Tom Cruise
Hasta la vista?
Ah-nuld's accused of major sleaziness; did Russell Crowe come between Tom and Nicole? Plus: Alec Baldwin's back in the saddle, post-Kim.
Politics, as usual?
Just as Arnold Schwarzenegger sets to rambling on yet again about his plans to run for governor of California — “If [Gov. Gray] Davis goes on the way he is then eventually there will be a vacuum in a year and I could” make a run, he tells the Los Angeles Times — he’s getting the sort of press treatment that can terminate a political career.
Yep, thanks to Premiere magazine, which has seen fit to publish rumors that have been swirling around Schwarzenegger for months, Arnold’s got his own sex scandal.
In an upcoming article headlined “Arnold the Barbarian,” the magazine alleges that Schwarzenegger has caused pain in his marriage. Lots of it.
One journalist claims to have seen Schwarzenegger “making out” with his “Total Recall” costar, Rachel Ticotin. A former employee says he pawed Linda Hamilton while her then-boyfriend, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” director James Cameron, looked the other away. And two witnesses say they watched horrified as the brawny actor accosted a female crew member working on “T2,” “put his hands inside her blouse” and sent her crying to a nearby trailer.
But feeling up a crew member may not have been Schwarzenegger’s most shocking transgression on the “T2″ set. According to the magazine, the actor was fond of humiliating his dresser. “Sit, you ugly dog,” he’d reportedly bark. And the man would be required to drop to his knees.
Doesn’t sound like old Ah-nuld’s governor material, does it? President, maybe …
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Hold the pastry!
“There are no pies this time. No pies of any flavor.”
– Jason Biggs, he of the famous pie-porking scene in “American Pie,” on what you have to look forward to in “American Pie 2.”
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As the Crowe flies
About that Russell Crowe factor in the Cruise/Kidman split? I may have spoken too soon.
U.K. Sun showbiz editor Dominic Mohan points out that Nicole Kidman was nowhere to be found at the London premiere of “Mission: Impossible 2″ last year. Tom Cruise’s publicist claimed that a prior commitment in Australia kept her from attending.
In her stead as Cruise’s “date”? None other than Mr. Crowe.
Coincidence?
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Puffy trial soundbite
“I heard ‘bam, bam’ and saw the bright flash from the muzzle of both guns.”
– Shooting victim Natania Reuben, testifying that she saw both Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and Jamal “Shyne” Barrow fire guns during a fracas at Club New York in December 1999 before she herself was hit.
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Baldwin’s rebound
Has Alec Baldwin rebounded from Kim Basinger already?
At the New York premiere for “Hannibal” Monday night, the aging and increasingly puffy Baldwin made the scene with the young and unceasingly pointy Jennifer Love Hewitt on his arm. And not only did the unlikely duo arrive together, they also slipped out together — early.
Then again, Baldwin and Love Hewitt, who are starring together in “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” weren’t the only ones to beat a premature retreat. The movie was so violent and the screams in the audience so shrill, many premiere attendees busted a move mid-movie. And writer Christina Valhouli tells me she saw at least one attendee hurling in the bathroom onaccounta all the blood.
Hardier partiers who managed to tough it out included Chloe Sevigny and her skeevy-chic boyfriend, “Princess” Marie-Chantal of Greece (whose date was, apparently, her cellphone), Pia Getty, Lauren Bacall, Donald Trump and Melanie Knauss, Julian Schnabel and wife Olatz, Juliana Marguiles, James Woods and his jailbait girlfriend, and newly sidekicked Regis Philbin.
Let’s toast their intestinal fortitude with a nice glass of Chianti.
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Miss something? Read yesterday’s Nothing Personal.
“Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol”: At long last, the year’s best action flick
Don't count out the star or the franchise! The latest "Mission: Impossible" is a terrific holiday surprise
Tom Cruise in "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" Take an aging star often viewed as a weirdo, a director who’s never made a live-action film and the fourth installment of a 15-year-old movie franchise whose roots go back to 1960s television. What do you get? Well, it certainly could have been a total disaster, or an awkward nostalgia exercise, but instead “Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol” is something even more unlikely: the most exciting action flick of the year, by a huge margin. Director Brad Bird brings all the wit, style and imagination of his animated films (“Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles” and “The Iron Giant”) to this slick secret-agent techno-fantasy. As for 49-year-old Tom Cruise, he’s surely ready for a comeback after weathering the worst publicity of his celebrity career. He’s back in his comfort zone here as renegade super-spy Ethan Hunt, who is exactly the kind of charismatic, overamped control freak we all believe (rightly or wrongly) that Cruise is too.
Continue Reading CloseJessica Chastain: The dazzling redhead who's suddenly everywhere
After "Tree of Life" and "The Help" -- and with six more movies on the way -- Jessica Chastain's moment has arrived
Actress Jessica Chastain of the U.S. poses for photographers as she arrives on the "Wilde Salome" red carpet at the 68th Venice Film Festival September 4, 2011. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi (ITALY - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT PROFILE TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)(Credit: Reuters) Jessica Chastain may not yet qualify as a movie star, but within seconds of meeting her you completely understand why every casting agent in Hollywood is convinced she will become one. To put it bluntly, she is dazzling — and I’m talking more about her manner and presence than her beauty, although she’s exceptionally pretty, with flaming red hair and pale, translucent skin. She’s vivacious and charming, seemingly without effort, and has the kind of spectacular smile that uplifts everyone’s spirits within a 50-foot radius.
Continue Reading ClosePop Torn: 10 pieces of culture we’re feeling iffy about
We're on the fence about: Cats that act like dogs, Justin Timberlake's drug use, Tom Cruise's singing and more
1. Natalie Portman is now a mommy: The “Black Swan” had a little duckling this week that she is naming god knows what. Probably something odd though … that’s how celebrities are, you know?
2. Speaking of which: Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda because he liked the video game.
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
Why do so many people dislike Katie Holmes?
The star inspires vitriol -- and fascination -- because she's the perfect mom we all know
Katie Holmes Is Katie Holmes truly so terrible? Well, she’s probably not all that great. In recent weeks, she’s been the subject of toxic rumors that her new thriller, “Son of No One,” was such a bomb at Sundance that audience members stormed out — a tale eagerly lapped up by legitimate news organizations like Reuters. The Hollywood Reporter observed, “When Katie showed up on screen, there was a collective groan. She plays the wife of a Queens cop and she was completely miscast. They have her cursing a lot. And when she swore, there were chuckles.” And even though other critics who attended the screening have since offered differing accounts of what really went on, the fact that such a rumor started — and took off with such vigor — gives an indication of how little Holmes is regarded by audiences and the press.
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Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.
“The Romantics”: A “Big Chill” for this decade?
Katie Holmes and Josh Duhamel make out and murmur Keats in this slight but intriguing ensemble wedding dramedy
Josh Duhamel and Katie Holmes In “The Romantics,” a pleasantly lo-fi ensemble movie written, directed and produced by Galt Niederhoffer (and based on her own novel into the bargain), we’ve got the collision of two or maybe three achingly meaningful narrative and cinematic modes. It’s a wedding movie! It’s a country-house movie! (Arguably, the wedding-at-a-country-house movie, almost always set on the New England coast, is already its own genre.) It’s one of those “Big Chill”-type reunion movies, where an entire generation — or at least its richer, whiter, better-looking microcosm — faces the fact that it’s not as young as it used to be and that its dreams have, alas, turned to dust!
Continue Reading ClosePage 1 of 22 in Tom Cruise