From “Iron Man” to Oz?
Robert Downey Jr., who reprises his role in the sequel “Iron Man 2,” is in talks to play the main figure in “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” Production Weekly reports.
The prequel would follow the wizard in the days leading up to Dorothy’s entry to the fabled land.
Kate Winslet‘s estranged husband, Sam Mendes, and “Hairspray” director Adam Shankman are candidates to direct the film.
The script is based on parts of L. Frank Baum’s books, the author of the “Oz” tales.
In Baum’s stories, the wizard was something of a flimflam man before reaching Oz, with the new film likely offering up a character with a darker edge than the one presented in the family-friendly “Wizard of Oz” from 1939.
Courtney Love is dead.
At least the singer says she is no longer using her stage name, the BBC reports.
“We love her when she goes onstage, but I don’t need her in the rest of my life,” said the singer, who now wishes to be referred to as Courtney Michelle.
Michelle, 45, was born as Courtney Michelle Harrison.
“The name Courtney Love is a way to oppress me,” she told NME magazine of the name she used to promote her alternative rock band, Hole, in the 1990s.
In the same interview, Love said she no longer wants to talk about her late husband, Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain.
“I am not his spokesperson on Earth,” she said. “I don’t know what he’d be like now, he could be into society girls, he could be into fat girls, he could be homosexual. We don’t know, he died at 27.”
Love and Cobain were married in 1992 and remained together until his death in April 1994.
Robert DeNiro and wife Grace Hightower made a rare appearance Tuesday night.
The couple were spotted arriving at the New York State Supreme Court last night for a party held by Vanity Fair for the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.
DeNiro, 66, who was dressed in a grey wool suit, was hand in hand with Grace, a former flight attendant, to whom he’s been married for 13 years.
They were joined at the party by model Christy Turlington, 41, and her actor husband Edward Burns, 42, and comedian Jerry Seinfeld, 55, and his wife Jessica, 39.
Also attending were legendary actor and DeNiro’s old friend Harvey Keitel, 70, who arrived with his 49-year-old actress wife Daphna Kaster, and actor and comedian Dennis Leary, 52, and his wife Ann.
Other party-goers included Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, 60, American’s domestic goddess Martha Stewart, 68, and fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, 63.
De Niro, who lives in New York City, co-founded the festival with Hollywood producer Jane Rosenthal in 2002 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks the previous year, which resulted in the loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighbourhood.
Tribeca is a residential area in Lower Manhattan, and its name is an acronym which means Triangle Below Canal Street.
Cybill Shepherd‘s son, Cyrus Zacharia Shepherd-Oppenheim, will enroll in a pretrial diversion program after he was arrested in January for allegedly trying to rob sleeping passengers on an overnight flight from San Francisco to Philadelphia.
Shepherd-Oppenheim, whose father is Cybill Shepherd’s ex-husband Bruce Oppenheim, appeared in Philadelphia Municipal Court on Tuesday, according to local reports. Prosecutors say his record will be cleared if he abides by all conditions of the program, which is designed for first-time offenders.
The law student at the University of Pennsylvania, 22, was charged with stealing a camera, cash and other items from passengers’ carry-on luggage. Another hearing is scheduled for June 4.
— lsmith@denverpost.com
