Hollywood PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers. Send yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line) and let everyone know about the time you saw Bruce Willis accidentally tumble into a wormhole and pop out in 1985.
Hollywood PrivacyWatch celebrity sightings are submitted by our readers. Send yours to tips[AT]defamer.com (please put "sighting" or "PrivacyWatch" in the subject line) and let everyone know about the time you saw the lonesome Brokeback cowboys going through the paces with their women.
Vigilant anti-Ratner organization Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn announces today the formation of an Advisory Board, full of celebrity superheroes willing to fight the crime, injustice, and the Nets Stadium. Notable Brooklynite members include Rosie Perez, Steve Buscemi, Jonathan Lethem, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, Jhumpa Lahiri, and the Prince of Park Slope, Jonathan Safran Foer. In the release, Williams recovers from her Supporting Actress loss to chase the glory of Best Random Spokeswoman:
Two Washington Post staff writers were granted golden tickets to both the Vanity Fair and Elton John Oscar parties, and take us along on their Roald Dahlesque adventures. At VF they spot Madonna ("...she was heard to say 'oy' after experiencing a press photobarrage going in"), Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller sprawled on couches, J-Lo begging Marc Anthony to dance with her (he does not), Paul Haggis being gracious at a urinal (next movie: "Flush?"), and an affable, smoking Joaquin Phoenix; at Elton's: a bored George Lucas, alone but for his security guards, Pamela Anderson, and a "sea of women with Duck Face," including the world's reigning duck-faced monarchs, Amanda Lepore and Lisa Rinna. Spirits overall were high; but there's always the exception:
Even if Brokeback Mountain somehow lets the Best Picture Oscar slip through its rope-calloused-yet-tender fingers, few could deny it has already established itself as movie of the year. While other features reeked of desperately wanting to be talked about Munich and Crash come to mind Brokeback's only agenda appeared to be a desire to tell the sad, quiet story at its core. As a result, it managed to capture our hearts in the process, none more so than the enthusiastic collector who won the shirts auction for just north of 100 grand, likening them to "the ruby slippers of our time.
Gossip Fodder blog notes that at a recent press conference for his new movie Candy at the Berlin Film Festival, Heath Ledger was asked what George Clooney might win at the Oscars. Ledger reluctantly admitted Clooney deserved the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work in Syriana, which, of course, is the category his Brokeback co-star Jake Gyllenhaal is competing in. The festival website offers video evidence (the Jack Twist diss occurs precisely at 14:30). A partial transcript of his response:
Finally, after a seemingly endless spat of noncommittal and emotionally unsatisfying renting, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams have decided to buy in Boerum Hill. The two shelled out $3.5 million for a four-story corner spread two blocks "south of Smith Street" (or says the Australian paper). The price makes the 'hood almost the new Park Slope, but the nearby housing projects help to maintain just enough grit for Heath Ledger to grouchily ride his skateboard without worry.
The LA Weekly's Nikki Finke returns from a long vacation with her annual slash-and-burn Oscar predictions. Perhaps fearing an arson conviction if she actually torched the Kodak Theater, Finke settles for kicking George Clooney in the balls, accusing conservative Academy members of fearing that Brokeback Mountain will give them a boner, calling Paul Giamatti a troglodyte (actually a point in his favor, she says), and, perhaps most sensationally, questioning Heath Ledger's taste in women:
USA Today and Variety have amassed the definitive surveys of today's Oscar nominee reactions, with most of the responses falling into one or more of the following categories: "I never expected it," "I feel like a kid again," "I will be celebrating with/without alcohol," "My [insert occupation here] called to tell me the news," "I'm thrilled my co-workers got one too," and, finally, its remorseful companion, "I'm disappointed my co-star was left out."
· "Now you listen here, Jakey. This might seem all silly-goose to you, Mr. Serious Actor Man, but I'm milking this thing until the Oscar nominations are out, OK? Now if you don't want to wind up snubbed, put your hand on your goddamn hip and play along!"
· Blogger Tony Pierce figures out where Heather Graham moved her birthday party (The Short Stop—nice choice) after snubbing Akbar.
· Just like in her acting career, Jessica Alba's incredible good looks obviously played no part in her success in this poll.
· Gallery of the Absurd never fails to horrify us with its artwork. Today, Britney Spears and Cheetos team up to chill us to the bone.
· A Craigslister in NY is less than thrilled with the medical accuracy of last night's Grey's Anatomy. Seriously, though: The flesh-eating bacteria? That's been around long enough to been recycled through ER three or four times, hasn't it?
No, it didn't quite have the deliciously unprovoked comeuppance or the ensuing victimized indignation of the Tom Cruise trick microphone red carpet dousing of last summer. But what it lacked in subtlety, the Munich-style revenge attack more than made up for in scale: Five paparazzi, who claim to have been on the receiving end of a Ledger loogie, launched a retaliatory attack on Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams with water pistols as they strolled down the red carpet for the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain. The soaking lasted a reported 10 seconds, during which Ledger chivalrously shielded his partner from the blast, bravely unconcerned that a suspiciously warm-seeming stream might have originated from the pants of a particularly enraged paparazzo.
The tempest grows over the controversial last minute pulling of Brokeback Mountain from the Sandy Megaplex, a movie theater owned and run by Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller. Yesterday, representatives of Utah's gay community made a "call to action" against the theater, demanding to know "why that decision was made." So far, the only communication on the subject has been a notice posted in the ticket window an hour before the film was to have its premiere screening, stating, "There has been a change in booking and we will not be showing 'Brokeback Mountain.' We apologize for any inconvenience." Since then, not a peep:
Had you asked us this morning if there was a riff on the Brokeback Mountain poster out there that might still make us laugh, we would have responded in an assuredly confident negative. But then someone had to go and send us Grayskull Mountain, and damn it if we weren't helpless to poor Skeletor Del Mar's disconsolate gaze, or the manboyish allure of the object of his forbidden affections, He-Jack. And while we're feeling all warm and Brokeback fuzzy, why not mention that Gene Shalit has made a heartfelt and apologetic statement regarding his highly criticized review, saying, "In describing the behavior of "Jack" I used words ("sexual predator") that I now discover have angered, agitated, and hurt many people. I did not intend to use a word that many in the gay community consider incendiary." Oh, Bozo the Pringles Guy, you had us at "describing." How could we possibly stay angry with you come back into our tender buns, you silly hairball!
Thanks to his performance in Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger is no longer just "that dude who jousted to Queen remixes," but a bankable and respected leading man. But getting to sink your teeth into this calibre of material nothing says Oscar bait like his wrenching attack of love withdrawal, aka the "Jake shakes" comes with a price, which in this instance is finding yourself cast in the unexpected role of a gay rights media mouthpiece. If this interview from the Sydney Herald is any indication, however, Ledger is up to the task:
Gene Shalit has been the Today show film critic for 31 years now, not because he has anything particularly insightful to say, but because it's fun to look at a man in permanent Groucho nose glasses every morning. But Shalit's bizarre Brokeback Mountain review yesterday has revealed a dark side to Bozo the Pringles Guy that none of us could ever have anticipated. An exerpt:
Today's SAG award nominations offer yet another suggestive nudge to any waffling Academy members who still aren't sure if they should check off the "gay cowboy movie in all categories" box at the top of their Oscar ballots. Brokeback Mountain, a heartbreaking story of doomed cowboy love, or, alternately, a hilarious comedy about the lengths women will go to to delude themselves into thinking they aren't married to a gay guy, took four nominations, including best actor for Heath Ledger and best cast.
