Top Story: Winslet and Mendes Expecting Child
Titanic star Kate Winslet and her new husband, American Beauty director Sam Mendes, are expecting their first baby, due in January, The Associated Press reports. “They are both delighted with the pregnancy,” Chloe Dunbar of Premiere PR in London, which represents Mendes, told AP. The two were married in May, and Dunbar said they were currently on vacation in Italy. Winslet has a 3-year-old daughter Mia from her previous marriage to director Jim Threapleton.
Schwarzenegger Calls for Tougher Piracy Laws
In Mexico promoting his new actioner Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Arnold Schwarzenegger stressed the need for stronger laws against film and music piracy after being handed a bootleg copy of T3, Reuters reports. “We need stricter laws so that the people who do this (piracy) are treated the same way as somebody who steals something,” Schwarzenegger said Thursday at the press conference. The actor, who is considering running for governor of California, should make this his first order of business if elected.
West Wing Returns With New Writing Staff
NBC’s political drama The West Wing will return for a fifth season with a new commander-in-chief: John Wells, who is replacing series creator Aaron Sorkin, Reuters reports. With a brand-new writing staff, NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker promised Tuesday at the Television Critics Association press tour that the transition would be seamless, with viewers noticing little difference in the show except for perhaps less of the dialogue “banter” that was a hallmark of Sorkin‘s writing style.
Osbourne Tour Manager Dies
Bobby Thomson, Ozzy Osbourne‘s longtime Ozzfest tour manager, died in his sleep Thursday night in Birmingham, Michigan, after battling throat cancer, LAUNCHMusic.com reports. He was 50. Osbourne issued a statement saying, “We are devastated by the loss of our dear friend Bobby. He has been a part of our family for 23 years and loved very much. He will be greatly missed by all of us. Our sincerest sympathies go out to the Thomson family.”
J. Lo Postpones Tour, Launches New Fragrance
If you’re waiting to see Jennifer Lopez in concert, you’re going to have to wait a little longer. The pop singer/actress has decided not to go on tour with her latest album This is Me…Then but will wait until her next release, MTV.com reports. “The [question] was like, ‘Do we go out now when we’re on the, like, third and fourth single of this album?’ ‘Cause really, you go out at the beginning of an album,” Lopez told MTV. “And [so] that’s what we’re gonna do. I’m gonna work on something else, and when that comes out I think I’m gonna go out right away.” Instead of touring, Lopez is releasing a second fragrance, called Still, in October to go along with the first, Glow, MTV.com reports. The ad campaign is planned for a more upscale market and will feature the slogan, “In the eye of the storm, I am still Jennifer Lopez.”
Role Call: Newell Considering Fourth Potter, Gyllenhaal Needs Proof
Director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) is looking to team up with Warner Bros. to direct the fourth Harry Potter installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He’ll be the first British director to tackle the hugely popular J.K. Rowling books, following Chris Columbus, who directed the first two films Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets and Alfonso Cuaron, currently filming the third in the series Prisoner of Azkaban…Jake Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to join Gwyneth Paltrow in Proof for Miramax Films. According to The Reporter, the story, based on David Auburn’s Pulitzer-prized play, centers on a young woman (Paltrow) taking care of her dying father, a brilliant but insane math professor. Gyllenhaal will play Hal, the young woman’s love interest.
