Movies

Olivia Newton-John's daughter Chloe Lattanzi left a tearful voicemail of gratitude to an Australian TV reporter who had done a moving tribute to her late mom.

The voicemail was played Wednesday on Australia's "Today" show. Chloe had seen Entertainment Editor Richard Wilkin's tribute and was moved to call.

You hear the pain in Chloe's voice as she tells Richard, "She's free now and out of pain." 36-year-old Chloe, the daughter of Olivia and her first husband Matt Lattanzi, went on to tell Richard how the dogs were running around and the horses were galloping. As you probably know, Olivia loved animals and was a fierce proponent of animal rights for decades.

Olivia and Richard have history ... they were pals for decades.

Chloe also uploaded a clip Tuesday of her and her mom singing "Window In The Wall," saying her mom was her safe space -- calling it an honor to be her baby and her best friend.

Ben Affleck just put his Pacific Palisades mansion on the market -- for a whopping $30 million -- definite proof he and Jennifer Lopez have officially shacked up together.

Affleck, who married J Lo back in June, listed the 7-bed and 9-bathroom home Tuesday for $29.995 million ... he bought it back in 2018 for $19.250 million. It should come as no surprise the house has plenty of space, with a massive pool and spa and 13,500-sq-ft of living space.

The timing of the sale is certainly interesting, we told you a couple months ago it appeared Ben and Jen had moved into a massive mansion, previously owned by billionaire and Mariah Carey's ex, James Packer ... so Ben would need to unload his current crib.

We're told Ben and Jen are currently leasing that home, which Packer bought years ago for $60 million ... so the lease ain't cheap.

As we told you, Ben's been in L.A. while Jen worked overseas following a family trip to Paris, so it's time to get their affairs in order as husband and wife.

If there were any doubts big names would get behind Johnny Depp again following his legal win over Amber Heard, lay them to rest ... Dior is betting big on JD with a new contract.

Sources directly connected to the deal tell TMZ … Johnny just signed back with Dior to be the face of their Sauvage men's scent. We're told in all, it's a multi-year deal worth 7-figures.

We're told the deal recently came together, and was cemented after Dior honchos and famous fashion photog Greg Williams attended one of Johnny and Jeff Beck's rock concerts in Paris as a show of support for JD.

Our sources say Johnny did a photo shoot with Greg before and after the Paris show, and the content will be used in a new Dior advertising campaign.

Remember ... Johnny first signed with Dior back in 2015 as the face of the cologne and the deal has just been re-upped. It's interesting ... after Amber first made her allegations against Johnny, the Sauvage commercial stopped airing on TV.

Ashton Kutcher hit up Dodger Stadium for a good cause ... and he arrived as his episode with Bear Grylls dropped, revealing he went through a serious health battle a couple of years back ... a battle that threatened his hearing and sight.

Before Ashton and Mila Kunis took to the stadium Monday night, the actor's episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge" showed the guy fought an autoimmune disease 3 years ago.

He tells Bear he battled vasculitis, which is a rare disease that inflames blood vessels, making it difficult for blood to flow.

While he says it was hard for him to see and hear, he decided to find the positive in it -- saying he's lucky to be alive and believes life is fun when you see obstacles as things designed to get you where you need to be.

Not long after the airing, Ashton and Mila were in Dodgers territory for Ping Pong 4 Purpose ... which is aimed to help turn at-risk kids and neighborhoods around, working with pitcher Clayton Kershaw and his wife Ellen's org, Kershaw's Challenge.

Ashton and Mila were just a few famous faces in attendance -- Will Ferrell, Mario Lopez, Lisa Leslie, Rob Lowe, Gabriel Iglesias, Brad Paisley, and Pete Wentz were there, just to name a few.

Olivia Newton-John, who soared to international stardom as both a singer and movie star has died.

Olivia's husband, John Easterling, says she died peacefully at her ranch in Southern California Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends. Olivia has battled breast cancer for more than 30 years, a specific cause of death was not given, although a source close to Olivia told TMZ, "After a 30-year cancer journey, she lost her battle to metastatic breast cancer."

Olivia hit it big in 1971 with songs like "If Not for You," and in 1973 "Let Me Be There." She followed that up with a monster hit, "Have You Never Been Mellow."

Her huge break came in 1978, when she starred opposite John Travolta in "Grease." Her role as Sandy was iconic, as were several songs from the movie, "You're the One that I Want," "Summer Nights," and "Hopelessly Devoted to You."

The movie propelled Olivia to new heights, and she followed it up with movies like "Xanadu."

Olivia's biggest hit was "Physical" in 1981, which stayed at #1 for 10 weeks, breaking all records in the '80s. She remained an environmental and animal rights activist throughout her career.

Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, but it went into remission and it came back in 2013. It went back into remission but surfaced again in 2017.

Olivia, who was British but raised in Australia, married Matt Lattanzi back in 1984 ... they met while filming "Xanadu." They had a child, Chloe Rose in 1986. They divorced in 1995.

She married John Easterling in 2008. He's the founder of Amazon Herb Co.

Olivia was 73. RIP

Anne Heche is fighting for her life, currently in a coma and dealing with significant injuries in the wake of driving her car through a home in Los Angeles.

A rep for the actress tells TMZ, "Shortly after the accident, Anne Heche became unconscious, slipping into a coma and is in critical condition. She has a significant pulmonary injury requiring mechanical ventilation and burns that require surgical intervention."

TMZ broke the story, cops believe Heche was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol when she committed at least 2 hit-and-runs before barreling through a home, igniting a massive blaze.

Law enforcement sources tell us they were able to get a warrant to obtain a sample of Anne's blood which will help them determine if she was under the influence.

Ezra Miller has been accused of burglarizing a home in Vermont ... and police say the whole thing had to do with some stolen bottles of alcohol.

According to the Vermont State Police ... someone lodged a burglary complaint regarding a home in Stamford at the beginning of May.

Cops investigated, and say several bottles of alcohol were reported missing from the place while the homeowners were out ... after reviewing surveillance videos and statements, Ezra was charged with felony burglary into an unoccupied dwelling.

Ezra was finally found on Sunday night and ordered to appear at Vermont Superior Court Bennington's Criminal Division for their arraignment towards the end of September.

Lori Loughlin wants to get on with her life after serving time for her role in the college admissions scandal, and that involves flying to Canada to shoot a movie.

Lori is currently on 2-years probation after serving 2 months ... as a result, she's required to get approval from the judge before leaving the country.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Lori's been offered a role in the flick but it's contingent on her getting approval to travel. She says the project would last a week and it would be shot in the middle of September or the beginning of October.

The judge signed off, allowing her to travel, but that's just half of the approval process. Canada is super strict on allowing people in with criminal records, and Lori pled guilty to a felony.

We've already seen other celebs be turned away ... including Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and The Game, so Lori's fate is not certain.

Anne Heche clearly didn't care about the safety of others as she flew through neighborhood streets and alleyways -- at one point almost striking a woman -- before barreling through a home.

We've obtained new surveillance video showing Anne's blue Mini Cooper driving erratically in Mar Vista Friday. At one point, she almost hits a woman walking on the sidewalk, seemingly not even touching her brakes or swerving to avoid the possible collision.

We're told shortly after missing the woman, Anne struck another vehicle, a Jaguar, and then took off. Luckily, the driver of the Jaguar was not injured.

TMZ broke the story ... Anne drove through a home Friday, igniting a massive blaze. No one was killed in the crash, and Anne was hospitalized with severe burns. Prior to crashing into the house, we got footage of Anne after she'd crashed into a nearby garage -- she left that scene and then drove into the home.

Cops have obtained a warrant for a sample of Anne's blood. Our law enforcement sources say investigators believe she was under the influence of drugs and/or booze at the time of the wreck.

Cops believe Anne Heche may have been under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol when she slammed into a garage and a house, igniting a massive blaze.

LAPD sources tell TMZ, authorities got a warrant to draw Anne's blood. We do not know the results, but police believe she was intoxicated at the time of Friday's crash. We're told the results of the blood tests could take weeks.

We're told at the very least, the LAPD will refer the case to the L.A. City Attorney for possible hit-and-run charges. As we reported, after slamming into a garage she took off and eventually drove her car into a nearby house. She may have also struck other objects before coming to a stop.

In a photo we obtained of Anne just before the wreck, it appeared she had a bottle of alcohol in her cup holder.

Anne suffered severe burns as a result of the fire and remains hospitalized. Her clothes were charred as she was taken away on a stretcher.

TMZ obtained video of Anne tearing down a residential street before slamming into the house.

Bert Fields, one of the most powerful lawyers in the United States who, among many other things, who waged legal war on behalf of Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise, has died.

Sources close to Fields, including one of his famous clients, tell TMZ ... the attorney has indeed passed.

Fields' client list included James Cameron, Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Mike Nichols, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, Jerry Bruckheimer, The Beatles and Madonna ... among many others.

Among his notable cases ... in 1993, Bert was involved in defending Michael Jackson against molestation allegations, and famously held a news conference acknowledging MJ was so profoundly addicted to pain meds, he could barely function on an intellectual level.

He also filed a $50 million lawsuit against a magazine publisher on behalf of Tom Cruise after the mag claimed Cruise was gay. He sued another outlet for claiming Cruise had abandoned Suri after his divorce from Katie Holmes.

Fields taught entertainment law at both Stanford and Harvard law schools. He was an accomplished author and wrote several novels and even lectured on Shakespeare.

Eddie Deezen, known for playing Eugene Felsnic in "Grease," has been found not competent to stand trial for allegedly burglarizing a nursing home.

The commitment order, obtained by TMZ, shows Deezen's unable to stand trial because of a mental disorder, and he's been transferred to the Maryland Department of Health for treatment.

The document says he's considered a danger to himself and others around him. Deezen will have no choice but to stay in the health department's care until the court believes he no longer poses a threat.

As we reported, police say Deezen pushed his way into a privately-owned nursing facility in April, refusing to leave after a woman told him to scram -- but cops showed up and hauled him off in cuffs.

The alleged victim told cops Eddie's been by her place several times before, claiming he usually leaves behind items with accompanying notes.

The security camera of a neighbor a few doors down showed Deezen approaching their property as well that night, allegedly trying to open the front door.

The 'Titanic' has been sunk again ... because Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick' just overtook the legendary blockbuster in the list of biggest money-makers in Hollywood history.

The high-flying sequel, which has been on a roll since its release in May, has now claimed the #7 spot in highest box office sales domestically ... clocking in at $662 million in tickets sold, beating out James Cameron's 1997 classic by a good $3 mil or so at $659M.

According to reports, 'TG' raked in $7 million this weekend ... which might sound relatively meager, but considering it's in its 11th week in theaters right now -- that's damn impressive.

While 'Titanic' is in Tom's rearview, he has many other flicks ahead of him that have made far more money big picture -- including, in due time, 'Avengers: Infinity War' and 'Black Panther,' ... which had total domestic hauls of $678M and $700M, respectively.

Some film reporters and box office analysts think 'Top Gun' actually has a shot to perhaps surmount those two as the year progresses ... but the others ahead of it in line -- 'Avatar,' 'No Way Home,' 'Endgame' and 'Force Awakens' -- are probably safe from being touched.

They've made 200-300M more dollars -- and it doesn't look like 'Maverick's' jet fuel will last that long. Unclear when Paramount will yank it from cineplexes, but even if they kept it there through the end of the year ... 'Top Gun' will like peter out at #5 all-time at best.

Still, it's a helluva achievement for both Tom and Paramount -- and proves there's still most certainly a desire for folks to hit theaters, even today. They're just more selective, is all.

James Franco has been cast as Fidel Castro, something John Leguizamo says is an outrage ... but the film's producer's punching back, albeit with an explanation that's a bit confusing.

The news was announced this week that JF would be playing the late Cuban dictator, who came to power in the '50s and ushered in Communism. It sounds like James is going to portray a somewhat younger Castro ... and, of course, it's gotten some double takes.

Leguizamo was perhaps one of the most vocal critics, writing ... "How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F'd up!"

He adds, "Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would b wrong! I don’t got a prob with Franco but he ain’t Latino!"

So John's beef seems to be with the fact that a dramatized film about Castro can't help but humanize him, which he thinks is wrong considering FC's notoriously harsh regime ... but more importantly, James is a white dude. So the casting is already off to bad start, per JL.

Welp, he's just plain wrong on this one ... so says a producer of the film, John Martinez O'Felan, who tells THR that John's missing the big picture. What that larger point is, though, doesn't really come through all that well in JMOF's explanation, to be frank.

He says, "A guy like John Leguizamo has historically been looked up to by Hispanics as one of America's earliest actors of Latin descent since the 90s and I've always admired him as a fellow underdog. But his comments are culturally uneducated and a blind attack with zero substance related to this project."

O'Felan goes on to say ... "The reality of the ignorance piece falls within his statement suggesting his personal view on being 'Latino,' because a land mass or living area does not determine a person’s blood history or genetics."

He continues by saying Jon's words are "a great talking point because they represent the same confusion and identity crisis in Hollywood right now within the Hispanic community in America who are arguing that we should only identify as Latin, which is mostly because of the falsehoods being spread by the actors who are supposed to be representing us, but instead create division amongst their own people." Uhhh, what???

Yeah, it's a word salad of a response -- but from what we can gather ... he just doesn't have an issue with James being white, maybe 'cause Castro had Spanish roots. It opens a can of worms on whether Latinos can be considered white racially ... and yes, they technically can.

And for those pissed about the inauthentic casting here, that argument is sorta deflated now with the casting of Ana de Armas as Marilyn Monroe, another iconic historical figure, but on the American side. ADA still maintains traces of her Spanish accent in her performance.

Anne Heche's crash into an L.A. home this week was likely just a disaster waiting to happen -- because she was allegedly speeding down other residential streets not too long before.

TMZ has obtained video of what we're told shows Heche flying down a quiet back road nestled into a neighborhood in the Venice Beach area Friday ... with her same blue Mini Cooper, going at just about the same dangerous speeds that landed her in the hospital.

The person who shot this tells us this moment captured here -- where Anne is zooming past at an unrecognizable velocity -- was actually the third time she'd circled back on this very same street (Cabrillo Avenue). Apparently, she was going up and down and back and forth ... driving wildly in each instance, so says the eyewitness who claims to have seen it all.

We're told that on the second go-around on Cabrillo -- which isn't very far from where Anne ended up crashing in Mar Vista -- AH actually had people screaming at her to slow down.

Although she was driving incredibly fast, we slowed down our new clip and you can see Anne leaning forward and gripping the wheel -- looking flustered. It's not very different a sentiment communicated from her body language in the clear photo snapped of her earlier that day as well ... where you could see a bottle of some sort in the front with her.

It's unclear what Anne's condition is at this point after the crash -- which left her with severe burns -- but we do know cops were hesitant to do any tests on her at first, as she was clearly in no condition to undergo BAC checks and anything else they might want to administer.

Still, this new video simply confirms what we'd already reported -- that Anne was seen driving erratically in other surrounding neighborhoods that same day ... all at scary speeds.

As for how this Cabrillo Ave. incident ended ... our sources tell us disappeared around a corner on her third time up the street -- and never came back. The video was captured at 10:45 AM ... about an hour or so later, she'd smash into a random person's house.

As we reported, Heche crashed into a garage of an apartment complex just after noon in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles. A fire erupted that engulfed her car, leaving her in critical condition with severe burns.

Anne's accident comes on the heels of another insane wreck in L.A. -- this one off La Brea -- where a car ran a red light and smashed into other drivers ... reportedly killing at least 6.

Barack and Michelle Obama made a surprise appearance at a film festival this week -- perhaps not too surprising though ... it was at Martha's Vineyard.

The former First Couple took the stage Friday at the Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival -- where they said a few words before a screening of their Netflix doc, "Descendant." As you can see, they were very warmly received ... the crowd seemed shocked they showed.

Eventually, they each delivered remarks ... BO talked about the power of telling stories -- Black stories, specifically -- and praised the festival organizers for allowing African-Americans to do just that through their event.

He said, "[I]t's one of the powers of this festival, and the work that the Rances have done is to lift up stories that too often have been lost in the flow of time. Because we believe that everybody's stories matter. Everybody's got a sacred story that motivates us, moves us. It's not just a matter of nostalgia, it powers us into the present and the future."

Michelle hit that point home by noting the older generation should be encouraging their youth to actually talk to their grandparents and great-grandparents -- and take in their history while they still can. She also took some playful shots at IG and TikTok trends in the process.

The audience was feeling what she was saying ... as they were audibly agreed throughout. Pretty cool to see 'em here -- even though they're low-key in MV quite a bit. Of course, they have a summer home there (a mansion actually), so they're no strangers to the area.

BTW, as for what their Netflix-backed doc is actually about ... "Descendant" covers a small Alabama community that has descendants from the Clotilda, one of the last slave ships to have sent over Africans to the States just as it was being outlawed nationally.