Director Guy Ritchie has headed out on the promotional trail for his upcoming project, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, which promises Robert Downey Jr. in drag to the hilt, so to speak. As such, Guy appears in a Q&A with Details to discuss several things irrelevant to the movie at hand, but that’s alright — let’s just leave that business to RDJ to take care of in a few weeks, shall we? Instead, let’s read about Guy admitting to being a major pothead in his young adulthood. See, there’s hope for Miley “Bob” Cyrus after all! Also, there’s the topic of Guy’s former marriage to Madonna:

On His Past As A Brawler: “I haven’t had an altercation for, I don’t know, 15 years? I did go through a truculent period once. I smoked a lot of weed and drank a lot of booze, and when I tried to give them both up, I thought I’d take up street fighting. I came unstuck on a number of occasions. I was just looking for adrenaline. But if someone said something rude to me now, I’d just accept it. It’s an age thing. Extreme violence is for young men. You look like an arse when you’re rolling around on the street at 43 years old.”

On Being A Martial Artist: “Between the ages of 18 and 22, karate was the only thing that I turned to religiously. It’s where I got discipline from. Being screamed at and realizing that the only thing you have to fight against is how much of a puss you are. Now I do Brazilian jujitsu five days a week. It’s like chess for wrestlers. And also, it’s good for old men, because you don’t get your nose pressed in or your joints snapped.”

On The Life Advice He Gives To His Kids: “I don’t. I’m f%#$ing glad no one gave me too much advice. You’ve got to work it out for yourself. What works for me might not work for anyone else. Because everyone told me that to be good at school was important, but for me it wasn’t. So I am anti-school. And I’m anti people putting so much pressure on kids and robbing their childhood by giving them so much homework. I think if kids want to arse around, then they should.”

On Being Married To Madonna: “I don’t know. By the way, I enjoyed my first marriage. It’s definitely not something I regret. The experience was ultimately very positive. I love the kids that came out of it, and I could see no other route to take. But you move on, don’t you? You’re right, I stepped into a soap opera, and I lived in it for quite a long period of my life. I’ll probably be more eloquent on it 10 years from now. When you end up with a lot of the things you set out to chase and find that you’ve stumbled into all sorts of hollow victories, then you become deeply philosophical. I’m quite happy that that experience was accelerated for me. I’m glad I made money, in other words. And I’m glad I got married.”

[From Details]

While it’s easy to take Guy’s words (re: Madonna) out of context, his full statement on his ex-wife is rather diplomatic, don’t you think? Of course, he probably doesn’t want to muddy the waters since they share custody of Rocco and David, and in some regard, Guy probably respects Madge as well. Well, as much as he can respect the woman who made him get an adult circumcision. His words make sense though, for I can certainly understand how being married to one of the most famous (and notoriously eccentric) pop stars in the world could be a shell-shocking experience and a soap opera as a matter of fact. Hell, I still have trouble believing that they were ever married in the first place.

Photos courtesy of Fame

You know what’s bad? Gwyneth Paltrow puts so much time, energy, money and ego into getting dressed for various red carpets, and it’s gotten to the point where she almost always looks WORSE when she’s trying, as opposed to her casual look. Look at these photos of Goop last night in London, where she met up with Guy Ritchie for dinner (more on that in a moment). Her hair isn’t flat-ironed to within an inch of its life, her makeup is soft and barely-there. Her outfit isn’t stunning, but I don’t hate it either, and she looks cute and young and her skin looks great. Why can’t she find a way to translate her under-done “street style” to the red carpet? She’s like the polar opposite of Jennifer Garner, who always looks busted in her “street style” but usually looks fresh and beautiful on the red carpet. WTF?

By the way, this white sweater of Goop’s? It’s a repeat! She was wearing it in NYC a month ago, and many of you were lusting after it then, when she paired it with skinny jeans. Dame Gwyneth is deigning to show us the versatility of this sweater – it can be paired with skinny jeans OR a jaunty little skirt. I’m sure the sweater costs upwards of $2000. So versatile! Dame Goop just wanted us to see it again. As for the outfit as a whole – CB hates the skirt, but my least favorite parts are the tights and the booties.

Now, for the Guy Ritchie gossip… I’ve got nothing, really. We already know that Gwyneth and Madonna are no longer friends, but of course Gwyneth would stay friends with such an influential director like Guy. OF COURSE. Guy was at the dinner with his baby-mama Jacqui Ainsley, who just gave birth two months ago. Do you think Guy and Goop ever talk about how much they hate Madonna now?

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Guy Ritchie’s girlfriend Jacqui Ainsley gave birth to a healthy baby boy yesterday. According to British sources, Jacqui needed an emergency C-section, but mother and baby are fine. This is Jacqui’s first child, and Guy’s… third? He is legally the father of Rocco and David Banda, and he was step-father to Madonna’s daughter Lola. I want to think Guy still spends time with Lola, because they always seemed very close, and I know Guy spends time with David and Rocco too. So Guy has another little boy!

Guy Ritchie has become a father again. His girlfriend Jacqui Ainsley gave birth to a son on Monday morning at London’s Portland hospital, according to reports. The couple’s baby arrived a couple of days early by Caesarean section at 11am.

According to the Mirror, Miss Ainsley, 29, underwent an emergency caesarean but delivered a healthy baby boy.

The couple haven’t decided on a name for the baby yet, but have told their families, including Ritchie’s ex-wife Madonna.

The baby will be a half brother to the director’s son Rocco and adopted son David Banda, from his marriage to Madonna.

Ritchie has been dating former Lynx model Jacqui since April last year and announced her pregnancy in March.

The couple originally met in May 2009 at a friend’s party and sparked up a romance last year after Guy took Jacqui for dinner at his Mayfair pub, the Punch Bowl.

Jacqui has had a successful modelling career since being signed by Elite Models and has landed campaigns with Samsung, Sunsilk, Virgin Atlantic and Myla Lingerie to name a few.

She also appeared in the opening credits for the James Bond film Die Another Day, which starred Pierce Brosnan and Bond and Halle Berry as the leading lady.

The Essex-born model is Ritchie’s first serious relationship since divorcing Madonna in 2008.

He married music legend Madonna in 2000 at Skibo Castle in Scotland and he also became the father figure for the singer’s daughter from a previous relationship, Lourdes.

[From The Mail]

Congratulations to Guy and Jacqui, and I’m glad mother and child are healthy. I really enjoy the subtle whitewash of Jacqui too – when she and Guy announced her pregnancy in March, I noted at that time that post-Madonna, Guy had been dating several women, and Jacqui only really became his “official” girlfriend when she got pregnant, which I suspect was her rationale for getting knocked up in the first place. Ever since, Guy has paraded her around, and she seems to enjoy the attention immensely. She seems like a pretty standard-issue trophy girlfriend/wife, someone attractive but not particularly “deep”. Guy was already with one ballbuster – Madonna – so I guess he was just looking for something “easy”. I wonder if Madonna is feeling human emotion today.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here’s a weird (disturbing) fact that the Daily Mail found buried in a long piece in NY Magazine about Madonna’s involvement in the Kabbalah cult. The NY Magazine story centers on the cult’s sketchy business practices. We’ve already heard that millions have gone missing from Madonna’s Kabbalah-based charity, Raising Malawi, and that plans to build a school there had to be scrapped. The piece goes further into that, exposing the rock star lifestyle of the Kabbalah founders and how multiple charity projects they’ve started have gone bad. There are some wonderfully bitchy observations from the journalist, Vanessa Grigoriadis. She notes that Madonna is the queen in Kabbalah and never mixes with the other congregationalists and that her belief system matches nicely with the cult. This quote is my favorite “These thoughts resonated with Madonna, who has, traditionally, been more interested in power than almost any other pop star.”

Anyway the real meat of the story is in this quote from Kabbalah co-founder Karen Berg about how Madonna had Guy Ritchie circumcised:

Karen has even noted that Madonna “keeps a kosher home, she observes Shabbat, she circumcised her son and had her [ex-] husband circumcised.” (Yes, you read the last part correctly.) ­

[From NY Mag]

I’m married to a German guy, and once men get to that age (probably once they notice) it’s not a simple prospect to get circumcised. I asked my husband for a quote in regards to this story and he said “f$#& that, no f$#&ing way” and added “that is ridiculous.” He insisted I quote him like that too. So is this the ultimate example of being p-whipped, getting circumcised for your wife? (We can’t forget that Swept Away movie, that was a close second.) I wonder if Ritchie ever regrets it. This isn’t about a baby getting circumcised, this is a full grown man who is used to the way things are.

These photos are from 2007 and 2008. Credit: WENN

On Sunday, The Mail reported that Guy Ritchie was expecting a baby with his girlfriend of less than a year, Jacqui Ainsley. The report was all glowing and sappy, all about how happy Guy and Jacqui are and how they’re planning on getting married and all of that. Hours later, Guy’s rep confirmed the whole thing, so mazel tov and all. I made the comment that Madonna, Guy’s ex-wife, was probably not very pleased about any of this. It was what I assumed would be a safe guess. Well, PopEater claims that I’m a bitch for saying it, because MADGE IS JUST FINE.

For all the flak Madonna occasionally takes for being a bit of an ice queen, the singer doesn’t hold grudges. That’s why she was delighted to hear that her ex-husband, director Guy Ritchie, 42, has officially moved on and will be starting a family with his model girlfriend, Jacqui Ainsley, 29.

Friends of the singer tell us that Madonna moved on from her relationship with Ritchie years ago, from an emotional standpoint, so she is happy that he is finally settling down and getting serious.

Ritchie and Madonna share custody of their biological son Rocco, 10, and adopted son David Banda, 5. They divorced in 2008. The split was amicable, and Ritchie said in 2009 that he still had warm and fuzzy feelings for his ex-wife.

“And, of course, here you go: I still love her,” he told Esquire. “She’s a manifester, if there ever was one. First-rate manifester. Madonna makes things happen. Put Madonna up against any 23-year-old, she’ll outwork them, outdance them, outperform them.”

Since their split, Madonna has squired a slew of much younger men around the globe, among them, a pair of 24-year olds, Brahim Zaibat and Jesus Luz.

Ritchie and Ainsley have been seeing one another for about a year, and the British press is reporting that they plan to marry within the next 12 months. No word on whether Madge will be invited to the ceremony.

[From PopEater]

On some issues, I will happily criticize Madonna, but I refuse to say one bad thing about her relationships with her exes, especially her baby-daddies, Carlos Leon and Guy. I think Madonna has a good relationship with both men, and that she is happy to co-parent with both of them. So, I think intellectually, Madonna is happy for Guy and she wants him to be happy as well. But there’s another part of her that’s going to work her gristle out for an extra five hours today, right after her daily shots of chicken cutlet juice and kittens’ blood.

All for this face…

Photos courtesy of WENN.

I’ll admit something I never expected to have to write: I really, really like Guy Ritchie. I used to think he was nothing special, but he’s grown on me so much over the past few years. I absolutely adored his last two films, RockNRolla and Sherlock Holmes, and I love the way he’s conducted himself post-divorce from Madonna. He didn’t say one bad word against her, and he’s even gone out of his way to defend her. By all accounts, they successfully co-parent, and he’s very involved in the lives of his sons Rocco and David, as well as his former step-daughter Lola. Basically, I just think he seems decent. So will this news ruin my Guy-love? The Mail reports that Guy Ritchie’s “girlfriend of a year” Jacqui Ainsley (the woman in these photos) is expecting his baby:

Guy Ritchie’s girlfriend Jacqui Ainsley is is expecting the couple’s first child. The 29-year-old model is due to give birth in September, providing a half brother or sister to the children Ritchie had with Madonna.

The baby will be his second biological child after son Rocco, 10, with Madonna. He is also father to their adopted son from Malawi, David, six. Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director Ritchie, 42, has been dating the leggy blonde for just over a year. During their marriage he helped raise her daughter Lourdes, now 14, though she remained close to her father Carlos Leon.

A friend said yesterday, ‘They have been keen to start a family. We expect to hear wedding bells next year.’

A source revealed, ‘Jacqui was crying with joy when she found out. They went on holiday because Guy is desperate for her to take it easy. He won’t let her do anything more strenuous than argue over baby names.’

In January Miss Ainsley said, ‘I’ve known since I was very little that I want to be a mummy.’

Guy and Jacqui have been together a year but they kept their romance under wraps until the Essex-born beauty was caught leaving his London home after spending the night in June.

According to the News Of The World, Jacqui will sell her Southend, Essex, flat and move into the film maker’s £6 million Marylebone mansion when renovations on the property are complete.

The couple were spotted inspecting the Grade-I listed home last week after regaining access following squatters moving in February. The squatter gang claimed they were running a temporary school, offering other squatters classes in tarot, house occupation and using public transport for free, but moved on to a disused pub on February 21.

Friends of Guy and Jacqui are said to be expecting a wedding announcement in the near future, the News Of The World claims. Guy is currently working on post-production on the Sherlock Holmes sequel, and preparing to start work on an upcoming adventure film starring Inglourious Basterds star Michael Fassbender, Excalibur. A representative for Ritchie is yet to respond to MailOnline’s request for comment.

[From The Daily Mail]

Okay, just a few things: I doubt Madonna is very happy about this, at all. I mean, after the divorce, Guy dated lots of ladies really fast – most of them younger, blonde, pretty, and wealthy in their own right. And now he’s knocked one of them up – Madge is gritting her teeth today. Now, as for the whole “girlfriend of a year” thing – that’s just not true. I was looking through our photo agencies, and Guy was photographed on dates with other women last April and May. So…basically, this chick got pregnant really quickly after they started dating. Interesting.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

A few years ago, a director by the name of “Madonna’s Husband” met a youngish English bloke with thinning hair. It was love at first sight, for both. Something about the bromance between Jude Law and Guy Ritchie is lovely, in my opinion. They really do seem tight, and like they’re genuinely good friends, with a hot homoerotic streak – just enough to make things interesting. It also is a pleasant reminder that both Guy and Jude are very similar – two middle-to-upper class boys who are more famous for their relationships than their talent.

Anyway, it was apparently a lovefest when Jude and Guy worked together on Sherlock Holmes, and somehow, Guy was chosen to direct Jude in a long(er) commercial for Dior Homme. We’ve already seen this previewed, but it’s a whole other thing when you’re watching the full commercial:

Gawker hates it – others love it. I think it wants to be fancier and sexier than it actually is, but I’m not a Jude Law hater, and I think he looks rather hot in it. The model is horrible, though. She’s a bad actress. Jude’s fake Cockney (Mockney?) accent is the worst, but I like the Paris scenery. My favorite part: that coat/wrap-dress thing the girl is wearing. I want that.

While director Guy Ritchie makes the press junket rounds in support of his highly anticipated (and swoon-inducing) new film, “Sherlock Holmes,” you can imagine that the topic of his famous ex wife, Madonna, is going to come up. But rather than dodging questions about Madge, Ritchie has been surprisingly open – and positive – about the mother of his son, Rocco. He even defended her acting skills and the one movie they did together, “Swept Away,” which was brutalized by critics and audiences alike. He also said that Madonna and he have always been in agreement that his past library of films isn’t appropriate for their kids – but he’s pleased that he’s finally made a movie his children can see.

“The whole thing is supposed to be ironic,” Ritchie says of the remake, which, although technically a romantic comedy, suggested that what a domineering woman really needs from her man is a good smack. “It’s about a man that hits a woman, and at the same time, it was her. There were all sorts of irony. If you ask me, everything about it was rather interesting, but it was such a feral relationship between a man and woman and you just can’t get away with that in contemporary society.”

His sublimated rage at Madonna notwithstanding, he is happy to defend her as a thespian. “If you ask me, I think she’s all right. I think she’s perfectly good. I just don’t think people can get her persona out of the way.”

Whatever happened between the two of them, one thing they are in agreement about is what is appropriate for children. And thus far, Guy Ritchie movies have not been on the approved list. Prior to this, Ritchie says, his kids with her Madgesty had never seen any of his films. It’s not the violence or the occasional sex scene, nor is he seriously worried about the films being disturbing to them. “It’s just the language,” he explains. “I don’t want them being conspicuously exposed to bad language.”

Finally, he’s made a movie his children can see. “It’s something the whole family could enjoy and at the same time it’s iconic and English and smart.”

[From The Daily Beast]

There are also reports that Madonna will be spending Christmas day with Ritchie and all four of the children in England.

Madonna will be reunited with ex-husband Guy Ritchie as the former husband and wife celebrate Christmas with their children, according to a new report.

It was previously reported the “Snatch” director would be looking after sons Rocco and David Banda and daughters Mercy James and Lourdes over the holidays.

But now it appears a full family reunion will take place as the Material Girl jets into Britain with the kids so they can spend Christmas Day with the filmmaker at his country estate in Wiltshire, England.

A source tells Britain’s Mail on Sunday, “Madonna is flying in for 24 hours so Guy can spend Christmas Day with the children. Things are amicable between them and the children love Christmas at Ashcombe House in Wiltshire, which Guy has turned into a Santa’s grotto.”

The stars’ divorce was finalized in January, 2009.

[From SFGate]

I cannot wait to see this movie, and I hope it lives up to the hype. The trailers look fantastic and HELLO – shirtless Robert Downey Jr.! I’m there. I wonder if Madonna, Rocco, Lourdes, Mercy and David will all go see the movie with Guy when it opens Christmas day?

Madonna and Mercy arriving in London on December 21, 2009. Guy Ritchie, Rocco and David are also seen arriving in London, on December 19, 2009. Credit: INFphoto.com.

Over the past few years, I’ve grown to love Guy Ritchie. I think he’s a lot cooler than people give him credit for, and I think he really loved Madonna in his own way. I also tend to think he’s probably a really great dad to Rocco and David Banda, and a great step-dad to Lourdes. As far as my Guy Ritchie affection goes, it also helps that I adored RocknRolla, his hilarious crime film starring my beloved Gerard Butler (and an epically gorgeous Idris Elba and my latest crush Tom Hardy). Any director willing to bring those actors together for any kind of film is going to win my respect – but the fact that RocknRolla was actually a really good movie certainly raised my opinion of Guy.

So Guy is gearing up to promote the Christmas release of Sherlock Holmes. He sat down for an extensive interview with Esquire (full interview here). Guy spends most of the time just shooting the sh-t, talking about his workouts and his bar, that kind of stuff. But then he starts talking about Madonna, and it’s pretty interesting:

“She’s a manifester, if there ever was one,” [Guy Ritchie] says. “First-rate manifester. Madonna makes things happen. Put Madonna up against any twenty-three-year-old, she’ll outwork them, outdance them, outperform them. The woman is broad.”

“Broad,” I say, repeating the word of the day.

“And, of course, here you go: I still love her,” he says. He takes a breath, drives through a red light. If no one is ahead of him, Guy Ritchie does not typically stop. “But she’s retarded, too.”

It’s rocky getting a divorce, innit? I say.

“You can’t tell someone when they’re getting divorced that their pain is an illusion,” he says. “I’m f-cking telling you, I feel it, I’ve been through that. You have, too. No one can say you don’t feel that. That’s the illusion of the illusion. The biggest fundamental is, you need a little ignorance.”

[From Esquire]

I like that. Madonna is “retarded” but he still loves her and respects her a great deal. I get that a lot of people will be upset with Guy’s use of the word “retarded” but I think this is one of those times where context is key. Is he really mocking the mentally challenged? Not really. He’s trying to talk about how complicated his relationship with Madonna was. Of course, he should have used a better word. Like “crazy” or “gristle”. I also like that the divorce seemed to hit Guy harder than Madonna – or maybe he’s just a better actor. Which wouldn’t be hard, because Madge is incapable of delivering one line on cue.

Regarding Sherlock Holmes, Guy also pontificated on the famous detective’s street cred, saying “Holmes was a gentleman, but he was also a street guy who could scruff it up a bit. I thought the story had lost that part of its essence.” I’m actually looking forward to seeing Sherlock Holmes - I think it will probably be pretty good, and likely closer to the original Sir Conan Doyle stories than people imagine.

Guy Ritchie is shown at the premiere of The Firm on 9/10/09. It was his 41st birthday and photographers presented him with a little cake. Credit: WENN.com and Fame Pictures

How is this for strange casting news? Brad Pitt is joining the cast of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. Brad will be playing Sherlock’s arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Even though filming on Sherlock Holmes ended many months ago, it seems Guy Ritchie was rethinking the film as he edited it and showed a rough cut to a select few. Guy and producers decided that Sherlock’s nemesis needed to be bigger, both in film time and characterization. So Guy talked his Snatch buddy Brad Pitt into coming in for a couple of weeks of emergency filming as Prof. Moriarty. So utterly strange. Typically, Prof. Moriarty has been portrayed as British or vaguely European, which makes me wonder if Brad will be doing an accent for the role. The Daily Mirror was one of the first outlets to break the story, but now everyone is picking it up, so I think this one might be true:

When you’re making a movie about Sherlock Holmes, it seems elementary to include the detective’s arch enemy – unless you are Guy Ritchie, of course.

Madonna’s ex-hubby got in a right pickle with movie execs when they clapped eyes on the rough cut of his latest film… and felt like re-titling it the Mystery of the Missing Moriarty. They ordered the director to reinstate the great Holmes’ evil nemesis, pronto.

But what could have been a huge disaster for Guy, 40, has actually turned out incredibly well – his film now boasts Brad Pitt! Desperate for help, Guy phoned his old mucker Brad, who had starred in his gangster flick Snatch. Fortunately, Brad, 45, had a couple of days free in his busy schedule to pop over to Blighty to play the evil criminal mastermind.

Anxious studio execs have already put the film’s release date back until after Christmas. Now they are just praying Brad will be available long enough to shoot all his scenes in one run, to avoid any further delays.

Filming with Brad is due to start this week in London and on location at Cliveden House – the venue beside the Thames at Berkshire is the backdrop for Moriarty’s home.

A source on the set tells us: “It’s a huge coup to have Brad joining the cast. He has worked for Guy before and said if he could, he would do anything to help out. It was an oversight in the film not to make a bigger deal about Moriarty. He is mentioned as Holmes’ arch enemy, but the bosses wanted Guy to make more of him. Jude Law (who plays Dr Watson) and Robert Downey Jr (Holmes) have already shot their scenes.

“But now that 10 extra days have been added to shoot the new ones, they may be called back for a day or two. Brad is expected to be filming all over London. Cliveden House has been earmarked as a location for Moriarty’s home. There will be scenes shot at Royal Victoria Dock, Pontoon Docks, Pinewood and Chatham Docks in Kent. And they will be using clips around City of London to set the scene.”

“It’s going to be a full-on couple of days, but now the release date has been pushed back they might just do it in time.”

And with Brad on board, we deduce that Guy could have a hit on his hands…

[From the Daily Mirror]

Brad and Angelina are already in France, having flown to Provence in a private, rented Gulfstream over the weekend. OK! Magazine theorized that they were going to spend the rest of the summer in their chateau, but who knows? With Brad flying to England for the Sherlock Holmes filming, maybe Angie and the kids will stay in France, and Brad will join them in a couple of weeks.

In one more piece of casting news, Brad Pitt will be voicing a superhero in a newly-announced Dreamworks animated film, Oobermind. Brad doesn’t have the main role, though – he’s playing second fiddle to Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Jonah Hill. According to Variety, “Ferrell [plays] the title role of a supervillain who imagines all his dastardly dreams coming true after defeating good-guy rival Metro Man (Pitt), only to find life quite boring without an adversary. To fill the void, Oobermind creates a new superhero, Titan (Hill), who also wants to be bad, forcing Oobermind to switch sides. The three actors join Tina Fey, already onboard to play the reporter tasked with keeping track of the city’s confusing superhero situation.” It actually sounds like a funny movie. This will be Brad’s first animated-voice work since Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

UPDATE: Warner Bros. (the studio releasing Sherlock Holmes) is denying this. They gave a statement to Us Weekly, saying “The report in today’s London Mirror is completely inaccurate. Brad Pitt is not joining the cast of Sherlock Holmes and we’re extremely pleased with the production of the film. As planned, it will be released on Christmas Day, 2009. In order to complete the movie, we’ve scheduled a few days on set to shoot a couple of additional scenes, obtain pick-up shots, and perfect some of the visual effects elements, all of which is standard filmmaking practice.” This is honestly one of the weirdest stories ever. Part of me thinks that Brad really is doing a few days of work on the film, and they want to keep it hush-hush until the general release.