A galaxy of comedians including Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, and Chris Rock have teamed up to raise money for autism on Sunday night.

The funnymen took the stage at New York’s Beacon Theater for a Night Of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert For Autism Education, hosted by U.S. TV host Jon Stewart.

The show, which was broadcast live on American cable network Comedy Central, also featured Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon, Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and chat show host Conan O’Brien.

Broderick said, “It’s fun to be here. I’m a fan of 94 per cent of the performers. I’m always a little nervous. I hope it goes well.”

The last autism special, which took place in 2006, raised almost $3 million (GBP1.5 million).

Source

WENN

Man, oh man, talk about heartbreak: In one of the bigger upsets at the box office this year, The Rock’s family comedy The Game Plan finished in first place for a second consecutive weekend after Ben Stiller’s R-rated remake The Heartbreak Kid (No. 2) tanked. According to Sunday’s estimates, The Game Plan earned an impressive $16.3 mil on a mere 29 percent decline, while The Heartbreak Kid brought in just $14 mil — nearly half as much as most prognosticators predicted.

So let’s take a moment to look at what went right and what went wrong. Certainly, The Rock’s movie is a crowd-pleaser: It earned a solid A CinemaScore review from audiences and has been holding on strong (it’s 10-day cumulative gross is a healthy $42.8 mil), especially on the weekends, when kids are out of school. It’s a sweet film that families have identified as a safe option at a multiplex filled with grown-up fare, and Disney’s distribution wizards deserve major props for finding this sweet spot on the crowded release calendar in which their movie has been able to thrive.

But I’d also argue that The Game Plan doesn’t deserve much more credit than that — the wave that it’s riding has been able to roll along smoothly thanks to the failure of the other major movies in its path to catch any momentum. In the case of Stiller’s comedy, its drowning comes down to a combination of its restrictive rating; weak reviews; bad word of mouth (the film got an utterly deadly C- mark in the CinemaScore survey); and the fact that, every now and then, even movies featuring the most popular stars bomb.

Source

Ben Stiller says things are looking up for his longtime pal and frequent costar Owen Wilson.

“He’s doing really well,” Stiller, 41, tells Ellen DeGeneres on her show Friday.

“I sort of like to protect his privacy, ’cause I feel like it’s his own thing,” says Stiller. “But he’s a really good friend of mine. He’s an incredible guy and I wish him as everybody does, all the best.”

Wilson, 38, was set to begin shooting the comedy Tropic Thunder with Stiller this month, but was hospitalized on Aug. 26 for what police called a suicide attempt. He dropped out of the film after issuing a statement requesting that he be allowed to “receive care and heal in private during this difficult time.”

Wilson’s withdrawal from the project – which is about actors on a war movie location where a real battle erupts – was reportedly a mutual decision between him and Stiller, and Matthew McConaughey has stepped in to join the ensemble cast that includes Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Nick Nolte.

Speaking at Thursday night’s Westwood premiere of his and his son’s latest movie, The Heartbreak Kid, Ben’s dad Jerry Stiller, 80, expressed concern for his son’s best friend and said he was “surprised” to hear of Wilson’s apparent suicide attempt – but he was sure that Wilson would “recover.”

“I know that he’ll put his life together,” the elder Stiller, who also costarred with Wilson in 2001’s Zoolander, told PEOPLE. He added that his son has been “very close to Owen for most of their careers,” and that Ben had been an “advocate” in “intervention and all that stuff.”

Source

Owen Wilson has placed his acting career on hold as he recovers from his suicide attempt.

Wilson, 38, has dropped out of Tropic Thunder, a movie comedy for DreamWorks he was set to begin shooting in two to three weeks with longtime pal Ben Stiller, Variety reports.

Wilson’s role was due to take a week, according to the trade paper. Stiller – who is producing, directing and starring in the film – started shooting in Hawaii six weeks ago.

The decision for Wilson to sit out the project was apparently mutual between him and Stiller, and it is unclear whether Wilson will be replaced or if his role will be dropped from the script, says Variety.

Tropic Thunder involves a group of actors on the location set of a war movie who find themselves caught up in a real-life conflict. The comedy also stars Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr. and Nick Nolte.

Wilson and Stiller, 41, have starred together in eight movies: The Cable Guy (1996), Permanent Midnight (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Starsky & Hutch (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004) and Night at the Museum (2006).

Wilson is currently in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after being taken there Sunday. In his only statement since then, the leading man has asked to be given the privacy to “heal.”

Source

Guess Who’s still smokin? [INO]

Akon wants to work with Paris. I bet he does. [Mollygood]

Amy Winehouse looking her usual gorgeous self. [B&SG]

Hilary Duff landed herself a hot hockey player. [Celebrity Nation]

Is Johnny Depp getting married? [Celebslam]

Matt Damon gets a star on the walk of fame! [Popbytes]

Rumor Mill: Jamie-Lynn Spears is pregnant? [Ninja Dude]

Scarlett Johansson looking totally cute on set. [The Skinny Website]

They’re cute.