Archive for December, 2009
France’s First Lady Carla Bruni is said to have helped free two French women jailed in the Dominican Republic for cocaine trafficking.
Alain Joyandet, the French Secretary of State for Co-operation, read out a letter from Bruni, 42, as the two women, Celine Faye, 20, and Sarah Zaknoun, 19, accompanied him.
The two had been sentenced to 8-years in prison, but ended up serving just 18 months after they wrote to Bruni asserting their innocence and asking for help.
“It’s thanks to her that we are here,” Times Online quoted Faye as saying.
The women, who were pardoned by the Dominican President, had been sentenced to jail last year after 6kg of cocaine was found in their luggage.
source: sify.com
December 31st, 2009
It must have been some boozy Christmas pudding to stop supermodel Kate Moss getting on a plane to Thailand for her annual New Year break.
According to reports in the Daily Mirror, the mum of Lila Grace overindulged on the big day, stuffing her face with turkey and trimmings – along with lashings of Champagne, of course.
A source told the paper: “Kate goes away every New Year and booked this year’s trip over four months ago. Unfortunately she rather overindulged during the festive period, stuffing herself with turkey and all the trimmings, alcohol and Christmas pudding.
“After drinking champagne from 10am onwards, she felt really ill all afternoon. Jamie told Kate in no uncertain terms that she would not be flying anywhere.”
The 35-year-old was apparently unable to get a refund on her four first class flights and is thought to have finally flown out to Thailand last night, three days later than planned.
The insider added: “Kate was devastated and only cheered up when Jamie promised they’d still go away. Annoyingly, she can’t get a refund, so after paying for more flights for her family, she has been joking she has a ?20,000 hangover. All things considered she has taken it really well.”
Now that’s what we call a hangover!
source: celebrity.aol.co.uk
December 31st, 2009
The director of the new film ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ says audiences won’t be able to take their eyes off the 21-year-old British model.
Though “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” will probably always be known primarily as the last film for actor Heath Ledger, it may someday also be recognized as the first real film role for Lily Cole.
The 21-year-old British-born Cole already has been one of the world’s top models since being discovered at the age of 14. With her distinctive wide-set eyes, tiny button mouth, porcelain-pale skin and bright red hair, there is something ethereal, almost alien about her, an in-built strangeness that director Terry Gilliam set to full use in “Parnassus,” which opened in Los Angeles on Christmas Day and will expand to theaters nationwide on Jan. 8.
“That’s why I cast her,” said Gilliam. “I’ve got an instinct for that sort of thing. ‘Boy, this is an extraordinary creature there.’ No matter what’s going on, you’ll be watching her.”
Cole brings a surprising well of emotional tenderness to her part as Valentina, the daughter of an aging street performer (Christopher Plummer as Parnassus) locked in a long-standing battle with Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), the devil himself. As Valentina’s 16th birthday approaches, her father frantically tries to save her from Mr. Nick’s clutches, even as her own affections become torn between a shady hustler (Ledger) and a fellow member of their performance troupe (Andrew Garfield).
Cole, raised by her single mother alongside two siblings, first gained international attention in 2003 when she appeared in Vogue. Since then, she has graced the pages of other top fashion magazines and walked in runway shows for Chanel, Alexander McQueen and others. In 2004 she was named model of the year by the British Fashion Awards and has been included on the Sunday Times Rich List as one of Britain’s wealthiest young people.
Even some relative pans of the film have found time to take positive note of Cole, such as when the New Yorker’s Anthony Lane declared that her “unearthly heart of a face is like a special effect.”
Cole appeared previously in a small role in the private-school farce “St. Trinian’s,” which she said she took simply to spend some time on a working film set. She was also cast around the same time as “Dr. Parnassus” in the Sally Potter film “Rage.” It is her part as Valentina that she considers her first real piece of screen acting, done in the company of seasoned actors such as Ledger, Plummer, Garfield, Verne Troyer and the trio of actors who completed Ledger’s role after he died: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell.
“Is there a polite way to say green?” Cole noted when asked how she fit into such rarefied company. ” ‘Were you humbled and terrified?’ Yes, I was. I auditioned for the role fearlessly and naively, just enjoying a conversation with Terry, and when I got offered the part and got closer to shooting I realized more and more what I was getting myself into.
“I remember especially a first kind of read-through; it was me, Heath, Christopher, Andrew, Verne [Troyer] and Terry and [cinematographer] Nicola [Pecorini]. I remember in that room realizing, ‘Whoa, these people are really talented and really experienced.’ It was a wonderful place to be in, but I was also completely intimidated by who I’d have to play against. I voiced that to Terry a lot before we started, but for whatever reason he made that leap of faith and had that instinct that he wanted me to play this role.”
This is not the first time that Gilliam, veteran director of such films as “Time Bandits,” “Brazil” and “Twelve Monkeys,” has cast a young model in one of her first acting roles. He cast a then-teenage Uma Thurman in one of her earliest roles for his 1988 film “The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.”
“She and Lily have a lot in common,” Gilliam said. “They’re both incredibly intelligent, they’re both very confident because they both started modeling and traveling the world when they were very young. So they’ve been around a lot of stuff, and they know how to protect themselves. There’s a bearing there that, even when they’re not certain, they can hold themselves up against whatever’s been thrown at them.”
It is, of course, the January 2008 death of Ledger by accidental drug overdose during a break in production that has long been the best-known aspect of “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.” The film was re-conceived slightly to allow three additional actors to complete Ledger’s role — within the story the character passes through a magic mirror that reconfigures his appearance — but Gilliam maintains the story was altered less than one might imagine.
“We didn’t change much at all,” he said. “It’s basically exactly as we wrote it except for about three scenes. That’s it. I think that’s the dangerous thing of talking about it, if I make too much of the difficulties of salvaging it, then people think it’s not the film I wanted to make. But it was really simple; it was pretty easy and very pragmatic.”
For Cole, who had flown to New York City from London with Ledger just days before his death, the intrusion of such a harsh reality on Gilliam’s fantasy world set the entire production on an emotional back burner.
“It took me a while to even think about the film,” Cole said. “And when I did I wasn’t even thinking about the practicalities of whether they could actually finish it, creatively how could you finish it, but rather I was thinking, ‘Should they?’ Initially, I was torn.”
With the long journey of “Doctor Parnassus” finally winding up, Cole has moved on to other projects. She has already shot a small role for an upcoming Roland Joffe film and early next year will be filming a part in Mary Harron’s “The Moth Diaries.” She has also been studying art history at Cambridge University. All of this is part of her hope to build a life beyond the catwalks and photo shoots.
“The reason I’ve maintained an interest in school and made these films is to do what I’m interested in doing,” said Cole. “I take opportunities as they come. . . . Hopefully I can fill my life with things I like doing.”
source: latimes.com
December 31st, 2009
Father Christmas won’t be returning down Kate Moss’s chimney in a hurry…
Instead of leaving out a glass of sherry for Santa and some mince pies for his reindeer, the supermodel ate and drank them all herself.
Again… and again… and again…
In fact, so merry did Mossy become – drinking for several hours and getting a little too stuck into some heavy Christmas pudding– she was spectacularly ill the rest of the day.
And forget a banging headache and a dodgy stomach, poor old Kate really did end up with the hangover from hell.
One which cost her ?20,000. Now that really is sickening!
Yep, poor, fragile Mossy was forced to miss her ?2,800 first-class flight to Thailand on Boxing Day.
The four other flights she had pre-paid for friends and family were also binned, costing her ?14,000 in total.
In addition, Croydon-born Kate was forced to pay out for two nights’ unused accommodation at the luxurious five-star resort in Phuket.
We’re told: “Kate goes away every New Year and booked this year’s trip over four months ago.
“Unfortunately she rather over-indulged during the festive period, stuffing herself with turkey and all the trimmings, booze and Christmas pud.
“After drinking champagne from 10am onwards, she felt really ill all afternoon.
“Her rocker boyfriend Jamie Hince told Kate in no uncertain terms that she would not be flying anywhere.” Poor old Kate – grounded by Jamie!
Our source goes on: “Kate was devastated and only perked up when Jamie promised they’d still go away, but would have to re-book the flights.
“Annoyingly she can’t get a refund so, after forking out for more flights, she has been joking that it’s the ?20,000 hangover! All things considered, she has taken it really well.”
The model was due to fly out last night instead and plans to see in the New Year on the beach.
Kate was lambasted recently for declaring that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”.
Well, we like this well-fed version a lot better!
source: mirror.co.uk
December 30th, 2009
Making the most of their family holiday, Heidi Klum and Seal took the kiddies ice skating in Aspen, Colorado on Monday afternoon (December 28).
Decked out in their winter gear, the happy family shared a handful of Kodak moments as Seal snapped away on his camera from the sidelines while his supermodel wife showed off her skills on the ice with Leni, Johan and Henry.
Of getting away during the holiday season, Seal recently told Britain’s Closer magazine, “We always try to have a white Christmas each year, so we’re going to go to the snow. We’ll rent a house in whatever resort we go to, and it’s guaranteed to be very noisy. Heidi dresses everyone up on Christmas Eve and they open their presents, it’s great fun.”
He adds, “Heidi’s done a couple of things since Lou was born, but she’s not working until January (10). You have to put your foot down come Christmas time – there are so many jobs that both of us have turned down.”
source: celebrity-gossip.net
December 30th, 2009
It was her pride and joy. A ?600 Pashley Princess Sovereign complete with charming wicker basket.
Perched elegantly upon the saddle, Lily Cole would regularly be seen gliding along the streets of Cambridge with her fellow students.
But now her excursions have been cruelly curtailed. For Miss Cole’s cherished bicycle has been stolen.
The actress who appeared opposite the late Heath Ledger in the recently released The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is now in her second year at the university.
It is understood that the cycle was stolen somewhere around the university campus.
She has often been spotted pedalling along on her top-of-the-range Pashley Princess Sovereign bike, which is described as a ‘quintessential English town and country bicycle.’ Miss Cole claims she had always taken great care of her beloved bike.
Miss Cole said: ‘I don’t park it at the station. The station is like a cesspit of cycles. It’s a bit ugly, so I don’t take my bike there.
‘I don’t think it’s nice to put it in so much danger.’
The model, who recently stripped off for the provocative Pirelli calendar, has admitted she has found it hard to adjust to life as a student in Cambridge.
She claimed she found last year, her first at the university, ‘hard to settle in’ and found the experience ‘really weird’.
Miss Cole said: ‘I was a bit shell-shocked, but I think everyone finds that. This year is much nicer, and the courses are a lot harder.’
She won a place a place at Cambridge University four years ago to study social and political sciences but took two gap years to concentrate on her modelling career.
She has always said she plans to enjoy university life but will continue modelling in the holidays.
She had said: ‘I’ve always been interested in art, and I love doing art.’
Miss Cole has appeared in magazines such as Vogue and has modelled for Marks & Spencer.
And to add insult to injury, the culprits didn’t even consider the basket worth taking.
The 21-year-old model, who is reading history of art at the city’s university, said: ‘They took the basket off and left it on the ground. I think that was the most hurtful part of the ordeal.
‘I bought the bike because it had a nice basket and they just left it there.
‘I had to take some photos of it.’
Cycle theft, often carried out by organised gangs, is a serious problem in Cambridge.
Her appearance in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was her first lead acting role.
She is thought to have earned more than ?11million from her work.
Over 300 bikes are stolen a month in the first few months of each academic year in Cambridge.
In the first ten months of 2009, more than 1,900 bikes were stolen in the city, a 13 per cent increase on 2008.
Read more: dailymail.co.u
December 29th, 2009
It’s no secret that she’s easy on the eyes, and Miranda Kerr reminds the world of her raw sex appeal in her new photo spread in Italy’s Jack magazine.
The Victoria’s Secret vixen looks simply stunning in the pictures, sporting a range of silver and gold ensembles.
And while she’s madly in love with her hunky boyfriend Orlando Bloom, FOX Pop Tarts reports that Miranda has a secret crush on Prince William.
She explained, “I’ve always had a big crush on Prince William since I was a little girl.” Sounds like she has exceptional taste in men!
source: celebrity-gossip.net
December 29th, 2009
Tyra Banks is pulling the plug on her talk show.
The former model says the syndicated “The Tyra Show” will end after its fifth season. Banks says she’s sticking with the reality show “America’s Next Top Model” and is forming a new production studio with plans to make movies. She also promised new digital projects, but wouldn’t give details.
In a statement on her Web site, Banks also paid tribute to talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, who’s ending her talk show in 2011.
About her own show, Banks told fans: “I’ve been loving having fun, coming into your living rooms, bedrooms, hair salons for the past five years.”
source:blog.taragana.com
December 29th, 2009
Break-up? What break-up?
Proving they’re still going strong, Leonardo DiCaprio and his on-again, off-again supermodel girlfriend Bar Refaeli enjoy the holiday weekend south of the border.
The A-List couple was snapped Sunday on the beach in sun-kissed Riviera Maya, Mexico. Bar donned a sexy bikini while a shirtless Leo opted for boardshorts and a baseball cap.
The twosome were rumored to have broken up this past summer after more than three years together, but were spotted recently together in the Bahamas, fueling speculation they were back together.
source: radaronline.com
December 28th, 2009
She may have dropped her most recent lawsuit against a former personal assistant, Vanessa Frisbee, but rumour has it that Naomi Campbell is close to filing for bankruptcy.
Twitter is buzzing with whispers that the supermodel is on the brink of going broke.
“Word on the street is that Naomi Campbell is about to file for Chapter 11,” tweeted JC Report.
Could this have anything to do with the outcome of the court case? According to reports, London’s High Court ordered Campbell to pay 90 percent of Frisbee’s legal costs after she abandoned the case in addition to her own legal costs.
source: catwalkqueen.tv
December 28th, 2009
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