Sideshow: Mariah Carey gets hitched
Cusack positively outraged John Cusack says if you're offended and disturbed by his political satire, War, Inc., which will open in New York and L.A. on May 23, then he has done his job.
Cusack positively outraged
John Cusack
says if you're offended and disturbed by his political satire,
War, Inc.
, which will open in New York and L.A. on May 23, then he has done his job.
Cusack says the film grew out of his outrage over the Iraq war and his concern about the level of political power wielded by multinational corporations. The actor says he wants the film to compel viewers to do something about the world.
"Sometimes with a serious, somber movie, even though they're great and well-intentioned, it just doesn't allow you to be outraged because you just get depressed," he says. "This allows you to actually feel like, 'Let's do something subversive.' "
In the flick, a Halliburton-type company hires Cusack to assassinate the oil minister of a Middle Eastern country so the company can retain sole control over the oil. It costars Sir Ben Kingsley, Marisa Tomei and Hilary Duff, and features a chorus line of scantily clad female amputees.
The $61 million woman?
Several gossip outlets, including In Touch Weekly, claim that the year
Britney Spears
spent (allegedly) behaving fast, furious, and out of control cost her $61 mil in wasted spending. In Touch says Brit's father uncovered the wastage when he took over Brit's affairs and began balancing her books.
Say yes to science
Denzel Washington
and his wife,
Pauletta
, who annually award scholarships to college students for neuroscience research, visited Mount Vernon High School in Westchester County, N.Y., on Friday to remind students that scientists are more important than entertainers or pro athletes.
Washington, 53, whose film The Great Debaters is based on the real-life victories of a black college debating team in the 1930s, said that actors, rappers and NBA stars got more attention, but that a doctor was far more vital to people's lives. He urged the students to apply for his scholarships.
Abrams lays it on the line
In a disturbing and potentially dangerous revelation that may turn out to have apocalyptic consequences,
J.J. Abrams
, 41, who is directing the next
Star Trek
film, says he has never really been much of a fan of the beloved sci-fi series.
"The whole point was to try to make this movie for fans of movies, not fans of Star Trek, necessarily," says Abrams, who is best known for such beloved hits as Alias, Lost and Mission: Impossible III.
But hold the hate mail: "If you're a fan, we've got one of the writers who's a devout Trekker," Abrams assures Trekkies (Trekkers?).
Yes, yes, yes . . .
Mariah Carey
, 39, and
Nick Cannon
, a nobody actor who is 12 years Mimi's junior and appears in her coming music vid, "Bye Bye," wed on Wednesday after a whirlwind courtship.
Paula is here to stay
So say the suits at Fox's
American Idol
in response to speculation that
Paula Abdul
, who has a reputation for being a little absent-minded, scattered, scattershot and hypomanic on
Idol
, should be fired. Recently, Paula critiqued two of
Jason Castro
's tunes after he had sung only one.
"Why would we get rid of Paula?" executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz asks the Associated Press. She says she loves that Paula and the show cause so much buzz.