Paula Abdul: No One Can Replace Me on 'American Idol'

Call her the unsinkable Paula Abdul. During eight seasons of "American Idol" there have been over 300 episodes filmed, thousands of ambitious contestants judged and jilted, and any number of controversies involving judge Abdul.

The award-winning choreographer and recording artist has helped make "American Idol" the number one show in the U.S., with 20 million people tuning in each week. From week one, Abdul has played the role of the "nice" judge, the person to whom contestants can turn for a kind word when the notoriously tough -- some might even say nasty -- Simon Cowell pounces.

"This is my last season under contract," she told "Nightline" in an exclusive interview. "I love the show, I do. I love what I do on the show and I'm loving it more this season than ever."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=7354195&page=1

Tarantino up for top Cannes prize

Quentin Tarantino's World War II saga Inglourious Basterds is one of several major titles that will compete for the Cannes Film Festival's top prize.

Others include Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, starring French footballer Eric Cantona, and the latest films from Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar and Jane Campion.

Twenty films will compete for the coveted Palme d'Or at this year's event, which runs from 13 to 24 May.

Tarantino won the Palme d'Or in 1994 with his second film Pulp Fiction.

The 46-year-old is the only American director in contention for the prize, won last year by French school drama The Class.

His latest work, in which Brad Pitt appears, tells of a group of Jewish-American soldiers sent to Germany to kill Nazis.

Comedy

Loach's inclusion in this year's line-up marks the ninth time the veteran British director has been shortlisted for the Golden Palm.

The 73-year-old won the prize in 2006 with his historical Irish drama The Wind That Shook the Barley.

Former footballer Eric Cantona plays himself in Loach's Looking for Eric

Looking for Eric tells of an obsessive football fan who receives spiritual advice from the former Manchester United star, who plays himself.

Loach is joined by another British filmmaker, Andrea Arnold, whose second feature Fish Tank will also compete for Cannes' top honour.

Lee, previously shortlisted in 1997 for The Ice Storm, will return in May with Taking Woodstock, a comedy about the iconic 1969 rock festival.

Spanish director Almodovar, meanwhile, will present Broken Embraces, a thriller starring recent Oscar-winner Penelope Cruz.

New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion has been shortlisted for her latest work Bright Star, about the 19th Century Romantic poet John Keats.

Fantasy

British actor Ben Whishaw plays the leading role, with Australian actress Abbie Cornish as Fanny Brawne, the object of Keats' affections.

Other leading filmmakers up for the Palme d'Or include Denmark's Lars von Trier, Hong Kong's Johnnie To, Austria's Michael Haneke and Argentinian-born Gaspar Noe.

French actress Isabelle Huppert heads the jury for the 62nd festival, which will launch with a screening of Pixar animation Up.

Terry Gilliam's fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - the film the late Heath Ledger was working on at the time of his death - will also screen out of competition.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8014179.stm

Susan Boyle: The movie

Susan Boyle has been approached about turning her life into a movie, according to reports.

The "Britain's Got Talent" star is an overnight sensation after appearing on the TV contest earlier this month.

She has been inundated with interview requests and approaches from record companies, with industry mogul Simon Cowell said to be considering signing her.

It has now been claimed that a film documenting the unemployed 47-year-old virgin's rise to stardom is also in the pipeline.

US film-maker Darla Rae, who runs Film-It Productions in America, said: "When Susan stepped on to the stage and began to sing, tears welled up in my eyes.

"As I watched her, I felt a connection and realised she would be perfect for one of my films."

Meanwhile, a Cowell source insisted that he is determined to remain in control of the singer's career in music and the big screen.

"Simon can see the business potential in Susan. He's not only seeing album deals in the UK and the States but also movie and merchandising.

"But he would want the movie to be based around the 'Britain's Got Talent' brand rather than Susan's life.

"It would follow her dream of getting on the show and then, of course, she would have to win", explained the source.

http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/dyna/article.html?a=/090422/340/ik8kj.html&e=l_news_dm

Lakers Player Andrew Bynum Says He's Not Dating Rihanna

Basketball player Andrew Bynum is denying that he and Rihanna are dating after rumors began circulating that the pair went on a date in Los Angeles.

"Nope," the Lakers center told TMZ when asked if the two were dating and if their friendship had the potential to ever become anything more.

Rihanna was linked to Wilmer Valderrama after reconciling with Chris Brown following their alleged altercation in February.

Then, last month, Rihanna had been romantically linked to "The Hills" and "Bromance" star Frankie Delgado. Delgado later denied the romance rumors, saying the two are "just friends." Delgado said he thinks the chatter got started because "she's been out, hanging out, I guess. It's Hollywood, people talk a lot. ... She's good."

According to recent reports, Rihanna will be hitting the stage this May at a still unconfirmed-concert in the popular resort locale of Dubai. "Rihanna will be performing on May 28," Mary Rachelle Cherpak, a spokeswoman for Alba Hotchkiss of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing North America, told MTV News.

She went on to say that if the reported concert comes together it will be "a concert for 25,000 audience members. This is another example of how Dubai tourism is attracting the best of the best and is one of the world's hottest destinations. ... She chooses to do that in Dubai, which I think is a great credit to the destination that it has support of these top artists."

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1609726/20090421/rihanna.jhtml

Warner Bros. No. 1 at U.S. box office for year so far

On the cusp of a summer in which Warner Bros. will unspool its latest Harry Potter moneymaker, the studio sits atop the film distributor rankings for 2009 with an 18 percent domestic market share.

Paramount, whose swimsuit-season slate includes the DreamWorks-produced action sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," ranks second with a 13.9 percent share, according to Nielsen EDI. Sony, boasting summer pics including the Tom Hanks-starring "Angels & Demons," is third at 12.4 percent with one weekend to go before the May 1 start of the industry's most lucrative box-office season.

Boasting nearly $492 million through Sunday, Warners has used the bulk of theatrical earnings for its December release "Gran Torino," a $139 million domestic grosser in 2009, to stake an early claim to front-runner status this year. Its February romantic comedy "He's Just Not That Into You" ($93 million) and March actioner "Watchmen" ($107 million) have added to the studio's year-to-date lead.

"We have a great summer in store," Warners domestic distribution president Dan Fellman said Tuesday. "It will be hard to beat the (2008) success of 'The Dark Knight,' but we're in great shape to give it a good run."

Warners is set to release "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" on July 15. The most recent Potter movie, summer 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," fetched $292 million domestically. The studio's summer will be compared with its industry-topping performance last year, fueled by record grosses for Batman sequel "Dark Knight," a $533 million domestic grosser.

At Paramount, which totes a year-to-date tally of nearly $380 million, top grossers also include a 2008 opener: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which has earned more than $127 million in domestic coin since unspooling in December. Its family comedy "Hotel for Dogs" ($72 million) bowed in January and remains the studio's top-grossing title of 2009.

Sony has built its $291 million total in 2009 largely on the $145 million domestic haul for its slapstick comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." The studio is the front-runner for a No. 1 performance this weekend, as its Beyonce-toplined "Obsessed" seems likely to open in the midteen millions or higher.

Other year-to-date rankings among top distributors: Universal, 10.4 percent, $284 million; 20th Century Fox, 10 percent, $273 million; Lionsgate, 8 percent, $220 million; Disney, 7.8 percent, $214 million; Fox Searchlight, 6.5 percent, $178 million; Summit Entertainment, 4.4 percent, $121 million; and Focus Features, 3.3 percent, $91 million.

http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE53L0LO20090422

Director Ron Howard defends "Angels & Demons"

Director Ron Howard on Tuesday defended his film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code" author Dan Brown's "Angels & Demons" from criticism that it smears the Roman Catholic Church, heightening an ongoing battle over fictional depictions of the Vatican.

Howard, who also directed the 2006 movie adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code," posted a blog at The Huffington Post website saying that neither he nor his new movie "Angels & Demons," which debuts in May and stars Tom Hanks, are anti-Catholic.

"And let me be a little controversial: I believe Catholics, including most in the hierarchy of the Church, will enjoy the movie for what it is: an exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome," Howard wrote.

Howard's post came in response to an opinion piece in the New York Daily News by Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, last week. Donahue accused Brown and Howard of "smearing the Catholic Church with fabulously bogus tales."

Last year, the Catholic Church refused to let "Angels & Demons" be filmed in churches in Rome because of the Vatican's outrage over "The Da Vinci Code."

Howard's drama "Frost/Nixon" was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards this year, but lost to "Slumdog Millionaire." His other films include "A Beautiful Mind," which won the best picture Oscar and best directing Oscar for 2001, as well as 1995's "Apollo 13."

Brown this week announced that his follow-up novel to "The Da Vinci Code" will be released in September and is titled "The Lost Symbol."

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE53L04020090422

Cowell says he'd jump ship if "Idol" sinks

"American Idol" judge Simon Cowell says he will leave the most popular show on television if it ever slips from the top spot in the ratings.

"The idea that for the next five years, I'd be doing exactly what I've been doing for the past five years ... the thought is just too depressing," Cowell said in a recent interview in his trailer, awaiting a taping of "Idol" at CBS Television City. "I'd go nuts, bored out of my mind. You have to evolve, you have to change. I like the challenge of launching something new."

With Cowell's deal with Fox expiring at the end of next season, that something new could be a U.S. version of his U.K. singing competition series "The X Factor." Any doubts about Cowell's role in the success of "Idol" disappeared when he launched "Factor" three years ago. The similarly formatted show became a massive hit that has since supplanted "American Idol" predecessor "Pop Idol."

The "Factor" success was worrisome enough for Fox to forbid Cowell from launching the show in the U.S. while he's under his current "Idol" deal. But all that could soon change. Between the continuing popularity of "Idol" and Cowell's ownership of "Factor," he's armed with both a carrot and a stick.

Asked if he would want to stay on "Idol" if the series ever slips from No. 1 in the ratings, Cowell burst out laughing at the apparent obviousness of the answer.

"Absolutely not!" he said, looking horrified. "Being No. 1 is verging on an obsession with me. I don't like being No. 2. I don't mind when you start at No. 10 -- people don't always go on as No. 1 -- and you've got somewhere to go. But if you're at the point you've reached it, of course you want to stay there."

Though the "Idol" audience has declined over the past few seasons, the show remains far and away the ratings champ, with about 22 million viewers per episode. No other program approaches its popularity.

Unlike many in the TV business, Cowell rejects the claim that "Idol" ratings erosion is inevitable.

"I don't accept the argument of fragmentation or declining numbers," he said. "The Super Bowl goes up every year."

"Factor," he noted, also has increased its audience every year, which suggested to Cowell that the U.S. is ready for another music competition series.

"We have to bring in another music show," he said. "In the U.K., there is more than one type of music show running throughout the year. And I think the same thing could happen here, because for the fall, nothing really happens. It's something we've been thinking about ... I would definitely do it now."

"Maybe it'll be 'X Factor,'" he teased vaguely. "Maybe it'll be something new."

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE53L0NJ20090422

Audrey Tautou leads Chanel screen blitz

Audrey Tautou, star of "Amelie," takes to French screens this week as the legendary designer Coco Chanel and, coincidentally or not, also takes over from Nicole Kidman as frontwoman for Chanel Number 5 perfume.

"Coco avant Chanel," directed by Anne Fontaine, is the latest French biopic to ride the wave created by "La vie en rose," which gave Marion Cotillard her Oscar-winning role as the tortured chanteuse Edith Piaf.

"Coco Chanel's personality was absolutely extraordinary but beyond her genius and talent she has everything that the heroine of any great novel has," Tautou told France Inter radio.

Tautou has stared out gravely from billboards ahead of the launch of the film, which got warm reviews in the French press and tells the story of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel as she moves from occasional cabaret singer to revolutioniser of women's fashion.

Next month, she will also appear as the mysterious heroine of a two minute advertisement for Chanel Number 5 shot by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, director of "Amelie," the film that propelled her to stardom in 2001.

The short film, which took four months to make, shows Tautou pursued by a handsome stranger on the Orient Express train to Istanbul. It will replace a similarly elaborate mini-film starring Australian Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman.

Chanel offered some items of clothing and locations to the makers of "Coco avant Chanel" but is otherwise unconnected to the film and a spokeswoman insisted that Tautou's simultaneous appearance in the advertising push was coincidental.

However surprising that may seem, the coincidence is no doubt a welcome one and interest in the designer will be fueled further by a separate film later this year that will concentrate on Chanel's relationship with Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.

Brought up in an orphanage, Coco Chanel took up early with a wastrel playboy before taking her first steps in fashion and opening a hat shop in the fashionable resort of Deauville, displaying charm and iron-willed ambition in equal measure.

"She was a very hard, very authoritarian, very proud character and at the same time, this was a period of her life when her character wasn't entirely formed," Tautou said.

Chanel, who died in 1971, brought a new simplicity to women's clothes after the elaborate styles of the pre World War One "Belle Epoque" and the little black cocktail dress she created in 1926 remains a fashion staple to this day.

But her formidable personality was at least as important as her designing talent in creating the aura of the Chanel name.

"A woman without a perfume is a woman without a future," she once declared and she backed her own future by creating "Chanel Number 5," which became the biggest selling scent of all time.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE53L22O20090422

Hugh Jackman sinks hands into Hollywood history

Hugh Jackman, star of the upcoming "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," immortalized his name in Hollywood history on Tuesday by sinking his hand and foot prints into cement outside the famous Grauman's Chinese Theater.

The movie house on Hollywood Boulevard is a key tourist attraction, where for 82 years stars such as Cary Grant and Judy Garland have been honored by stamping their own signed hand and foot prints into the theater's forecourt.

Jackman recalled a previous trip to the venue with his wife, saying it was the first Hollywood landmark he visited in Los Angeles, and while there he put his hands into the prints of late comedian Peter Sellers.

"Here we are, 12 years later," he told a crowd at the ceremony.

"It's a very humbling moment as an actor to be here. You look down at the names, from Fred Astaire to Cary Grant, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Steve McQueen, John Wayne, and to think that those people have been immortalized and pretty soon I'll be putting my hands in wet cement," Jackman said, before planting his palms in the concrete.

In two weeks, the Australian actor debuts the new "X-Men Origins" movie, reprising his role as conflicted "mutant" Wolverine, who battles other, evil mutants trying to control the world.

Wolverine has sharp blades that protrude from his knuckles. He is among the most popular of X-Men comic book characters on which the films are based. There have been three "X-Men" movies, and combined they have grossed more than $1.1 billion at global box offices.

Jackman, 40, is known as a versatile actor who has starred in a range of movies from action adventures like "Swordfish" to romances such as last year's "Australia." He has enjoyed a Tony-winning stage career on Broadway and recently hosted Hollywood's Oscars.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE53L04D20090422

Why can't America have 'Britain's Got Talent'?

Taking things from the Brits and making them our own has historically gone one of two ways: the Coupling way or the Office way. America's Got Talent has taken the middle path on this: It's a modest, inoffensive summer hit here for NBC, but has yet to take pop culture by storm the way its cousin American Idol clearly does. And now its progenitor, Britain's Got Talent, has suddenly become an online phenom -- last week it was Susan Boyle, this week it's little Shaheen Jafargholi, and it's only the first round of auditions -- which brings up a whole host of questions: Are Brits inherently more talented than Americans? (Freakishly good Britney Spears impersonations aside, of course.) Has this been going on the whole time across the pond and we just weren't paying attention? (Okay, we sorta paid attention that one time with that opera singer guy.) Is this just a lucky season for the show, whose ratings are up, and of course, online views have skyrocketed? Probably, but that just brings up the biggest question of all: How fast can BBC America get this season onto the air so we can see the Susan/Shaheen battle play out in all its glory, not confined to tiny YouTube clips?

What do you think, PopWatchers? Would you tune in to Britain's Got Talent on American airwaves?

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/04/why-cant-americ.html