April 25, 2007

Jumping into the same vehicle, Val Kilmer, Wilmer Valderrama, and Marg Helgenberger of "CSI" fame have all come onboard to highlight crime drama "Columbus Day" for Trigger Street Productions, The Hollywood Reporter has revealed.

In this project, Kilmer will portray a thief who has just one morning to fix what has gone awry in the biggest heist of his life while trying to mend his relationship with his ex-wife, played by Helgenberger. Valderrama, in the meantime, is billed as a longtime associate who helps scheming the crime despite grave concerns.

Alternative act Ween has downsized the list of songs from over 50 to mere 20. These twenty songs are going to be the ones marking the track list of the band's eleventh studio album.

Dean Ween wrote in their official website: "We started out with 50 or 60 demos and whittled it down to around 20 songs. We recorded the album to 24-track two-inch tape, so it sounds the way music was meant to be heard." He added that there are more songs to complete the record and that they are catching up before their gigs starts on April 30.

Brewing a new biopic at its pit, Warner Bros. Pictures is going to make a film feature about the life story of Daniel Tammet, a British high-functioning and brilliant autistic savant gifted with a facility for mathematics problems, sequence memory, and natural language learning.

The giant company has already secured the screen rights to the man's autobiography "Born on a Blue Day" and will set it up together with Denise Di Novi's Di Novi Pictures. Published earlier this year in the States under Free Press, the book describes how Tammet sees colors and numbers, providing a rare glimpse into what it's like to be autistic.

With twelve songs in hand, The Raconteurs may have their sophomore set ready on the shelves early 2008. The Grammy-nominated band is baking the materials in Nashville's Blackbird Studio with Jack White taking the position as producer as usual.

"We don't know if were going to finish but we wanted to get everything down before we got busy," White said in a statement. "We have a lot bigger ideas about certain things, so we will see how far we get." He revealed that this piece is a lot different from the debut album "Broken Boy Soldiers" (2006) but also cited that it's coming out great.

As a producer, Pharrell Williams may be on top of the game but his career as a singer has put a certain doubt that he only deserves to be behind the panels. The 34 year old rapper counteracts the mildly received "In My Mind" by re-releasing the record with the help of The Roots' Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson.

In attempt to get people really grabbing the meaning of his debut solo album, Pharrell called ?estlove to 'operate' the set and revealed the true 'diamond'. "Pharrell called me at 4 a.m. like three times in a row from Japan," ?uestlove wrote. "He sold me on the album: 'I need to make this world see my vision with this record. Please help me translate it, man!' He had me dressing and in the studio starting this record five hours later."

Bringing up an inspiring tale of survival, Universal Pictures is on the way to develop a big screen feature titled "Too Far from Home" which is an adaptation of the book of the same title that Chris Jones wrote based on his Esquire article.

Published by Random House in March, the book tells about three astronauts who were stranded on the International Space Station for one hundred days in 2003. As for the film project, names to direct, write, and star have not yet been revealed, but it is learned that Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will both produce alongside Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman.

New qualification for Aretha Franklin's musical production "Aretha: From These Roots" have been revealed. As previously reported , there will be an audition in suburban Detroit from May 1-3 to search for the perfect performers playing Aretha and people surrounding her.

Some roles ready to be filled are Aretha's colleagues such as Sam Cooke, Dinah Washington, Smokey Robinson, pianist Art Tatum, suitor Ken Cunningham and also the diva's wardrobe mistress LaRue Mann. For Cunningham's role, Franklin's publicist specifically stated "slim, with a perfect set of teeth, cool and fun" while for Mann they want "sharp features, lots of personality and bubbly."

Allowing fans to get further look on its highly anticipated "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer", 20th Century Fox has smoothly brought up an official page for the movie online at MySpace.

Able to be accessed from here, the page contains a lot of new images that fans can treasure as well as icons and wallpapers. A widget will also be available on it starting May 15, 2007.

After an alleged fact that singer Bryan Adams had a brief romance with Lady Di, he was eliminated from the list of lineups commemorating the princess.

"The princes have nothing against Bryan Adams...But they want the concerts to be free from any innuendo or tittle-tattle. It was decided that it would be inappropriate for Adams to appear," a source said. The ones coming up with the decision are none other than Diana's two sons Prince William and Prince Harry who wished no excessive media attention.

Becoming famous has its ups and downs. Hilary Duff experienced the down side of her celebrity status when she got a death threat Tuesday April 24th from an unknown man.

Duff was being interviewed by MuchMusic host Leah Miller on Live @ Much when a man allegedly threatened to kill her. Witness claimed the man started shouting at the actress-singer, vowed he will kill her.

The night in the city of Rome, Italy on Tuesday, April 24 really turned into a splendid one as stars of "Spider-Man 3" came down together at Warner Village Cinemas Moderno to attend the premiere for the blockbuster flick in the city.

Walking on the red carpet for the screening were original cast members like Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, and Rosemary Harris as well as the new ones namely Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace, who played Sandman and Venom, respectively. Also present were director Sam Raimi, wearing suit and tie.

Fresh from his teaming up with fashion giant DKNY, Pete Wentz is having a new bar to be opened in New York at the end of the month.

The Fall Out Boy bassist is teaming up with members of Gym Class Heroes and The Academy Is... to open a new hangout, Angels and Kings, in the Big Apple, which according to Wentz is aimed to provide locals with a down-to-earth, relaxed environment to drink in.

Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries has been taking a hiatus from her band for almost 4 years and throughout the length of time "Are You Listening?" comes out in the other side. Coming to the surface with jet black and shoulder-length hair, Dolores is in the making of her solo career.

The Irish singer recently promoted her solo work in Hong Kong. Speaking upon her record she said, "A lot of these songs just came from day-to-day experiences. And it was a very natural, kind of organic process," she said. She also continued that she tried many different instruments and beats.

Shooting process on "The Dark Knight" in Chicago got interrupted yesterday, April 24, as fire erupted on a local vacant post office used by the crew from the movie to film a heist scene involving The Joker's gang.

District Fire Chief Jose Santiago revealed that insulation inside the building's "very old ventilation system" caught fire shortly before 11:30 a.m., and had nothing to do with the filming. Reports informed that the film crews were at street level working on a scene depicting a yellow school bus crashing through a wall of the building when the blaze broke out.

Beyonce Knowles' last minute decision to include the song "Still in Love (Kissing You)" in "B'Day [Deluxe Edition]" has led to problematic matters. The addition of the song has caused not a only a lawsuit but also the entire album to be pulled from circulation.

As previously reported, singer Des'ree was filing a lawsuit against Beyonce for the copyright violation of the song. While waiting for the come out that is still pending in the courthouse, there is a mandate to stop the distribution of the album and any DVDs containing the song. That will include the Wal-Mart-manufactured "B'Day Anthology Video Album".

Melanie Brown graces the cover of new OK! magazine in the U.K., debuted her look fresh after giving birth to daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown.

The mommy is featured in the magazine with her newly born daughter, claimed to be the daughter of Oscar nominated actor Eddie Murphy. The former Spice Girl told the magazine, the name was inspired by a number of things.

Little did people know that Sum 41's "Underclass Hero" is going to weigh a lot more than meets the eye. Even before the record arrives on shelves, the band has warned that "It is NOT a political record". The Canadian trio may have some explanation to do.

Chosen as the first single, "March of the Dogs" has no literary meaning but metaphorical content that touch the chord of US president. The lyrics speaks for itself: "Ladies and gentlemen of the underclass/The president of the United States of America is dead...And now the president's dead/Because they blew off his head/No more neck to be red/I guess to heaven he fled."

Penelope Cruz is invading the world of fashion. The actress has been tapped for a new profession, fashion designer, for high street retailer Mango.

Tapped to be the new face for the fashion giant's new collection, Cruz will give hand at designing a fashion range for the Spanish company alongside her sister, actress Monica Cruz.

Still intends to scare up moviegoers after "Pulse", Jonathan Tucker has shown his agreement to take part in thriller horror flick "The Ruins" that BenderSpink and Red Hour Films are developing for DreamWorks SKG to distribute across the U.S., The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

An adaptation of the best-selling Scott B. Smith novel, the project will find the actor play a go-getter premed student named Jeff who persuades a group of Americans vacationing in Mexico to come along with him on remote archaeological dig in the jungle. Unbeknownst to them all, something evil is living among the ruins.

On board to enact what seems to be a promising role, Michael Douglas has given his commitment to topline a courtroom thriller flick entitled "Tragic Indifference" which he also sets to produce via his Furthur Films for 2929 Productions.

In this project, based on a landmark liability case against Ford, the Oscar-winning actor will play attorney Tab Turner, who brought the automaker to court on behalf of Donna Bailey, a single mother from Texas who was paralyzed and nearly died after her Ford Explorer flipped in 2000. The trial later exposed the company's indifference to flaws in its SUVs.

Another "Titanic" crew member has landed her feet on the same vehicle her fellow workers are riding.

Marking her reunion with both Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates has reached deals to take starring part in "Revolutionary Road", the DreamWorks adaptation of Richard Yates' acclaimed 1961 novel of the same title.

Hollywood's female celebrities, including Carla Gugino, Vanessa Williams, Cassie, Marley Shelton, and Kristin Chenoweth, are all teaming up for the special issue of women's magazine Allure.

The stars bared all for a sexy new photo-spread in the so-called "What Lies Beneath," appears in the magazine's May issue.

Grammy Award-winning songwriter and singer Bob Dylan is going to roam even further in North America this summer. He had extended his summer tour to support 2006's "Modern Times".

After announcing early jaunt that kicks off June 22 in Atlantic City, N.J., the legend is now wrapping up July 28 in Kelseyville, C.A.. According to his official website, there are 'hot seats' available for fans who want to see the performance up front and personal. These premium tickets come in a package with exclusive Bob Dylan Tour gift item and collectible laminate. Interested fans can click the "Hot Seats" icon next to the venue on the official website.

Making music isn't the only thing Eminem does. The rapper does have some films as well. By now on it has been reported that he is in negotiation to buy a music venue in Detroit, Michigan which was featured in his film "8 Mile."

Negotiations are allegedly under way for Eminem to purchase the St Andrew's Hall venue, owned by Live Nation, for an undisclosed amount. If the deal later on goes through, Em and his manager Paul Rosenberg will manage the operation while the venue's current management will run the day-to-day operations of the club.

The four-piece band Arctic Monkeys is giving an extended treat for its US fans this weekend. Following the band's Coachella appearance this Friday, they will visit Los Angeles two days later on April 29.

According to the official website, the band who just released its sophomore set on Tuesday is to have an intimate show at LA's Troubadour.

Angelina Jolie is doing her old thing. The actress filed a petition Monday April 16th in L.A. County Superior Court to change the name of her latest adopted child from Pax Thien Jolie to Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt.

In court documents obtained by Usmagazine.com it is obvious that Jolie is "the sole adoptive parent of the child" and is requesting the name change "in order that her child's last name will incorporate and be combined with the last name of her partner and be the same as that of her other children."

Scissor Sisters is going to launch the fourth single from the platinum album "Ta-Dah" (2006). Between the choice of "Lights" and "Kiss You Off", the band has chosen the latter.

A video for this track has been shot and directed by Robert Hales, the same man who masterminded Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". It will see lead singer Ana Matronic being pampered in a salon. Written on their official site is: "I think it's one of the most polished and professional looking things we've ever done but don't hold that against us; it was so much fun to do. We hope you like it."

It keeps going the way it's going. It is officially over between Whitney Houston and troubled hubby Bobby Brown as the couple's divorce has been made official Tuesday April 24th in Orange County, California.

With the settlement having been worked out in advance, the judge ruled that Houston would get custody of their 14-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina. During the court sessions, the singer testified that she didn't need spousal or child support and that her ex-to-be wasn't reliable enough for their daughter to depend on.