Halle Berry: Maxin’ and Relaxin’
Halle Berry: Maxin’ and Relaxin’
With the stress of newfound motherhood, as well as a constantly beckoning movie career, Halle Berry decided to treat herself to a day of rest and relaxation.
The “Monster’s Ball” babe was spotted on her way to the celebrity-friendly Kinera Spa in Los Angeles earlier today looking like she was ready to let all of her tension melt away.
Miss Berry kept it casual in a sleeveless v-neckline white and grey minidress along with a pair of basic flip flops, celebrity shades, and an oversized handbag.
In related news, earlier this week at the 2008 BET Awards, Halle took home the award for Best Actress, while fellow Oscar winner Denzel Washington snagged the Best Actor honors.
George Clooney Offers Two Cents to SAG, AFTRA
George Clooney doesn’t just play a fixer in the movies.
The Oscar winner, who became an unofficial spokesman for the Biz during the 100-day writers’ strike that screwed things up for a lot of people earlier this year, has spoken up yet again, this time in a letter urging members of the Screen Actors Guild and its little-sister union, the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists, to make sure the very actors they’re trying to help don’t get lost in the shuffle created by the latest studio-union showdown.
AFTRA opted to negotiate with major studios and networks independently from SAG this year, and its leaders have been criticized for their willingness to accept a deal that, as far as SAG is concerned, lets the suits off easy.
“Both are, of course, right,” Clooney wrote in a two-page memo. “AFTRA feels that a work stoppage would be devastating to its members and SAG believes that if they don’t draw a line in the sand, the studios will repeat what they did with DVDs.”
But, the Peacemaker star added, it’s important that union heads remember who they’re really fighting fornot $20 million men like Clooney (although every thesp could be affected by a work stoppage) but the thousands of working actors who don’t necessarily know where their next paycheck is coming from after one shoot wraps.
“Doug Allen (the SAG national executive director) has said on several occasions that this would be a negotiation for ’the linemen, not for the quarterbacks.’ (Doug did a lot of the negotiating for the NFL.) The spirit of the statement isn’t wrong…it’s just the structure,” Clooney wrote.
“Unlike the NFL, in this guild, the quarterbacks protect the linemen. I’ve been very lucky in my career, which has put me in the place that I don’t need a union to check on my residuals, or my pension, or protect my 12-hour turnaround. I used to need that, and may again…but right now I don’t. That means it’s my responsibility to look out for actors who are trying to stay afloat from year to year. Anything less is irresponsible of me.”
In response to Clooney’s attention-getting perspective, a rep for SAG told the Los Angeles Times Thursday that the union “appreciates George Clooney’s observations and opinions regarding our current negotiations and the critical issues facing all actors today. We welcome this valuable input.”
And it isn’t as if Clooney wants anyone kowtowing to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which reps the studios.
“First, we set up a panel…Jack Nicholson and Tom Hanks, for instance…10 of them that sit down with the studio heads once a year…10 people that the studio heads don’t often say ’no’ to. Those 10 people walk in the door with all the new data that SAG and AFTRA compile, and adjust the pay for actors…once a year.”
Hanks was tsk-tsked this week for adding his name to an online petition encouraging AFTRA members to approve the tentative deal the union arrived at last month. A host of other stars, including Nicholson, Viggo Mortensen, Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette, lent their names to an ad in the Hollywood trades urging AFTRA members to reject the deal and take a tougher stance alongside SAG, whose current contract expires June 30.
“We are not finished,” the ad stated. “We believe there are issues that are at the heart of every actor’s career that remain unresolved by AFTRA.”
What would help would be if these hotshots put their money where their mouth is, Clooney suggests.
“Second, we go to the actors who make an exorbitant amount of money, and raise their dues,” he wrote. “Right now, there’s a cap of 6,000 bucks that actors pay their union…based on $1 million in earnings. Make it $6,000 for every million…if someone makes $20 million, they pay $120,000 into the union. That could go a long way in helping pensions and health care. The quarterbacks have to do more.
“What we can’t do is pit artist against artist…because the one thing you can be sure of is that stories about Jack Nicholson vs. Tom Hanks only strengthens the negotiating power of the producers.”
Well, here’s hoping a Hail Mary pass reaches the end zone in time.
Jon Voight joins 24
Oscar-winner Jon Voight, father of a certain actress called Angelina Jolie, will return to the small screen this fall. The actor, who recently appeared in movies such as National Treasure and Transformers, was cast in an important role on FOX’s hit series 24.
The 69-year-old actor may be best known for his movies but he is no stranger to TV. He appeared in a handful of made-for-TV movies, in mini-series such as the 1993 Return to Lonesome Dove in which he played lead character Capt. Woodrow F. Call, and in series like Gunsmoke for example.
Slight spoilers after the jump!
TV Guide reports that Voight will make his first 24 appearance in the two-hour prequel special to air on November 23 on FOX. He will then appear in most of the episodes of the second part of the series’ seventh season starting in January 2009. Since around 10 episodes of next season have been completed, expect Voight to appear on the show around episodes 11 to 13.
Voight will need to channel his inner baddie for the role because he was cast as the evil doer of the season. Supposedly, Tony Almeida’s will not be as bad as Voight’s character will. Not much more is known about the character but The Hollywood Reporter says that he’ll be behind the terrorist threat Jack must try to stop.
Jamie Foxx Groomed for Settlement
Jamie Foxx ironed out the creases in his legal docket.
The actor has reached a settlement with the stylist who sued him last year for supposedly not paying her for the fashion-savvy services she provided on multiple occasions, according to documents filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Freelancer Stacy Young claimed in her suit, which she filed in February 2007, that Foxx and his label, Foxxhole Records, left her high and dry after she helped dress him for the 2006 BET Awards and for a series of press junkets while promoting Miami Vice.
Per the complaint, the plaintiff was seeking payment for services rendered, as well as unspecified damages for “thousands of dollars in costs” from employment she turned down to work with the Oscar winner.
Terms of the final deal were not disclosed. Young’s attorney told reporters they were “pleased” with the arrangement.
Foxx’s camp, which argued in response to the suit that it was Universal Studios and not Foxx that had hired Young for the Miami Vice gig, has not commented on the settlement.