Bob Balaban and Susan Sarandon attend the afterparty for the premiere of 'Bernard And Doris' in New York. (photo: Jemal Countess/WireImage.com)

Rebel with a Cause

Nineties sensation Luke Perry fell from privileged Beverly Hills hotshot to embattled prison inmate — much like the Gen-Y starlets now romping through the zip code he made famous. Lucky for Perry, he served his time on the set of 'Oz,' but still, he offers some advice for the youngsters riding their wave of fame straight to the clink: "They just need to not behave like idiots. It's incumbent upon them to realize they live in a world where all this is around them. It's tough, but you just got to keep your head down and do your work, and you won't run into any problems." (photo: Jesse Grant/
WireImage.com)

[Calgary Herald via Canada.com]

Sketchy Past

Comedian J.B. Smoove — who played Leon on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' this season — missed an opportunity to work for 'In Living Color' back in the day, but the comedian later ended up writing for 'Saturday Night Live.' After three years, his odder sketch ideas like re-imaging Paris Hilton as a softball pitcher weren't connecting. But then Hurricane Edna struck. After a season spent at Larry David's pad, Smoove is ready to shake things up: "Sometimes you have to be a Leon," he said. "If he thinks something, he's going to say it. It's like he's got controlled Tourette's. In life, you need somebody like that." (photo: John Sciulli/WireImage.com)

[New York Times]

Anna Paquin attends the HBO after party for the 14th Annual Screen Actor's Guild Awards in Los Angeles, California. (photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com)

Therapy Breakthrough

Blair Underwood tends to get cast as the handsome heartthrob, so he was pleased with the multi-layered character he got to tackle on 'In Treatment' — the troubled fighter pilot, Alex. "He's one of my favorite characters of all the characters I've ever played because he's so complex and has so many different levels," said Underwood. "He's kind of like the alpha dog, he thinks he's the best, and in this case he is the best in almost everything he does. But he's got so many issues underlying everything, and he ends up revealing so much of himself that you don't expect in the beginning because he's so resistant to opening up." (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[topix.net]

She Move Fast

'True Blood,' the new HBO series from Alan Ball ('Six Feet Under'), is on hold due to the Writer's Strike, but one of its stars, newcomer Rutina Wesley is still staying busy. The young actress started out as a dancer — literally. "I came out of the womb dancing," says the daughter of a showgirl and a tapper. But she didn't want to limit her performing options so after studying theater locally, the Las Vegas native hoofed her way east to attend Julliard and has been working on A-list projects ever since. She debuted on Broadway opposite Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy in 'The Vertical Hour,' and is currently hot-stepping her way across big screens in 'How She Move.'

But she's keeping her rapid rise in perspective. "When you're young, it's so easy to get burnt out," she admits. "I keep reminding myself why I do this: because I love it. I'm here for the work and the stories, not the money and the fame." (photo: George Napolitano/FilmMagic.com)

[Las Vegas Review Journal]

DGA Hearts Simoneau

Congratulations to multi-hyphenate Yves Simoneau (writer/director/producer/actor) who won his first Director's Guild award for his helming of the HBO mini series 'Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.' (photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

[northernstars.ca]

Carla Gugino arrives at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles. (photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

Head Shot

On the set of 'The Wire' you never know who's gonna get shot. But at Giant magazine's recent photo shoot, the choice was clear: several of the show's most wanted characters will be showing up on the magazine's next cover (hitting the stands February 11th). Anwan Glover explained how he got the gig and what he enjoys about playing Slim Charles: "I'm a bad guy, but I'm not a cruddy one." Check out what the other cover boys (and girl) had to say about the final season of the show on Giant's exclusive behind-the-scenes video. (photo: Colin Lane)

[GIANT Magazine]

10-Story-High Club

Paul Giamatti has seen a man fly. The 'John Adams' star was at the Sundance Film Festival with the film 'Pretty Bird' which he stars in and co-produced. In the film, Giamatti plays an engineer who teams with an entrepreneur (Billy Crudup) to make a rocket belt. The actor tracked down an actual rocket belt developer for the movie, but was content to observe since actually strapping one on and taking flight is incredibly dangerous — the belts can propel you ten stories high, but "kick out" after 30 seconds.

Giamatti described the near-flight experience: "During the filming, the guy wasn't supposed to do this, but he came and hovered right over us and then backed away and landed. We just started freaking out because it's the craziest thing I think I've ever seen. It's the most absurd, bizarre looking thing, this guy flying. ...He's standing there, and crouches, and jumps in the air, and doesn't come down. His legs are kind of dangling. ... It looks fake. It doesn't look real at all. It's very peculiar." (photo: Randall Michelson/WireImage.com)

[USA Today]

Kevin Connolly, Robert Iler and Adrian Grenier at HBO's after party for the 14th Annual Screen Actor's Guild Awards in Los Angeles. (photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com)

Mob Mentality

The 'Sopranos' family made its final award-show appearance at the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the cast seemed to share similar sentiments. As Edie Falco summed it up during her acceptance speech for Outstanding Performance in a Drama Series, "I wish for everybody in every walk of life — but particularly for actors — to have an opportunity to have a work experience like I have had, with my family here. You're not supposed to get this attached because it's a transient business. But I have fallen in love with these people, and I don't know how you walk away from that." HBO stars Kevin Kline and Queen Latifah also received honors, both taking home the Actor for Outstanding Performance in a Television Movie or Miniseries. (photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com)

[Hollywood Reporter]

Shrink to Fit

You'd think it would be an actor's dream: a TV series where each week it's just you and two other thespians sharing the screen for a full half hour. But Embeth Davidtz, who plays who plays one half of a married couple in therapy with Paul Weston (Gabriel Byrne) on HBO's 'In Treatment,' confessed that some of those long monologues were daunting. "How do you make a two-page speech about what you were like when you were a kid compelling?" she wondered. "We all had a sort of vague outline," Davidtz explained, referring to the characters' backstory. "But then [director] Rodrigo [Garcia] would say: 'Gosh, Embeth. Later you're going to find out she was fat as a child.' And I'd be like: 'Oh, Lord! Well, that informs certain things here.'" (photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic.com)

[NY Times]

Felicity Huffman, Elle Fanning and Patricia Clarkson at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City. (photo: Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com)

In Sync

Marion Cotillard spent up to 5 hours a day in make-up and had to contort her body to play Edith Piaf in her later years in HBO Films' 'La Vie En Rose.' But that wasn't the hard part of playing the chanteuse, according to the actress. "I was very, very, very stressed about the lip sync because I've seen many movies with lip-syncing in it, and most of the time it's not so good. So the first thing I did was watch these movies again and figure out why it wasn't good." Apparently she overcame the Milli Vanilli hurdle; Cotillard was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Actress in a Leading Role. (photo: Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com)

[Baltimore Sun]

Where In the World Is George Clooney?

On January 31st, George Clooney will receive his official designation as the United Nations' Messenger of Peace for his advocacy for Darfur refugees. In the meantime, the actor had to cut short a visit to Sudan and cancel his trip to Chad, due to illness. Clooney reportedly wants to head to India as his next Messenger of Peace excursion. But his next trip (presuming the WGA strike is over before the Oscars®) may be to the podium for his role in 'Michael Clayton.' (photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com)

[Times of India]

[Ireland Online]