Last June, the tabloids started buzzing about a potential love connection brewing on set between Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana while the two were filming The Words in Vancouver, and these rumors persisted despite the fact that Zoe was in a 10-year relationship with fiancé Keith Britton. Then in early November, Zoe broke up with Keith, and everyone wondered whether Bradley was somehow involved in the split. In late December, reports began to fly that Zoe and Bradley were totally dating, and just a few days ago, nameless witnesses spotted the pair making out “like two seventh graders” at Sundance. Naturally, nobody secured a photo of this phenomenon, and I’m still having trouble believing that they’re an actual couple, mostly because the tabloids have linked Bradley with nearly every up-and-coming starlet:

Bradley Cooper may have bitten off more than he can chew with new gal Zoe Saldana. Bradley, who’s been dating a slew of Hollywood ladies, seems to have settled with Zoe, 33, but a source claims the relationship isn’t the casual good time that it appears.

“Zoe is really intense,” says an insider. “She just came out of a long-term relationship with Keith Britton, and now she really wants to settle down.” The insider says that she has decided Bradley, 37, is “the one” and wants to do what other women have tried — and failed [to do]: get a committment out of him. “Bradley really likes her, but he’s trying to keep things casual.”

[From In Touch, print edition, February 13, 2012]

The story also says that Zoe is angling to move in with Bradley as soon as he finds a home base in NYC, and he’s totally not feeling it. So is this story true? Who knows, but if it is, Zoe should probably take it down a few notches since she just got out of a serious relationship.

If Zoe and Bradley really are hooking up, this could also be a publicity move to create “intrigue” for their movie. He’s certainly not above such a tactic because, c’mon, the guy dined with JLo to similar effect. Then again, I just might be too skeptical about Bradley’s willingness to enter a relationship for romantic reasons. It might have something to do with the fact that I don’t see the attraction to this year’s Sexiest Man Alive at all.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

I finally gave in and rented The Hangover 2 over the holidays. It was funnier and a lot raunchier than I expected, but all of the criticism I’ve heard about the movie rang true: it felt old and stale and it had the exact same plot as the first one. The last forty five minutes dragged, and there were more plot holes than I could be bothered to figure out. Despite low critic approval, the film cleaned up at the box office. It grossed $254 million domestically and over $327 million worldwide, to make over a half billion gross. The original Hangover did better domestically, but wasn’t as strong overseas. It grossed $467 million.

It’s been established that the Hangover is a strong franchise, and like every other franchise it’s going to be run into the ground until every drop of money is squeezed out of it. There’s a third movie in the works, and the stars are supposedly negotiating for $15 million each. That’s not upfront – that’s a percentage of the backend which they’re likely to get. They each made a reported $1 million for the first movie and $5 million for the second.

Dealmaking on the studio’s third installment in the raunchy comedy franchise is wrapping up after dragging on for months due in part to the salary demands of its three stars. Sources close to the negotiations say Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms are asking for $15 million each (against backend) to reprise their roles, and they now are likely to get it.

That’s a big raise from 2009’s The Hangover, which was made for about $35 million and paid the headliners under $1 million each (Cooper made the most because he had the biggest name recognition at the time). When the R-rated bachelor-party comedy unexpectedly grossed $467 million worldwide, the studio found itself without talent deals for a sequel. Negotiations were heated for The Hangover Part II, released last May, with the three principals each scoring around $5 million, according to a source, plus back-end compensation that raised their haul into the mid-teens (and counting) when the movie grossed $581 million worldwide.

For the third film, the lead actors, all represented in negotiations by CAA (with agent Jason Heyman taking the lead) and are presenting a united front. (In fact, CAA also reps writer-director Todd Phillips and writer Craig Mazin.)

Warners hopes the next film, a Los Angeles-based story that will deviate from the forgotten-debauchery formula of the first movies, can shoot this summer and be ready for a Memorial Day 2013 release.

That would be great news for Warners, which is saying goodbye to two of its major franchises—Harry Potter, the final installment of which opened last July, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies, which the director says will end with this July’s The Dark Knight Rises. In addition, two movies that were on the fast-track for high-profile releases in 2013— Akira and Arthur & Lancelot—have been put on hold as the studio tries to reconcile budgetary issues. All of which increases the urgency to put a third Hangover on the fast track.
“It’ll happen,” says one insider. “It’s a proven commodity, which is rare these days.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter via ONTD]

Well I guess if the movies are cleaning up that the stars should get a piece of that. It still sounds like an exorbitant amount of money. Doesn’t it seem like they marginalized Justin Bartha’s role in this film just for this purpose? Like they knew they couldn’t afford more than three big stars? Or maybe Bartha was absent for the first film, so he was absent for the second because they didn’t want to mess up the buddy dynamic between the three leads.

I really hope that they do mess with the formula this time and serve up something that’s slightly more fresh than the second one. We don’t need yet another lost weekend, but you kind of know that’s what you’re getting. You know what this means? Alan, Zach Galifianakis’ character, might get married next. He’s the only one left who is still single, and for good reason. They could try and switch it up and have someone get divorced or have the guys have to watch their kids alone for the weekend. No, they really shouldn’t involve any kids in this mess. That prop baby in the first movie was enough.

In June and September of this year, the tabloids began reporting that Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana were hooking up and getting way too friendly on the set of their new film, The Words. Star Magazine even went as far as to claim that Zoe cheated on her boyfriend/fiance of 10 years in September. Zoe’s people denied it, but then something suspicious happened – Zoe and her fiance Keith split up in November, and it seemed like they had been done for a month or so before they announced it. I said at the time that it seemed like Zoe had split up with Keith FOR Bradley. And now E! News is reporting that Bradley and Zoe are totally doing it.

Now here’s someone who does not prefer Ryan Gosling to Bradley Cooper.

The reigning Sexiest Man Alive and Zoe Saldana are dating and they’re extremely happy about it, sources exclusively tell E! News. And we hear that the pair are just now starting to tell family and friends that they’re an item.

What? You didn’t expect either one of them to remain on the market for long, did you?

A rep for Saldana, who recently filmed The Words with—and got to practice kissing—Cooper, denied that the costars were anything more than friends a month ago, after their appearance together at a Manhattan nightclub prompted romantic speculation.

But as recently as last week, a source tells E! News, they were telling friends that they had plans to go skiing in the Rockies together over the holidays.

“They are totally dating,” the source says.

Reps for both stars did not immediately return requests for comment.

Saldana and her boyfriend of nearly 11 years, Keith Britton, called off their engagement and revealed that they had broken up in early November.

[From E! News]

Yeah, I think they’re totally doing it, and by “it” I mean “whatever situation Bradley had with Renee Zellweger.” I would guess that they’ve been doing it, off and on, for six months or so. I would guess that Bradley is the reason that Zoe and Keith are no longer together. I would also guess that Bradley isn’t exactly Mr. Faithful – he was recently spotted on what I’m still guessing was a flat-out date with Melanie Laurent, in Paris about a month ago. Bradley might be playing the field still, but… I could definitely see Zoe sticking around.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I was going to title this story something like “Bradley Cooper: this is the sexiest man alive?” but somehow that topic is as dull as Cooper. Apart from speaking French fluently, this guy has almost no sexy qualities, but that’s kind of a given at this point. Look at him going to play tennis with his mom. I would not look twice at this guy if he wasn’t famous. It’s that bad haircut, the too-small sunglasses, the facial scrub that isn’t quite cultivated and the fact that he looks like he has no swagger. Plus the dude can’t dress. Cooper has some of the components of sexiness but they’re just not put together well.

Compare Cooper’s casual sporty style with Matthew McConaughey’s. McConaughey has a freshly shaved head (or maybe his hair is just stuffed under that hat) and he’s wearing a bright orange fleece with gray shorts and black sneakers. Somehow McConaughey looks better though. He’s geeky too in his way, we know he smells bad, and with his neck sticking out like that he looks like a turtle, but I so would. It’s probably because I know what’s underneath all those layers. Still, I want to see him bald without the cap. I googled “Matthew McConaughey Bald” and found this photo of him bald in 2002′s Reign of Fire. (Which I’ve never heard of before.) He really works that bald look and he isn’t one of those guys with a weird-shaped head who can’t pull it off. (Like Matt Damon or Tom Hardy.)

McConaughey, 42, was photographed outside the “Dakar Skin Clinic” in Beverly Hills late last week. Do you think he had a little freshening up? Will we be able to tell the next time he hits the red carpet? I’m hoping he shows up looking preternaturally young but almost untouched, like Tom Cruise as of late. That little minx.

As for Cooper, he needs to get some styling advice from his fashion idol Ryan Gosling. I get that he’s just going to play tennis, but check him out a day prior in his day casual wear. He went to lunch in Pasadena wearing those same black sweatpants with black sneakers and layered black jackets. He knows he needs to step up his game and he even admitted as much on a recent appearance on the Graham Norton Show. He said “I literally look like the neighbor who never really comes out of his house.” It doesn’t look like his fashion self awareness has been translated into any kind of effort yet.

Photo credit: Fame and Pacific Coast News

Bradley Cooper is currently People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive. They just decided to give him that in lieu of handing over his “Your Publicist Is The Best This Year” Award. Immediately after Bradley was named SMA, “protesters” (“losers”) picketed People Magazine’s NYC headquarters, demanding that the Sexiest Man Alive designation should be given to Ryan Gosling. Now… look, I think B.Coop was a bad choice too, and I think Michael Fassbender should be declared the Sexiest Man EVER, but I’m not going to, like, leave my house and protest about it. I’ll just sit at home and write my slash fiction about Fassy and Brad Pitt (for my own personal use). Where was I going with this…? Oh, right. One of the weird things about B.Coop’s SMA title is that he doesn’t even seem to “get” it, and he spends half of his time Single White Female-ing other actors (like he did with Fassbender in London), or openly crushing on other, sexier dudes (like Gosling). Here are some new quotes from Bradley where he discusses his man-crush on Gosling:

Bradley Cooper admits Ryan Gosling is one of the reasons he doesn’t feel like People’s Sexiest Man Alive.

“There was such a backlash to when they announced it and Ryan Gosling, who I love and I just did a movie with him — he’s the greatest — but we were both in Paris this last week and a friend of mine showed me … photographs from the paparazzi — and when I say friend, I mean me, alone in my room, looking at the computer. And it’s like him walking around and he literally looks like he’s in a photoshoot, like he just came off the runway, like the pea coat is like this with the scarf,” Bradley recounted on “The Graham Norton Show” in the UK over the weekend.

“There are ones of me, and I literally look like the neighbor who never really comes out of his house, and when he does, you’re like, ‘Maybe you should just stay in.’ We don’t know what he does in there. So it’s been interesting.”

Bradley jokingly called being named the Sexiest Man, “the worst,” adding, “it’s just so awful.”

He also revealed the title has made him rethink every day activities.

“I’m finally at an age — I’m 36 years old — where I really don’t care about anything like that anymore, which is a wonderful thing and then this happened and then I started to realize just how not sexy I am,” he said.

“I have a lot of moments where [I’m] walking out and I’ll open up the door [and think to myself], ‘I could do that a lot sexier,’” he laughed.

In related news, Bradley, who was promoting the UK DVD release of “The Hangover Part II,” said he expects to start shooting the third installment in the film franchise next fall.

“I personally want to do it. I hope we’re gonna start shooting in September. [Director, co-writer] Todd Phillips is working on the script,” Bradley said.

The actor also noted the film will likely diverge from the first two vacation-buddy comedies.

“I think it’ll take place in Los Angeles and maybe not adhere to the structure. It might be different,” he explained.

[From MSNBC]

I LOL’d at “And when I say friend, I mean me, alone in my room, looking at the computer…” Because that’s funny, and I honestly, can’t you picture B.Coop sitting around, obsessing over F–k Yeah Ryan Gosling?

Oh, and do we really need another Hangover movie? Wasn’t the second one just the exact same plot, only it was set in Thailand?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Sometimes, everything lines up in a really interesting way. As I was looking through the new photos this morning, I saw a collection of pics of Zoe Saldana, fresh from her breakup, looking rather sad and slightly unkempt. I thought, “Gee, is she fishing for a new boyfriend? Whatever happened to those rumors about her and Bradley Cooper?” Because Bradley Cooper might have been the reason Zoe split up with her fiancé, after all. And then I saw these photos – Bradley Cooper on what seems like a DATE with Melanie Laurent. You may know Laurent from Inglorious Basterds (she was the French girl, Shoshanna). You might also know Melanie from her rumored affair with Ewan McGregor last year, when Melanie and Ewan were photographed looking coupley and intimate.

So, is Bradley scooping up Ewan McGregor’s former mistress/girlfriend? I don’t know. WENN says that Bradley and Melanie went to see a movie together in Paris, and from the action in the photos, I’d say they went with a group of friends, although it looks like Melanie and B-Coop headed out separately after the movie. I didn’t even know Bradley and Melanie knew each other – but you know Bradley is fluent in French and he loves being in France, so maybe he’s closer to people in the French film industry than we realize.

What’s the current thought on B-Coop and his public liaisons with ladies? I used to think it was just the high-profile ladies pushing these “relationships” on B-Coop, from Jennifer Aniston to Renee Zellweger to Jennifer Lopez, but now… I’m starting to wonder if People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive hasn’t been playing us all along. Maybe he’s the one who wants to be connected publicly to all of these ladies. Maybe he’s the famewhore who (fake) dates for publicity.

Anyway, I do kind of like Bradley and Melanie as a couple. I guess she and Ewan are completely done then?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

As research for this post, I looked up the “Hey Girl” Ryan Gosling meme, which I’m familiar with but never paid much attention to in the past. I’m now irrationally happy after viewing these videos of Ryan Gosling reading his internet memes. (Kudos to MTV’s Josh Horowitz, who does the best celebrity interviews of anyone.) If you are able to, please watch Ryan Gosling giggle and get embarrassed as he reads some of his “Hey Girl” memes.

I’m not a Ryan Gosling superfan, like I don’t get hot for him like I do for Matt Damon at any age or Johnny Depp prior to his recent phase of debauchery. After watching these I feel giddy, though, and like a surge of puppy love is rushing over me. He’s hot, funny and he doesn’t take himself seriously. I can imagine screwing this guy and enjoying the hell out of it. Compare that to Bradley Cooper, who is a competent actor with no discernible personality traits. Cooper was just named “Sexiest Man Alive” by People Magazine, and I saw his video interview for it (at the end of this page on People’s site) and was totally underwhelmed. He’s a decent-looking guy, but if he wasn’t famous and he came at me with that personality I might not even go out with him. I’m not kidding. He just doesn’t do it for me in any way.

Many people agree with me. About 15 protesters gathered outside of People Magazine’s headquarters in New York Wednesday to protest Cooper and demand that Ryan Gosling be named the Sexiest Man instead:

There are a lot of protests going on in New York City these days, but this was unexpected.

Call it Occupy Sexy. Announcing themselves from the social-content website BuzzFeed.com, about 15 protesters in Ryan Gosling masks showed up – in the rain, no less – outside PEOPLE’s headquarters at Manhattan’s Time-Life Building on Wednesday.

“We are devastated,” Buzzfeed’s Matt Stopera, 24, said of PEOPLE’s decision to name Bradley Cooper 2011′s Sexiest Man Alive. “[Gosling's] left arm alone makes him the Sexiest Man Alive. Hello, look at his abs!”

Facebook users also got into the act with an entire page devoted to The Pro-Gosling People Magazine Protest, illustrated with this week’s cover of Cooper with a great big red X over it. (Gosling’s photo is circled. What, no heart?)

Of course, Gosling is in the issue that hits newsstand Friday, along with 123 other hot guys.

As for the equally ab-tastic Cooper, “We stand by our man!” says PEOPLE’s Executive Editor Liz Sporkin. “Bradley Cooper is the whole package. He’s gorgeous, talented, brainy, loves his mom, can cook up a storm and speaks fluent French! Who can argue with that?”

[From People]

Cooper is definitely sexy when he speaks French, but that’s about it. The French speaking doesn’t make up for the rest of his blah-ness, and it’s not going to come in handy unless you’re on a trip with him to a French-speaking country. (Which could be cool, I could entertain that thought.) That novelty will wear off fast though, and you’re left with a guy who is about as interesting as a room temperature light beer. Gosling has swagger and he loves to go to amusement parks. Sure he has crap taste in women sometimes, but that just means that he’s not that discerning. I could definitely get behind him as Sexiest Man Of The Year. I doubt I’d stand outside in the cold complaining about it, but thanks to these brave souls I don’t have to.

Here’s a petition to ask People Magazine to admit that they were wrong and should have chosen Gosling. He is named as one of the sexiest this year, but he should have taken top honors.

Thanks to Jezebel for this video of the protest. It just cracks me up.

Bradley Cooper is People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2011. Really? Him? Why does People Magazine hate lady parts? I knew it was a pipe dream to see Michael Fassbender as a contender, but what about Jon Hamm? What about – gasp – Robert Pattinson? What about someone who actually has movie star qualities and you actually want to have sex with him? I don’t want to have sex with Bradley Cooper. I don’t particularly want to see his films. He is at best bland and vanilla, and at worst he is actively kind of a douche and a bad actor. CB and I were discussing him recently, and I thing the crux of Bradley’s problem is that he believes he’s a leading man, he’s been told he’s a leading man, everybody is trying to make him be a leading man, and he’s just not. He’s a character actor. No disrespect to character actors – they’re often more talented and interesting than the leads. But I’m so, so tired of people trying to convince me that Bradley Cooper is more than just a shaved emu with highlights and a great publicist.

Sure, he’s easy on the eyes, but there’s more to 2011′s Sexiest Man Alive Bradley Cooper than dazzling baby blues and a killer smile.

Ladies, take note: this Georgetown grad can whip up dinner, take you for a spin on his motorcycle and whisper sweet nothings in French (he’s fluent!). Just don’t try convincing him what a catch he is.

“I think it’s really cool that a guy who doesn’t look like a model can have this [title],” says the Hangover actor, 36. “I think I’m a decent-looking guy. Sometimes I can look great, and other times I look horrifying.”

Another reason to love him? Cooper, whose father Charles passed away in January, is especially close with his mom, Gloria. When he learned he’d been crowned Sexiest Man Alive, the “first thing I thought,” he says, “was, ‘My mother is going to be so happy.’ ”

So what’s the truth about his dating status?

Cooper, who was with Renée Zellweger for two years until their split in March and has been spotted out with Jennifer Lopez in recent months, says he’s a “single 36-year-old male.”

“If you’re a single man and you happen to be in this business,” he says, “you’re deemed a player. But I don’t see myself as a ladies’ man.”

[From People]

Yes, I’m sure his mom will be especially happy to hear that her son was named “the sexiest man alive”. And so will Victor Garber. And so will all of the dudes Bradley cruises on a regular basis. As for the ladies, our vadges will quietly weep as we think about all of the sexy dudes that could have gotten this honor.

By the way, this is back-to-back SMA hatred for me. Last year’s SMA was Ryan Reynolds, who looks like a gerbil, has no sex appeal and isn’t really a leading man either, in my opinion. Somehow, though, I understood the Ryan Reynolds thing a little bit more than THIS.

You can see the rest of the SMA gallery here, at People. Other dudes who made the list: Liam Hemsworth, Idris Elba (nice), Justin Theroux (because he’s dating “America’s Sweetheart” I guess), Chris Evans, Tim McGraw, Josh Charles, Joel McHale (CB will be thrilled), Jason Momoa, Ryan Gosling, Alec Baldwin and Dylan McDermott. NO FASSIE. Also, no Hamm Dong. No Gerard Butler. No Viggo, no James McAvoy, no Paul Bettany, no Brad Pitt, no George Clooney, no Matt Damon, NO NO NO NO.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Oooooh, I was right. I love it when that happens. Back in September, there were multiple reports that Zoe Saldana was maybe/probably getting it on with her costar at the time, Bradley Cooper. While I doubted the stories as they focused on Bradley, I did point out that it certainly appeared that Zoe was acting like a single girl, and that was probably bad news for her boyfriend/fiancé of 10 to 11 years, Keith Britton. Everyone was all, “You don’t know! She’s not a famewhore! She keeps her junk private!” But now Zoe and Keith have announced their split (to both People Mag and Us Weekly, whazzup privacy?), and I’m left wondering when they exactly called it quits. I bet it was two months ago, don’t you? They haven’t been photographed together since July, at least that was all I found.

For the first time in over a decade, Zoe Saldana is single. The Avatar star, 33, and fiance Keith Britton, 35, “have amicably separated after 11 years,” the actress’ rep tells Us Weekly.

“[They] remain committed business partners as co-founders of fashion resource MyFDB.com,” Saldana’s rep added. “Respect of their privacy is appreciated during this time.”

Saldana and her entrepreneur ex confirmed their engagement in June 2010. A source told Us at the time the actress was “thrilled,” adding, “They’ve been together forever. They’re a great couple.”

Another insider at the time told Us: “[Zoe] doesn’t even introduce him as her fiance. She will just say, ‘This is Keith.’ She likes to keep her personal life to herself and wants people to focus on her as an actress.”

[From Us Weekly]

“She likes to keep her personal life to herself and wants people to focus on her as an actress” = she wants to upgrade to someone in the industry who can help her career. That’s how I read it. So, did Zoe bone Bradly Cooper? They played love interests in the film they were doing a few months ago, and I personally believe the stories of their hookups were just based on the photos from the set, of the two actors acting lovey in character. But God knows. Everyone claims Bradley is straight, and we know he likes super-skinny girls, so maybe he and Zoe had a thing. That would certainly be interesting.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

If you’d like more stories about celebrities doing nice deeds, please comment on this one, even if you’re dissing Bradley Cooper in any other area of his life. The dude is milquetoast but he does random kind deeds, just like his ex girlfriend, Renee Zellweger. I actually like him a lot more after this story, which could be leaked by his publicist but if so they did it expertly. Only the National Enquirer has this news, which makes it sound real to me. I know a lot of you diss the Enquirer, but they get more genuine scoops than the other gossip rags, they just paint everything with the same awesome, sensational brush. I love that rag so much. Anyway supposedly Bradley Cooper was filming in Philadelphia, which is where he’s from, and sent his assistant to buy thousands of dollars of winter coast for the homeless. He then personally handed them out, and when one guy told him he liked his coat, Cooper gave it to him!

The 36 year-old actor, who is filming “The Silver Linings Playbook” in his hometown, Philadelphia, shelled out thousands of dollars on coats, gloves, hats and scarves for the homeless.

“While filming in Philly, Bradley noticed a lot of people shivering on the streets,” a source told The Enquirer.

“He knew that the weather was only going to get worse, with early snowfall and blistering cold temperatures predicted, so he sent his assistant to several discount stores to buy thousands of follars of clothing.

“The Bradley returned to the area and began to hand out the clothing himself…

“One homeless man mentioned that he liked the designer jacket Bradley was wearing,” recalled the source. “It had been given to him by his pal Robert De Niro, but Bradley still gave the guy the coat off his back – literally.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 21, 2011]

Ok, I was buying this story until they added the detail that Cooper gave a guy the jacket off his back and that it was given to him by De Niro! That’s a little much. Still, if Cooper’s dad used to take him to homeless shelters I could see him going to his hometown, remembering what his dad taught him and wanting to help. Cooper’s dad passed away earlier this year and he started wearing his dad’s wedding ring as a remembrance to him. The guy may have a soft heart underneath that confusing GQ exterior. Plus, this was in The Enquirer, not in one of the publicist approved magazines like People or US. After reading this nice story, I almost forgot that Cooper is fake-dating J.Lo!