Movies

A firetruck slammed into Russell Crowe's ride during a movie shoot in Pittsburgh yesterday -- problem is, it wasn't in the script.

Crowe and co-star Elizabeth Banks were shooting a scene inside a van, which was parked near a Pittsburgh fire station when a firetruck suddenly pulled out of a nearby station and banged into the front of the van, according to ABC 4.

There were no injuries -- except to the van. The front end was reportedly knocked off.

Tom manned up and took the crazy plunge for a movie he's filming in Boston yesterday.

Now this is some real risky business.

Chris Rock's rep tells TMZ a judge has just cleared the way for Rock to release his movie -- "Good Hair" -- tomorrow.

Regina Kimbell has sued Rock, claiming he ripped off her documentary, "My Nappy Roots." She went into court to get a temporary restraining order but the judge shut her down today.

So the show will go on.

The guy who co-wrote "Pulp Fiction" with Quentin Tarantino will have plenty of alone time to think of his next script -- he just landed time behind bars over his fatal DUI crash last year.

Roger Avary -- who landed an Oscar for the script -- was sentenced yesterday in Ventura County, CA to one year behind bars.

Avary pled guilty in August to gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI -- after a passenger in his Mercedes died when he wrapped his car around a telephone pole in Ventura County in 2008.

Cops say his car was traveling more than 100 MPH.

Avary -- who also co-wrote "Beowulf" and directed "The Rules of Attraction" -- also got five years probation.

That filmmaker is Mike Tollin, who just made a movie about the brief history of the United States Football League. Trump owned a team in the USFL -- the New Jersey Generals -- until 1985 ... when the whole league tanked.

When Mike finished the film, he sent Trump a copy ... along with a letter that said "I'm guessing you won't love all of it, but I hope you appreciate that I've tried to be fair."

Trump sent the letter back to Tollin -- complete with the following a handwritten message on it:

It happened at a parking lot in the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles. The crew found an unidentified metal object and called authorities.

We're told the LAPD bomb squad responded and blew up the object with a robot. It was not a bomb. Hopefully, the movie isn't either.

The Story: The horribly catchy "Move It" song is at the center of a pretty nasty legal battle involving some Americans ... some Germans ... and part of Madagascar.

The US-based record company who owns the rights to the 1993 hit claims some German musicians made a cover version of the song without proper permission back in 2005 -- right after the original song was featured in the 2005 movie "Madagascar."

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in NY, the Americans claim ze Germans tried to capitalize on the song's recaptured fame by selling the unlicensed cover here in the good ole US of A.

Now, the Americans are suing for damages and demanding ze Germans "destroy all copies of the Infringing Records."

In Hollywood, it pays to be Dakota Fanning's little sister -- 'cause the other Fanning child is officially pulling in a 6-figure salary.

We've just obtained a copy of Elle Fanning's minor contract for the upcoming flick "Somewhere" -- filed in L.A. County Superior Court -- which shows the 11-year-old is set to take in $125,000 for her role in the flick.

According to the docs, Elle and her mother were also put up in a five-star hotel during filming and given a $75 per diem -- which was treatment "no less favorable than that provided to any other cast member" ... well, with one exception.

Matt admitted his shortcomings yesterday after a photog in New York sucked up to him by saying, "You've never made a bad movie in your whole life."

The "Stuck on You" and "The Brothers Grimm" actor quickly called BS on the guy ... literally ... by saying, "That's bulls**t."

Greg Crowder and Tony Freitas just filed a lawsuit against NBC Universal, claiming they gave a script titled "The Truth" to Scott Bernstein in 2006 -- when Scott was VP of Production for Universal Pictures.

In the federal lawsuit filed by the screenwriters' lawyer, Ed McPherson, Crowder claims he had multiple meetings with Bernstein about the script -- but Bernstein told Crowder it needed a rewrite before Universal would buy it. Crowder said he'd rewrite it but only if Universal paid. Bernstein wouldn't pay so the deal fell apart.

Fast forward to 2009 ... Crowder says he submitted the script to another film company, who told him they were "concerned that [he] might have stolen" the script from the upcoming Jennifer Aniston/Aaron Eckhart project called "Love Happens." The suit says it was the other way around.

Michael appears with it in the footage -- and the huge dance sequences teased look damn bad ass.

The movie will be shown in theaters for two weeks, starting October 28.

Thompson, who stole the hearts of four-letter word lovers everywhere in "Role Models," is signed on to appear in something called "Snowmen" -- for which he had to file a minor's contract with L.A. County Superior Court.

According to the contract, he'll pull in a cool $65,000 for his role, but even more interesting -- the contract specifically points out that the 13-year-old "has never been married."