June 20, 2005 |
THIS MEANS WAR
At the London premiere of War of the Worlds, a prankster, perhaps hoping to extinguish the torch Tom Cruise is carrying, squirted him with water from a fake microphone during a red-carpet Q&A. "I'm here giving you an interview... and you do something really nasty," the embattled actor recapped for his tormenter. "You're a jerk... jerk... you're a jerk." That's telling 'im. Today, the joker and his camera crew could be charged with assault on a falling star. |
HER TURN AT BAT
Cruise's fiancèe, Katie Holmes, didn't have such a hot weekend, either. Although between Friday and Sunday, her Batman Begins raked in $46.9 million, bumping Mr. and Mrs. Smith (with its $27.3 million haul) from first place at the box office, the New York Post reports that she's out of luck if she thinks she'll be offered a sequel. "[Batman's] next romantic interest will be a much stronger actress," sources tell the column. (Elizabeth Berkley, call your agent!) Anyhoo, rounding out the top five are Madagascar (with $11.1 million), Star Wars: Episode III ($9.7 million) and The Longest Yard ($8 million). |
ADVANCED SPIN THE BOTTLE
According to People, while attending a bash Friday at the home of Paris Hilton's's X-rated co-star, Rick Salomon, Leonardo DiCaprio was struck by a female party crasher wielding what is speculated to have been a beer bottle. It took about a dozen stitches to close the wound near the matinee idol's ear. |
THE DIVA MADE HER DO IT
Apparently, J.Lo is being her usual high-maintenance self on the set of the low-budget movie Bordertown. The New York Post reports that she's asked to trade her hotel room for a private villa and her trailer for a pimped-out spa on wheels. Next, she's going to want to exchange leading man Antonio Banderas for Gael Garcia Bernal. |
THE JACKSON 400
On Friday, an MIA Michael Jackson threw a bash at an Indian casino in Santa Ynez, Calif., to thank his fans — at least the 400 that he still has — for their support. Among the guests was a juror who told The Associated Press that when she heard "Beat It" being played, "I almost started to cry." But no, his celebrity status had nothing to do with the verdict. |
UNREAL
Somewhere, Project Greenlight's Chris Moore is seething. On July 25, E! debuts Kill Reality, a new reality show about reality "stars" making the horror flick The Scorned, written by yet another reality alum, Survivor's Rob Cesternino. On Aug. 7, the net unveils — pun intended — The Girls Next Door, an eight-episode series focusing on three of Hugh Hefner's playmates and, we presume, the doctor who gets hand cramps writing Gramps prescriptions for Viagra. |
THAT SINKING FEELING
Speaking of skewed realities, Real World babe Jacinda Barrett has been added to the cast of the big-screen Poseidon Adventure remake. Entourage's Kevin Dillon and Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodriguez have also been issued boarding passes. Meanwhile, Laurence Fishburne and Phillip Seymour Hoffman have decided to undertake Mission: Impossible 3, figuring that if it's good enough for Mike Ausiello's favorite stalkee, Keri Russell, it's good enough for them. |
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
Morgan Spurlock's docuseries, 30 Days, drew super-sized — for FX, anyway — ratings for its premiere: 1.7 million viewers. Tommy Hilfiger's The Cut, on the other hand, garnered a paltry — for CBS, anyway — audience of 6.6 million. As punishment, the show is being bumped from Survivor's Thursday time slot, replaced by an exceptionally poorly-dressed Big Brother 6 ensemble, and banished to Wednesdays. Finally, proving that you should never underestimate the appeal of Rick Schroder, Lifetime's Strong Medicine began its sixth season with a 20 percent increase in viewership over its fifth. |
IN MUSIC NEWS
In anticipation of the release of his I'm a Hustla CD later this month, rapper Cassidy turned himself in to the cops on Friday. He's accused of murder, aggravated and simple assault, reckless endangerment and good golly day, really going the extra mile in the name of street credibility. |
THIS 'N' THAT
Critics be damned, Jerry Bruckheimer is planning a sequel to National Treasure... Grounded for Life co-star Ryan Devlin is replacing Maria Menounos as host of ET (Entertainment Tonight) on MTV and ET on VH1, two more of the shows that have kept us from seeing an actual video on either channel since A Flock of Seagulls hit us, baby, for the first time. |
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