Entertainment News
May 15, 2008TORONTO - She was a small-town beauty who overcame a tragic childhood to pursue her dream of country music stardom. He was a rock producer 17 years her senior whose Midas touch took her to the top of the charts.
The whirlwind romance of Shania Twain, 42, and Robert (Mutt) Lange, 59, was the stuff of fairy tales. But on Thursday, the celebrity pair announced they were splitting after 14 years of marriage.
LOS ANGELES - A Hollywood private investigator was convicted Thursday of federal racketeering and other charges for digging up dirt for his well-heeled clients to use in lawsuits, divorces and contract disputes against the rich and famous.
Anthony Pellicano, 64, was accused of wiretapping stars such as Sylvester Stallone and running the names of others, such as Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, through law enforcement databases to help clients in legal and other disputes.
BERLIN - Sarah Jessica Parker sported a Versace outfit and Kim Cattrall enthralled cheering fans with perfect German as they, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis wowed Berlin at the continental premiere of the "Sex and the City" film.
It was part of a whirlwind courtship of Europe, where the former HBO show still counts an enthusiastic fan base despite having gone off the air four years ago. The quartet of New York women whose lives and loves were documented in the HBO series said time's passage has not dulled their respective characters' edge nor their personal bonds.
TORONTO - The game only came out on April 29, but "Grand Theft Auto IV" still topped the Canadian sales chart for the month with a record 270,000 copies flying out of the stores.
That number, which translates into $17.13 million for the month, is the biggest at launch in Canada since the NPD Group started tracking the video game industry in 2002.
CANNES, 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 - Angelina Jolie, pregnant with twins, has some secrets for staying serene at the hectic Cannes Film Festival - get Brad Pitt to baby-sit sometimes and wear comfy shoes on the red carpet.
Jolie was at the Cannes Film Festival Thursday to promote DreamWorks' animated "Kung Fu Panda." She'll be busy at Cannes, as she also stars in another movie here, Clint Eastwood's "Changeling."
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.
CANNES, France - Fernando Meirelles did boys with guns in "City of God" and murderous corporations in "The Constant Gardener."
With "Blindness," the Canadian-written opening-night entry at the Cannes Film Festival, the Brazilian director exposes the world's ultimate savages: your friends and neighbours.
CHICAGO - Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly's child pornography trial Thursday, despite contentious exchanges when prosecutors and defence lawyers accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines.
Sixteen jurors, including four alternates, were chosen by Thursday afternoon to assess allegations that the R&B superstar, who is black, videotaped himself having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old.
(CP) - A look at some concerts scheduled in the days ahead (check local organizers for details):
CANNES, France - It's an animated documentary - which is perhaps a contradiction in terms.
Israeli director Ari Folman thought the unusual technique was the only way to tell his story of recovering from long-repressed, nightmarish memories of his time as a young Israeli soldier waging war in 1980s Lebanon.
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.
NEW YORK - Fox is launching only two new series in the fall, traditionally its slow season, but the network plans flashy two-hour premieres of four shows during the same week as the Democratic National Convention.
The network's biggest priorities next season will be launching two new science fiction series by the creative forces behind "Lost" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Rodney Atkins is still surprised when people recognize him in the grocery store nowadays. But give it time.
With six nominations for Sunday's Academy of Country Music Awards, including biggies like male vocalist, album of the year and song of the year, his shopping trips are about to get a lot dicier. He's also scheduled to perform at the show, which airs live from Las Vegas at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS.
LOS ANGELES - A person familiar with efforts to restart talks between the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood studios says negotiations will resume within two weeks.
The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Thursday that the talks will resume by May 28.
BOSTON - The actor who helped glamorize archeology in the "Indiana Jones"' movies is lending his star power to the Archaeological Institute of America.
Harrison Ford, who portrays the adventure-seeking archeologist, has been elected to the Boston-based organization's board of directors.
GENEVA - Daniel Slater's new production of "Lohengrin" isn't necessarily vintage Wagner, but it deserves praise as a thoughtful and tasteful take on the medieval legend - and certainly none of the boos it received on opening night.
Moving a Richard Wagner opera into the 20th century immediately brings to mind the stereotype of a stage flush with images of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler, after all, was a Wagner fanatic.
SANTA ANA, Calif. - More than a dozen Chinese terra cotta warriors, crafted more than 2,000 years ago to protect their emperor in the afterlife have arrived in the United States on a very different mission - cultural ambassadors.
As China gears up for the 2008 Olympics, the ancient life-sized clay statues of warriors, archers and chariot drivers go on display at the Bowers Museum as the largest loan of the warriors in U.S. history.
