Entertainment News
May 15, 2008CANNES, France - Fur might be a politically incorrect fashion statement on the red carpet at the world's most-prestigious film festival. Not when you're the star of a movie called "Kung Fu Panda," though.
DreamWorks Animation, whose past Cannes entries include the first two "Shrek" flicks and "Over the Hedge," put its adorable martial-arts hero alongside the festival's highbrow cinema entries Thursday with the premiere of the action comedy whose voice cast includes Jack Black, Angelina Jolie and Dustin Hoffman.
CANNES, France - The Cannes Film Festival has a big place in Aishwarya Rai's heart.
The Bollywood actress' first time at Cannes was to promote the lavish love story "Devdas" in 2002. The "Bride & Prejudice" star attended last year's French Riviera festival soon after her wedding to fellow film star Abhishek Bachchan.
TORONTO - Ottawa-born actress Kelly Rowan, who starred in the teen soap "The O.C.," has given birth to a girl and recently split with Canadian multi-millionaire David Thomson, one of the world's richest men.
Her representative told People and Hello Magazines that Rowan gave birth to a girl on April 28 in Los Angeles.
LILONGWE, Malawi - Madonna won't know until next week whether a Malawian boy she found in an orphanage in 2006 will become a permanent member of her family, her lawyer said Wednesday.
Lawyer Alan Chinula had expected the judge to rule on the adoption Wednesday but said the hearing was delayed after a Malawian human rights group presented arguments on "shortcomings" in the southern African nation's adoption laws.
LONDON - Two photo agencies have agreed to pay $113,000 to Hugh Grant, his ex-girlfriend Liz Hurley and her husband for taking photos of them while they were vacationing in the Maldives.
Britain's High Court says The Big Pictures and Eliot Press Sarl agencies apologized Thursday for using a long lens to violate the trio's privacy while they were at an island resort in October. The pictures appeared in several newspapers.
NEW YORK - It'll be David vs. David.
Syesha Mercado was voted off "American Idol" Wednesday night, paving the way for the expected showdown between David Archuleta and David Cook.
NEW YORK - A collection of original art by noted psychedelic artists, depicting some of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll, fetched about $795,000 at an auction Wednesday, a spokesman for the auction house said.
Paintings, printing plates, ink drawings and painted cel vinyls of the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and many other iconic artists were represented in the Peter Golding collection at Bonhams New York auction house. The 164 items included original artworks that led to final album covers and concert posters.
NEW YORK - A three-panel masterpiece by Francis Bacon broke a record for contemporary art auctions Wednesday, selling for more than $86 million after three bidders vied for it, a spokeswoman for the auction house said.
The $86,281,000 price for "Triptych, 1976" also set an auction record for the British artist, Sotheby's spokeswoman Lauren Gioia said.
HONOLULU - Bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman's cable TV show will soon be back on the air.
Filming has begun on the fifth season, according to executives with A&E, the cable network that broadcast "Dog the Bounty Hunter. Reruns of the show will start June 25, with new episodes coming a few weeks later.
CANNES, France - The Cannes Film Festival usually starts with a movie that's light and goes down easy. So Wednesday's dark, apocalyptic opening film seemed a puzzling choice - even to the movie's director.
"Blindness," by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, ("City of God," "The Constant Gardener"), is about an epidemic of blindness that strikes suddenly and inexplicably, with victims shunted off to a squalid institution. The film is a Canadian-Japanese-Brazilian co-production, with a screenplay written by Toronto's Don McKellar.
LONDON - A no-holds-barred biography of V.S. Naipaul and the true story of a Victorian murder are among six titles nominated Thursday for Britain's richest nonfiction book prize.
Kate Summerscale's account of an infamous murder case, "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher," and "The World Is What It Is," Patrick French's authorized but often unflattering portrait of renowned writer Naipaul, are shortlisted for the 30,000 pound (about $58,500) Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction.
DETROIT - Classical music enthusiasts long have sought to drum up support for the musical genre among young people, and now they have a secret weapon: the 4-foot-3, childlike robot ASIMO.
On Wednesday, the day after the Honda robot conducted the Detroit Symphony, ASIMO warmed up a crowd of 250 schoolchildren who came to the concert hall to watch a master class with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
NEW YORK - At a time when sitcoms seem like a fading art, CBS is staying on the laugh track.
The network said Wednesday it will air six comedies instead of four next fall. CBS has confined its comedies to Mondays in recent years but will air Julia Louis-Dreyfus' "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and a new comedy with Jay Mohr as a recently divorced painter on Wednesdays.
CANNES, France - Sean Penn may be president of the Cannes Film Festival jury - but don't expect any buttoned-up presidential behaviour from the Hollywood rebel.
During a news conference on opening day Wednesday, the actor-director lit up two cigarettes in defiance of French laws against smoking in public buildings. He used the F-word. And he poked fun at his reputation.
Before she tried on a pair of magical pants or transformed herself as the award-winning star of "Ugly Betty," America Ferrera appeared in the indie charmer "How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer."
The movie's been kicking around at festivals since 2005 and is just now being released theatrically, but it further reveals Ferrera's naturally lovely screen presence, something which was first on display in her acclaimed but little-seen 2002 debut "Real Women Have Curves." Here, she plays the youngest among three generations of women who discover themselves, and their sexuality, during a long, hot summer in an Arizona border town.
BURNABY, B.C. - Sandra Oh and Avril Lavigne are no strangers to receiving awards, but the latest honours locked up by the "Grey's Anatomy" star and the pop-punk princess have made their manes the main attraction.
Oh and Lavigne were among the top picks in AG Hair Cosmetics' 8th annual Best Canadian Celebrity Hair Awards. More than 600 Canadian hairstylists cast votes online for the notable homegrown celebrities with the best 'dos.
LOS ANGELES - Angelina Jolie is indeed expecting twins and it was Jack Black who let the news slip with a "Brady Bunch" crack.
Long rumoured to have two children by Brad Pitt on the way, Jolie confirmed the news during a side-by-side "Today" show interview with Black, her "Kung Fu Panda" co-star. The two are in Cannes, France, promoting the animated film.
NEW YORK - The humanitarian organization founded by actor George Clooney and other "Ocean's Thirteen" stars has donated $250,000 to help children and families in Myanmar affected by Cyclone Nargis.
Not On Our Watch said it will provide an additional matching contribution of up to $250,000 to the relief agency Save the Children for every dollar donated to its emergency relief fund for cyclone victims.
