Top Story
Sarah Kozer, one of the three women finalists on Fox’s reality series Joe Millionaire, has starred in about a dozen bondage and fetish films under the stage name “Cindy Schubert,” the Web site The Smoking Gun reported Wednesday. Often bound and gagged–but usually clothed–Kozer appeared in films such as Hogtied and Helpless Heroine. The pictures on the Web site depict Kozer dressed as a cheerleader or a nurse, and in some instances she is seen tying up men. A spokesman for Fox, which describes her occupation as “sales and design” on the show’s Web site, told Reuters they do not comment on the personal lives of our reality show contestants. The show, a surprise hit for the network, has 20 women competing for the affections of a man they believe to be worth $50 million.
Celebs
Sadie Frost, the wife of actor Jude Law, is suffering from severe postnatal depression and was admitted to Cromwell Hospital in London over the weekend, The Associated Press reports. “This depression can be a serious thing and it has left Sadie feeling very sad and run down and she is just trying to get a handle on it,” Law said in a statement. “She has had so much on her plate recently and realizes she needs help and to catch her breath.” The couple’s third child, Rudy, was born prematurely in September.
Actor Colin Farrell‘s latest role appears to be playing boyfriend to pop princess Britney Spears. According to People.com, Farrell and Spears have been gallivanting around Tinseltown and were seen hand-in-hand at the Hollywood premiere of The Recruit Tuesday. Farrell, however, told TV’s Entertainment Tonight that the two were just friends. “Seriously, we just met a week ago, (we’re) having a laugh.” The pair met when Spears visited the set of Farrell‘s movie S.W.A.T..
Russell Crowe has reluctantly backed out of this year’s Orange British Academy Film Awards ceremony, People.com reports. Traditionally, last year’s winners act as this year’s presenters, but Crowe said he needs to help his girlfriend, Danielle Spencer, with their upcoming nuptials. Last year Crowe, who won best actor for his performance in A Beautiful Mind, manhandled a producer who edited his acceptance speech for TV.”I am flattered to hear of the invitation to attend BAFTA through the press,” Crowe told Australia’s Associated Press. “Unfortunately I have a prior engagement, so to speak.”
Supermodel Claudia Schiffer gave birth to her first child, a boy, on Thursday after being admitted to hospital for a Caesarian section, her spokeswoman told Reuters. Schiffer, 32, was admitted to the exclusive Portland Hospital in central London for a planned delivery with her husband, British film producer Matthew Vaughn, at her side. “Claudia crushed one of her feet in an accident in November and has been on crutches ever since so doctors advised her against a natural delivery,” her spokeswoman said.
Movies
Frances McDormand, who won on Oscar for her role in Fargo, is set to join Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and Keanu Reeves in an untitled Columbia Pictures comedy written and directed by Nancy Meyers (What Women Want). According to Variety, McDormand will play the sister of Keaton, who takes up with the mature boyfriend (Nicholson) of her daughter after he has a heart attack and convalesces at her Hampton house. McDormand‘s character helps her choose between Nicholson‘s character and a young dashing doctor, played by Reeves.
TV veteran Ken Kwapis is set to direct the coming-of-age feature The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants for Warner Bros., Variety reports. The project, based on Ann Brashares’ best-selling novel, revolves around four best friends who share a magical pair of jeans that unites them when for the first time they are forced to separate. Production is expected to start early this summer, though cast and locations have not yet been chosen.
Tube
TV producer David E. Kelley is furious at ABC for moving his hit legal drama The Practice to Monday nights. “They’ve killed it in one fell swoop,” Kelley told Variety. “I would hope (ABC) would act in their own self-interest and put it back where it was doing well.” The Practice consistently ranked No. 1 in its Sunday night time slot, but finished fourth in its first airing Monday opposite Joe Millionaire on Fox, NBC’s drama Third Watch and the CBS comedies Everybody Loves Raymond and Still Standing.
Friends star Courteney Cox will create and executive produce a new home improvement program set to debut this fall on the cable channel WE: Women’s Entertainment. Mix It Up is described by the network as “an unscripted, Trading Spaces-like show” that will track people with diverse tastes who move in together, People.com reports. Production of the first 13 episodes is due to start in the spring or summer.
Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson will co-executive produce and appear in a new reality series pitting the country’s best “street” basketball players against each other. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Who’s Got Game will yield 12 athletes who will compete once production begins this spring in New York. The winner will receive $100,000 in cash and have his hometown court revamped and named after him. The focus of the series, which will premiere on MTV, will alternate between the elimination tournament and off-court looks into their personal lives.
