Movies

Samuel L. Jackson is always gonna be Samuel L., which means even when he's nicely signing a ton of autographs ... he's gonna drop an f-bomb or 2, and then he's gonna drop some knowledge.

We got Sam Sunday at LAX, where he was taking some time out to give fans his John Hancock ... and not just on photos. They threw everything but the kitchen sink at him, so we had to ask what's the weirdest thing he's ever been asked to sign. He didn't even pause.

Mark Ruffalo has something in common with Reince Preibus ... and he's hoping it's enough to convince the ex-White House Chief of Staff to take down President Trump.

Mark proudly told us Sunday at LAX, he and Reince are both Kenosha, Wisconsin boys. That was the launching point for his pitch -- begging Preibus to spill as much damaging info as possible on his former boss.

The 'Avengers' star's not trying to hide it ... he has an agenda, and strongly believes Preibus can help get the job done. As for how the Hulk would handle a sit-down with the Prez? Mark essentially had one word: SMASH!!

11:52 AM PT -- A Florida judge on Sunday called for Repp's misdemeanor stalking charge to be upgraded to a felony charge, saying his alleged offense qualifies as aggravated stalking. The charge was not officially upgraded Sunday, but Repp could be facing a felony charge soon enough. He's being held on a $5,000 bond.

Kate Beckinsale has been dealing with a man who allegedly followed her across the country over the past year, and even threatened to stab her once prior to being busted at Tampa Bay Comic Con.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... 45-year-old Terry Lee Repp was arrested Saturday morning at the Tampa Convention Center after cops were told to be on the lookout for him, due to his history with Kate.

We're told one officer recognized Repp before Kate appeared for her 11 AM Q&A panel, and arrested him on the spot. He was booked at Hillsborough County Jail for stalking.

According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, Repp has been following and harassing Kate for at least a year.

He allegedly made physical contact with her at an event in Salt Lake City in 2016 -- touching her back and then threatening to stab her. He also ran into her again at another event in Houston the same year, where he was detained by cops and booted as well.

Cops say Repp appears to "have an irrational obsession with the victim and has traveled across the country in an effort to harass her."

Mark Wahlberg is GOING BIG in his search for the perfect director for the Caron Butler biopic -- we're told he's lasering in on 3 names ... Peter Berg, Spike Lee and Barry Jenkins.

Wahlberg has been gung ho about the project since securing the rights to make a movie based on Butler's life story last year.

The story is incredible ... Butler overcame a hard life as a drug dealing youth who was arrested more than 15 times to become an NBA champion.

Our sources tell us the first draft of the script is complete and Wahlberg's team has been in contact with all three directors. We're told the plan is for Wahlberg to have a major role in the flick.

All 3 directors have insane resumes ... Berg did "Friday Night Lights." Jenkins did "Moonlight." And Spike Lee is SPIKE LEE.

No word on who's gonna play Caron -- but Butler previously told us he'd love to see Michael B. Jordan take the role.

Stay tuned ...

Kate Beckinsale postponed an appearance at Tampa Bay Comic Con after an incident with an "overzealous fan" ... which resulted in the guy being booted and her filing a police report.

A spokesperson for Tampa Bay Comic Con tells TMZ Kate was set to speak Saturday morning on a Q&A panel at the Tampa Convention Center, but had to have her appearance pushed to 6 PM -- to give her time to file the report over the fan in question.

The man was escorted from the building, but it's unclear what exactly happened. It's also unclear as of now whether the man was arrested or not.

Whatever happened ... Kate was left OK enough to return to the same event. We're told she knocked it out and left without incident. Looks like she also met some fans and signed autographs.

Shaun Weiss -- the guy who played "Mighty Ducks" goalie Goldberg -- is getting major penalty box time in real life for petty theft.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Shaun was at a Fry's Electronics earlier this month and stole $151 in merchandise. Two days after his arrest, he pled no contest to petty theft, and was sentenced to 150 days in L.A. County Jail.

We're told he got a stiff sentence because this was second petty theft bust.

His manager, Don Gibble, tells TMZ, "[Shaun] hopes jail will help him, and maybe while he is in jail he will write something."

Not a diary, but a script or jokes. Shaun's been known to do a little standup.

Paul Shanley -- the ex-Boston priest convicted of child abuse and profiled in the movie "Spotlight" -- is out of prison after serving 12 years.

Shanley was released for good behavior -- he'd been sentenced to 15 years. Shanley was convicted back in 2005 of raping a boy for several years in the 1980s. The 86-year-old will now be on supervised probation for 10 years.

He was one of the first priests to go to prison following The Boston Globe uncovering the child abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.

"Spotlight" won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2016.

For Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, it's always hunting season. Ahh ... the single life!

Leo and Tobey partied aboard a yacht in St. Tropez with a few hot chicks ... days after Leo raised about $40 million for his foundation benefiting wildlife protection.

Leo did some quick work ... pouncing on a brunette who apparently needed some sorta mouth-to-mouth treatment. Tobey perfected his role as wingman chatting up a couple bikini-clad beauties.

Gotta give it up for Tobey though ... taking 2 for the team!

Moose and Squirrel very sad ... June Foray, the voice of Rocky, and also Natasha Fatale, died Wednesday.

A close friend of June's confirmed her death with a post on Facebook, saying ... "With a heavy heart again I want to let you all know that we lost our little June today at 99 years old."

June was a legendary voice actress, working in Hollywood for more than a decade before she landed "The Bullwinkle Show" roles in the late 1950s. She worked steadily on tons of animated TV shows and feature films -- more than 300 credits -- right up until 2014.

She won a Daytime Emmy in 2012 for "The Garfield Show" and a Grammy in 1968 for her role as Cindy Lou Who in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Kate Hudson has pulled a G.I. Jane (and countless other badass Hollywood heroines) by completely shaving her famous golden locks ... and like all of them, she looks great.

Kate was seen on set Tuesday in L.A. for a new flick she's working on with Sia, and she's rocking a new shaved 'do for the role.

Gotta say, as well as she wears it ... we almost didn't recognize her here at first.

Going bald seems to be back in style in Tinseltown. Cara Delevingne recently did the same for a movie, as did Kristen Stewart and, of course, Millie Bobby Brown for her role as Eleven in "Stranger Things."

Keep on buzzing, ladies.

Nicolas Cage's facial expression has done it again ... and it's melting the Internet.

Nic was in Kazakhstan Sunday attending the opening of the 13th Eurasia International Film Festival ... and this picture -- posing next to the country's First Lady -- has everyone laughing their asses off.

The Oscar winning actor wore a traditional Kazakh robe over a shirt and tie ... but it's his holy-hell-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into-and-where-did-it-all-go-wrong look that's sparked memes all over social media.

The guy can't catch a break ...

John Singleton doesn't see anything wrong, or illegal, about how R. Kelly's leading his personal life, because the women living with him are adults making adult decisions.

We got the famed director out in NYC and he made it clear ... he just doesn't see what all the controversy is about, and told us he thinks the Bill Cosby comparisons are totally unfair to Kelly.

We can always count on John to drop some knowledge -- like when he schooled us on Tupac.

And the award for best drunken Comic-Con video goes to .... Ezra Miller, aka The Flash!

Ezra, who plays the speedy guy was swarmed by fans Saturday night in San Diego, and dropped some Flash trivia on them ... regarding booze. The way he explains it, his "Justice League" character can't help but handle his liquor.

Not sure that's true for Ezra though. Anyway, one fan wasn't buying it and jokingly asked to smell Ezra's breath. He got way more than a whiff of his breath ... he got a full-on kiss!

Fan appreciation is what Comic-Con's all about.

John Heard, the beloved star of several huge 80s and 90s movies, died Friday in Palo Alto, CA ... TMZ has learned.

Heard was found dead in a hotel by the maid service ... according to family sources. Police were called to the hotel for a report of a medical emergency, but he was pronounced dead on the scene. The coroner is investigating, and cause of death is unclear at this time ... but police do not suspect foul play.

We do know this ... according to his rep, John had "minor back surgery" Wednesday at Stanford Medical Center, and he was staying at the hotel while he recovered.

Heard's most iconic role was as Peter McCallister, the dad in the "Home Alone" movies.

He also had roles in "Big," "Beaches," "Gladiator" and "Pelican Brief" -- to name just a few -- and also a slew of TV roles on "Miami Vice," "The Sopranos" ... and even the first "Sharknado."

John was 71.

Halle Berry just showed up her "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" co-stars ... by taking their shots of whiskey and raising them a whole damn glass.

Halle and the cast were on a panel at San Diego's Comic-Con Thursday when they started passing around shots. Channing Tatum poured her about 5 shots worth into a pint and, after intense peer pressure from the crowd ... she slammed it!

More proof she's definitely not pregnant ... if ya needed that.

Graphic novel icon Frank Miller let his conniving producing partner screw his faithful business manager out of more than a million bucks ... according to a new lawsuit.

Mark Lichtman says he worked for Miller for 28 years -- on projects like "Sin City," "300," "The Spirit" and "Sin City 2" -- until "producer" Silenn Thomas came on the scene in 2006. According to docs, Thomas started defaming Lichtman in order to force him out of the picture.

In the suit, Lichtman says his contract entitled him to 10 percent commission from all of Miller's projects, and everything was copacetic until Thomas started calling him incompetent and senile. He says Miller's attorney told him he was fired in August 2014.

Even after that, Lichtman says Thomas sent him nasty emails calling him a "bad jew" for demanding his 10 percent for Miller's projects. Then things got sad in 2016 -- Lichtman says he heard Frank really missed him and wondered where he'd gone ... leading Lichtman to believe Frank never wanted to fire him.

Still, Lichtman's suing Miller and Thomas for more than $1 million.