Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf — who has a Jewish mother and Cajun father — has been advised to sleep with as many women as he can by… Steven Spielberg. The pair were giving a TV interview to promote Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull — which Spielberg directs and LaBeouf stars in — when the director told the 21-year-old: “Son, as they said in The Graduate with Dustin Hoffman: ‘Sow some wild oats’.” Spielberg, not previously known as a sex counsellor, went on to question whether LaBeouf was giving his love life sufficient attention, what with a hectic filming schedule and all. He needn’t have worried. “I fit it in, Steven,” LaBeouf assured him, “I fit it in.”
The Crystal Skull was being premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week, as was Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Sadly, the movie’s star, Scarlett Johansson, didn’t appear on the red carpet with Allen. Rumour has it, she failed to show because the film’s distributors were reluctant to agree to provide her with a £4,000-a-day make-up artist and a suite at a hotel 30 miles away from where the rest of the film’s cast were staying. Woody was, apparently, more than slightly miffed.
Only last week Sarah Jessica Parker was complaining that being snapped by paparazzi made her feel cheap and vulgar. Now news comes that she is to pose for controversial photographer Annie Leibovitz, alongside her on-screen lover Chris Noth from Sex and the City. One of the images will show him filming Parker as she seductively crawls along the floor. In no way, will this be cheap or, indeed, vulgar.
It turns out that Roman Abramovich was the mystery buyer who paid a record-breaking £60 million for two artworks by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon last week, just as his current squeeze, model Daria Zhukova, is about to open a gallery in Moscow. Roman may not know much about art, but he knows what his girlfriend likes.
The star turn at Zhukova’s gallery won’t be Bacon or Freud, but Amy Winehouse. According to The Sun, the singer is being paid £1 million to perform when it opens. Whatever next? Well, I can tell you that Winehouse and hubby Blake Fielder-Civil are determined to show the world that, despite all the stories, their marriage is rock solid. A year on from their Miami wedding, the pair are planning to renew their vows. As soon as Fielder-Civil is released from Pentonville Prison, where he’s on remand for GBH and trial-fixing, they will have an intimate ceremony in East London. A source told The Mirror, “They want to put two fingers up to those who want them apart.”
The recording for ITV1’s An Audience with Neil Diamond gave the crew more than they bargained for as it became obvious that Diamond was taking charge of the show and wasn’t going to be directed by anyone. His diva-style behaviour was greeted with raucous laughter and applause by the star-studded audience. The singer has been over here promoting his latest album, Home Before Dark, which has reached the number one spot in the US and now in the UK too. Surprisingly, it’s the first time the singer — probably best known for his 1970s hits such as Sweet Caroline — has topped the chart in either place with original material.
As the tension builds in The Apprentice, a show source has revealed that Sir Alan Sugar is so uncertain about this year’s contenders that he plans to keep four for the final instead of the usual two. The blabber told The Mirror: “He is now torn between a number of possible apprentices. Instead of getting rid of more than one contestant in the semi-finals, he will keep four for the final test so he can keep his options open.”