Heath Ledger was working on the film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in the UK right before his untimely death. One of Heath’s co-stars in the film, Christopher Plummer, has revealed that the director, Terry Gilliam, plans to use computer generated imagery to produce the scenes that Heath had not yet filmed. Plummer, who plays Dr. Parnassus in the movie, also revealed that Heath was ill on set, that he was taking antibiotics and pills to sleep, and that he often talked about how he had trouble sleeping. It sounds like their filming schedule was grueling as Plummer says “We had to shoot every second we were out there”:

Director Terry Gilliam is trying to “salvage” The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus which Ledger was in the middle of shooting before his shocking death.

Gilliam’s close friend Christopher Plummer, who stars as title character Dr. Parnassus in the movie, said: “Terry’s throwing himself into the job of trying to salvage the picture. He’s terribly saddened by what happened, and is trying to work out how to continue. He wants to dedicate it to Heath.

“Fortunately, because the film deals with magic, there is a way of turning Heath into other people, and then use stills and computer generated imagery (CGI).”

Veteran actor Plummer also revealed Ledger was ill while on location in London for the project.

He added: “We all caught colds because we were shooting outside on horrible, damp nights. But Heath’s went on and I don’t think he dealt with it immediately, even when he was taking antibiotics. I think what he had was the walking pneumonia.

“We had to shoot every second we were out there. There was hardly any time to keep warm.

“He was saying all the time, ‘Damn it, I can’t sleep’, and he was taking all these pills to help him.”

[From News.com.au via Fark]

This reminds me of the 1993 death of The Crow star Brandon Lee, who was killed when a prop gun was accidentally loaded with a bullet on set. He died after a shot to the stomach in a scripted scene with a co-star, who of course assumed that the gun just held blanks. There were 8 days left for shooting, and a stunt double replaced Lee in some scenes in which his face was digitally added afterwards. Technology has advanced so much in 15 years and it’s sure to be an easier process with Ledger’s film.

Ledger’s ex Michelle Williams was working on Blue Valentine with Ryan Gosling in Sweden when she received the news that the father of her child had passed. Filming has been postponed to allow her time to grieve. People Magazine quotes a source as saying “We will hold off until she is ready. The production is in the process of sorting it out in respect to her.”

Celebrities and public figures who have spoken out recently about Ledger’s death include his Four Feathers co-star Wes Bentley, who it turns out shuns the spotlight even more than Ledger did. Bentley took a five year hiatus after Four Feathers and is now acting again. He even helped Heath get his role in Monster’s Ball after he backed out at the last minute and was afraid of being sued. He said:

“At one point we were as close as two people could get without being blood. That closeness came from sharing a similar, life-altering experience in life at a young age where very few could relate and those who could often were pre-occupied with competition. It would have been isolating, not to mention boring, without him…. I don’t know if I could have come back without him.”

[From People.com]

Self help guru Deepak Chopra was supposed to have dinner with Heath the day he died. He’s a friend of Shekhar Kapur, who directed Heath in The Four Feathers, and the three were scheduled to dine together that fateful night. Chopra said he spoke to Heath the day before and that he mentioned that he missed his daughter Matilda, and said he was not able to see her over the holidays. Chopra called Ledger a hard-working actor and said “He was still high from the experience [of filming in London] and he hadn’t come down … He was exhausted.”

As for whether Heath committed suicide, Chopra speculates that it’s unlikely because “He was connected to life and joy.” [Details From People.com]

Heath’s co-star in the groundbreaking film Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal, has yet to issue a public statement and is said to be understandably broken up about his good friend’s sudden death. People reports this the film he was working on, Brothers, is shooting around him while he takes personal leave. They also told a funny story about how Jake made a joke on set before Heath died by putting a picture of him on the wall of his prison cell before filming a harrowing scene.

Marie Osmond will be starring in her own daytime talk show set to launch in 2009. She agreed to the deal for an undisclosed amount of cash with syndicator Program Partners. The title of the show is—you guessed it—“Marie.”

“I like the philosophy that Program Partners brought to the table,” Ms. Osmond said Tuesday at a NATPE press conference announcing the show. “They’re giving me the freedom to do some things that I feel strongly about, and the timing is right for a show like this.

Ms. Osmond first hit the airwaves in 1976 in prime-time series “Donny & Marie.” She returned to television first in the 1995 ABC sitcom “Maybe This Time” and then with brother Donny in 1998 to co-host “Donny and Marie,” a talk/entertainment show from Sony that lasted two seasons.

“Marie Osmond is unique in this industry,” said Josh Raphaelson, co-founder of Program Partners. “She is a star with an authenticity that makes her relatable to every woman in America.”

[From TV Week]

Marie cha-cha’ed her way back into the spotlight with a controversial appearance on “Dancing With the Stars” last season. During the run of that show, Osmond fainted on live television, which some later claimed she staged. She also lost her father during the show’s run, and announced that her teenaged son was entering rehab. She finished in third place, after a bizarre performance in which she dressed as a giant doll. At the time, the performance was ridiculed, but now it looks like all that exposure has paid off.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Marie Osmond is shown at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on 1/29/08 announcing her talk show. It’s not set to launch until Fall, 2009. Maybe it’s delayed because of the writer’s strike, but why announce it now if it’s not coming out for at least 18 months? Thanks to PRPhotos.

Paparazzo Adnan Ghalib’s wife is none too pleased with the way her husband is carrying on with fallen pop star and paparazzi target Britney Spears. Adnan asked his wife Azlynn for a quickie divorce, but she’s not having that. She wants to make the maximum impact and is said to want to retain Britney’s ex Kevin Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, to represent her:

Adnan Ghalib… suddenly phoned… [his] wife Azlynn Ghalib and cruelly demanded “You’ve got to give me a quickie divorce right now - Britney wants me to be free!” Furious at her husband’s betrayal as he strives to be The New K-Fed, Azlynn screamed she’ll fight any speedy divorce deal dictated by husband-hijacker Britney… and here’s an incredibly irony: She’s reaching out to the high-powered attorney who helmed Kevin Federline’s divorce from Britney!…

[A source] reveals: “First choice on her list is Kevin’s divorce attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan. It’s not certain whether she’s actually retained him - but that’s who she wants.”

[From The National Enquirer, Mike Walker's column, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Take him to the cleaners Azlynn! Get some of Britney’s cash too while you’re at it. Maybe Britney will marry Adnan, increasing his worth enormously along with creating big ‘ol alimony checks for his ex wife.

Mike Walker goes on to report that Britney has a fantasy of moving to Mexico with Adnan and starting a new family away from the heat of the flashbulbs:

“She’s spinning this fairytale plan to leave the U.S., have a baby with Adnan and live happily ever after in a tropical paradise. She said the read reason she took off to Mexico is she wants to get a hacienda, either there or in the Bahamas. Britney wants a fresh start. She’s insanely jealous of her 16-year-old sister Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy, and she’s sick and tired of lawyers and custody hearings that deprive her of seeing sons Sean Preston and Jayden James. Her attitude now is: ‘I’ll start a new family. My own family. My own way!’” [says the source]

[From The National Enquirer, Mike Walker's column, print edition, February 4, 2008]

That’s right Britney, if you can’t see your old kids just make some new ones! Problem solved. While The Enquirer says that Britney is “jealous” of Jamie Lynn’s pregnancy, Adnan told Entertainment Tonight in an interview last week that the news hasn’t really sunk in for Britney yet and she still doesn’t believe it.

Britney’s “friend” Sam Lufti is bitching about how her family, who reunited with her after Lufti was seen screaming at her while she cowered on the curb outside her house Monday night, is cutting him off from her. Britney’s mom and dad are said to be staging an intervention. Lufti called TMZ’s CEO and told him that Britney’s family is “jealous” of him because “they don’t fit in.” It came out earlier this week that Lufti has three restraining orders against him along with a violent temper.

Britney and Adnan are shown in the header on 1/28 and below on 1/22.

Blame the dealer, not the addict—that’s Michael Lohan’s new philosophy, at least when it comes to his precious cash cow, daughter Lindsay.

The recovering alcoholic and former jailbird told the Sydney News that he has been looking for the individuals who sold Lindsay cocaine, and is especially keen to find the man who is currently selling a story to the tabloids about how the starlet begged to score some coke over the Thanksgiving holiday.

“God is going to get even with this guy. He’s destroyed a lot of lives.

I’ve been looking for the people who’ve been selling my daughter and these other kids the drugs. And come hell or high water, one day I’m going to find these guys and I’m going to expose them.”

[From The Sydney News]

I’m sure the dealers are shaking in their shoes. I have this mental image of him trying to look like a tough guy in his black mesh shirt, roaming the bad neighborhoods of Manhattan – with a camera crew in tow, of course. And now that Lindsay is reportedly drinking again, will Michael also be personally visiting all the nightclubs in New York and LA to demand that they shut down, so Lindsay won’t be tempted?

Word on the street is that Katie Holmesbot might actually be rebelling a bit against her keeper. By street, I mean internet superhighway. Does anyone call it that anymore? Well let’s pretend so. And by keeper, I mean husband Tom Cruise. “Mad Money,” Katie’s first movie since Tom jumped into her life – isn’t doing so well at the box office. Or with the critics. Basically, it royally sucks. I’m not sure how a film with the sensible casting of Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton, and Katie Holmes could possibly go wrong. Oh yeah, make it a girly-bonding bank caper. Because nothing gets women to the theater in droves like a good heist.

Apparently Katie’s a little pissed at Tom – who encouraged her to do “Mad Money.” I think even the most desperate, starting-out-in-the-world-young-actress would be pretty mad if they were stuck in this film. You’d think with Tom running a movie studio… and being Tom Cruise… he would have given her better advice. Or at least bribed someone else into putting her into a better film. Between the “Mad Money” embarrassment and Tom amping up the crazy Scientology rantings – via video, no less – Katie’s supposedly reaching her boiling point.

A distraught Katie Holmes has stormed out of a crisis meeting with her husband Tom Cruise, furious over damaging publicity about his Scientology beliefs, and humiliated over the disastrous reaction to the movie he told her to make.

The actress is said to be inconsolable after a string of leaked Scientology videos, featuring her husband saluting a portrait of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, declaring war on psychiatry and claiming that members of his religion are “the only ones who can really help” accident victims, have flooded the Internet and divided Hollywood.

“Oh, I’m going hard on those guys and their reign … psychiatrists,” says Tom in one disturbing video. “It’s disgusting to me. No mercy … none. Psychiatry doesn’t work… When you study the effects, it’s a crime against humanity.” … after this new scandal she can no longer ignore the Hollywood backlash.

[From Woman’s Day]

To be fair, Katie really shouldn’t have been ignoring the “Hollywood backlash” for a long time. The backlash is there because your husband is cray-to-the-z. I really doubt Katie Holmes finds Tom’s mental health issues adorable. I’m guessing at first she thought he was a little intense, but relatively charming and still Tom Cruise. Then the next thing she knows there’s a ton of press and hoopla and everyone who was close to forgetting about the girl from “Dawson’s Creek” suddenly remembered her again, and that was pretty enticing. So what if your husband ruins all the furniture jumping around like an under-medicated eight-year-old? You’ve got the money to replace the cushions. But when your A-list husband tells you to do a B-movie, that’s where you draw the line. I think “Mad Money” pretty much confirmed that Katie has completely sacrificed her career to be with Tom. Next goes the sanity. In other news, it sounds like Katie might be pregnant. This past weekend she bought a t-shirt that says “Big Sister” (ostensibly) for Suri, along with two matching onsies which said “Little Sister” and “Little Brother.” Let’s hope they’re for Nicole Kidman.

Picture note by Jaybird: Awesome image below thanks to NachoBaby. Katie and Tom are shown in the header image at the Mad Money premiere on 1/9/08.

It sounds inevitable given her huge fan base, but Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus is set to star in a full length feature film based on her popular Disney series, according to always-reliable Star Magazine. The movie will supposedly start filming this summer, and it was planned by Disney a few months ago:

The Mickey Mouse studio plans to bring Miley Cyrus and her Hannah Montana crew to a theater near you! “The movie is set to beging filming this summer and the scriptm, which needs a little tweaking, has been greenlighted for the past few months, a source tells Star.

It’s not clear yet if Heather Locklear or Brooke Sheilds will reprise their roles. But the source says there certainly will be some famous cameos. “After all, the program is a ratings winner for Disney and seeing how Miley’s concerts sold out in seconds, this movie is bound to be huge.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Miley is featured on the cover of US Weekly this week, and seems to be more popular than ever. A film featuring concert footage from her sold out Hannah Montana world tour will hit theaters for just one week starting February first, with many parents bemoaning the limited release and saying that it creates a scarcity of tickets just like the live shows.

In Touch notes this week that it’s very likely mini mogul Miley will be a billionaire before she’s 20. They say she’s got a clothing line and her own fragrance coming out along with her upcoming movie.

15 year-old Miley changed her name this week to Miley Ray Cyrus. She was born Destiny Hope Cyrus, and Miley was her nickname until she made it official.

There was a mini scandal when some sort-of provocative photos of Miley were leaked from her myspace and presumably by her friends recently. One featured the teen star pouting and lifting up her shirt. There was also a photo of Miley in goth makeup, and another that was taken at a slumber party where she was sharing a stick of candy with a friend. She said the sleepover pictures were “nothing bad,” but that at first she was “really upset… cause it was, like, not even a big deal.” I didn’t publish any of the recent leaked photos because I figured the girl is 15 and just goofing off. Plus, I don’t have any kids in that age bracket and it took me a while to realize that she is a big deal.

Miley Cyrus is shown at the “Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” film premiere on 1/17/08, thanks to PRPhotos.

Paula Abdul is reportedly consulting with a professional matchmaker because she is in search of a wealthy man who is interested in marriage. Star magazine says that although Paula is having fun with her younger boyfriend, J.T. Torregani, she will never marry him because “he’s too young and doesn’t have enough money for her.”

Paula Abdul has been dating the 32-year-old restaurateur J.T Torregani for the past nine months, but the American Idol judge is keeping her options open. Star has learned exclusively that the former pop singer has asked a top-notch matchmaker to set her up with a “really rich man who can take care of me forever.” Paula’s goal is to be able to leave her hit reality show in two years, says the source. “She likes hanging out with J.T.-she thinks he’s hot! -but he’s just there to pass the time with. She has her eye out for Mr. Money.”

The twice divorced, 45-year-old is limiting her search to men “worth in the tens of millions,” adds the source. “A guy with $5 million in the bank and a $600,000 Porsche doesn’t cut it.” This isn’t the first time Paula’s used a matchmaker: she met ex-boyfriend Colton Melby through a dating service.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, February 4, 2008]

The idea of Paula leaving American Idol in two years sounds good to me. On last night’s broadcast, she was absolutely wasted! At various points in the auditions episode filmed in Omaha, Nebraska, she showed up hours late, crawled up on the table, slurred her words and even fell asleep. Maybe she is looking for a rich husband to foot the bill for all those pills she takes?

Paula might have some luck finding a rich young athlete to wed this weekend, if she performs at the Super Bowl, which is the current rumor. Though it hasn’t been confirmed, sources say Paula will be performing her new single, “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow,” in a pre-taped segment during Fox’s Super Bowl half-time show. Randy Jackson co-produced the single, plays bass on the track and even appears in the music video:

Is it just idle rumors, or is “the nice judge” really in talks to join Tom Petty and perform at Super Bowl XLII on February 3? It certainly looks like Paula Abdul may just put on her dancing shoes and try to show Mr. Simon Cowell that she really can sing … and dance. Adding credence to the rumors are the facts that the Super Bowl is on FOX this year, and that Abdul is supposedly already working on the video for her duet with fellow judge Randy Jackson from his upcoming Music Club Vol. 1 album.

[From TV Squad]

If it’s true, I’m predicting right now that Paula will be completely loopy, and give a performance that eclipses Britney Spears’ MTV VMA fiasco.

Kirstie Alley gives an interview about her “religion” Scientology in this week’s issue of In Touch. In it, she defends Tom Cruise and says that Scientology is as valid – and complex – as any other religion, and deserves the same respect. Alley also says that Scientologists have their own language, and that’s why Tom Cruise came off as such a nutball (my word, not hers) in all the Scientology videos that have been released over the last two weeks. She compares us listening to them to a Rabbi talking to Christians. I’m not sure how offended I should be by that.

The videos were made for Scientologists. And - we use abbreviations a lot - Tom was using words meant for a Scientology audience. On the web, the video is taken out of context. It’s like a rabbi addressing a Christian church speaking in Hebrew - no one would understand him.

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Alley also goes on to say that the videos were edited to make Tom seem foolish. I don’t want to be a total bitch here, but it doesn’t take a lot to make Tom Cruise seem foolish. He does a pretty good job left to his own devices.

There’s a lovely section on how Scientologists help people during catastrophes. You know, like how they rushed to the World Trade Center, and continue to honor themselves for their 911 detox program. They were also ever-present (and apparently ever annoying) after the Virginia Tech shootings and the Oklahoma City bombing:

“We have different things called “assists.” For example, after the Oklahoma City bombing, I went in with the Red Cross to help give kids that were in comas assists and after, all of them were doing better. Did I cure them? I’m not going to say I did. The word is assist, you can assist something to be better. That’s why Tom said, ‘We’re Scientologists. It’s our responsibility.’”

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

You “assist something to be better.” That’s a good example of Scientology phrasing. I will point out that one common feature of cults is unusual verbiage and repetition of phrases specific to that cult. It’s also a common technique used to brainwash someone.

And what of Tom’s prestigious “Freedom Medal of Valor” that he’s shown receiving in one of the videos?

“You win Freedom Medal in our church by doing something extraordinary - about the call of duty in the area of human rights or civil rights. I won one once - I was an international spokesperson for Narconon, which is a drug rehab and education program.

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Narconon is one of the sneakier Scientology scams. It’s designed to sound like Al-anon, Narcotics Anonymous, and Alcoholics Anonymous. You don’t really think about it when you hear the name, and you assume Narconon, which is run by the church of Scientology, is related to these other legitimate twelve step programs. Narconon is just another program used by Scientologists to take advantage of desperate, vulnerable people. But Alley has no problem shilling for it to In Touch.

Kirstie also describes how Scientology saved her life. She says that while driving to California to become an actress, it took her 26 days to get there because she had to stop and score cocaine all over the country. She then supposedly walked into ONE Scientology session and came out never craving drugs again.

[From In Touch, print edition, February 4, 2008]

Kirstie Alley concludes the interview by talking about how Scientologists aren’t perfect, but they want the same decency and “unbigotedness” (I think she means freedom of religion) that every other religion receives. Of course to request that, you’d have to debate the definition of religion… and the definition of a cult.

Picture note by Jaybird: Here’s Kirstie Allen at the Mission Impossible III premiere in L.A on 5/4/2006. Images thanks to PR Photos.