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Reuters reports actor Nick Nolte was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The California Highway Patrol stopped the actor's 1992 black Mercedes-Benz when it was seen swerving across lanes of a Malibu highway and took Nolte into custody when he was found to be "completely out of it…drooling and droopy-eyed." But apparently cooperative--at least he had that going for him.
Celebs
Chicago Sun-Times columnist and renowned film critic Roger Ebert is defending his behavior at the Toronto Film Festival. The critic was criticized himself by a Canadian film writer, who recommended that Ebert and other complainers "take a Valium and stop acting like spoiled children" after he apparently witnessed Ebert yelling at a festival worker when he wasn't able to get a seat at a screening. In his column on Wednesday, Ebert responded to The Toronto Star's Martin Knelman, telling him that it is a journalist's job to get the story rather than "to smile meekly, slink away and bash a Yank."
Actress Kim Hunter, best known for her Oscar-winning performance as the tortured Stella in the 1951 Marlon Brando classic A Streetcar Named Desire, as well as her kindly Planet of the Apes chimp, died Wednesday after suffering a heart attack in her Greenwich Village, New York, apartment. She was 79. Movies
Superman finds his roots. Ananova.com reports director McG (Charlie's Angels) will tackle a new Superman project after he finishes directing the Charlie's Angels sequel. "It's a genesis story and it tells the story of Superman from day one--Krypton, Smallville --all the way through, the whole nine yards," McG told Cinescape.com.
B-movie producer/director Roger Corman, whose low-budget films generally only make it to international market (or the video store), will produce and release his first theatrical feature film in a long while. Variety reports the film, Captain Justice, written and to be directed by Victoria Lakeman, follows the adventures of a young boy whose dreams come true when his favorite comic-book hero comes to life. Unfortunately, the "hero" is only a criminal in disguise. Kelly Osbourne won't need to take acting classes anytime soon. She has dropped out of the Disney remake Freaky Friday, in which she was to play the wacky best friend of lead Lindsay Lohan, who changes bodies with mom Annette Bening for the day. Osbourne will be replaced by Christina Vidal.Tube
Action film producer Joel Silver (The Matrix, Lethal Weapon) has decided to take his search for the next Vin Diesel to the small screen. Variety reports Silver has partnered with NBC to create a new reality show called The Next Action Star, a 10-episode series to find potential male and female stars with "the indefinable 'it' factor." (Why not? Audiences have been eating this stuff up.) The winners of Action Star will go on to star in the NBC TV movie tentatively titled Hit Me. The show is targeted to air in the summer of 2003.Music
Russell Crowe must be wetting himself. The wanna-be rocker and his band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts will be going on tour with Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders in early January and February. Guess Hollywood producers will have to hold off on sending the Oscar-winning actor scripts for a while.