Movies

The ever-shirtless bongo player, hanging at an Australian beach while on a Sunday break from shooting "Fool's Gold," planted one on his body double's kid.

If Matthew's contemplating fatherhood, we know a few folks who wouldn't mind calling him "Daddy."

Schoolteacher ... Mexican cook-wrestler ... Monarch?

Soft-bellied funnyman Jack Black took to the streets of Hollywood with his loyal footmen, Kyle Gass and Andy Dick, for the premiere of his new film, "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny." The ermine-robed and gold-crowned King Jack strolled though town with an unusually beatific look on his face, soaking up the adulation of his fawning acolytes.

Jack Palance, the gravel-voiced actor whose career spanned bad guy and, later, funny guy roles, died today at the age of 87. According to family members, Palance passed away at his Montecito, Calif. home of "natural causes."

Palance is best remembered for his Oscar-nominated role as the evil gunfighter Jack Wilson in "Shane" and such dark roles as Dracula and Attila the Hun. Younger audiences discovered him later from his hosting gig on "Ripley's Believe or Not," and, perhaps most popularly, his portrayal of the gruff cowboy Curly in "City Slickers."

At a screening of the upcoming Warner Bros. animated musical, "Happy Feet," a source told TMZ that the movie's director, George Miller, revealed how producers approached Prince to see if they could change two words in his song, "Kiss."

Miller said Prince's initial reaction was a resounding no, but WB insisted that the pop star see the film before deciding -- and sent a reel to Prince's Paisley Park digs. Prince was so moved by the film, he immediately picked up his guitar, started playing chords, and told WB they would have an original song.

"The Song of the Heart" appears on the "Happy Feet" soundtrack, alongside the Prince-approved and slightly altered version of "Kiss." The reworked track is mashed up with Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" and sung by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, who voice characters in the toon.

In a scene just as confusing as "Mulholland Dr.," David Lynch was relaxing on Hollywood Blvd. with some cow.

Sitting in a chair next to the heifer, Lynch had a poster of actress Laura Dern, with the words "For Your Consideration." His explanation for the stunt -- "to support Laura Dern, Best Actress 2006, for her unbelievably great performance in Inland Empire."

"The Stanford Prison Experiment," a new film about the most notorious prison abuse experiment of the 20th century, hires its director on the very same week that the man responsible for the most egregious prison abuse scandal of the 21st century is fired.

Coincidences, it's been said, are "the puns of destiny." The British writer Arthur Koestler described them as when "two strings of events are knitted together by invisible hands."

String number one today is Donald Rumsfeld, whose departure today was announced with a front page banner headline in today's Los Angeles Times, along with a scathing editorial.

Viz,

"More than two years after Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld offered to resign in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, President Bush finally agreed to let Rumsfeld go...the political equivalent of bringing down the pinata once it's been battered beyond recognition."

String number two, of course, is the exciting news from earlier this week that "The Usual Suspects" writer Christopher McQuarrie has been hired by Madonna's Maverick Films to direct his script about the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment.

Per the AP,

"Maverick acquired rights to the story in 2002 from Philip G. Zimbardo, a psychology professor at Stanford University who conducted an experiment on obedience in 1971. He recruited 24 men to portray inmates and guards in a prison setting. Zimbardo planned to study the men for two weeks, but dangerous behavior among them prompted him to stop the experiment after six days."

It remains to be seen if the "Stanford Prison" movie will ever get made. Notwithstanding Daily Variety's story break about McQuarrie proceeding to shoot his script in April, there is also the messy matter of pending litigation over the rights to the material and a rival project about the same topic.

Two anonymous plaintiffs are suing 20th Century Fox and One America Productions, claiming members of their college fraternity were interviewed to become part of the smash "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" film.

The plaintiffs -- listed as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 -- were allegedly assured the film would not be shown in the U.S. and their identities would not be revealed.

They were both selected to appear in the movie and, according to the suit, taken "to a drinking establishment 'to loosen up' and provided alcoholic beverages." They claim they signed the movie releases after "heavy drinking."

The suit claims both men were then taken to a motor home where they were filmed, all the while "encouraged to continue drinking."

The movie features a scene in a motor home where Cohen gets drunk with three frat boys who go on a racist rant about how they wished they had slaves and how minorities in the United States "have all the power."

According to the lawsuit, the frat boys only received $200 for the controversial appearance.

The plaintiffs claim they suffered "humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional and physical distress, loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community..." because the movie was indeed released in the U.S.

The suit asks for unspecified damages.

Sacha Baron Cohen, who wrestled a naked fat man in his big screen hit, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," has taken a blade to his signature moustache.

The newly clean-cut comic enjoyed a nice, quiet lunch at Pat's in Los Angeles yesterday (not once trying to order a glass of fresh horse urine), proving that he can live a normal life despite his skyrocketing fame. Cohen was seen scooting around L.A. in his Mini Cooper on Tuesday.

Is Amanda Bynes still working?

Trisch, we last saw Amanda Bynes as the spunky Holly Tyler on the finale of "What I Like About You," but she's still out there working. She'll be seen in next summer's musical "Hairspray," with John Travolta. Bynes will also be starring in "Sydney White and the Seven Dorks" – a comedic remake of "Snow White," based around college freshmen who've gone greek.

For some of our favorite men preparing for movies, read this!

Contrary to popular belief, Beyoncé Knowles is not angry.

After the debut of her rage-filled video for "Ring the Alarm," everyone wondered if she had flipped her diva lid. Beyoncé tells Elle magazine that she just "didn't want to do another album full of love songs. I did that last time. It's boring."

Miss B nixes rumors that the song is about her boyfriend, Brooklyn rapper Jay-Z, cheating on her with pop star Rihanna: "There's nothing to read into. Sorry to disappoint you!" Okay.

Beyoncé does reveal that her public image is the calculated hard work of many people. "I have a team and we've been working together since I was 15, so every show, earring, every shade of eye shadow is all something that comes from me and my team." You don't say.

Beyoncé let go of her mad-as-hell persona to give a raw and honest performance in the upcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls." Knowles' acting coach, Ivanna Chubbuck (don't you?), admits that the bootylicious star wrestled with demons. "We went really deep. It was like therapy." Get me a couch.

Read the entire interview in the December issue of Elle magazine.

Lindsay appeared on the gabber with director Emilio Estevez, publicizing the film "Bobby." A reserved Emilio defended the party girl's professionalism, saying she was on time to the set -- quite unlike her publically chastized experience on "Georgia Rule" this past summer.

Since her film performance elicited a rave review from Oprah, no doubt Linds will celebrate by "dancing with friends" tonight at Hyde.

The highly anticipated "Bobby" opens in New York and Los Angeles November 17.

Playing a blonde James Bond is no easy mission. Daniel Craig steps into the super-spy shoes of Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan (sorry George Lazenby, you did nothing for the franchise), and he's got the bruises to prove it!

"I lost a cap but that was the least of my worries," says Craig of his on-set accidents. "I had bruises. I was battered everyday. I had a black eye. You always get hit where the padding isn't."

In previous installments, while Halle Berry and Ursula Andress left us agape with barely-there bathing suits, but it's Daniel's hot Bond-bod sporting sexy trunks in "Casino Royale." His secret for looking so damned good in the short shorts? Five days a week in the gym. "There is no secret. Push weights, run around." Somebody does it better.

Jerry Seinfeld called on funny buddy Chris Rock to appear in a live-action trailer for Jerry's animated DreamWorks flick, "Bee Movie," where the comedic twosome are dressed as insects. In a case of art imitating life, a joke about Rock's wife seems just a tad buggy today.

In the trailer, Jerry, dressed as a bee, thanks Chris for appearing, to which Rock, in a fly outfit, responds, "You're going to come to my wife's book signing, right?"

Rock filed for divorce from his wife, Malaak Compton-Rock, on November 3. This gag might bug him now.

Steve Irwin's choice to play him in a movie: Australian actor Eric Bana.

Irwin's best friend and producer, John Stainton, tells "EXTRA" that the late Crocodile Hunter was so impressed with Bana's performance in "Munich," he approached the actor with a prophetic request. "He raced up to Eric on the red carpet and said "Eric, you gotta promise me one thing mate ... you gotta play me when I die."

While no movie is in the works, Stainton did make this promise: "If we ever did make a movie I would have to get Eric Bana and try to honor that."

Stainton also has high hopes for Irwin's eight year-old daughter Bindi, who's remained preternaturally poised since her father's death in September. "I said to him [Steve] before he died, 'you're gonna have to be prepared for the fact that Bindi is going to eclipse you as a star in the world,' and he said 'bring it on, bring it on.'"

The sweaty and notoriously smelly hunk revealed his more modest side by not showing his pectacular chest.

We enjoy every opportunity to view his rippedness, but the bongo boy appears to wear a shirt once a year for his birthday.

In the last eight years, six Academy Award-winning actresses have lost their B-list men on the heels of their Oscar wins. Whether it's a symptom of living in the shadows of their celebrated spouses, or just a wacky coincidence, their fellas can't seem to deal with Oscar being the other man.

For your consideration, TMZ takes a look inside the so-called "Oscar Curse."

Julia Roberts

Just three months after winning her 2001 Best Actress Oscar for "Erin Brockovich," Julia Roberts ended her relationship with sexy boyfriend Benjamin Bratt. The couple split amid rumors that Ben wanted Julia to work less and settle down. Apparently, that didn't fly with Roberts, but love didn't elude the "Pretty Woman" for very long. A year later, she married cameraman Danny Moder, with whom she had twins.