A mellowing Bruce Willis dishes on Demi, 'Die Hard'
Yippee-ki-yay: Die Hard's John McClane is back June 27. And after 12 years, Bruce Willis' McClane is showing his, ahem, maturity.
The actor, 52, tells the next Vanity Fair: "A lot of the physical stuff that they had me doing was still, let's say, low-tech. I don't bounce as well off the concrete floors as I used to. … I'm glad I didn't wait a couple more years to do this."
A lot has happened to Willis since the last Die Hard. After 11 years of marriage and three children (daughters Rumer, 18, Scout, 15, and Talullah, 13), he and Demi Moore split up in 1998 and were divorced in 2000. Moore married Ashton Kutcher in 2005, and Willis was among the wedding guests.
Willis refers to the Moore-Kutchers as his "extended family," according to Vanity Fair, which has photos of the group on vacation in Turks and Caicos, where he has a home. "It's hard for people to understand," he says, "but we go on holidays together. We still raise our kids together. … Demi is the mother of my children and Ashton is the stepfather of my children. I'm thrilled that Ashton turned out to be such a great guy. I love Demi, and I know she loves me."
As for Willis, no serious girlfriend has emerged, though there have been plenty of tabloid reports. He doesn't feel the need to address gossip these days because "they're not writing about guys my age much anymore, unless I do something naughty. They're writing about the kids. That's what drives pop culture now. Anything goes, to the point when if it's O.K. for young pop stars or film stars to show photos of their naked vaginas in a magazine, then it's over, man. It's the (expletive) Fall of Rome."
The June issue of Vanity Fair hits newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on Wednesday and nationwide May 8.
300, Pirates Top MTV Movie Noms
Spartans versus pirates? The 2007 MTV Movie Awards is shaping up to be a bloodbath.
This time around, the numbers are on 300's side, with the agro period flick raking in a leading five nominations, including one in the all important Best Movie category as well as a Best Performance nod for leading warrior Gerard Butler.
Sadly, Best Supporting Performance by a Loincloth was not among the categories up for grabs this year.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest also made for a strong nominee, wrangling four nominations, while The Devil Wears Prada, Blades of Glory and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhastan each man-wrestled their way to three nods apiece.
The films will all vie for a chance to take home the Golden Popcorn—the most coveted of all gilded snack-food-based movie awards—for Best Movie, with Little Miss Sunshine rounding out the top category.
In addition to nods for Butler and the flick itself, 300 scored nominations for Lena Headey, who snagged a Breakthrough Performance nomination, Rodrigo Santoro, who got name-checked as Best Villain, and Butler versus "the Über-Immortal," whose big-screen combat earned the duo a nod for Best Fight.
Among their competition for the category is Blades' boys Will Ferrell and Jon Heder and the man-on-man stylings of Borat's Sacha Baron Cohen and Ken Davitian.
As for the Pirates' booty, Johnny Depp scored a requisite Best Performance nod, facing off against both Butler and costar Keira Knightley—last year, MTV melded its separate actor and actress categories for the more gender-neutral grouping. Fellow eye candy Orlando Bloom, meanwhile, failed to make the solo nominee cut.
Cohen also managed to earn himself a Best Comedic Performance nod for his sister-kissing Kazakh reporter, going up against Ferrell and, in something of a surprise, Emily Blunt, among others.
Blunt, who earned her nod for the scene-stealing assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, also happened to steal the thunder of the movie's supposed star Anne Hathaway, who failed to earn a nomination. Blunt managed a pair of them, including one for Breakthrough Performance.
Her competition in the latter category includes Justin Timberlake, who earned an out-of-left-field nomination for his not so heralded turn in Alpha Dog.
The big showdown for Best Kiss pits Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby's Ferrell and Cohen (who at least have the precedent of a Brokeback Mountain win in the same category last year) against The Holiday's Cameron Diaz and Jude Law, Stomp the Yard's Columbus Short and Meagan Good, Invincible's Mark Walhlberg and Elizabeth Banks and Little Man's Marlon Wayans and Brittany Daniel.
In addition to the same old categories, this year MTV is rolling out two new awards, one of which will be completely user-generated.
Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet, which as its name suggests honors a buzz-worthy flick that has yet to be released, features an inaugural slate of Evan Almighty, Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, Hairspray, Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, Rush Hour 3 and Transformers.
The other new category, Best Movie Spoof, will be populated entirely from entries from viewers, who can submit their own movie short parodies through MTV.com.
As always, the winners will be determined by viewer votes through both the cable net's Website and text message. Sarah Silverman hosts the ceremony, taking place June 3 in Los Angeles.
Here's a complete list of nominees for the 2007 MTV Movie Awards:
Best Movie
300
Blades of Glory
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Little Miss Sunshine
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Best Performance
Gerard Butler, 300
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Beyoncé Knowles, Dreamgirls
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Breakthrough Performance
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Lena Headey, 300
Columbus Short, Stomp the Yard
Jaden Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Justin Timberlake, Alpha Dog
Best Comedic Performance
Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Will Ferrell, Blades of Glory
Adam Sandler, Click
Ben Stiller, Night at the Museum
Best Kiss
Cameron Diaz & Jude Law, The Holiday
Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Columbus Short & Meagan Good, Stomp the Yard
Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks, Invincible
Marlon Wayans & Brittany Daniel, Little Man
Best Villain
Tobin Bell, Saw III
Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Bill Nighy, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Rodrigo Santoro, 300
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Best Fight
Jack Black & Hector Jimenez versus Los Duendes, Nacho Libre
Gerard Butler versus "the Über-Immortal," 300
Sacha Baron Cohen versus Ken Davitian, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Will Ferrell versusJon Heder, Blades of Glory
Uma Thurman versus Anna Faris, My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet
Evan Almighty
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Hairspray
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
Rush Hour 3
Transformers
McCartney says new CD is retrospective
NEW YORK - Paul McCartney says his upcoming album, "Memory Almost Full," looks back to the past.
"In places it's a very personal record and a lot of it is retrospective, drawing from memory, like memories from being a kid, from Liverpool and from summers gone," the 64-year-old ex-Beatle said Monday in a statement.
"The album is evocative, emotional, rocking, but I can't really sum it up in one sentence," he said.
"Memory Almost Full," McCartney's 21st solo album, will be released June 5 in the United States. It is his first for Hear Music, Starbucks' new music label.
A medley of five songs on the 13-track disc is "purposely retrospective," said the legendary singer-songwriter. "I thought this might be because I'm at this point in my life, but then I think about the times I was writing with John (Lennon) and a lot of that was also looking back."
Film director Michel Gondry has directed a music video — starring Natalie Portman — for the opening track "Dance Tonight," but McCartney said he's "not going to give the plot away."
McCartney last released the acclaimed "Chaos And Creation In the Backyard," in 2005.
Carson's foil Tommy Newsom dies at 78
PORTSMOUTH, Va. - Tommy Newsom, the former backup bandleader on "The Tonight Show" whose "Mr. Excitement" nickname was a running joke for Johnny Carson, has died. He was 78.
Newsom died of cancer Saturday at his home in Portsmouth, the city of his birth, according to his nephew, Jim Newsom.
Newsom, who played saxophone, joined "The Tonight Show" in 1962 and rose from band member to assistant music director. He retired along with Carson in 1992.
Newsom won music direction Emmys for "Night of 100 Stars" in 1982 and "The 40th Annual Tony Awards Show" in 1986. "The Tonight Show" received five Emmy awards during Newsom's years on it.
"I hope he will be remembered as a gifted musician," Jim Newsom said Monday in a telephone interview. "I'm sure he will be remembered for his wit and deadpan humor on `The Tonight Show.' And to some of us a certain age, he will always be remembered as Mr. Excitement."
That was the name Carson gave Newsom to make light of his low-key personality and drab brown and blue suits — a sharp contrast to the flashy style of bandleader Doc Severinsen.
"He became a running character in Carson's monologue," Jim Newsom said. "Tommy enjoyed that."
Not long after the Carson era ended in 1992, Newsom remarked that his image as an ordinary guy was "fairly accurate — compared to Rambo."
"I realize things have to end sometime," Newsom said at the time. "I felt regrets at it ending and there was a sense of relief in a way."
Along with his work on "The Tonight Show," Newsom arranged and composed music for Skitch Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, John Denver and other performers.
He also released several albums as a bandleader, including "Live From Beautiful Downtown Burbank" in 1978 and "I Remember You, Johnny" in 1996.
Newsom was born in 1929 and got his first horn for Christmas at age 8. He graduated from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then toured with a U.S. Air Force jazz ensemble during a four-year enlistment.
Before landing his "Tonight" gig, he toured the Soviet Union and South America with Benny Goodman and played in "The Merv Griffin Show" orchestra.
Newsom is survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia, and their daughter, Candy Newsom.
Lambert seeks repeat success with new CD
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - She torched a cheating lover's home in "Kerosene" and loaded up a shotgun for an abusive man in "Gunpowder & Lead."
She named the title track to her latest album "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," for Pete's sake.
And yet Miranda Lambert, a striking blond with pouty lips, laughs at the suggestion she might be, well, the girlfriend from hell.
"I'm actually a nice person, most of the time," she says softly.
And despite the tough demeanor, she's actually feeling a touch fragile these days. She faces the pressure of following up a successful debut, and she's scared to death about it.
"If I don't do that well, I let everybody down. I let myself down," she said.
While her 2005 debut "Kerosene" went platinum, it didn't get much help from country radio. Her highest-charting single by far was the title cut, and it failed to make the Top 10 on Billboard's country music singles chart.
The edgy title track from her new album, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," stalled at No. 50. Her latest single, the more traditional "Famous in a Small Town," is just now registering on the charts.
"I think with the right single she's going to break. The question is does she have it yet," said Brian Jennings, program director at WGAR in Cleveland.
No one questions Lambert's talent. She's been writing and performing since she was a teenager. She's toured with superstars George Strait, Keith Urban and Toby Keith. Her performance at last year's Country Music Association awards was a jaw-dropper for the normally staid CMA, with Lambert smashing her guitar on stage like Pete Townsend.
On the new record, she again wrote or co-wrote most of the songs. And while she can still come across as the wild blonde whose idea of a night out involves tequila and gunplay, she shows a more vulnerable side with ballads like "Love Letters," "More Like Her" and "Easy From Now On."
"I'm 23 years old, and I go through the things that a regular 23-year-old girl goes through," she said. "I don't want people to look at me and think, 'Oh my God, she's scary. She's the crazy ex-girlfriend.'"
Lambert has one of the more unusual stories in country music. Growing up in Lindale, Texas, her parents were private detectives who shared stories of cheating and deceit over dinner every night.
"To me, it was just mom and dad's job. But seeing that harsh reality of real life early on started coming out when I was writing," she said.
They got the case of a lifetime when Paula Jones hired them for her sexual discrimination lawsuit against President Clinton. They worked on it for two years, and it left a big impression on Lambert and her younger brother.
"Mom and dad would leave the house and say, 'These men in black might come to the door, and they'll want our files. Just let them in, and you go to your room and lock the door,'" she recalled.
Crazy stuff, and pure gold for an aspiring country singer. She began writing songs at 17 and playing at rodeos, fairs and radio stations across Texas.
She cracked the Texas music chart before she even finished high school and won a spot on the inaugural season of USA Network's "Nashville Star" talent show, finishing third behind winner Buddy Jewell.
Lambert stood out from the get-go, said Tracy Gershon, a judge on the show and a Sony Nashville executive who ended up signing her.
"She had a lot of focus and vision," recalled Gershon, now vice president of A&R at Warner Brothers Nashville. "She was an old soul in a lot of ways. Her points of reference for songs were Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton. She had a great sense of music history about her and a real sense of herself."
By not winning, Lambert did herself a favor. Unlike Jewell, she got a recording contract without the pressure to put something out right away. And she took full advantage it.
Gershon remembers a meeting with former Sony Nashville President John Grady and other top brass where Lambert told them she wanted to write her own songs and pick her own musicians, and she was willing to walk away if she didn't get what she wanted.
"I had my mouth open," Gershon said. "She said it with such force, and they said OK. I had never seen that."
The resulting album "Kerosene" debuted at No. 1 in 2005 and established Lambert as a rising star.
With the new record, she knows that radio airplay is key, and she said she's ready to go back to promoting herself one radio station at a time if she has to.
"Hey, I did it before and I'll do it again," Lambert said. "I'll march my happy butt right into the station and tell them to play my music, because it worked when I was 17."
Love plans to sell Cobain's belongings
NEW YORK - Courtney Love, widow of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, says she plans to sell most of his belongings.
"I'm going to have a Christie's auction," Love, 42, tells AOL music Web site Spinner.com. "(My house) is like a mausoleum."
Love and Cobain wed in 1992 and had a daughter, Frances Bean, that year. Cobain committed suicide in 1994.
"My daughter doesn't need to inherit a giant ... bag full of flannel ... shirts," says Love, former frontwoman of the rock band Hole. "A sweater, a guitar and the lyrics to `(Smells Like) Teen Spirit' — that's what my daughter gets. And the rest of it we'll just ... sell."
No date has been set for the auction, AOL publicist Kurt Patat told The Associated Press on Monday.
Love, whose upcoming album is titled, "Nobody's Daughter," says friends support the idea.
"Everyone's been positive and behind me on it," she says. "We'll make a lot of money and give a bunch of it to charity."
She'll have a chance to move on from Cobain, too.
"I still wear his pajamas to bed. How am I ever going to go form another relationship in my lifetime wearing Kurt's pajamas?"