--The Venice Film Festival is underway. Some 15 films from the U.S. and seven from the U.K. are among the 57 features – chosen from more than 3,000 – screening at the fest, which opens with Atonement, starring Keira Knightley. Its director, Joe Wright, also did Pride & Prejudice, which got the actress her first Oscar nomination. Among the U.S. films in competition: Michael Clayton starring George Clooney, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, with Brad Pitt, and Todd Haynes's I'm Not There, the Bob Dylan biopic where Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Christian Bale and – yes – Cate Blanchett all take turns playing the folk rocker at different stages of his life.

--Former 24 star Elisha Cuthbert has split from her ice hockey player boyfriend Sean Avery, according to media reports. The couple started dating in 2005 after the blonde actress ended her engagement to Trace Ayala - best friend and business partner of Justin Timberlake. Friends of the couple tell the U.S. edition of OK! magazine that Cuthbert ended the relationship several weeks ago. A pal says, "She's a serial monogamist, jumping from one relationship to another."

--Is it me, or is she just so boring?

--The saga of Amy Winehouse just gets sadder and sadder. The troubled pop star's father-in-law is asking fans to stop buying her CDs and urging MTV not to give her a Video Music Award until she goes back into rehab to cure her booze and drug demons. "This isn't a personal affront against her, but we shouldn't be condoning her addiction by rewarding her," Giles Fielder-Civil told BBC Radio. He added his son, Blake, needs help, too: "They're a very close couple, and if one dies through substance abuse, the other may commit suicide."

--A new book on Clark Gable details his extensive sexual romps rather than his film career, according to the Hollywood Reporter: "Clark Gable's father taunted his son, calling him a 'sissy.' The young Gable responded by fashioning a macho-stud demeanor and projecting dad's disgust onto the many homosexuals he met and worked with. And author David Bret ('Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr') makes it clear that quite a few gays and lesbians populated Hollywood's soundstages and swimming pools. The author tags virtually everyone who shows up here as straight, gay or bisexual, the majority falling into the latter two categories. Like previous accounts, this one alleges that early in his career Gable was 'gay for pay' and for career advancement. He squired older women, some of them perhaps closet lesbians, and had close personal, possibly sexual relationships with a number of openly gay men. He was, as well, a serial seducer of women. Bret's sourcing is unclear throughout; he qualifies most assertions about Gable's sexuality with phrases like 'it could be' and 'it was alleged.'

--Quentin Tarantino made a nuisance of himself on a flight from the Philippines last week. A passenger on the LAX-bound Philippines Airline Flight 544 from Manila told us the "Kill Bill" director and his traveling companion, D-list actress Tiffany Limos, had just come from the Cinemanila film festival where Tarantino was honored. "Tiffany was pushing Quentin in a wheelchair," the flier told us. "Apparently, Tarantino injured his back to the point where he couldn't walk . . . Quentin made one of the stewardesses cry because he didn't want to sit in his first-class seat. He wanted to sit on the floor or in one of the flight attendant's seats." A Philippine politician who happened to be on board had to come from his seat in business class to break up the fight. Meanwhile, cranky Tarantino "was telling Tiffany Limos how much he loved her . . . He called her 'the wife' on the flight."

--The stars come out for the U.S. Open...

--The Hills star Jason Wahler, who recently completed rehab, is engaged to college tennis player Katja Decker-Sadowski, his rep confirms. Wahler, 20, proposed to the 19-year-old USC freshman Saturday in front of a group of friends – including his ex-girlfriend Lauren Conrad – during a housewarming party in their Los Angeles home. Wahler gave her a four-carat emerald cut diamond from XIV Karat in Beverly Hills. No wedding date has been set for the couple, who recently moved in together. Wahler, who is filming a new MTV show Celebrity Rap Superstar, returns to The Hills on the Sept. 10 episode.

Random Thought of the Day:
What do you guys think about Leona Helmsley giving $12 M to her dog in her will and NOTHING to 2 of her grandkids?!?! Even the chauffeur got $100K!

Posted by: Lawrenkm at 05:55 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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