International Show, Film & Celebrities News
Aussie drama SUBURBAN MAYHEM leads the pack of nominations for the upcoming L’Oreal Paris Australian Film Institute Awards, but failed to land a Best Movie nod.
The films in contention for the big prize at the indie awards ceremony are JINDABYNE, CANDY, KENNY and Aborigine language hit TEN CANOES.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES star JAMES DENTON has been handed the keys to a brand new sports utility vehicle thanks to his popularity in Germany.
The actor, who plays hunky plumber MIKE DELFINO in the hit series, caught the eye of a lusty German businesswoman, who is married to a US philanthropist.
And when he agreed to host her husband’s Hollywood Style Awards fundraiser on Sunday night (15OCT06), the sponsor’s wife decided he should be rewarded with a new car.
Thrilled Denton says, "Can you believe that I’ve been given a car because an executive’s wife watches the show in Ingolstadt? I’m certainly not going to refuse a new car."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
British actress MINNIE DRIVER has shed 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) to play a drug-addicted gypsy in her new TV series THE RICHES.
The GOOD WILL HUNTING star teams up with comic EDDIE IZZARD for the family drama, which centres around an Irish family of dysfunctional travellers conning their way in America.
The series will air in America next year (07).
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
TERMINATOR 3 star KRISTANNA LOKEN is set to return as a super powered femme fatale in a new US sci-fi TV drama series, called PAINKILLER JANE.
The statuesque actress, who played a futuristic machine intent on destroying ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER in the last Terminator sequel, will play a special agent on the hunt for genetically enhanced villains in the new series.
Her new character will discover she’s impervious to injury.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Supermodel HEIDI KLUM’s hit reality show PROJECT RUNWAY smashed US cable channel Bravo records on Wednesday night (18OCT06) when the design contest finale drew 5.4 million viewers.
The show ranks as the network’s top-rated and most watched programme in Bravo history.
The third season finale saw quirky wannabe designer JEFFREY SEBELIA get crowned as the show’s style guru.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Movie icon ROBERT REDFORD is considering a return to the Broadway stage after being offered the lead in a revival of ARTHUR MILLER’s ALL MY SONS.
The HORSE WHISPERER star is reportedly excited about the prospect of returning to the New York theatre and has been in talks with producer EMANUEL AZENBERG in a bid to make the ambitious project happen.
The 1947 play, which earned Miller a Tony Award, focuses on a businessman who knowingly sold faulty airplane parts to the US Air Force during World War II.
Redford last appeared on Broadway in the original 1963 production of NEIL SIMON’s BAREFOOT IN THE PARK.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Movie mogul CLINT EASTWOOD became an unlikely therapist for US troops left scarred by World War II as he researched his new war film FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS.
The Oscar winner spent hours chatting with real-life war heroes in a bid to make sure every aspect of his new film was as authentic as possible.
And some of the soldiers used the occasion to open up about their horrific war memories for the first time.
Eastwood says, "The ones I talked to have only recently started to talk - 55, 60 years after the fact.
"I talked to a (marine)… and he said he found it cathartic to talk about it after all these years.
"But he’d get terribly emotional revisiting it, the thought of it all - the mayhem, the smell of death, people you’ve known and liked blown up right beside you."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Music legend GEORGE JONES is returning to the New York concert Mecca where he made country music history in 1962.
The ageing singer will play a Halloween show (31OCT06) at Carnegie Hall with pal KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, 44 years after he became the first country artist to play the venue.
Back then he performed on a bill with JOHNNY CASH and the CARTER FAMILY.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Disco queen EVELYN ‘CHAMPAGNE’ KING is planning a major comeback with her first new album in over a decade.
The LOVE COME DOWN hitmaker has just signed a new deal with RNB Entertainment Group to release her first new material of the new millennium.
King says, "I’ve been consistently doing material live at shows non-stop, so this album is way overdue. It’s time for me to get back in the studio. I know what my fans want from me."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
The widow of CROCODILE HUNTER star STEVE IRWIN is praying for the recovery of a Florida man after learning he was attacked by a stingray and left for dead.
TERRI IRWIN lost her husband when the Aussie TV star and conservationist was fatally stabbed by a stingray near the Great Barrier Reef at the beginning of last month (SEP06).
And now she’s helping to support a Florida family after they alerted her to a stingray attack on 81-year-old JAMES BERTAKIS.
Bertakis’ heart was pierced by the barb of a spotted eagle ray on Wednesday (18OCT06) while boating off the coast of Florida.
Learning lessons from Irwin’s death, the sea-faring octogenarian chose not to remove the barb from his chest and instead piloted his boat to shore and then called emergency services.
Surgeons spent five hours operating on Bertakis. His condition has been upgraded from perilous to critical but stable.
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
THE KILLERS rocker BRANDON FLOWERS is willing to keep his record label happy by only releasing albums every two years or so, despite believing the delay stifles the band’s creativity.
The Las Vegas, Nevada four-piece accept they are expected to release four singles from their recently released sophomore album SAM’S TOWN.
Flowers says, "Look at the volume of product Bowie released just between 1970 and 1975. I don’t know if we’ll ever make that many records.
"Nowadays, it seems impossible to have a successful career without these long gaps between releases. Sam’s Town is being released two years and four months after our first one (HOT FUSS) because of all these other commitments, and I truly believe this kind of schedule is holding us back creatively. We’ve just got to adjust to it.
"At the same time, I understand the record company’s viewpoint. They’re a huge conglomerate, they don’t want to lose money, and they don’t know for sure if we’re ever going to write a hit again.
"Right now, they reckon Sam’s Town has four potential hit singles and they want to milk it for all its worth. And we feel we can accommodate them.
"It’s really hard because record companies aren’t used to dealing with smart bands wanting to be successful on their own terms."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Pop perfectionist BARBRA STREISAND is so happy with the sound of her box-office busting North American tour, she’s planning to release a live album with segments from her best two performances.
The diva’s opening night concert in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and another show at New York’s Madison Square Gardens will feature on the double album.
The Philadelphia show at the Wachovia Center on 4 October (06) smashed the 10-year-old venue’s event gross record when Streisand grossed over $5 million (£2.8 million) from a sell-out 16,510 crowd.
Streisand’s tour continues tonight (20OCT06) in Toronto, Canada and wraps up in Los Angeles on 20 November (06).
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
Rapper SEAN ‘DIDDY’ COMB’s longterm girlfriend KIM PORTER refuses to be impressed by the songs her boyfriend writes for and about her because she just wants him to be honest and true.
Porter, who stood aside when the rap mogul had a fling with JENNIFER LOPEZ, is now expecting Diddy’s twin girls.
And there’s nothing her man can do in the studio that can impress her.
He says, "There’s a couple of songs on the new album about my relationship with Kim: PARTNERS FOR LIFE, a story about how I met her, and this other song called AFTER LOVE.
"I’ll be in the studio playing that song for her, like, ‘Baby, I made this song for you.’ She’s like, ‘You don’t have to make no more songs for me. What you could do for me is start being the best man you can be.’" And Porter’s comments seem to have struck a nerve - Diddy is planning to give up his famous workaholic ways to make sure he spends more time with his family.
He explains, "You can take your family out on a yacht, but if Daddy’s on the top deck pacing and yelling on the phone and closing deals… I’m trying to focus on the things that are priceless, the things I should really be successful at, like being a great boyfriend."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
A US father recording his child playing football has been mistaken for a sniper.
James Kranz was on a roof preparing to video his son playing sport last weekend when an officer saw him holding what he thought was a rifle.
Police spokesman Gregg Olsen said: "An officer saw a man on top of the roof, walking around, pacing back and forth. He was acting extremely suspicious." A SWAT team was called in and hundreds of people were evacuated from the field.
When Kranz tried to leave the field, officers chased him and tried to make him drop to his knees. He refused, believing they were not really officers.
The ‘rifle’ was actually a deck chair.
© bangshowbiz.biz
A struggling Austrian toyshop owner has tried to rob a bank with a water gun.
The 44-year-old, from Vienna, stormed into his local bank with a stocking over his head brandishing a gun. He demanded the staff empty their tills.
However, during the panic, a security guard realised the robber’s ‘weapon’ was actually a plastic water pistol and suggested he should hand over the toy to avoid further embarrassment.
The unnamed robber told police: "I was driven to this desperate deed after my toy shop went bankrupt."
© bangshowbiz.biz
A postcard has taken 40 years ago to travel across Poland.
Zygmunt Kubiczak, who sent the postcard, was a student when he posted the mail to his parents on the other side of the country in 1966.
He said: "Since 1966, Poland has gone through martial law and thrown off the communist system, John Paul II has been elected Pope, served his term and passed away.
"I’ve managed to get married, bring up two children, sail round the world by boat, survive a serious heart operation and retire. And all the time, that card was travelling on its way." Zygmunt’s parents are no longer alive. The postcard was found by a neighbour who sent it on when it finally arrived.
© bangshowbiz.biz
Applicants hoping to attend Oxford or Cambridge University are being asked increasingly odd interview questions.
Questions asked during Oxbridge interviews have included: "How does a perm work?" "Are you cool?" and "What percentage of the world’s water is contained in a cow?" The Oxbridge Application advice company surveyed 1,200 people who were interviewed last year.
Jessica Elsom, spokeswoman for the research company, said the interview process was "notoriously eccentric".
She added: "With the increase in the number of students excelling at A-level, the Oxbridge interviews are one way of finding out who really cuts the mustard."
© bangshowbiz.biz
A US tycoon has been forced to pull out of a deal to sell his Picasso painting for a record £74m - after he put his elbow through it.
Steve Wynn was showing the painting - called Le Reve (The Dream) - to guests in Las Vegas when his elbow slashed through the canvas.
Screenwriter Nora Ephron, who saw the incident, wrote on her blog: "Mr Wynn raised his hand and then at that moment, his elbow crashed backward right through the canvas. There was a terrible noise. Smack in the middle of the painting there was a black hole the size of a coin." Wynn, who plans to repair the damage, exclaimed: "Look what I’ve done. Thank goodness it was me."
© bangshowbiz.biz