Scorsese Eyes Film About Elizabeth Taylor And Richard Burton

Paramount Pictures is finalizing a deal to develop a feature about the romance between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as a directing vehicle for Martin Scorsese.

The film will be produced by Julie Yorn, Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff of Krasnoff Foster Productions, and Scorsese through his Paramount-based Sikelia banner.

They are assembling the resources to tell Hollywood's most famous star-crossed love story. They've optioned Furious Love, the book by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger that was published by HarperCollins last year. At the same time, the producers have a rights agreement with Burton's estate, and a pledge of cooperation from his widow, Sally Hay Burton, to make his library available as a resource.

The filmmakers have also reached out to the estate of Taylor with the same hopes.

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Wild Rivers water park to close

The slides and wave pools at Irvine's Wild Rivers water park will be permanently closed at the end of summer to make way for an apartment complex.

The 26-year-old water park and nearby Camp James, a summer day camp for children, must shut down or relocate when their leases end Oct. 2.
The Irvine Co., which owns the land, has plans to build as many as 1,700 apartments on the site, which is adjacent to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater — a popular music venue formerly known as Irvine Meadows.

The Irvine City Council rezoned the land for residential use in 2006, and the Irvine Co. chose to end the lease agreements in 2007.
Both tenants were allowed to remain an additional four years. In that time, Wild Rivers has been unable to secure a property to relocate to.

However, managers at the water park have been working with directors of the nearby Orange County Great Park, which is slowly being built on the site of the old El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

The water park's 1,200 seasonal employees — 50% of whom are local youths returning this year from last season — would be offered jobs if Wild Rivers is able to relocate in a reasonable time frame, Riedel said.

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Shania Twain To Get Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Today

After numerous awards (including five Grammys), eight No. 1 hits and an album, the 1997 offering "Come on Over," that became the top-selling album of all time by a female in any genre, Shania Twain can now add a Hollywood Walk of Fame star to her impressive resume.

The Walk of Fame website announced that Thursday (June 2) at 11:30 a.m. PT, Twain will receive her star outside the W Hotel on Hollywood Blvd, with actress Bo Derek serving as the guest speaker.

Twain has not been doing much singing lately, as instead she has been healing after her husband's infidelity, which is part of what she writes about in her memoir "From This Moment On." The memoir also touches on her childhood poverty, the loss of her parents in a terrible accident and her rise to music super-stardom. Shania has also said she will sing again, "absolutely."

Congratulations to Shania on her Walk of Fame star!

Lindsay Lohan's monitoring system goes off

Lindsay Lohan's house-arrest electronic monitoring system may have gone on the blink this week, leading probation officials to visit the actress' Venice townhouse, where she was watching her 3-D TV, reading scripts and posing for tabloid photographs on her rooftop patio.

Lohan is serving about 35 days under house detention, instead of spending time in jail, after her conviction for shoplifting a necklace from a Venice jewelry store in January.

The "Mean Girls" actress is required to wear an ankle monitoring device that randomly checks via a base unit that she is within the premises of her home. Law enforcement sources told The Times that her monitoring unit went off Tuesday, though it's unclear why.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said Lohan is restricted to the premises, including the home's exterior areas, for the period of detention. Lohan is allowed visitors but cannot consume alcohol or narcotics and is subject to random tests if officials desire, he said.

 

Probation officials can also enter her home at any time to check she is in compliance with her probation and custody requirements, he said.

The actress was sentenced on May 11 to 120 days in jail, but overcrowding at the jail facility and state rules will reduce the time she must be confined to her home.

 

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L.A. Angels charter makes emergency landing at LAX

LOS ANGELES - A charter flight carrying members of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim home from an away game made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport Wednesday after reporting a mechanical problem, officials said.

Airport spokeswoman Katherine Alvarado said the Delta Air Lines Inc. plane with some 60 people aboard landed shortly after 9 p.m.
TV footage showed passengers calmly exiting the plane onto the tarmac as fire trucks waited nearby.

"Nothing like an emergency landing at LAX to scare the crap out of us...good to be home," Angels TV announcer Victor Rojas posted in an online tweet as the plane landed.

Team spokesman Tim Mead told KCAL-TV that the team usually lands at an Orange County's John Wayne airport, but was redirected due to what the pilot had referred to as possible hydraulic problems.
 
Mead said the club was returning from Kansas City, where they lost to the Royals earlier Wednesday 2-0.

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Plane With LA Angels Aboard Makes Emergency Landing At LAX

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A Delta charter flight carrying members of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim has made a safe emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

Victor Rojas, the team’s announcer, reportedly tweeted that the team was aboard the 737-800 Delta Charter Flight that flew in from Kansas City.

The plane was expected to land at John Wayne Airport, but was diverted to Los Angeles due to hydraulic problems. It had 51 people aboard .

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Dodger beating suspect takes lie detector tests

The prime suspect in the Dodger Stadium opening-day beating case has completed two lie-detector tests. Police also think the suspect may have a connection to a criminal course in Nevada.

Giovanni Ramirez took the second of two polygraph tests in two days Wednesday. He took one Tuesday in his jail cell, administrated by his legal team. Wednesday's afternoon test was administrated by the LAPD's polygraph team at Parker Center. Both sides are not saying what the results are. LAPD and the district attorney's office have agreed not to disclose the test results.

The LAPD is confident they have the right man in custody in connection to the Dodger Stadium beating. His defense team contends they are trying to free an innocent man.

Ramirez's defense team contest their client wasn't at Dodger Stadium on opening day.

Henderson Police in Nevada are reportedly looking at Ramirez as a possible suspect in a January shooting. Police are still investigating the case and looking for suspects.

The Los Angeles district attorney has not yet filed charges against Giovanni Ramirez.

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Actor Matthew Finley Recovering After Crash



credit: Michael Buckner/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Camp Rock 2″ actor Matthew “Mdot” Finley is recovering from a motorcycle accident.

Finley’s manager, Eric Ortner, said the singer-actor is undergoing surgery Wednesday on his leg at UCLA Medical Center after he lost control of his motorcycle and plummeted off a cliff last Thursday.

Ortner said that Finley suffered multiple injuries to his face, head and legs and was expected to be in the hospital for several weeks. He said Finley hoped to fully recover and return to performing, including a possible stint on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Finley played rival Luke Williams in the Disney Channel sequel starring the Jonas Brothers.

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Charlie and Brooke -- Joint Custody Deal

Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller have hashed out a joint custody agreement ... lawyers for the former couple told an L.A. judge today.

Brooke's lawyer, Lori Howe, and Charlie's attorney, Mark Gross, went into the chambers of Judge Hank Goldberg this afternoon and presented hizzoner with the agreement. We're told Howe and Gross told Judge Goldberg the only thing left to be done is getting Brooke and Charlie's John Hancock.

Sources tell us ... the agreement calls for joint legal and physical custody of twins Bob and Max. We're told Brooke will get substantially more face time with the kids than Charlie.

The signed agreement will not be filed with the court, in order to keep it completely confidential. The case has been taken off the court's calendar.

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Jennifer Hudson Joins 'The Stooges'

There are now three nuns in The Three Stooges. Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson has signed on to play Sister Rosemary.

She joins Jane Lynch, who's playing Mother Superior, and Larry David, who's playing Mother Mengele. I'm betting that Sister Rosemary is the nice one at the orphanage where the Stooges come of age, despite the best efforts of the nuns to get the precocious trio adopted.

The 20th Century Fox comedy has begun production, with Peter and Bobby Farrelly directing Chris Diamantopoulos (Moe), Sean Hayes (Larry) and Will Sasso (Curly).

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Octomom Doctor -- License REVOKED

The doctor who implanted TWELVE embryos inside Octomom -- before she conceived octuplets -- will have his license to practice medicine revoked next month ... TMZ is reporting.

The Medical Board of California made the announcement today -- ruling Dr. Michael Kamrava "did not exercise sound judgment" when he implanted the large number of embryos inside Nadya Suleman back in 2008.

The attorney general’s office accused Dr. Kamrava of being grossly negligent in his treatment of Suleman.

The Medical Board released a statement -- claiming, “The board is not assured that oversight through probation is enough, and having weighed the above, has determined that revocation of respondent’s certificate is necessary to protect the public.”

The revocation takes effect July 1st.

Shaq Is Retiring

After 19 years in the NBA, Shaquille O'Neal is officially retiring ... and he made the announcement on a video he posted through his Twitter page.

In his video, Shaq says ... "We did it. Nineteen years baby. I want to thank you very much, that's why I'm telling you first, I'm about to retire. Thank you, talk to you soon."
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Rihanna's 'Murder' Video Draws Fire

The Parents Television Council is blasting Rihanna for hawking a "cold, calculated execution of murder" in her brand new music video for "Man Down."

The council is outraged that Rihanna would suggest that gunning down a rapist in a crowded train station is a proper form of justice.

The council says, "If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass ..."

The council is all the more outraged that Rihanna tweeted her fans that the video contained, "a very strong underlying message 4 girls like me."

The council's venom is also directed at BET for airing the video.

Click To See Video

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Hulu to show Miramax films under multi-year pact

(Reuters) - Film studio Miramax and Internet video company Hulu signed a multi-year agreement to bring films made by the studio to some Hulu subscribers.

Hulu Plus subscribers, who get access to some premium content, will be able to watch films like Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting and Scream, as part of the agreement.

Hulu, jointly owned by Comcast, News Corp and Walt Disney Co, is a subscription service that offers streaming videos of TV shows and movies.

"Making our films available via premium digital distribution channels is extremely important to Miramax," Mike Lang, CEO of Miramax, said in a statement.

No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed.

Earlier this month, Miramax signed a similar deal with movie rental service Netflix Inc.

Miramax, which was a unit of Walt Disney until late last year, was sold to a consortium that included construction magnate Ron Tutor and investment firm Colony Capital LLC.

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Coachella Expands to 2 Weekends

INDIO -- The Coachella music festival will expand to two weekends next year, its promoters said on Tuesday.

The event will take place on April 13-15 and April 20-22, and feature the same acts over both weekends.

Weekend passes for the 2012 edition will cost $269 plus fees and will go on sale Friday (June 3) at 10a.m. via the event's website.
Headliners at Coachella in 2011 included Kings of Leon, The Black Keys , Kanye West and Duran Duran.

Tickets went on sale in January and sold out in six days, prompting promoters (Goldenvoice) to expand the 2012 edition.
Daily capacity at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio -- where the event is held -- is about 90,000 people.

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Arnold Hires Big Gun For Divorce

Arnold Schwarzenegger is pulling out a big gun for his inevitable divorce battle with Maria Shriver ... officially hiring attorney Bob Kaufman -- who's already tackling some touchy issues of the split.


TMZ Reports ... Kaufman's already been in touch with Maria's attorney, Laura Wasser -- and we're told they are "moving forward" with divorce negotiations.

Kaufman and Wasser have gone head-to-head on other high profile celebrity splits -- and both specialize in something Arnold and Maria value right now ... keeping divorce settlements hush hush.

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Ron Artest Breaks Up Fight At L.A. Nightclub

Los Angeles Lakers star Ron Artest helped break up a ferocious man vs. woman fistfight in front of an L.A. nightclub this weekend.

Artest had just left a club -- and was walking down Hollywood Blvd. when a woman and a man began to throw punches at each other RIGHT NEXT to the NBA superstar.

After some bobbing and weaving, 6'7", 260 pound Artest stepped in and quickly separated the two combatants. Once both fighters were restrained, Artest got into a waiting vehicle and went home.

TMZ spoke with Artest who told us, "Unfortunately there was a situation at the club and some people had too much to drink, and got unruly and aggressive. I tried to diffuse the situation. Some people just don't think clearly when they've had too much to drink -- it's an unfortunate reality. "

We also spoke with the female fighter -- who admits she was "wasted" ... but insists the other guy instigated the violence.