April 17, 2012

Hollywood veteran Ryan O’Neal has revealed that he’s once again battling cancer.

The silver screen star of the 1970s tells People magazine he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

“Recently I was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer,” O’Neal says in a statement.

“Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early and according to my extraordinary team of doctors the prognosis is positive for a full recovery.”

O’Neal says he hopes his news encourages others to get themselves checked by their doctor regularly.

“I am deeply grateful for the support of my friends and family during this time, and I urge everyone to get regular check-ups, as early detection is the best defense against this horrible disease that has afflicted so many.”

O’Neal, 70, starred in the classic’s Love Story and Paper Moon, and in TV’s Peyton Place. In 1970 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his Love Story performance

In the 1990s O’Neal was treated for myelogenous leukemia. Just three years ago, O’Neal said good bye to his long-time partner Farrah Fawcett, who died at 62 from anal cancer.

O’Neal’s memoir of his time with Fawcett, Both of Us, will be published May 1.

(Photo by PR Photos)

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February 21, 2012

Do boozing Hollywood stars encourage kids to pick up the bottle?

That’s the theory put forth by a new U.S. study published this week. Agence France Presse reports that the study, involving over 6,500 randomly selected 10-14 year olds, suggests that exposure to scenes of characters drinking in Hollywood movies can inspire kids to do the same.

According to the AFP, during the two-year course of the study, the number of respondents who said they drank alcohol rose from 11 per cent to 25 per cent. The percent who said they had been binge drinking — defined as five or more drinks in a row — rose from 4 per cent to 13 per cent.

The study said that, while peer influence was found to be the biggest risk factor, exposure to movies involving booze ranked third.

“Movie alcohol exposure accounted for 28 per cent of the alcohol onset and 20 per cent of the binge drinking transitions,” claims the study.

“Alcohol use in movies is typically modelled in positive situations, without negative effects, and often shown with alcohol brands, which consolidates both the adolescent’s identify as a drink and brand allegiance.”

The study, published on the online journal, BMJ Open, was led by James Sargent, professor at the Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire. Sargent warns that the pervasive influence of Hollywood films has now gone international.

He says, “Like influenza, images in Hollywood movies begin in one region of the world then spread globally, where they may affect drinking behaviours among adolescents everywhere they are distributed.”

(Image: © David Pruter – Fotolia.com)

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January 3, 2012

Don Cheadle says his Miles Davis biopic will be a “gangster” story.

The Hotel Rwanda star tells the Wall Street Journal that plans are well underway for the film, which he plans to direct and star in as the legendary jazzman. Cheadle says his plans for the picture include taking an unconventional approach to the traditional biopic structure.

“It’s not a biopic, per se,” Cheadle says. “It’s a gangster pic. It’s a movie that Miles Davis would have wanted to star in. Without throwing history away, we’re trying to shuffle it and make it more cubist. The bulk of it takes place in ‘79, in a period where he actually wasn’t playing. But we traverse a lot of it his life, but it’s not a cradle to grave story.”

The star says his idea for the film would have been more accepted by Hollywood a decade ago.

“This is the kind of movie the business 10 years ago may have leapt at,” he says. “But now, you don’t really see movies like this. We have a studio offer and we’re trying to back into a budget number, like we always have to do, without gutting the piece.”

Perhaps the biggest hurdle Cheadle may be facing is that another movie about Davis’ life is already in the works, with Notorious director George Tillman Jr. attached.

Cheadle, however, says he’s not worried about the prospect.

“Look, if the world is ready to have two Miles Davis movies, fantastic. He should have eight or 10 of them… If there’s another quality movie about this legend, that’s great. I don’t think anyone’s going to be making the kind of movie we’re making.”

Fans of Cheadle can look forward to seeing the star in the upcoming cable television series House of Lies, which debuts on Showtime later this week.

(Photo by PR Photos)

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