Here are some photos of Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine at the Italian premiere of Spring Breakers a few weeks ago. We covered the German and French premieres but never got around to this event because, quite frankly, it seemed redundant. It suffices to say that these girls did not style their ensembles to mesh together in any shape or form, and I think at least three of them kind of gave up on being styled at all. Oddly enough, Rachel looks the cutest here in an M Missoni dress that’s kicky and playful even if the color choices are a bit bizarre. Otherwise, Selena’s jumpsuit looks entirely uninspired, Vanessa fades into the background, and Ashley’s concoction looks like three ugly dresses combined into one. So horrible.

Yet I am actually kind of excited that Spring Breakers opens this weekend (in two theaters) if only because I’m quickly reaching saturation point on this over-promoted film that seems to be Harmony Korine’s excuse to film barely legal, former Disney starlets in bikinis and describe it all as “art.” Even though the movie also stars James Franco, I assure you that watching him deep-throating a pistol will not be ART. Even a simple glance at the movie’s green- and red-band trailers can tell anyone that much. Now Selena is telling the press that her signing on for this type of movie is nearly a direct result of being a Disney kid because the house of mouse made her “crave” the direct opposite for “creative” purposes. Oh no:

From wholesome and Disney to raunchy and druggy. In a time-honored Hollywood tradition, former teen actresses Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens are hitching their stars to edgier, more provocative fare in the hope of jumpstarting the next, more grown-up phases of their careers.

In a recent New York Times article, the two Disney acolytes (Hudgens starred in the studio’s High School Musical series and Gomez wrapped up the final season of its hugely popular “Wizards of Wavery Place” a year ago) open up about their roles in provocateur/filmmaker Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, a movie described in the article as “a druggy, violent, hypersexualized tale of innocence squashed.”

“Disney is a machine, and I’m grateful for it, but I feel like being part of that environment made me crave the reaction from other projects even more,” Gomez, 20, told the Times. “Creatively this is where I wanted to go.” In the movie, she plays one of four bikini-clad girls gone wild who rob a bank to fund their spring break vacation.

Hudgens shares the same career-changing goal. “I want people to look at me not as that girl from High School Musical, but as an actress they admire,” the 23-year-old said. “With Spring Breakers I’m looking for a reaction for sure. I want to shock people.” In one scene, her character, Candy, holds a loaded gun while James Franco’s drug dealer character pretends to perform fellatio on it.

“It was an amazing opportunity for us,” Hudgens continued.”Selena and I are both young, finding our footing, wanting to grow.”

Gomez concurred: “I’ve never been part of a movie I would watch over and over again, and I’m really proud of it.”

[From Us Weekly]

Selena has previously stated that she decided to do this movie because she wanted to take herself more seriously as an actress, but I just don’t understand how being mostly naked throughout a movie helps anyone develop their acting skills. Why not seek out a good drama flick instead? It boggles the mind that so many starlets (Kristen Stewart, Jessica Biel, etc.) think playing a stripper will help them break out of a franchise or a rut (yet it never seems to help), and strutting around in a bikini isn’t much better. Poor Selena. I want good things for her, and this movie is definitely not a good thing.

Here’s some pictures of Selena on 3/7 at the Alliance For Children’s Rights dinner. She looks so deflated and sleepy.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Selena Gomez worked it at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in a very adventurous nude Atelier Versace gown with bustier detail. She’s been attempting to grow up right before our very eyes for a couple of years now, and even though Selena is 20 years old, that baby face will probably haunt her for the rest of her life. When she’s 50, she’ll be able to laugh at all of us with our adult-looking visages, but for now, Selena will suffer the wrath of her own beautiful cherub likeness. Certainly, there are worse things to endure, but I can understand why it must be frustrating to not be able to push past her teenage image.

In very recent days, Selena’s mixed up some grown-up looks with a cute Gucci dress and a sexy Atelier Versace suit, but she doesn’t have as much luck with this dress. For one thing, her rack looks conspiciously larger than usual in those bustier cups. Can I start a rumor about a possible Selena boob job here? Done. Seriously though (and to borrow a term from Kaiser), has Selena invested in some bolt-ons to make herself appear more mature? I couldn’t say for sure, but her girls are suspiciously out there in a big way. Similarly, I also feel like those Lorraine Schwartz earrings are completely out of place, and some silver dangles would have been more appropriate. Her makeup looks good though — she’s so pretty. Obviously, I’m quite distracted by the boob mystery at hand. Witness:

Vanessa Hudgens tried her very hardest to bring it in this shimmering, bronze Moschino gown with Jacob & Co. jewels. I think she succeeds here, don’t you? She’s a very cute girl, and this dress looks great on her figure. Her hair and makeup are both youthful and slightly glamourous, and I think Vanessa is one of the rare people who can get alway with a bold, red lip color. Yes, this is a win for Vanessa! If I were to hit a red carpet, I’d probably wear a dress just like this. Then I’d trip and fall just like JLaw.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend looked adorable together as always. I can’t find a designer ID on this gown anywhere and even trolled through her Twitter page only to find a photo of Sally Field standing on the dress. I tweeted Chrissy for the designer ID; she didn’t tweet me back, but she did follow me. Sadly, she might unfollow me if she ever learns that I don’t understand this gown at all. The black column skirt is sophisticated, but the gold top half is quite perplexing. Clearly, there’s a mesh overlay involved with the illusion effect, but it makes me cross my eyes trying to figure it out. Can I call this a statement dress? Is that allowed? So be it. I love Chrissy, but I’ll freely admit that she has much better taste in food than VF party dresses.

Alessandra Ambrosio wore a really awful gold, sheer gown by Zuhair Murad. There is so much going on here that I don’t see how anyone could point out a good aspect to this dress. It looks like a kaleidoscope threw up all over toilet paper. It’s completely awful, and not even a Victoria’s Secret model can get away with this mess.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Vanessa Hudgens covers the March issue of Paper magazine (you can see the cover here), and the clear message here is “F–k Disney,” which is a rather risky proposition for someone who’s box-office prowess has strongly diminished since leaving the House of Mouse. Like I said yesterday, Vanessa’s been itching for a breakthrough hit (for adult audiences) since High School Mustical ended in 2008. Since then, she’s had three flops (Bandslam, Baastly, and Sucker Punch) and one hit (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) that really only succeeded because of Dwayne Johnson’s triceps and some cute baby elephants. So I really think that if Spring Breakers doesn’t make a significant financial splash, then maybe Vanessa should take a hint and stick to Neutrogena endorsements and staged bikini photo ops.

At any rate, Vanessa worked some sort of rebellious vibe for this photoshoot. Look at these two particular shots. I realize that the stylists were probably going for “punk rocker,” but I’m also getting, “I want to be the big, bad Joan Jett.” If that’s the vibe Vanessa was going for here, I’m sad to say that Kristen Stewart did it slightly better.

Her homeschooling included Disneyland trips: “I don’t know if it was very conducive to a good learning style, but it was fun. In 10,000 hours, they say you can master anything. 10,000 hours in Disneyland and you’re the queen of Disney.”

On her leaked nude photos: “That was just a really sh-tty situation that sucked. That was by far the worst moment of my career.”

On moving on from Disney: “It’s always been hard for actors to cross that bridge but honestly, you have to hold out and do what you think is right for yourself. But I also think it is about finding someone who truly believes in you. Harmony took a really big jump in hiring me and Selena [Gomez] and Ashley [Benson].”

She wanted to work with “avant garde” James Franco: “I saw that James was already attached and I am his biggest fan. I thought, ‘I need to be in this movie.’) I still don’t know him,” Hudgens says in wonderment. “I have no idea who James Franco is. He’s that into method acting. He comes on set as his character. In between scenes, he is still his character. When I first saw him, I was speechless because he just completely transformed himself. The way he talked, with that accent… Everything he does is so organic.”

On playing a drug-addicted prostitute in Frozen: “Ever since I was young, I wanted to play really heavy and intense roles and really push myself in a dramatic direction. So I was like, ‘A prostitute! I can play a prostitute! This is going to be exciting.’”

She’s protective: “There are a lot of paparazzi outside, just so you know. So don’t get freaked out and scared. Pulling a basketball cap far down on her face, Hudgens whispers, “I’m always afraid that when I’m wearing a hat, I’m just going to run into a pole or something.”

She still loves Disney: “There’s nothing more fun than being drunk at Disneyland,” she giggles.

[From Paper Magazine]

“There’s nothing more fun than being drunk at Disneyland,” really? What a rebel. While I’m sure that Vanessa is a pretty sweet girl in real life, and she’s certainly harmless, I think that her excitement to play a prostitute speaks to the erroneous path taken by so many young starlets in in a vain effort to be taken seriously. If one truly feels the need to play a prostitute or stripper in order to be taken seriously as an adult, then perhaps some acting classes are in order instead. Just saying.

Photos courtesy of Paper Mag

Here are some photos of the German premiere of Spring Breakers, which is getting quite the fancy, worldwide rollout for a bikini exploitation flick. Just the mere sight of Harmony Korine is enough to make my skin crawl, so we won’t talk about him any more except to say that his wife, Rachel Korine (who also stars as one of the fab four bikini chicks) is suspiciously missing from this red carpet lineup. Oh wait, she’s out sick, so I guess there’s no real conspiracy there.

Likewise, James Franco was not present for this premiere either because he’s still promoting bigger and better (i.e., more expensive) things (Oz the Great and Powerful) instead of his gross turn as K-Fed squared, so we’ll just have to make do with Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Benson. Altogether, the three ladies look better and less prom-y than for the French premiere, so let’s do some fashion.

Selena Gomez went very mature while sporing a black Atelier Versace with a plunging neckline that reached almost all the way to her belly button and easily revealed she was most definitely not wearing anything underneath that blazer. This is a very hopeful-grown-up look for Selena, and I’m not crazy about all the gold and the weird plunging backline as well. All the same, she’s not really showing any controversial section of her body, and her boobs aren’t flopping out for all the world to see. So this look isn’t that bad although yesterday’s flirty Gucci dress was more enjoyable. I would have gone for more dramatic makup (or at least a pop of lip color) with this suit for sure.

Vanessa Hudgens looked better than she did in Paris. She wore a very colorfully floral Naeem Khan dress that was covered in sequins, and the colors provided a very lovely contrast against her skin and dark hair with very effective makeup and understated hair. She looks cute and a little bit mature, but she’s obviously having a lot of fun in this dress. Those earrings are way too much though.

Ashley Benson looked — sorry to say this — like a decorative addition to a Vegas casino party. This gold monstrosity did her no favors at all. Such a poor choice for a premiere dress, but hey, this is Spring Breakers we’re talking about, so maybe Ashley wins for most appropriate attire.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Here are some photos from the Paris premiere of Spring Breakers. Unfortunately, the insufferable James Franco was not present to show off his mad skills of deep-throating pistols because James is promoting Oz the Great and Powerful at the moment. But the girls — Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine — were on the scene and fully decked out to impress (unlike the movie, probably). Selena recently told MTV that she didn’t mind wearing a bikini throughout her role: “It was so funny. The rest of the girls were in the trailer doing crunches. I didn’t mind. I didn’t care.” She really wants this to be her breakout role, but Vanessa Hudgens has been trying to do the same thing ever since High School Musical 3 came out in 2008. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t think that Harmony Korine does Disney is going to be as successful in obliterating good girl images as Vanessa and especially Selena would hope, but let’s talk about fashion.

Selena went with a spangly blue Gucci dress that she paired with Jimmy Choo heels. The look is slightly more grown-up than we’re used to seeing Selena appearing, but the amount of skin shown is quite deceptive. Selena’s highlighting her long, lean legs and flashing a little bit of side boob, which isn’t so bad. I actually like this dress on her. Selena’s 20 years old now, so I guess coddling her (stylewise) is getting a bit old as at this point. She’s got a baby face, but maybe that will eventually disappear.

Vanessa went with a full-on ball gown in this Rafael Cennamo dress. Why so formal? This is a movie where she shows off her cute butt in a bikini for most of her screen time. I’m thinking that Vanessa’s booty is probably the highlight of all of Spring Breakers, but that doesn’t mean this Harmony Korine exploitation flick will do anything for her career. She should have taken it down a notch and gone with a cocktail dress.

Photos courtesy of WENN

Selena Gomez covers the February issue of Nylon magazine to promote her role as one of the bikini-clad college girls who decide to rob banks (?) to fund a beach vacation in Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. I’ve posted the trailer at the bottom of this post, but first let’s talk about this Nylon cover. This magazine always has the worst covers, right? Always so busy with the colored, competing fonts and the dreadful clothing. Poor Selena cant be enjoying wearing a fringed basketball jersey that looks like it’s woven out of potholder material. The one editorial shot that’s been released isn’t quite as awful though. Here are some interview excerpts:

On fame: “I think [the paparazzi] are over me because I’m so boring[...] I get to Topanga Mall, and they’re like, ‘Why is she back at the same place?’”

On Spring Breakers: “It was my first audition in years. I definitely felt that with my first stepping-out role, I should choose something that I could understand a little more. I was really nervous, but Harmony took a chance with me. He said, ‘You live in this bubble, and I’m going to take you out of it, but you have to trust me.’”

Her BFF is still Taylor Swift: “We both experienced the same things at the same time. But we’ve never once talked about our industry. She just became the person I’d go to for an issue with my family or boyfriend. It’s so hard to trust girls, so I’m lucky to have her.”

A pre-breakup summary of her thing with Bieber: “I’m having fun. At the end of the day, love is such a normal thing, and everyone deals with it. Just because it’s a different lifestyle doesn’t change the meaning of what I’ve been raised on, which is fairy tales.”

[From Nylon]

Yeah, it sounds like Selena already had one well-heeled shoe out the relationship door when this interview took place. I really hope she and Bieber are done for good this time because she can do so much better. Speaking of Selena lowering herself, the first trailer from Spring Breakers is out, so let’s watch and discuss below.

Just when I thought James Franco couldn’t be more annoying, he has to double down on his K-Fed makeover with chrome teeth and a terrible accent. When he drawled, “Don’t be spishious,” I actually gave Kristen Stewart a run for her eye-rolling money. This movie looks pretty dreadful even though it’s not meant to be serious. Obviously, Harmony Korine has taken advantage of the fact that former Disney starlets would welcome the chance to don bikinis, wield weapons, and shed their good-girl images. Vanessa Hudgens has already been trying to shed her High School Musical roots for a few years, but it doesn’t look like this movie is going to help much. Unfortunately for her, making the transition from teen to adult actor also requires talent, which is definitely a problem area for Vanessa. She plays the fame game well, but she’s not much of an emoter. As for Selena, only time will tell, but I doubt that her desire to be taken seriously as an actress will be aided by Spring Breakers.

Photos courtesy of Nylon and Interview magazine

Before her divorce, Christina Aguilera was stuck in an endless cycle of giving interviews about her bisexuality and her coterie of female lovers. I often thought she sounded full of it (like, it was just an attempt to get attention), but shortly after Christina and Jordan Bratman split up, there were many reports about Christina’s habit of “bringing girls home”. Allegedly, she would go to a bar, pick up a girl, bring the girl home and have sex with her. And Jordan wasn’t involved with that at all. I bring this up because Star Magazine/Radar claims that Christina tried to pick up little Vanessa Hudgens:

They were both child stars who got their big break on the Disney Channel. But Christina Aguilera wanted to have something else in common with Vanessa Hudgens — her boyfriend. According to a new report, the 31-year-old mom wanted Hudgens to “come back home with her” and beau, Matt Rutler.

The cheeky ex-Voice coach allegedly hit on the High School Musical actress at a Beverly Hills party, according to the new issue of Star magazine.

A source tells Star that the Dirrty threesome proposal came last month at the Samsung Galaxy Note II launch bash, which was held at a private residence.

The fellow reveler said Aguilera looked like “a hot mess in black stretch pants and wrinkled white T-shirt.”

“There were vodka bottles strewn all over her table, and she seemed to be glued to them,” the source said. “Eventually Matt looked like he had taken on the role of babysitter.”

The atmosphere heated up when Aguilera reportedly put the moves on Hudgens.

The source says: “She spent a lot of time on the dance floor gyrating next to Vanessa, who looked like she was having fun with the situation in a good-natured way. And the more Christina drank, the more her kinky side seemed to come out. It really seemed like she was playing the role of seductress – with Vanessa as her target!”

But Hudgens refused to go home with Aguilera and her boyfriend of two years.

“Out of the blue [Christina] stumbled over to Vanessa and begged her to come back home with her and Matt!” the partygoer tells Star. “Vanessa was taken aback but smiled and politely declined the offer.”

[From Radar]

I’m glad that Vanessa declined. Not that I’m opposed to threesomes or that I’m opposed to ladies getting their freak on with whomever they want – I’m just opposed to hot messes. I’m opposed to drunk messes. I’m opposed to a diva with a crappy attitude surrounding herself with sycophants and enablers, thinking she can behave however she wants in public. Maybe Vanessa just took it as a compliment and moved on.

Personal story: I was once asked to be the “guest star” in a friend’s threesome. I was closer to her than to her boyfriend, although I did like the boyfriend a lot (he was a nice guy). I still declined because I thought it would be too weird. I still feel confident that I made the right decision. Plus, I think I might be more into threesomes that involve two dudes? Like Michael Fassbender and Benedict Cumberbatch. And maybe Clive Owen. And David Gandy.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

I love talking about Nicolas Cage, 48, because he’s such a whack job. The details that came out during his financial crisis of his over the top, cinematic lifestyle were fascinating and I love to revisit them whenever we cover him. (Which is rarely so indulge me.) He owned a fleet of luxury cars, several yachts, a zoo worth of exotic animals and property around the world including two castles, 15 homes, and an island. Of course all of that excess led him deep into debt, so he’s paying it off by selling stuff and starring in movies that somehow get worse every year. Hence his latest movie with Vanessa Hudgens, 23, whom he seems to have developed an inappropriate and unreciprocated crush on. Vanessa and Nic are co-starring in a thriller based on true events in the Robert Hansen serial killer case called The Frozen Ground. (Which I was ready to dismiss as a POS, but it’s got John Cusack and Dean Norris from Breaking Bad in it, so it might be decent.) According to Star Magazine, Nic was hanging around watching Vanessa during filming and being so creepy that she asked producers to keep him off set unless he had scenes to do.

High School Musical actress Vanessa Hudgens had heard about Nicolas Cage’s reputation for freaking out younger costars. But she had no idea just how much he would make her squirm until the 23 year-old bombshell played a stripper opposite Nic, 48, in the new thriller The Frozen Ground, set for a Nov. 30 release. Nicolas unnerved the starlet so much that she begged directors to banish him from the set. “He constantly watched her and even showed up on days when he wasn’t filming to see her,” a friend tells Star. “Vanessa finally asked the directors to intervene and keep him away because she couldn’t concentrate on her performance.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, September 17, 2012]

That was the entire story in Star. If this story was about any other well known married male celebrity being inappropriate on set, like Ben Affleck or even Antonio Banderas (to use another guy that isn’t A-list) it would get much more play. But this is Nicolas Cage, and we know he’s a weirdo, so it gets a blurb on a page with another story about how Leonardo DiCaprio’s sex drive has gone down.

Who leaked this news, or did Star make it up? It’s about Nicolas Cage, which makes me think it has a grain of truth in it. Plus they call Vanessa Hudgens a “bombshell” and the source says she needs to concentrate on her performance. You draw your own conclusions. As if the subject matter weren’t creepy enough.

I really thought John Cusack was hot in this still from the film until I realized he’s playing the serial killer.

These are some photos from the Venice Film Festival photocall for Spring Breakers, because apparently the film is HIGH ART and it needs to be promoted and pushed delicately through the awards season, because if it’s one thing that the Academy loves, it’s teenage girls in bikinis and James Franco making it rain. On dat ass.

So obviously, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens did not speak to each other before they flew out to Venice, because how else do you explain these two dresses that sort of coordinate and look too matchy-matchy, to the point where even I’m confused about which girl is which. Selena’s dress is Dolce & Gabbana, and Vanessa’s dress is Blumarine. I hate to say this, but I kind of think Vanessa looks cuter. Weird, I know. I just don’t care for all of the gold crap on Selena’s dress. It’s too gaudy on someone so young.

James Frano is wearing ART. He’s always wearing ART. He IS art. He farts art. He wears ART. He breathes art. ART. Honestly, though, I think I have that shirt. I got it from LL Bean. ART, BITCHES.

Oh, and guess who else came to Venice? Gina Lollobrigida!!! Look at this fabulous bitch. She’s 85 years old and she’s still glamorous.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

It’s not like today’s earlier fashion post about Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens’ Venice photocall outfits was a big winner, but we still have lots of photos of them, so here you go. These are pics from last night’s Venice Film Festival premiere of (no joke) Spring Breakers. I seriously don’t understand why this film is being vetted in serious film festivals. Is this some kind of post-modern joke? Well, James Franco is involved, so the answer is obviously “ART. YES.” Honestly, though, reviews are coming out for the film, and the word everyone is using is “raunchy”. Ew.

For the premiere, Selena wore this Versace Atelier gown that I… don’t hate? I don’t love it on her, but it’s not as gaudy and age-inappropriate as that D&G dress from the photocall. I think she looks cute in the color – pale pink is flattering on her. It does feel “too mature” for her, but maybe I’m still seeing her as so child-like because of her baby face. Honestly, though… this whole gown and styling for Selena feels very Eva Longoria.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Hudgens wore Temperley London, a favorite label of Duchess Kate and Angelina Jolie. I actually thought “Jolie-esque” when I first saw this, not because Vanessa looks particularly like Angelina, but because of the sack-y nature of the gown, I think. Jolie loves a loose sack, and I guess Vanessa is down with that too.

FRANCO = ART.

Photos courtesy of WENN.