Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Sideshow: Craig blasts Blair, other pols

What would M say about this? Daniel Craig, the sixth James Bond in the 007 film franchise, does not mince words about politicians in a new interview in the December-January issue of Men's Journal. He starts with former British prime minister Tony Blair - the man who would have been Bond's boss.

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2009 file photo, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver pose for photos before they meet at the second Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles. On July 1, 2011, six weeks after ex-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he fathered a child with a member of his household staff, Maria Shriver filed divorce papers seeking to end their 25-year marriage.  (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, file)
FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2009 file photo, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver pose for photos before they meet at the second Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles. On July 1, 2011, six weeks after ex-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he fathered a child with a member of his household staff, Maria Shriver filed divorce papers seeking to end their 25-year marriage. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, file)Read moreAP

What would M say about this?

Daniel Craig, the sixth James Bond in the 007 film franchise, does not mince words about politicians in a new interview in the December-January issue of Men's Journal. He starts with former British prime minister Tony Blair - the man who would have been Bond's boss.

Craig, now starring in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, said politicians too often try to cozy up to celebrities, hoping to be seen as cool: "Tony Blair started it much more than anybody's ever done."  He uses a few profanities in the interview to describe politicians as ignorant and self-serving, adding, "That's how they become politicians, even the good ones. We're actors, we're artists, we're very nice to each other. They'll turn around and stab you."

Born in England to an art teacher and a pub owner, Craig was reared to vote for Labour Party candidates, he said, but came to view Blair's moderate brand of Labour as "the Tories dressed in red." Craig's next Bond film, Skyfall, with Judi Dench as his superior, M, is scheduled for release in the fall.

- New York Times News Service

Party hearty on St. Barty

The jet set is already in a tizzy about Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's exclusive hot-ticket New Year's Eve bash at his $90 million estate on the lush hillside of Gouverneur Beach in St. Barts.

The New York Post's Page Six says the oligarch has booked the Red Hot Chili Peppers to play for 300 guests at the party scheduled to rage from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. with drinks, buffet, and DJ. Dress: "island chic."

"Everyone on the island is going to try to be at the party," a source said. "The list gets tighter every year."

Last year, Abramovich's bash included a performance by the Black Eyed Peas and was attended by Salma Hayek, Peter Brant and Stephanie Seymour, David Geffen, Larry Gagosian, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Guy Oseary, Harvey Weinstein, Julian Schnabel, Ron Perelman, and Alessandra Ambrosio.

I don't know . . .

Maria Shriver is telling friends she's now unsure she wants to divorce Arnold Schwarzenegger, the website TMZ confides. She is torn, it says, partly because her strong religious beliefs do not include divorce. Complicating things further, Schwarzenegger reportedly still desperately wants to reconcile, and has made numerous gestures to win her back.

Shriver filed for divorce July 1, though she had moved out months earlier, after the revelation that the Governator dallied years earlier with a household employee and fathered a son with her.

I do!

Matthew McConaughey proposed to girlfriend Camila Alves on Christmas Day, the actor announced Sunday via Twitter and WhoSay. He posted a photo of them kissing in front of a Christmas tree and the message "just asked camila to marry me, merry Christmas." The couple have two children, son Levi, 3, and daughter Vida, who turns 2 on Jan. 3.

Boxing Day box-office boost

Hollywood has picked up a little Christmas bonus: Studios generally underestimated the size of audiences over the weekend, and Monday revised the holiday revenues upward.

Leading is Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, which pulled in $29.5 million for the weekend. That Monday figure is $3 million more than distributor Paramount estimated a day earlier.

For the Friday-to-Monday period, Paramount estimates Ghost Protocol will have taken in $46.2 million to raise its domestic total to $78.6 million.

Studios Monday also reported stronger results than they did a day earlier for Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows at $20.3 million; Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin at $9.7 million; and Matt Damon's We Bought a Zoo at $9.5 million.

- Associated Press