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PENELOPE CRUZ dazzled on the red carpet at the Gotham Awards in New York on Tuesday (02Dec08) night, and walked away with an award for her role in WOODY ALLEN movie VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA.
Cruz joined a star-studded guest list including Ethan Hawke, Gus Van Sant, Patricia Clarkson, Marisa Tomei and Amy Adams at the celebration of independent cinema.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which starred Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, and Javier Bardem, shared the Best Ensemble Performance prize with Synecdoche, New York, which has a cast-list including Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener.
The Spanish actress was also one of four movie icons honoured at the bash, picking up a tribute prize, alongside other honorees Van Sant, Melvin Van Peebles and HBO boss Sheila Nevins Elsewhere, the Best Feature prize went to Frozen River, and its star Melissa Leo won the Breakthrough Actor award.
Lance Hammer won Breakthrough Director for Ballast, and Trouble The Water won Best Documentary.

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TAKE THAT star GARY BARLOW is determined to follow in SIMON COWELL’s footsteps by becoming a major music mogul.
The British singer recently announced he has set up his own management and publishing company to seek out new talent.
Barlow, who is still enjoying chart success with the reformed boyband, has already begun scouting for stars of the future and is convinced he has the skills to emulate Cowell’s success in the music industry.
He says, "I am at a lot of gigs. I don’t wear a disguise but I’m up the back keeping it low-key. I work with our tour promoter on a lot of the scouting. We do three things - publishing, management and we sign acts to Universal. I love all that stuff. It is my future.
"I don’t want to be Simon Cowell but I will do what he has done, but my way.
He goes for people he thinks he can make into something, I try to find people who are already something…" Cowell launched a highly successful TV career on the back of his work as an artist and repertoire (A&R) executive for the Sony BMG record label.

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British boyband TAKE THAT could be heading for a full reunion - the four remaining members are back in regular contact with ROBBIE WILLIAMS for the first time in a decade.
The five singers have not performed together since Angels hitmaker Williams quit to pursue a solo career in 1995.
The four other members - Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Mark Owen, and Howard Donald - disbanded the group in 1996, but reunited for a tour ten years later.
But a full reunion of the band has always looked unlikely, as Williams has frequently been engaged in a war of words with the rest of Take That since his departure.
However, main songwriter Barlow has revealed that all four surviving members are now in regular contact with Williams by phone and email - paving the way for a full reunion.
Barlow tells BBC’s Newsbeat, "As long as we’re alive people are going to ask if we’re going to get back together. I do believe we will one day, I just don’t know when.
"The five of us were together a lot over the summer and it just felt like we were back in the ’90s. I get an email every week from Rob, Mark gets one every other week, J (Jason Orange) phones him once a week.
"We’re all keeping in touch. It’s really fun getting to know him again, I must say. The five of us are rebuilding our friendship, and that’s really the only place to start."

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Hollywood stars JACK NICHOLSON and JANE FONDA are to be inducted into the California Hall of Fame.
The acting pair are joined on the list of 2008 inductees by musicians Dave Brubeck and Quincy Jones, fitness guru Jack LaLanne, sculptor Robert Graham and chef Alice Waters.
They will all be honoured at a ceremony in Sacramento on 15 December (08).
Fonda’s induction comes nearly 30 years after her nomination to the California Arts Council was rejected by the State Senate due to her outspoken campaign against the Vietnam War.
Photographer Dorothea Lange, architect Julia Morgan, scientist Linus Pauling and former Governor Leland Stanford will be inducted posthumously.
The Hall of Fame was conceived in 2006 by Maria Shriver, the wife of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, to honour legendary individuals who have helped the state.

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Former FRIENDS star COURTENEY COX is to make a guest appearance on hit medical comedy SCRUBS.
The actress will take on the role of the hospital’s new chief of medicine when the show returns to TV screens in January (09).
Cox will enjoy a three-episode run, joining castmembers Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison and John C. McGinley.

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SIENNA MILLER’s representative has blasted the British press for alleging the actress had split from oil heir BALTHAZAR GETTY last month (Nov08) - insisting recent quotes attributed to the star are "three years old".
The Alfie actress has been romantically linked to Getty since the summer (08) when they were seen in Prague in the Czech Republic, on the set of Miller’s new movie G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra.
Miller was rumoured to have broken off her romance with the Brothers & Sisters actor amid claims he refused to file for divorce from his wife and mother of his four children Rosetta.
She was then alleged to have confirmed the split and was quoted as saying, "I’m single at the moment, and I’m completely happy with that. It’s nice not to have a relationship that the press constantly want to scrutinise and discuss." Miller and Getty later appeared to have rekindled their love affair, after they were spotted together in London last week (begs24Nov08).
But Miller’s spokesperson claims the couple never parted ways in the first place - and is adamant the quotes have been rehashed from an old interview, because the actress hasn’t commented on her private life in recent weeks.
The representative tells the New York Post’s gossip column PageSix, "Contrary to British reports, Sienna never gave an interview about her relationship with Balthazar. An old quote was pulled from an interview three years ago." Miller has previously dated her Alfie co-star Jude Law.

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Style icon BEYONCE KNOWLES has developed a new passion for all things THIERRY MUGLER - after the designer agreed to remake a famous corset just for her.
The pop superstar, who has her own fashion line, House of Dereon, admits she has always been fond of Mugler’s creations - but never thought she’d be able to get her hands on items she fell in love with as a stylish teenager.
She says, "I’m so excited. I want him to do everything." And she’s particularly thrilled by the fact Mugler agreed to recreate his iconic motorcycle bustier for her.
She adds, "There was the one robot corset that I really wanted, but I couldn’t get it. So he’ll make me my own, which is even better."

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CHRISTINA AGUILERA celebrated her first Mother’s Day with a drop of blood.
The pop star’s husband Jordan Bratman gifted his wife with a Stephen Webster locket containing a blood-filled droplet.
And Aguilera admits she loves the macabre piece of jewellery, which features a photograph of her baby son Max.
She tells InStyle magazine, "I love the symbolism of the blood droplet. It’s like Max pierced my heart."

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British funnyman RICKY GERVAIS admits RUSSELL BRAND and JONATHAN ROSS went "too far" with their prank phone calls to FAWLTY TOWERS star ANDREW SACHS - but insists the whole episode was "blown out of proportion".
Comedian Brand quit his job as a BBC radio presenter following outrage over a stunt in which he and fellow British broadcaster Ross recorded lewd voicemail messages on 78-year-old Sachs’ voicemail.
During the calls, Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor Brand gloated about sleeping with Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie.
Gervais, who is a close friend and neighbour of Ross, concedes the pair’s conduct was "wrong" - but also feels too much was made of the incident.
He says, "It did go too far, yes. Jonathan was devastated. I’ve spoken to him a few times and he knows he was in the wrong. The whole thing got blown out of proportion. Obviously what they did was wrong. It wasn’t very funny.
"They made a mistake because they picked on a real person and they left the message on a human being’s answerphone. They could have sworn a hundred times and said some other ridiculous things and that would have been OK. But it was about a human being.
"The sex and the baying for blood and all that. It was wrong. But they do know that now. Jonathan has apologised. He knew he made a mistake - but he didn’t kill anyone."

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An Emmy-nominated TV editor has plunged to her death in California after slipping on an icy mountain.
Chihiro ‘Cherry’ Enoki went on a climbing trip up Mount Shasta with two pals last Friday (28Nov08), but fell 14,000 feet (4,267 metres) down an area named Avalanche Gulch.
The 33-year-old, from Brooklyn, New York, was dead when her friends reached her.
Sergeant Chris Callahan, co-ordinator of Siskiyou Country’s search-and-rescue team, which retrieved her body, says, "She had reached 11,700 feet (3,566 metres). It was well below freezing. There was snow and the ice was packed extremely hard. The wind blows at over 100 miles per hour (160 kilometres per hour) up there. It’s extremely treacherous." Enoki worked as part of the team that was nominated for an Emmy award in 1998 for its work on the Science Channel’s Discover Magazine, reports the New York Post.
Her brother, Yoshi, has paid tribute to the editor, saying: "She was an amazing, energetic and cheerful person who had climbed so many summits."

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British funnyman RICKY GERVAIS doubts he will be handed the job of hosting the upcoming Oscars - because he is too controversial.
The Office star is rumoured to be in the running for the prestigious role of MC at the Academy Awards ceremony in February (09).
But Gervais is convinced that Oscars bosses will end up giving the coveted position to a less headstrong star.
He says, "I don’t think it will happen. Americans do get my humour but in the words of Jerry Seinfeld, ‘The Oscars isn’t about comedy, it’s about a bunch of people turning up to see if they get an award.’ "It is a huge deal and it’s very flattering to be considered but I’m not sure I would be right. It’s a historic, stuffy thing and I’d want to have fun with it and I don’t think they’d want me to do that. I wouldn’t be allowed to do what I wanted and it would be me reading an autocue. I don’t need to do these things. I don’t want to up my profile."

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Actress JESSICA LANGE can add published photographer to her impressive resume after cataloguing her life and travels in a new book.
The Oscar winner, who is an avid snapper, has collected her favourite shots of film locations, family and the places she has visited on her travels for new coffee-table book, titled 50 Photographs by Jessica Lange.
But fans shouldn’t expect a collection of starry shots - many of the black and white photos are studies of unknown people and far-away places, such as Ethiopia and Romania.
The actress tells the Los Angeles Times newspaper she’s also a keen collector of black-and-white photography, and admits her love of the art gives her a greater purpose.
She explains, "As an actor, the work is so dependent on a number of elements.
It comes together because of the co-ordination of many people. With photography, like any solitary art form, you can do it any time. You are not dependent on other people and things coming together." And, in many ways, she’s like a paparazzo covering normal people: "In some of my photographs, the people are looking at me. I try to do it as fast as possible if I attract their attention. I have found whenever you turn a camera toward somebody, they are aware they are being photographed and something subtly shifts. I love the thing of not being observed." Lange adds that she loves the fact that no one knows who the "crazy white woman" behind the camera is.

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New father PETE WENTZ was so stunned to discover his then-girlfriend ASHLEE SIMPSON was expecting the couple’s baby, he insisted she send a photo of the positive pregnancy test.
The couple confirmed Simpson was pregnant at the end of May (08) following weeks of speculation, just days after the stars wed.
They welcomed son Bronx Mowgli into the world last month (Nov08) but Wentz admits the baby news initially came as a bit of a shock.
He admits to Details magazine, "(It was) a happy accident."

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Officials at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) have decided to stop using the skull of late Polish pianist ANDRE TCHAIKOWSKY in a British theatre production of HAMLET - because it’s too distracting for the audience.
Play director Greg Doran refused to publicise the skull’s origin during the show’s four-month run in Stratford-upon-Avon for fear of turning the play into a spectacle.
But the secret was recently unveiled by the leading man, Doctor Who star David Tennant, who revealed the skull had been bequeathed to the RSC by the late musician.
Tchaikowsky lost his battle with cancer in 1982 - but his skull has only been used as a stage prop since last year (07).
However, RSC executives have chosen not to continue the practice for the show’s West End run, which starts on Wednesday (03Dec08).
And the decision has disappointed Tchaikowsky’s former agent and pal Terry Harrison.
He says, "When he saw (a plastic skull) with the RSC, (Tchaikowsky) said: ‘I am going to leave my skull to the RSC, they really should have a proper skull.
It doesn’t work with the plastic thing.’ And then we looked at his will and there it was."

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Pop superstar CHER is going back in time for her first studio LP in eight years - she will release an album of Sixties covers in 2009.
The Believe singer, 62, will take inspiration for her next disc from her favourite era of music.
She tells the New York Post’s PageSix column, "I’m planning an album of all these great songs from the ’60s that I’ve never covered before. It was such a magical time for music - groups like The Beatles, the Hollies, the Zombies, the Kinks, the (Rolling) Stones and singers like (Bob) Dylan and Otis Redding…
"I want to pay tribute to a time when I used to listen to music on my little transistor radio or on my AM radio in my Ford Mustang."

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Rapper KANYE WEST is turning his back on the genre that made him famous because hip-hop is becoming too much of a "cliche" for the star.
The stronger hitmaker has opted for a new sound on his latest record, 808s and Heartbreak, singing on the tracks instead of rapping.
West claims his new music has created a new genre, labelling it "pop art", and is adamant that he will not go back to his previous style because he wants to cement his place in musical history.
He says, "This is not hip-hop music. Taking a sample, looping it and doing all that ‘throw your hands up in the sky’ thing has become such a cliche.
Hip-hop is over for me. I sing, not rap, on this album. I now want to be grouped among those musicians you see in those old black-and-white photos - the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles. And I’m not going to get there by doing just another rap album full of samples.
"I’ve had to create a whole new musical genre to describe what I’m doing now and I’m calling it ‘pop-art’ - which is not to be confused with the visual art movement."

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American folk legend ODETTA has died from heart disease at the age of 77.
She passed away on Tuesday (02Dec08) at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, three weeks after she had been admitted with kidney failure, her manager Doug Yeager has confirmed.
The star, born Odetta Holmes, gained acclaim with her mix of folk, blues and jazz music in the 1950s.
Her sounds influenced singers including Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez, and her work was recognised with three Grammy nominations for 1963 release Odetta Sings Folk Songs, 1999’s Blues Everywhere I Go, and 2005’s Gonna Let It Shine.
But it was her earlier works such as 1956’s Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, and 1957’s At the Gate of Horn which she is most known for - and in 1961, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. branded her "The Queen of American folk music".
Odetta had also carved out a career in the movie industry as an actress, starring in films including 1955’s Cinerama Holiday and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman in 1974.
Her health had been in decline since 2006, forcing her to use a wheelchair but she continued to perform live and played 60 concerts in the last two years.
Her final performance was in October (08) in Toronto, Canada.
Odetta is survived by her children Michelle Esrick and Boots Jaffre from a previous marriage.

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Legendary singer TINA TURNER was hospitalised in New York on Sunday (30Nov08) for a severe fever - but refused to postpone her sold-out show at Madison Square Garden the following night for fear of disappointing her fans.
The What’s Love Got to Do With It hitmaker, 69, also had to be put on oxygen during her hospital visit.
But the eight-time Grammy winner was determined to stick to her tour schedule and pressed ahead with her gig on Monday (01Dec08) - even doing a meet and greet with VIPs including Anne Hathaway, and Tom Cruise and wife Katie Holmes, who had turned out to see her in concert.
The celebrities were reportedly told that "no one is to shake her hand, and she cannot talk before performing (because of the illness). She’s very shy." However, Turner shrugged off her high temperature and chatted with each guest, before stepping out on stage to thrill fans with her two-and-a-half hour show, reports the New York Post’s gossip column PageSix.

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