Movies

James Franco had some hand-wringing moments with Stephen Colbert as he tried to address accusations on social media that he sexually assaulted and harassed women.

'The Late Show' almost felt like "Dr. Phil" as the actor took issue with several women making claims, including one who wrote on Twitter, "Remember the time you pushed my head down in a car towards your exposed penis & that other time you told my friend to come to your hotel when she was 17?"

He says he's perplexed by actress Ally Sheedy, who cryptically posted a comment after watching Franco win Best Actor at the Golden Globes ..."Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much."

But then James seems to waffle a bit, saying, "If there is restitution to be made I will make it."

Watch the clip ... super interesting.

Patty Hearst was a rape victim and it's deplorable to run a movie or television show viciously attacking her ... this according to her family.

Hearst family sources tell TMZ ... Patty's relatives are beside themselves over the upcoming film and TV docuseries based on the book, 'American Heiress' by Jeffrey Toobin. The film and TV series paint Patty as a woman who embraced her captors and then tried to manipulate the system during her trial.

The family says Toobin's sources for the book are sketchy ... notably Bill Harris, one of Patty's captors, and Steve Weed, her former fiance who himself was disgraced.

Our sources say the best evidence that these projects are hit pieces is how they downplay Patty Hearst's rape ... which set the stage for a harrowing 19 months of captivity. To minimize rape, they say, is appalling but not surprising in a project driven by men. According to family sources, "When you strip it away in the midst of all this #TimesUp, #MeToo and 'listen to the victim' they are essentially saying she loved it. She was asking for it."

We're told the family's stance is this -- "They are making a victim who suffered, and still suffers, culpable for her trauma while showing a blatant disregard for the victim and the human aspect of the story. This is another example of men trivializing women."

Vin Diesel stiffed the producer of the latest chapter of his 'xXx' movies ... according to a new lawsuit filed against the movie star.

George Zakk says he was hired as an executive producer for "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage" ... which was released in January 2017. Zakk says he was supposed to get an on-screen credit for his work on the film, plus a salary of $200k.

However, he says when the movie was released he got no credit, nor was he paid a dime.

Zakk had sued Vin for this before the movie came out, but the judge sent him packing ... saying the lawsuit lacked necessary details.

"Deadpool" star Morena Baccarin became single at a price.

We got the property settlement agreement between Baccarin and ex-hubby Austin Chick, and there were a lot of spoils to divide. For starters, Austin gets their home in New York City, while Morena gets their homes in Brazil and Los Angeles.

The documents say Morena makes more than $90k a month, and Austin pulls in $1,375 a month.

And ... she gets the 2001 Lexus!!!

Morena, who also starred in "Homeland," gets lots of residuals, and they're fair game for Austin. They agreed that some of the residuals, including the ones for "Deadpool" and Season 1 of "Gotham," will be split.

When all the dust settles, to make things square Morena agreed to cut a check to Austin for $406k.

As for custody -- which was the major bone of contention -- TMZ broke the story 4-year-old Julius can live with Morena in NYC. Austin was trying to block the move, but in the end he's agreed to move to the Big Apple. She's paying $3,500 a month in child support and he gets $5k in spousal support for a year.

The agreement provides that neither will trash the other in front of their kid.

The best movies are often never nominated for awards ... according to Sean Gunn, who plays Kraglin in the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' films.

We got Gunn on Rodeo drive Monday after Globes and asked him about awards shows always dissing superhero films like "GotG 2," which his brother, James, wrote and directed.

'GotG 2', "Wonder Woman" and "Spider-man: Homecoming" were some of the top grossing films in 2017 but didn't get Best Picture nods, something the Internet has been sounding off on lately.

Mel Gibson looks like he's hunkerin' down for the New Year ... with a Grizzly Adams beard and a big bag of rations.

Mel and GF Rosalind Ross did some serious damage in Malibu Monday in the aisles of Ralphs. He and his 27-year-old baby mama -- they have a 1-year-old -- also stopped by Vitamin Barn for some ... vitamins.

Gibson's coming off a successful movie -- "Daddy's Home 2." Well, now daddy's home for real and the eatin's good.

Tonya Harding kneecapped Piers Morgan, or at least her interview with him ... abruptly cutting it short when he called her out for acting like she was the victim, and not Nancy Kerrigan.

Tonya was on "Good Morning Britain," and clearly expecting a softball convo about "I, Tonya." But after she gushed, "My movie is going to help so many people" .... Piers had enough, and the trainwreck began.

He very directly stated Nancy was the only one who had a dream, along with her kneecap, shattered -- and it totally caught Tonya off guard.

Kumail Nanjiani's movie, "The Big Sick," wasn't a Golden Globes winner, but he was still feeling sentimental about the project Monday morning ... thanks to one family memento.

Kumail shared a shot of his phone number scribbled on the back of a hospital visitor pass. It's the pass his mother-in-law used when Kumail's wife, Emily V. Gordon, was sick in the hospital. If you haven't seen the movie, it's essentially the premise of the entire thing since the hospitalization is a catalyst for them getting back together.

It also took place in Chicago ... hence the 773 area code.

The flick came out last year to critical acclaim, but Kumail says Emily's mom only just found the pass.

He also added, "Certain objects have the power to pull you back. Wow."

Tonya Harding and director Tommy Wiseau walk into a Golden Globes party ... nope, not the start of a one-liner, but something that actually happened.

The duo took this pic at a party Sunday, after the award show where both were thanked by actors who portrayed them in movies about their lives.

James Franco invited Tommy onstage after winning best actor in a comedy for his role in "The Disaster Artist" ... a movie based on Tommy making "The Room" -- largely considered the best worst movie ever made.

Kinda funny ... Tommy tried grabbing the mic as James started his thank-you speech.

Not to be outdone, Tonya also got a shout-out from Allison Janney after she won best supporting actress for playing Tonya's mom in "I, Tonya." See ... well deserved.

Aziz Ansari didn't settle for winning a Golden Globe, he immediately followed that up with another trophy -- a fresh bag of In-N-Out!

The "Master of None" star was double-fisting Sunday night -- his statuette in one hand, and his bag of burgers and fries in the other. He gave them equal billing, btw, holding up both at the same time for photogs as he and co-star Eric Wareheim strolled into the after-party at Poppy.

Gotta love their style!

Disney star Asher Angel is hoping the new DC Comics flick, "Shazam!," about Captain Marvel blows up like the 'Harry Potter' series because, if it does, he could be looking at more than $3 million easy.

Asher, who's only 15, scored the role of young Billy Batson in the flick. It's only his second big screen role and he's earning $85k for it. He gets an additional $25k if the box office tops $400 million, which is rare for superhero movies these days.

According to Asher's contract, filed in court because he's a minor, he starts making serious dough for the sequels. Here's the breakdown:

"Shazam! 2": $200k, with a $35k bonus

"Shazam! 3": $400k, with a $50k bonus

"Shazam! 4": $800k, with a $100k bonus

"Shazam! 5": $1.6 million, with a $150k bonus

Those numbers beat bagging groceries for minimum wage, for sure!

Asher needs ya bad, Captain Marvel.

The TV anchors and reporters covering Sunday's Golden Globes are walking a tightrope ... asking the wrong question or even an offhanded comment could put them in a world of hurt. Yet people involved in the coverage tell us, many networks aren't imposing ground rules.

We've spoken with several on-camera folks, all of whom say their bosses haven't given specific instructions on interviewing celebs. As one source put it, "They have clearly conveyed the sensitivity thing but haven't given me any instructions on what to say or what not to say."

One person who will be interviewing a number of celebs says, "Of course people are going to talk about the movement, but I also want to spend as much time on the celebration, celebrating their work."

Another personality says if someone goes off on Harvey Weinstein or anyone else for that matter, that person can have their say. The personality says, "Pretty much no matter what they say I'm not going to weigh in. It's not my place."

Brad Pitt is on the verge of becoming single again, so it's no surprise he's looking for some companionship. But really ... $120,000 for a few hours?

Truth is ... it was all done in the name of charity. Brad hit up Sean Penn's annual relief event in Hollywood, and one of the items up for silent auction was watching an episode of "Game of Thrones" ... with Emilia Clarke!!!

It was pretty hysterical ... because Jon Snow -- Kit Harington -- was looking on and seemingly either jealous or intent on getting in on the action if Brad ended up the highest bidder.

The bidding started -- as Emilia watched -- at a modest $20k but quickly soared at the hands of Brad to $80k. Harington had been in the bathroom when the bidding began, but when he returned to the room Brad outbid HIMSELF and upped the ante to $90k. Kit apparently quipped he'd sit in for the 'GOT' viewing and Brad then upped his bid again ... to $120k!!!

But this story does not have a happy ending for Brad ... he lost out to someone less famous who snagged the prize for $160k.

Ben Affleck engaged in a sizable cover-up Saturday as he tooled around L.A.

Ben -- who loves his hogs -- was cruising around Brentwood on his BMW S1000 RR Superbike. It was designed to complete in the Superbike World Championships, but went into commercial production.

It's unclear if Ben's gonna hit up the Golden Globes Sunday night. He's taken heat in the sexual harassment movement and by all accounts there will be pointed references to the scandal throughout the evening.

It will be an interesting night.

Hugh Jackman, a bunch of movie stars, and past and present Olympians were treated to an early 'Golden Globes' preview ... a live performance of "This is Me."

Jackman gave an impassioned speech about women in sports and entertainment before introducing Keala Settle at the Gold Meets Golden event Saturday in Weho ... who killed it singing the Golden Globe-nominated song.

The party's a who's who of entertainers and Olympic legends -- including Nicole Kidman (seen here with gymnast Laurie Hernandez), Ricky Martin, Jessica Chastain, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Nick Jonas, Chrissy Metz, Greg Louganis, Billie Jean King, Summer Sanders and many more.

We're told the party guests were also treated to brunch bites and a gold chocolate fountain to dip snack into.

Just another win for all of 'em.

Josh Brolin's shedding some light on how scary it can be for film and TV crews working on projects about drug cartels ... saying it often gets way too real.

We got the "Only the Brave" actor at LAX on Friday and asked him about the dangers of making shows like "Narcos" and movies like 2015's "Sicario," which he starred in, in crime-ridden cities.

Josh tells us you have to take precautions because those places are definitely NOT like the U.S. ... and that a guy on the 'Sicario' crew was kidnapped in Mexico. He also reveals the 'Narcos' location scout killed in September worked on the film too.

So is it worth it? Brolin has a very interesting take on that, and as with many walks of life ... it comes down to risk vs. reward.