Movies

The intergalactic adventures of Lt. Colonel John Sheppard have been derailed ... at least as a married man -- TMZ has learned, "Stargate Atlantis" star Joe Flanigan's wife has filed for legal separation.

Katherine Kousi -- who starred in a bunch of 90s classics like "Encino Man" and "Bio-Dome" -- filed the docs in L.A. citing irreconcilable differences. They got married 17 years ago and separated in November.

They have three sons -- a 13-year-old, an 11-year-old, and a 7-year-old -- and Katherine wants physical custody. She's open to splitting legal custody and giving Joe visitation.

As for spousal support, Katherine's not feeling generous ... she wants to block the court from awarding him money. And she wants him to foot her legal bills.

Calls to Joe's people weren't returned.

Jason London can now say he was never convicted of crapping in a police car ... even though he pled guilty ... TMZ has learned.

Jason had pled guilty to disorderly conduct -- for sharting in a squad car after getting popped for a drunken bar fight in Scottsdale, AZ.

According to the plea deal he struck, Jason was required to complete a 16 hour alcohol-ed course. Once classes were completed, the judge agreed to erase the conviction -- as if it never occurred.

Well Jason graduated magnum cum laude from his class ... so it's like he never crapped in the car.

Vin Diesel felt the urge to dance ... by himself ... to a Katy Perry song ... and thankfully, he recorded the entire session on video to share with the world.

Diesel took a break in the middle of rockin' out to explain why he felt like dancing -- "Universal just called me and told me "Riddick" is number one on the DVD charts."

Vin says he's especially stoked because it was such a challenge to get the movie made in the first place -- so to celebrate, he cranked some KP (and later Beyonce) and let himself go.

The Charlie Sheen charity train chugs on ... TMZ has learned, the "Anger Management" star just donated an $8,000 pitching machine to a high school in L.A.

Sources tell TMZ, one of the baseball coaches at Santa Monica High School is an old friend of Charlie's ... so the actor decided to chip in and help his pal's team practice with a HomePlate Sports Tutor pitching machine ... an impressive piece of equipment that costs roughly $8,000-$9,000.

The guy who claims he wrote the movie, "Trouble With the Curve," only to have it stolen out from under him, now says he has CSI-type evidence proving the guy who's getting credit boldly LIED about writing the script before him.

Ryan Brooks has sued Randy Brown, claiming he and others stole a script Brooks wrote, entitled "Omaha" ... tinkered with it, and then renamed it "Trouble With the Curve."

Brown claims he wrote the script on his own way back in 1997. But now Brooks has filed legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- in which he claims his team of high-tech forensic experts has picked apart data from Brown's floppy disks which contain notes and manuscripts, which Brooks says have telltale signs of manipulation.

-- The disks themselves were created between 1999 and 2001.

-- The floppies are sloppy ... The operating system that saved the manuscript wasn't created until AFTER 1997, which Brooks says is clear FRAUD.

-- One of the disks contains a folder named "Trouble w/ Curve" and that was created in 1993. Brooks says it makes no sense if Brown says he didn't even come up with the idea til 1996.

Quentin Tarantino isn't taking kindly to Gawker posting a link to his latest screenplay, "The Hateful Eight" -- which leaked online last week -- in fact, he just SUED the website ... accusing it of hitting him where it really hurts ... his wallet.

Tarantino's lawsuit reads, "Gawker Media has made a business of predatory journalism, violating people’s rights to make a buck ... This time they went too far."

Rather than reporting the story of the "Hateful Eight" screenplay leak, Tarantino claims Gawker went out of its way to publish the full script ... and even relished in it ... encouraging its audience to read the script illegally.

Tarantino is suing for copyright infringement.

Boyz II Men are on bended knee asking a filmmaker to change the title of his new movie "Boys 2 Men" ... and if he refuses, the group says they're going to court.

Reps for Boyz fired off a letter to the movie makers this week saying they never gave permission to use the name ... so they're ready to pull out the heavy artillery against the filmmaker, as well as any theater or website that runs the flick.

The writer/director for "Boys 2 Men" tells TMZ ... they will not change the title of the movie unless they're boxed in a legal corner ... and so far they don't think they are.

An actress from Martin Scorsese's first film was hit by THREE CARS before she died in 2012 -- one of which dragged her 600 feet ... and her husband is now suing everyone involved in the accident.

Zina Bethune's husband Sean is suing Independent Taxi, one of its cabbies, as well as two other drivers ... claiming it's their fault Zina was killed on Forest Lawn Drive on February 12, 2012.

Zina -- who starred in Scorsese's 1967 debut film "Who's That Knocking at My Door" -- had just exited her car to help an injured animal on the side of the road ... and Sean recounts the tragedy that unfolded.

According to Sean, a taxi driver immediately collided with Zina, causing his left side view mirror to break. Sean says the driver left Zina in the middle lane of traffic while he retrieved his mirror, failing to assist Zina in any capacity as she lay in the roadway.

Soon after, Sean claims Zina was hit by a second car ... which dragged her body 600 feet.

At that point, Sean says a THIRD car then ran over Zina ... and when that driver pulled over, she noticed the taxi driver attempting to leave the scene ... so she blocked him. Zina didn't survive the accidents.

Academy Award-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou is INDIGNANT when he hears people say this is the year for black people at the Oscars.

There's a lot of talk in Hollywood about what some think is a movie trend ... triggered by "12 Years a Slave" and "The Butler." Djimon thinks the preoccupation with race is ridiculous.

The real "Wolf of Wall Street" Jordan Belfort still thinks he's king of the world -- despite owing nearly $100 million in restitution to his victims -- dropping names like "Leo" and "Marty" like they're his best friends.

The fast-talking Belfort was running his mouth Monday in L.A. ... and all but took credit for the film.

Pretty shocking, considering Belfort is still way in the red after bilking victims out of more than $200 million in the 90s. He was subsequently ordered to pay back $110.4 million ... so far, he's only ponied up $11.6 million.

"Entourage" director Doug Ellin had a brush with disaster on a yacht this weekend in Miami -- accidentally dropping his expensive camera into the ocean ... after shooting a wild bikini scene for the movie ... but thankfully, the damage was minimal.

Sources on the set tell TMZ, Ellin was stepping off the yacht onto a smaller boat when he accidentally dropped his personal camera into the water. He offered to pay divers $1,000 to find it, but it was impossible.

Luckily, the camera didn't contain any official film footage ... but it did have more than 500 behind-the-scene photos of all the girls in bikinis. Arguably a bigger loss.

Lee Daniels couldn't care less about the Oscars dissing his flick 'The Butler' because he tells us he doesn't buy into Hollywood's self-congratulatory award crap, but the thing is ... we're not sure Lee's keeping it 100.

Here's the deal ... 'Butler' came up goose eggs for Oscar noms -- nothing for Lee, Forrest Whitaker, or Oprah Winfrey -- even though critics LOVED the movie.

Daniels shrugged off the controversy at LAX ... telling us, "we don't do it for the awards, we do it for the art" -- which is either a totally chill thing to say ... or just what you HAVE to say when you get snubbed.

Daniels does end up getting a little consolation prize in this clip.

James Cameron is not a script-stealing thief ... and does NOT have to pay billions of dollars from "Avatar" profits ... because he just won a HUGE lawsuit, TMZ has learned.

TMZ broke the story ... science fiction writer Bryant Moore sued Cameron for $2.5 billion back in 2011 -- claiming he had come up with the basic premise behind "Avatar" ... and Cameron jacked it.

Now, according to court docs a federal judge just shut down Moore's suit ... saying the plots of his projects were "palpably different" from "Avatar."

The judge also said the similarities that do exist -- sci-fi with a love story -- are too vague to be protected.

Brad Pitt's enlisted a military style haircut, but it's not just for a movie role -- BP now says there's another, more vain, reason for the new 'do.

Pitt cruised into LAX on Sunday looking like he was heading to basic training -- sporting a high and tight fade ... telling paps, "It's fashion, baby."

Truth is Brad's also shooting a World War 2 drama called "Fury" -- but does it really matter?