Top Story
Britney Spears fans, don’t despair. The pop princess may be a little tired from going nonstop over the last four years with three top-selling albums and a world tour, but after a much-needed break, she will return to the recording studio. In Italy for Donatella Versace’s spring/summer 2003 fashion show (the designer says her new line was inspired by Spears‘ “all-singing, all-dancing, all-acting” style), the 20-year-old Spears admitted to Reuters, “I think I may just go to Los Angeles and record a little bit. But other than that I just plan to hang out.”
Celebs
Jennifer Aniston, who just won her first Emmy for best actress in a comedy series, has also won her first film award for her work in the dark comedy The Good Girl, nabbing the actress of the year award from the sixth annual Hollywood Film Festival. The awards will be handed out Oct. 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
VIP and Baywatch star Pamela Anderson is close to an agreement with ex-husband Tommy Lee over the custody of their two sons. The lawyers for each party have told Superior Court Judge Lee Smalley Edmon, who warned she would declare a mistrial if the custody papers weren’t signed soon, that the deal should be delivered by Monday, Oct. 7. Anderson originally petitioned for full custody, while Lee asked for equal time.
Movies
Just what we need–a movie about the rock band AC/DC. The film Thunderstruck will follow five friends and devoted fans of the band who, after a near-death experience in 1991, vow to bury whoever dies first next to the grave of former AC/DC front man Bon Scott. Jumping ahead to present day, the friends reunite when one of them dies. No one has been cast as yet.
Paramount Pictures has delayed the release of their sci-fi disaster film The Core because more time was needed to complete the special effects. The Core stars Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank as experts who must journey to the center of the Earth to jump-start the planet’s slowing rotation. The film was to hit theaters Nov. 1 but will now be released sometime in early 2003.
Tube
MTV is developing a TV biopic on the life of Stephen Fanning, the ingenious creator of the now defunct, music-swapping site Napster. The story will follow the young man’s life from his childhood, to the creation of music-sharing software in his college dorm room, to the tremendous success of Napster and finally to the legal battles between Fanning’s Napster and the major record labels. The movie should air sometime next year.
Music
British pop star Robbie Williams has signed one of the biggest record deals in British history, London’s The Sun reports. The singer, who has been hailed as the new Frank Sinatra, signed a deal worth $125.5 million with EMI Group Plc, which would include four albums and a commitment to try to make him a star in the U.S., a market he has yet to break into.
And speaking of British pop singers…Stuart Goddard, known better as ’80s pop sensation Adam Ant, walked away from court a free man on Wednesday. The judge ruled Goddard, who pleaded guilty to threatening pub customers with a starter pistol in August, was suffering from mental illness at the same time and could not be held responsible. The judge did, however, order the singer to serve a 12-month community rehabilitation.
