Kim Kardashian posing in a bikini is not exactly newsworthy. The busty reality star has done it so often that we actually have a Kim Kardashian bikini picture album. Click through it now and try to contain your drool, fellas. But Kardashian’s latest pair of Twit pics caught our attention because of her claim in the caption that they were taken and posted with “#nofilter #nophotoshop.” Click on each now and judge for yourself: Kim is seemingly all about proving how natural she is these days. A couple weeks ago, she released yet another bathing suit-based photo and also told followers it was photoshop-free. Do you believe her? Do you care… about anything Kim Kardashian-related at all?
Will Ferrell is not the only person broken up by Kristen Stewart cheating on Robert Pattinson with Rupert Sanders. Also really sad over the course of events? Robert Pattinson himself. Reporter Carlos Greer tells People that the actor is ” heartbroken and angry ,” while sources spill to the magazine that “he’s been drinking and relying on friends to deal with the pain.” Other outlets, meanwhile, report that Pattinson has returned to the most dangerous habit of all: smoking. The star is reportedly holed up inside Reese Witherspoon’s vacation home in California and we’ll mostly likely see him in public again on August 13 when Cosmopolis premieres in New York City. As for the woman who destroyed Rob’s spirit? Greer says Stewart feels terrible. She is “remorseful” and “beating herself up over this.”
At least Fred Willard is able to laugh at himself. Appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon yesterday, a week after being arrested for allegedly having his pants down inside an adult movie theater in Los Angeles, the veteran comedian kicked off his interview with one question for the host: “What do you want to talk about first?” From there, the actor made a few more jokes (“It’s the last time I’m gonna listen to my wife when she says, ‘Why don’t you go out and see a movie?’”) before admitting he did stop by an “exotic” looking theater and it felt like “a trip down Alice in Wonderland and down the rabbit hole,” where he was the “only awake and sober and conscious” person in the theater. But seriously, folks. “It’s very embarrassing,” Willard said. “It’s embarrassing as hell! But let me say this: nothing happened. I did nothing wrong, everything’s being sorted out as we speak.” The actor has been fired from his gig at PBS, but is unlikely to face prosecution “I have great respect for the authorities,” Willard added. “I mean, when we need a policeman, God bless ‘em, they’re there. But, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, everything seems suspicious. “But it’s very embarrassing. Very painful. And I’m trying to laugh it off. But my summary of the evening is that it’s an interesting theater, boring movie, and a great place to take a nap.” [Photo: WENN.com]
The halls of Seattle Grace are about to get a whole lot less steamy. McSteamy, that is, as star Eric Dane has announced his intentions to leave Grey’s Anatomy. “I am extremely grateful to everyone at Grey’s, ABC and Shondaland for the experience and memories I have had over the course of this run,” Dane told TV Line in a statement. “It has been wonderful to work alongside and learn from a creative force such as [creator] Shonda Rhimes.” Dane will stick around to finish off his character’s storyline – Season 8 concluded with Mark Sloane’s long-time love, Lexie, dying in a plane crash – as Rhimes said the actor “did not come to this decision lightly,” adding: “We’re a big family here at Grey’s with a long history together and Eric will always remain an important part of our family. I wish him the best and I look forward to watching him as he continues to steam up the big and small screen.” Grey’s Anatomy Season 9 premiere on ABC September 27. This move should free Dane up with more time to film another naked movie .
The final set of 48 original contestants performed on America’s Got Talent last night. How did your favorite fare? David “The Bullet” Smith – I don’t understand why David even has to wear a helmet; if things go awry, I doubt it would help things. His act was pre-taped, since it would have been much darker if it was actually 8 p.m. The setup took too long with the cheerleaders, but I credit him for trying to fill 90 seconds. He shot correctly, albeit a little further than the middle of the net. Grade: B+ All That! – No one is going to remind us that All That (without the exclamation point) has auditioned before and has lost. One of the members used the word “fight scene” and I was cautious. The group looked like the United Colors of Benetton (or an A capella group). Sure they were clean and their formations were great, up until the fight scene. If the group wanted to show masculinity, the fight scene looked gay. Grade: B Ulysses – Ulysses lost all his hair, so he got a wig. He was smart enough to get backup dancers, similar to Big Barry. His version of “Bandstand Boogie” was decent; the dancers were decent. Occasionally Ulysses had breathing issues, but I thought he didn’t deserve to be X-ed out. He wasn’t like Big Barry who was off-key. Grade: C+ Joe Castillo – Joe had a great story about how his father influenced him. Joe started with the Earth and I was happy to see the use of colors to emphasize each of his animals he made. Anyone who draws pandas also gets extra credit. I love that he uses both hands to draw. Grade: A- Sebastien “El Charro de Oro” – Mariachi is beautiful, and culturally amazing, but there’s something similar to LionDanceMe where there’s a cultural boundary where both acts can’t become mainstream. You’re either going to accept them or not. Sebastien’s lower register hasn’t really come in so it sounded weaker than it should. When he hits the high notes, those are amazing. He ended on a very strong high note and it won over everyone. Grade: A- Eric Dittelman – Eric shifted from magic to mind reading somewhere in high school and admitted to mind-reading being a bit flawed. He did an act that involved a “Deal or No Deal” and it worked wonders. I loved the drama and interaction that Dittleman did and made a small-scale mental act Vegas-sized. Grade: A William Close – William has 15 years of experience behind his belt and it shows. It’s smart that he has a band surrounding him because hearing a violin-esque instrument for 90 seconds could be annoying. The spinning drums were also cool and showed development. I’m still not sure where the strings were attached to, but he did everything that he could to fight for a spot. Grade: A Unity in Motion – We’re reminded that Turf was supposed to be intimidated by Unity in Motion. It seems like the group has two intense Abby Lee Miller-style choreographers. The girls were clean and they remind me a lot of the British winning troupe Spellbound. Unity in Motion had great presentation, didn’t show any flaws and maintained their grace. Grade: A Eric & Olivia – The music clicked for the two of them instantly in college, Eric’s responsible for the arrangements. The two were placed on a difficult night to stand out. Olivia or the band seemed a bit off key in the beginning. In a season of generally weak singers, Olivia’s voice is distinctive and has warmth, but she was squeaking at points. Grade: B- Lindsey Norton – Lindsey sounds like a stereotypical high school student, but she seems to be mentally prepared for the competition. She used the mirrored effect to emphasize her routine, which isn’t uncommon, but shows interesting angles of flexibility. She did some great rolling moves and she upped her game, I wished that she would stop mugging for the camera. Grade: B+ Horse – Recently on TLC’s Strange Sex , there was a guy with a 160-pound scrotum. He claimed it was because he felt a sudden pain and then it started swelling and never stopped. This is now what I imagine for Horse. One day a kick is going to go wrong and he’ll have a 160-pound scrotum. At least he has kids already. Horse did a superhero theme, which helped with the pants on TV requirement. Several of the hits were actually thigh shots, but luckily the high jump was a perfect hit. The see-saw slammed into his face and he ended up bleeding in the face. Grade: B Olate Dogs – Olate has a great combination of talent and one of those “American Dream” storylines. The dogs were adorable and even with minor mistakes, are you going to fault the dogs? I can’t jump a hurdle. The slide was a bit silly until the end with the adorable backwards slide. It was a genius way to end the show. Grade: A In the end, I’ve only eliminated three acts: All That!, Eric & Olivia, and Ulysses. All the other acts have shots of making it into the top three depending on how America votes. Does Unity in Motion have a whole ton of friends that could get them votes? Is there a large Mexican voting sect that I’ve never seen before? We’ll find out.
Without alerting the press beforehand or making any public statements while there, Christian Bale visited victims of the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado yesterday. Local reports confirm the actor spent two-and-a-half hours at the Medical Center of Aurora, meeting with seven patients there, according to Bill Voloch, the interim president of the facility. One of the victims, Carey Rottman, posted the following photo of himself Bale on Facebook, writing: “Wow!!! Thank you so much for the visit Christian!! What a great guy! Still in shock!” Added Voloch of the trip: “It was good for the patients. We hope it was therapeutic for them, and all the staff really appreciated him coming.” Over the weekend, Bale shared the same sentiments as many others associated with The Dark Knight Rises and said: “Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.” The Academy Award winner was accompanied by wife Sibi Blazic and also stopped by a growing memorial near the theater, which includes 12 crosses erected for each of the late victims.
If you thought you were getting any work done during the second part of the day, think again. The good people at Vulture have apparently teamed up with the RAND Corporation and NASA to devise a series of charts with endless permutations that rank today’s most valuable movie stars . But, we ask: Who are today’s Most Valuable Indie Stars? How does one determine who is most valuable? Vulture is more than willing to pull back the curtain on their methodology . (Oh, if only the folks at Diebold could learn a thing or two from celeb-obsessed journalists!) They may have their nifty algorithms, but we’ve got our gut instincts. Using those and those only, we’d like to devise a highly unscientific list of the most valuable indie actors working today. 6. Michael Shannon He’s got many more credits than you might think ( Kangaroo Jack! ) but he first came to our attention as an unusual leading man in Jeff Nichols’ Shotgun Stories . His turn in Werner Herzog’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? secured him a lifetime of indie cred, and this was before Boardwalk Empire and Take Shelter . By my algorithm, he can appear in Man of Steel and two sequels and still be considered an indie star. 5. Mathieu Amalric It isn’t crazy to call this French import a next gen Steve Buscemi. Amalric’s worked with a number of top level international directors like Julian Schnabel, Alain Resnais and Arnaud Desplechin. When he works in Hollywood it’s in top tier material like Munich and Quantum of Solace , which, you must remember, looked like it was going to be good on paper. 4. Michelle Williams From Dawson’s Creek to Synechdoche, NY , Michelle Williams is such a beloved indie star we’ll put up with her breaking our hearts ( Blue Valentine ), forgive her, then let her do it again ( Take This Waltz .) No trip to the Park Slope Food Co-op is complete without thinking you see her in the loose tea aisle. 3. Michael Fassbender From his indistinguishable accent to the phallic puns about his last name, it’s impossible not to give this guy a high ranking. I was hesitant to see Hunger because we’d already seen the Bobby Sands story in Some Mother’s Son , but when I realized it was one of the shirtless dudes from 300 we got curious. Since then he’s put in remarkable turns in Inglourious Basterds , A Dangerous Method , Jane Eyre and Haywire . Even when he does a major studio picture it is with an provocateur in the director’s chair like Matthew Vaughn or Ridley Scott. Fassbender is one of the few actors out there that elite moviegoers will follow from project-to-project indiscriminately. 2. Tilda Swinton …and in that regard, he’s right alongside Tilda Swinton. Who else out there has punk rock cred from her early Derek Jarman years and is also the descendant of medieval landed gentry? From the films of the Coen Brothers to Jim Jarmusch to Lynne Ramsay to Wes Anderson to oddball gems like Julia and I Am Love , Swinton strikes me as someone who doesn’t need to work, to the point that she’s very selective about what she does. As such, anything she’s involved in is very much worth your time. 1. Paul Giamatti If you’ve missed Michelle Williams in Brooklyn, maybe you’ve seen Paulie G around. A gifted comic, and uncannily sympathetic, Giamatti brings a level of excellence to everything he does. Barney’s Version is, I hate to say it, not a good movie. Yet Giamatti’s performance made me literally laugh and cry – oftentimes in the same moment. What’s more, Giamatti is quick to use his Hollywood clout to champion far-flung indie films, which was made abundantly clear during this year’s Sundance with the ultra-niche John Dies at the End . Those are our indie-world MVPs. Have more to add? Make your case below!
In Tuesday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, the actor who played George Jefferson has died. Russell Crowe will direct a film about a cult comedian. Disney is moving a 3-D re-release to the holidays; NATO is taking donations for Aurora shooting victims and Netflix sees its shares dive. Actor Sherman Hemsley Dead at 74 He first came into America’s living rooms as Archie Bunker’s neighbor George Jefferson in All in the Family . The Jeffersons later spun off into a long-running and very successful sit-com in its own right making his character and his beloved Louise Jefferson, aka “Weezey,” household names. Hemsley died in what appears to be natural causes at his home in El Paso, TX, TMZ reports . Russell Crowe to Direct Biopic Crowe will direct a biopic about Bill Hicks, the cult comedian who died at 32. Originally it was thought Crowe would play Hicks, but the part is apparently up for grabs, The Guardian reports . Disney Ups Monsters Inc 3-D to December Originally slated for a January release, the 3-D re-release will now head into the holidays with a roll out set for December 19th. Finding Nemo 3-D is still due in September. Last year the studio cashed in on the 3-D version of The Lion King to the tune of $92M, Deadline reports . Exhibitors Begin Donations Drive for Shooting Victims in Colorado The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) sent a release asking for donations to help victims and families of the Aurora, CO shootings, Deadline reports . Netflix Shares Down 14% Revenue last quarter rose 12.8% to $889M, but profit fell to $6.1M vs $68M the year before, Variety reports .
Attention, Twihards: Robert Pattinson is not getting married or having a baby with Kristen Stewart any time soon, no matter what you may have read in recent supermarket tabloids. “There was a magazine, with these pictures, saying I was getting married,” the Cosmopolis tells the latest issue of BlackBook . “No one ever knows what is true or what isn’t. Even my own mum called to ask me if it was true.” So while Pattinson isn’t walking down any aisles any time soon, he is working his way into impressive shape… liquid diet style! “I was so impressed with myself yesterday,” the actor said of his lifestyle change, which he invoked for a shirtless photo shoot. “I took a pee that was four minutes long.” Man, Rob cracks us up. He’ll next be seen on the big screen in a certain final installment of a certain vampire-based franchise. We can’t wait.
