Movies

Diana Ross seemed more than happy to return to L.A. after enduring Saturday's Hawaiian scare.

Our photog caught up with the legendary singer at LAX Saturday and Diana clearly had the same reaction as everyone on the islands ... blind fear.

She had been vacationing in Hawaii and the hotel staff corralled the guests and took them underground.

Tom Cruise doesn't give up easily ... he got back on the horse after getting badly injured during a "Mission: Impossible 6" stunt.

Tom went back to the scene of the crime .... jumping out of a high window and running across the glass roof of the Blackfriars Train Station in London, trying to jump from building to building. Back in August he failed, falling short and hitting the building on the other side. Cruise limped away and collapsed. He suffered a broken ankle.

We don't have pics of the completion of the jump, but it appears he made it.

James Franco is facing 4 sexual misconduct complaints from some of his former acting students at Studio 4 and Playhouse West, so we decided to call around and see if anyone lodged complaints at the various schools where the actor taught, and it turns out there were none.

Franco taught classes at NYU in 2011 and 2012 ... an NYU administration source tells TMZ there were neither formal nor informal complaints against him.

We also checked with USC, where Franco taught various classes from 2013 and 2015 and a rep for the school tells us ... no complaints.

And we contacted UCLA, where Franco taught from 2012 to 2017. No one from the school would give us an official comment, but sources at the school who would have received such complaints tell us none were lodged.

The fact that no complaints were filed does not mean nothing ever happened. As we've reported, Franco has maintained he has done nothing wrong.

Mark Wahlberg wants to direct the movie based on Caron Butler's life ... and guess who's super stoked to hear that??

CARON BUTLER!!

TMZ Sports spoke with Tuff Juice about Marky Mark wanting to tackle Butler's story of a drug dealing childhood to becoming an NBA All-Star in his directorial debut ... and he says it's a dream come true.

Butler says Wahlberg is his top choice to direct the flick ... even with HUGE names like Peter Berg and Spike Lee being interested in joining the project.

One of James Franco's accusers is willing to forgive him if he publicly owns up to the sexual misconduct she says she experienced on a movie set.

Sarah Tither-Kaplan tells TMZ, "I don't hate James. I still have love for him." She's reacting to Franco's Critics' Choice Awards victory Thursday night ... a ceremony he skipped because, as we first reported ... he's despondent over multiple allegations against him.

Sarah says she doesn't begrudge Franco's success, and, in fact, says she would've been shocked if he didn't win -- but adds he still needs to accept responsibility and apologize. In fact, she believes he'll be totally forgiven if he does.

You'll recall, she accused Franco of exploiting her for nude scenes in a movie, and also of removing genital guards off other actresses -- not her -- during an orgy scene in the film.

LAPD detectives will be sitting down with the L.A. County District Attorney next month to go over a huge number of files involving alleged sexual misconduct ... and there are 3 famous people who will be at the top of the pile based on the number of complaints ... Harvey Weinstein, James Toback and Brett Ratner.

Sources familiar with the investigation tell TMZ the LAPD's Sexual Assault Section is now "winding down" its investigation, but there are still some interviews that have not been conducted and reports to write.

One law enforcement source tells us detectives are stunned that they were able to get statements from some of the people accused of sexual misconduct. Turns out early on -- before some of the suspects got criminal defense lawyers -- their entertainment lawyers drafted statements signed by their clients denying the claims.

One law enforcement source put it this way ... "These [entertainment] lawyers cared more about image than jail. They should have never let their clients talk."

That said ... our sources reiterate most of the cases involve 1 on 1 situations ... meaning there are only 2 people involved and without witnesses these cases are hard to prosecute.

It was a timeline of Lohans Thursday night in NYC as three generations -- Lindsay Lohan, her mother Dina, and her grandma -- all filed out of a birthday dinner.

The Lo ladies were celebrating grandma's 94th birthday at Sant Ambroeus. Lindsay's bro, Dakota, and sister Ali were also there, but we gotta say ... grandma Sullivan is the star here. She's a spry 94!

Btw, LiLo's lobbying hard for the title role in the upcoming "Batgirl" film, and seemed optimistic when we asked her about it, despite some less than positive reactions on Twitter.

WARNING: POTENTIAL HUGE 'AVENGERS 4' SPOILER ALERT!!!

'Avengers 4' had its wrap party Thursday and the centerpiece was a giant Thanos cake, but it's what was underneath the franchise's evil villain that could give away who survives in the flick.

Look closely ... you'll see 4 arms holding up the platform on which Thanos is standing. They appear to be the arms of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Pay attention to the fingernails, claws and colors of the suits.

Marvel execs have hinted some of the superheroes wouldn't make it past "Avengers: Infinity War," which hits theaters in May, and this 'Avengers' film won't see the box office til 2019, so a lot can happen.

The burning question ... do the 4 conquer Thanos, or are they the ones who succumb to his evil powers? Some 'Avengers' fans believe Captain America doesn't make it, and if that's the case the 4 here would be Thanos' worst nightmare.

One of the women accusing James Franco of sexual assault is blasting critics who have latched on to a comment she made ... that she likes to ruin lives.

Violet Paley has claimed Franco forced her head into his lap while his penis was exposed. She told the L.A. Times she and Franco were in a consensual, sexual relationship when they were sitting in a car and he pressured her into performing oral sex on him -- something she had not done to him before. Paley, an aspiring filmmaker, says, "The power dynamic was really off."

Franco has said the allegation is not true, but would not elaborate.

Paley has some questioning her veracity based on this tweet:

Patty Hearst's scathing criticism of the upcoming film and TV projects about her life wasn't taken lightly ... Fox just pulled the plug on its film project.

20th Century Fox Film announced Thursday afternoon it's cancelling its planned biopic about Hearst based on the book "American Heiress" by Jeffrey Toobin after she blasted the project and the author for glorifying her rape and torture.

Patty told us she especially took issue with Toobin allegedly referring to his book as "the last word on the subject." She says, "It was offensive to me that a man would have the audacity to tell a woman that he would have the last word on her trauma."

Hearst also took issue with Toobin's book citing one of its main sources as one of Patty's captors, and calling her abduction a "rollicking adventure."

Now we know to whom Oprah was referring on video when she pointed to a neighbor's home that was decimated by the mudslides ... it was the home of actor Jeff Bridges.

The star of "The Big Lebowski" bought the home 3 years ago for $6.8 million. We're told the house could be a total loss, but it's impossible to know at this point because the debris makes the extent of damage almost impossible to assess. Bridges says at the very least, the 3,300 square foot home was "severely damaged."

Oprah trudged through the mud the day after the slides hit and pointed out the home, but never said who owned it.

The slides have killed at least 17 people and 8 are still missing. A hundred homes were destroyed.

Patty Hearst won't be involved in any film or TV series depicting her hostage ordeal ... and, in fact, she's blasting the people behind the upcoming productions for glorifying her rape.

Patty tells us ... "Over the years I have been approached many times to discuss my ordeal, and I have answered many questions. I have spoken the truth about my experience and even wrote a 499-page book where I lay it all out, as painful as it was to relive. Each time I do, it puts me back in the nightmare which, as you might imagine, is deeply painful."

TMZ broke the story ... Hearst and her family are deeply disturbed by the upcoming docuseries based on Jeffrey Toobin's book, 'American Heiress.' Patty says she declined Toobin's interview request for his book, because she claims he referred to his book as the "last word on the subject."

Patty says, "It was offensive to me that a man would have the audacity to tell a woman that he would have the last word on her trauma." She also hates the fact Toobin's book "cites one of my kidnappers as its main source, romanticizes my rape and torture and calls my abduction a 'rollicking adventure'.”

Michelle Williams was not betrayed by anyone when she agreed to do reshoots for free when her male counterpart raked in $1.5 million ... so claim sources familiar with the situation.

As we reported, when producers asked Michelle to do reshoots for "All the Money in the World," she quickly agreed to work for nothing. Mark Wahlberg, on the other hand, demanded $1.5 mil and, as one source put it, "He had producers over a barrel," and he got what he was after.

Mark and Michelle are represented by the same agency -- William Morris Endeavor -- and there's been criticism that WME should have given Michelle a heads-up that Mark was getting paid, and paid a lot.

Sources familiar with the contracts tell TMZ, Michelle's contract required her to do reshoots as part of her overall salary, whereas Mark's deal did not include reshoots.

One source put it this way ... Mark's agents at WME did not communicate with Michelle's agent to let him know what Mark was getting paid, adding, that type of communication doesn't really happen between agents.

Our sources say the agents advocate for their individual clients and have a duty of confidentiality not to disclose to one actor what another is getting paid.

James Franco had some super uncomfortable moments Wednesday night on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" when the host asked the actor about Ally Sheedy.

You'll recall, after Franco won Best Actor during the Golden Globes, Sheedy tweeted, "Why is a man hosting? Why is James Franco allowed in? Said too much." She later deleted the post.

Franco said he didn't know what she was talking about and added he had a good relationship with Sheedy, to which Meyers shot back ... wasn't he curious enough to call her and find out what she was talking about? Franco squirmed but said he was satisfied with letting it be.

Franco says the sexual misconduct allegations are not true, but he's willing to take a bullet and stay silent rather than tarnish the #MeToo movement.

The L.A. Times just published a story claiming 5 actresses have accused Franco of misconduct, one of whom says during the filming of a nude orgy scene, Franco "removed protective plastic guards covering the actresses' vaginas while simulating oral sex on them."

Rumer Willis isn't exactly giving Mark Wahlberg a pass in the wage gap battle, but she thinks everyone's missing the point by making this about his payday.

Rumer and a friend were shopping Rodeo in Bev Hills Wednesday when she weighed in on the issue that has Hollywood and America pissed off ... Mark getting $1.5 million, compared to Michelle Williams getting less than $1,000 for "All the Money in the World" reshoots.

It's worth noting ... Rumer's mom, Demi Moore, was one of the first women to earn an 8-figure paycheck for a single movie, so ya gotta think she's been schooled on wage disparity in Hollywood.

Tony Rock thinks the new "Black Panther" movie is a boon for the black community -- not only will it bring people out in droves ... it'll show 'em something they don't see often.

We got Chris Rock's younger brother Wednesday at LAX and asked why he thought 'Panther' is gonna be a huge draw for African-Americans, like he indicated online.

Tony says it's no secret ... black kids love T'Challa, and says they're gonna flock to theaters to see him kick ass on the big screen. Plus, he says it's a chance to see black people depicted in a positive light. Leading live-action black superheroes are scant outside of Shaq (Steel), Wesley Snipes (Blade) and Mike Colter (Luke Cage).

Side note ... Tony's kicked in some cash to send kids from Harlem to the movie on his dime. Sounds like he's gonna shell out even more, too.