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WILL SMITH’s actress wife JADA PINKETT-SMITH is to make her directorial debut with upcoming romantic comedy THE HUMAN CONTRACT.
Pinkett-Smith, who also wrote the movie’s script, has already cast Ted Danson, Jason Clarke and Paz Vega, among others, in the film, which will be executive produced by her husband.
In the movie, which begins shooting this week (begs12Nov07)), Clarke will play a businessman who learns the joys of reckless love after he meets free-spirited Vega.

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SYLVESTER STALLONE’s brother FRANK STALLONE in back in vogue, thanks to his part in America’s current Christmas movie FRED CLAUS.
The actor/singer plays himself in the Vince Vaughn film and admits he was reluctant to appear in the family movie at first.
He says, "At first I was a little leery because I had all but given up on the film business after almost 60 films.
"I wasn’t getting any work and I couldn’t find an agent and no one seemed to show any interest, so I rededicated myself to my music full time." But the film has given the Barfly star fresh faith in the film industry: "Working on Fred Claus was a delightful experience
. I wish all film sets were as joyful."

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The star of moviemaker JOHN SAYLES’ new movie HONEYDRIPPER was discovered at Texas music festival South By Southwest.
Gary Clark Jr. was just 21 and playing his first club dates without a chaperone when Sayles found him while he was looking for an unknown to play an early rock ‘n’ roller in his 1950s period piece.
The cult director says, "He’s from Austin, Texas, a big discovery at the South By Southwest Festival. When we first saw him play he had just turned 21." In Honeydripper, Clark Jr. plays a Chuck Berry-type guitarist who shows up in a sleepy Alabama town and is hired to replace a star who fails to show for a gig at a struggling local club.

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Moviemaker JOE WRIGHT was left red-faced on the set of new period piece ATONEMENT when he was heard yelling masturbation instructions to actress KEIRA KNIGHTLEY.
Wright pumped Brian Eno’s tune This onto the set at full volume for the film’s sensual scenes - but was caught out one morning when the track ended unexpectedly.
He says, "I didn’t reduce the volume of my voice and I could suddenly be heard shouting, ‘Keira, w**k him off,’ which I was mercilessly ripped about for some weeks afterwards." But the actress insists there was "no knob-touching for real".

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DUSTIN HOFFMAN was convinced he’d be fired from the set of classic movie THE GRADUATE.
The paranoid Oscar winner was left fearing the worst after producers decided his then-roommate, Gene Hackman, was badly cast in the film.
Hackman had signed up to play the part of Mr. Robinson - a role eventually taken by Murray Hamilton - in the 1967 film, when studio bosses decided they didn’t want him.
So Hoffman spent the remainder of the movie’s shoot worrying about suffering a similar fate.
He says, "I thought I was going to be fired while I was making it.
"Gene Hackman was (originally cast as) Mr. Robinson and we were rehearsing and I have this memory of us both going to the bathroom at the studio.
"He’s in one urinal and I’m about six urinals away, and he turns to me and he says, ‘I’m getting fired today.’ I said, ‘Gene, what are you talking about?’ And he said, ‘I’m going to get fired today.’ And he did (get fired).
"So once he got fired I thought I was on the line. So not only did I not think it was going to be a hit, I thought it would wind up starring (Robert) Redford."

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Welsh actor MATTHEW RHYS "begged" for a walk-on role during a lesbian bathing scene in THE EDGE OF LOVE, because he wanted to see his gorgeous co-stars SIENNA MILLER and KEIRA KNIGHTLEY naked.
Miller and Knightley play love rivals in the Dylan Thomas biopic, but, rather than fall out, their characters bond.
And Rhys, who plays Thomas in the film, admits he was desperate to see the "forbidden scene".
He says, "It’s just two girls doing their washing but the fact that it’s Knightley and Miller ups the ante a bit." And Rhys desperately wanted to be on set: "I offered that idea in rehearsals, but it was shot down quite quickly.
"I begged, offered money - I did everything to ingratiate myself into that scene."

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Actress PORTIA DE ROSSI almost turned down her latest role as a lesbian in U.S.
TV show Nip/Tuck because she doesn’t want to become typecast as a homosexual.
De Rossi only accepted the part as Joely Richardson’s girlfriend on the programme after her real-life lover Ellen DeGeneres persuaded her to play the "interesting" character.
She says, "My relationship with Ellen is so public, and I thought, ‘Am I going to play a romantic lead again?’ I had that one moment of, ‘Does this mean I’ll be typecast as a lesbian?’ "And Ellen turned to me and said, ‘So what?’ And I thought, ‘Oh yeah, right, so what?’ I was offered romantic lead roles, and I turned them down because the lesbian seemed more interesting to me."

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Troubled singer BRITNEY SPEARS astonished mother-of-three HEIDI KLUM recently by showing the supermodel the proper way to put a diaper on a baby.
Klum was surprised when Spears, who is fighting reports she’s a bad mum amid her custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline, arrived uninvited at her Halloween (31Oct07) party at Los Angeles venue Green Door.
And Spears left Klum speechless when she offered up her diaper-changing expertise.
Klum says, "We were talking about babies and diapers and she explained to me a lot of things about diapers I that didn’t know.
"You know these sticky things on the side? I never knew that they were there.
To close them in the front, I was always putting string around. I had no idea.
"It’s very clever. I learned a lot of things."

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O.J. SIMPSON told henchmen who helped him carry out a sports memorabilia raid on a Las Vegas hotel suite they should consider leaving the state to avoid a possible jail sentence, a court has heard.
The former American football star-turned-actor stormed the room of collector Alfred Beardsley in September (07), demanding the return of items he claimed had been stolen from a storage facility.
The fact that two of the men who joined Simpson in the raid wielded weapons has landed The Naked Gun star in big trouble - and three of his co-defendants have since agreed to testify against him.
In the ongoing preliminary hearing in Las Vegas, one of the men, Walter Alexander, told the court on Tuesday (13Nov07) that Simpson, who claims he didn’t know weapons would be used in the raid, joked with him about the incident afterwards.
Alexander said, "I was like, ‘So, O.J., if I go to jail… you gonna bail me out?’ And he was like, ‘Ha ha ha, if you get out of town you don’t have to worry about going to jail.’" Alexander insisted Simpson urged his posse to "bring heat" as he planned the raid.

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ROB ZOMBIE was left amazed the first time he met his hero OZZY OSBOURNE because the rock veteran star played him excerpts from a lost album.
Zombie first met the former Black Sabbath singer in the mid 1990s, and he wasn’t expecting Osbourne to invite him back to his Los Angeles home - and play him an uncharacteristic pop album.
Zombie says, "I don’t even remember why I was meeting him. It was very early on, I mean, it was ‘95 maybe or something, and I went over to his house - not the house that they had on the TV show The Osbournes, but the house they lived in before that.
"And it was great. You know, I’d always loved Ozzy, loved Black Sabbath, and it was just me and Ozzy in his house and he played me this entire album he had made with (producer/songwriter) Mark Hudson that was very Beatles-sounding.
It’s never been released, but it was fantastic." The pair are currently touring the U.S. together.

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The influence of veteran band GRATEFUL DEAD is to be analysed at a three-day academic conference later this week (begs12Nov07).
Around 400 fans, 50 historians, authors and critics are expected to take part at the University Of Massachusetts event, which runs from Friday to Sunday (16-18Nov07).
However, existing members of the Grateful Dead are thought unlikely to attend. Instead, two tribute bands will perform.
Rob Weir, a visiting lecturer at the university, says, "We have the opportunity to do something a bit more unique than have a bunch of people sitting around talking about favourite concert memories." The Grateful Dead formed in 1965 in San Francisco, California and split in 1995, after the death of frontman Jerry Garcia.

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Music mogul ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM fears he’ll have to use ROLLING STONES sound-alikes to record the music for his biopic - because SIR MICK JAGGER, KEITH RICHARDS and ALLEN KLEIN will refuse to give up the rights.
The former Stones manager isn’t sure how songwriters Jagger and Richards and his successor Klein will feel about their portrayal in the adaptation of his memoirs Stoned and 2Stoned.
And the trio could block the rights to songs he’s desperate to have in the film.
He says, "You have no idea what side of bed anybody’s gonna get out of, but I can always go the other way and do sound-alikes." Oldham, who also hopes to direct the film, has an actor in mind to portray him as a young svengali.
He says, "If the film gets made in the foreseeable future, I’d like Devon Graye to play me. Look him up.
"He’s in (U.S. TV drama) Dexter and spent his high school years in the U.K." But Oldham insists all other casting rumours are ridiculous because he has only just completed the screenplay.

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Rocker DAVE GROHL was left heartbroken recently, when he stumbled across home movies of late NIRVANA bandmate KURT COBAIN online.
Grohl, who now fronts Foo Fighters, knew immediately when the footage was taken, and realised it was at a point in Cobain’s life when the singer/songwriter was extremely unhappy.
Grohl says, "I watched this thing on (video-sharing website) YouTube of Kurt’s home movies. He’s hanging around with his family in a park, sitting by this stream as these little girls run around.
"And it broke my heart, because I knew when that was, and I knew that he wasn’t necessarily happy at the time…
"He couldn’t fully experience the joy of life." Cobain killed himself in 1994, aged 27.

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Soul legend ARETHA FRANKLIN has dismissed reports she’s planning to marry her longterm boyfriend WILLIE WILKERSON.
The Respect singer was reported to be attending wedding dress fittings in New York earlier this year (07), but Franklin, who has been married twice before, credits the erroneous story to an overzealous photographer.
She says, "I was just leaving the hotel in New York with my friend, and one of the photographers outside yelled, `Hey Aretha, what are you doing in town?’ "And I said I was there to get a gown, but I didn’t say a wedding gown. But he just ran with it." However, the 65-year-old admits she’s not against the idea of marrying for a third time.
She adds, "I am amenable to it (marriage). I like the institution of marriage, and I like taking care of my sweetie."

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LATEST: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE have settled with officials at the University Of Maine Student Government after they threatened to sue the rockers for money they lost when the rockers pulled out of a scheduled show.
The group was scheduled to perform at the university on 27 October (07), but axed the concert at the last minute due to a "medical issue" involving drummer Bob Bryar.
Promoters refused to believe the band’s story and turned down the chance to reschedule the concert; they demanded the money they lost by advertising the show.
Now the band and the concert producer have come to an agreement, where UMSG will recover all financial losses incurred.
A spokesman for the university says, "Though the cancellation of the concert was unfortunate, we are happy that My Chemical Romance and Student Government were able to come to a mutually agreeable resolution.
"The Student Government wishes a speedy recovery to Bob Bryar and hopes he will soon be able to rejoin his band on tour.
"The Student Government’s discussion of legal action against My Chemical Romance was premature."

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Actress JULIA ROBERTS was reluctant to work with husband DANNY MODER on a new movie - because she was distracted by the need to "look pretty".
The 40-year-old met the cinematographer when he worked as camera operator for her 2000 film The Mexican - but was uneasy about shooting new drama Fireflies in the Garden because she didn’t want her husband to see her looking less than her best.
She says, "(It was) nerve-wracking to start with. You know, I’m always - I just want to look pretty for him! But he’s so great and supportive."

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Pop singer LILY ALLEN has been tipped to star in hit British TV show DOCTOR WHO.
The Smile hitmaker, 22 - who will present her own BBC talk show early next year (08) - is hoping to expand her small-screen career by playing Doctor Who’s assistant, a role currently portrayed by comedienne Catherine Tate.
A show source tells British newspaper The Sun, "Lily is multi-talented. She comes from more of a TV background than a musical one. After (her) chat show we hope she’ll take over from Catherine as Dr Who’s assistant.
"We’ve talked to her and she was excited by the idea. With Lily and someone younger and edgier in the lead role it could open up the show to a new trendier crowd."

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KEVIN SPACEY was forced to fill in for CHRISTIAN SLATER in a British stage show after the Broken Arrow star was struck down with influenza.
Slater, 38, was scheduled to participate in London’s annual 24 Hour Plays, a fundraising gala which sees actors write and perform six short plays in just one day - but was forced to pull out of Sunday’s (11Nov07) event due to poor health.
Instead the American Beauty actor - who brought the event from the U.S. to the capital city’s Old Vic Theatre in 2003 - took to the marathon task alongside stars Rob Brydon and Tom Hollander.

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