<![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, michael douglas]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: defamer, michael douglas]]> http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/michaeldouglas http://gawker.com/tag/defamer/michaeldouglas <![CDATA[Wall Street Episode II: Attack of the Loans]]> Now is the perfect time to make movies about the economy, because it's all anyone can talk about, so they must want to watch it, too. Specifically, someone should really do a Wall Street sequel.

Good thing someone is! The first film's director, Oliver Stone, has signed a deal with Fox to do a sequel to his 1987 horror movie about the "greed is good" ethos that swallowed up so many New Yorkers in the 80's. Michael Douglas will reprise his role as Gordon Gecko—he won an Oscar on the first go around—but Charlie Sheen (and, presumably, Daryl Hannah) has been replaced. Who's pissy and annoying now, just like Sheen was back then? Shia LaBeouf! He'll play a young upstart, and the current economic clusterbungle will be factored into the story. Allan Loeb, who wrote the sorta-similar cocky young guy movie 21, will pen the script. Stone hasn't really been crankin' out the hits of late, so we are a bit skeptical, though there's some cautious optimism lurking around, because the first one was just so good.

It should be out by the time no one has any money left to buy movie tickets.

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<![CDATA[Why Movie Audiences Won't Fall For a Kinder, Gentler Wall Street]]> A storm surge of Wall Street-in-crisis movies is coming soon to a theater or television near you, and busy trend reporters are preparing us for the worst today with their grim surveys of what to expect in the weeks and months ahead. But beyond the obvious recycling of Wall Street for a new generation of jaded multiplexers, the forecast remains mostly sunny after early, patchy fog; we think you're more likely to see Papi and his Beverly Hills Chihuahua-mates yapping in theaters again before Gordon Gekko ever makes his return trip to Manhattan.

Look at it this way: Hollywood hasn't sold a domestic crisis to moviegoers in years. At least not as a drama, anyway; Michael Moore exceeded documentary standards with Fahrenheit 9/11, but the War on Terror, Hurricane Katrina and other recent, rattling history are nowhere at the box office. Vietnam hit and (mostly) missed between 1975 and 1990, with exceptions including The Deer Hunter, Coming Home Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July. Since then, it's all about the distractions; 24 works because Jack Bauer is your kind of torturer. He's as much of an escapist as you are.

The financial meltdown offers few such release valves. The familiar, curious comforts of Wall Street and Boiler Room are flying off rental shelves, according to The New York Times, but the next crop of business-themed productions — from Lifetime's Candace Bushnell adaptation Trading Up to the Gekko follow-up Money Never Sleeps — are as stillborn as Stop-Loss and Body of Lies before them. Maybe they need dancing chihuahuas, as Paul Haggis hints to the NYT, or, as an NBC programming boss told Bloomberg today, at least "exemplify the foolishness of the human condition in the world of finance'':

Time Warner Inc. has slated Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy for 2009. The movie follows a reporter who uncovers corporate criminals by befriending the man who polishes their wingtips. [...] The New York-based media company will release The Wolf of Wall Street in 2010, based on the autobiography of a stockbroker involved in a 1990s securities fraud. [...]

The rush to exploit the crisis may lead to films lacking nuance and depth of character, said Stanley Weiser, who co-wrote the original Wall Street and wrote W., the film about George W. Bush that opened on Oct. 17.

"They'll make cartoonish villains out of these people,'' said Weiser, who said he wrote a script summary for the Wall Street sequel, then stopped work when the original's co-writer and director, Oliver Stone, dropped out.

Better cartoonish than otherwise, these days, though, with the summer shaping up the way it did and BHC giving up its box-office supremacy last weekend to the video-game adaptation Max Payne. Or maybe skip the money drama altogether for now: We're already worried enough about the industry surviving itself, let alone a prolonged recession (or worse). Anyway, if ever the climate looks troublesome in the near-term, just remember what our old friend Arthur the Haitian Weatherman always says about the extended forecast: "Pretty much everywhere, it's going to be hot."

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<![CDATA['Wall Street' Sequel Revives Gordon Gekko Just in Time For New Depression]]> Finally, word surfaces today about that rarest of rare Hollywood specimens: a sequel we can actually get behind. Not that we're wholeheartedly endorsing Fox's reported plans for a follow-up to Wall Street (and we reserve the right to revoke our support if "Wall Street 2" ever appears following the working title Money Never Sleeps), but the news that Oliver Stone's 1987 potboiler has a "fast-tracked" follow-up yields the kind of timely potential Lord knows we'll miss in so many of its sad, franchise-y contemporaries — plus a Charlie Sheen-free zone where we can comfortably reacquaint ourselves with one of our favorite '80s villains.

Variety notes that Allan Loeb is working on the script; he previously wrote 21, a wobbly adaptation that nevertheless capitalized on card-shark fever en route to a $157 million worldwide gross earlier this year. With financial destitution having since replaced more innocuous gambling as all the rage six months later, we're not ashamed of our curiosity as to how Michael Douglas's cutthroat inside trader Gordon Gekko would shuffle back to Lower Manhattan to set things right for a new generation of ambitious douches like Bud Fox — the Sheen character whom Gekko disposably exploits before heading off for a long prison vacation. And how many Jim Cramer/Neil Cavuto/Marisa Bartiromo cameos will reintroduce Gekko to the business culture that's long since forsaken him?

So many questions, though Fox has at least one unambiguous casting demand: The film won't happen without Douglas agreeing to reprise his Oscar-winning role. He's not officially attached (and neither Sheen nor Stone are expected to return), and Mel Gibson's brave stand against Lethal Weapon 5 has actors across town united against the perversion of their most celebrated characters. It's nothing former commodities trader Loeb can't fix, though, peppering his script with awards-clip-ready dialogue bites and, if possible, Gekko's redemption by single-handedly lifting the Street out of its historic funk. After all, the Dow was up 936 points Monday on news of the sequel alone! Let's put this crisis to bed today — make two sequels at the same time, Hobbit-style. Greed is good.

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<![CDATA[ Are You Mick Jagger? SAG Has Your Money:...]]> Are You Mick Jagger? SAG Has Your Money: A recent scan by Sharon Waxman of the Screen Actors Guild's Web site yielded the only slightly staggering discovery that the union is holding more than $25 million in unclaimed funds for almost 67,000 members. The majority is dead (Katherine Hepburn, John F. Kennedy, Buster Keaton), but no small number is still alive and working, including Michael Douglas, Mick Jagger, Patrick Dempsey and even Eric Bogosian — who last week was elected to SAG's board, making its official "we can't find these people" excuse all the more baffling. On the bright side, Assaf Cohen is on his way. Changes will be made! [WaxWord]

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<![CDATA[Steven Soderbergh Headed Back To Vegas For 'Oceans 14: The Liberace Project']]> In keeping with the current indie trend in which every 20th Century Gay of Note gets their own biopic (first came Capote, then Milk, and in the works are Taylor Hackford Tennessee Williams project, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, and James Franco channeling Alan Ginsberg in Howl), we can now add a little razmatazz to the mix, as Steven Soderbergh is developing a Liberace biography. From Variety:

The filmmaker said he has drafted his "Traffic" star Michael Douglas to play the flamboyant pianist. Richard LaGravanese is writing the script, and Jerry Weintraub will produce.

Soderbergh is in discussions with Matt Damon to play Scott Thorson, who sued Liberace in 1982 for $113 million in palimony, claiming he was the entertainer's companion for five years. Even though Liberace never wavered from career-long denials that he was gay, Thorson reportedly settled for $95,000 in 1986.

While we're eager to see how master biopicicist Soderbergh recreates Liberace's pink-fur-lined limo trysts and candelabra shopping sprees, it seems we'll have to wait awhile: He has two projects in the queue before this one, including the real-call-girl-starring, real-sex-featuring The Girlfriend Experience. That should give Douglas plenty of time to practice his best, "When the reviews are bad, I cry my way to the bank!" In the meantime, all this talk of Liberace movies has made us wistful for 1988—the Golden Age of Dueling Liberace MOWs—when Andrew Robinson and Victor Garber both gave their own memorable spins on the life of Mr. Showmanship.

Remember?

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<![CDATA[The Jake And Reese Love Train Makes A Stop At Mozza]]> PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers, and are posted several times a week, so send them in often—the fate of the universe relies upon it! Submit yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line so we don't lose them) and tell everyone about the time you noticed Dennis Rodman manhandling a minor at Koi.

In today's episode: Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, and Jamie Lee Curtis; Michael Douglas and Michelle Rodriguez; Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor; Mark McGrath; Dustin Hoffman; Billy Joel; Romany Malco; Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Dennis Rodman; Zachary Quinto; John Legend; Danny Masterson; Dina Meyer; Louie Anderson; Robert Wisdom; Jocelyn Wildenstein; Jim Jones; and Constantine Maroulis.

· March 12th, lunchtime. On my inaugural visit to Mozza on Highland and Melrose, I spotted a gaggle of celebs while stuffing my face with their signature pizza. Up from a table rose lanky Jamie Lee Curtis, wearing all blacks and greys and her signature spunky haircut. As my eyes traveled down to resume pizza-eating, I noticed two of the four sitting at the table that I presume she was sitting at - of all folks, Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon. JG was scruffy and terribly attractive, much more so in person than I expected, and stared at RW adoringly, snapping a few candids of her throughout the lunch with his digital camera. Cute couple.

· Michael Douglas inciting a near-riot among the 15 (I counted) paparazzi camped in front of Il Sole on Sat night (3/8). No sign of his 38-year old wife. Michelle Rodriguez was there too but I'm pretty sure we've all stopped caring about her.

· Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor dining at Katsuya in Studio City on Friday, 03/07. They were with another couple.

03/07 - Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray at Hotel Figueroa in downtown LA.

· 2/9- Billy Joel at the Village Idiot on Melrose... low key in requisite celeb-staple baseball hat squeezed into a booth with industry types. took a second to decide it was really him, until it dawned on my group that the Grammy's were indeed the next day.

· 2/27- Romany Malco of 40 Year-Old virgin and Weeds fame at the Grove. Had to do a quick double take considering the 'wow he's not much taller than me' surprise that 90% of privacywatches seem to recognize. Hugging a girlfriend type and quite handsome in a t-shirt and jeans.

· 3/8- Dustin Hoffman walking down the insufferably crowded 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica arm and arm with wife (I assume?). Seemed to be enjoying the beautiful evening despite the sea of humanity. Looks exactly like he does on film with a well-deserved and friendly 'it's good to be me!' grin.

· Joseph Gordon Levitt at the Rufus Wainwright show at USC on Wednesday (3/5). He was up in the balcony with us common folk, he looked like a cute hipster in glasses, striped sweater and an Obama 08 pin, he seemed to be really enjoying the show. Rufus was amazing as usual, he dedicated one song to Heath Ledger, which made me think of how adorable he and JGL were in 10 Things I Hate About You.

· march 1st... dennis rodman walking into koi wasted... a few drinks later, he got kicked out for shoving a kid at a birthday dinner one table over from him...

· Stardage 2008-03-08 Silver Lake Star System
spotted the rebooted Spock (and everyone's faves super villain, Seiler), Zachary Quinto, leaving the gayster hangout, Akbar. he was usual hot self, but was sporting the vulcan eyebrows. Also saw Jesse Tyler Ferguson of the me sitcom, The Class. i'm a sucker for cute redheads, what can i say

· 1ish on Saturday night. John Legend with a toffee-skinned model at the In and Out on Sunset and Orange. Took pictures and signed autographs for a mob of film school types.

· Danny Masterson at the Coffee Bean on Sunset Blvd, but not the one by the DGA building. Very nice to the staff and handed a drink off to a
mysterious individual in his Range Rover. (march 12)

· Last night (03/09) I was standing in line at the ticket window buying tix to Married Life at the Monica 4-Plex (Santa Monica) and caught my husband checking out a hottie in front of us. When she turned around after getting her tickets I realized it was none other than Starship Trooper, Dina Meyer! I was shocked and said "it's Dizzy Flores" a bit too loud. She gave me a smile and nod of acknowledgment (I guess she gets that a lot!) as she wandered into the theater with a female friend who rudely laughed in my face (and looked exactly like Camryn Manheim, but wasn't). She's not as tall as she looks on screen and was looking a bit glassy-eyed and pale but still very striking. And she was sporting long wavy dark hair too. No sign of those frizzy dizzy curls!

· On my way to the car rental desk at the Burbank Airport on 3/7 I notice a familiar face talking on his cellphone, dressed in clothes too heavy for the weather and looking rather slept in. I know he's a comedian but I can't come up with the name of this rather heavy man with a gap in his front teeth. Using those descriptors as my Google reference didn't help, but then I remembered Family Feud and I realized I had seen Louie Anderson. And sadly, he was my only celebrating sighting on my short visit.

· On Saturday, March 8, saw everyone's favorite cat woman, Jocelyn Wildenstein, at The Ivy. I guess what was so remarkable, well, other than THAT, was her ginormous boobs. I mean, the pics always just show her face. But, she was standing there, with what I assumed was her boyfriend, looking like she could release the hounds at any minute. It was a rather fascinating site as the tourists weren't quite sure what to make of this special occasion. The only thing that could possible top that was if Angelyne popped out of her pink Corvette and challenged JW to a cat fight. Sunday was much more tame. Had beers, and a pretty in depth political discussion, with Robert Wisdom at the Village Idiot. Who is that you ask? Major "Bunny" Colvin from The Wire. I guess what made it so remarkable was that the end of the series was about to air in a few hours and he was just throwing back a few pints on Melrose. I hate to say it, but a really nice guy and a lucid thinker.

· Rapper Jim Jones getting his swoll on at Equinox West Hollywood. Balllllllllllin'!

· Went bowling Friday afternoon (3/7) with the coworkers at Pinz in Studio City and spotted Constantine Maroulis bowling with a blonde chick, older guy with stringy hair, and a kid who looked to be in his early teens. Odd group. They were just starting to bowl as we walked out so the most I saw was his first shot down the alley... he was using a hot pink ball.

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<![CDATA[Baked Fish Is The Best]]>
· We have to admit that, up to this point, we haven't been regular watchers of BET's Hell Date. That's all about to change.
· Remember when we said yesterday that we were totally going to buy the new issue of GQ because Rachel Bilson is on the cover? Well, we lied. Egotastic has got the pictures. Frankly, we were hoping for more.
· Our favorite Olsen, Ashley, made out with our least favorite Leto, Jared.
· Absolut Vagina! Probably better than Absolut Kurant.
· Enjoy this complete retrospective of Amy Winehouse's hair.
· I'll Say I'm Sorry, But I'm Not Taking Off My Glasses: The T-Shirt [via Gorilla Mask]
· And you thought Kirk Douglas looked old?

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<![CDATA[Trade Round-Up: Chinese Pirates Already Disrespecting 'Spider-Man 3' Copyrights]]> · Realizing that he's only played a lawyer once (Fatal Attraction), Michael Douglas quickly signs on to fill the courtroom-drama-shaped hole in his career by starring in Tragic Indifference, based on a landmark case against Ford over its "indifference to flaws in its SUVs." Scene-chewing delivery of a stirring closing statement to follow. [Variety]
· Chinese Pirates 1, Sony 0: China's camcording brigade has already made pirated copies of Spider-Man 3 available on the streets of Beijing, nearly two weeks ahead of the movie's U.S. debut. Didn't that flashy Tokyo premiere teach the scofflaws anything about respecting copyrights? The MPAA's next step: dispatching piracy-hating stuntman Manny Perry to smash some black market DVD stalls with a Louisville slugger. [THR]
· The Coen Brothers will make the Fargoesque dark comedy A Serious Man for Working Title and Focus Features. Lantern-jawed muse George Clooney has yet to be attached. [Variety]
· Should ABC pick up the much-discussed Grey's Anatomy spin-off for the fall, creator Shonda Rhimes has selected Krista Vernoff to run the Grey's mothership and Marti Noxon for the satellite; Rhimes will oversee both, which will primarily involve ensuring that both shows' characters have properly overwrought speeches about their impossibly complicated love-lives to deliver and collecting enormous paychecks [THR]
· Lifetime proves its admirable commitment to keeping the female television drama stars of the 90's off the streets, signing up 90210's Jennie Garth and Party of Five's Lacey Chabert for made-for-TV movie gigs. [Variety]

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<![CDATA[Short Ends: A Black Day For Yellow Wiggles]]> wiggle-yellow - Defamer· The headline "Yellow Wiggle Decides to Stop Performing" may not mean much to you, but trust us, there are millions of four-year-olds tearfully clutching CD covers right now and angrily accusing Yellow Wiggle Ono of having broken up their favorite band.
· By now you've probably heard that Sofia Coppola is a new mommy. Just like the one she almost got last week!
· We know you simply couldn't go on without knowing how Michael Douglas is doing after almost falling during a Bermudan "roof-wetting" ceremony. He's OK!
· Yes, all of Cracked.com's lame fight scenes are pretty terrible, but the knife-licking insanity of #1 wins by a wide margin.
· After over two decades, Beverly Hills is almost ready to endorse a subway route, but residents are secretly hoping the "wrong kind of people" who will inevitably end up riding it will bypass their manicured streets for whatever Santa Monica crack motel they're headed to.
· For those of you for whom the Michael Richards "Afro-American" apology on Letterman left them wanting, perhaps you'll prefer these more coherent sentiments from an old episode of Seinfeld...though they'll probably end up doing more harm than good.

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<![CDATA[Short Ends: Lifting Michael Douglas]]>

· Defamer Celebrity Style Secret: Wear your jowls on the back of your neck and your original hairline at the base of your skull to look years younger! [Hat tip to Gilded Moose for alerting us to Michael Douglas' alarming facial tightness.]
"'Hitler was a bad man, but what's wrong with having food here?' said Ashwini Phadnis, 22, a microbiology student as she tucked away a piece of chocolate cake." Real wire story on India's Hitler's Cross restaurant or Onion article? You make the call.
The Gut's figure sketching class is really starting to pay some dividends.
Now that she mentions it, yeah, Kevin Federline does resemble a weasel.
· We highly recommend Defamer blogfather Choire Sicha's piece on the short shrift honkies receive in Snakes on a Plane. Being white on Samuel L. Jackson's plane is more deadly than being a virgin in a slasher flick.
· Every model could really learn something from Jeremy Piven's unconventional hand placement choices.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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<![CDATA[No, Not That Michael Douglas. The Other One.]]>
Please note the newswire's careful repetition of the "former TV show host" identifier, a compassionate touch obviously included to prevent a series of tearful condolence phone calls to Catherine Zeta-Jones—whose much older husband, quite frankly, is probably one more sexagenarian facelift away from some tragic, fatal complications.

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<![CDATA[Breaking! Michael Douglas Engages In Incestuous Watersports!]]> michael-douglas2.jpgWhile Tom Cruise holes up in his compound and selfishly withholds all information about his alleged offspring from the world, Hollywood veteran and proud older dad Michael Douglas can't wait to let the world know about all the wonderful things his kid is up to:

The star explains, "I took my kids down to the ocean the other day and we had a little problem - we have jellyfish. I got stung actually pretty bad, across my back just last week. There's sort of a remedy that we've all heard...urine. It's the remedy if you have a bad sting.

"So I asked my five-year-old son if he would pee-pee on my back. He looked at me like he'd gone to heaven. He was like 'This is what I call a good summer holiday! Pee-pee on daddy's back!' I don't know if it helped at all, but my son was happy. We'll work it out in 20 years (when he's in therapy)!"

When he graduates from kindergarten and into full-time therapy, we're sure Douglas' son will have plenty of questions to tackle with his mental health professional, such as, "Did Daddy cynically tell the reporter I liked peeing on him so that he would laugh and be nice to his movie, or does he just have no boundaries after spending an entire life in Hollywood?" or the more lingering dilemma, "Why do I get older on each birthday, but Mommy and Daddy get younger?"

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<![CDATA[Short Ends: Your Very Own Black Bar]]> · Those sweethearts at TMZ.com are at it again, sending out some obnoxious punk with a video camera to get into Woody Harrelson's face until he retaliates, which provides them with yet more scummy scoops for their site. As Tabloid Baby blog points out, Time Warner is skating up an oil-slicked slope with this one.
· Let this be a warning to you: The only one who has a right to use Michael Douglas' image to whore out goods and services is Michael Douglas.
· Watching aspiring soap actors unsuccessfully try to tear each other's clothing off never gets old.
· You can now pre-order "Cobras in the Cockpit"—the totally unauthorized SoaP-inspired boardgame. It's no fun for the whole family!
· Save a tabloid editor the time and trouble of having to censor your underage, partying face from photos by wearing the black bar to the club.

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<![CDATA[Hollywood PrivacyWatch: Luke Wilson Four Bud Lights Short Of A Six-Pack]]> PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers. Send yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line) and let everyone know about the time you saw Kiefer Sutherland lingering for an uncomfortably long time in the deli meats section of your local market.

In this week's episode: Luke Wilson; Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones; Heath Ledger; Jake Gyllenhaal; Salma Hayek; Kate Beckinsale; Kiefer Sutherland; Jessica Simpson; Stephen Dorff and Lisa Rinna; Cindy Crawford; Steve Martin; Jenny McCarthy; Chloe Sevigny; Nicollette Sheridan; Traci Lords; Jason Lee; David Schwimmer and Cheech Marin; Eric Roberts; Joey Slotnick; Steven Page and Dax Shepherd; Master P. and Danny Bonaduce.

· sighting on saturday afternoon 6/17... luke wilson and his girlfriend politely cutting in line in front of us at neptune's net in malibu. it appeared to be a quick pit stop to pick up two cans of bud light. they got the two cans and walked out the restaurant. a minute later luke walked back in and asked the bus boy if he had seen his 'girlfriend' and is describing her physical appearance when she pops up behind him (she was apparently using the icky port-a-potty bathroom facilities at neptune's net that not even i could bear). the two immediately hopped into his porche and drove away, bud light in tow. not sure if the two cans were for the road or for a romantic light domestic toast on the beach.

· i had lunch at la piazza at the grove in los angeles on saturday june 17 around noon. sitting directly behind me? michael douglas and catherine zeta-jones plus their two kids. I did not turn around to gawk, but did hear them talking from time to time. a friend at my table said that catherine stepped away to take a call at one point and left michael with the kids. they had a time trying to get the kids to eat and apparently michael put one of the kids on his lap and tried to get the kid to eat some pizza. i only saw them as they exited the restaurant. michael was wearing a purple polo shirt, khakis, sunglasses and had the beginnings of a beard. He carried one of their children out of the restaurant. catherine was low-key in a tank top, long flowing skirt... had her hair pulled back in a bun, no make-up that i could tell, and sunglasses. i probably would not have recognized them if i'd seen them somewhere else. our service was a little slow since most of the servers were dividing their time between gawking at the aforementioned family and the world cup match on the television upstairs. they were the only celebs I spotted while in LA, but hey, at least they were A-list!

· Saw Heath Ledger at the West Hollywood Pavillions on his way out, thanking someone for a compliment he had obviously received. Not as short as I had expected, maybe 5' 10", with an absolutely flawless golden complexion, blond hair and a "I'm really a nice guy, but please don't recognize me" sort of look on him (Unlike the patented Piven "You're a nobody, don't look at me" thing).

· Sunday June 18: Saw Jake Gyllenhaal at the weekly Hollywood Farmers Market at Selma and Ivar. He was being stalked by two overweight photographers with telephoto lenses. He turned tail and ran when he saw them.

· I grabbed a glass of wine by the bar at Café Stella in Silver Lake Wednesday night (6-21), where about half the time, you'll spot someone famous. That night, it was Salma Hayek at a corner table, in the midst of an intense discussion with her three male companions. About what, who knows—life, love, art, monobrows—at least that's what I imagine Salma Hayek talks about.

· Kate Beckinsale getting back to her British roots at the Kings Head pub in Santa Monica on Saturday. Weren't there rumblings her and hubbie Len Wiseman were on the rocks? She looked pretty happy hanging with him, her daughter and some random and I don't think she's a good enough actress to have been faking it...

· I saw Kiefer Sutherland & a lady friend yesterday (6/18) at the Mayfair Market at Franklin & Bronson. He was on the deli aisle when I came in & still there when I left 15 minutes later.

· Tuesday - Jessica Simpson walking in Beverly Hills. Flat, pancake butt. At T-Mobile party that night, magically had round, pronounced butt. She must wear "butt pads/silicone butt inserts" as worn in Daisy Dukes in Dukes of Hazzard.

She and two sycophantic girl friends at The Griddle on Sunset. Small frame, giant head and MASSIVE BOOBS, each one bigger than her already large head. I don't know what they were talking about at the table, but for someone with a reputation for being dumb, Jessica seemed able to keep up with the entire conversation.

· Lisa Rinna from Dancing with the Stars and friend having dinner at Nobu in Malibu on Wednesday 6/14, across from them at another table was Stephen Dorff with older random people eating as well.

· Wilshire, just east of Robertson. A BLS BMW 7-Series idles in front of slightly-vampiric skin guru Christina Radu's office (I've seen that woman up close and it looks likes she drinks blood, and it looks like its good for her skin). A tall woman of a certain age steps from the door and toward the car, Greek fishing hat, low rider jeans, small t-shirt. The face looks familiar, pretty, no make-up and has that reddish "I've just been worked over" swelling and flush. It takes a minute, and then its "that's Cindy Crawford." Wow, she looks pretty good for post-facial, no make-up, broad daylight. Into the car and off she goes. Maybe to get ready for the Playboy party she never got
into at her husband's bar...

· Was at Franklin Canyon reservoir and who should drive up but Steve Martin! He looked plain as can be in a white Lexus. I must have looked ridiculous openly staring at him but what can you do, it's STEVE MARTIN! He was ready to go mountain biking apparently. Looked good for his age. He smiled nicely at my irritating stare — and as I walked away I could hear people shouting "Steve Martin! We love you!" His small car was quite different from the usual big black shiny Merc. His head is really big.

Saw Jenny McCarthy at the Whole Foods on Riverside. She had her sunglasses on, no makeup, with her tyke in the shopping cart. This was before the Jim Carrey tongue pics. She looked hot, even with no makeup and sweats. Not the greatest skin, however. Cute kid.

· Leaving the Pet Store in Victor's Square (Bronson and Franklin) at about 4PM Sunday and spot Chloe Sevigny walking into the local dry cleaner. She's wearing a very "Chloe" outfit - gray 80s, asymmetrical lycra top a la Danskin with bold graphic black and white striped mid thigh shorts. No make-up. Showing bold nipples on small low slung breasts. She leaves the dry cleaner and gets into a green Land Rover Discovery, a very "Darian, Connecticut" car. Not a hybrid, not really "bling." Hmmm,

· I was driving home up in the Hills of Beachwood, lamenting (property values aside) what the rise of Hollywood and Vine has done to the neighborhood (making it into what Sunset Plaza was in the mid-90s), and noticed a purple (!) Lamborghini Gallardo parked two doors down. I make a mental note that this is really proving my point. As I get closer, I see that the entire right side is smashed, one end to another. Closer still, I see a front plate made of duct tape and custom H.I.M logos painted on the car and go "fuck, its that Bam Margera loser, hope he's just visiting..." Over the next two days, I see the car three more times in the 'hood. Not a good sign. As Johnny Knoxville lives about a mile up, it sadly makes sense that BAM might be living here now... Ugh!

· Monday, June 18 Nicollette Sheridan and friends munching from a brown box of Cmpartes Cocolates next door on the patio of Srtino restaurant in Bentwood.

· 6/20 Traci Lords at Sport Chalet in the Beverly Connection. She was sort of hiding as I complained to them for not letting me make a $5 purchase with my AmEx and only a xerox of my driver's license. She was very conservatively dressed.

· 6/16, around 6:30pm, was driving west on Sunset Blvd. to get to the Arclight. We were driving behind a nice, shiny new Porsche. My girlfriend noticed it, and said it looked like a spy car. As we switched to the left turn lane, we passed next to it and peeked at the driver. It was Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl), with a neatly trimmed beard, looking a little better in person than on the show.

· Spotted both David Schwimmer and Cheech Marin on AA 1364 from LAX to Chicago Thursday 6/8. Schwim was inconspicuous in an electric blue track jacket and Cheech rocked the aviator sunglasses while reading US Weekly. They sat in the same row (5) but not next to each other. David also had to go to the bathroom frequently.

· Saw Eric Roberts walking towards the bike path in the Palisades on Sunday, coming from one of those all exclusive lunch places. Had to tone down the boyfriend when he said, "Oh, is he related to Julia Roberts??" and I said, "Sssh, he might here you." He looks great though. Purple trunks, nice bod and seemed pretty chill.

· Saw JOEY SLOTNICK walking down Larchmont this morning, Thursday June 22. He was carrying a coffee, bottle of water, and a newspaper. That's pretty much all I have to report. Except to say, if you have friends or relatives in from out of town and they really want to see a "star", take them to Larchmont in the mornings, especially weekends. Hang around the Starbucks/Sam's Bagel/Coffee Bean vicinity and you're virtually guaranteed a B or C level celebrity sighting of the Joey Slotnick variety.

· Tuesday June 20 around 12:30pm-

Steven Page, the lead singer of Barenaked Ladies eating lunch with a pal at Mel's Diner on Sunset Blvd.

Tuesday June 20 around 12:45pm-

Dax Shepherd, sporting a terrible looking mohawk (which hopefully is for a movie role) and a pal eating lunch at Mel's Diner on Sunset Blvd.

· I saw Master P., with large entourage in tow, at the Bed Bath and Beyond in West LA on Sunday 6/18. I was dying to see what totally mundane, normal thing he brought 15 people with him to buy ("Come on, dogs, get in the Escalade. I need a panini press, yo.") but we were left before I could see. He's really tall and his feet are size of canoes. No wonder he sucked on that dancing show.

· Saturday 2pm - Danny Bonaduce on his Harley at the corner of Franklin & Argyle. The people in the car next to him rolled down their window to say something complimentary. He said thanks and gave them a big smile before pulling away.

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<![CDATA[Michael Douglas Denies Having Said Thing He Probably Said]]> michael-douglas-extra.jpgWhen a GQ profile quoted Michael Douglas as taking a petty swipe at everyone's favorite globetrotting altruists Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ("I don't know about Brad Pitt, leaving that beautiful wife to go hold orphans for Angelina. I mean, how long is that going to last?" were his reported words), it instantly became the diss heard round the world. But the impressively bearded actor has gone on the record with Extra, claiming that the quote was entirely fabricated:

Michael denies the statement and says, "This had been unfortunate. It was a lengthy article. It must have been 20 hours of tape recording. So, I asked to hear the tape recording, and the reporter said, 'Well, I turned the tape recorder off.' And I said, 'Well, you had it on for the whole time.' So I didn't say it."

But Michael revealed to "Extra" that he wrote Brad and Angelina an apology anyway.

"I consider him a good friend," Michael said. "She does wonderful work for the United Nations, which is what I'm also involved in."

Something about the lack of outrage in his denial (you can watch the video here and decide for yourself) makes it hard for us to buy his story. No, we still get the sense that this was just a desperate attempt at damage control after Douglas ran off at the mouth with a particularly self-righteous, cranky-old-man monologue, which probably started with the words "You want to know what's wrong with the world today?" and closed with a pithy, "So pack that into your bong bowl and smoke it, ya little guttersnipes!"

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<![CDATA[Michael Douglas Puts Long Odds On Team Jolie]]> Douglas-Jones-Baby.jpgA little trash talking and competition between celebrity UN spokespersons is nothing new who could forget that regrettable 1976 gala podium hair-pulling incident between Shirley Temple Black and Audrey Hepburn? but when UN Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas recently took a swat at UN Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, he took things a step too far, dragging her innocent assortment of adopted orphans and their proud new dad into the ugliness:

Jen [Aniston] might be happy to know that she is no victim in the eyes of Michael Douglas. Surprisingly, Douglas, the United Nations Messenger of Peace, sounds off in the April issue of GQ, saying:

I don t know about Brad Pitt, leaving that beautiful wife to go hold orphans for Angelina. I mean, how long is that going to last?

While it probably wasn't his place to say it, we'd grudgingly admit that Douglas may have a point: An unpleasant aftertaste of photo-op vanity does tend to linger around the entire Team Jolie proceedings. Better Angelina should have taken a page from Douglas' own book, and married a fading actor twice her age (hey is Pacino still single?), then bear the old man a couple real kids with which the happy family can all share a what's-left-of-a-lifetime's-worth of wheelchair-access-enabled Disneyland memories.

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<![CDATA[Zeta-Jones: Keep Your Grubby Hands Off My Irresistible, Sexagenarian Husband]]> zeta-airplane.jpgIn Brazil to promote her new movie The Legend of Zorro, Catherine Zeta-Jones laid down the law when it comes to the daily barrage of lustful, pansexual mummy-fetishists beating a path directly for the contents of eternally youthful husband Michael Douglas' pants:

I was never a jealous woman, and if I were, I d never tell a reporter! she said. I never had a fight over jealousy and regarding Michael, if a man looks at him, I ll be angry, but if it s a woman it s better for me because with her, I ll solve the problem with a sword.

The swordplay talk, of course, is just needless bravado. Zeta-Jones knows that even the most opportunistic, money-grubbing tart probably wouldn't be willing to go through with the laborious ritual of stretching and re-stapling her husband's skin every morning, even for a shot at his considerable fortune.

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<![CDATA[Trade Round-Up: Ben Stiller Unleashes Neurotic Curse On Family Audiences]]> ben-stiller2.jpg· With an eye towards cleaning up at next year's holiday box office, Fox signs Ben Stiller for A Night at the Museum, in which Stiller will star as a security guard who "unwittingly unleashes a curse that brings to life the bugs and animals on display." Excuse us. Stiller will star as a twitchy, neurotic, and impotent-rage-prone security guard who "unwittingly unleashes a curse that brings to life the bugs and animals on display." [Variety]
· Despite CBS's killer hurricane and NBC's live debate on The West Wing/two-hour L&O:SVU counterprogramming Hail Marys, America still preferred to watch the creepy, gay-seeming pharmacist contemplate date-raping Marcia Cross on Desperate Housewives. [THR]
· Michael Douglas mercifully chooses a role which will probably not require any further restorative plastic surgery, signing up to play "an eccentric and manic-depressive father who becomes obsessed with his belief that there's buried treasure in the San Fernando Valley" in the Alexander Payne-produced King of California. [Variety]
· Now that an Everybody Loves Raymond spinoff looks like a longshot, Brad Garrett realizes that he might need someone to find him a job, hires William Morris to hunt down the appropriate sitcom second-banana roles and CBS MOWs. [THR]
· It's William Morris Signing Day! Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to the welcoming arms of longtime WMA agent George Freeman, whom she jilted for CAA two years ago. [Variety]

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<![CDATA[Michael Douglas Discovers Fountain Of Youth]]>
Maybe it's the Don-Johnson-at-his-swaggering-best stubble, maybe it's the fresh coat of Just for Men's "Natural Ash Brown," or maybe it's the fact that only one of the "weeping wounds" on his face is bandaged, thereby deflecting all suspicion that he's very recently had some elective age-correction surgery with some canny facial asymmetry, but that Michael Douglas is looking awfully spry these days. In fact, he's so darn youthful we feel we must issue an apology for referring to Catherine Zeta-Jones as a "mummy war bride"—at least until his face starts to slacken again.

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