February 16, 2008

The co-star of Nicolas Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas" Danny Huston will be joining Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber in the action fantasy film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". According to JoBlo, the actor in "30 Days of Night" has signed deal to portray young William Stryker.

The movie site noted that the news of Huston's landing the role dismissed speculation that television star of "Dexter" Michael C. Hall was considered for the part. Further, the site claimed that a source close to the production has said that the actor is already on the location to prepare for the filming.

Talking about his new character in the drama film "Strength and Honour", the star of "The Reservoir Dogs" Michael Madsen revealed that he was forced to beg for the role because he didn't want to be knocked out by Hollywood actors, Orlando Bloom and Christian Bale.

According to press release, the 49-year-old actor originally joined the cast as the knocked out bare-knuckle fighter at the end of the film. However, when he knew that the people behind the film considering Bloom and Bale to be the lead, he refused the role and asked for the center character.

Engagement rumors are mounting, hitting celebrity power couple Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel.

It is reported that Justin has been spotted shopping for engagement rings at famous New York jewelery store, Tiffany and Co. and is planning to propose to his actress girlfriend Biel.

Cast of TV drama series "Grey's Anatomy" will celebrate the end of writers' strike by conducting a live singing performance. The Emmy-winning show and its spin-off "Private Practice" cast will entertain a number of crew affected by the strike that had just ended after three months while raising money for them.

Writers of "Grey's Anatomy" announced on their official site, "For one night only, the casts of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are coming together for a live performance! An unforgettable evening of laughter and song to benefit crew members who were affected by the strike."

Having signed a deal with "Rambo" producers in early February, Sylvester Stallone is rumored to be planning on bringing his another old character back to the big screen. According to reports, the renowned action man in "Rocky" and "Rambo" is preparing to depict once again Gabe Walker from his 1993's "Cliffhanger" as he is negotiating with Sony Studio executives.

On another character reviving news, it was reported that though the 61-year-old actor has promised to stop remaking "Rambo", he might be going to make another sequel to the film. To British talk show host Jonathan Ross, the former husband of actress Brigitte Nielsen revealed that it is the perfect time to play the character again. "I'd love to go back to Rambo again. You don't get to play that kind of character very often," he said "At first it was stereotyped but now I'm really proud to have done it. It's timely. Ten years ago it wouldn't have been right."

Has the freedom to endorse any other beauty products following her part ways with Victoria's Secret, Gisele Bundchen is taking over a new gig. The supermodel, who was once claimed the highest paid among world's supermodels, has just scored a two-year endorsement deal with international cosmetics firm Max Factor, which is widely believed to be worth $2.5 million.

Gisele, according to E! News as being told by a source, has inked a deal to be the face of Max Factor's brands worldwide with "The campaign will start by summer."

Hours following the bloody campus rampage at the Northern Illinois University, it was announced that Meryl Streep' delayed drama "Dark Matter will be released in spring 2008. According to Associated Press, the film's distributors let out on Friday, February 15, that the dark drama film starring also Liu Ye and Aidan Quinn will make its first theatrical release on April 11 in New York City and then followed by other American cities.

In an phone interview with AP, the president of First Independent Pictures, Gary Rubin, also revealed that the film directed by Chinese-born director Chen Shizheng were scheduled to hit theaters last year. He further explained that the movie was delayed due to last year's campus massacre in Blacksburg, Virginia citing that the decision was made "out of respect for the Virginia Tech incident". On the picking of the release date, Rubin stated, "Obviously that (Virginia Tech) was a long time ago. We're not even focusing on that aspect of it at this point. It's a good movie and we feel it should get out there."

Bjork has moved on with the next single from her 2007-released album, "Volta". The Icelandic singer will not only lift "Wanderlust" as an ordinary single, but she will also make its music video in 3-D.

The single should be on the market by April 14 in CD and 12 inches format, completed with remixes from Matthew Herbert, Mark Stent and Ratatat. There will also be a DVD version that includes the 3-D music video and its special spectacles to watch the video.

The reason behind Usher's constantly leaking songs which are deemed the new materials from his upcoming album, is actually not far away from his own label mate. Producer Polow Da Don has admitted to MTV News that he was the "culprit" who put the songs, some are still un-mastered, on-line.

Songs like "Crazy", "Moving Mountains", "Dat Gurl Right There" and the latest "Love in the Club" mysteriously appeared on file-sharing websites in the past few months. "It's internal conspiracy," said the confused Usher at the Grammys on Sunday, February 10. "I don't know what's going on with all these records that have been leaked. It ain't been me, dog."

While words are mounting that Jessica Simpson is about to make a comeback into the small screen, eying a CMT reality show, it has been confirmed that the actress-singer will star in a special instead.

Is close to completing her first country album, Jess' daddy/manager, Joe Simpson, told Entertainment Weekly that in addition to her music effort his daughter also has her eye on a deal for an unscripted CMT show, which would mark her second stab at reality TV.

Pitbull was injured and bled. The rap star was forced to cut short a show in Texas last week after he was hit by a flying bottle hurled from the audience that left him bleed.

Pitbull, who was born Armando Christian Perez, was performing at San Antonio club Planeta Mexico back on February 8 when he was struck upside his head by a bottle thrown from the crowd.

Power-pop band Ludo have completed their second full-length album and will soon release it under their new deal with Island Def Jam. The sophomore set is titled "You're Awful, I Love You" and its first single "Love Me Dead" has been released in late January.

The band hailing from St. Louis have toured extensively and is still serving a leg with Socratic and Presidents of the U.S.A.. They have belted out two homecoming gigs for February 25 and 26 and will continue in several other cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma and Anaheim, California. Complete tour dates can be found on the MySpace.

As previously reported, Alicia Keys will embark on a 29-dates North American tour that will start April 19 in Hampton, V.A. and wind down June 18 in New York, NYC. It has now been revealed that American Idol alumna Jordin Sparks will join her in the tour as a supporting act.

According to her official site, Giorgio Armani will design a custom wardrobe for Keys during the tour and Lexus will serve as the main sponsor. After the North American leg with Sparks, Keys is expected to take other part of the world in Fall.

Boasted in an interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Monday, February 11 about owning 17 pets, Paris Hilton's love for the dogs landed her at the center of a new Los Angeles Department of Animal Services investigation.

Paris' chat-show stop was meant to promote her box-office bomb "The Hottie and the Nottie" when the hotel heiress and socialite ended up telling chat show host Ellen all about the extent of her pooch collection without even realizing that it was indeed illegal to have more than three dogs at any one non-kennel, non-breeder, residential address in Los Angeles.

New details are emerging on Madonna's upcoming album which is still untitled. RollingStone.com that acquired its first five songs have graded the follow up to "Confessions on a Dance Floor" as "more urban-oriented, thumpy funk", the sound born from the hand of producers Timbaland, Nate "Danja" Hills and Pharrell Williams.

The Justin Timberlake and Timbaland-featuring song "4 Minutes to Save the World" which has leaked earlier this year, is confirmed to be the first single from the album and its music video will be directed by Jonas and Francois that penned Justice's MTV VMAs-nominated video "D.A.N.C.E.". Madonna and Timberlake will reportedly appear as superheroes in the clip that will also include Timbaland.

Is single and available since her split from her latest boyfriend, snowboarder Riley Giles, late last year, Lindsay Lohan is working up her charm, trying to snare Hollywood hunks Adrian Grenier and Leonardo DiCaprio.

According to the New York Daily News, an eyewitness claimed to have seen Lindsay flitted between the two actors at S Bar in West Hollywood on Tuesday night, February 12.

When it comes to striptease, Pamela Anderson does the greatest. The mother of two gave 500 lucky people a special Valentine's Day treat Thursday, February 14 when she performed a striptease at the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris.

The act, dubbed Pammy's European striptease debut, saw the former "Baywatch" star donned a sheer black body stocking and made her stage bow on the back of a motorcycle, performed a racy dance routine to the well known rock song "Harley Davidson" which was written for Brigitte Bardot by Serge Gainsbourg.