Archives for June 2009

Out for a weekend exercise session, Jessica Biel was spotted out walking her pet pooch Tina in Santa Monica on Sunday (June 28).

Taking to a local park, the former "7th Heaven" actress looked a bit lonely as she strolled the grounds - surely missing the company of her "Sexy Back" beau Justin Timberlake.

As for Justin, he's been living it up overseas - performing at the 11th Annual White Tie and Tiara Ball to Benefit the Elton John Aids Foundation and attending the tennis tournament at Wimbledon over the past few days.

JT was among the many stars sharing his thoughts on Michael Jackson's death, saying, "I can't find the words right now to express how deeply saddened I am by Michael's passing. We have lost a genius and a true ambassador of not only pop music but of all music. He has been an inspiration to multiple generations and I will always cherish the moments I shared with him on stage and all of the things I learned about music from him and the time we spent together. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones."

According to an eyewitness to the New York Post, the singer was in party mode at hot spot Avenue one recent night."Usually Justin is pretty in control, but he was acting pretty crazy," the source told the NYP.

"He was drinking tequila all night. At one point, he cleared out a little space and started break dancing. He was bumping into people and spilling drinks. It was hilarious."Our source also says that at one point, Lindsay Lohan, currently off with on-again, off-again girlfriend Samantha Ronson, tried to dance with Timberlake, but "he shooed her away."But that didn't stop Timberlake from later cozying up to an unidentified brunette partygoer.

"It definitely wasn't Jessica," laughs our source. "He was pretty drunk." Later that night, Lohan ended up posting a thinly veiled message on her Twitter account, "where's jb cheater" - seemingly referring to Timberlake's girlfriend, Biel.The next day, she added, "Why do people cheat?"She has now backtracked, claiming that both messages had been sent by someone who'd hacked into her Twitter account. Avenue owner Noah Tepperberg told the New York Post that JT has nothing to worry about.

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As many of you know, I’ve spent the better part of the last year, working with Comic Strip owner Richie Tienken on a book about the history of the club that launched the careers of superstars like Chris Rock, Larry Miller, George Wallace, Lewis Black, Paul Reiser and Jerry Seinfeld— to name just a few.
We’re aiming for the book to come out in time for the 35th anniversary of the club next June. So far we’ve been able to interview over 25 of the top stars including the ones mentioned, all except for Jerry Seinfeld. For some unknown reason, we haven’t been able to reach Jerry, although we’ve tried through at least five of his best friends, all to no avail.No one says why, but Jerry doesn’t get in touch, despite the fact that he’s been in other books during this time, and The Strip was Jerry’s “home club” where he got his start, and where hung out all the time.
Tienken was starting to worry that Jerry had some reason he didn’t want to take part in the project, or had something against him or the club, until he read a very recent newspaper article about a new book where 75 celebs tell about their “Favorite Place On Earth.”

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With its '30s charm and an oh-so-British sense of playfulness, writer-director Stephan Elliot's dramatic-comedy "Easy Virtue" is one of those whimsical period pieces you find yourself wanting to love -- if only it would let you.

At times it does, in a "Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day" kind of way. The lush, English-manor setting is reason enough for Anglophiles to want to drink it all in. Most other times, however, the movie's gleeful thumbing of the nose to English stuffiness just feels forced, as if everybody's trying too hard to look like they're having fun.
Elliot's movie -- based on a three-act play by Noel Coward, which was previously adapted into a 1928 movie by Alfred Hitchcock -- ends up lurching along on an episodic script that trades any chance at a smooth narrative flow for a series of extended gags.

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What a twisted web celebrities weave! According to Lindsay Lohan's Twitter, the starlet caught Justin Timberlake dancing and smooching the night away with a mystery brunette who wasn't Jessica Biel (see picture of said brunette below). The brunette in question isn't anything special, if you ask me, although no one got a picture of the two actually kissing.According to Poison Ivy, Lohan spotted Timberlake at the Avenue nightclub in New York acting a fool and getting personal with a random unknown girl in a white hat. 
That would be embarrassing, but fine, if he wasn't dating Jessica Biel.
After seeing the two kiss, Lindsay immediately tweeted,"...where's jb [Jessica Biel] cheater?"
Lindsay has since responded to the rumors, claiming her Twitter was hacked and that she didn't write the above message.

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Jessica Biel came to international attention when she was very young and was trying to make a name for herself as a model. Given this, it’s no wonder that she still feels some resentment towards those who tend to judge her based on her looks first and only afterwards for her merits – or lack thereof. As she reveals in the latest issue of Gotham Magazine, Biel continues to have a hard time dealing with her uber-gorgeous image.

Ever since she became noticed as Mary Camden on “Seventh Heaven,” Jessica Biel has been featured in most beautiful women’s polls and charts. Often described as a screen siren and gorgeous icon, the actress is now saying that it’s hard trying to counterbalance that with a certain girl-next-door quality that she believes essential to get the type of parts she wants.

“I don’t really think about those things and think, Oooh, yay – I’ve made a mark, all right’.” Biel says. The star further explains that finding a balance between her highly beautified and glamorized image in the media and that of being attainable is vital to show that she can do the same for her movie parts, while also contributing to not pushing studio bosses away from working with her. “To be able to bounce back and forth. [Because sometimes] the interesting characters are dark, conflicted… tortured souls; those are the characters I’m most interested in playing.” Biel says.

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Watching the film Easy Virtue is a lot like indulging in a piece lemon meringue pie: It has a flaky cast, er, crust, a deliciously tart center, and an airy topping. Simply put, it's a guilty pleasure that's fun to eat...or in this case, watch.
The film, which is based on the play by Noel Coward, is set in the late 1920s. Larita (Biel) is a glamorous American woman with a fondness for cars, motorcycles, and racy art and literature. She also happens to be the new wife of John Whittaker, a young Englishman hailing from a very traditional, ultra conservative family. After a whirlwind romance in France, the couple descends upon the Whittaker estate, much to the chagrin of the family, particularly John's mother, Veronica (Scott Thomas). Larita does her best to get along with the icy matriarch and her naive daughters with little success. Aside from the wait staff, her only allies are Mr. Whittaker (Firth), whose seemingly sour disposition appears to lift only when he's making snide remarks to his wife, and Sarah, John's childhood friend and the girl who "got away." As tensions rise between the young and senior Mrs. Whittakers, Larita finally starts fighting fire with fire, causing John to doubt the longevity of their marriage.
Overall, this is a slick, entertaining film. The typically stoic Biel is surprisingly fun as the vivacious Larita, and Scott Thomas is perfect as the stiff and manipulative mother-in-law. John's character, played by Ben Barnes, is grating at times (especially when he fails to stand up to his mother and sisters), but it also serves to demonstrate the differences between him and the older, forward-thinking Larita. The sassy soundtrack is reflective of the time period and includes a twenties-style rendition of Billy Ocean's "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going," which is performed by Firth, Barnes, and Biel. Easy Virtue isn't a particularly highbrow film, and you probably won't walk away with any life lessons, but you just might find yourself smiling with satisfaction at this glossy, cinematic treat.

Jessica Biel dons a little black dress to steam up the pages of Gotham magazine, on stands Monday. Read on to find out the inspiration for the pics...
Jessica's 1930s sex appeal is a nod to her latest movie, the period piece 'Easy Virtue,' and she tells the magazine that her fiesty character has all the characteristics that she wants to be as an actual women saying, "She's so effortlessly witty and sarcastic and fantastic and glamorous and tough, and she’s cool as a cucumber -- but at the same time extremely vulnerable, and a real person who is hurt by these experiences."
As for her modern-day mark as a sex symbol, she says, "I've made a mark, all right. But balancing the idea of being very sexy and then also being really attainable, kind of a girl-next door quality, is really important."

Back to the parlor, friends, for some afternoon tea, followed by doubles tennis and a smashing fox hunt. There's plenty of brandy and cigarettes to go around, plus the usual buffet of glowers and snootiness. Mind your one-liners. Keep that stiff upper lip. We're English after all, and that means we get our jollies from acting proper in the midst of misbehavior. Pip, pip, cheerio!

If this folderol sounds as appetizing as a week-old scone, then avoid "Easy Virtue." It's a traditional English comedy of manners cut from the same drawing-room drapery as "Gosford Park" and any Oscar Wilde film adaptation, minus the thematic heft and belly laughs of either. It's a simple, forgettable gambol through the country between the world wars. There are a couple of good lines, courtesy of the source material's author Noël Coward, but the story belongs on the stage, where the dialogue can crackle. On-screen, it feels too diluted, too wispy, too much like great scenes were hacked up to cobble together a so-so screenplay.

But for those thirsty for an unchallenging diversion, this may be your cup of tea. The English countryside is lovely, after all, and so are the actors: Kristin Scott Thomas as the cold matriarch Mrs. Whittaker, Colin Firth as her unkempt and uncouth husband and Ben Barnes, looking like a young Billy Crudup, as their dapper son John. John recently married an American (heavens!) who's also a famous race-car driver (stone the crows!) with an accomplished sexual résumé (goodness gracious!). What will Mrs. Whittaker think?

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But just when you write Jessica Biel off as Justin Timberlake’s girlfriend, or the new face of Revlon, or more “celebrity” than actress, she goes and does Noel Coward on you. It’s not just about the money or being in a hit, Biel says. “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” was her biggest.

She’s done movies that either weren’t finished or went straight to video.The “break-out role” hasn’t happened.

“If you do something out of the norm, something creatively different, more demanding or challenging, it’s easy to get excited about work. I look for that.”

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