Rumored Projects

Catherine Zeta-Jones is in final negotiations to join the cast of director Adam Shankman’s musical Rock of Ages.

Zeta-Jones, who won a best supporting actress Oscar for 2002′s big screen musical Chicago, will play the villain of the movie, a part that was not in the stage production.

“It’s a character that we only really came to in the last month,” said Shankman. “The character was invented to streamline the stories.”

Shankman described the character as “if Tipper Gore and Anita Bryant had a love child. She is this hardcore, moral majority, arch-conservative  who wants to shut down rock’n roll in the great city of Los Angeles.”

“It’s like the musical gods just blessed us!” he said regarding Zeta-Jones’ boarding.

Based on the Broadway musical, the New Line production, which is scheduled to begin shooting May 19 in Miami, is also set to star newcomer Diego Gonzalez Boneta along with Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti and Julianne Hough.Ages tells the story, replete with hair-band music, of a small-town girl (Hough) who comes to Hollywood for the 1980s music scene and is nearly destroyed by it. Although she falls for a budding musician named Drew (Boneta), she also catches the eye of Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), an arrogant rocker at the height of his career, ends up as a stripper in a club run by Blige but also finds true love at the end.

Shankman’s Offspring Entertainment, Tobey Maguire’s Maguire Entertainment and Corner Store Entertainment are producing, with Garrett Grant serving as exec producer.

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HOLLYWOOD star Catherine Zeta Jones has withdrawn her patronage of the Swansea Bay Film Festival after criticisms of the event in a widely viewed YouTube documentary.

It follows the decision last month of in demand Port Talbot actor Michael Sheen to resign as vice president of the six-year-old festival.

Film festival founder Binda Singh of Brynmill, Swansea, said today he was very disappointed at the news but added this years festival would carry on as planned.

In their short film, Looking for an Audience, film makers Steve Rosen and Terry Di Bono claimed they travelled 7,000 miles from California to find there had been little publicity of the Swansea Bay Film Festival.

They also complained their movie Boyhood Shadows was shown at last years festival in the Swansea Dylan Thomas Centre at the same time as a free drinks reception with then Lord Mayor of Swansea vastly reducing the audience.

Their critical YouTube film has now been viewed around the world.

Swansea born Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones had previously said of the festival: I am proud to be part of the Swansea Bay Film Festival.

It provides a great opportunity for the city and is a showcase for local talent.

But Mr Singh confirmed to WalesOnline today that he learned in a conversation with Zeta-Joness brother Lyndon on Tuesday night the actress was now withdrawing her patronage.

He said: This years festival, attracting independent filmmakers from across the world, will be the longest in its history with 10 days of movie screenings between May 5-15.

The event will climax with an awards banquet and ceremony at the Towers Hotel in Jersey Marine.

Mr Singh said: I cannot speak for her but I feel Catherines decision must have been influenced by the anti-Swansea Bay Film Festival brigade inspired by our Californian friends.

We made mistakes and we are showing films back to back at this years festival to maximise the audience for each movie.

Essentially we are a small Welsh festival which has fallen foul of two skilled American film makers who took umbrage because their movie coincided with a free drinks reception.

When they got here it was as if they were expecting Cannes.

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Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has been by husband Michael Douglas’s side during his cancer fight, has sought mental health treatment for herself, her rep says.

“After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check in to a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her Bipolar II disorder,” the rep says in a statement. “She’s feeling great and looking forward to starting work this week on her two upcoming films.”

Zeta-Jones, 41, spent about five days in the unidentified facility, a friend tells PEOPLE.

Bipolar disorder, a mental illness marked by elevated or irritable moods alternating with periods of depression, afflicts about 6 million Americans. Those with Bipolar II tend to have more depression, with the mood swings spread over a longer time and the “up” periods less elevated. The episodes can be triggered by major stress or life changes.

“There’s no question it’s been a stressful year,” the friend says. “Catherine has had deal with Michael’s illness and that’s been hard. She went in for a few days because she’s about to start working, and wanted to make sure she’s in top form, which she is.”

Douglas, 66, announced in January he was declared free of cancer after what he called a “wild six-month ride” of chemotherapy and radiation for a tumor on his tongue.

“The hardest part is seeing his fatigue, because Michael is never tired,” Zeta-Jones told PEOPLE last year when Douglas was in the midst of his cancer battle.

She said Douglas told their children Dylan, 10, and Carys, 7, the difficult news himself: “Daddy sat them down and told them he has cancer now.”

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As more and more women flock to Gerard Butler off-camera, two more have signed on to play his lady friends on screen.

The LA Times says his upcoming flick “Playing the Field” has just confirmed the addition of two more high-profile stars to play his love interests (yes, more than one!) – Catherine Zeta-Jones and Judy Greer.

The plot of the movie apparently goes something like this: Butler is a successful, playboy European soccer player moving back to the USA to try and mend things with his estranged American wife (Jessica Biel) by coaching his son’s little league team. His plan starts to fall apart when the local gals- Uma Thurman as the wife of neighbour Dennis Quaid, Zeta-Jones as a newsreader and Greer as a house-wife- start to throw themselves at him. I can’t really say I’m surprised.

The pun-tastic “Playing the Field”  began filming this week under the direction of Italian Gabriele Muccino, and is eyeing a 2012 release.

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Added 3 more stills from the film to our Gallery.

She’s won an Oscar, a Bafta, a CBE and a Tony award plus popular praise for staunchly supporting her husband through his recent cancer ordeal.

Now Catherine Zeta-Jones is being honoured in New York for promoting Wales around the world.

The St David’s Society of the State of New York is making the 41-year-old star the guest of honour at its 176th annual dinner dance at the plush Yale Club in Manhattan.

She will be given the New York Welsh society’s highest prize, the William R Hopkins medal, at the glitzy evening on March 4.

And at her side will be her Oscar-winning husband Michael Douglas, 66, now recovering after months of chemo and radiotherapy for stage four throat cancer, which doctors have told him has now gone.

Previous recipients of the William R Hopkins medal have included singer Iris Williams and composer Karl Jenkins.

On the guest list will be Professor Peter Stead, the social historian and broadcaster who founded the University of Wales Dylan Thomas Prize, one of the richest literary prizes in the world.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is a patron and international ambassador of the £30,000 prize which was won in 2010 by US writer Elyse Fenton.

Professor Stead said yesterday: “I am absolutely thrilled Catherine is being given this honour by the St David’s Society of the State of New York.

“She has done such a lot to promote Wales and the Welsh around the world through her work.

“But she is also an active supporter of charities and other causes including the arts and her role as a backer of the Dylan Thomas Prize has been a pivotal one. She thoroughly deserves to be honoured by New Yorkers who are either Welsh or have Welsh backgrounds.

“I’m told by the organisers Michael Douglas will be with her and I’m sure everyone will be pleased to see him.

“It promises to be a great night of celebrating Welshness in the heart of one of the most influential cities in the world.”

The Yale Club of New York City, where the annual banquet will take place, commonly called the Yale Club, is a private club in Midtown Manhattan.

Its membership is restricted almost entirely to alumni and faculty members of Ivy League universities such as Yale, which was named after one of its early benefactors, the Welsh merchant Elihu Yale.

The St David’s Society of the State of New York, one of the oldest ex-pat Welsh societies in the world, holds its banquet there annually to celebrate the connection.

With a clubhouse comprising 22 storeys and a worldwide membership of over 11,000, it is the largest private clubhouse in the world.

The chair of the St David’s Society of New York is David Morgan, a Swansea-born banker now living and working in New York.

Just days ago, new photographs appeared to confirm Michael Douglas has put his health problems well behind him.

He was pictured looking fit and healthy with his Welsh wife and their seven-year-old daughter Carys in the stands at Madison Square Garden, watching the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the home side New York Rangers.

And they looked like they were having a great time together as they watched Rangers beat the Penguins 5-3.

Zeta-Jones and Douglas and their two children have now moved to New York after previously living in Bermuda, where Douglas has a hotel.

Zeta-Jones has been described as “a rock” after being by her husband’s side following his diagnosis with cancer last year and in turn he has praised her dedication to him, describing her as the “love of his life”.

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CATHERINE Zeta-Jones has praised husband Michael Douglas’ healthy appearance as the actor continues his recovery from throat cancer.

The Swansea-born actress and her Hollywood star husband yesterday made a front row appearance at New York Fashion Week and the couple will next week visit Buckingham Palace where Zeta-Jones will finally collect her CBE.

Douglas, who is recovering from gruelling treatment in his battle against throat cancer, looked tanned and healthy yesterday in a grey cashmere jumper and sunglasses as he watched the autumn/winter show by American designer Michael Kors.

Zeta-Jones, who was dressed in black leather, gave the Wall Street star a hug, before telling reporters: “Doesn’t he look great?”

In January, Douglas declared that he had been given the all-clear by doctors after gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy sessions.

During the eight-week treatment cycle at a New York Hospital, Douglas had lost 40 pounds, which he has started to gain back. He will now have regular examinations by specialists to check the cancer has not returned.

The couple’s appearance at the fashion show comes just a week before Zeta-Jones’ date at Buckingham Palace.

The Tony award-winning actress received the award in the Queen’s Birthday honours list last June for services to the film industry and charity.

She has long been a patron of Swansea’s Longfields Day Centre, which caters for young adults with cerebral palsy and related disabilities, but after Douglas was diagnosed with stage four throat cancer last summer, she has been unable to collect her award.

At the time of the announcement last summer, she said: “I am absolutely thrilled with this honour. As a British subject, I feel incredibly proud, at the same time it is overwhelming and humbling.”

The glamour couple, along with family members, will now make the trip to London where she will be formally presented with her CBE on February 24.

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[007] June 5th – Signing Playbills for Fans
[012] June 6th – Signing Playbills for Fans

Update! Insiders tell Vulture exclusively that now that Bruce Willis is committing to star as a professional gambler-in-shambles named Dink, the rest of the cast for Stephen Frears’s sports-gambling movie Lay the Favorite, Take the Dog (adapted from Beth Raymer’s memoir) is falling quickly into place at Focus Features: We now hear the odds are good that Justin Timberlake will play the part of Rosie, a Long Island bookmaker who runs a massive off-shore sports book under which Raymer (to be played by Rebecca Hall) apprenticed. We also hear the smart money is on Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones signing on to play Tulip, Willis’s wife. Just in the nick of time: Shooting on the picture — described by Variety as equal parts The Grifters and High Fidelity — is scheduled to start in April.

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Added 3 scans from the December 2009 issue of “In New York”.