Movies

Nick Cannon's advice to parents looking to get their child actors into Hollywood? Don't.

We got Nick out at LAX Wednesday and wanted to get his take on whether kids are safe in the industry following Reese Witherspoon's revelation she was sexually assaulted by a director as a 16-year-old. She confessed the harrowing experience amid Harvey Weinstein's continuing fallout.

Senator John Thune knows ... the folks in Washington D.C. are not above the abuses we're now seeing in Hollywood.

Our fearless photog Colin got the South Dakota Republican strolling near the Capitol Wednesday -- a beautiful day we might add -- and it quickly became apparent, Harvey Weinstein news made it coast to coast.

The Senator acknowledges ... where there's power, there's abuse. It's happened in D.C. before with the infamous intern scandal, among other famous misdeeds.

Anna Faris is back on the dating horse and just like when she met Chris Pratt, this hookup started at work ... TMZ has learned.

We're told Anna's now dating Michael Barrett ... a 47-year-old cinematographer with credits on "Ted," "About Last Night," "Zookeeper," and most recently "Overboard" ... which stars Anna.

There were no signs of romance during production earlier this year, but fast-forward to September when we know they were spending more time together. They were spotted together in Malibu at Neptune's Net, and witnesses tell us they looked very couple-y.

And just this week, they hit up a Pacific Palisades restaurant TWICE, with more reports of PDA.

Chris and Anna fans no doubt remember they met in 2007 on the set of "Take Me Home Tonight."

Anna's new pairing comes 2 months after she and Chris announced their separation. It was clear they were ready to move on when they quickly stopped wearing their rings.

John Legend all but says with great power comes great responsibility ... and that's why Harvey Weinstein's ass should be banished from Hollywood -- he simply can't be trusted.

We got the singer at LAX Tuesday and he had a strong take on Harvey resigning from The Weinstein Co. Board of Directors. John says if anyone in Harvey's position abuses their power, they need to hit the road -- and men need to listen when women speak out.

Johnny Depp claims the law firm that represented him for years betrayed him by conspiring with his financial manager who Depp claims fleeced him out of $40 million.

Depp is suing the highly respected entertainment law firm, Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal LaViolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, LLP ... claiming the lawyers allowed TMG -- Depp's financial managers -- to essentially rob him blind.

Depp has TMG, but now he says his law firm were in cahoots with TMG, which took out enormous loans unbeknownst to debt and secured by the actor's movie residuals. When the residual payments were made to Depp, they were diverted to repay the loans.

The suit claims the law firm built in its fee in the loans and skimmed the money off before Depp was entitled to his money.

And the suit claims the law firm knew fully well what TMG was doing but never alerted Depp.

And get this ... Depp claims during his long relationship with the firm he's paid them tens of millions of dollars in attorney's fees, yet the firm never had him sign a retainer agreement.

Harvey Weinstein was apologetic and contrite during the Board of Directors meeting Tuesday when he resigned under pressure from the Board ... sources connected to the meeting tell TMZ.

We're told there was no screaming, no yelling, no anger. Harvey Weinstein told the Board, "I have a real problem," and then apologized for the "trouble and confusion" he caused TWC.

We're told Weinstein, who was on speaker phone from Arizona, told the Board he needed to build a new life and move on.

Our sources say everyone sounded conciliatory ... partly because the handwriting was on the wall. The Board made it clear Weinstein had a legal obligation to resign from the Board after it ratified his firing from TWC. He did just that.

Harvey, we're told, was "peaceful" during the meeting and Bob was subdued.

We're told the sense of the Board is that Harvey Weinstein will not force his firing to arbitration or court.

Our sources say both Harvey and Bob Weinstein have an overriding interest in making sure Colony Capital succeeds in restructuring the company -- money. The each have roughly 21% equity interest in TWC, and if the company fails, they walk away with nothing.

11:42 AM PT -- Sources with direct knowledge of the Board meeting tell TMZ, under Weinstein's contract after he was fired from the company there was a 5-day "cooling off period" to let the dust settle. After 5 days the matter goes to the Board of Directors which then must ratify the firing. That's what happened today. The Board ratified Weinstein's firing.

We're told under the terms of Weinstein's contract once the Board ratifies the firing he must resign from the Board. If Weinstein refused to resign the plan was to remove him -- in effect, fire him from the Board. Weinstein decided to resign.

The big, open question ... will Harvey Weinstein take legal action for the ousting? As we reported, his lawyer, Patty Glaser, vowed to either force TWC into arbitration or file a lawsuit. We're told the Board feels its case is airtight. As one source connected to TWC put it, "We're not worried at all."

Harvey Weinstein has resigned from the Board of Directors of The Weinstein Company, after the Board gave him a clear ultimatum ... either relinquish your role, or be fired ... sources tell TMZ.

Our sources say Weinstein's decision to resign from the Board does not affect his grievance that he was illegally fired from TWC. As we reported, Weinstein's lawyer, Patty Glaser, was present in the Board meeting and she has made it clear ... she thinks her client's contract did not give the company the right to fire him, and unless the company submits to arbitration she will file a lawsuit.

Harvey Weinstein is about to be fired from the Board of Directors of TWC ... literally within minutes of this post ... sources connected with the meeting tell TMZ.

We're told the decision was made days before Tuesday's meeting ... that the company could not survive with Harvey involved in any way.

We're also told the Board does not feel it's required to go into mediation or arbitration with Harvey Weinstein ... that it has a right to summarily fire him with no appeal from the fallen mogul.

Harvey Weinstein actually had a good track record sexually harassing women, because most didn't complain ... so says Donnell Rawlings.

We got an inebriated Donnell Monday night outside the Peppermint Club in WeHo, and he spoke at his peril, saying 29 women complained but 1,000 didn't have a problem with him.

But wait, there's more. He also says Harvey's career in Hollywood is far from over ... but his reason is pretty anti-Semitic.

Harvey Weinstein is not giving up -- not even close -- he vows he'll continue making movies, whether it's with The Weinstein Co. or someplace else.

Weinstein's showdown with TWC is set for Tuesday morning in NYC, where he will make his case by speakerphone that he was illegally fired and has a right to retake the reins. His lawyer, Patty Glaser, will be in the Board of Directors meeting to make the case.

Our Weinstein sources say he knows he's "momentarily toxic" but thinks with a little time, writers and actors will seek him out again because of his track record. He believes -- and probably rightly so -- that TWC exists because of him. He believes he can go back and produce movies, or he can just as easily do it somewhere else.

As one source put it, "Harvey's like Judge Judy. She can do her show for CBS, but if she wanted to go to NBC she can do it because it's all about her."

Bill Bellamy has a soft spot for Harvey Weinstein.

We got Bill at LAX Monday where he said a lot of what the fallen mogul did was good ... he built the empire from which he's now been banished. He says the success of TWC was built off the back of Harvey.

Harvey Weinstein could be cut off at the knees at Tuesday's Board of Directors meeting, because there are signs the Board might fire him ... which we're told would guarantee litigation.

Harvey, who is still a member of the Board despite being fired from The Weinstein Co., plans to participate in Tuesday's meeting via speakerphone -- he's currently in Arizona for rehab.

As we reported, Weinstein and his lawyer, Patty Glaser, plan to challenge his firing, claiming there was no basis to remove him from the company based on his Oct. 2015 employment contract.

A source from TWC tells TMZ, "Harvey's role in the meeting will be very limited." We know that's not Weinstein's intention -- he and Glaser plan to fight the firing tooth and nail.

Our Harvey Weinstein sources smell a rat, and believe the Board may start the meeting with a motion to kick him off the Board. If that happens, they can disconnect the speakerphone and kick Glaser out of the boardroom.

Lauren Holly says Harvey Weinstein was all business during a meeting in his hotel room ... right up until the moment he ripped off his suit and went to the bathroom in front of her.

The actress, who now lives in Canada, went on daytime talk show "The Social" Monday to speak for the first time about an encounter she says went down in the late '90s. Holly says she wasn't worried about going to Weinstein's hotel room for the meeting -- she says that was common, and he was fully dressed when she arrived.

Lauren says they spoke at length about possible roles, and right in the middle of the conversation he stripped and used the bathroom in front of her. Despite being nude in front of her, she says he never stopped talking business ... even when he jumped in the shower.

However, she says it turned ominous and terrifying when he got out of the shower. Just as scary as the reaction she says she got when she told friends what had happened.

Shades of Angie Everhart, for sure, and more evidence most of Hollywood knew about Weinstein and chose to remain silent.

Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, will have a showdown Tuesday that will inevitably lead to screaming, profanities and ultimately the threat of a lawsuit that could do in the company ... multiple sources connected to the meeting tell TMZ.

The Board of Directors of The Weinstein Co. has a meeting on the books and we're told Harvey Weinstein's firing is on the agenda. Harvey will be on speakerphone ... he's in Arizona to get treatment for behavioral issues and sex addition. His civil lawyer, Patty Glaser, will be present in the room.

Our sources say Glaser is prepared to outline multiple reasons why her client's firing violates his contract. As we reported, the company never gave him a reason for booting him out, and our sources say to this day the company has never offered Harvey or Glaser any reason. She's also prepared to argue Harvey did not violate the contract.

As we reported, there's a provision that covers claims such as sexual harassment, and as long as Weinstein reimburses the company for any settlement or judge and then pays a penalty, all is good. Glaser will note the contract was signed in October 2015 and since then there hasn't been a single claim against her client.

As strong as Glaser is, we're told the lawyers who rep TWC, O'Melveny and Myers, believe the company had every right to fire Harvey. They say the company's Code of Conduct gives them that right, but we're told Glaser's position is that the contract trumps the Code.

Now the heat ... our sources say Bob Weinstein is angry -- livid -- over the whole situation and loses control during heated conversations. Harvey and Bob are birds of a feather, and people involved in the meeting say it's inevitable things will get loud and ugly.

We're told Glaser is ready to amp things up if the Board doesn't see things her way ... which is unlikely. She can try and force mediation and arbitration, which is provided for in the contract, but if the Board won't play ball we're told she's ready to file a lawsuit.

As one very connected source put it, "There is so much crap that will be unearthed in a lawsuit, the company just can't survive it."

Stay tuned.

Howard Stern asked Harvey Weinstein a question about having sex with Hollywood actresses that was eerily dead-on ... and Weinstein lied right to his face.

Howard pulled up the 2014 interview Monday morning on his show. In the clip Howard asks Weinstein if he ever got to experience "the mogul aspect" -- meaning having actresses throw themselves at him for a shot at Oscar-winning roles.

Weinstein denied having any such opportunity ... then Howard rephrased, "You can't walk into the room, pull your pants off and say 'Okay, honey let's talk business.'"

It's pretty much exactly the scene dozens of Weinstein's accusers have described. Makes ya think Howard had heard what was Hollywood's worst-kept secret. From Seth MacFarlane's 2013 Oscar nominations joke to Courtney Love ... the allegations were hardly under wraps at that point.

Gerard Butler was hospitalized after he says he got run off the road and took a bad spill on his bike.

Sources close to Butler tell TMZ ... he was riding his motorcycle in L.A. when he got cut off by a car, causing him to crash. Someone called 911, paramedics came and took Gerard to a nearby hospital where he was treated for his injuries. Lucky for him ... no broken bones ... just cuts and bruises.

Lucky for Gerard he's not laid up. His climate change disaster flick, "Geostorm," comes out next week, and he's able to promote it like usual, despite being a little banged up.