Lepaparazzi News Update: Christina Ricci and Nudity in Black Snake Moon

Christina Ricci Image:AskMen.com

PLAYING a chained-up half-naked nymphomaniac in her new movie Black Snake Moan helped CHRISTINA RICCI overcome her prudish nature.

The former child star says she now parades around in her underwear after wearing little for much of the shoot.

Ricci - who plays a 'town tramp' with a very traumatic past in the controversial flick - said: "I'm a prude and I do not like walking around naked.

"I was in my bathroom about two months after the movie finished and I was brushing my teeth and I was in my underwear and I looked down and was like: 'Oh, God, put something on.'

"Then I just stopped and thought: 'Oh my God, I was half naked for two months and my a*s was on camera.'"
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson

Jennifer Hudson
BEImages

Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson took the stage at the Kodak Theater, breathlessly thanking God twice for her DreamGirls win and saying her grandmother was her inspiration.

"If my grandmother was here this evening to see me now… she was my biggest inspiration for everything because she was a singer and she had the passion for it, but she never had the chance," said Hudson, 25, breaking into tears. "And that was the thing that pushed me forward to continue."

Thankfully Hudson took off that hideous tinfoil caplet before accepting her award. Not only was her jacket a fashion "don't," it also covered up her curvaceous body.

Hudson was one of several voluptuous women who stole the show from the string of skinny sirens who usually rule Hollywood's most glamorous soiree.

Little Children star Kate Winslet, 31, clad in a figure-hugging mint green Valentino gown, acknowledged that she's a "record-breaker," winning more Oscar nominations for her generation than any of her pint-sized contemporaries.

"It's amazing. This kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen to someone like me who comes from a small town and was told I was only going to get parts for fat girls," she said.

Devil Wears Prada nominee Meryl Streep can be equally proud to throw her Oscar weight around. The 57-year-old actress has been nominated 14 times.

"And I'm a size 14, so it all matches," she said.

Then there was Hudson who put on 20-plus pounds for her role as Effie. Hudson said she slimmed down for the red carpet the old fashioned way: hard, hard work.

"I worked with my trainer, LaFonza Alston in Chicago through the summer," she told Ryan Seacrest during a red carpet interview. "I'd get up at 4 in the morning, go running for an hour and then go back to the gym at one o'clock."

Hudson dropped 25 pounds by eating salads, grilled chicken and nuts – and by making sure her food portions were no bigger than her hand.

"You've got to work for it," she says. "And I'm a firm believer: If it's not worth working hard for, it's not worth working at all."
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Olivier with two new brunettes

OLIVIER MARTINEZ should be so lucky, lucky, lucky.

The French actor may have ditched KYLIE MINOGUE just a few weeks ago but he is already enjoying female company to the max.

The once-happy couple split after claims Olivier was spotted with two women in Los Angeles - Israeli model SARAI GIVATI and Lost actress MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ.

And now it seems the cad has moved on to two brand new brunettes.

The actor was partying at Hollywood club Avalon with ORLANDO BLOOM and LEONARDO DI CAPRIO on Wednesday night - and got cosy with the girls in the VIP area.

Olivier, wearing his trademark brown suede jacket, then took them out on to the upper level of the club to watch MAROON 5 perform before leaving the club with them.

A fellow guest at the bash for the Global Green charity told me: "I first saw him sitting in a booth in the VIP area and PENELOPE CRUZ was leaning over whispering in his ear.

"He also had two brunette girls on either side of him and he was ordering drinks and laughing with them.

"Then everyone was ushered out of the VIP area to the upper level of the club to watch Maroon 5.

"Olivier perched himself on the back of a chair while the two brunettes stood to the side of him to dance."

"He ordered them some more drinks and they watched the band perform then Orlando Bloom came over to chat.

"After a while Olivier introduced him to the girls, who were wearing short sequinned dresses.

"Olivier looked like he was really enjoying the attention as the girls kept giggling and flirting with him.

"Shortly after Maroon 5 finished, they disappeared into the night."
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Britney Spears Suicide Claims

Britney Spears
Image Credit: Britney Zone

A report published in this week's National Enquirer has made the shocking claim that Britney Spears tried to kill herself twice over the weekend.

According to the article, Spears was terrified that she would lose custody of her children. Indeed today it was reported that Kevin Federline is threatening to take her to court over their two kids.

She is said to have tried walking in front of traffic, only to be rescued by a member of her staff.

"After she shaved off her hair, Britney had a complete breakdown and tried to kill herself" said the Enquirer's source.

A short time after the traffic incident Britney Spears was then rushed to hospital, after allegedly taking too many Xanax tablets in another attempt to take her own life.

Clearly the saga of Britney will be continuing for a while longer, though we hope the end is a happy one.

[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Sirius, XM see deal closing in 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. pledged on Tuesday to work with regulators to close their proposed $4.9 billion merger by year's end, seeking to calm concerns that U.S. antitrust authorities would block the deal.

Sirius (Nasdaq:SIRI - news) Chief Executive Mel Karmazin, a seasoned dealmaker and media veteran, said the goal of the deal was not to raise consumer prices but to boost subscriber growth by combining the two satellite radio services and bringing stars like Howard Stern and
Oprah Winfrey under one roof.

But he acknowledged that Sirius's planned takeover of XM (Nasdaq:XMSR - news) has been clouded by worries over scrutiny from the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department, which are most concerned about the drop in competition boosting prices for consumers.

"I'm sure the regulatory approval process is on everybody's mind," Karmazin told a conference call with analysts. "We believe there's a solid basis for approval and are committed to work with regulatory agencies to assure this approval."

Concerns about the approval, however, appeared to cap the share prices of both companies, which rose sharply on the first trading session after the deal was announced, only to backtrack later. By afternoon, shares of Sirius and XM were up 7 percent and 13 percent, respectively.

Under the agreement announced on Monday, XM shareholders would receive 4.6 Sirius shares for each XM share, or a 21.7 percent premium based on the two firms' Friday closing prices.

The deal values XM at about $4.9 billion based on current market prices and the latest regulatory filing, which says XM has 268.5 million outstanding shares, excluding convertible securities.

"We think there is no question that such a deal is a huge positive for both companies; the only question is whether or not such a deal will pass muster with the
Department of Justice and the FCC," Citigroup analyst Eileen Furukawa said in a research note.

Sirius and XM will argue that their combination would not hurt consumers because satellite radio operators already face meaningful competition from terrestrial radio, wireless music devices or portable players like Apple Inc.'s (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) iPods.

"We believe that the planned XM-Sirius merger is more likely than not to receive government approval, though we acknowledge that it's a close call, as the two satellite radio companies will be combining into one and have to rely on untested arguments about competition and convergence in the broader digital," Blair Levin of Stifel Nicolaus wrote in a note.

PUBLIC INTEREST

Sirius and XM said they expect shareholders to vote on the "merger of equals" in four to six months, and receive regulatory approval in about nine months.

The deal would create a company with about $1.5 billion in 2006 revenue and bring together shows from shock-jock Stern, entertainer Winfrey, singer Bob Dylan, Major League Baseball and motivational guru Deepak Chopra.

Subscribers may eventually be able to pick the shows they prefer and pay a related monthly fee, much like cable TV.

First, though, the companies would have to supply their customers with technology that would allow them to tap into both services. Some analysts have expressed concerns that product and service development could suffer as executives faced regulatory scrutiny.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, a key player in the approval, weighed in on the deal on Monday, saying that the hurdle for a go-ahead would be high.

Meanwhile, XM Chairman Gary Parsons, who would continue as chairman of the combined company with Karmazin taking on the role of CEO, said on Tuesday the companies were committed to the merger and would see it through any political or regulatory questions.

"We would not have entered into this transaction ... if we were not confident this was in the public interest," he said.

Shares of Sirius were up 25 cents at $3.95 after hitting a high of $4.06. XM was up $1.80 at $15.78 after hitting a high of $16.36.
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Justin And Cameron Re-unite At Hollywood Hotel

Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz were reunited in a Hollywood hotel on Friday night – the same night his other famous ex, Britney Spears publicly shaved her hair off.

People magazine is reporting that Timberlake joined director Martin Scorsese and a group of about eight other people at a table inside the hotel's bar. Timberlake, in a striped coat, briefly chatted with Scorsese and others at the table.

At about 1 am Diaz arrived. "Cameron never joined their table," says the source. "She just showed up and Justin got up and started talking to her. They were being very discreet. They weren't kissing or holding hands or anything, but they were being very friendly."

the pair, who publicly announced their break up last month, then left together half an hour later. The source says: "When I first saw this girl, I thought, 'That's not Scarlett Johansson or Jessica Biel.' Then it hit me – it was Cameron! She was low-key; her hair was dark and pulled back."
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Anna's minder saw star die

Anna Nicole Smith

TRAGIC Anna Nicole Smith’s minder has told of his frantic bid to save her as she lay dying in a hotel room.

Maurice “Moe” Brighthaupt said he pounded her chest and gave mouth-to-mouth.

But he knew she was a goner as her pupils were dilated and her lips blue.

Trained paramedic Moe said: “I started giving her rescue breaths. I was saying to her, ‘If you got anything in you, baby girl, please come back.’”

He also told a US TV show the model’s lawyer lover Howard K Stern, 37, was hysterical when called to the scene in Hollywood, Florida.

Anna Nicole, 39, was rushed to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Moe said she was in deep depression over the death of son Daniel, 20, from an overdose shortly after she had five-month-old daughter Dannielynn.
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: The New Britney Spears Bald

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears appeared in a tattoo parlor in the San Fernando Valley with her head shaved completely bald.

Video on KABC-TV showed the newly shorn Spears with tiny tattoos on the back of her neck as she sits Friday night for a new tattoo — a pair of red and pink lips.

"She just wanted something real small on her wrist, something dainty," Max Gott, the tattoo artist at Body and Soul in Sherman Oaks, told the TV station. "She got some cute little lips on her wrist."

Derrik Snell, who works at the tattoo parlor, said Spears showed up without notice and stayed for about 90 minutes as about 60 fans, photographers and gawkers gathered outside.

"She seemed fine," Snell said. "I didn't really notice (the hairdo) at first, she had a hood on when she showed up."

The appearance came the same day as reports on TV and Web sites that Spears, who has drawn criticism for her recent partying and sloppy behavior, had briefly checked into rehab.

Larry Rudolph, Spears' manager, couldn't be reached for comment.

Syndicated entertainment TV show "Extra" first reported that Spears had entered a treatment facility. Celebrity Web site TMZ.com then said the singer had entered a treatment center but had checked out one day later. Neither revealed their sources.

People magazine's Web site, citing "a source," said Spears had gone in and out of rehab, and identified the facility as
Eric Clapton's Crossroads center in Antigua, in the Caribbean.

"Access Hollywood" then said the reports weren't true, but didn't cite a source.

A woman who answered the phone at Crossroads told The Associated Press that she couldn't confirm or deny anyone's presence at the facility.

Angelique Uram, a Spears fan who stood on the tattoo parlor's sidewalk for Friday night's spectacle, was aghast at the singer's new look.

"We could see her in the mirror, and her head is completely shaved," she told KABC. "It looks terrible."

Police arrived to control the crowd and helped Spears' bodyguards guide her into a waiting SUV, her head covered by a hooded sweatshirt.
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Keri Russell marries in New York

Keri Russell Image Credit

NEW YORK // Keri Russell, who starred in TV's "Felicity," married contractor Shane Deary in Manhattan on Valentine's Day, her spokeswoman said Thursday.

Russell and Deary, both 30, became engaged last year. Russell is expecting her first child this summer, Jill Fritzo, the actress' publicist, said last month.

Russell portrayed spirited college student Felicity Porter in "Felicity" for four years. The series ended in 2002.

She starred in the films "Mission: Impossible III" and "The Upside of Anger," and the TV miniseries "Into the West."

Her new movie, the independent romantic comedy "Waitress," was screened at the Sundance Film Festival last month.
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: What Will Happen with Anna Nicole Smith's Body

Image Credit:

Judges on both coasts weighed in Wednesday on what to do with Anna Nicole Smith's body amid the custody dispute over her infant daughter, moving closer to releasing the former Playboy Playmate's body for burial.

A Florida judge, citing a California court's order last week for DNA testing on Smith's body, ordered a morgue not to release the body. However, a Los Angeles judge quickly lifted a request that the body be held.

"California has no need for the body of Anna Nicole," said James Neavitt, an attorney for Howard K. Stern, one of several men claiming paternity of 5-month-old Dannielynn.

Neavitt said Florida officials who performed the autopsy on Smith have preserved her DNA.

Attorneys for Stern, Smith's mother and an ex-lover of Smith's went back to court in Florida Wednesday, each seeking custody of the body. Circuit Judge Larry Seidlin made no ruling, but the hearing was to resume Thursday morning.

Another Florida judge had ordered the body held for 10 days after a brief meeting in his chambers Wednesday morning with attorneys for photographer Larry Birkhead, who claims to be the baby's father.

Birkhead petitioned the Florida court Tuesday, asking that the California court order for DNA testing filed Friday — the day after Smith died — be enforced in Florida.

Nancy Hass, an attorney for Birkhead, said the Birkhead camp feared that accurate DNA testing would not be possible if the body was released and moved out of state.

Smith's mother, Vergie Arthur, and Stern had been opposing last week's decision by the Los Angeles judge. Stern and Smith's mother also fear that if the body is not embalmed, even though it is refrigerated, it will not be suitable for viewing or funeral purposes.

"We would just want ... to proceed with a proper burial," Ron Rale, the attorney who had represented Smith in the California court battle over paternity, said before the hearing in Los Angeles.

"According to Anna's wishes, it (the body) should be released to Howard Stern, not to Vergie," Rale said. "No one should go about touching Anna Nicole."

The Florida request was made so that work done to secure the Los Angeles court order "not be in vain," said another Birkhead attorney, Debra Opri.

A Bahamian judge issued an injunction Tuesday preventing the baby from being taken out of the country until the custody case is resolved. Arthur wants to be named guardian of her granddaughter and sought the order because she feared Stern would take the child from the Bahamas, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Arthur has said she fears for the baby's safety, noting Stern was present when Smith died and when Smith's son, Daniel, died in the Bahamas in September, three days after Dannielynn was born. Stern has said Smith hated her mother.
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Britney's new breast friend

Bosom buddies ... Britney and pals
Pictures: GoffINF.com

BRITNEY SPEARS leaves a club in a revealing, figure-hugging scarlet dress along with a scantily-clad dancer.

The singer, 25, was seen dancing “like a stripper” with the bikini-wearing brunette at New York club One. And she even performed her own strip.

Britney, downing tequila shots, took her clothes off in the dancers’ dressing room to try on the bikini costume.

She and her new pal left the club together in a limo at 4am.

Another night to remember!
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Nick Lachey And Vanessa Minnillo Split Rumours

Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo have reportedly hit a rough patch.

Rumours began circulating that things weren’t as rosy with Lachey and his girlfriend, MTV VJ Minnillo, in January. Reports surfaced that Minnillo was drunk on New Years Eve, which caused Lachey to get upset at his girlfriend of almost a year.

Then it was reported a few weeks ago that Vanessa exploded at Nick after she found some girls trying to chat him up at a club. Vanessa apparently stormed out and he followed her.

Now it has been reported over the Grammy weekend that the pair had another tempestuous weekend. The pair started off all smiles as they entered Justin Timberlake’s pre-Grammy concert on Friday night. However, things took a turn for the worse when Jessica Simpson’s former assistant and best friend Cacee Cobb showed up with her boyfriend – Scrubs star Donald Faison.

"Cacee ran up to chat with Nick like four or five times throughout the evening, while her boyfriend was hanging in the balcony," Perezhilton.com quotes a source as saying. "Vanessa was pissed that Cacee kept coming up to chat with Nick so much. Nick kept having to calm Vanessa down all night."
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Winners at Sunday's 49th Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles

The Dixie Chicks Image Credit:

Album of the Year: "Taking the Long Way," Dixie Chicks.

Record of the Year: "Not Ready to Make Nice," Dixie Chicks.

Song of the Year: "Not Ready to Make Nice," Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Dan Wilson (Dixie Chicks).

New Artist: Carrie Underwood.

Female R&B Vocal Performance: "Be Without You," Mary J. Blige.

Pop Vocal Album: "Continuum," John Mayer.

Pop Collaboration With Vocals: "For Once in My Life," Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder.

Country Album: "Taking the Long Way," Dixie Chicks.

Rap Album: "Release Therapy," Ludacris.

Rock Album: "Stadium Arcadium," Red Hot Chili Peppers.

R&B Album: "The Breakthrough," Mary J. Blige.

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Rick Rubin.

Traditional Pop Vocal Album: "Duets: an American Classic," Tony Bennett.

Female Pop Vocal Performance: "Ain't No Other Man," Christina Aguilera.

Male Pop Vocal Performance: "Waiting on the World to Change," John Mayer.

Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "My Humps," Black Eyed Peas.

Pop Instrumental Performance: "Mornin'," George Benson (& Al Jarreau).

Pop Instrumental Album: "Fingerprints," Peter Frampton.

Rock Instrumental Performance: "The Wizard Turns On ... ," the Flaming Lips.

Rock Song: "Dani California," Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers);

Solo Rock Vocal Performance: "Someday Baby," Bob Dylan.

Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal: "Dani California," Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Hard Rock Performance: "Woman," Wolfmother.

Metal Performance: "Eyes of the Insane," Slayer.

Alternative Music Album: "St. Elsewhere," Gnarls Barkley.

Dance Recording: "Sexy Back," Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.

Electronic/Dance Album: "Confessions on a Dance Floor," Madonna.

Rap Solo Performance: "What You Know," T.I.

Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: "Ridin," Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone.

Rap/Sung Collaboration: "My Love," Justin Timberlake featuring T.I.

Rap Song: "Money Maker," Christopher Bridges and Pharrell Williams (Ludacris featuring Pharrell).

Urban/Alternative Performance: "Crazy," Gnarls Barkley.

Male R&B Vocal Performance: "Heaven," John Legend.

R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: "Family Affair," (Sly and the Family Stone), John Legend, Joss Stone With Van Hunt.

Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: "God Bless the Child," George Benson and Al Jarreau featuring Jill Scott.

R&B Song: "Be Without You," Johnta Austin, Mary J. Blige, Bryan-Michael Cox and Jason Perry (Mary J. Blige).

Contemporary R&B Album: "B'Day," Beyonce.

See entire list

Lepaparazzi News Update: Nicole Richie tells Paris She's Scared Of Prison

Nicole Richie Image Source:

Nicole Richie has reportedly told Paris Hilton that she is terrified of going to prison for driving under the influence (DUI).

The new BFFs, who recently made up after not talking for two years, were spotted in LA restaurant Mr Chow’s. Paris was apparently comforting her distraught pal.

A source told Life and Style Weekly magazine: "She was really freaking out. Paris kept telling Nicole not to worry, that everything was going to be fine."

Nicole was arrested on December 11, after leaving boyfriend (Good Charlotte front man) Joel Madden’s home, for driving the wrong way down a Californian motorway. Nicole, 25, confessed to officers she had taken the prescription painkiller Vicodin and had smoked marijuana.

As Nicole has previous offences - she has a previous DUI charge from 2002 and California law states that a repeat offence carries the mandatory jail sentence of five days – Nicole is said to be extremely anxious.

If convicted, not only would Nicole have her driving license suspended for one year, she would also be ordered to attend an alcohol education program for a year-and-a-half, even if the second conviction is not alcohol-related.

Paris Hilton recently negotiated a plea for a DUI offence. The 25-year-old pleaded not guilty to DUI, instead pleading no contest to a lesser charge of reckless driving and was placed on probation. It is believed her lawyer Howard Weitzman will be representing Nicole in the case.
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Anna Nicole Smith has died at the Hard Rock, CNN reporting

CNN is reporting that Anna Nicole Smith has died after she reportedly collapsed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino about 2 p.m.

The flamboyant starlet was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital after the incident. Local police were reportedly forced to shut down the streets to expedite her transport.

Fire crews and emergency personnel performed CPR on Smith, putting a tube down her throat, Access Hollywood reported.

[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Christina Aguilera's Naked Sundays!

Image credit:

Christina Aguilera has spoken out about how her and her music exec husband Jordan Bratman keep their marriage exciting: naked Sundays!

Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show Wednesday, Aguilera said: “We claim ourselves to be the coziest couple ever. We have something called naked Sundays.”

According to People magazine, the Back To Basics star then went on to explain: “You have to keep marriage alive, spice it up. On Sundays we just do everything in the house, and we're just cozy and laid back. We don't need to go anywhere, we're just with each other. We do everything naked. We cook naked."

Whatever next: Dirrty Thursdays perhaps?
[Source]

Teri Hatcher Denies Plastic Surgery Rumours


Image credit:

Teri Hatcher has denied the plastic surgery rumours currently spreading across the internet, and revealed that she constantly checks everything that is written about her.

Speaking to Glamour she says: “I don't use Botox or Restylane and I've never had any surgery, no matter what you've read."

"That's the one downside to fame – on any one day you can find loads of hideously mean things said about you online” she added.

That’s that cleared up then.

The 42-year old star of Desperate Housewives is currently dating the amusingly named director Peter Kay.
[Source]

Jessica Simpson, give a child a home

It looks like Jessica Simpson may be joining the ever growing circle of celebs who have an adopted child.
She recently confessed to Star magazine here in the UK that she'd like 3 children but doesn't think that she will be able to endure childbirth 3 times. Miss Simpson who split from her husband in 2005 has claimed Angelina Jolie as her inspiration for adoption, as she ideally would like a large famliy but doesn't know if she could through the pain of labour.

Lepaparazzi News Update: Eminem and Kim Now Engaged?

First we reported that Eminem’s ex-wife Kim revealed infidelity was the reason they divorced for the second time. Now we hear that they may be engaged again – what is going on?!

Yes, less than a year after their second divorce, Eminem’s mate Akon is reported as telling The Mirror: "Eminem still loves Kim. They have one of those relationships where they are off one minute and back together the next.

"He can't live with her and he can't live without her. But they are meant for each other. They are engaged again."

Kim recently discussed the demise of their second marriage and as well as blaming the split on Eminem cheating on her when on tour, she also tellingly discussed the on/off nature of their almost 20 year relationship: "In our relationship there's a pattern. We'll have two good years and then it will go bad for some reason. It's like a two year max with us.

Hmmm it looks like we may just be looking at an ‘on’ phase again…

[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Scorsese wins Directors Guild award

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Martin Scorsese won the top honor Saturday from the Directors Guild of America for his mob saga "The Departed," moving him a step closer to finally receiving Hollywood's biggest filmmaking prize at the Academy Awards.

Scorsese was chosen as filmmaker of the year by his peers, his first win at the guild awards after six previous nominations. The guild winner usually goes on to win the best-director Oscar.

The self-deprecating Scorsese said he was pleased at the apparent success of the film but that he only became convinced it was doing well when the studio called with box-office revenues from the first couple of weekends.

"If you look at the graph at the spikes at where the picture is doing really great figures, it's like looking at a veritable map of the American underworld," such as Boca Raton, Fla., Scorsese said. "Vegas, forget about it, it was amazing."

Adapted from the Hong Kong crime thriller "Infernal Affairs," "The Departed" stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a cop who's undercover in a Boston crime outfit, Matt Damon as a mob mole who has infiltrated the police, and Jack Nicholson as the merciless gang leader pulling everyone's strings.

It has become Scorsese's biggest commercial hit, and critics praised it as a welcome return to the vivid, bloody crime genre whose modern conventions the director helped pioneer in such films as "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas."

"I started watching his work when I was 15 years old, said DiCaprio, who has starred in Scorsese's last three films and introduced the director to the guild audience earlier in the evening. "It was like entering a seamless cinematic reality."

Walter Hill won the guild's directing honor for TV movies for the Western "Broken Trail."

Other TV winners included Richard Shepard for comedy directing on the pilot episode of "Ugly Betty," Jon Cassar for drama directing for an episode of "24," and "Chicago" filmmaker Rob Marshall for musical variety directing for "Tony Bennett: An American Classic."

Arunas Matelis won for feature-film documentary for "Before Flying Back to the Earth," a portrait of children hospitalized with leukemia. The film won over two Oscar nominees, "Deliver Us From Evil" and "Iraq in Fragments."

"The Departed" marked Scorsese's sixth nomination for best director at the Academy Awards, an honor that also has eluded him. A sixth loss at the Oscars would put Scorsese in the record books as the filmmaker with the most nominations without winning.

But many awards watchers feel this is Scorsese's year, labeling him the front-runner for the Feb. 25 Oscars. A Directors Guild win helps give him the inside track.

The guild prize is a solid forecast for who might win the directing honor at the Academy Awards. Only six times in the 58-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to go on to receive the directing Oscar.

The other guild nominees were Bill Condon for the musical "Dreamgirls," Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for the road-trip tale "Little Miss Sunshine," Stephen Frears for the palace saga "The Queen" and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for the ensemble drama "Babel."

Scorsese, Inarritu and Frears were the only three of the five guild nominees who also earned best-director slots for the Oscars. The other Oscar nominations went to Clint Eastwood for the World War II epic "Letters From Iwo Jima" and Paul Greengrass for the Sept. 11 docudrama "United 93."

"Dreamgirls" had been viewed as a potential best-picture favorite at the Oscars, but it missed out on a nomination, as did director Condon. With Condon out of the race, Scorsese's path to Oscar victory could prove a bit easier.

Scorsese was coy backstage when asked if it was his year to win at the Oscars.

"I don't know," Scorsese said. "It's good to have a nomination, especially for this picture."
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Sienna Miller Wants To Be A Mother

NEW YORK, February 1, 2007 - Sienna Miller is both an actress and fashion icon. Still, there's one more title she'd like to have: mother.

"I can't wait," she says in Life magazine's upcoming issue. "In a world where you're encouraged to have your universe revolve around yourself, suddenly it doesn't. I know I want that because I have way too much love to give. If I have a child, it can all go there. Life, I think, will suddenly make sense."

In the new film "Factory Girl," the 25-year-old Miller stars as rich party girl and Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick. She's also acted in the films "Casanova," "Layer Cake" and "Alfie."

Her on-and-off relationship with dashing ex-fiance Jude Law, 34, made her an overnight celebrity. She reportedly broke off their engagement in 2005 after he publicly apologized for cheating on her following reports that he had a fling with the nanny of his three children.

"What makes me sad (is) that there was a loss of innocence on my part," she says. "I was blinded by being a romantic person. I sort of feel like, `What if I never love that vulnerably and that openly again?' But I feel like I'm really strong. I feel like I grew up. People have made a huge deal of it."

The tabloid fixture has some hidden quirks. "I have to sleep on the right side of the bed. I don't know why. ... I dip my French fries into chocolate milk shakes. I've never had a sex dream."
[Source]

Lepaparazzi News Update: Mike Tyson in Rehab

BOXING legend MIKE TYSON is being treated at a drug rehab clinic, it was claimed yesterday.

The ex-heavyweight world champion, 40, checked into the Wonderland Centre, Los Angeles, at the weekend.

Mean Girls actress LINDSAY LOHAN, 20, is having treatment at the same Hollywood Hills clinic.

Tyson was arrested in December for suspected drink-driving and drug possession.

He told cops in Arizona, where he lives with his dog Meatball, he had a drugs problem.
[Source]