Kari Russell in “MI3” role
Keri Russell has agreed to star opposite Tom Cruise in “Mission: Impossible 3,” the New York Times reported.
Russell will portray a junior agent mentored by Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt. Scarlett Johansson was slated to play the role until scheduling delays forced her to pull out of the project. Russell, a former Colorado resident, can be seen now in the TNT Western miniseries “Into the West.”
Latifah and landlord in tiff over back rent
Queen Latifah owes rent since November 2004 on a New Jersey office space she leased for her Ghettoworks record label, the New York Post reported. Ghettoworks and the landlord of the 6,000 square-foot space in Elmwood Park, N.J., are in litigation, the Post reported.
…
Hugh Hefner is opening the doors of the Playboy Mansion to the paying public, USA Today reported.
Visitors will be allowed to tour the grounds, see Hef’s monkey cage, aviary, redwood forest and the much-whispered-about grotto. The entire mansion in Holmby Hills, Calif., which Hefner purchased for $1 million in 1971, will not open as a tourist attraction until the Playboy magazine founder’s death, he said.
“The hope and intention is that it will continue after I’m gone and become a variation on (Elvis Presley’s Graceland),” said Hefner, who noted he had been offered $75 million for his home.
…
Book publisher Judith Regan desperately tried to keep her $500,000 deal with “Runaway Bride” Jennifer Wilbanks a secret, a memo obtained by the New York Post revealed.
Besides the book deal and an NBC interview with Katie Couric, Wilbanks also agreed to a TV movie. The memo never mentions NBC, and part of the secrecy was to protect NBC News from accusations it had paid for the interview.
The Wilbanks family seemed to think the money was coming from NBC. An insider told the Post: “The Wilbanks family called up ABC and said, ‘Katie Couric is offering us $500,000; what can Diane (Sawyer) do?”
…
Brittany Murphy was thrown from a horse during a recent photo shoot for an advertising campaign for Jordache jeans in Harriman, N.Y., the New York Post reported. Murphy’s uncle helped cushion her fall, preventing any serious injuries. The actress’ lack of equestrian experience and a commotion that spooked the horse were blamed for the incident.
…
“Friends” star Matthew Perry has split from Rachel Dunn, his girlfriend of two years, People magazine reported. Perry was recently named as the host of ESPN’s ESPY Awards show.
…
Jerry Lee Lewis has divorced for the sixth time. The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported the 69-year-old rock legend divorced Kerrie Lynn McCarver Lewis Wednesday in a Hernando, Miss., court. Lewis and McCarver Lewis, 42, had been married 21 years.
“It’s been a long day, and it’s been an expensive day,” Lewis told the newspaper as he left the courtroom. McCarver Lewis received a $250,000 payment and will receive $30,000 a year until 2010. Lewis also will pay $20,000 for each of the next four years to his 18-year-old son Jerry Lee Lewis III.
The star kept his 40-acre ranch in Nesbit, Miss.
…
Only days after neighbors complained that a van being used by Star Jones of “The View” and her banker husband, Al Reynolds, blocked traffic on an Upper East Side street, the couple have put their penthouse apartment up for sale.
The New York Daily News’ Lloyd Grove reports a real estate source confirmed the couple’s apartment is for sale for $2.5 million. On Monday, an ambulance was delayed trying to get by a double-parked van, apparently abandoned by the couple’s driver.
Compiled by Greg Henry from wire and Internet reports
