Twenty mil? That’s quite the pretty penny, woman
ALTHOUGH SHE DIDN’T star in a film this year, Julia Roberts is again at the top of the list of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses – at $20 million per movie.
Roberts, who took time off following the birth of her twins last year, tops The Hollywood Reporter’s annual list of the highest-paid actresses for the second straight year.
Nicole Kidman is second, with a $16 million to $17 million per-film price tag, followed by “Walk the Line” star Reese Witherspoon and actress-producer Drew Barrymore, who each command $15 million per project.
Renee Zellweger, Angelina Jolie and Cameron Diaz each have a $10 million to $15 million asking price, followed by Jodie Foster ($10 million to $12 million), Charlize Theron ($10 million) and Jennifer Aniston ($9 million).
Even actresses who dropped off this year’s list – including Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Lopez – earn salaries comparable to male actors, said Bob Dowling, Hollywood Reporter editor and publisher.
Small change, chump
Kevin Costner has sued a film company that he claims promised to pay him $8 million to act in a movie.
The suit says Costner and Ascendant Pictures agreed in December 2004 on pay and movie royalties, but the company pulled out of the agreement in June.
“Taming Ben Taylor,” a romantic comedy about a grouchy, divorced man who refuses to sell his failing vineyard to the golf course next door, was never made.
Now that’s what you call taking license
DMX was slapped with a seven-day sentence by a Bronx judge who called him “a violation waiting to happen.”
The 34-year-old rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, pleaded guilty Tuesday to driving with a suspended license in the Bronx after his sport utility vehicle struck a car that in turn hit a police car last April.
The sentence will run concurrently with a 70-day term that he’s already serving for driving with a suspended license in Queens.
DMX previously was charged with smashing his SUV into a parking lot gate at Kennedy Airport, and also received a 104-mph speeding ticket.
Down the garden path
Former Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell has sued ex-wife and former manager Susan Silver, claiming she conspired to divert money owed him to other members of the band.
The suit also alleges that Silver refused to return his journals, music sheets and two Grammy Awards. It seeks damages exceeding $1 million.
Cornell, who now fronts Audioslave, was with Soundgarden from 1984 to 1997. He met Silver when she became the band’s manager, and they were wed in 1990.
Pink or blue for White?
White Stripes rocker Jack White‘s wife, model Karen Elson, is pregnant with the couple’s first child, her publicist confirmed to MTV News. The baby is reportedly due next spring.
White and Elson were wed in June in a ceremony conducted in a canoe on the Amazon River in Brazil.
Though White and bandmate Meg White have claimed to be brother and sister, court records have suggested they were married for four years before divorcing in 2000.
The birthday bunch
Director Woody Allen is 70. Singer Lou Rawls is 70. Comedian Richard Pryor is 65. Singer Bette Midler is 60. Singer Gilbert O’Sullivan is 59. Actor Treat Williams is 54. Singer Kim Richey is 49. Actress Charlene Tilton is 47. Model Carol Alt is 45. Actor Jeremy Northam is 44. Actor Nestor Carbonell (“Suddenly Susan”) is 38. Actress Ashley Monique Clark (“The Hughleys”) is 17.