People: Reality intrudes at film premiere
Give Bono credit. The U2 front man isn’t about to let a coming-out party spoil his political conscience.
Saying that he had “slept uneasily” after seeing photos and TV footage of violence in Myanmar, the 47-year-old singer, addressing the media at Thursday’s London premiere of the film “Across the Universe,” talked of praying for the country’s pro-democracy demonstrators.
After a month of mostly peaceful demonstrations against Myanmar’s military government, security forces opened fire on protesters Wednesday, and witnesses said police beat and detained dozens of Buddhist monks.
“It is extraordinary to see the Buddhist monks, isn’t it?” Bono said. “Their nonviolence may, I pray, win out over the ugliness of the situation.”
Bono said he had met and corresponded with Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader of Myanmar’s opposition National League for Democracy Party.
“U2 actually wrote a song – ‘Walk On’ – for her,” he said.
Psssst! Wanna buy a script?
We’ve heard of filmmaker robbing ideas, but this is ridiculous. Armed bandits raided Francis Ford Coppola‘s Argentine headquarters Wednesday night, tied up employees and stole a computer with the 68-year-old director’s screenplay for the upcoming feature film “Tetro.” At least five people entered the Buenos Aires offices of Zoetrope Argentina, which is located in Palermo, a neighborhood of chic boutiques and trendy restaurants interspersed among homes and abandoned warehouses.
Sister Fox pleads innocent
Actress Vivica A. Fox, 43, pleaded innocent on Thursday to driving drunk six months after being stopped for allegedly driving 80 mph on a Los Angeles freeway. Fox wasn’t present as her attorney entered her plea to two misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence.
According to the arrest report, Fox berated officers after failing a series of sobriety tests. “Fox began to walk away, yelling at my partner, ‘Brother, help a sister, are you going to let this racist white cop do this … well, are you?’ “
PDAs can put you away
Five months ago, during an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was embraced and kissed in public by actor Richard Gere. The embrace/kiss were seen as a violation of India’s anti-obscenity laws. Though initially Shetty was ordered not to leave the country, that directive was dismissed by India’s Supreme Court. Yet immigration officials at Mumbai airport briefly detained Shetty on Wednesday, leaving her in tears when she arrived later in Berlin.
The birthday bunch
Actor William Windom is 84. Actor Arnold Stang is 82. Blues singer Koko Taylor is 79. Actress Brigitte Bardot is 73. Singer Ben E. King is 69. Actor Joel Higgins (“Silver Spoons”) is 64. Actor Jeffrey Jones is 61. Writer-director-actor John Sayles is 57. Actress Sylvia Kristel is 55. Actress-comedian Janeane Garofalo is 43. Country singer Matt King is 41. Actress Mira Sorvino is 40. TV personality Moon Zappa is 40. Actress Naomi Watts is 39. Country singer Mandy Barnett is 32. Rapper Young Jeezy is 30. Actress Hilary Duff is 20.