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The Associated Press reports Dawson’s Creek star Joshua Jackson was arrested and charged with assault on Saturday after getting into a drunken fight with a security guard at a hockey game in North Carolina. While at a game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Jackson allegedly grabbed a guard around the neck and hit him. Tests show the actor’s blood alcohol content was 0.14. The 24-year-old actor, who plays Pacey on the WB series, posted $1,000 bail and will appear in court Dec. 4.
Celebs
A woman was arrested Monday in connection with the shooting death of actor Merlin Santana, though the Los Angeles police have not released the identity of the woman at this time, the AP reports. Santana, 26, who starred in the film Showtime and made appearances on TV series such as Moesha and The Steve Harvey Show, was killed while sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car early Saturday morning in South Los Angeles.
Movies
Halle Berry may be getting her own super-spy movie. After her stint as the tough-as-nails Jinx in the upcoming James Bond film Die Another Day, Reuters reports there are now talks between Berry and Bond producer Barbara Broccoli to make the first spin-off movie in Bond history, based on the beautiful but dangerous U.S. agent. According to Reuters, cable network E! Entertainment quoted Berry as telling its reporter that if a spin-off was planned, “I would do it in a heartbeat.”
Roberto Benigni‘s newest film Pinocchio, which hits theaters Dec. 25, will be Italy’s official entry for the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Film category. Benigni‘s endearing Life is Beautiful took home that award in 1999 and earned him the Best Actor award as well.
Volatile director Larry Clark‘s (Kids) edgy and sexually explicit film Ken Park will have to find a new U.K. distributor after he punched out the president of the film’s distribution company, Metro Tartan. Variety reports Clark got into a brawl with Metro executive Hamish McAlpine over the Arab-Israeli conflict last Thursday in a London restaurant. The company announced Monday it was dropping the film, which follows a group of California skateboarders, after Clark told Variety he was going into an anger management program. Probably a good idea.
Tube
Howard Stern‘s comic sidekick Artie Lange may get his own sitcom at NBC. Variety reports he is developing the DreamWorks pilot for the network with veteran Simpsons scribe Sam Simon. The series will star Lange as a successful sitcom star who has to continually deal with his blue-collar roots.
ABC and Steve Martin‘s production company Martin/Stein Co. are developing a gay version of the hit ’80s show Hart to Hart called Mr. and Mr. Nash, Variety reports. The show’s premise revolves around two interior decorators who stumble upon a murder each week. British thesp Alan Cumming (Spy Kids) has already signed on to play one of the leads. “I am proud to be a part of Mr. and Mr. Nash, especially the part where it’s a big hit,” Martin told Variety.
Variety reports ABC News is denying a claim from rival networks that it paid Paul Burrell, the butler to Princess Diana who has been causing much controversy in the U.K, for an interview. A U.S. broadcast rights deal reportedly includes Burrell’s documentary, Diana’s Rock, which will appear on Good Morning America next Monday; an interview Burrell did with British journalist Sir Trevor McDonald; and a one-on-one interview with Burrell for 20/20. ABC News insists, however, that it does not pay for interviews and that the one-on-one was arranged separately.
