Afternoon Briefing:
Will Harvey divorce the Mouse? Even before the brouhaha over Michael Moore's latest film, "Farenheit 911," Miramax and Disney had been clashing culturally and financially. Now come reports that the Weinstein brothers might try to buy back Miramax or find independent financing for their films rather than extend their contract beyond 2005. (Variety via Yahoo)
Manson in the movies: Goth rocker Marilyn Manson is planning to play Christ in "Diamond Dead," directed by George ("Night of the Living Dead") Romero. The movie, about a rock band that makes a deal with the devil, includes a scene showing Jesus smoking pot. (The Age)
Porn stars go back to work: The adult film industry in Los Angeles, under a self-imposed moratorium because five actors tested positive for HIV, is back to work as of today -- a month earlier than expected. (Reuters)
Baghdad blogger on the big screen? The fellow known only as Salam Pax, a 29-year-old architectural student in Iraq who started writing to his friend in Jordan about life during war, may see his story made into a movie. The film division of Intermedia is looking for a scriptwriter, and the company's spokesman said Pax is "like a Nick Hornby in the middle of a war." (BBC)
Almodóvar opens Cannes: The Cannes Film Festival opened today with Pedro Almodóvar's "Bad Education" -- a story about two boys who are friends at a Catholic school. The movie then imagines them as adults -- one a transvestite who blackmails a priest who molested him. The director said the film was not anti-clerical and that "the church is going through its own problems. It's destroying itself. I believe in Spain, at least, that the church is its own worst enemy." (CNN International)
Whoa, little pirate: Johnny Depp said he'd have 100 children with his wife Vanessa Paradis if she'd go for it. The star of "Pirates of the Caribbean," who has two kids, said, "For me family is the most important thing in the world. It's your foundation, your roots. It's the only unconditional love you'll ever get." (Ananova)
-- Karen Croft
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Turn On:
If you can't wait until Friday, there are plenty of opportunities to get your "Troy" fix this evening, from "Making the Movie" (9 p.m. ET; MTV) and "Troy: First Look" (12 a.m. ET; MTV) to "Troy: The Passion of Helen" (10 p.m. ET; A&E) and "Trojan Horse" (8 p.m. ET; Discovery). "The Bachelor: The Women Tell All" (9 p.m. ET; ABC) follows the show's protocol of inviting back the ladies sent home to talk about Jesse, this season's bachelor.
-- Scott Lamb
Morning Briefing:
Not very Spock-like: Leonard Nimoy's black-and-white photos of nude or "loosely covered" women bathed in light -- meant to represent the Shekhina, or feminine presence of God -- are a hit in Northampton, where gapers lined up and down the block to see them on display at the R. Michelson Galleries. "At the heart of it all is the fact that I was trying to really completely enter into the world of the feminine," the actor-turned-photographer commented, adding that he got his Vulcan salute from the same Jewish prayer ritual that gave rise to his photos. (Associated Press)
Vanity, not fair? Reporters for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times are investigating whether Graydon Carter is abusing his post as editor for Vanity Fair, including "whether Carter benefits financially from who gets on the cover." A spokeswoman for the magazine calls the allegations "completely and utterly baseless." (L.A. Weekly)
Next on "60 Minutes II": Video footage showing conditions at Abu Ghraib and another U.S.-run prison in Iraq, Camp Bucca, and the video diary of an American soldier who says things like, "I actually got in trouble the other day because I was throwing rocks" at the prisoners in her charge. (Reuters)
Plea and run: Kobe Bryant pleaded not guilty in Colorado on Tuesday to charges of rape. Then he raced out of court, hopped a private plane and zipped back to Los Angeles to play in the fourth game of the NBA playoffs. (Reuters)
Gore likes "Tomorrow": Al Gore really, really wants you to go see "The Day After Tomorrow" when it comes out. Global warming, which is depicted in the film as sparking a new ice age, is "an emergency that seems to be unfolding in slow motion, but it actually is occurring very swiftly -- not as swiftly as the movie portrays, but swiftly in the context of human history," Gore said Tuesday in a conference call organized by MoveOn.org. (Associated Press)
Trojan horses: Brad Pitt, who initially supported the war in Iraq, now compares the search for the weapons of mass destruction to a Trojan horse -- and says the parallels were taken into account during the making of the movie "Troy," in which he plays Achilles. "I think the movie deeply resonates with today," Pitt says. "There was a line in 'The Iliad' that sticks in my mind -- where Achilles asks, 'What are we doing here, afflicting the Trojans and afflicting their land?'" (Rush and Molloy)
Keeping abreast of the news: Lindsay Lohan's rep is denying rampant rumors that her teenage client has had breast augmentation surgery. "I find this rumor perverse, and the fact that she's 17 is bordering on pedophilia," sniffed the spokeswoman. "Her physical attributes are 100% real." (Rush and Molloy)
Off the floor: Maria Bartiromo is leaving CNBC's "Squawk Box" -- and the floor of the New York Stock Exchange -- to focus on expanded duties at NBC News. (N.Y. Daily News)
Could Kutcher have helped catch killer? The parents of a murdered fashion student are lashing out at Ashton Kutcher, who apparently stopped by the slain woman's Hollywood bungalow to pick her up for a date the night she was stabbed. When the woman didn't answer the doorbell, Kutcher, who is not a suspect in the 2001 murder, says he looked in the window and noticed dark stains on her floor, but thought they were red wine and left. The slain student's body wasn't found until 12 hours later. "Because of him, the perpetrator got a 12-hour head start," says the woman's father. (Page Six)
Flip this: The New York Observer has observed a new trend: celebrities flipping apartments -- that is, buying them at a discount and then selling them in short order, profiting financially from the added glitz of their own celebrity. "Celebrities are like anybody else: They want to make money," said Darren Sukenik, a senior vice president with Douglas Elliman who sold an apartment to Britney Spears. (N.Y. Observer)
-- Amy Reiter
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