Blind since infancy, Stevie Wonder could get his sight back – thanks to new technology.
The 55-year-old singer told the TV gossip show “The Insider” he is negotiating to become an applicant for microchip sight surgery. Wonder told “The Insider”: “I’ve been tested, and there was some possibility that I could be a candidate.”
Wyclef Jean has agreed to a deal to produce and star in an HBO comedy series loosely based on his life, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Fugees frontman, who also will write and produce original music for the series, was born in Haiti in 1972 where local Creole and folk traditions influenced his hip- hop and world-music recordings. His family moved to Brooklyn when he was 9 and later to New Jersey.
50 Cent may have to change his name to $5 after he recently unintentionally handed out $18,000 to kids from his native New York City.
“Fiddy” had intended to give out $1,800 to underprivileged fans, teenhol
lywood.com reported. “They went mad,” he said of the kids’ response.
In an interview for the November issue of Vanity Fair, Beyoncé clears up rumors of her marriage – or engagement – to her rap-mogul boyfriend Jay-Z.
The Destiny’s Child singer laughs at the tabloid stories about her relationship, saying “I’m engaged and married at the same time?”
Tina Knowles also cleared up rumors that her daughter had fired her father as her manager to let Jay-Z run her budding career. “Jay doesn’t want to manage her,” Knowles told Vanity Fair for its cover story. “All the rumors about how I’m getting a divorce and I’m going to manage her or Jay is going to manage her … it’s just crazy.”
The creator of “Sex and the City” has discussed reviving the series, and Inside TV magazine reports Darren Star is wooing the cast – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon – with promises of huge raises and less work. A source said the stars seriously are considering the offer, and if a deal is reached HBO wants to debut the show by mid-2006. A network publicist dismissed such talks: “Maybe there’s just that push because people want it back. Unfortunately, it’s had its run.”
George Clooney is planning another live television production, remaking the 1976 Paddy Chayefsky movie “Network.” Five years ago, Clooney was executive producer and co-star of a live TV version of the 1964 Cold War drama “Fail Safe.” The actor told The Associated Press CBS chief Leslie Moonves approached him about doing the same thing with “Network,” winner of four Academy Awards including original screenplay (Chayefsky) and best actor (Peter Finch).
– Compiled by Greg Henry from wire and Internet reports
Shia LaBeouf has a beef with name
If anybody can give parents advice for naming their kids, it’s actor Shia (rhymes with “hiya”) LaBeouf, star of the Disney film “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”
After 19 years of getting into fights over his name and hearing it mispronounced, LaBeouf – his full name means “thank God for beef” – advised parents to “name your kid Billy and Timmy! What is the problem with that?”
