January 30, 2012

A new book by a former pimp claims that some of the biggest stars of Hollywood’s golden age were gay.

Scotty Bowers claims he ran a gay and bisexual prostitution ring in Hollywood in the 1940s. His new book Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars makes the claim that some of the biggest stars of the silver screen procured Bowers’ services.

According to the New York Times, among those named in the book are the legendary Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, George Cukor, Katherine Hepburn and Gone With the Wind’s Vivien Leigh.

Bowers tells the Times that publishers have tried to convince him for years to write a tell-all about his exploits, but he never understood the appeal.

“I’ve kept silent all these years because I didn’t want to hurt any of these people,” he says. “And I never saw the fascination. So they liked sex how they liked it. Who cares?”

Nevertheless, at 88 years-of-age Bowers says he finally agreed to the book on account of his advancing years.

“I finally said yes because I’m not getting any younger and all of my famous tricks are dead by now,” he says. “The truth can’t hurt them anymore.”

(Image: Grove Press)

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January 30, 2012

Captain America will be back for more action and adventure with a sequel to the hero’s 2011 smash, and is set to start shooting later this year.

That’s the word according to actor Neal McDonough, who played the Captain’s tough-as-nails buddy Dum Dum Dugan in the original. McDonough tells IMDB.com that the Marvel studio has a plan that sees Cap back in action by the end of 2012.

“They’re planning Captain America 2 for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time,” McDonough reveals. “So they’re going to do Thor 2 and as soon as Thor 2 has wrapped, they’ll do Cap 2.”

McDonough says the movie he’s really looking forward to, however, is a potential Nick Fury picture with Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as the leader of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Hopefully right after that, we’ll jump into Nick Fury because that’s the one I’m looking forward to more than anything,” he says. “It’ll be me and Sam Jackson. In the real Marvel universe, Dum Dum Dugan is Nick Fury’s right hand man.”

McDonough says one hope he has for the film is that the studio will decide to set the Fury flick in the 1970s.

“I just pray that they have a 1970s setting, because I want to see Sam Jackson with lambchops kicking people’s a**es… It would just be awesome. And to work with Sam would be a treat.”

Fans of the patriotic Avenger won’t have to wait for Cap 2 to see the hero again, however, as he’ll turn up in the upcoming superhero supergroup The Avengers when they finally land on the screen en masse in April.

(Photo by PR Photos)

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January 30, 2012

Paul Giamatti has joined the cast of an all new movie adaptation of the classic Shakespeare tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

Industry trade magazine Variety reports that the Golden Globe winner has signed on to star as Friar Laurence in the production that’s set to start shooting in Italy very soon. The Friar is an advisor to both Romeo and Juliet and a central character in the drama.

Italian director Carlo Carlei is helming the film, working from a script by Julian Fellowes. Fellowes is of course the creator of the massively popular British television series Downton Abbey.

Young British actor Douglas Booth is set to star as the young lover Romeo, while True Grit’s Hailee Steinfeld will play Juliet, the object of Romeo’s effusive and poetic affections.

Never one for a lack of work, Giamatti already has three films in the can for release later this year. After appearing recently in the George Clooney political drama The Ides of March, the actor will next star in the big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages.

Giamatti also appears in the upcoming David Cronenberg adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel Cosmopolis and in the horror comedy John Dies At the End, which just premiered at Sundance.

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January 30, 2012

A New Zealand search for hobbits was shut down by police when a gigantic crowd began to get unruly.

Sky News Australia cites a report by Radio New Zealand that more than 3000 people turned up to a casting call for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel. The crowd began to get unruly and caused at least two traffic accidents before being brought to an early end.

Radio New Zealand reports that organizers of the casting call expected only about 1,200 people to show up. Police Senior Sergeant Steve Baybrook told the station that “There was enough concern that police attended.”

Reports suggest that wannabe Middle Earthers were running across a state highway to get to the audition, creating an unsafe situation.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first chapter of the epic two-parter is set to arrive in theatres this December, with the sequel The Hobbit: There and Back Again scheduled for December 2013.

Both films feature Marin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, in the story that sets the stage for Jackson’s previous J.R.R Tolkien trilogy adaptation, The Lord of the Rings.

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January 30, 2012

Nicolas Cage says he wants to make a sequel to his 2006 bomb The Wicker Man.

Cage tells Empire – perhaps jokingly – that he’s keen to shoot a follow up to his critically derided remake of the 1973 British cult classic.

“I would like to hook up with one of the great Japanese filmmakers, like the master that made Ringu, and take The Wicker Man to Japan,” Cage told the site with a grin. “Except this time he’s a ghost.”

Cage played a cop investigating the mysterious disappearance of a woman in the Neil LaBute directed remake. Wicker Man was torn apart by critics upon its release and soon became something of a cult classic in its own right – though one that’s laughed at instead of with.

The film earned five Razzie nominations, including nods for Worst Picture and Worst Actor for Cage.

The National Treasure star has acknowledged the movie was “absurd,” telling HitFix last August that “There is a mischievous mind at work on The Wicker Man, you know? You know what I mean? And I finally kind of said, ‘Yeah, I might have known that the movie was meant to be absurd.’ But saying that now after the fact is OK, but to say it before the fact is not, because you have to let the movie have its own life.”

Cage next stars in the Marvel comic book sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, opening everywhere February 17.

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January 27, 2012

Now that he’s established himself as a hip-hop superstar, is Drake hoping to make a return to acting?

The Canadian star achieved his earliest fame playing Jimmy on the iconic TV series Degrassi: The Next Generation. Now Perez Hilton is reporting that the rapper hopes to revive his acting career by playing the American president.

Drake says he wants to play current president Barack Obama – and admits to studying the charismatic politician to perfect his impression.

“I hope somebody makes a movie about Obama’s life soon because I could play him,” Hilton quotes Drake as saying. “That’s the goal. I watch all the addresses. Anytime I see him on TV, I don’t change the channel, I definitely pay attention and listen to the inflections of his voice.”

The Toronto native says he’s a born mimic – a skill that would suit him well playing such a well known part.

“If you ask anyone who knows me, I’m pretty good at impressions.”

Perhaps in an effort to appear presidential, the rapper recently settled a beef with a tattoo artist who had tattooed Drake’s name across the forehead of an overly enthusiastic fan.

Drake had blasted the artist for taking the assignment, saying: “You should lose your job and should never do tattoos again… And if I ever see you, I’ma f— you up.”

Now TaleTela.com reports that the artist, Kevin Campbell, recently tweeted word that peace had been brokered and the beef had been set aside.

“@Drake nice talking to you buddy, glad everything’s cleared up. It’s good that something positive came out of this whole fiasco. Stay up,” Campbell tweeted. “Drake beef officially squashed… Everybody can now move on. Only positivity from here on out.”

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January 27, 2012

Legendary pro wrestling champion Hulk Hogan says that Hollywood wants to make a movie about his life.

The former multi-time WWE champion tells Digital Spy that ever since the success of the Mickey Rourke film The Wrestler, producers have been knocking on his door, hoping to talk him into signing over the rights to his life story.

“Since that movie came out I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve been getting approached about doing my life story,” says the Hulkster.

The icon says he could have starred in The Wrestler himself, but warned producers he didn’t think he was right for the part despite being a golden age grappler.

“When the script for The Wrestler kept coming to me I said, ‘This movie is so good if you put me in the film as a wrestler people are going to say, ‘No credibility, Hulk Hogan isn’t a good actor,’” he says.

Nonetheless, Hogan says his own story is still tailor-made for the silver screen.

“Being a real fat kid growing up in high school, going through school and never having a girlfriend or going to a dance or the prom, being afraid to take my shirt off on the beach, and then all of a sudden getting in really good shape,” he recounts.

“Then I was a studio musician for ten years and played music with all kinds of crazy musicians and people – then I got in a fight with a wrestler one night in a bar and did real well and all of a sudden I get in the wrestling business.

“There is a movie there and they are talking about doing it. It could be crazy!”

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January 27, 2012

Is Sherlock headed for America?

That’s the rumour making its way around England following the success of Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows.

UK newspaper The Sun reports that director Guy Ritchie has already signed on to shoot a third installment of the popular detective franchise based on the iconic books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

An insider close to the production tells the paper that star Robert Downey Jr. is keen to spend more time in his home in America and Holmes may face his next mystery across the pond as a result.

“Guy has loved making the movies and he gets on really well with all the cast,” says the insider. “But Robert’s had to spend large parts of the year in the UK filming so will probably welcome the move back home.

“He loves the UK, and London in particular but having home comforts close by is such a big bonus.”

Box Office Mojo reports that Game of Shadows has had blockbuster success around the world, grossing over $440 million at the global box office.

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January 27, 2012

Bueller? Bueller?

Is Ferris Bueller set to finally make his return?

The scheming, wisecracking, teenage lead character of the 1980s smash hit comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off appears to be the star of a highly anticipated ad timed to air during this year’s Super Bowl.

A ten second teaser clip appeared online earlier this week featuring Matthew Broderick recreating an opening scene from the hooky classic as he pulls open a set of drapes, looks out at a brand new day, addresses the camera and says: “How can I handle work on a day like today?”

The spot then ends abruptly – with a snipped of the song “Oh Yeah,” by Yello, which was featured in Day Off – without any indication of what product or service may have procured the services of both Broderick and Bueller.

All will be revealed when the ad airs February 5 during the championship game between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.

Directed by the late, great John Hughes, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was one of the biggest hits of 1986. Though it spawned a short-lived TV spin-off, Broderick hasn’t played the character since that first flick – though the spot already has tongues in Hollywood wagging about the potential for a long-overdue sequel.

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January 27, 2o12

Monty Python fans forever hoping for a reunion of the beloved British boobs may soon be getting the next best thing.

Industry trade magazine Variety reports that most of the remaining Pythons will soon be gathering to give voice to a group of aliens in an upcoming comedy by Python Terry Jones.

Terry Gilliam, John Cleese and Michael Palin will team with Jones to provide the dialogue for a group of ETs in the zany CG/live-action sci-fi flick Absolutely Anything.

The story, concocted by Jones and co-writer Gavin Scott some 20 years ago, concerns a group of aliens who, as a lark, bestow superhuman powers on a random human, with the goal of seeing how much chaos he can cause.

Besides Graham Chapman, who died of cancer in 1989, the only other Python missing from the list of players is Eric Idle, who has been approached, but has yet to commit. One more funny name to add to the list of players is veteran Robin Williams, who’ll be playing a talking dog named Dennis.

“Terry and Gavin have crafted a classic farce,” says producer Mike Medavoy. “Like all projects originated by any of the Monty Python guys, Absolutely Anything delightfully defies a logline.”

Jones, director of such Python classics as Life of Brian and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, says that while Absolutely Anything isn’t a Python comedy, fans of the troupe will recognize its spirit.

“It’s not a Monty Python picture,” he says, “But it certainly has that sensibility.”

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