Movies

James Franco is being accused in a new lawsuit of pressuring his acting school students to get naked for auditions while he dangled promises of movie roles that rarely panned out.

The suit, filed by Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, says that both women were students at the L.A. branch of the Studio 4 school -- which Franco co-founded -- back in 2014. The women claim Franco, and other instructors, engaged in "inappropriate and sexually charged behavior toward female students." In docs, they claim Franco created "an environment of harassment and sexual exploitation."

According to the docs, Franco offered them roles in independent films he was producing or directing. Their issue is what they had to do got those roles. In the suit, they claim Franco blew off several film industry guidelines for nude scenes. For instance, they claim young and inexperienced female students were "routinely pressured to engage in simulated sex acts that went far beyond the standards in the industry."

Gerard Butler's going after the driver who allegedly cut him off in traffic and caused him to crash ... according to a new suit.

According to the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- he was ejected from his Triumph Bonneville motorcycle when a woman "negligently pulled her vehicle off the curb" and cut across lanes of traffic directly in front of him.

The "Angel Has Fallen" star claims he had no time to stop, so he hit the lady's Benz on the driver's side and went flying off ... and he says he suffered "catastrophic injuries."

We broke the story ... Butler was hospitalized after the October 2017 accident. Paramedics arrived on the scene and briefly treated him before he was transported.

Zak Bagans is trying his darndest to bring more spirits to his Haunted Museum ... because he just dropped a huge stack of cash on the famous ghost trap from "Ghostbusters."

The "Ghost Adventures" star tells TMZ ... he spent a whopping $310,000 for a haul of "Ghostbusters" memorabilia that includes the Hero Ghost Trap used to capture Slimer and Gozer.

Zak also got a bunch of props and costumes Harold Ramis used in the 1984 classic -- such as Dr. Egon Spengler's jumpsuit, utility belt and boots, plus a proton pack shell!!!

But, the ghost trap is the pièce de résistance among Zak's new additions. He dropped $230k alone to score that piece of movie history from Prop Store ... a huge auction house.

Canadian-born Nicole Crimi was only 8 years old when she was cast as the easily influenced little sister, Kylie George -- who drinks up Kelis' "Milkshake" music video and 'Girls Gone Wild' commercials -- in the 2004 high school movie masterpiece, "Mean Girls."

Nicole Crimi stars in the classic comedy alongside celebs like Amy Poehler, as the mom with boobs as hard as rocks, Mrs. George ... and of course Rachel McAdams, as the carb-loading, plastic sister, Regina George, who gets hit by (or possibly pushed in front of) a bus!!!

Happy October 3rd!!!

Kim Shattuck -- the lead singer and bassist for The Muffs -- is dead after a two-year battle with ALS.

Kim's husband shared the sad news Wednesday in a social media tribute to his late wife ... saying, "This morning the love of my life Kim passed peacefully in her sleep after a two year struggle with ALS."

Her husband continued ... "I am the man I am today because of her. She will live with all of us through her music, our shared memories and in her fierce creative spirit. I love you always my Kimmy. Thank you for sharing your life with me."

The cute little kid who became a little brother to Gary Coleman on "Diff'rent Strokes" is all grown up ... and now, he's about to get divorced.

Actor Danny Cooksey's wife of over 20 years, Amber, just filed legal docs asking a judge to make the split official. According to her divorce petition, obtained by TMZ, she's citing irreconcilable differences ... and says their date of separation is June 1, 2019.

Danny -- who played little Sam McKinney on the hit sitcom in the later seasons, and also starred on Nickelodeon's "Salute Your Shorts" -- got hitched to Amber in 1998 ... and the couple had 2 children together, Jackson Paul and Zoe Leigh.

Zoe is 21, but Jackson is only 8 years old. Amber is asking for sole legal and physical custody of him, with visitation rights for Danny. She also wants the court to award her spousal support, and to block any attempt by Danny to get spousal support from her.

And, the Oscar goes to ... KLAY THOMPSON?!?!? (Hey, Kobe Bryant did it).

The Golden State Warriors superstar is kick-starting his campaign for Academy Award consideration for his breakout performance as Klay Thompson in "Space Jam 2" ... saying he's trying to add to his trophy case!!!

Now that filming wrapped up ... Klay was joking with the media about launching his official Oscars campaign! It's pretty funny.

“It’s all done ... your boy is going for the Oscar nod,” Thompson joked to NBC Sports Bay Area's "Warriors Outsiders."

“Supporting?! Best animated series!? I don’t know.”

Obviously, Klay ain't got a snowball's chance in hell ... but dude SHOULD be recognized for fighting through the pain of an ACL surgery to be on the set to shoot his scenes.

Remember, Thompson injured himself during the NBA Finals and went under the knife just days before filming started.

But, despite being in serious pain, Klay limped onto the set with crutches to shoot with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Dame Lillard and more.

Hey, some actors postpone production when they a get a slight cold!!!

Moviegoers in NYC will notice a hefty police presence when they go see "Joker" on opening weekend ... cause the NYPD's not taking any chances on someone acting out.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ...  the NYPD doesn't want a copycat crime of what went down in Aurora, Colorado 7 years ago and is taking a "precautionary measure" by dispatching uniformed police officers to every theater across NYC screening the film.

We're told officers will be patrolling in front of theater entrances, though the public should be aware police have not received any specific "credible threats" to the Todd Phillips film starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker.

Grammy award-winning artist Louie Rankin -- famous for his role as Ox in the movie "Belly" -- died in a car crash in Canada ... TMZ has confirmed.

Details are scarce, but Louie died Monday in a fatal wreck in Ontario, Canada ... the crash reportedly involved a transport truck and another vehicle.

Louie starred alongside Nas and DMX in the 1998 crime drama "Belly" ... and his character, Ox, was a Jamaican kingpin.

Nas and Louie became close friends during filming, and the pair reunited years later for a cameo in a DJ Khaled music video for his song, "Nas Album Done."

Stacey Dash says her husband and his 3 kids conspired to have her arrested ... to cover up her husband's alleged brutality.

TMZ broke the story ... Stacey called 911 Sunday, claiming her husband put her in a chokehold. When cops came out, they observed scratches on husband Jeffrey Marty's arms -- this, along with statements from his kids, got her cuffed and booked for assault.

Stacey says in the 911 call Jeffrey coached his 15, 14 and 10-year-old on what to say to cops. At one point, Stacey accuses Marty of faking his injuries, claiming he was taking photos of scratches on his arms ... scratches she didn't inflict.

Marlon Wayans is going back under a legal microscope for comparing a man to the "Family Guy" character Cleveland Brown a few years back ... and he ain't happy about it.

We ran into the comedian and actor Monday at LAX, where we got his thoughts on a potentially momentous decision by the CA Supreme Court to reexamine a lower court's 2015 ruling that he did NOT do anything wrong with the viral burn.

You'll recall ... while filming for the movie, "A Haunted House 2," Marlon tweeted that Pierre Daniel -- an extra in the flick -- looked like a dead ringer for Cleveland.

Pierre sued Marlon and the production company for the move shortly thereafter, claiming that not only had Marlon racially harassed him with the tweet ... but he also allegedly made a habit of roasting him on the set, which he says caused him great harm.

At the time, a judge said that Pierre did, in fact, look like Cleveland ... and, more importantly, that Marlon's antics were protected free speech. An appellate court upheld that ruling in 2017, saying Marlon's tweet was kosher if that was his creative process as a comic.

Robert De Niro obviously had A LOT more to say about the possible impeachment of President Trump, going on a CNN morning show and dropping f-bombs from the sky.

The actor was on Brian Stelter's "Reliable Sources" Sunday morning as a special guest, where he was asked about the impeachment inquiry opened against DT this past week ... and where he thinks things will go from here. Similar to our question, of course.

You'll recall ... we asked Bob just Saturday about this issue, and he somewhat surprised us by saying he'd actually rather have Mike Pence in office ... if it meant getting Donnie out.

Welp, RDN expanded on that a little with the CNN host ... making a pretty serious claim that he believes POTUS demonstrates "crazy" behavior, and he seemed to mean it literally. Stelter asked him if he was saying "crazy" in a medical sense, and Bob said possibly.

Liza Minnelli's standing firm on her policy of shunning movies associated with her mom ... and isn't the least bit swayed by Renee Zellweger's rave reviews in an upcoming biopic.

Sources close to Judy Garland's daughter tell TMZ ... she "most likely" won't see "Judy," starring Renee, because she's always stayed away from onscreen depictions of her mother or herself, and this one, in particular, has the potential to be painful viewing.

We're told Liza would find many of the scenes hurtful, and isn't looking to tarnish her memories of her mother. Our sources add, Liza believes if people want to see what Garland was like, they don't need a biopic -- they can simply watch her classic films or listen to her records.

Minnelli's half-sister, Lorna Luft, basically said the same recently, and reportedly won't be checking out Zellweger's performance either when the movie hits theaters this weekend.

Robert De Niro says he could stomach -- and "deal with" -- VP Mike Pence in the Oval just so long as it means as Donald Trump gets forced out of office and out of D.C. for good.

The legendary actor took a few seconds out of his press tour-de-force Saturday in NYC -- a day after he, Martin Scorsese, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci premiered their new flick "The Irishman" for the NY Film Festival -- to talk Trump and a possible impeachment.

As we've reported ... Nancy Pelosi and the House of Reps. launched a formal impeachment inquiry last week after word got out about DT's call this summer with the Ukrainian Prez ... in which POTUS casually asked him to look into Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

The White House even released a rough transcript of the call, and it couldn't be any clearer -- Trump asked the guy to get to the bottom of it, with the help of Attorney General William Barr and even his own personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Rudy denied wrongdoing, FWIW.

Jason Momoa says we can't wait any longer ... the time to address the climate crisis is now, and he's calling on all world leaders to quit "half-assing it" and go all in.

The "Aquaman" star and ocean activist addressed the United Nations Friday on behalf of small island nations, and made a direct and sobering plea for delegates to take a stand to save the planet.

The actor began by describing how his background has shown him how different places can be "oblivious to another" ... but by abusing the environment, we are all hurting each other.

Momoa runs through a depressing list of the Earth's current issues -- rising sea levels, vanishing ecosystems, devastating plastic pollution -- largely placing blame on the emissions and corporate greed of first world countries.

He says small island nations are suffering the most from this disaster, but they are just the beginning ... and warns we are at the "critical tipping point" that could lead to the death of our planet.

Robert Garrison -- the actor best known for playing Tommy in "The Karate Kid" and its sequel -- has died ... according to his family.

Garrison's sister-in-law tells TMZ ... he died Friday morning at a hospital in West Virginia. She says his passing wasn't sudden -- he had been in the hospital for over a month dealing with kidney and liver issues.

We're told the family is currently working on funeral arrangements.