Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Kevin Spacey denies reports Kate Moss will appear in his theatre work

Actor/director Kevin Spacey has denied reports of him approaching supermodel Kate Moss to appear in one of his upcoming London plays.

Spacey, 50, who serves as artistic director at the city's Old Vic theatre, is said to have taken Moss, 36, out to dinner earlier this month in a bid to convince her to take on a stage role.

But the American Beauty star has insisted on his Twitter.com page that there's "not a grain of truth" in the rumours.

"Great to hang w/ (with) Kate Moss last wk (week) but not sure where stories of her treading boards at the Old Vic came from. Not a grain of truth in it!" the Daily Star quoted him as writing.

Hema Malini, Esha Deol walk down Wills India Fashion Week ramp

Bollywood actress Hema Malini and her daughter Esha walked the ramp for designer Rocky S at the 15th edition of Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WLIFW) Autumn-Winter 2010 here on Friday.

Designer Rocky S, who is among the Bollywood's most popular designers, showcased his bridal collection, a collection that he described in one word as ‘Grace.’

Rocky used bright colours with eclectic combinations like blue, red, teal, pink, peach, burgundy and green with a heavy use of borders, motifs and tassels used with all the bright hues.

The fabrics used included silk, georgette, chiffon and brocade.

The collections included all the traditional Indian lehenga cholis, saris, churidaar kurtas for women and brocade long coats known as sherwanis for men.

The designer said he created these keeping in mind the mother and sister of a bride.

"Well this is a very simple and traditional collection. I wanted it more for family… for a woman who is getting married; her sister can buy something, her mother can buy something. I wanted to keep it very traditional. So the colours are very pure…Indian colours. The fabrics are Indian… traditional embroidery is being used. I just wanted to stay away from black for a change," said Rocky S.

Actor Esha walked the ramp flaunting her heavily embroidered maroon and green bridal lehenga-choli, whereas Bollywood's veteran 'Dream Girl' Hema Malini accompanied her with grace in a similar coloured sari teamed with an embroidered burnt orange coloured blouse.

Hema Malini, who stole the show with her grace, praised Rocky's collection.

"It was wonderful working on the ramp with Esha for Rocky…it's a beautiful colour combination …2-3 colours are there in this sari with a striking bright blouse. So it looks very nice," said Hema Malini.

Designer Payal Jain also showcased her collection.

She titled her creations Solitary Monk, saying it was inspired by the mystic allure of the historical textiles and bewitched lifestyle of the monks in Laos.

The most inspiring features of the collection were the unorthodox usage of colour, print, texture and fabrics.

The fabrics ranging from linen and cotton jersey to hand-woven khadi to self-jacquards and soft flowing silk jerseys were draped and styled into clean and simple ensembles.

Attractive models stood tall and pretty in draped dresses, flowing tunics, structured jackets, bias skirts, prayer pants and draped shells in a colour palette of indigo, burnt coral, warm chocolate and slate black.

"This is a fall winter, you have to have warm colours. This collection is inspired by monks and monasteries, as you could see the bells, the music, the chanting and all," said Jain.

The WLIFW-AW 2010, hosted by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI), will witness the participation of 130 designers, 75 of them also presenting shows and among whom 19 are debutants.

The fashion extravaganza will feature 43 shows.

Sandra Bullock decides not to return home

Sandra Bullock reportedly has no plan to return to the home where she lived with hubby Jesse James while the man who cheated on her is still there.

The Oscar-winning actress, who has avoided the public glare for the past two weeks, has no intention of sleeping at their home while James is there and so she has moved out, it has been reported.

"Sandra is such a classy woman.... To have her husband cheating on her and cheating with so many women, it's just something she doesn't deserve," The New York Post quoted an insider as telling RadarOnline.com.

The site also reported that Bullock, 45, is currently staying at her Hollywood Hills home, which she bought before she married James nearly five years ago.

The source added: "She has always conducted herself with dignity.

"A lot of people never understood her attraction to James, but she was loyal to him. And not only did he cheat, but he cheated with these women that just make you shake your head. Not that it matters anyway — the only thing that matters is [that] he cheated."

Bullock has been avoiding the public glare after allegations of James, 40, romping with tattoo model Michelle 'Bombshell' McGee emerged nearly two weeks ago.

Spider-Man star James Franco eyes PhD

Spider-Man star James Franco has been accepted into the prestigious Yale University, where the actor will study for his doctorate.

The actor has already done a film-making course from New York University, and also took writing classes at Columbia University, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts diploma, reports The Daily Express.

A representative has confirmed that Franco was accepted into Yale, in Connecticut.

He will begin courses for his PhD in September if he accepts his place, according to the esteemed institution's student newspaper The Yale Herald.

Shakira wants to start a family after her next tour

Shakira is looking forward to starting a family with her long-term fiance Antonio De La Rua. The singer is hoping to settle down but needs to fulfill her commitments first.

"Do I have any plans for children? Little wolves? Yeah, of course. I'd really like to have kids, but first I need to go on tour and release this new album - and then we can sit down and talk about it," Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

The 33-year-old star told the Big Issue magazine that even though she and Antonio got engaged over four years ago, marriage is no longer high on her list of priorities.

"Maybe 15 years ago, I'd dream about wearing a white gown, a wedding cake and a room full of guests and me feeding them canapés," she said.

Stars take the hit after films flopped

It’s official. With film producers pressing for a reduction in their movie’s budgets, many leading actors have taken a cut in their fees. In fact, the cut in salaries has percolated down to all levels including directors, technicians and even extras.

Shailendra Singh, managing director of Percept Pictures, says, “The fees of stars had reached unprecedented levels. In some cases, even 90% of a film’s budget went into paying the stars. We have been lobbying and pressing for a correction for a long time. So now I am glad that it is happening finally. The stars are finally getting to learn that a fee cut is the only option left for everybody to survive in this volatile market.”

Confirming the development, a senior official at IDBI Bank says, “The film fund size was Rs500 crore (last year) and we had increased it to Rs1,000 crore (for this financial year). Again, we are thinking of reducing it to the original size (Rs500 crore) as film budgets have shrunk. This is because around 80 per cent of the cost of making a movie is acting fees. We are hearing that these have come down to reasonable levels now.” IDBI is one of thebanks in India that maintains a substantial corpus of funds to be invested in Bollywood.

Producer Vipul Shah says, “Some corporations in their bid to nudge out the independent producers had made obscene payments to a few stars. The stars were obviously happy to take the money home. Now, after most of their films have flopped, they have been left with no other option but to reduce their fees drastically. I know this for a fact that Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn have dropped their prices by several notches to help producers.”

During the course of an earlier interview, Salman had said, “I am always there for my friends. If I think that me doing something will help them then I am willing to go that extra mile. I always try to accommodate a request and I will not charge exorbitant prices ever.” Salman was speaking before his last film Veer’s release.