Mena Suvari attends the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. (photo: Randall Michelson/WireImage.com)

Sarandon Digs Deep

Susan Sarandon has discovered some skeletons in the family closet. Tracking down her ancestral roots, the actress discovered her family doesn't hail from Wales (as previously believed), but from the village of Ludgershall. According to local church records, her great great uncle was a felon, having been convicted of killing a rabbit using a ferret and a net. That's when he and the family high-tailed it to Wales where her Great Great Grandmother Sophia married a local worker and spawned "Spunky Susanna" (her great grandmother). Spunky Susanna moved to London, met a boy, fell in love and followed him to America — alone. "That's very romantic on her part," said Sarandon, "or desperate." (photo: Bennett Raglin/WireImage.com)

[Gazette Reporter via ThisIsWiltshire.co.uk]

A Real Class Act

According to the rules of American fame, 'Conchords' Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement should be splitting the summer months between narcotics arrests and child-custody hearings. So why exactly is Bret laying low at his mom's house in New Zealand? "A big part of our job is writing, so it's in an office, it's long hours," says his bandmate. "We don't really go swanning around parties." Still, with all the show's success, the party has started to "swan" around them — especially at their shows. "The audiences became a lot bigger," Clement says, "girls coming up to us and wanting autographs and being too nervous to speak to us." Finally sound like a recipe for some stateside scandal? Sorry ladies, McKenzie's engaged, and Clement has a girlfriend. (photo: Corbis)

[Stuff.co.nz]

Danny Kass, Lil Jon, Adrian Grenier and The Dingo hit the slopes in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. (photo: Chris Polk/WireImage.com)

Urban Daddy

Looks like all that 'Sex' for Chris Noth led to a logical conclusion. The actor famous for playing Mr. Big on 'Sex and the City' just welcomed a son with longtime girlfriend Tara Wilson. Orion Christopher Noth, weighing in at 7 pounds and 10 ounces, was born in Los Angeles on Friday. Noth and Wilson also have another baby on the way — the independent drama 'Frame of Mind,' but in this performance, Noth will star and Wilson will fill the supporting role. (photo: James Devaney/WireImage.com)

[AP via Pittsburgh Tribune Review]

Armchair Therapist

Gabriel Byrne found the hardest part of playing therapist Paul Weston in HBO's new series 'In Treatment' was being a good listener. "There are very few roles that require such an amount of reaction," Byrne explained. "I decided not to wear glasses, to not rely on that prop. No moustache, no pretend accent. All of that gives you something to hide behind. I decided I'm just gonna be naked here, to see what would happen if there was nothing between me and the 'patient."'

Byrne figured there wasn't much research to do to prepare to listen, but does have one regret: "I didn't test out the chair before shooting began....The chair was a major distraction to me. Off-camera, between takes, I was constantly moving around in that chair, trying to find a comfortable position."

[K-Lite FM]

Cheeky

The big movie offers will be rolling in for awhile for Amy Ryan, now that she's received an Oscar® nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Ben Affleck's 'Gone Baby Gone.' There's only one downside: "My cheeks hurt. I haven't stopped smiling," Ryan said.

Other HBO stars who received nods include George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson ('Michael Clayton'), Ruby Dee ('American Gangster'), Laura Linney ('The Savages') and Marion Cotillard (as Edith Piaf in HBO Films' 'La Vie en Rose'). (photo: George Napolitano/FilmMagic.com)

[Monsters and Critics]

[Hollywood Today]

Alan Alda, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick and Louis C.K. attend the premiere of 'Diminished Capacity' at the Sundance Film Festival. (photo: George Pimentel/WireImage.com)

Reformed

Every Mafia script in town eventually makes its way to Lorraine Bracco. But now the actress is developing her own. She recently optioned former Gambino-family wiseguy Lou Ferrante's tell-all 'Unlocked: A Journey From Prison to Proust,' about his conversion to Judaism while serving a ten-year prison sentence.

Bracco is excited about the first book she's ever optioned. "Imagine all the things he [Ferrante] has been through, the changes he underwent in prison," she said. "And then think about the fact that it's not just a great movie story, it's true." Ferrante says it was access that attracted him to his new faith: "I figured that with Judaism, you don't go through a middleman, you go right to the top guy and talk to him....That's how I used to handle business on the streets. It made a lot of sense." (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

[Los Angeles Times]

Fool's Gold

Ari Gold's name may open doors in the Hollywood depicted in 'Entourage,' but in real life, Jeremy Piven's doppelganger has trouble getting his calls returned. The real Ari Gold, a filmmaker, musician and friend of Adrian Grenier's (they are both members of the band The Honey Brothers), is in Sundance with his film 'Adventures of Power' about a guy who wants to be the world's best air-drummer (played by Grenier). In an interview he explained the hazards of his name. After breaking his arm on a movie set, "two out of three doctors didn't return my calls and when I called again the next day they said, 'Oh we thought that was a joke.'"

Even when he's not calling 911, Gold finds it hard to get respect. "Usually when you meet someone they say: 'Nice to meet you,' and now they say: 'No!'" (photo: Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com)

[MTV movies blog]

Running a Dirty Campaign

When Jim Norton's latest book, 'Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch,' landed next to Al Gore's environmental bible on the New York Times best-seller list, the notoriously raunchy comedian found nothing amiss. "You look at it and his book is about saving the planet and mine, well, mine is about [having sex with] fat chicks," he says. "It's about the same, I guess." But don't expect Norton's new proximity to a Nobel laureate to politicize his humor; he's already marked his territory: "People think talking about sex — being dirty, I guess — is dumber than talking about politics in comedy. But any hack can say George Bush is stupid. It takes effort to find something new, something personal, talking about sex and making it humorous." (photo: Gary Gershoff/WireImage.com)

[Philly.com]

Kevin Dillon and guest arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Cloverfield.' (photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com)

Detail Man

Clarke Peters, who plays Lester Freamon on 'The Wire' recently revealed some insights into his character's curious hobby of making miniature furniture. "He's like Giapetto and Pinocchio: 'What kind of magic is he conjuring up in these little pieces?'" Peters mused to TV Guide. The actor, who has lobbied to incorporate the detail work into the show as much as possible, has his own theory: "I was wondering where he got it to begin with, so knowing that he was a widower I assumed it was something he did to keep his wife alive in his mind; maybe she was a collector of dollhouse furniture. I felt that would soften his approach to the world." (photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage.com)

[TV Guide]

Striking Out

No one is sacred to DL Hughley — not even his own brethren. The stand-up took a swing at striking writers in a recent interview. "For a group of people that write for a living, they sure aren't very compelling. Don't they have a dream? Have they been to the mountaintop? They should have a leader or something. Because writers aren't intimidating. Teamsters are intimidating. Who's gonna be scared to walk past Woody Allen in the parking lot?" When it was pointed out that he's a Guild member, Hughley backpedaled: "I don't want to be gettin' death threats from Aaron Sorkin." (photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com)

[TCPalm.com]

Comedian Louis C.K. meets fans after his performance at the South Beach Comedy Festival in Miami Beach. (photo: Chris Gordon/WireImage.com)

No Sweat

Even though the Golden Globes are Ricky Gervais's favorite awards show ("it's really casual"), the winner of Best Comedy Series for 'Extras' was okay with finding out about his win via text message. "I can't really whinge about not having the chance to put a dickie bow on — I always complain about it, saying 'Why have I got to put this on? Why is it starting at 3:30? Why is it 80 degrees?!'"

[BBC News]

Gotta Have That Funk

While most of Hollywood keeps the Prius assembly line rolling, don't be surprised if you catch Laura Linney in a gold-plated Cadillac. "I love 70's music," she says. "All that crazy funk stuff. I adore it ... People were not wearing much clothing. And it was a whole other era. There was a freedom and light and everyone wore color — and then the 80's came and everyone wore black!" After noticing her own dark ensemble, she adds, "I still wear black." (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/
WireImage.com)

[CBS News]

Self-Help

George Carlin's description of his upcoming HBO Comedy Special almost sounds like an inspirational proverb: "The main focus of the show is the bulls**t that Americans live every day. It's all bulls**t, folks, and it's bad for ya." Too bad he doesn't actually care about you. "Sometimes I get asked if I try to make people think," he says. "I say NO, capital N, capital O. That would be the kiss of death, to set out to make people think. But what I want them to know is that I'm thinking." (photo: Jeff Kravitz/
FilmMagic.com)

[Canoe.ca]