Chris Rock Makes “Hitting” Chris Brown Joke On Today Show SMH: Chris Rock bashed R&B star Chris Brown during the comedian’s appearance on the “Today” show early Thursday (June 7). It was prompted when Matt Lauer brought the show back from commercial by commenting “We’re hoping the same kind of weather hits us tomorrow when we’ve got Chris Brown out on the plaza,” and Rock quickly pounced on the anchors choice of words. “Did you say you hope the same weather hits you?” he said with a grin, adding, “I hope some weather doesn’t smack us upside the head.” While a laughing Al Roker swayed in his seat, “Sesame Street” star Elmo, on hand to talk about the Olympics, gamely responded that he’ll try to “make it wholesome.” Turn the page and peep…
Star Jones Denies Calling For Boycott Of Basketball Wives And Evelyn Lozada On Wendy Williams We are not surprised Evelyn is doing this now… because she did what she had to do to get her name out there…now it’s time to corral it in: Star Jones recently had a 3-hour lunch with her former boss, Barbara Walters. Find out what the two media icons talked about. Plus, Star reveals why she spoke out against the “Basketball Wives” reality show and if she is mentoring Evelyn behind the scenes. Turn the page to peep what Star has to say about this.
At long last — since Quentin Tarantino fans have been dying for a glimpse since the first peek at that hand-scrawled script suggested that yes, this was really happening — comes the first trailer for Django Unchained , Tarantino’s December 2012 spaghetti western about a freed slave (Jamie Foxx) shooting his way across the South. Because nothing says Christmas like slavery and vengeance! UPDATE: Sorry folks, the trailer is set to officially debut on Fandango later today. Check back for updated video… Foxx plays Django, a slave taken under the wing of a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz, looking delightful). Together they journey from plantation to plantation shooting bad guys on their way to rescuing Django’s wife (Kerry Washington) from the evil, oily Leonardo DiCaprio. Between the contained ferocity in Foxx’s eyes, the character actors that line the cast, Tarantino’s use of classic genre zooms and camera moves, that swaggering sense of humor, and the promise of seeing Django get the ultimate historical-revisionist retribution in his quest for “life, love, and the pursuit of vengeance,” the trailer packs quite a punch. And that’s even before Foxx’s Django sidles up to the OG Django , Franco Nero, and explains to him how his name is pronounced. Oh, references! Verdict: Might be a bit too genre for mainstream audiences, but my inner exploitation nerd can’t wait. Django Unchained hits theaters December 25.
Robert Pattinson has a lot riding these days. He traveled to Cannes for the world premiere of David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis in which he plays a multimillionaire on a 24-hour odyssey through New York City (mostly in his limo) and he stars in Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s Bel Ami in which he portrays a man grabbing power by manipulating Paris’ most wealthy women. And of course there was his most recent annual win for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards last weekend (he and Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart have taken the “prize” for four years straight – those sexy things). Pattinson spoke with CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos about his latest pursuits and more. The actor talks about Twilight type-casting, how Ryan Gosling inspired him, his feelings about Heath Ledger and his run-in with singer Adele. Cosmopolis opens in Cronenberg’s native Canada in the next few days (it is slated for the U.S. this year) while Bel Ami will debut Stateside this weekend. (Video of the Robert Pattinson George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight interview is below and airs Thursday, June 7, at 11:05 pm on CBC television – Interview re-printed with permission by CBC). You know, post- Twilight franchise , you were trying to go down different roads? Was this legitimately part of your planning? Robert Pattinson : This was not part of the plan at all. I just thought I was totally oversaturated everywhere, I wanted to do little tiny parts or maybe no parts at all. I got this three weeks before I was finishing the last Twilight movie, and I was really, really determined to find ensemble pieces or anything small just so I didn’t have to be in everybody’s face and annoying everyone. And then this thing came up. Is this a new experience for you though, to watch your film back and go, oh wait a minute, how do I promote this movie? RP: Ah, completely. It reminded me, I watched this interview with Ryan Gosling once, and he said when he did The Believer a few years ago, and people were saying – cause he’d done Young Hercules for three or four seasons – and then he did The Believer and everybody was asking about his craft. And it’s the most, most confusing thing. I was in Cannes doing these interviews, and I was really fighting to not look pretentious for years, and someone gives you one inch of the possibility of being pretentious, and you’re like grabbing it so hard, going around being the biggest douchebag. And now I’ve kind of reined it in again. The one thing I imagine that you’re dealing with is aside from your close circle of friends — actual humanity, actual human conversations, the connections we all crave as a person, it’s harder and harder for you to find, isn’t it? RP: Yeah, but I just remember, I think I was pretty similar before. Like I would be one of those people who was desperate to go to a party and then they go to the party and just stand in the corner with the people they came with and refuse to acknowledge that anyone else is there. So I don’t really miss anything. And you kind of, you have all these fantasies if I wasn’t famous I’d meet all these random people in the street all the time. But you don’t meet random people in the street. Most of the time you’re trying to avoid everybody even if you’re not famous. Actually I had this argument with Adele, which is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever said. I was saying, “you know, you can really just like reach for it,” and she was like, “you do realize I am like the biggest-selling female artist ever?” And I just for some reason just decided to get into an argument with her. How does that happen, at two o’clock in the morning somewhere? R.P. Yeah, and then waking up and kind of really, really regretting every word I said. Do you think much about the fact that when this franchise goes away, that you need that second act to your career? Do you think about that? RP: The only thing I ever thought about was thinking, I don’t want anyone to think that I somehow got trapped by something, you know. And I don’t know if anyone really does, the general public, about Twilight – but the amount of times you get asked, “oh, are you worried about being typecast?” I’m just worried about people saying, like, “What happened to that guy?” And also, you think, you want to do something at least a little bit worthwhile with what kind of power you’ve been given, through luck. And not just keep trying to extend the same thing for as long as possible. I’m not very scared of it going away at all. If I could somehow maintain a career in which I keep making movies like Cosmopolis , than I think it would be amazing, because not very many of them are made. You know, I always thought after The Dark Knight , for instance, it makes tons and tons of money, and Heath is doing something just outside — and people understand what he’s doing, it’s not like he’s not doing something totally crazy, but it’s just slightly outside the box of what people are used to seeing, and I really thought that was going to change everything as to how the big budget movies are made. But it didn’t, at all. If every single actor wasn’t afraid of trying to do something slightly abstract and not concerned about their movie making tons and tons of money, then eventually the industry would change. But then you and other guys in your position, can you make these kinds of films, then? And not just as actors? RP: I think you can once. I don’t know how many other times. I’m desperately trying to get a superhero movie now.
Robert Pattinson has a lot riding these days. He traveled to Cannes for the world premiere of David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis in which he plays a multimillionaire on a 24-hour odyssey through New York City (mostly in his limo) and he stars in Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod’s Bel Ami in which he portrays a man grabbing power by manipulating Paris’ most wealthy women. And of course there was his most recent annual win for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards last weekend (he and Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart have taken the “prize” for four years straight – those sexy things). Pattinson spoke with CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos about his latest pursuits and more. The actor talks about Twilight type-casting, how Ryan Gosling inspired him, his feelings about Heath Ledger and his run-in with singer Adele. Cosmopolis opens in Cronenberg’s native Canada in the next few days (it is slated for the U.S. this year) while Bel Ami will debut Stateside this weekend. (Video of the Robert Pattinson George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight interview is below and airs Thursday, June 7, at 11:05 pm on CBC television – Interview re-printed with permission by CBC). You know, post- Twilight franchise , you were trying to go down different roads? Was this legitimately part of your planning? Robert Pattinson : This was not part of the plan at all. I just thought I was totally oversaturated everywhere, I wanted to do little tiny parts or maybe no parts at all. I got this three weeks before I was finishing the last Twilight movie, and I was really, really determined to find ensemble pieces or anything small just so I didn’t have to be in everybody’s face and annoying everyone. And then this thing came up. Is this a new experience for you though, to watch your film back and go, oh wait a minute, how do I promote this movie? RP: Ah, completely. It reminded me, I watched this interview with Ryan Gosling once, and he said when he did The Believer a few years ago, and people were saying – cause he’d done Young Hercules for three or four seasons – and then he did The Believer and everybody was asking about his craft. And it’s the most, most confusing thing. I was in Cannes doing these interviews, and I was really fighting to not look pretentious for years, and someone gives you one inch of the possibility of being pretentious, and you’re like grabbing it so hard, going around being the biggest douchebag. And now I’ve kind of reined it in again. The one thing I imagine that you’re dealing with is aside from your close circle of friends — actual humanity, actual human conversations, the connections we all crave as a person, it’s harder and harder for you to find, isn’t it? RP: Yeah, but I just remember, I think I was pretty similar before. Like I would be one of those people who was desperate to go to a party and then they go to the party and just stand in the corner with the people they came with and refuse to acknowledge that anyone else is there. So I don’t really miss anything. And you kind of, you have all these fantasies if I wasn’t famous I’d meet all these random people in the street all the time. But you don’t meet random people in the street. Most of the time you’re trying to avoid everybody even if you’re not famous. Actually I had this argument with Adele, which is probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever said. I was saying, “you know, you can really just like reach for it,” and she was like, “you do realize I am like the biggest-selling female artist ever?” And I just for some reason just decided to get into an argument with her. How does that happen, at two o’clock in the morning somewhere? R.P. Yeah, and then waking up and kind of really, really regretting every word I said. Do you think much about the fact that when this franchise goes away, that you need that second act to your career? Do you think about that? RP: The only thing I ever thought about was thinking, I don’t want anyone to think that I somehow got trapped by something, you know. And I don’t know if anyone really does, the general public, about Twilight – but the amount of times you get asked, “oh, are you worried about being typecast?” I’m just worried about people saying, like, “What happened to that guy?” And also, you think, you want to do something at least a little bit worthwhile with what kind of power you’ve been given, through luck. And not just keep trying to extend the same thing for as long as possible. I’m not very scared of it going away at all. If I could somehow maintain a career in which I keep making movies like Cosmopolis , than I think it would be amazing, because not very many of them are made. You know, I always thought after The Dark Knight , for instance, it makes tons and tons of money, and Heath is doing something just outside — and people understand what he’s doing, it’s not like he’s not doing something totally crazy, but it’s just slightly outside the box of what people are used to seeing, and I really thought that was going to change everything as to how the big budget movies are made. But it didn’t, at all. If every single actor wasn’t afraid of trying to do something slightly abstract and not concerned about their movie making tons and tons of money, then eventually the industry would change. But then you and other guys in your position, can you make these kinds of films, then? And not just as actors? RP: I think you can once. I don’t know how many other times. I’m desperately trying to get a superhero movie now.
Also in Wednesday afternoon’s quick news roundup, The Hobbit is set to premiere in Down Under later this year, Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch complete a “secret” indie and Captain America 2 appears to have found its directors. Also up is news on a network starring Asian Americans and Universal chief Ron Meyer heads to UCLA festivities. IFC Midnight Takes Rights to Antiviral U.S. rights to Brandon Cronenberg’s Cannes debut Antiviral have been picked up by IFC Midnight. The film, also with a screenplay by Cronenberg, stars Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Douglas Smith and Malcolm McDowell. The film follows “Syd March, an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to rabid fans. Syd supplements his income by selling illegal samples of these viruses on the black market,smuggling them out of the clinic in his own body. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills superstar Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and obsessed fans. Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions of Sundance Selects/IFC Films negotiated the deal with Gregory Chambet of TF1 International. Asian Americans Take Spotlight in Network’s Film Fest Mnet , the first national, 24/7 English-language television network in the U.S. for all things Asian, kicks off the third season of Short Notice with a film festival that allows fans to select their favorite short film created by and starring Asian Americans . As one of Mnet’s original programming series, the show premieres on Wednesday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT with new host George Wang. Universal Chief Ron Meyer to Deliver UCLA Commencement Ron Meyer, Universal Studios President and COO, will be the 2012 Commencement Speaker for this year’s UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s (TFT) commencement ceremony. Recipients of TFT’s 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards are director and screenwriter Penelope Spheeris for Film and Shirley Jo Finney, the award-winning international director/actor, for Theater, both of whom will receive their awards at the ceremony. UCLA Names New Chair of Dept. of Film, Television, and Digital Media William McDonald, award-winning cinematographer and professor, has been appointed the new Chair of the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media (FTVDM) at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) and will assume his new position on July 1st. GKids Takes Rights to Japan’s From up on Poppy Hill GKIDS is handling theatrical, home video, television and VOD rights and will qualify the film for the Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature category. Directed by Goro Miyazaki, the film is set in Yokohama in 1963, about a high school couple’s innocent love and the secrets surrounding their births. The story takes place in a Japan that is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics. GKids plans a March 2013 release. Around the ‘net… Elvis will Appear in Film and TV – Virtually CORE Media Group, which owns the Elvis Presley brand, has signed a deal with digital production company Digital Domain Media Group to develop, produce a series of “virtual” Elvis Presley apparitions for film and TV projects, Deadline reports . The Hobbit to Debut November in New Zealand The screening at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre will take place two weeks ahead of the film’s release on 14 December. Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson said it was fitting to hold the premiere “where the journey began.” Based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit is set 60 years before the Lord Of The Rings trilogy of films, BBC reports . Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch Complete ‘Top Secret’ Indie The actors worked on Prince Avalanche by writer-director David Gordon Green, based on Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurosson’s Icelandic comedy Either Way . The film revolves around two men whose lives intersect while working on a road striping crew together. Green and his longtime collaborators Lisa Muskat and Craig Zobel produced the film with James Belfer and Derrick Tseng, Variety reports . Russo Bros. Appear to be Headed to Captain America 2 Anthony and Joe Russo are close to signing on to direct the Captain America sequel for Marvel. The Russo’s credits include You, Me & Dupree and NBC’s comedy Community , THR reports .
Also in Wednesday afternoon’s quick news roundup, The Hobbit is set to premiere in Down Under later this year, Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch complete a “secret” indie and Captain America 2 appears to have found its directors. Also up is news on a network starring Asian Americans and Universal chief Ron Meyer heads to UCLA festivities. IFC Midnight Takes Rights to Antiviral U.S. rights to Brandon Cronenberg’s Cannes debut Antiviral have been picked up by IFC Midnight. The film, also with a screenplay by Cronenberg, stars Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Douglas Smith and Malcolm McDowell. The film follows “Syd March, an employee at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to rabid fans. Syd supplements his income by selling illegal samples of these viruses on the black market,smuggling them out of the clinic in his own body. When he becomes infected with the disease that kills superstar Hannah Geist, Syd becomes a target for collectors and obsessed fans. Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions & Productions of Sundance Selects/IFC Films negotiated the deal with Gregory Chambet of TF1 International. Asian Americans Take Spotlight in Network’s Film Fest Mnet , the first national, 24/7 English-language television network in the U.S. for all things Asian, kicks off the third season of Short Notice with a film festival that allows fans to select their favorite short film created by and starring Asian Americans . As one of Mnet’s original programming series, the show premieres on Wednesday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT with new host George Wang. Universal Chief Ron Meyer to Deliver UCLA Commencement Ron Meyer, Universal Studios President and COO, will be the 2012 Commencement Speaker for this year’s UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television’s (TFT) commencement ceremony. Recipients of TFT’s 2012 Distinguished Alumni Awards are director and screenwriter Penelope Spheeris for Film and Shirley Jo Finney, the award-winning international director/actor, for Theater, both of whom will receive their awards at the ceremony. UCLA Names New Chair of Dept. of Film, Television, and Digital Media William McDonald, award-winning cinematographer and professor, has been appointed the new Chair of the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media (FTVDM) at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) and will assume his new position on July 1st. GKids Takes Rights to Japan’s From up on Poppy Hill GKIDS is handling theatrical, home video, television and VOD rights and will qualify the film for the Academy Awards in the Best Animated Feature category. Directed by Goro Miyazaki, the film is set in Yokohama in 1963, about a high school couple’s innocent love and the secrets surrounding their births. The story takes place in a Japan that is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics. GKids plans a March 2013 release. Around the ‘net… Elvis will Appear in Film and TV – Virtually CORE Media Group, which owns the Elvis Presley brand, has signed a deal with digital production company Digital Domain Media Group to develop, produce a series of “virtual” Elvis Presley apparitions for film and TV projects, Deadline reports . The Hobbit to Debut November in New Zealand The screening at Wellington’s Embassy Theatre will take place two weeks ahead of the film’s release on 14 December. Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson said it was fitting to hold the premiere “where the journey began.” Based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit is set 60 years before the Lord Of The Rings trilogy of films, BBC reports . Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch Complete ‘Top Secret’ Indie The actors worked on Prince Avalanche by writer-director David Gordon Green, based on Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurosson’s Icelandic comedy Either Way . The film revolves around two men whose lives intersect while working on a road striping crew together. Green and his longtime collaborators Lisa Muskat and Craig Zobel produced the film with James Belfer and Derrick Tseng, Variety reports . Russo Bros. Appear to be Headed to Captain America 2 Anthony and Joe Russo are close to signing on to direct the Captain America sequel for Marvel. The Russo’s credits include You, Me & Dupree and NBC’s comedy Community , THR reports .
‘I hope to give her fans something to treasure,’ Cissy Houston says about her book on Whitney. By Gil Kaufman Cissy Houston and Whitney Houston Photo: Getty Images Whitney Houston’s mother, gospel great Cissy Houston, is prepping a memoir on her famous daughter that promises to tell the “unabridged and unbelievable” story of Whitney’s career. According to the The Associated Press , the as-yet untitled book is scheduled to come out in February, one year after the Grammy-winning singer died of accidental drowning in her Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on the eve of the Grammys at age 48. “When I lost my daughter Nippy (Whitney Houston’s nickname), the world lost one of the most beautiful voices and an extraordinarily beautiful and charitable woman,” Cissy Houston said in a statement released by the book’s publisher. “In sharing our story in this book, I hope to give her fans something to treasure, the way we all treasured Whitney. We are still receiving thousands of letters each day from her fans, and I hope reading this book will provide a deeper understanding into my daughter’s true story.” Publisher HarperCollins promised that Cissy Houston would write with “candor honesty and respect,” in chronicling her daughter’s career heights, as well as Whitney’s legendary drug problems, tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown and her own grief. “She will tell the unabridged and unbelievable story of her daughter’s life as well as her own, addressing Whitney’s brightest and darkest moments while helping fans around the world understand the complexities of this extraordinary star who died much too soon,” the publisher said. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of the book will be donated to Newark, New Jersey’s New Hope Baptist Church, the house of worship where Whitney grew up singing in the choir, as well as the church where her funeral was held. “Ultimately, Cissy will go behind the headlines to show the true, human side of this strong, successful yet complicated musical icon, capturing the dramatic depths and soaring range of an extraordinary woman, along with the pain and heartbreak of a grieving mother as she struggles with impossible loss,” according to the publisher. Before Houston’s book hits shelves, a documentary focusing on the 48 hours leading up to this year’s Grammy Awards will premiere on June 11 at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The 26-minute movie will look at how the show dealt with Houston’s death and include interviews with host LL Cool J, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson. Related Videos Whitney Houston: Life And Music Of An Icon Related Photos Whitney Houston: A Life In Photos Related Artists Whitney Houston
People are really about that life come playoff time Fan Fight Erupts During Game 2 Of OKC Thunder Vs. San Antonio Spurs Playoff Series Apparently there was a drunken brouhaha during last night’s Western Conference Finals game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs when an overzealous Thunder fan decided to do some early celebrating. In the day and age of everyone having a video camera on their phone we are able catch what the TV cameras did not air. Here is what an eyewitness to the story had to say. According to BlackSportsOnline : “OKC fan was waving a KD jersey in the air right before the 4th quarter when a drunk Spurs fan from a row behind us walked down and grabbed it, then threw it. OKC fans obviously was pissed so he walked up and punched Spurs fan. OKC’s girlfriend got involved. Spurs fan hit the girlfriend and choked her. Cops came. Meanwhile, another Spurs fan sucker punched OKC fan. OKC’s girlfriend jumped on Spurs fan. Spurs fan No. 2′s mom then whaled on OKC’s girlfriend in the blue with Louis bag on her shoulder the whole time. Poor older lady next to sister, who I was trying to drag out of harms way, got trampled. So did my sister.” Hit the flip side to peep the cell-phone video of the fade. Image via Bryan Terry of The Oklahoman
