January 20, 2009

Having been kept busy by her Broadway debut in the revival of Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" since September 2008, Katie Holmes reportedly is heading back to starring in the big screen with a new comedy movie. Variety reported that the 30-year-old actress has been set to star in "The Extra Man".

The wife of actor Tom Cruise will be joining Kevin Kline who is tapped to take on the lead character, Paul Dano and John C. Reilly in the movie to be directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. So far, it is still unclear what character the Rachel Dawes of "Batman Begins" will be portraying.

FOX have just announced their selections of new shows that will invade their next TV schedule. As many as 4 comedies and 3 dramas have been ordered for pilots as starters and the network could add up the number up to 10 in total.

In the comedies, there is "The Station" which is executive produced by Ben Stiller and tells about a covert CIA operative which is based in South America and its mission is to install a new dictator. "Warlorsky" which is in similar tone to this week's box office champ "Paul Blart: Mall Cop", is a story of an ex-cop who is now patrolling in a mall in Bufallo, N.Y. and is signed to work with a rookie.

Though having no ability to "play a single note", supermodel Kate Moss is not afraid to lay her hands in music industry because her musician boyfriend Jamie Hince is ready to lend a helping hand. "Kate can't play a single note on the piano but Jamie has promised her that he will teach her to play," so a source tells The Daily Express as quoted by Hollyscoop.

Furthermore, Kate has reportedly received a Steinway grand piano, worth $38,000, as her birthday gift from Jamie in order to support her effort. She is also rumored to make a duet and form a musical duo with Jamie. "They'll form a duo together as he did with his (The Kills) bandmate Alison Mosshart," the source reveals further.

Aubrey O'Day's nude picture for the March 2009 issue of Playboy has been leaked. Perez Hilton is the first to give people a peek at the shot, showing the former Danity Kane member baring all for the camera.

Aubrey, seen in the pic letting loose her long blonde hair, is photographed wearing nothing, but a pair of high heels. She strikes a raunchy pose on a black-and-white striped carpet, sporting fishnet-like stuff on her bare bottom.

Several newly-released "Watchmen" photos have been found via The New Frontiersman. Exhibiting images in relation to the first generation of the costumed heroes, two of the pictures show masked adventurer Mothman and The Doomsday Clock. Aside from the two, another photo reveals an NYPD incident report for the murder of The Silhouette.

The Mothman pic is dated 1953 and displays the moment the costumed hero is being sectioned for admittance to a mental institution in Maine. Meanwhile, the Doomsday Clock photo is posted with description that it was created in 1947 and it is further explained that as the clock stands closer to midnight, the world steps closer to Armageddon.

American Idols will invade the stage of the 51st Annual Grammy Awards. Third season finalist Jennifer Hudson and fourth season champion Carrie Underwood are among the acts introduced to sing at the prestigious event held on Sunday, February 8 at Los Angeles' Staples Center.

This would be the second televised appearance by Hudson following the tragedy that struck her family back in October 2008 and resulted in the murders of her mother, brother and nephew. She will first kick off Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida on Sunday, February 1 which will be broadcast by NBC.

Miley Cyrus has premiered a music video supporting "Let's Get Crazy", the song included in her upcoming "Hannah Montana: The Movie". She is seen making a live appearance at Lilly Truscott's birthday party, causing unexpected chaos during the bash.

Opened up with a scene where everyone at the party is screaming "Hannah Montana" when Miley arrives, it is followed with the "Fly on the Wall" singer shouting to her best friend, "I am sorry, I have no choice. I will make it up to you, I promise." Being upset, Lilly shouts back, "You will never ever ever make it up to me."

While many are still buzzing about the Japanese trailer screen shots of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", interesting tidbit about another trailer for the sixth "Harry Potter" film has been brought to the surface. According to MuggleNet, Portkey.it has reported that the final full-length trailer for "Half-Blood Prince" could be making its debut this coming Friday, January 23.

The publication further noted that the new trailer is most likely to be attached to another adventure fantasy movie released in the U.S. on the expected date, "Inkheart". It is still unclear though whether this claimed-to-be final trailer for "Half-Blood Prince" will be containing similar footage as the Japanese trailer, which screen shots include scenes of Bellatrix attacking Hagrid's Hut and Snape on the Astronomy tower with Harry among others.

Following censorship issue raised due to the controversial lyrics of her song "If U Seek Amy", which sounds like "F*** Me" if sung quickly, Britney Spears is rumored to return to studio and re-record the track. She will be editing the lyrics to "If U See Amy", according to The Sun.

To MTV, several executives in the U.S. radios previously revealed their concern over public response if "If U Seek Amy" is played on their radios. John Ivey, KIIS FM Los Angeles program director said, "I'm certain that I would run it by my legal department first. My first job is to protect [the station's] license. ... It's better to be safe than sorry."

Next Monday, January 26 in "24", Jack Bauer will be caught in a hostage situation where he becomes the one under gun point. On the seventh day and between the hour "1:00 - 2:00 P.M.", Jack stops at nothing when everything is on the line.

As Dubaku presses President Taylor to comply with his devilish demands, she contemplates if the administration should negotiate to avert a disastrous terror attack. Meanwhile, away from the White House and the threatening international crisis, the determined First Gentleman struggles with his ongoing domestic mission, and perilous FBI Agent Walker diverts the attention of her tense colleagues. With national security on the line, Jack Bauer has a formidable plan in hopes of shielding the country.

Sharing to Twist magazine a bit about their love live, Kevin Jonas and Nick Jonas mention some of the things that they have ever done for love. Oldest brother Kevin reveals to the latest issue of the publication, "The craziest things I've ever done for a crush was when I flew across the country just to see her for a day." He goes on detailing, "I was about 16 or 17 and had been on tour for a while, so getting away for a day to go see her was a lot of fun. That was a good time!"

As for Nick, he opts for a more conservative treatment. "Manners are very important," he argues. "I hear so many girls be like, no one ever opens doors for me. No one ever does that. So, do that, pull out a chair, stand up when a girl comes to the table, we were taught etiquette at a very young age."

After an official U.S. teaser trailer of "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" was released, a set of brand new images from the action film was outed. Coming from Beyond Hollywood's reader by the name of Riff-M, the photos take the highlight on the movie's titular character played by Kristin Kreuk, Chun-Li.

Based on the famous series of fighting video games by Capcom, "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" focuses its story only on undercover Interpol agent Chun-Li. Though the official plot of the movie is yet to be disclosed, the action film has been said to be dealing with the personal history of the character known for her 'ox-horns' hairstyle as well as her quest for justice.

Done with the director selection, it is now the matter of selecting the actors and actresses of the movie. The next episode of "One Tree Hill" sees Lucas auditioning for the characters in his movie and put them together. Brooke meets her depicter and Peyton is mistaken for a look-alike.

Also in the episode called "Screenwriter's Blues" which is named after one song by Soul Coughing, Nathan receives a good news while Haley has to make a difficult decision. Meanwhile, Peyton is making plans for the wedding. The episode will air in two weeks on February 2.

During "Kids' Inaugural: We Are the Future", the free gig celebrating Barack Obama's presidential ceremony, Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus were seen rocking the Verizon Center's stage on January 19. Another Disney star making live appearances is Demi Lovato.

The Jonas boys performed their hit singles, including "Tonight" and "S.O.S.". Meanwhile, Cyrus delivered a brand new song titled "The Climb" as well as "Fly on the Wall", the track from her second studio album "Breakout", and Lovato sang "Get Back" and "La La Land", all taken from her debut album "Don't Forget".

Online Film Critics Society have announced the winners of 2009 Online Film Critics Society Awards on Monday, January 19. Among those lucky enough to bring home the kudos were Warner Bros.' superhero movie "The Dark Knight", Magnet Releasing's horror drama "Let the Right One In (2008)" and Disney/Pixar animation "Wall-E".

Both "The Dark Knight" and "Let the Right One In" collected four prizes each, while "Wall-E" nabbed three. "Dark Knight" won Best Director for Christopher Nolan, Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger, Best Cinematography for Wally Pfister, and Best Original Score for James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer.

Previously opening up about some issues related to her life off screen, like her ears insecurity, best and favorite date, Selena Gomez continues to dish about the weirdest kiss she has ever had. She shares to Twist magazine, "My weirdest kissing story would have to be when I had my first kiss with Dylan Sprouse on Suite Life."

The Disney actress continues recalling, "I actually leaned him to kiss him and I had my eyes closed a little too early and I ended up missing like half of his lips. So it ended up being the most awkward kiss in the world." However, "I was twelve, so it was okay and it was good. Thank goodness he is such an awesome guy!" she adds.

While President-elect Barack Obama was out celebrating the days leading to his inauguration, the VP Joel Biden and his wife Jill took time to tape an interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". In a special episode from Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 19, Oprah Winfrey managed to fish out a secret from Jill regarding her husband's political career.

During the chat, Jill mentioned that Joe initially was open to two choice of positions, the candidate of vice president and Secretary of the State. "I said, 'Joe, if you're Secretary of State you'll be away. I'll never see you. But if you're vice president the whole family can be involved,' " Jill exposed. Joe then added to the statement, "Jill said, you know, I think this is good for the family. And besides, we have public housing now."

Giving more sneak peek into "The Horsemen", a new trailer of the Platinum Dunes-production horror thriller has been put forward. Unlike the previous trailer which is dubbed in Italian, the newly-released video footage is in English, running nearly a minute longer and focusing more on detective Aidan Breslin and how he slowly figures out the clues leading to the serial killer.

Recently widowed and still grieving for his devoted wife's untimely death, Aidan Breslin is faced with a series of murders in which the killer uses a rare kind of violence. Dwelling deeper into the investigation, he uncovers that he has a shocking connection to the suspects of the killing spree linked to the Biblical prophecies about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

U2's brand new song called "Get On Your Boots" has been available to stream. Listed as one of the tracks in their upcoming twelfth studio album "No Line on the Horizon", it has also been available for purchase in iTunes digital music store.

In related news, U2 have been announced to make a live appearance, delivering "Get On Your Boots" at this year's BRIT Awards to be aired on ITV1. They will be performing the self-written track on Wednesday, February 18 at London's Earls Court.

Prior to the much anticipated inauguration of U.S. president-elect Barack Obama, stars like Ben Affleck and Usher open up about what they have in mind concerning the nearing event. As for Ben, he plans to brave the cold and camp out just to get a good seat at the inauguration. Usher, meanwhile, says "It only starts here. The mission's not over. Barack Obama's put the ball back in our courts."

"I'm going to camp out," Ben told US Weekly at his Feeding America hunger rally in Washington, D.C. on Monday, January 19. "I'll bring a tent -- and a heater!" The actor went on expressing his hope for Barack that "he'll pay a good amount of attention to Africa."

The eight season of "American Idol" has plenty in stores for the audience when it hits the Top 12 round. FOX's executive Mike Darnell revealed to TV Week in an interview that there will be a "big surprise" when the show gets to the Top 12, adding that it will also be controversial. He said, "We're not changing the core of the show, but it is something that will be talked about and is something I think that has some element of controversy surrounding it."

While refusing to go further on what kind of surprises that awaits, Darnell reveals other details like the possibility of the show's alumna Kelly Clarkson returning to the show and the lining up of "ridiculously big" artists as mentors.

As "New Moon" is stepping closer and closer to its production start, another "Twilight" actor comes out to discuss parts of the vampire drama sequel. Sharing his opinion to MTV, Edi Gathegi, the actor who plays nomadic vampire Laurent addresses several issues from a fan choice of Sophia Myles as Irina to Taylor Lautner's seriousness to play Jacob Black in the new film.

In "New Moon", Gathegi's character will meet a Denali vampire named Irina whom he is interested in. When asked by MTV about a fan's choice of "Outlander" actress Myles as Irina in a YouTube fan-made video, Gathegi responds "She's a good choice. I could be happy with that." He continues, "I like her work...Now I'm not going to be able to get her out of my mind for that character."

Elliott Yamin, season 5 "American Idol" finalist, is currently working on his sophomore studio album and plans to release it on May 5 via Sony/ATV Music Publishing's Hickory Records. A new single meanwhile is expected to arrive in February.

Elliott will contribute in the songwriting desk for new materials in the album. He is also going to team up with producers Jermaine Dupri, duo Stargate and Josh Abraham among others in getting the effort ready.

Kelly Osbourne, the daughter of rock singer Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon Osbourne, has been jailed earlier this month after allegedly slapping gossip columnist, Zoe Griffin, in a London nightclub after the writer mocked her boyfriend Luke Worrall. The incident, as reported by the Daily Mail, took place at the popular Soho district hangout, Punk, back in August last year.

It is claimed that Kelly got mad at Zoe over an article she wrote in which she called Luke stupid as he didn't know what an earthquake was. "I have an issue with you. My boyfriend knows what an earthquake is and everyone has been laughing at him and he's upset," Zoe later told police as quoting Kelly. "That's when I felt a hard slap to my right cheekbone," Zoe added.

A music video promoting John Legend's song "Everybody Knows" has come out. Capturing the singer walking down the sidewalk, it features a couple involving in a heated argument in the street but later on making it up. It also shows another pair sitting on a bench in the park, reading a book together.

"Everybody Knows" is a ballad single written by a team comprising of John Stephens, Kawan Prather, James Ho, and Terrence Smith. The track appears on John's third studio album "Evolver" which has been in the U.S. stores since October 28, 2008 through Columbia Records.

Two things are celebrated on Monday, January 19, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and also the day leading to the inauguration of Barack Obama. Covering of the four-days festivities, CBS' Katie Couric reports that the president-elect took the holiday time to do some final check on his most important speech and volunteer in a shelter for homeless teenagers in Washington.

Obama symbolically paints the wall of the shelter and said, "We can't allow any idle hands. Everybody's gonna have to pitch in and I think American people are ready to do that." He also emphasized that during the economy crisis, the Government can't do it alone without the contribution of America.

Big screen beauty Julia Roberts has been caught on camera swearing and ranting at a photographer she claims to have been following her all day long. The incident happened on January 10 after she picked up her two children from a New Mexico school.

Roberts was driving around with her kids in the Los Angeles area when the photographer tried to act friendly to her, asking "Hey Julia, how are you? You look great today." But, the actress got mad at him, and immediately parked her vehicle on the parking lot of Islands Restaurant in Venice, California before eventually approached the paparazzo, screaming at him, "You get the f*** out of my face, do you understand me?"

"Paul Blart: Mall Cop" keeps digging gold at the box office chart over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. After nailing the #1 slot of the three-day weekend box office, the Kevin James' latest comedy movie secures the revenue chart's top spot, hauling in $39.2 million over the four-day weekend.

According to Rentrak, with the nearly $40 million bow, "Paul Blart" easily becomes the second-best January opening behind "Cloverfield", which raked in $46.1 million over the four-day MLK weekend in 2008. Produced for $26 million, the PG-comedy has earlier landed atop the North American box office with $31.8 million over the three-day weekend.

Jonas Brothers will join forces with country music singer Taylor Swift for the band's upcoming film "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience". They will hit studio together to record theme songs for the sort-of-documentary movie.

Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas will make a duet with Taylor on a cover version of Shania Twain's 2002 hit single "I'm Gonna Getcha Good". They will also team up on the band's new single, which is yet to be disclosed.

Five clips for the next episode of "Chuck" is compiled to a single player. In "Chuck Versus the Third Dimension", Chuck is on duty to protect an international rock star Tyler Martin (guest star Dominic Monaghan) from a kidnapping and death trap.

An artist with an attitude, Tyler refuses to stay put and convinces Chuck to go out with him to the town that only leads to a night of trouble. Meanwhile, Morgan wins a pair of backstage passes to Tyler's show and holds a contest among his fellow employees, including Big Mike's old football friend Jimmy, to see who gets to be his lucky plus one.

A number of notable Hollywood celebrities speak out their pledges to the U.S. president-elect Barack Obama in a video, which is made by MySpace in partnership with Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media. "We are honored to be working with MySpace to rally the entertainment industry to answer President-elect Barack Obama's call to service," Ashton explains in a statement. "The Presidential Pledge is a platform for people across the nation and throughout the world to make a first-person commitment of service to our new president, articulating a specific intent or action to become an agent of positive change."

Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Nicole Richie, Kevin Connolly, Jason Bateman, Dakota Fanning and Molly Sims are among the stars featured in the video. Each of them has different pledges from one another, as for Courteney and David, the pair pledges to help supporting the hungers by feeding them and helping the local food bank. Dakota, meanwhile, pledges to never stop "learning and growing each day and every day."

will.i.am has debuted his latest Barack Obama-inspired single "America's Song" on January 19. Premiering it on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", he collaborated with Seal, Bono, Mary J. Blige and Faith Hill for the live appearance.

"America's Song" is a track crafted by the Black Eyed Peas' member teaming up with composer David Foster. It contains lyrics narrating, "America is beautiful/ My America, your America, our America is beautiful." It is available for free download on Oprah.com until Tuesday, January 20 at 5 P.M. ET.

Cher may not be the feline villain in the sequel of "The Dark Knight" after all. At a recent appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", the 62-year-old Academy Award-recipient has shot down circulating rumor that she has been considered to be Catwoman in "Batman 3" when asked by host Ellen DeGeneres about the possibility.

Responding to DeGeneres' question why she won't be Catwoman, the pop singer who is known for her big screen performance as Loretta Castorini in "Moonstruck" was quick to make note that she is "too old to be Catwoman". "I could be Grandma Catwoman or something," she then added before explaining that she is involved in another feature film project called "The Drop-Out".