Pitt and Clooney at Venice debut

George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Venice

Clooney and Pitt were on the red carpet for the premiere

The Venice Film Festival has opened with the premiere of the Coen brothers’ dark comedy Burn After Reading.

The film, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, is showing out of the competition at the annual event.

Before the screening, the stars posed good-naturedly for pictures and signed autograph books for fans lining up along the red carpet.

There are 21 movies competing for the coveted Golden Lion this year, with entries from Ethiopia and Turkey.

The festival continues with a fly-on -the-wall film about fashion designer Valentino Garavani - billed as a glimpse into a world of bygone glamour.

The movie was directed and produced by special correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine,

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Terrence Howard hopes to be music hit too

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Terrence Howard attends a news conference for the movie “The Brave One” during the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto September 7, 2007.

Terrence Howard earned an Oscar nomination for his role as a pimp aspiring to be a rapper in “Hustle & Flow” but the 2005 movie also shone a spotlight on the actor’s musical talents and helped him land a record deal.

Howard releases his debut album “Shine Through It” on Tuesday. But it’s nothing like the hip-hop he performed as Djay, which included Three 6 Mafia’s 2006 Academy Award-winning song, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”

“Imagine Don McLean growing up in Cleveland in the ’70s and if he was black, with a little bit of Cat Stevens twisted into his words and a little bit of Richie Havens — that’s the thought behind it,” Read more »

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Pelosi Daughter Making McCain Film


Aug. 25, 2008: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Almost more than the convention of Barack Obama, the 2008 DNC is like a party given for and by Nancy Pelosi.

The House Majority Leader is a ubiquitous dynamo, an Energizer bunny pushing the Democratic platform, explaining and extolling the Obamas, making everything seem right in the world to anyone who might be worried or have Read more »

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Venice opens with Pitt and Clooney in madcap comedy

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George Clooney (R) and Brad Pitt pose during a photocall in Venice August 27, 2008.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney star in a madcap comedy by the Coen brothers in which two Washington gym employees get caught up in the cloak-and-dagger world of international espionage, with results both daft and deadly.

“Burn After Reading” — spy movie meets slapstick farce — ensures an upbeat opening to this year’s Venice film festival where the picture has its red carpet premiere on Wednesday.

It brings A-list star power and crowds of screaming fans to the 11-day event in the canal city, where Asian and European art house cinema is up against Hollywood heavyweights in the race for prizes at the closing ceremony on September 6.

The film re-unites Joel and Ethan Coen with actress Frances McDormand, Read more »

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Wanted: Brits with a taste for Paris Hilton’s life

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Paris Hilton poses for photographers at a news conference announcing her new MTV series “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF (Working Title)” in Los Angeles March 13, 2008.

Calling all young, beautiful Britons with a yearning for life in the fast lane — Paris Hilton is heading to Britain to find a new best friend.

Since parting ways on screen with Nicole Richie, her former best friend and co-star of reality TV show “The Simple Life,” the socialite heiress has filmed a new series in Los Angeles called “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF” (Best Friends Forever).

In the show, which goes to air September 30, 20 wannabe members of Hilton’s entourage battle it out in a house to win her friendship with contestants eliminated along the way.

But with the series over, Hilton, 27, said she had so much fun that she going to head to England to do it all over again.

“Imagine all the trouble and fun I could cause all at once just with a text on my Blackberry, Read more »

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Malaysia allows Lavigne concert

Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne wants to begin her Asia tour in Kuala Lumpur

Pop singer Avril Lavigne will be allowed to perform in Malaysia despite concerns her show is “too sexy”.

Fundamentalist opposition group the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party had said Lavigne’s shows were unsuitable for a Muslim-majority country.

The government then cancelled her concert on 29 August fearing disruption to independence day celebrations.

A government minister would not explain the turnaround but said there had been talks with the concert organisers.

Muzahet Masruri, secretary-general of the Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry, told the AP news agency the gig organisers had told the government they had already sold thousands of tickets and that the cancellation could hurt tourism.

When cancelling the show earlier this week, the government denied the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party had influenced their decision to stop Lavigne performing.

Lavigne, 23, whose hits include Complicated and Girlfriend, is planning to launch her month-long Asia tour in Kuala Lumpur.

Lavigne is not the only singer to have encountered problems

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Cage to play ex-cop in “Kick-Ass” indie pic

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Nicolas Cage arrives for the premiere of the film “National Treasure: Book Of Secrets” in New York December 13, 2007.

Nicolas Cage, British actor Aaron Johnson and Lyndsy Fonseca (”How I Met Your Mother”) will star in “Kick-Ass,” Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of the violent Mark Millar comic-book series.

Written by Millar and drawn by John Romita Jr., the story, from Marvel Comics’ Icon imprint, centers on a high school dweeb named Dave Lizewski who decides to become a superhero even though he has no athletic ability or coordination. Things change when he runs into real bad guys with real weapons.

Johnson plays the dweeb and title character, and Fonseca plays the object of the teen’s infatuation, who believes that Dave is gay. Cage takes the role of a former cop Read more »

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