Actor-turned-director Ben Stiller is convinced no one can help Owen Wilson overcome his personal problems – because it is hard to understand his emotional anguish.

Wilson was hospitalized last year after allegedly slashing his wrists at his home in Santa Monica, California.

And Stiller, a close friend of the funnyman, admits that his pal is battling depression – and it is hard for his family and friends to empathise with what he is going through.

He says, “It’s impossible to understand that kind of pain – depression or anything like that – until you’re in it. I love Owen. I felt bad that he had to deal with all the outside bulls**t.”

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WENN

A fictional energy drink that features in Ben Stiller’s next movie Tropial Thunder is being turned into a real product.

Booty Sweat pops up throughout the comedy, which is due to be released on August 15th.

Now Paramount Pictures want to cash in, by producing it and marketing it alongside the movie.

Michael Corcoran, president of consumer products at Paramount Pictures, “Not to my knowledge has this ever been done before. We’re very excited, because it has the potential to live for quite a while, well beyond the film.”

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WENN

I have been obsessed with Cameron Crowe since Say Anything.  Lloyd Dobbler was quite possibly my first crush.  I still love John Cutesack…no matter what crappy movie he’s in.  Cameron Crowe went on to create some of my all-time favorite movies, including Singles (probably my favorite Cameron Crowe movie), Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous.  So when I heard that he has a new movie coming out (afer a long hiatus…his last movie was 2005′s Elizabethtown, which unfortunately sucked) I was so excited!

Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon are starring in Cameron Crowe’s as-yet untitled romantic comedy adventure for Columbia Pictures.

Crowe will direct from his own screenplay and is producing along with Scott Rudin. The plot is being kept under wraps.

Columbia beat out four rival studios in a bidding war over the fully-developed project, which is scheduled to start shooting in January, once Stiller and Witherspoon’s schedules open up. Stiller next will be seen later this summer in Tropic Thunder, which he also co-wrote, produced and directed, and he is shooting Night at the Museum 2: Escape From the Smithsonian. Witherspoon’s upcoming projects include Four Christmases, with Vince Vaughn, and she is voicing characters for DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens.

Variety

WENN

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).

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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.

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