Movies

Six months after leaving the WWE, former wrestler/announcer Matt Striker has resurfaced ... as a ROMULAN COMMANDER -- as in, the guy got himself a role in the new "Star Trek" project.

TMZ Sports has learned ... ever since he parted ways with the WWE back in June, Striker's been pursuing a career as an actor -- and recently auditioned for a part in the upcoming TV movie, "Star Trek Equinox: The Night of Time."

We spoke with Matt ... who tells us 13 years of pro-wrestling was great practice, saying "I did some acting as a child, movies like 'Wise Guys' etc. but really my time with the WWE has prepared me greatly for this next stage of my life."

Veteran actor John Savage -- who's starring in the flick -- says Striker was "handpicked" for the part ... telling us "when Matt was presented for audition, we thought we had our guy -- after he read, we knew it."

Savage says Striker's work in the ring was definitely a factor when it came to casting him for the role.

Must not have seen him getting his ass kicked by Kane ...

Chloe Moretz -- who starred in "Hugo" -- stands to make more than a million bucks in her next movie -- not bad for a 16-year-old.

Chloe is the star in an upcoming movie -- "If I Stay." Since Moretz is a minor ... producers had to file legal docs with the court asking for permission to hire her. We obtained the docs, and they reveal Chloe will make $500,000 as a base salary.

But wait. There's more. Chloe will get 15% of profits from the movie ... and even if the movie doesn't show profits she could get an additional $1 million.

And there's still more ... If she gets nominated for a Best Actress Oscar she gets $25,000 and another $25K if she takes home the statue.

And even more ... She gets a cut of any merchandising.

So stay in acting class kids.

It was nine o'clock on a Saturday ... an unsuspecting Kansas City bar crowd gathered round to watch a popular cover band ... but they got a big bonus ... Jason Sudeikis.

The SNL star and his fiancee Olivia Wilde hit up Kanza Hall ... and Jason joined the band Summer Breeze for some classic hits -- including Billy Joel's "Just the Way You Are."

Britney Spears' dad learned a lesson in swag ... you gush over a product and the company that makes it will probably send you free stuff ... which brings us to duct tape.

During the "I Am Britney Jean" special Jamie Spears couldn't stop talking about his obsession with duct tape.

Now enter a company that manufactures "Duck" tape ... someone heard Jamie and the company sent him 1500 yards of the sticky stuff ... enough to span 15 football fields. Yeah, we know our sports.

The company sent various colors, including classic grey.

After the special, Britney tweeted bout her dad's infatuation saying she's gonna buy him a ton for Xmas.

Beck is in the middle of a war with a very rich, very powerful German ... a German who claims Beck DESTROYED his Malibu rental property ... and now, they're suing the crap out of each other, TMZ has learned.

The German is Til Schweiger -- who besides playing Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz in "Inglourious Basterds," is one of the top filmmakers in Germany (we'd put a clip in the post, but they're all too violent).

Here's what we know ... Til owns a huge mansion in Malibu and was renting it out to Beck for $11,000-per month from 2010 until Feb. 2013.

Both sides agree the mansion was a HELLHOLE when Beck left, but each man is holding the other responsible for the damage.

Beck says ... when he moved in, the home already had HUGE problems -- including mold, plumbing and electrical issues which caused further damage to everything from the fridge to the washing machine ... and even laptops.

Til says ... Beck had all sorts of unauthorized work done to the home while he lived there, causing "substantial physical damage" that required $40,571.00 in repairs.

Now, Beck's suing Til claiming the German won't return his $11,000 security deposit ... and Til's counter-suing Beck for the damage PLUS unpaid back rent, totaling $56,704.24.

Many rappers have dipped their toes into the acting world ... Ice Cube, Ice T, LL Cool J ... but Snoop Dogg tells TMZ he's the GREATEST rapping thespian of ALL TIME!!!!

He might be right ... Snoop's been in a TON of stuff -- including, "Half Baked," "Training Day," "Bones" ... plus, he voiced Dangle the STD-infected puppet on "Chappelle Show" and got streaked by Will Ferrell in "Old School."

Sure, Ice Cube may have starred in a bunch of hit movies ... and T and LL got themselves starring roles on major long-running TV action dramas ... but Snoop kept his composure while standing next to an ass-naked Will Ferrell.

That's impressive.

Forget "A Christmas Story," "Miracle on 34th St.," and "It's a Wonderful Life" ... the best holiday movie to snuggle up to with the family on Christmas day is ... "The Deer Hunter!"

At least that's what John Savage says ... he's one of the stars of the film -- you know, the one who loses his frickin' legs in that underwater rat cage in the Viet Kong prison camp.

John was soaking in the sunshine on a warm Christmas Eve in Malibu ... and told us his old flick is the perfect movie to throw on in the background while your kids open up their presents under the tree.

Check out the clip ... we're pretty sure he's being serious.

Just be careful if you bought your little ones the new Russian Roulette playset for Xmas ... you can shoot your eye out with that thing!!!

Every man lives, but not every man tries to hire a hitman to knock off his ex-wife ... but according to cops, some dumbass named William Wallace did exactly that.

The Orange County District Attorney says the 33-year-old was more upset with his ex-wife over a child support battle than Braveheart was with Longshanks after that whole taking over Scotland thing.

Officials say Wallace tried to a hire a hitman to off his ex for $30k ... except the assassin was really an undercover cop who busted Wallace.

Now, the guy is facing life in prison for attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder.

Kanye West and Marlon Brando have a lot in common in the acting department ... just ask Kim Kardashian.

Kim and Kanye hit up the Commons in Calabasas Friday to check out West's cameo in the new "Anchorman" flick ... and Kris Jenner, Kourtney, Scott Disick, Tyga and Blac Chyna tagged along for moral support.

After the movie Kim couldn't help gushing over her man's performance -- but the reality star may have taken it too far.

Justin Bieber's attempt at tagging with a famous graffiti artist -- while on a red carpet -- turned out to be a COLOSSAL FAIL, and he damn near got paint splattered all over his fancy suit.

JB was supposed to team up with street artist supreme Alec Monopoly at last night's premiere of 'Justin Bieber's Believe.'

Biebs grabbed a spray paint can from Monopoly and started to tag the canvas next to the red carpet -- but the attempted masterpiece was never completed ... 'cause the can was drained.

But the best part comes when Justin realizes the last few drops of paint soiled his pretty little hands.

Famed director Nick Cassavetes is going after one of his buddies ... suing him for a $72,000 check that bounced all over L.A -- and sources tell us it's a big fat gambling debt.

The director of "The Notebook" is suing L.A. business mogul Kevin Washington for the loot. Kevin gave Nick a handwritten check for $72,600 and allegedly stopped payment.

Nick has famously gambled huge sums of money at private homes around L.A. We broke the story ... Nick was sued in 2011 by the trustee of a convicted hedge fund manager over a $73,000 poker debt. Nick won the loot in a poker game and the trustee said it was dirty money that the hedge fund manager stole from investors.

As for Kevin -- he certainly has enough money for the check to clear. His dad owns Montana Rail Link -- the largest privately owned railroad company in the U.S. Kevin's a partner in an aviation company.

Justin Bieber -- who famously tagged his way across South America and Australia -- may unleash his spray cans on L.A. ... with one of the most infamous graffiti artists in the world, TMZ has learned.

Alec Monopoly will be front and center tonight at the premiere of Bieber's new flick, "Believe," at L.A. Live. He'll be painting on an 8' X 10' canvas -- the inspiration will be Justin's 5 album covers.

Monopoly will leave a blank space on the canvas for Justin to do his thing, and word is JB is game.

Michael Jackson's mom SAYS she's doing a heartfelt documentary about her son's life ... but the reality is ... it seems to be a shameful money grab.

Katherine Jackson has announced she wants to do the documentary, but needs the fans to send her money to pay for the licensing of Michael's image and music. Translation -- she's insinuating the big bad Michael Jackson Estate is being coldhearted and greedy by charging Michael's family.

Here's the reality ... Howard Weitzman, the lawyer for the Estate, tells TMZ NO ONE from the Jackson family has contacted him or anyone else from the Estate asking for permission to use MJ's image and music. Weitzman wants to make it clear ... "The Estate would never ask Michael's fans to contribute their money to finance any speculative project."

Katherine is using a website to solicit donations and is offering MJ merchandise as bait. FYI, the license for merchandising is held by Bravado, so Katherine can't do that without permission.

If Katherine makes the documentary, the people it will likely hurt are Michael's kids. That's because THEY are the ultimate beneficiaries of the Estate, and if the Estate does an MJ documentary in the future (which is almost certain), it will probably be devalued by anything Katherine does.

And it still gets worse ... Katherine and company have enlisted the help of Blanket, Paris and Prince to solicit funds from fans. It's pretty clear -- they don't understand the implications of helping her out.

So the bottom line -- if the Estate doesn't give permission to use MJ's music and image, the documentary won't get made. So what happens to the money the fans contribute? Well Katherine is using a website to solicit donations that allows her to keep all funds even if the project isn't made. So guess who ends up with the loot?

Charlie Sheen tells TMZ ... the people who guided his career have parted company with him NOT because they were fed up -- it was "mutual."

Charlie's lawyer, Jake Bloom, his publicist, Larry Solters and his manager, Mark Burg all said sayonara to Sheen last week.

Charlie tells TMZ ... there are explanations for all 3 departures.

-- Jake Bloom: Charlie says Jake was there to make movie deals for him, and since he's not doing any movies "his brilliant skill set wasn't required."

-- Larry Solters: Charlie says Larry is a music publicist who he hired at the start of "Anger Management." Charlie says he needed a TV publicist so he made a switch and hired TV veteran Jeff Ballard. Charlie does not explain why he hired Larry in the first place.

-- Mark Burg: Charlie says Mark asked to step down because he just had a kid and wanted to spend more time with his family.

Charlie then kind of backhandedly says, "I couldn't be more pleased with the current state of my team. Much like their fearless leader, they don't believe in excuses, fatigue or failure."

Producers of a movie that spoofed "Twilight" claim the monster hit is fair game to parody ... because it showcased questionable conduct regarding domestic violence, teen pregnancy, drug addiction, date rape, and racism.

Here's the backstory ... Lionsgate -- which produced "Twilight" -- fired off a cease and desist letter to the producers of "Twiharder." Lionsgate claims "Twiharder" is a blatant rip-off and wants it shelved forever.

But now "Twiharder" has fired back, claiming it has a legal right to parody some very controversial themes on the OG. Specifically, "Twiharder" producers claim the movie is racist ... depicting Native Americans as bloodthirsty warriors, noble savages and sexual predators.

Producers also claim "Twilight" promotes statutory rape -- the main relationship is between 17-year-old Bella and Edward, "who is nearly 100 years her senior."

As for domestic violence ... it appears they're talking about rough sex between Edward and Bella.