June 17, 2008

In less than ten days, the high-octane action movie "Wanted (2008)" will be making its theatrical debut in the theaters across the country and in support for the promotion of the adaptation film, Universal Pictures have presented future audience with many amazing videos, either from the trailer or from the clips, released earlier. Now, other kind of videos have surfaced and they offer the taped interviews with director Timur Bekmambetov and two of its stars, James McAvoy and Common.

In the individual interviews with Chuck the Movie Guy, the three sat down to discuss their works in the movie as well as the movie itself. The first video interview posted below, Bekmambetov talked about his reason in choosing McAvoy to be the lead actor since he doesn't have the appearance of typical hero, his directing style and the slow motion part used to create the dramatic effect. The second video highlighted McAvoy's discussion over his bulkier appearance and everyone's dream of knocking off annoying co-worker or boss, while in the third video, Common confessed the reason he took the offering of his part, the experience working with Bekmambetov and the overwhelming feeling of working with the A-list actors.

ZZ Top are set to return to the music scene by releasing their new album since 2003 and for the new project they will tap renown producer Rick Rubin. The news was stated by the rock legend's guitarist Billy Gibbons during an exclusive interview with BW&BK.

Revealing the new album plans to the Canadian metal magazine Billy said, "That starts pretty soon. We just inked a deal with Rick Rubin that will be announced shortly." Expressing his excitement of working with Rick, Billy added, "I'm sure he's got plans to make way to drag us off the touring trail back into the studio, which will be a nice excursion."

Rap duo 8Ball & MJG reportedly have just made a major decision on their musical career by leaving P. Diddy's label Bad Boy Records and signed for T.I. 's Grand Hustle Records. According to the media, the news was announced by T.I. at his Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash on Saturday, June 14.

Grand Hustle will be the group's third until this year after starting their music career in the early '90s under Suave House Records. The Memphis based duo, decided to move to Diddy's Bad Boy Records in 2004 and marking it with the release of "Living Legends" on the same year.

Known for his work in "Underworld" franchise, Len Wiseman has delivered a blockbuster hit with the fourth installment of "Die Hard" series making "Live Free or Die Hard" to be the most successful movie from the franchise. Having proved his talent in tackling the action genre feature film, it would be right to trust the filmmaker with another high-octane action film, and that just exactly what New Line Cinema do.

The husband of the "Underworld" star, Kate Beckinsale, has recently been signed by the studio to helm their latest adaptation film "Gears of War". The 35-year-old has long been rumored to be chosen as the man behind the camera for the action film, but the confirmation on the matter has just come out awhile back. Apart from taking the director seat, in bringing the hit video game to the big screen, he will team up with "Wanted (2008)" scribbler, Chris Morgan with whom he has also work together for "Shell Game", to develop the story.

The new music video for 2 Pistols has just been premiered via Yahoo! Music on June 17. The new clip is made to accompany Pistols' latest single "You Know Me" and was being directed by renown director Dale "Rage" Resteghini.

Just like the song, on the music video Pistols also tapped Ray J to appear on it. The background for most of the scene is a parking lot, where both rappers were seen rapping their lyrics there.

Usually, most filmmaker chooses to keep mum or give merely hints about the details of their upcoming movie, particularly if the film is a potential blockbuster movie. But, that's not the case with Rob Cohen, the director of "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor". In a recent interview, the filmmaker has been very generous in sharing many things concerning the forthcoming movie, including about the new villain, that may contain possible spoilers.

Talking to Archaeology Magazine, the 59-year-old exposed that the resurrected Han emperor who becomes the newest foe of the O'Connell family in their latest adventure is way meaner than the resurrected Egyptian high priest Imhotep. By stating that, the "XXX" helmer means that the baddie depicted by kung fu action star Jet Li will easily kill everyone standing in between him and his dream of conquering the world.

Previous news surfacing in the media stating that The Rolling Stones will leave their label EMI and join Live Nation has now been denied. The band through their spokesperson Bernard Doherty rejected the recent claims and stated that, "We are not in talks with Live Nation in connection with any record deal."

Previously, it was reported that the legendary rockers are about to depart from their current label and sign a deal with the concert promoters. Moreover, the media also claimed that the contract with Live Nation, will give the company the rights to sell the Stones back catalog worth about 3 million, control the band's upcoming tours and merchandising stuffs.

Happy news comes from Jamelia and her longtime partner Darren Byfield. The lovers have been engaged since October last year, but it was not until this weekend that they made their union official, holding a beautiful and intimate wedding ceremony at the Eastland Estate in West Sussex.

Only a select group of family members and close friends who were invited into the wedding. Jamelia could be seen wearing a beautiful white dress, with full fishtail skirt and flattering v-neck. She carried a blue and white bouquet, which was meant as a tribute to Byfield's former football club Millwall.

Coldplay have just denied recent claims stating that the melody for their track "Viva la Vida" was a copy of a U.S. indie band Creaky Boards' song. The British band's spokesperson said that the allegation from the indie band was a false one.

Previously, Creaky's frontman, Andrew Hoepfner, stated his claim to the press that "Viva la Vida" sounds exactly like the song he wrote about a year before Coldplay released theirs. Andrew also said that he believes, Coldplay's singer Chris Martin, overhead their track when he was watching their gig in October 2007 in New York.

It is not a secret anymore that the famous Japanese superhero robot created by the god of manga, Osamu Tezuka, himself, "Astro Boy" will be adapted into a 3-D animation feature film. However, much of the detailed information about the manga adaptation movie, especially those in relation to the voice cast haven't been revealed until now.

In a press release let out by Summit Entertainment and Imagi Studios on Monday, June 16, it has been announced that in addition to Freddie Highmore who has been set to fill the voice of the titular character, other notable actors have been signed to lend their voices for the film's characters. They are Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy.

It's not merely about the supermodel though. Bruce Hulse, former Calvin Klein male model, is writing a so-called kiss and tell book, in which he reveals his sexual exploits with some of the world's most beautiful women. Elle MacPherson is one of the popular figures who's featured in the book.

The New York Post quoted Hulse, a 55 year-old married man with two children, as writing MacPherson "stripped down in front of me" and when he told her he was depressed over a recent bust-up and lost his sex drive, the Aussie catwalk queen "was so understanding", telling him "No worries, Bruce ... Let's just be friends, then." But later they did hook up for a one-nighter at his parents' house.

"Angels & Demons", Dan Brown's bestselling novel that provides introduction to Robert Langdon character in "The Da Vinci Code" is set mostly in Rome and the Vatican, which both are the seat of the Catholic Church. Hence, it makes sense that the filmmakers adapting the book into a feature film want to shoot the entire film on locations. However, with the controversial movie "Da Vinci Code" is still fresh in Vatican's mind, getting permission to shoot several scenes in Rome churches would be an impossible task, especially after the Vatican has chosen to boycott it.

On the latest production news regarding "Angels", it is reported that the Roman Catholic Church has closed their churches' doors denying the Ron Howard-directed movie from shooting at the churches of Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria, in which Langdon supposedly has a scene where he finds a cardinal being set on fire. On the reason for the rejection, Archdiocese spokesman Reverend Marco Fibbi explained, "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough."

Radiohead's eco friendly invitation doesn't get a great welcome in French, despite their attempt on giving free tickets for their recent gig at the Bercy Arena in Paris earlier this week. The band, who promises 50 free tickets to fans that are willing to get it at their label, XL's office by using bicycle, felt devastated in the end as there were about 35 tickets left uncollected.

The rockers who are known for their commitment on environmental care, have actually set to promote their eco-friendly program on their tour. "Radiohead are using their current world tour to highlight their commitment to green issues," said a source to The Sun.

Has just ended her three-year relationship with fashion house St. John, Angelina Jolie is quick to jump on a new business bandwagon. Never one to shy away from putting her name on any product possible, the very pregnant actress reportedly is in talks with Coty to put out her own line of perfume.

"Angelina wants a very strong input. She wouldn't want a fragrance that she didn't feel encapsulates her," The Mail on Sunday quoted a source as saying. Jolie will thus become the latest celebrity after Sarah Jessica Parker to launch a fragrance line under the French fragrance house should a deal is reached.

In the all-new action comedy "Get Smart", Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway wear their finest black-tie suit and stunning dress for their cover-ups in their mission to stop evil crime syndicate KAOS from dominating the world. But, on Monday, June 16, night, the pair dressed up to impress as the Warner Bros. Pictures held its world premiere in Los Angeles, California.

Strolling down the red carpet that has been laid in front of the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, Carell and Hathaway were joined by their other co-stars, including Alan Arkin, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Ken Davitian and Masi Oka, and the film's director Peter Segal. The special screening event, which red carpet was highlighted with a signature telephone booth used by CONTROL agents to get into the headquarters, was also attended by other celebrities, naming some were Bernie Kopell, Jenna Fischer, Terry Crews and Cedric the Entertainer.

50 Cent has added more fuel into the long persistent rumors that he embarked on a secret love relationship with R&B singer Ciara. The hip-hop artist has been spotted sporting a wedding band and so does Ciara, thus prompted rumors of a secret wedding.

50 Cent was recently interviewed by Forbes about his plans on becoming a future billionaire, and it was during the interview that he was seen rocking a ring on his wedding finger. As for Ciara, MediaTakeOut claimed to have been informed by a source that the songbird is also wearing a ring on her left ring finger.

Most people, especially Batman fans and moviegoers, perhaps have had enough with the promotional videos from the highly anticipated "The Dark Knight" which is focused on Joker. Hence, when it was said that the second trailer would show Harvey 'Two Face' Dent, they went berserk over it. But, to many disappointment, the trailer only displayed the normal Dent before he gets the nasty wound on his face. Now, a new clip exposing Dent as 'Two Face' has been revealed.

The extremely short clip was put on the Joker viral site WhySoSerious.com. The footage begins with a shot of a television showing news report from what appears to be the burned down building in Gotham City. Then, the shot zooms out from it and reveals two men in a bar, one is the bartender and the other is an old customer. After a short conversation, the bartender said that he needs to go to the restroom. Right when the bartender goes out, another man walks in and to the surprise of the customer, the new man is Dent whom the white haired man thinks to be dead already.

Country diva Faith Hill has set the release date for her upcoming Christmas album titled "Joy to the World". According to the latest report Faith will release the new LP on September 16 and the singer will also give something special on the upcoming record.

The singer confirms that the Holiday set will have in total of 11 songs, with 10 of them are classic Christmas songs such as, "What Child Is This," "O Holy Night," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and with the addition of one original song titled "A Baby Changes Everything." The new song is specially written by renown Nashville songwriters which are, Tim Nichols, Craig Wiseman and K.K. Wiseman.

In the wake of heavy media coverage on Emma Watson's two years deal with Chanel, reportedly worth $6 million, a denial was quickly issued by a representative of the perfume giant. Put the false reports to an end, the representative told E! News that widespread Internet reports which claimed the young actress will become the new face of its Coco Mademoiselle fragrance are "just a rumor."

On Sunday, June 15, the celeb-gossip blogosphere was afire with reports that Watson signed a two-year contract with Chanel to replace Keira Knightley as brand ambassador for its Coco Mademoiselle fragrance. A source was even quoted as telling British newspaper The Mail on Sunday, "Emma has been excitedly telling friends that she is going to be taking over from Keira."

Disney's TV movie "High School Musical" star, Vanessa Hudgens, has already got her sophomore set promo going strong by premiering the clip for the single "Sneakernight", taken from her upcoming LP "Identified". Just like the title of the song, the clip was all about sneakers as it also being used to promote Vanessa's shoes "Red".

Not only showing about shoes with glowing strings, the clip also features lots of dance moves by Vanessa and her friends. The scenes start at home, where the teen singer chooses her shoes and goes down to the streets with her friends before finally they crash in into a party and rock the place.

The forthcoming superhero flick "Hancock" has been previously hit with an upsetting report insisting that the world premiere event for the action movie has been canceled and thus sparking speculation that the movie may not be finished on the time of its theatrical debut on July 2. But, apparently the film's in-jeopardy speculation may not be proven anyway, especially with the holding of the movie's premiere in Paris, France.

On Monday, June 16, night, the film about the misunderstood hero rolled down its the red carpet at the L'Olympia Hall in Paris to celebrate its special screening. Though the special event was thrown far away from Hollywood, it was still attended by its key people, including Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman and director Peter Berg. Moreover, the event also saw several celebrity guests from the city of light, such as comedian Dany Boon, singer Ophelie Winter, professional basketball player Tony Parker, as well as from the U.S., namely Eva Longoria.

Has become the subject of intense media scrutiny with her wild nights, missed concerts and stints in drug rehab, Amy Winehouse apparently always one to keep the public talking. The British singer has been hospitalized in London to undergo tests after fainting at her home Monday afternoon, June 16.

A U.S. publicist for the songbird, Tracey Miller, confirmed the incident, issued a statement saying, "Amy was at home this afternoon when she briefly fainted. Fortunately, her manager's assistant was there to stop her falling." The publicist continued saying, "She quickly recovered, and her father, Mitch, took her to hospital as a precaution. Doctors are unsure of the cause of the incident, and Amy is currently undergoing tests. She may be kept overnight for observation."