TMZ.com

Donald Trump's guest starring role in "Home Alone: Lost in New York" was not a nod to his talent ... turns out he was demanding the role in return for allowing filming at his hotel.

Director Chris Columbus told Business Insider how Trump drew a line in the sand -- you wanna shoot at The Plaza, then put me in your movie.

Columbus said, “Like most locations in New York City, you just pay a fee and you are allowed to shoot in that location. We approached The Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time, because we wanted to shoot in the lobby. We couldn’t rebuild The Plaza on a soundstage."

Chris said the future President was blunt ... “Trump said OK. We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie.'”

Now here's the thing. It seems Columbus thought Trump would be an annoyance to audiences, but it was the opposite ... "When we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen. So I said to my editor, 'Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience.' But he did bully his way into the movie.”

Amber Heard was indeed sidelined in the new 'Aquaman' movie -- just as an ex-WB honcho confirmed under oath last year -- and the word is ... she's barely even a side character.

"Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" -- the sequel to the 2018 superhero hit starring Jason Momoa -- just got released in theaters this weekend ... and there's a lot of bad news in terms of box office and reviews, but perhaps the most interesting is Heard's screen time.

According to Business Insider, AH only appears on camera for about 20 minutes or so ... and while she does talk in the film, it ain't very much -- just a measly 11 lines apparently.

BI says Amber shows up for a few action sequences toward the beginning and the end, but she's largely removed from the main story ... even though her and JM's movie baby serves as a central plot point. Some of the lines she reportedly delivers are also pretty laughable.

Here's some of her dialogue ... "There haven't been outbreaks like this in ages. Why now?" ... "They raided the storage vault, we can't let them get away" ... "Where's Jr.?" ... "No!" ... "I sense something in the water" ... "Thank you." There are other lines, but they're also minimal.

Instead of Amber taking center stage, Momoa and Patrick Wilson end up teaming up and leading most of the film. Yahya Abdul-Mateen and Nicole Kidman are also in the mix.

Not surprising that AH was downplayed -- that was being telegraphed dating back to 2022, when she was on trial after Johnny Depp sued her. Walter Hamada -- the ex-Warner Bros. boss -- got grilled in a deposition, and explained the studio decided to sideline her based on a lack of perceived chemistry between her and Momoa, and wanting a different story.

Of course, Amber's team suspected this was because of everything that was going on with Depp at the time -- but the studio denied that. In any case, she's an afterthought in the film.

Once JD scored his W in the trial, many vowed to boycott the film if she wasn't dropped from it -- but at this point, it's hard to tell if the Amber factor really played into the box office numbers thus far ... which aren't all that great, despite the flick being #1 right now.

'Aquaman 2' is on pace to make about $40 mil through Monday ... crappy by superhero movie standards. With that said, it'll lead the holiday weekend pack -- so ... congrats?

Mike Nussbaum -- a longtime character actor -- has died due to old age ... TMZ has confirmed.

His daughter, Karen, tells us her father passed away from natural causes in bed Saturday morning at his Chicago home, with her right by his side. We're told Nussbaum had been in hospice over the past year -- and Karen adds, "It was his time."

MN was one of the oldest living actors still working in the biz in recent years -- having recently performed in some plays of late ... but his on-camera résumé is impressive too.

He'll perhaps best be remembered as Gentle Rosenburg from "Men in Black" or Bob Drimmer in "Fatal Attraction" ... or even the principal from "Field of Dreams." He'd been in a lot.

Some other notable movie credits of his include ... "House of Games," "Things Change," "Desperate Hours," "Losing Isaiah," "Steal Big Steal Little," "Dirty Work," "Osso Bucco," "Towing," "Tom of Your Life" and more. He'd acted in some big TV shows as well through the years.

Just a taste of some of the series he'd been in ... "Frasier," "L.A. Law," "The Commish," "The X-Files," "Early Edition," "Cupid," "The Chicago Code," "The Equalizer," "Spenser: For Hire," etc.

Nussbaum was considered a legend in the local theater scene there in Chi-Town. He was 99, and just a week short of reaching age 100.

Bradley Cooper beelined it out of a big news conference for "Maestro" Thursday after someone called him to say something had happened to his daughter.

Cooper was speaking to the NYC crowd when he received the call from 6-year-old Lea's school nurse, after which he told the crowd, "So sorry. The school nurse just called me."

He then left the room to call the school back and then returned, telling the crowd he had to get to the school STAT to administer some sort of medicine that was out of bounds for the school ... this according to the Daily Mail. He said, "I have to apply something that they won't allow."

It's unclear what was wrong with Bradley's daughter and what medicine was used to treat the issue.

Sydney Sweeney is back at it, addressing those rumors she's hooking up with her "Anyone But You" costar Glen Powell -- and doing her best to make you believe there might have been something there.

The actress says she's been A-OK with the swirling speculation despite being engaged to Jonathan Davino -- but as for Glen, he's had a rough time with it all ... especially following his split from GF Gigi Paris earlier this year (which only escalated the rumors).

Speaking to Glamour, Syd says their time filming in Australia was a beautiful experience for them, so Glen's distress over the situation dampened the overall mood ... but she still cares for him a lot.

When it comes to her IRL romance with fiancé Jonathan, she likes to keep it on the DL ... cause she's wary of people building celebs up to tear them down.

For the record, Jonathan's been involved in the rom-com as a producer, and Syd calls him her "producing partner" ... insinuating there'd be no opportunity for behind-the-scenes hanky panky with Glen.

Though there's plenty on-screen ... with SS and GP seen in a steamy naked shower scene in the trailer -- so imagine how raunchy the full-length, R-rated film will be!

And, that's exactly what Sydney, Glen and the studio behind the film want you to do. It's show BUSINESS, folks.

Taraji P. Henson is tired of working her butt off in Hollywood and being paid a fraction of what she feels she's worth ... getting emotional over what she says is a huge pay gap.

The actress broke down in tears when asked if she was seriously considering quitting acting, telling Gayle King she feels uncertain about her on-screen career, and money's the main factor.

Taraji says she's still being underpaid for big movie roles despite being a well-established and super famous actress ... reaching a boiling point.

The way Taraji explains it ... even if she's paid $10 million for a movie, she won't see anywhere near that when the dust settles ... taxes take a huge chunk and then she's got to break off a bunch of money for her team.

Taraji says ... "the math ain't mathin" .... and it sounds like this has been an issue for her going back a while now.

In her interview with Gayle, in which she's plugging her new movie "The Color Purple," Taraji recalls her contract for 'Benjamin Button' ... she says she was asking for $500,000 and was only paid $100,000.

Taraji's gone on to do tons of movies and win awards, but she says every time she thinks she's broken through, she's humbled at the negotiating table.

Jonathan Majors has fled the Big Apple after his high-profile guilty verdict -- he's in Los Angeles, and he's still rolling with his ever-loyal GF Meagan Good.

The embattled actor -- who was convicted on assault and harassment charges Monday in his Manhattan criminal trial -- touched down at LAX late Tuesday night WITH Meagan right by his side, along with at least one other person in his crew.

As you can see, they were going down a set of stairs from the jetway to the tarmac and a waiting car -- it's a common move celebs make to avoid cameras outside LAX.

No clear shots of their faces or anything like that -- these pics were taken from a distance -- but everything about the scene says MG is sticking by Majors' side even after he was found guilty.

Mind you, she walked out with him after the jury returned its verdict ... with her head high.

We didn't see Meagan with JM while he stepped out by himself in NYC Tuesday afternoon -- but she's obviously still with the guy.

It's possible he wanted to get out of town and lay low somewhere else -- but frankly, Hollywood might not be the best place for that. If anything, there's more photogs here than perhaps even in NY ... so unless he plans on hunkering down in a house, he'll be spotted plenty.

Macaulay Culkin's family in 'Home Alone' was certainly presented as wealthy in the flick -- but as it turns out, they were actually in the top 1% ... according to real-world economists.

The NYT asked a question that's been on movie lovers' minds for years now -- just how rich were the McCallisters??? They ended up consulting experts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago -- plus diving into a ton of other research -- to get somewhat of a clear answer.

For starters, the outlet went to real estate sites like Realtor.com to gauge where exactly they lived in Chi-Town -- and about how much their mansion might've cost back in the late '80s/early '90s, the period in which the film is depicted. 'Memba, it came out in 1990.

Per the Times, the house that was used as the famous exterior for 'HA' actually belongs to a super ritzy burb in Chicago called Winnetka -- one of the most expensive neighborhoods in America. Based on median incomes for folks who lived there back in the day ... the economists the NYT consulted peg the McCallisters as a likely $305,000/year household.

Mind you, they landed on that amount for the time period ... so, adjusted for inflation, that comes out to about $665,000/year in 2022. In other words, they're pretty GD rich.

Now, in terms of how Kevin McCallister and co. made that type of money and what his parents might've done for work -- the Times uses context clues in the movie to speculate that the mom was a successful fashion designer, and that pops was a general businessman.

It's a pretty fascinating deep dive into the beloved classic -- and if they were, in fact, as ballin' as the Times suggests ... it makes sense why the Wet Bandits targeted their home.

Jason Mewes is going from stoner comedian to candidate for father of the year ... because he had a big role dancing ballet in his daughter's production of "The Nutcracker."

Jay performed in his daughter Logan's play earlier this month, dancing alongside other dads of the cast.

It sounds like Jason's daddy-daughter ballet gig was a year in the making ... we're told Logan saw the 'Nutcracker' last Christmas at the Marat Daukayev School of Ballet in Los Angeles and loved it so much, she had her parents enroll her in the school's ballet classes.

Rehearsals for this year's play have been going on since at least October, which is when Jason was approached about being a Dancing Dad.

We're told Jason was first approached by Pamela Daukayev, the school's executive director and Marat's wife, with Jason agreeing despite having no clue what being a Dancing Dad entailed.

Jason's ballet responsibilities included 4 dances onstage in costume with ballerina Lola Vernetti ... plus helping the other 27 Dancing Dads assist the crew and move furniture and set pieces between scenes. No easy task to say the least.

We're told Jason rehearsed several times a week leading up to the big show ... and he also participated in daily tech rehearsals onstage the week before the performance.

Logan sounds like a pretty good dancer herself ... we're told she earned a demi-solo ballet routine in the Pulcinella scene -- a 21-section ballet.

We're told Jason feels the experience is one of his best moments as a father ... and Logan was proud to have him onstage with her.

Alec Baldwin popped up at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in NYC -- and blew a gasket at an anti-Israel protester, prompting police to whisk away the actor before the situation escalated.

Baldwin got into a heated back-and-forth with the man at Monday night's march in Manhattan, which was organized by a Palestinian-led community group, Within Our Lifetime. It wasn't clear if Baldwin was part of the protest or just passing through.

Check out the video shot by NBC ... Baldwin offers a stern look to the man who mentions something about Hollywood -- and condemning Israel for the war in the Gaza Strip.

Baldwin responds, "You've already got your mind made up. I'm in Hollywood?"

The man repeatedly asks, "Is that your answer?"

Baldwin shouts, "You ask stupid questions! Ask me a smart question!"

The man starts screaming again about condemning Israel.

That's when Baldwin completely loses his s**t, getting in the man's face and yelling, "Ask me a smart question!!!!"

Luckily, NYPD officers were right there to escort Baldwin away before things potentially turned violent.

Other videos show Baldwin protected by cops as he gets heckled by protesters who are cursing at him.  At one point, Baldwin turns to the demonstrators and says, "You're really helping your cause."

As you know, Israel has been at war with Hamas since October -- and thousands of people have died on both sides.

Hamas militants -- who govern the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip - triggered the conflict after invading Israel, killing 1,400 citizens.

Amanda Bynes is bringing her podcast back from the dead ... switching course and soldiering on despite saying she was going to pull the plug after just one episode.

The day after saying her new podcast was going the way of the dinosaur because of a lack of big-name guests, Amanda says she's going to continue the podcast.

Amanda says her friends convinced her to reconsider giving up so soon ... and she says she's excited to record a new episode.

Remember ... Amanda said she was going to kill the podcast after the inaugural episode because A-list musicians like Drake, Jack Harlow and Post Malone weren't lining up to join her as guests on the podcast, as she hoped.

Now, Amanda says she realizes podcasts need time to grow a following ... and those big-name guests she has on her radar might join down the road.

Of course, no matter who the guests are they won't be talking about her mental health struggles or her Hollywood career.

Still, Amanda says she has some guests lined up ... and her "Amanda Bynes and Paul Sieminski: Podcast" is doing well on Spotify early on.

James McCaffrey -- an actor best known for voicing the popular video game character Max Payne -- has died after a battle with cancer ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for the star tells us McCaffrey passed away Sunday surrounded by friends and family. We're told he'd been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and that he ultimately succumbed to the disease.

His rep notes ... "One of Dick Wolf's proteges (""Swift Justice), McCaffrey went on to a successful 35 year career in television and film. Trained at the Actor's Studio, he never lost his love for creating characters; however, his good looks often pushed him toward leading man roles."

Word of McCaffrey's death first started to spread through a post from "Entourage" star Kevin Dillon -- who honored his friend with a photo of the both of them and a remembrance.

Like we mentioned, McCaffrey will perhaps best be remembered for serving as the voice actor for the 'Max Payne' video game series -- which included at least 3 installments -- but his resume went well beyond just that ... with TV and movie roles on big time shows.

The series he famously appeared in was "Rescue Me," where he portrayed Jimmy Keefe for 56 episodes between 2004 and 2011. Other shows he starred in included ... "Revenge," "Beautiful People," "Law & Order: SVU," "As the World Turns," "Swift Justice," "Civil Wars," "Canterbury's Law," "Suits," "Blue Bloods," "Bluff City Law," "She's Gotta Have It" and more.

Of course, he was also one of the leads for the famed "Viper" way back in the '90s. And McCaffrey acted in a number of major films as well -- "The Truth About Cats & Dogs," "The Big Take," "A Gifted Man," "American Splendor," "She Hate Me" ... just to name a few.

McCaffrey is survived by his wife Rochelle Bostrom ... and daughter Tiernan. He was 65.

Amanda Bynes has hit the brakes on her new podcast after just one episode ... and it's all because she's unable to book famous entertainers like Drake.

In a video posted Sunday to TikTok, the ex-child star explained that she was pausing her "Amanda Bynes and Paul Sieminski: Podcast" on Spotify even though it was "doing very well and the response has been great."

Amanda says the reason was simple ... she just couldn't convince Jack Harlow, Post Malone, Drake or some other A-list musicians to come on the show.

But, Amanda promised the podcast would return if she could reel in those types of guests.

She ended by thanking everyone for watching the one episode she hosted with her friend Paul Sieminski on December 9.

For 26 minutes, the two chatted with Amanda's longtime buddy, LA-based tattoo artist Dahlia Moth.

The "pause" comes as somewhat of a surprise because Amanda just told TMZ ... while she had no plans to discuss her personal problems or her former career as an actress, the podcast was still going full steam ahead.

As you know, Amanda has struggled for years with mental health issues and was placed in a conservatorship in 2013 following her many legal troubles.

Once a heartthrob, always a heartthrob ... that's the overwhelming sentiment, anyway, as Brad Pitt rings in his 60th birthday Monday.

Brad's fans started the festivities by hopping online to fawn over him -- just one scroll online lands you in a sea of comments dubbing him the "sexiest man alive" and "my forever crush" ... with others demanding to know his secret for staying young.

It's supposed to be an extra special milestone for Brad ... who'll most likely be blowing out the candles alongside his much younger girlfriend of one year, Ines de Ramon.

Jewelry designer Ines is 27 years his junior -- and this is his first proper relationship since his public divorce from Angelina Jolie.

Sources also told People last month they're in a good place ... with the actor introducing Ines as his girlfriend to others -- that she makes him very happy.

6:10 AM PT -- Amanda just made the difficult decision to pause her podcast after just one episode, telling fans she was unable to land the guests she'd hoped for -- including Drake and Jack Harlow.

Amanda Bynes has a new podcast, but she'll be steering clear of the mental health struggles that have overtaken her life.

Amanda tells TMZ ... she won't be talking about anything regarding her former career or personal life on "Amanda Bynes & Paul Sieminski: The Podcast" -- which includes her time in inpatient treatment and mental health centers.

She tells us the pod is focused on the guests that join her and Paul ... saying it's their careers, personal lives, and fun stories they find more interesting.

As we reported, Amanda and Paul debuted their new podcast this week, with the first episode featuring an L.A.-based tattoo artist that the former child star has known for years.

It's a big deal for AB -- as well as her fans -- marking the first time she's come back into the spotlight after dipping out of Hollywood and moving on to other ventures, like fashion.

Dick Van Dyke has a storied and legendary career in showbiz, but the guy says he probably could've gotten off his ass early on and conquered much more than he already did.

The iconic entertainer, who just turned 98 last week, got profiled in a new 'CBS Sunday Morning' episode this weekend ... where he reflected on his many years working on Hollywood and beyond, the fruitful exploits of which he calls nothing but dumb luck.

Watch ... Dick says everything that ever came his way professionally -- and best believe it was a lot -- was simply good fortune ... 'cause, according to him, he wasn't a chaser.

DVD says he wasn't hustling for jobs or gigs when he was starting out -- and explains things just naturally landed in his lap. In fact, he even goes so far as to say he's naturally a lazy guy ... which is insane to think about considering how much work he has under his belt.

As he puts it, he'd go out and do a movie or something, come home ... and literally just sit around waiting for the phone to ring with a new opportunity -- and they always arrived.

The interviewer sounds incredulous, asking if he really didn't plan all the success he's had -- to which he says ... not really. Somehow, he goes on to claim he doesn't have much drive!

Even if his long streak of great art was all serendipitous, we're happy it worked out. Dick's a national treasure, and the fact he's still as sharp as he is ... nothing short of a blessing.