In the event you were like me and just assumed that Jessica Biel was a man, who dressed like a woman, for the sake of her career and to beard the man she threw her career away from, because he was her N Sync crush….I mean at least that’s what her muscular back was saying…well apparently she’s pregnant…and actually has a vagina…if you take a picture of Timberlake kissing a faceless stomach that might as well be her surrogate, and that any picture you see of her with a baby bump could just be movie magic…because they do live in LA you know… Either way…the baby is on the way…and I heard it is already owned by Disney, it was in the contract Timberlake’s family signed when they sold him to the cult many fucking years ago.
A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. Missouri VA Hospital Under Fire For Exposing 1,800 Veterans To HIV Via CNN reports: John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis has recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan. Carnahan said Tuesday he is calling for a investigation into the issue and has sent a letter to President Obama about it. “This is absolutely unacceptable,” said Carnahan, a Democrat from Missouri. “No veteran who has served and risked their life for this great nation should have to worry about their personal safety when receiving much needed healthcare services from a Veterans Administration hospital.” The issue stems from a failure to clean dental instruments properly, the hospital told CNN affiliate KSDK. Dr. Gina Michael, the association chief of staff at the hospital, told the affiliate that some dental technicians broke protocol by handwashing tools before putting them in cleaning machines. The instruments were supposed to only be put in the cleaning machines, Michael said. The handwashing started in February 2009 and went on until March of this year, the hospital told KSDK. The hospital has set up a special clinic and education centers to help patients who may have been infected. However, Carnahan said he feels more should be done and those responsible should be disciplined. “I can only imagine the horror and anger our veterans must be feeling after receiving this letter,” Carnahan said. “They have every right to be angry. So am I.” This is not the first time this year a hospital has been in hot water for not following proper procedures. In June, Palomar Hospital in San Diego, California, has sent certified letters to 3,400 patients who underwent colonoscopy and other similar procedures, informing the patients that there may be a potential of infection from items used and reused in the procedures. Is this how our country treats its war veterans???!
Would you really want to see Sherri Shepherd naked though?? Sherri Shepherd’s Ex Husband Denies Leaking Intimate Photos For A Price Via TMZ reports: Lamar Sally insists he’s NOT trying to hawk naked pics of his soon-to-be-ex Sherri Shepherd … but tells TMZ if he did have nude pics of her, they might not be getting divorced. Earlier this week a report came out that Sally had compromising pics of Shepherd and was willing to share them — for a price — but Sally tells TMZ that’s complete BS. In fact, he says … “If Sherri would have been more sexual with me and sent me things like nude pictures, we’d still be married.” Sources close to the ex-couple tell us Sally hasn’t heard a word from Shepherd since their surrogate gave birth last month to the baby boy they planned to raise together … back when they were happily married. We’re told the baby is living with Lamar in L.A. and Sherri’s never met him. We’re told Sally rejected a $150K settlement offer from Shepherd in their child custody dispute … because he crunched the numbers. That works out to $694/mo. over 18 years, and according to our sources … Sally thinks the court will order Sherri to pay more.. Sherri Shepherd is shaped like a desktop, nobody wants to see that!
As you may have heard or read, the 2012 Academy Award nominations have stirred strong reactions in certain pockets of the Oscar snubculture. And you just know that Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close filmmaker Stephen Daldry — a first-time non -nominee for Best Director — is seething somewhere out there: “But at least two of those guys won’t even show up! ” Fair enough! Or is it? While everyone expects Michel Hazanavicius, Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese to attend the 84th Oscars ceremony on Feb. 26, the odds do not especially favor appearances by Woody Allen and Terrence Malick. Allen, who used to have his longstanding jazz dates at the Cafe Carlyle to excuse him from from the old Monday night Oscars (he has never formally accepted any of his three Academy Awards — two in 1978 for Annie Hall , one for Hannah and Her Sisters in 1987), has only deigned to drop by the Sunday night Oscars once: In 2002, mere months after the Sept. 11 attacks, he drew a standing ovation before introducing a montage of classic films set in New York. By all indications, Allen’s opinion of the event and its organizers hasn’t changed much from 34 years ago, when he lobbed one of history’s most enduring Oscar dismissals : “I have no regard for that kind of ceremony. I just don’t think they know what they’re doing. When you see who wins those things — or who doesn’t win them — you can see how meaningless this Oscar thing is.” That said, Allen would do well to represent the biggest professional success of his career — particularly on a night that’s already shaping up as a showcase for Hollywood’s complicated relationships with both nostalgia and the future. Moreover, this year’s class of Director nominees contains three world-renowned masters (including Allen) at whom it would be pretty unreasonable to cast aspersions, plus a man who made a silent film about the futility of pride. Industry back-patting aside, this year — of all years — would be the one to express a little artistic solidarity with peers like Scorsese and Malick. Oh, right: Malick. Terry, Terry, Terry. The legendarily publicity-shy filmmaker attended the Cannes premiere of Tree of Life last May but delegated producer Bill Pohlad to accept the Palme d’Or on his behalf. But according to Pohlad , Malick was “genuinely happy” to hear about Tree ‘s nominations and may be responsive to persuasion when it comes to attending. “I’m hesitant to push Terry to do something he doesn’t like doing, but I also want him to enjoy it,” Pohlad told the LAT , adding: “Sometimes, its frustrating how removed from it he tries to keep it, but it comes from a real place. He’s tried to do something original and adventurous and he wants the focus to be on that.” Hmm. Well, trust me, Mr. Malick: We all pinky-swear to focus on The Tree of Life and all of its originality and adventurousness and the rest if you just drop in for a little while. Ryan Seacrest promises not to accost you on the red carpet; Christopher Plummer promises not to bring up any more hard feelings about The New World . The Academy even promises not to vote for you if not having to take the stage would guarantee your attendance. We’ll do anything! Just say the word. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Remember Patton Oswalt’s Oscar-snubbee Twitter fan fiction — specifically the part wherein Tilda Swinton and Andy Serkis rocked out together to “Life on Mars”? Well, Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert or someone might want to get on that, if Swinton’s priceless reaction is any indication. Per Vulture : “Oh, how fun! Is he there now?” she said. We explained that it was merely his Twitter feed. “But is it real? We should go! Where is he?” she asked, grabbing for her keys and heading for the door. Actually, we explained, he was kidding. “Oh, he’s making jokes. What a shame. I think we should do it for real. How faaabulous!” she said. When she read the tweet, “Serkis & Tilda are singing ‘Is There Life on Mars?'” Swinton said, “That’s a dare! That’s an excellent dare. Okay, Patton, you’re on. Let’s get Andy and let’s go for it!” Genius . Or maybe Swinton could finally fulfill her promise to portray Conan O’Brien on Conan , introducing her and Serkis? There would not be enough health insurance in the world to cover all the exploded heads. [
Our Sundance bidding-war preview may have foreseen only part of the fervor around the John Hawkes/Helen Hunt drama The Surrogate , but how’s this for compensation: As predicted , the Richard Gere/Susan Sarandon Wall Street thriller Arbitrage went to Roadside Attractions (with its partners at Lionsgate) for just over $2 million . Bam! That’s not it for deals, either: Get the updated roster of Sundance pics -– and see which offerings earned raves, and which didn’t — after the jump. Arbitrage (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions) – Nicholas Jarecki’s dramatic feature-filmmaking debut stars Richard Gere as a billionaire hedge-fund fraud seeking to cash in before he’s exposed. Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling and Tim Roth co-star. Look for the studio duo to duplicate the multi-platform success they enjoyed in 2011 with Margin Call , another financial-world potboiler picked up in Park City. The Surrogate (Fox Searchlight) – Sundance favorite John Hawkes turns in an brave performance as real life poet Mark O’Brien, who yearns to lose his virginity with a sex therapist (Helen Hunt) despite being paralyzed from the head down. Fox Searchlight paid a reported $6 million for the pic, which may face tricky ratings deliberations due to Hunt’s full frontal nudity. Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight) – The smallest narrative to get a deal thus far at Sundance comes off of strong buzz and acclaim for the tale of a young girl and her ailing father who live in a fantastical alternate version of the American South. Red Lights (Millenium Films) Negative reviews hurt the profile of this Rodrigo Cortes ( Buried ) thriller, despite featuring Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, and last year’s Sundance darling Elizabeth Olsen. For a Good Time, Call… (Focus Features) – The feature debut of shorts director Jamie Travis pairs Lauren Anne Miller and Ari Graynor as frenemies who start a phone sex line together, one of a gaggle of raunchy female-driven comedies in this year’s line-up. Celeste and Jesse Forever (Sony Pictures Classics) – With Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg leading a cast of familiar players, this was bound to attract buyer attention galore. Sony Pictures Classics snatched it up for a reported $2 million, adding C&J to their previous Sundance acquisitions Searching for Sugar Man and The Raid. Previously announced Sundance 2012 deals: Searching for Sugar Man (Sony Classics) – The documentary about 1960s musician Rodriguez played well to critics and was snatched up by SPC for a reported six figures. The Queen of Versailles (Magnolia Pictures) – Another well-received doc, Lauren Greenfield’s examination of Florida real estate mogul David Siegel was picked up by Magnolia on Friday. Black Rock (LD Distribution) – Katie Aselton’s thriller about three female friends (Aselton, Lake Bell, Kate Bosworth) surviving a weekend getaway gone wrong was the first Midnight selection to seal a deal, partnering with newbie venture LD Distribution. The Words (CBS Films) – Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, and Jeremy Irons lead a cast of recognizable stars in this literary drama about a writer (Cooper) who claims credit on someone else’s manuscript and is confronted by its real author, so it’s easy to see why buyers were interested. CBS Films reportedly made the most expensive buy of the fest so far, laying down $2 million for the film. Whether or not that move was smart remains to be seen, as this first review over at The Playlist is less than encouraging. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This just in at Movieline HQ: “With the return in popularity of the moustache, the organizer of New England’s largest moustache pageant is introducing the world’s first known International Moustache Film Festival in 2012.” And, with a whole $100 in prize money, so remunerative! I’d have preferred the Stache d’Or, but hey. Here’s a video call for submissions, with full press release and submission details below. Beware: Hipsters ahoy! ================= International Moustache Film Festival – The World’s Hairiest Film Festival Portland, Maine– With the return in popularity of the moustache, the organizer of New England’s largest moustache pageant, No Umbrella Media, is introducing the world’s first known International Moustache Film Festival in 2012. The festival will be be held immediately before the fifth annual Stache Pag on March 30, 2012. The film selection committee must receive all film submissions by March 24, 2012. This festival is open to film makers the world over. The finalists will have their 8 minute or less films shown and judged at the festival. The winner will be chosen and awarded a cash prize. Dr. Lou Jacobs, director of The New England Bureau of The American Mustache Institute will be the host of the film festival. “This is an important moment in moustache history,” says Dr. Jacobs. “Never has there been a film festival dedicated to the unique art of filming the mustached male (or female). The American Mustache Institute would like to congratulate the IMFF for it’s efforts to preserve the mustached arts.” Silly as this may sound, the festival is quite serious. The beneficiaries of the festival and 5th Annual Stache Pag will be Northeast Historic Film, MENSK and Mystache Fights Cancer. The events put on by No Umbrella Media are designed to preserve the arts and save lives. Some of the many film categories will be: Best Foreign Moustache Film, Best Growth Story, Best Collection of Moustaches in One Film and Best Fake Moustache Movie. Video announcement is located at www.stachefilmfest.com No Umbrella Media is Portland, ME-based video production company specializing in authentic storytelling through video. www.noumbrella.com The American Mustache Institute has been “protecting the rights of, and fighting discrimination against moustached Americans, by promoting the growth, care, and culture of the moustache.” AmericanMustacheInstitute.org Details: Date: March 30, 2012 Venue: Port City Music Hall – 504 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. Film Festival Begins: 7:30pm Stache Pag Begins: 10pm For more information, including ticket info, and how to enter the Moustache Pageant or Film Festival, please visit the websites. ###
Ben Lewin’s The Surrogate emerged as the undisputed hit of Sundance 2012, landing the biggest sale thus far (a $6 million sale to Fox Searchlight ) with the unlikeliest of subjects: A paralyzed man’s quest to lose his virginity, based on the life and writings of Bay Area poet Mark O’Brien. Thanks to Lewin’s sensitive and honest script and an impressive turn by indie favorite John Hawkes — who shines with wit and grace in a physically demanding performance as O’Brien, who has no use of his limbs due to polio but begins to explore his sexuality with the help of a hands-on sex therapist (Helen Hunt) – The Surrogate earned consecutive standing ovations and got critics buzzing with the possibilities for next year’s Academy Awards. Movieline sat down with Hawkes in Park City to discuss the indie labor of love, why O’Brien’s story resonates so powerfully, and how opportunities have expanded for him since breaking out two years ago at Sundance with his Oscar-nominated turn in Winter’s Bone . You folks got two standing ovations here at Sundance, and made the biggest sale of the festival – how are you feeling right now, in this moment? It’s surreal, it really is! I’m trying to process it. I don’t concern myself too much with that but I’m really glad Fox Searchlight bought the movie; they did a wonderful job with Martha Marcy May Marlene and they’re great people, so hopefully our little movie is in good hands. I grew up close to Berkeley and was a little familiar with Mark O’Brien before seeing the film, but it captured that sense of place for me – especially with little touches like Pink Man to set the atmosphere. Yes, of course! That’s good, because we shot in Los Angeles because we couldn’t afford to shoot up there. We had to make our own Pink Man and everything. [Laughs] Luckily there are a couple of Victorian streets in Los Angeles that we were able to utilize. How familiar were you with O’Brien’s story beforehand? I was minutely aware of Mark because I had heard of Jessica Yu’s amazing, Academy Award-winning short doc about Mark, called Breathing Lessons . I’d just vaguely kind of remembered that, and I may have seen an article about him at that time, but it was a new kind of story to me when I picked up the script and read it. I was pretty taken with the script itself, by Ben Lewin, and knowing he was going to direct the film which is often a wonderful thing – it’s the person who wrote the script, directing the movie. I just thought he was an extraordinarily interesting man, a polio survivor himself and very uniquely qualified to tell the story. When the project came to you – a very challenging role, to say the least — what made you decide you had to do it? My first question to Ben, as we sat down to meet before he’d offered the role and before I’d accepted the role, was ‘Why not a disabled actor?’ And he assured me that he had taken the last couple of years, he’d put out feelers to disabled groups, and had auditioned several people – a couple of them are in the film – and just felt like he hadn’t found his Mark. So with that huge question answered, I talked to Ben a lot about how he saw the film as a whole, how he saw the character of Mark; I had my ideas, we chatted and seemed to get along really well, so it was a good fit. We went forward from there. And this is a very small project. Ben raised the money by appealing to friends, basically, and so this tiny little script suddenly attracting William H. Macy, Helen Hunt, and a bunch of other wonderful actors – it’s vindicating to read something and think, ‘This is really good!’ And then you realize other people think so too. I’m not insane, it is a great script! How challenging was the shoot itself, physically? It was very challenging – again, a minute amount of the challenge that a disabled person faces, moment to moment, but certainly it was physically challenging. I helped invent a device that we used to curve Mark’s spine, basically a large piece of foam that we nicknamed ‘The Torture Ball’ because it would lay under the left side of my body and curve my spine for every shot in the movie. Sometimes I’d have to lay on that for an hour at a time, and it was hard – it apparently displaced my organs. [Laughs] My chiropractor told me that my organs were migrating and to hopefully finish the movie soon. I have minor health issues that may relate to laying on that thing, but nothing compared to what many people suffer daily, and it’s a small price to pay for what’s turned out to be a really beautiful film. To paraphrase Mark himself in the film, it may have hurt – but it was worth it? Yes! Definitely. It’s an interesting choice that Ben made to present Mark’s story here not as a straight biopic but with a focus on his relationship with his sex surrogate. What do you think that shifted angle brings, as opposed to a more conventional portrayal? Interesting. I think Ben originally had seen the movie as a biopic and then began to realize that the part of Mark’s life that interested him the most was his quest to learn his sexual possibilities as a disabled man. I think it’s a really wise choice; biopics are interesting, but I’d rather see a documentary of a person’s whole life, and I’d much rather see a narrative feature focused on a small piece of their life. And if you can focus on a small piece of someone’s life and tell it well enough, I think it informs the whole of their life. And there’s a real interesting story there – there’s a relationship that develops, certainly heightened in our film, but with the blessing of the real surrogate, Cheryl Cohen Green, to heighten and complicate their relationship a bit and to make it a love story of sorts. The subject matter, as you describe it, doesn’t have wide appeal but I think it has so much humor and so much truth, it’s a breath of fresh air. Mark’s voice really comes through – the same painfully honest, witty spirit you can see in his writings. It was important to me to fight self-pity at every turn, and for the film as a whole to fight sentiment as much as possible. He certainly never wanted people to feel sorry for him . No! The idea that he was a courageous person and stuff, he thought was bullshit. Like, how do you presume to know what I feel, what I go through? I think through his articles he was very interested in the political and social aspects of his disability. One thing that’s striking about Jessica Yu’s film, and I believe I also read something Mark wrote about it, is that to the taxpayer – to those of us who help support disabled people by paying taxes – it was half or maybe one-third of the cost of him being in an institution and live on his own, to pay rent, to hire attendance, way less of a strain on the taxpayer than keeping him an institution, where he was sadly stuck for a few years of his life when his parents were too old to take care of him. Luckily, the University of California, Berkeley in the ‘70s said, we’ll take care of any student who qualifies, who can pass our admission – it doesn’t matter what their disability. There’s an amazing photograph of his iron lung, 800 lbs. of it, hanging from a crane right outside his dorm room window as they’re trying to get it inside. So I know Mark always had a really felt beholden to Berkeley and felt a wonderful debt to that college and that town. They opened up his life, he was kind of reborn in his 30s in Berkeley. Sex and love are central to Mark’s journey in this film, and it’s such a fascinating terrain to explore – the relationship between disability and sexuality, and sexuality and manhood, and what they all might have meant to him. I can’t exactly speak in exact detail to his innermost thought, but he was quite effusive in his writings. In Jessica Yu’s film there is a brief mention of his surrogate time. Bill Macy’s made the point that he worked with a group, and disabled people, like able-bodied people, want to be independent as much as possible and live their lives that way, and they also want to love and be loved. Those are commonalities among people everywhere, and certainly disabled people are no exception. I think that Mark mainly was interested in sex because he was more largely interested in love and in a relationship with someone, and I think that he felt that if he ever met someone he could love, that he would want to have explored his possibilities, sexually. So that’s where the surrogate comes in. The minute that the first screening here ended, folks were buzzing about The Surrogate and next year’s Oscars. It’s a little early! [Laughs] It’s a lot early. I mean, there may be twenty more amazing films that come out in the next year. I hope so! So who knows? It’s way too early and it doesn’t exactly make me nervous, I just turn a deaf ear to it because low expectations have always been the key to happiness for me. I don’t want to expect things to happen as much as hope, and if those Oscar predictions come true, fantastic – because it will bring more people to this film. After the success of Winter’s Bone , perhaps, how much did things change for you? Has the way that you’ve chosen projects in the last few years evolved at all? No, though I’ve certainly been afforded the opportunity to choose what I might be a part of. It’s not like every director in every movie is seeking me out by any means, there are a lot of things I’m not suited for, a lot of things I’m not interested in, and a lot of things that directors wouldn’t be interested in me for. What are you interested in? I’m interested in amazing stories told by talented people, and to get to play a terrific role. The three things I try to find are story, parts, people. Has it gotten easier to find the great characters? You know, I think it maybe is. It’s certainly changed for me because when I first got to Los Angeles 20 years ago, I had worked a lot of my life and was still working regular jobs. Acting was more fun to me, and paid better when I could get the gigs, so in order to avoid any further carpentry and restaurant work and things I’d been doing for many years, I just took whatever came my way. I was happy to be able to pay rent and eat. Certainly I’m freer now; I don’t get to do everything I want to do, but I no longer have to do things I don’t want to do — so that’s good. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . Get more of Movieline’s Sundance coverage here .
These fellas sure work fast… they just popped out lil Zachary last week : Sir Elton John and David Furnish are considering plans to become parents to a second child. The couple’s son Zachary was born only a week ago, on Christmas Day, but friends say the pair have already discussed adding to their family. They say that film producer Mr Furnish – who has two brothers, Peter and John – is particularly keen for Zachary to have a brother or sister. And 2013 has already been pencilled in as a possible date for the new arrival. One friend said: ‘Elton and David are both revelling in parenthood. They feel that it has been a true blessing in their lives. ‘David, in particular, now wants more children. As one of three brothers himself, he believes it is important that Zachary is not an only child. ‘He and Elton have already been discussing it and David, especially, believes they should not wait too long.’ It is believed that Sir Elton, 63, and Mr Furnish, 48, have been pleased with the service provided by the Center for Surrogate Parenting (CSP) in Encino, California, which arranged the birth. As a result, it is likely that the same firm would be used for a future child. Zachary was born with the donor egg of one woman before a different woman acted as surrogate. According to CSP, couples often use the same surrogate and donor combination again for a second child, so that the second one is still biologically related to the first, even if the other man’s sperm is used. Also, in high-profile cases, if the surrogate has maintained confidentiality then celebrities would regard her as even less of a risk the second time. Well, good for them…SMH. Source
Good for them: Sir Elton John and David Furnish have become parents to son Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John, the couple tells UsMagazine.com exclusively. The baby boy, who was born Dec. 25 in California via a surrogate, weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces. “We are overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment,” John and Furnish tell Us in a joint statement. “Zachary is healthy and doing really well, and we are very proud and happy parents.” This is the first child for John, 62, and Furnish, 48. The couple married in 2005 after 12 years together. A rep for the couple has stated that they intend to protect and respect the privacy of their surrogate, and will not be discussing any details relating to the surrogacy arrangements. Damn we bet whoever carried that baby for them got broke off something proper!!! SMH. Source
