I’ve said it before and I will say it again: if I were a young actor today I would quit before I started. If I had to grow up in this media culture, I don’t think I could survive it emotionally. I would only hope that someone who loved me, really loved me, would put their arm around me and lead me away to safety.Actress Jodie Foster • Defending fellow-actress Kristen Stewart, and any public figure who found themselves in the spotlight at a young age, while also warning the parents of would-be actors and actresses. Foster, a close friend of Stewart after their work on the 2002 film ‘Panic Room’, wrote a column for The Daily Beast on the possibility of stars leading normal and/or private lives. Considering she’s one of Hollywood’s most experienced actresses — with 46 years under her belt after starting at the young age of 3 — Foster’s work offers a unique perspective from someone on the receiving end of societal scrutiny. source (via • follow)
Ashton Kutcher to star in indie film about Steve Jobs’ life: Surprisingly, although this story was originally published on Sunday by Variety, this isn’t an elaborate April Fools’ joke. The film, “Jobs,” will cover the Apple co-founder’s life from the 1970s to the ’90s. Maybe this casting decision makes sense, seeing as Kutcher is one of the more technologically profound members of Hollywood. source
“Hunger Games” gives “Battle Royale” a boost: Many folks are comparing the overall plot of Suzanne Collins’ series to a Japanese book and movie. With the release of the first-in-the-trilogy’s movie, marketing teams put out new artwork and boxsets of “Battle Royale.” Anchor Bay Entertainment declined to announce sales numbers, but “Battle Royale” is currently at #38 on Amazon.com’s and TV sales chart. source
One thing they could do is buy their way into Hollywood. Think about it for a second. Today, Apple could literally buy Time Warner ($38 billion market cap), Viacom ($29 billion), and Dreamworks ($1.6 billion) combined, and still have $30 billion left over. If it waits a few more quarters it could snap up News Corp ($49 billion) as well. Only Disney, which is worth $70 billion, would take a while longer to save up for.
But it is very unlikely Apple would just snap up all the major media companies. It would be a post-acquisition mess, not to mention the antitrust issues it would raise. No, all Apple needs to do is take a few billion dollars of that cash and start licensing the rights to stream first-run TV shows and movies. It could easily compete with cable. It needs to compete with cable if it truly wants to build a TV replacement.
Food for thought: When you have that much money on hand, you can actually think of crazy things like this. Actually, we have a better idea: Spend some of that money improving your factory standards, Apple.
Two unidentified witnesses found the head in the Hollywood Hills near the Griffith Observatory, a popular hiking area. Homicide detectives were looking for further evidence in the area, including a search for a body, police said.
Speechless.
A few weeks old, but too good not to post: What happens when you get a new cell phone previously owned by a well-connected Hollywood actor? That’s what happened to a middle-aged dude named Bob Gray (center), who moved to California and got a new cell phone with his girlfriend Liza Foster (right). It was obvious that someone famous owned the number before him — because he kept getting invited to parties, including Paris Hilton’s birthday party. In a fitting end to this Happy Madison-like tale, Adam Sandler himself called the number and told Gray he inherited the cell phone number of Nick Swardson, a regular in Sandler’s movies who most recently starred in “Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.” (Too bad it wasn’t like Sean Penn, but not bad either way.) Gray plans to write a screenplay about this, because … um, wouldn’t you? source
RIP Sidney Lumet: Legendary Hollywood director dies at 86: “I’m mad as hell and can’t take it anymore.” Know that movie (“Network”)? This was the guy who made it. He also made many other great ones. No non-lifetime-achievement Oscars though … sigh. source
What happened to Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen? She’s dead: In case you were in need of a good Hollywood whodunit, the death of publicist Ronni Chasen the other day has the city gripped like a Phil Spector murder case. source
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