HOLLYWOOD - Top Story
Actor Sean Penn is no longer directing his wrath towards paparazzi--now it's against an apathetic Hollywood and corporate America. While in Britain Thursday promoting his film The Pledge, he told Reuters that the time was ripe for a cultural revolution but that he didn't think, "people value the idea of revolution any more." He also commented on how Hollywood is only interested in the almighty buck. "In Hollywood...there's a sense that if you put three thoughts in a movie, then you've broken the law and nobody will come."
Engaged
37-year-old country music and Grammy-winning star Wynonna Judd is engaged to her tour manager and security chief D.R. Roach. Roach, 43, who has been with the singer for 10 years, has a son from a previous marriage while Judd has a son and daughter from her 1996 marriage to boat salesman Arch Kelley III.
Births
Hercules star Kevin Sorbo and his wife, Sam, welcomed their first child, a 7-pound, 8-ounce boy on Wednesday at a hospital in Henderson, Nevada. The couple has yet to pick a name, publicist Deborah Grimes said Thursday in Los Angeles.
Deaths
Tony-nominated actress Kathleen Freeman of the current Broadway musical The Full Monty, died Thursday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City of lung cancer. The 78-year-old actress was known for her numerous roles in television and films, including Singin' in the Rain, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.Author Peter Maas, whose nonfiction book, Serpico, about a straitlaced New York cop who refused to become corrupt, died Thursday in New York. He was 72. The book was made into the Oscar-nominated movie directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino. The cause of death has not been released.In Courts
One of the producers of Columbia Pictures' A Knight's Tale, Tim Van Rellim, is suing filmmakers Brian Helgeland, producer Todd Black and attorney Alan Wertheimer for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other charges. Van Rellim claims he originally signed a deal with Helgeland but was pushed out when Columbia Pictures came on board. A diary written by great Welsh actor Richard Burton lent to the BBC by Burton's widow, Sally, is still missing after having been stolen two months ago. Excerpts from it were used in a documentary about the actor, including his thoughts about his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. An investigation is under way.In General
Madonna's childhood home in Detroit, Mich., has been put up for auction on eBay for a minimum bid of $324,000. The four-bedroom, 1960s-era, colonial red-brick house is where Madonna lived from sixth grade until she went to the University of Michigan.Miramax has scrapped plans to make a big-screen adaptation of the smash hit Broadway show Rent, supposedly due to budget concerns. Director Spike Lee had expressed great interest and had already started pre-production. Neither Miramax nor Lee could be reached for comment.James Bond is going back to his British roots--at least when it comes to the car he'll be driving in the new 007 film. Actor Pierce Brosnan will be tooling around in a V12 Vanquish, part of the Aston Martin luxury series, instead of the BMW AG seen in the last three installments.MTV has agreed to air the video to the controversial Afroman song "Because I Got High" from the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back movie soundtrack, with some slight edits. The video will be shown only in the overnight hours and not on the popular teen show Total Request Live.
