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Russell Crowe is to star in a Hollywood remake of the French thriller "Pour Elle," entertainment industry Daily Variety reported on its website.
Crowe, 45, the Oscar-winning star of "Gladiator" and "A Beautiful Mind," will play a teacher trying to free his wife from prison after she is wrongly convicted of murder.
The film -- to be released as "The Next Three Days" -- will be shot by Paul Haggis, a best director Oscar-winner in 2006 for "Crash."
Haggis, 56, told Variety that Crowe had been chosen for the part for his "everyman" qualities.
"We've seen him as the gladiator, but he has embodied the Everyman in so many pictures," Haggis said, describing the movie as an exploration of faith and belief.
"The deeper theme here is, would you save the woman you loved if you knew that by doing so, you would turn into a man that woman could no longer love?"
Crowe, who was most recently seen in political thriller "State of Play," is currently working on the Ridley Scott-directed "Robin Hood."
Michael Jackson was cuddling a doll when he died.
A Los Angeles Police Department source has claimed the 'King of Pop' spent his last night snuggling up to the 'child-sized porcelain doll', which was wearing a dress.
Detectives reportedly found the 'bizarre toy' on the bed where Michael collapsed into a coma last month.
The source claims the star was 'living in squalor' in the months before he died, with clothes and other items strewn around his bedroom in his rented Holmby Hills mansion in Los Angeles, which was kept 'stiflingly hot'.
There were strange notes, apparently handwritten by Michael himself, stuck onto the room's walls bearing the words 'children are sweet' and 'children are innocent'.
The police officer said: 'The temperature upstairs was stiflingly hot, with gas fireplaces and the heating system on high because Jackson always complained of feeling cold.
'The singer's bedroom was a mess, with items seemingly thrown about and some 20 handwritten notes stuck on the walls. A porcelain girl doll wearing a dress was found on top of the covers of the bed where he slept.'
The officer also claims the singer's staff were banned from entering his room to clean up the mess.
Meanwhile, the fight for Michael's inheritance between his mother Katherine and the attorneys for the singer's estate and concert promoter AEG Live has intensified.
After losing a bid to be named temporary administrator of her son's estate, Katherine has demanded to see hundreds of financial documents, including contracts her son had with his record label, concert officials and even his father Joseph.
In papers filed at Los Angeles Superior Court, Katherine said: 'The special administrators of Michael's estate have, up to this point, refused all requests. They are apparently intent on keeping me in the dark as much and for as long as possible.'
Attorneys for AEG Live - the company promoting Michael's comeback concerts in London - argued Katherine could not be granted access to the documents because she 'would not uphold a confidentiality agreement'.
Papers filed by AEG Live said: 'Without the safeguards necessary to ensure the continued confidentiality of the artist agreement and any proposed modifications, AEG cannot provide such information to Ms. Jackson or her counsel without risking serious harm to its business.'
MANILA – Anne Curtis, who suffered minor injuries after figuring in a car accident, has been discharged from a hospital. Reports said the young actress is now resting at her home after leaving the still undisclosed facility. Curtis opted to skip her scheduled X-ray examination and went straight home in order to rest, reports added. Curtis was reportedly grateful to all those who came to her aid, some of whom were her friends from show business.
"The Wedding" artist, who was driving a Porsche Cayenne, hit an L-300 delivery van on the corner of Congressional and Mindanao Avenues in Quezon City around 2:30 a.m. Monday.
Aquino Marcelino, the van's driver, said the actress possibly fell asleep while at the wheel. Some of the actress' celebrity friends, including former boyfriend, Sam Milby, actor Jericho Rosales and singer Christian Bautista, reportedly rushed to the scene to help her. -abs-cbnNEWS.com. With a report from Doland Castro, ABS-CBN News
Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush have split, her rep confirms to Usmagazine.com.
"Nobody cheated," a source close to the couple says. "This is just a case of conflicting schedules and their lives going in different directions.
See who else is single this summer.
"It was a totally mutual decision," continues the source.
The reality star, 28, began dating Bush, 24, the running back for the New Orleans Saints, in April 2007.
Look back at Kim and Reggie's most romantic moments.
In June of this year, she denied rumors of an engagement, as falsely reported by tabloid Star.
"I am not engaged!" she wrote on her Web site. "The rumors about me picking out my ring already are also not true! I don't know where all this comes from!!"
See Kim's sexiest red carpet shots.
But last December, she told Us "of course, I would say yes!" if Bush proposed.
When asked about marriage, Kardashian told Us then: "We are totally happy, and we have a great relationship, and it's definitely where things are heading. But hopefully it will be a surprise!"
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - – A Hollywood movie made using footage of Michael Jackson rehearsing for his planned series of comeback concerts could hit theaters by the end of this year, US media reports have said.
Daily Variety reported that Sony Pictures studio was close to agreeing a 50-million-dollar deal for worldwide rights to nearly 80 hours of footage showing pop icon Jackson rehearsing before his death.
The report said AEG Entertainment, the company which owns the material and had been behind Jackson's proposed series of concerts in London, had screened the footage to Hollywood studio executives last week.
Variety reported that Kenny Ortega, the choreographer for Jackson's new "This Is It" concerts and the director of hit film "High School Musical," was expected to direct the movie.
So far only a brief snippet of Jackson's concert rehearsals have been revealed to the public.
Footage released on July 2 showed Jackson practicing a song-and-dance routine at Los Angeles's Staples Center two days before his death, supporting accounts he had been in good health.
Associates of Jackson have described the 50-year-old pop star as being in good form, including at another rehearsal the day before his death.
Jackson collapsed and died on June 25 at his rented Los Angeles mansion. A final cause of death has not been revealed as coroner's await the results of toxicology tests.
LOS ANGELES – The stage was set Monday for Michael Jackson's final act as the world capital of make-believe braced for what could be the biggest, most spectacular celebrity send-off of all time.
Ecstatic fans who won the lottery for seats at Tuesday's memorial received the tickets and spangly wristbands that will get them into the 20,000-seat Staples Center downtown. The family announced the participants will include Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Usher, Lionel Richie, Kobe Bryant, Jennifer Hudson, John Mayer and Martin Luther King III.
The legal maneuvering that marked Jackson's extraordinary and troubled life also continued on Monday, with his mother losing a bid to control his enormous but tangled estate. And in one of the few reminders of Jackson's darkest hours, a New York congressman branded Jackson a "pervert" undeserving of so much attention.
More than 1.6 million people registered for free tickets to the 10 a.m. memorial, which will be broadcast live worldwide. A total of 8,750 people were chosen to receive two tickets each. The lucky ones picked up their passes Monday at Dodger Stadium amid heavy police presence.
"I got the golden ticket!" one fan screamed out of his car window in a Willy Wonka moment as he drove out of the parking lot.
"My mother loves Elvis. This is my Elvis," said ticket winner Mynor Garcia, 29.
Downtown hotels were quickly filling. Police, trying to avoid a mob scene, warned those without tickets to stay away because they would not be able to get close to the Staples Center.
British Airways reported a surge of bookings as soon as the memorial arrangements were announced. Virgin's trans-Atlantic flights to San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles were all packed with fans and VIPs, spokesman Paul Charles said.
"I think this is America's version of Princess Diana. People want to be in the vicinity. People from the UK and elsewhere want to share their emotions together," Charles said.
About 50 theaters across the country, from Los Angeles to Topeka, Kan., to Washington, D.C., were planning to broadcast the memorial live, said Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. spokeswoman Suzanne Moore. Admission will be free _ first-come, first-served.
Jackson's friend Elizabeth Taylor will be mourning in private. She said on her Twitter feed Monday that she would not attend the memorial.
"I just don't believe that Michael would want me to share my grief with millions of others," she tweeted. "How I feel is between us. Not a public event."
In Los Angeles Superior Court, meanwhile, a judge appointed Jackson's longtime attorney and a family friend as administrators of his estate over the objections of his mother, Katherine. Attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain had been designated in Jackson's 2002 will as the people he wanted to oversee his empire.
Mrs. Jackson's attorneys expressed concerns about McClain and Branca's financial leadership.
"Frankly, Mrs. Jackson has concerns about handing over the keys to the kingdom," said one of her attorneys, John E. Schreiber.
Another one of her attorneys, Burt Levitch, told Judge Mitchell Beckloff that Branca had previously been removed from financial positions of authority by Jackson. Branca's attorney said he was rehired by Jackson on June 17, days before Jackson's death.
Branca and McClain will have to post a $1 million bond on the estate, and their authority will expire Aug. 3, when another hearing will be held.
"Mr. Branca and Mr. McClain for the next month are at the helm of the ship," the judge said.
Jackson died at age 50 with hundreds of millions in debts. But a court filing estimates his estate is worth more than $500 million. His assets are destined for a trust, with his three children, his mother and charities as beneficiaries.
On eBay, bids for memorial tickets were reaching as high as $3,000, and prices on Craigslist were in the thousands, although both sites were removing postings attempting to sell memorial tickets.
Debbie Rowe, Jackson's ex-wife and the mother of Jackson's two oldest children, had planned to attend the memorial but backed out Monday.
"The onslaught of media attention has made it clear her attendance would be an unnecessary distraction to an event that should focus exclusively on Michael's legacy," her attorney Marta Almli said in a statement. "Debbie will continue to celebrate Michael's memory privately."
In New York, Republican Rep. Peter King released a YouTube video calling Jackson, who was acquitted of child molestation charges, a "pervert" and a "low-life."
But the memories of Jackson's problems were far from the minds of fans preparing to say goodbye.
"It's the passing of a great soul," said Matt Tyson, 31, of Ojai, Calif. "He brought people together, helped express something that's in us all."
The family was expected to hold a private funeral at some point at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles. No public funeral procession through city streets was scheduled, and it was not known whether Jackson's body would be at the Staples Center memorial.
In a symbolic convergence of events, however, the circus will be there.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey starts a run at Staples Center on Wednesday. In the predawn hours before Jackson's memorial, the elephants will walk from the train station to the arena.
___
Associated Press Writers Anthony McCartney, Danica Kirka and Michelle Rindels contributed to this report.
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NBC executives changed their minds Sunday and decided to join other networks that will televise Michael Jackson's memorial service live this week.NBC joins ABC, CNN, MSNBC and E! Entertainment in offering the ceremony live. It's set for 10 a.m. PDT (1700 GMT) Tuesday at Los Angeles' Staples Center.
NBC had initially planned only a one-hour prime-time special on Tuesday night, but said Sunday it would also cover the event live. It was not immediately clear who would anchor.
Charles Gibson will anchor coverage for ABC, which is setting aside its typical daytime programming.
CBS anchor Katie Couric will be at the Staples Center, although the network had not yet said whether it was offering live coverage of the memorial.
CNN has seen its ratings soar with the Jackson story, and it will show the memorial on the main network and HLN (formerly Headline News). CNN International will air the ceremony to the rest of the world. Anderson Cooper, Larry King and Don Lemon are the anchors for CNN coverage. Robin Meade, A.J. Hammer and Jane Velez-Mitchell will anchor at HLN. CNN en Espanol also will cover it.
Chris Jansing will anchor live coverage of the memorial on MSNBC. Fox News Channel hadn't announced its plans.
E! Entertainment will cover the ceremony on its television network and its Web site.
