In case you needed a reminder, Halle Berry is still incredibly beautiful and ageless. These are photos from last night’s LA premiere of The Call, in which Halle plays a 911 operator who seems like the only one trying to save young women from a crazy serial killer. The film costars Morris Chestnut and Oscar-nominated actress Abigail Breslin. Halle wore this leathery ensemble which… again, seems very dated. Halle has been wearing a lot of stuff lately which seems straight from the 1990s (her heyday). With that body and that face, she could wear almost anything, but it seems like she prefers clothes that remind her of her Swordfish days. I also think she might want to try a less flesh-y shade of lipstick?

Incidentally, CB covered a new Halle interview yesterday, in which Halle referenced her continuing problems with the paparazzi, especially when they’re taking photos of her daughter. It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had a bunch of drama from Halle. I wonder what she’s planning next? Maybe a breakup with Olivier Martinez? It would be so much fun to hear about how Olivier is a racist now. Where IS Olivier? Why didn’t he come to the premiere? Hunh. Several weeks ago, the Chicago Sun-Times had a source who claimed, “Olivier really does not like L.A. He wants to just be in France — except when work takes him elsewhere. Halle wants to be with him full-time too, but this whole situation has made life difficult, and has begun to add a lot of pressure on them. … I get the sense things may not be going so well.” It’s about to get good, y’all. Stay tuned.

Abigail wore an Alice + Olivia ensemble. Doesn’t she look so grown-up? She has grown into a lovely young woman, but just to nitpick about one thing: I don’t think this shade of blonde suits her. It’s too light. She needs a darker shade of blonde, or perhaps she should just return to her natural brunette shade?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here are some more photos from last night’s New York City premiere of New Year’s Eve. Considering the film is set in NYC, you’d think that more of the film’s “stars” would have come out to promote it, but not so much. I already covered Jessica Biel’s fashion here. So, Sarah Jessica Parker is in this movie. And she brought her husband to the premiere – doesn’t Matthew look thrilled? Ugh. I just don’t even know what’s going on with them. Anyway, SJP’s dress is Pauline Trigère and… I really like it. I don’t care for how she styled it with the jewelry and hair, but the dress itself is really pretty and occasion-appropriate.

Abigail Breslin plays Sarah Jessica Parker’s daughter in the film. Abigail is 15 years old – is this look too much for a 15 year old? There’s some hard-posing, but she’s not all Lea Michele about it. And I like her dress a lot, and I like that she’s covered up and not showing her bits and pieces. Please keep it classy, Abigail.

Here’s Taraji P. Henson, looking gorgeous. I think she’s so pretty, and I like cocktail-business attire for a premiere.

And finally, Michelle Pfeiffer. Don’t scream at me, but I don’t even think this bitch has done anything to her face. She’s gorgeous and her face looks real – like she’s aging naturally, but she takes care of herself. Is that insane? Anyway, she looked great last night. I don’t know who did the dress, but it’s pretty.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Kaiser covered some earlier photos from the New Year’s Eve premiere, that ensemble romcom out this Friday looks like a pale imitation of Love Actually. Also at last night’s premiere we had unlikely romcom queen Katherine Heigl, almost working it in a strapless black lace Dolce & Gabbana LBD. The dress is hot, but she nearly ruins it with her accessories and hair. I know her hair is short and there’s not a lot she can do with it, but that wavy style is just so Rose from Golden Girls. Plus she’s paired that sexy dress with some dippy gold peep toe shoes with glittery bows on them, a gold sequin clutch, and a busy gold and diamond necklace. It’s too much together, but she looks happy here at least. Check her out laying a kiss on her husband.

Michelle Pfeiffer was stunning in lovely purple Dolce & Gabbana paired with towering suede heels and a clutch. I love this dress on her, but it could do without the matchy shoes. Look at her try to stand up straight in those platforms. Can you believe she’s 53? She’s obviously had a lot done, but it’s settled somewhat and she’s looking good. This is how you do hair and makeup.

Abigail Breslin was a ballerina fairy in this goofy poofy v-neck dress with a visible petticoat. She’s 15, she’s still finding her fashion legs. I’ll say something nice: her hair and makeup are so pretty here. I usually don’t like blue eye shadow on blue eyes, but it works on her.

Alyssa Milano wore this unflattering black dress paired with these very fug shoes. She just had a baby in August, so she gets a pass. It took me about a year to figure out how to dress after I had my kid. I like her a lot and am glad that she’s in this film, as crappy as it seems. IMDB has her listed as “Nurse Mindy.” And I just found out that DeNiro is in this mess. He didn’t show for the premiere though.

We’re covering the fashion of last night’s Elle’s Women in Hollywood event in three different posts as there were so many celebrities there. Kaiser has already mentioned Jennifer Aniston’s hot dress along with some of the other big names, Like Reese Witherspoon and Evan Rachel Wood. I’ll be covering some of the other celebrities here along with my favorite TV personalities.

First off we have Katherine Heigl in a beaded little black dress. It’s a bit “mature” looking, but it’s not bad at all for her. She looks very good, if kind of crazed here. I like what she’s done with her short hair too. Her husband Josh Kelly came with her and looked almost as thrilled to be there. After seeing these photos, I’m convinced that things are fine with them.

Jayma Mays in a one-shoulder ruched blue dress with ruffle detail. Compared to some of the horribly frumpy things she’s worn on the red carpet, this was a vast improvement. Her hair is gorgeous and that sideswept looked is popular now. Her eye makeup is a little overdone, but overall this was a win for Jayma.

Busy Phillips looked a little goofy with that very tight, very high little bun on her head. I want to give her a pass for just looking so happy and cute though. She’s adorable in this very simple black dress paired with silver jewelry. What was she thinking with those purple shoes?

Matthew McConaughey’s squeeze Camila Alves had her pose on in a navy blue polka dot retro-style dress. She used to be a model, so I guess that could explain her sourpuss face. I love the dress, hair and makeup. The shoes and purse aren’t my favorite.

Erika Christensen of “Parenthood” looked really drab. I love her on that show, she’s one of my favorite actresses. What happened to her here? I wear more makeup and do more to my hair to go to the store on a daily basis. She’s a Scientologist I’m sorry to say, but she was raised in it. Also, here’s her date:

In contrast, Gillian Jacobs from another one of my shows, “Community,” was way overdone. The bottom half of that dress would be cute with a nice solid color panel at the top, but the contrasting patterns and colors are just ridiculous. Paired with that makeup and poofy hair and she looks unhinged.

Amber Heard, Johnny Depp’s costar in the upcoming Rum Diaries, was a study in color. I’m perplexed at how an otherwise gorgeous girl can pair a form-fitting pepto pink dress with matte scarlet lips, brown eyeshadow, too-yellow hair and black t-strap heels and end up looking like this. It’s like all the lovely parts are there, but they don’t work together.

Elizabeth Olsen wore a silver tent-like Calvin Klein gown. It doesn’t do much for her, but I love how genuinely happy she looks here, and her makeup is so striking.

Abigail Breslin is still only 15! I can’t believe it, as I had to look it up and assumed she was 17-something by now. She had on a very tasteful loose orange dot dress paired with a canary colored clutch and nude heels. She’s wearing too much makeup for her age, but she looks cute here.

Naomi Watts in a nude-colored v-neck gown. The color washes her out, but she looks so hot. I love her hair and makeup, except her mascara is really clumpy. That’s happened to me when I let a makeup counter person do my mascara. I expect Naomi had something similar happen with her makeup artist.

photo credit: Juan Rico/Fame Pictures

Look, it’s Little Miss Sunshine! These are new photos of Abigail Breslin on the New York set of New Year’s Eve, filming on Monday with Sarah Jessica Parker. Abigail is 14 years old now – she’ll be 15 years old next week. She’s almost all grown up! I can’t believe how tall she is. She was so tiny in Little Miss Sunshine and Signs, the only two movies I’ve seen her in. Now she looks like a full-fledged little lady. A lady with bad posture, but a lady none the less. I actually had Abigail pegged as one of the child stars to really flourish in her teens and become a huge star in adulthood. While she has continued to work since her Oscar-nominated role in Little Miss Sunshine, she really hasn’t broken out, big-time, in a huge showy role in her teen years, and she hasn’t been “mentioned” for any of the big parts for young actors lately (go here for her IMDB page). And now she’s going an ensemble romantic-comedy with Sarah Jessica Parker and Ashton Kutcher. Ugh. Fingers crossed for Abigail. If she decides to stay in Hollywood, I hope she gets better choices as the years go by.

By the way, I was looking through the cast of New Year’s Eve… it’s horrible. I mean, they got some good people to sign on, probably because actors won’t turn down an easy paycheck for less than a week’s worth of work. But for every actor that you’d like to see make a solid rom-com (Sofia Vergara, Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer), there are like three actors that you just want to smack in the face (Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele, Josh Duhamel, Sienna Miller, Jessica Biel).

Here are some pics of SJP, in what I’m hoping is her costume. My guess is that her character’s fatal flaws are a cute-but-neurotic temperament and “layers”.

Photos courtesy of Fame.

14 year-old Abigail Breslin, best known as the star of the 2006 sleeper hit Little Miss Sunshine, stepped out at a charity event on Tuesday looking all grown up! I love how Abigail is mature-looking but age appropriate in a tiered ruffled gown with a pink bow. Breslin was looking much younger just a few months ago, at an event in January. That photo is below. The difference could be partially due to the way she’s changed her makeup to be more adult without overdoing it.

Breslin’s transformation reminds me of a then 14 year-old Dakota Fanning, who emerged a couple of years ago looking like she’d grown up overnight. Fanning since went on to have a normal high school experience, complete with cheerleading duties and being crowned homecoming princess. She’s also had a solid career post child star with roles in The Runaways and New Moon.

Last year Breslin starred in My Sister’s Keeper and Zombieland and she has several films in the works. She had a turn on Broadway earlier this year in The Miracle Worker, which didn’t perform at the ticket office and closed early. Breslin would do well to follow Fanning’s lead and reach a healthy balance between a normal childhood and her career. She looks like she’s headed in that direction and it’s nice to see another teen star who isn’t trying to grow up too fast.

Thanks to TMZ for the tip

An advocacy group called The Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts has spoken out against Abigail Breslin’s casting as deaf and blind activist Hellen Keller in a Broadway revival of the play based on Keller’s amazing life. According to this group, a deaf or blind actress should have been considered for the role. The producer says he’s just trying to ensure ticket sales, and that he’ll try to cast a deaf or blind understudy for Breslin – if they can find someone “qualified”:

It was announced Wednesday that 13-year-old Abigail Breslin will play Helen Keller in the Broadway revival of ‘The Miracle Worker’ this winter. But the news is being met with extreme opposition by blind and deaf advocacy groups, simply because of Breslin’s ability to see and hear.

“We do not think it’s O.K. for reputable producers to cast this lead role without seriously considering an actress from our community,” said Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, to the New York Times. “I understand how difficult it is to capitalize a new production on Broadway, but that to me is not the issue. There are other, larger human and artistic issues at stake here.”

The show’s producer, David Richenthal, made it clear that he wanted a star to play Keller in order to ensure commercial success, and he was unable to find a blind or deaf child actor who fit the bill. Breslin’s star power stems from her Academy Award nomination for her role as Olive in ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’

“It’s simply naïve to think that in this day and age, you’ll be able to sell tickets to a play revival solely on the potential of the production to be a great show or on the potential for an unknown actress to give a breakthrough performance,” he said. “I would consider it financially irresponsible to approach a major revival without making a serious effort to get a star.”

The producers do plan to audition blind and deaf actresses for Breslin’s understudy, however, in a compromise that Richenthal says will still allow for high ticket sales. But he stressed that a seeing and hearing actress may be cast as understudy if they cannot find a “qualified” deaf or blind actress.

Helen Keller was a deaf and blind author and activist. ‘The Miracle Worker’ follows the relationship between Keller and Anne Sullivan — the woman who taught her to communicate.

[From Popeater]

First of all, it’s worth noting that despite the use of “advocacy groups” in the cited text, this is just one specific group that objects to Breslin being cast. I think that when a group has a controversial viewpoint there’s a tendency for outsiders to lump them all together and that’s not the case. The National Association of the Deaf and the National Federation of the Blind are not the ones making a stink here. They probably have a lot of other things to deal with. (I’ve emailed both organizations for comment and will update this post if I hear back.) Second, no one is dissing a little girl. It’s not Breslin that this group has a beef with.

Many of us will side with the producer who is just looking at the bottom line, because that makes sense. However, there’s also the tendency to discount the fact that a blind or deaf actress would be capable of playing the part. People without disabilities often make false assumptions that the disabled can’t do basic things, or have a much harder time than they do. Some of us don’t understand that they’re just as capable as we are, and often overestimate the accommodations they need. There’s another issue though, that deaf and blind kids might not have experience on the stage – because they’re not being hired in the first place. It’s kind of a catch-22.

I get what the producer is saying – he needed a known commodity in the lead in order to sell tickets. On the other hand, it’s time that disabled people aren’t just portrayed on screen and are hired for both those type of roles and more mainstream roles. Can you name a deaf or blind actor or actress other than Marlee Matlin?

Forbes has released its list of Hollywood’s Most Valuable Young Stars. The list came out as part of Forbes’ recent Star Currency Survey, which evaluated star power of 1,400 actors in Hollywood. The choices, meant to give a cross-section of Hollywood, was sent to 157 people working in all parts of the movie industry, who evaluated actors based on certain factors.

Criteria used were:
-The amount of financing that flows to a project is significantly determined by the individual actor’s presence in a film.
-The individual actor’s presence in a film guarantees theatrical distribution.
-The individual actor’s presence significantly drives the film’s theatrical box-office performance.
-If the individual actor’s involvement is essential in securing rights deals for revenue streams, including DVD, pay/free TV, video-on-demand and online/downloading/streaming (when applicable), as well as a project’s ultimate financial performance in those areas.
-If the individual actor can attract audiences in any film genre.
-If the individual actor can attract other top-line talent based on his or her involvement in a film.
-If the individual actor is popular among most demographic groups.
-Whether media exposure the individual actor receives (positive or negative) enhances his or her ability to attract financing and audiences to a project.

[from Forbes]

The survey participants then ranked each actor based on these questions. The young Hollywood list was extracted from this survey and had the criteria that the actor be 19 or younger on February 10, 2009. Most of the young thespians on the list are actors who have potential staying power: Abigail Breslin, Daniel Radcliffe, and Dakota Fanning, for example. Miley Cyrus also makes the list not necessarily because of her potential for an adult career, but because she has yet to go wrong with her project choices, and continues to bring in the dough. Here’s the list:

1. Daniel Radcliffe (age 19)
2. Miley Cyrus (age 16)
3. Dakota Fanning (age 15)
4. Abigail Breslin (age 12)
5. Hayden Panettiere (age 19)
6. Emma Watson (age 18)
7. Freddie Highmore (age 17)
8. Keke Palmer (age 15)
9. Emma Roberts (age 18)
10. Anton Yelchin (age 19)

Most of these are not surprising, except for Anton Yelchin, who has been doing projects for a while but hasn’t made a celebrity name for himself yet. He’ll be starring in Terminator and Star Trek this summer. The article about the young Hollywood list makes a good point that’s worth quoting: “In the past, someone like a Shirley Temple was limited,” says [producer Rick] Alvarez. “She was playing herself, and she was the cute little girl with the patent-leather shoes and the curly hair. How do you go from that to playing Cleopatra or Mary, Queen of Scots?” I can see Abigail Breslin, Dakota Fanning, and Freddie Highmore going on to do just that – if they decide to keep going. Fanning, for one, was recently in the movie Hounddog, which included a rape scene that was too graphic for many audiences. Can you imagine Shirley Temple doing something like that? As for the rest of the actors on the list, it will be interesting to see how many of these names we see in Forbes’ Most Valuable Hollywood Stars in a few years. I’ll bet that Miley’s name will be nowhere near it.

Cameron Diaz was seen sporting a bald head on the set of My Sister’s Keeper in Los Angeles yesterday. My Sister’s Keeper is based on a novel by Jodi Picoult about a young girl who sues her parents for emancipation.

Mild spoilers follow
Older sister Kate, played by 15 year-old Sofia Vassilieva, has leukemia, and younger sister Anna, played by Abigail Breslin, resents her parent’s decision to have her donate a kidney to her sister. Dakota and Elle Fanning were originally going to play the sisters, but Dakota is said to have balked at the idea of shaving her head for the role.

According to Wikipedia, Diaz plays Sara, the mother of Breslin and Vassilieva’s characters. She shaves her head in support of her older daughter.

Diaz is wearing a cap, according to The Daily Mail, and hasn’t shaved off her shoulder-length straight blond hair.

Thanks to WENN for these photos.

Ryan Reynolds might be known for, actually I have no idea what he is known for. Except dating Alanis Morissette, and now Scarlett Johansson, and being really cute. Really cute. He’s also out promoting a new romantic comedy, and is keen to share his romantic credentials.

Ryan said: “It was a few years ago, but I once flew all the way to London to have lunch with this girl I was dating.

“She lived in the UK and I was in the US obviously. We had just started dating and didn’t really get to see as much of each other as we would have like to because of the distance and work. So I just jumped on a plane to be with her.”

Despite his splashing out on the grand romantic gesture, Ryan refused to pick up the tab for lunch.

He added to Britain’s Heart radio station: “I had to leave the very same day so it was pretty romantic but expensive. I made her buy the sandwich though!”

Sydney Morning Herald

Aw, this is just like in the movies. Which makes me suspect that it might actually just be a clever ploy to get us thinking all lovely and romantic and in the mood to see his latest flick Definitely Maybe. Is this cynical of me? Should we just accept that Ryan Reynolds is an incurable romantic, good, kind and strong, and this is just the kind of thing he’d do? Or should we declare it a shrewd marketing ploy, like how Hollywood is forever creating fictional relationships that ours in reality can’t match?

Ryan indirectly explained how he became such a sensitive guy. He was the youngest of four brothers and empathized with his mother’s plight at dealing with a house full of testosterone:

It didn’t help that Reynolds grew up as the youngest in a family where his father and two of his three brothers are very tall policemen. Maybe they could help out if he ever gets into trouble?

“I doubt that. If I ever get into trouble I’m f—ed. Those guys will see to it. I think their dream is to arrest me. They’re my brothers – it’s their job to some degree to make my life hell. I would never give them that satisfaction.”

How did he live with all that testosterone and turn out to be such a sensitive guy? “I have no idea. I think it was having empathy for my mother, who was dealing with these five horrific ogres in our house all the time. Having that empathy for her has fostered a sensitivity in me.”

Sydney Morning Herald

Under that romantic exterior he’s got some testosterone in his system, and he probably picked up some of his brother’s naughty tricks. And like every good tough guy, he won’t stand a word against his mother.

Ryan must be doing something right. He’s going home at night to Scarlett Johansson.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Here are stills from Definitely, Maybe thanks to Allmoviephoto. Ryan’s costars Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin are also shown. Definitely Maybe is out in US theaters on February 14. Here’s the trailer, it looks cute: