Movies

Rapper Jim Jones sucked the life blood out of a vampire flick ... and now the bitter investors have sued Jones claiming he lined his own pockets with the money that was supposed to be used for the movie.

Short story ... Jones was supposed to produce a movie called "Vampire Life III." He was also going to provide the soundtrack for the movie.

The investors plunked down $200,000 with high hopes ... hopes that were dashed when Jones stopped returning their phone calls and emails.

The investors were PISSED when they learned ... Jones allegedly used some of the money to make mix tapes that were supposed to go in the movie but Jones was releasing them independently.

The investors were doubly upset when they found out Jones allegedly used the rest of their seed money to produce and release a Vampire-Life clothing line that was supposed to be merchandising for the movie.

Bottom line -- the investors feel like they were had -- the movie with a cool soundtrack and clothing line was a fiction ... the only thing that was real was Jones using their money to profit from the music and the threads.

The investors want $700K minimum.

An actress who played a Munchkin in the "The Wizard of Oz" has died at age 95 ... and now there's just one surviving little person from the flick.

Ruth Robinson Duccini -- who stood 4 feet tall -- was the longest surviving female Munchkin ... she died of natural causes today at a hospice center in Las Vegas.

Duccini received no screen credit for her role as a Munchkin townsperson -- she was one of 124 little people cast in the movie.

Robert Pattinson has just gotten rid of the L.A.-area mansion he once shared with Kristen Stewart ... ya know, before she cheated on him with the married director of that "Snow White" movie.

We've learned ... Pattinson just closed the sale of his 4,026 square foot Spanish Colonial home in Los Feliz for a cool $6.35 MILLION.

The "Twilight" star has only owned the home for a few years -- he bought it back in Sept. 2011 for $6.275 ... so not a huge profit, but better than taking a loss.

The mansion is pretty incredible -- with a great back yard, 3.5 bathrooms and a steller master bedroom that Kristen Stewart probably never saw again after July 2012 ... when she went behind Robert's back and hooked up with the very married Rupert Sanders.

Han Solo's hairy sidekick Chewbacca was extremely tight with Princess Leia during filming of the "Star Wars" flicks -- at least that's how some new behind the scenes pics make it seem.

Sure, it's damn near bestiality ... but it beats kissing your sister. Right, Luke?

Amy Adams proved she can belt out showtunes with the best of 'em ... and by best of 'em, we mean the crowd at a gay karaoke bar in L.A. ... and TMZ has the footage.

Just days before winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a musical or comedy ... Adams hit up a gay bar and belted out a stellar rendition of "Defying Gravity" from "Wicked."

The performance may have been loud ... but we're told everyone in attendance was pretty impressed (and not just 'cause they were drunk.)

If award shows were actually awesome ... Emma Thompson would be the totally boozed up presenter at all of 'em -- just like she appeared to be at the Golden Globes tonight.

Emma lazily carried her shoes on stage, along with a martini, while doling out the award for "Best Screenplay" -- and the 54-year-old celeb struggled to keep to it together through her rambling ... yet entertaining presentation.

The champagne she downed on the red carpet probably helped too.

It was the BATTLE OF THE REBOUNDS in Hollywood last night ... with Sean Penn and his ex-wife Robin Wright each hitting the town with their new hot significant others -- but who came out on top?

Robin hit up RivaBella on Sunset with her "Lone Survivor" fiance Ben Foster -- he's attractive.

Sean went to his Help Haiti Home gala with new rumored GF Charlize Theron -- she's also attractive.

It's been almost 3 years since Sean and Robin finalized their divorce, but you KNOW they're judging each other's rebounds ... because that's what exes do.

So, we gotta ask ...

Jennifer Lopez has been dragged into what looks like the craziest catfish debacle of all time -- a man just sued the singer, claiming she duped him into sending her naked photos in the mail ... but it appears a rando 53-year-old woman is secretly behind everything.

Rodrigo Ruiz filed the $10,000 suit against Lopez in L.A., claiming she sent him a letter in 2008 after he submitted a demo tape to someone he believed was in Lopez' camp. Ruiz claims Lopez demanded he reply with naked photos ... as well as more demo CDs.

He claims the letters led him to believe he had a chance at a music career -- and even a romantic relationship with Lopez, but she never followed through and he eventually gave up hope. Ruiz says he was so depressed he sought out professional help.

Ruiz sent us a few of the 3-line letters he received from "Lopez" and they're obviously bogus ... the first reads, "I just wanted to let you know that I do remember you and that I am interested in you. I have plans on leaving my husband. But I can't say much right now so that's it for now. Send me pictures of you both with clothes and without clothes."

Here's the second -- "This is Jennifer Lopez writing to you again and just to let you know that I got your packages, music, and demos. And just to let you know you need to send me pictures of you with and without clothes."

The third is the best -- "This is Jennifer Lopez and as you can tell its been a while since I last wrote and as you can see I have a new boyfriend which means your in for the long haul and you have to put up with the fact that I am f**king him and sucking his d**k."

In addition to the lawsuit, Ruiz filed a police report claiming sexual harassment.

Ruiz still believes Lopez sent these letters to him, but records show the P.O. box he replied to is owned by a 53-year-old L.A. woman.

We called her to ask about the lawsuit and everything else, and she nervously concocted a lame explanation about operating a Jennifer Lopez fan mail exchange ... and hung up on us.

A rep for J.Lo tells TMZ, "this is a small claims matter that appears to be a desperate attempt for notoriety. Ms Lopez has never seen or met the plaintiff, nor has she ever communicated with him. We believe this matter should be summarily dismissed."

Shia LaBeouf's not pinching pennies now that he's retired -- TMZ has learned, his latest skywriting stunt (commissioning a fleet of planes to write "STOP CREATING" in giant letters above L.A.) cost him 25,000 smackaroos.

A rep for the skywriting company Skytypers tells us, they were contacted by Shia's people Friday morning ... shortly after Shia publicly announced his retirement from "public life" in the wake of his plagiarism scandal.

In light of the recent attacks against my artistic integrity, I am retiring from all public life.

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) January 10, 2014

The rep says Skytypers dispatched 5 planes for the job, each flying wing-to-wing as they emitted puffs of smoke to spell out "STOP CREATING" above Angel City.

Fun fact: each message stretches 5 miles in the sky, but they're only legible for about 7 minutes ... so the message had to be re-puffed 18 times.

Brian Banks -- who spent 5 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit -- has inked a deal for a movie about his life ... which will tell how he overcame false rape allegations and worked his way on to an NFL team.

His story is incredible ... Banks was one of the top high school football prospects in the country when he was accused of raping a student back in 2002. He was convicted and sentenced to prison.

Banks later proved his accuser had made the whole thing up ... and after spending more than 5 years behind bars, he worked hard to get back in shape and got a shot with several NFL teams.

In fact, the Atlanta Falcons signed Banks in 2013 ... and he actually played in a pre-season game, making a couple of tackles. He was ultimately cut before the regular season started.

Now, we've learned Banks has inked a deal with Gidden Media, which will produce a full length feature film based on Brian's story.

We're told the movie will be produced by Amy Baer, who produced "Last Vegas" which starred Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman.

Tyrese Gibson nearly broke down today in Dubai ... after coming across an unexpected Paul Walker tribute that left him speechless ... and he just posted the extremely emotional footage online.

Warning: it's a real tear jerker.

As we reported, Tyrese -- who starred alongside Walker in the "Fast & Furious" movies -- has taken the actor's death extremely hard. A day after Walker died, Tyrese burst into pained tears at the crash site and has spoken at length ever since about the impact Paul has had on his life.

Walker was killed November 30th when the Porsche he was riding in skidded off the road at high speed and crashed into a tree.

A kid actor who starred in the horror flick "Child's Play 3" has grown up to be a violent man who once whipped out his junk and peed on guests at a party ... this according to an ex-GF.

Octavia Taylor got a temporary restraining order against Jeremy Sylvers ... who played military school student Ronald Tyler in the 1991 Chucky movie.

Taylor claims in the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- she dumped Sylvers after he got drunk at a party ... tried to start multiple fights ... and capped off the evening by whizzing on several guests.

Taylor claims after they left the party ... Sylvers called her a "a f**k whore," "a bitch" and "a piece of sh*t." Taylor says she's especially worried ... because she and Sylvers still live in the same housing complex.

Sylvers has been ordered to stay 100 yards away -- unless they're in a common area of their apartment complex ... in which case, he has to stay at least 20 feet away.

Ten years after Mr. Rogers' death, one rumor about the lovable TV star still persists: That behind those innocent grandpa sweaters ... beat the heart of a cold-blooded assassin!

Yeah, it's total BS. Or is it? TMZ investigates.

"Transformers" director Michael Bay says his epic meltdown in Vegas yesterday might not make him popular with technology nerds ... but also says it hasn't exactly hurt him with the ladies.

Bay was on "TMZ Live" explaining why he freaked out and walked off stage during a big presentation at the CES convention.

It's not like he's never been on stage ... he says he's been front and center hundreds of times, but explains why this one was different.

Goldberg the Goalie from "The Mighty Ducks" is out of the penalty box after allegedly trying to urinate on his ex-girlfriend -- as in, the judge tossed the case against the actor, TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Shaun Weiss' ex obtained a temporary restraining order against the '90s child star claiming he went crazy on her back in April -- punching her in the face, threatening to kill her with a machete and then peeing on her while saying, "This is all you're worth."

But today in L.A. County Superior Court, there was a hearing on the matter to determine if the restraining order should be extended.

Problem is ... the ex-GF didn't show to the hearing -- so the judge dismissed the case and dissolved the restraining order against Goldberg.

Michael Bay melted down in Vegas today ... after his teleprompter malfunctioned.

The "Transformers" director was the featured speaker for Samsung TV at the CES convention. No sooner did he walk out on stage when it was evident something was terribly wrong.

Michael went blank and then made a reference to "type" ... we've confirmed it was a teleprompter problem. He said he'd wing it, but watch the video ... that didn't happen.

Michael walked off the stage ... leaving the audience and the moderator dumbfounded.

Anyway ... dialogue was never his strong suit.