting the studio with producer DON WAS for night sessions that became UNDER THE RED SKY.
Dylan recalls, "I worked with GEORGE (HARRISON) and JEFF (LYNNE) during the day… and then I’d go down and see Don Was, and I felt like I was walking into a wall.
"He’d have a different band for me to play with every day, a lot of all-stars, for no particular purpose.
"I wasn’t bringing anything at all into the studio, I was completely disillusioned. I’d let someone else take control of it all and just come up with lyrics to the melody of the song.
"It was sort of contrary to the Wilburys scene, which was being done in a mansion up in the hills. Then I’d go down to these other sessions, and they were in this cavelike studio, where I’d spend the rest of the night, and then try to get some sleep.
"Both projects suffered some - too many people in the room, too many musicians, too many egos."

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JANET JACKSON insisted on having a stern heart-to-heart with boyfriend JERMAINE DUPRI right at the beginning of their romance - because she disliked the way he paid for everything.
The pop superstar was accustomed to paying her own way or financially supporting her ex-lovers and felt "uncomfortable" when gentleman Jermaine took his wallet out after every meal.
She explains, "I was never used to having someone take care of me… That made me really uncomfortable.
"I’ve been taking care of myself my whole life - I even paid my school tuition at a very young age.
"And when I was married (to JAMES DeBARGE and RENE ELIZONDO), I took care of us. I thought that was the way life was.
"I never desired to have anybody take care of me, so to have a man do things for me was very different. I thought, ‘I can’t do this.’ "Finally, we had a conversation about it and agreed that we’d take turns paying. But it was hard for me."

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LATEST: The producer being sued for releasing tracks AMERICAN IDOL winner TAYLOR HICKS recorded in the late 1990s, insists he’s only trying to show fans just how good the singer truly is.
Nashville, Tennessee-based producer WILLIAM SMITH is being sued by Hicks’ attorneys for releasing three lost tracks to Internet download warehouse iTunes.
But he wants Hicks’ fans to know that he didn’t release the tunes to enrich himself, adding, "I’m being sued because I am a better producer than American Idol." Smith insists he chose to hand over the lost tracks Hicks had recorded after the silver-haired singer’s debut release, DO I MAKE YOU PROUD, was panned by critics.
Smith says, "He was getting killed by that goofy single, and I knew he was better than that.
"I love Taylor Hicks. I had a three-year relationship with him. That single sucks, and this was purely altruistic on my part. I wanted to show critics that were killing him that he was way more than American Idol." Hicks is seeking compensatory and punitive damages in excess of $75,000 (£41,670).

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Red-faced pop star JESSE McCARTNEY has apologised for speaking out about JENNIFER LOPEZ’s apparent pregnancy on a radio show, insisting he has no "first hand information".
On Thursday (24AUG06), the teenager told Star 94 FM in Atlanta, Georgia that Lopez had quit the movie adaptation of 1980s soap DALLAS due to the fact she was with child.
This came after McCartney revealed he was dating KATIE CASSIDY, who will play LUCY EWING in the movie project.
But McCartney has since retracted his comment, insisting he was just repeating rumours.
In an apologetic statement he says, "I have no first hand information whether or not Jennifer Lopez is pregnant. I thought I had read it somewhere."

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BRITNEY SPEARS has scored her own namesake cocktail. The fruity beverage, made up of Stoli Raspberry, fresh raspberries, lemon wedges, sugar, sour mix and 7-Up, was created by Tao, Las Vegas barman CLINT THOMAN.

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