Category Archives: Celebrity Gossip

The movie industry is a fickle business and scripts are often touted around a number of people before a director and cast attach themselves. Over the years a number of classic and beloved movies have been made by second or even third choice directors and actors. We can only wonder how these films would have turned out had they been made by the studio’s first choice.

Dustin Hoffman was the first choice to play Deckard in Bladerunner and apparently a host of other actors were considered before Harrison Ford got the part. According to writer Philip K. Dick Martin Scorcese was interested in directing but never optioned the novel.

Kubrick considered both Robert De Niro and Robin Williams to play the part of Jack in The Shining before settling on Jack Nicholson. Stephen King, author of the book on which the film is based, wanted Michael Moriarty or Jon Voight for the role.

Alien was going to be directed by Walter Hill but after helping re-write the script the production was delayed and he pulled out to make way for Ridley Scott.

The central role of Andy in the hugely popular film The Shawshank Redemption was turned down by Tom Hanks and Kevin Costner before it was offered to Tim Robbins. Rob Reiner also tried to buy the rights from Frank Darabont intending to direct it himself and he planned to cast Tom Cruise in the lead role.

The Godfather was offered to Italian director Sergio Leone who turned it down and Coppola was reportedly close to being replaced a number of times as his relationship with Paramount turned sour. The studio also wanted someone other than Brando for the role of Vito Corleone and apparently Ernest Borgnine and Orson Welles were considered but Coppola insisted on Brando. Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman all turned down the role of Michael Corleone and Martin Sheen also auditioned for the part before Coppola settled on the then relatively unknown Al Pacino.

When making Pulp Fiction Tarantino wanted Michael Madsen to play the role of Vincent Vega but he turned it down to do the Kevin Costner film Wyatt Earp. Daniel Day-Lewis also reportedly wanted the part but Tarantino rejected him in favour of John Travolta.

Mel Gibson turned down the role of Maximus in Gladiator, the part which won Russell Crowe an Oscar. Gibson also declined Costner’s part in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and he only ended up directing Braveheart after Terry Gilliam turned it down. Gilliam also rejected the chance to direct Forrest Gump and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Soccer star Landon Donovan has actually given his wife a red card. After almost four years of a blissful marriage with his wife Bianca Kajlich he has finally filled for divorce. Now this was actually coming for the pair since they spent one year of their marriage in separation. He filled the petition with the LA Superior court.

They made a joint statement saying that they stayed the closest of friends and that they would always be a very important part of each others lives. Now there was a talk about reconciliation after the World Cup during this summer but then the LA Galaxy forward had become a target of rumors involving a love child with a British Woman. Apparently all this had happened when he was on a loan to English Premier Leagues Everton club.

After Donovan had found out for sure he had told the news channel that he wasn’t becoming a dad anytime in the future which was very good for him. He and his wife also don’t have any children with each other. The reason for their split was the usual irreconcilable differences.

On the other hand the Hogan is down. so his new wife shouldn’t be sad because he couldn’t carry her over their threshold. This wrestler is apparently recovering from a major surgery. So what type of surgery was it? his entire spine was rebuilt. This surgery took place on Tuesday and it had actually lasted for around 10 hours!

Terry Bollea or as we know, Hulk Hogan is apparently still kept in the hospital and he is recovering and he is also doing extremely well. From surgeries to a brighter side, Bret Michaels is engaged! He finally managed to pop the question to his girlfriend whom he has been going out for 16 years with on the day of their anniversary which is aired as the finale of his show, “Bret Michaels: Life as I Know it�. Michaels, 47 with his 39 year old fiancé has started dating since 1994 and they’ve been on and off again ever since. he actually got down on one knee in front of her and their two daughters, Raine, 10 and Jorja, 5 and professed his love for her. Although Gibson kept him hanging in thin air for a bit, she accepted his proposal with loving arms.

Remember Meg Ryan? Yep, the cute face from blockbuster rom-coms like “You’ve Got Mail� and “Sleepless in Seattle�, who’s shied away from the glaring spotlight of late? Well, she’s dating and how! The actress, aged 49, is dating prominent musician Jorn Mellencamp, 59.

These two have been spotted in Martha’s Vineyard and more recently, in New York City enjoying each other’s company. Of course, it’s no surprise that the two have decided to make their romance public after Mellencamp split up from his wife, Elaine after a whopping eighteen years of matrimony. Feeling a pinch of guilt, Megs?

Mellencamp and his ex, Elaine only announced their separation in December, the math somehow doesn’t fall into place. Elaine and Mellencamp met in 1991, when the erstwhile supermodel was asked to pose for Mellencamp’s “Whenever We Wanted� album’s cover and got engaged to one another ten weeks from then. They were married the next September.

Apparently, the two – Ryan and Mellencamp, had started dating only about seven weeks ago and Mellencamp had been separated for quite a while before that. Umm, sounds very well timed, doesn’t it? What is more, Mellencamp didn’t specify any reason for his split! Wonder if Megs had anything to do with it? What secret could that innocent face be hiding?

The two were spotted at one of Mellencamp’s favourite haunts at Martha’s Vineyard, Espresso Love and were even seen grocery shopping at Gourmet Garage in New York’s SoHo neighbourhood. Observers have reported that the two seemed to be thoroughly enjoying each other’s company.

In fact, an observer said that Meg came in with her daughter (Daisy True, 6, who she’s adopted from China), and Mellencamp and they were such a perfect picture of domesticity that he thought that Mellencamp was her husband.

Umm, Meg, are you sure you should be risking a relationship with a much married man like Mellencamp? For those of you who don’t know, John Mellencamp has been married three times and he has five children. He comes with an awful lot of baggage don’t you think?

Ryan has been married once prior to her relationship with Mellencamp, to Dennis Quaid, the two divorced in 2001, after ten years of marriage. Ryan has a son from her marriage, Jack Henry, who is 18. I’m guessing Jack’s not taking too well to the new man in his mommy’s life. Can’t blame him much, though!

Kate Winslet may have won best actress, but in my opinion, she didn’t win the “Best Dressed” category. She is a fantastic actress who I admire enormously, I just wish she had taken some better advice, when choosing her dress for this momentous occasion.

There was a huge variety of dresses this year! There were a lot of fairy tale ball gowns on display, but also some shorter cocktail styles, vintage and “goddess” dresses. As usual some celebrities were spot on and others didn’t fare so well.

I will start with the winner of Best Actress, Kate Winslet. She certainly deserved the award and she is such a beautiful woman, she looks pretty good in most things but I was disappointed to see her in black….again! Not only was the dress unflattering in colour, it was also not great in style for Kate. I have seen her looking so much better, what a pity she was so ill advised on such a momentous occasion.

Marion Cottilard opted for the ball gown with little success. Her dress was over large and black, and although it made her waist look tiny, she look as though she was wearing a tight corset and this was compounded by the expression on her face suggesting that she could barely breath! In contrast Penelope Cruz really did look fabulous in her cream, lacy number whose only downside was that it did look a bit like a wedding dress. However Penelope somehow carried it off and she did look lovely.

Beyonce Knowles has a lovely curvy figure and the dress she wore should have suited her but somehow it didn’t quite work. The fabric was too heavy and the pattern too big, thus giving her the appearance of greater width than she really is. A more fluid fabric and a smaller pattern would have made all the difference.

Freida Pinto looked gorgeous in her dress (although I think she would have been better in a “warmer” blue). She was right on trend with the asymmetric neckline and the combination of beading and the fluidity of the dress suggested a mix of western and eastern styles which was so appropriate.

Marisa Tomei looked fantastic in the shapely white dress she was wearing; I just think she could have gone for some colour to really accentuate her colouring. White is a colour that Marisa can wear but how much better she could have looked if her dress had been a clear red, purple or turquoise. Her natural colouring needs some strength of colour to really flatter her beauty. The shape was elegant yet showy and displayed her slim and shapely figure to great effect.

Talk about brief romances. Taylor Swift, the hottest thing in the music industry has ended her brief romance with (much older) Jake Gylenhaal. Quite a number of sources vouch for the fact that the two are not seeing each other anymore. The pair apparently called it quits before New Year ’s Eve and it was Jake who ended it, surprising considering he was the one who did all the pursuing in the first place.

The romance began in October, and Jake made all the right moves and he reached out to Taylor. But, evidently, he’s not so interested anymore since he’s decided to call it quits. The two were inseparable for the brief couple of months that they were together.

Jake was pretty enamoured of his lady love because this Christmas, he showered presents on her, including an $10,000 Fender guitar, an $100,000 diamond bracelet, 21 pounds of the finest coffee beans (Kona) and a coffee maker (because of the couple’s mutual love of coffee) and a cute, home made card.

But recently, Jake confessed to not feeling the same about Taylor anymore and was quite uncomfortable with all the attention that the two got. What is worse, is that he apparently said that he was beginning to feel the age difference between the both of them. Apparently, Taylor was asked not to move so fast, but she had not listened. Apparently and understandable Taylor was quite upset.

A reliable source says that Jake still does care for Taylor, but he is uncomfortable with all the publicity which automatically comes with dating a superstar like Taylor and he prefers to keep his personal life private, which, of course, is quite impossible if he’s the man in Taylor’s life.

The break-up comes as quite a shocker because the couple, after initially trying to keep things low key were spotted in each other’s company, quite a number of times in December and they looked like they were very much into one another! Want proof?

At Swift’s 21st birthday celebrations, at her home, in Nashville, on the 14th of December, the two were spotted cosying and cuddling up to each other and seemed to be absolutely “obsessed� with each other!

Well, maybe that was it then, it was just an obsession and the two have sort of sated each other’s appetite! Short lived, but fiery, this particular romance, in the last quarter of 2010, will not be forgotten for a while.