HOLLYWOOD - Top Story: Sean Penn's Loaded Car Stolen
Sean Penn's car, a black 1987 Buick Grand National, was stolen Tuesday afternoon from a busy Berkeley, Calif., street while the actor was eating lunch at a nearby restaurant, Reuters reports. According to police, the car had two guns inside for which Penn had a concealed weapons permit: a loaded 9-mm Glock handgun and an unloaded .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver. The actor, who lives in nearby Marin County with his wife, actress Robin Wright Penn, and their two children, had been eating lunch with an assistant at the Venus restaurant when the theft occurred. The car had been parked in a metered stall directly in front of a bank. Penn went inside and asked if anyone had noticed his car being stolen but no one reported seeing anything. Police said they will get copies of surveillance photos from the automated teller machine outside.
Jolie Funds Cambodian Wildlife Sanctuary
Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider) will give the Cambodian Vision in Development organization $5 million over the next 15 years create a wildlife sanctuary to protect more than 49,500 acres of Cambodian forest in an area once controlled by the Khmer Rouge, Reuters reports. Charity officials said the money would also go toward helping war veterans and amputees rebuild their lives.
Regis Philbin Gets Hollywood Star
Regis Philbin (Live With Regis and Kelly, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire), received the 2,222nd star on the Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk Thursday, the AP reports. Disney chairman Michael Eisner, talk show host Larry King and comic Don Rickles were on hand to tout Philbin's achievements during his 40 years in show business.
Schwarzenegger for Governor?
A meeting Thursday between veteran action star Arnold Schwarzenegger and Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, has sparked rumors that the actor may be considering a run for California governor in 2006, but the AP reports that White House officials said Schwarzenegger just came to discuss an after-school program California voters approved last year and to offer his support to U.S. troops overseas.
"Bull Durham" Star Responds to Criticism
Baseball's Hall of Fame recently canceled its tribute for the 15th anniversary of the film Bull Durham because of the anti-war stance of the film's star, Tim Robbins and his longtime partner, Susan Sarandon. Now Robbins is speaking out. "These kind of bullying, intimidating tactics have no place in democracy," Robbins told the AP Thursday, "and certainly no place in baseball. I'm still wondering what kind of message they were sending me and anybody else who happens to disagree with this president."
Fox To Air New Jackson Special
Fox will air yet another Michael Jackson special on April 24 to kick off the next sweeps period, the AP reports. The network said the program, tentatively titled Michael Jackson's Private Home Movies, will offer a peek into the pop star's private home-movie collection and will provide "unprecedented access to thousands of hours of never-before-seen footage revealing his real life, family and friends."
NBC Makes TV Movie About POW
NBC television said Thursday it plans to make a movie about Jessica Lynch, the 19-year-old U.S. soldier taken prisoner in Iraq and later rescued, Reuters reports. Details about Lynch's ordeal as a POW are cloudy, and her family has said they're not ready to discuss selling the story, but NBC said it was going ahead with a TV movie regardless.
Apple May Buy Universal Music
Apple Computer Inc. has secretly been in talks for several months with Vivendi Universal to buy Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, according to a published report Friday in the Los Angeles Times. Vivendi barely escaped bankruptcy in 2002 and has been trying to sell some of its assets ever since. Representatives for both Apple and Vivendi declined to comment about the possible deal.
Role Call: DreamWorks Joins Superhero Mix, Diesel Considers "Dreadnaught"
Matrix choreographer Yuen Wo Ping has been tapped to direct DreamWorks' new Marvel Comics-derived project The Hands of Shang Chi. Bruce McKenna (Band of Brothers) is writing the script for the pic, which will be set in China. The story revolves around a young kung fu master who learns that his father is the worst criminal in the world ... Vin Diesel and director Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds) are in negotiations with Columbia Pictures' to take to the high seas aboard a high-tech warship for the maritime epic Dreadnaught. Execs plan a fall start--after Diesel wraps shooting Universal Pictures' The Chronicles of Riddick.