Detect a certain electricity in the air? That’s because “American Idol” launches its fifth season on Fox tonight. We’re told the contestants are particularly feisty and competitive this year and that judges Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson have been following Simon Cowell’s lead and growing more sarcastic.
That should be especially evident these first few weeks, during the audition process. According to Cowell, the tone-deaf howlers who tried out this year make William Hung seem like Ricky Martin. “Some could be the worst we’ve ever had,” says Cowell. “Listening to them is like going to the dentist.”
Rinse and spit, America.
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LONDON (AP) – Musician Pete Doherty, the sometime boyfriend of supermodel Kate Moss, has been arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs, days after pleading guilty to similar charges.
Doherty, lead singer with the group Babyshambles, was arrested Saturday while driving through east London, police said.
Officers were trying to flag down another car, but Doherty pulled over. His behavior “caught officers’ attention,” and the musician was arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal drugs and driving under the influence of drugs.
He was released on bail until a court appearance Feb. 2.
Doherty, whose relationship with Moss made him a tabloid newspaper staple, was arrested Nov. 30 and charged with possession of cocaine and heroin. He pleaded guilty last week and was released on bail.
Moss, 31, lost valuable modeling contracts with H&M, Burberry and Chanel after the Daily Mirror tabloid published pictures in September of her apparently using cocaine in a west London music studio where Doherty, then her boyfriend, was recording.
She later went into a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona and has since resumed her modeling career.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) – The writers of “Syriana” and “Capote” will face a runoff vote after they tied for the University of Southern California Scripter Award for best film adaptation of a book or short story.
The movies beat finalists “Brokeback Mountain,” “The Constant Gardener” and “A History of Violence.”
Another round of selection committee balloting will determine a single winner and results will be announced Jan. 18, organizers announced Friday.
“Capote,” based on the biography of writer Truman Capote by Gerald Clarke, was written by Dan Futterman. “Syriana,” a drama about oil and politics, was based in part on the book “See No Evil” by former CIA agent Robert Baer and was scripted by Academy Award-winning writer Stephen Gaghan, who also directed.
The Scripter Award has been bestowed since 1989 and is billed as the only honor that recognizes both author and screenwriter for a film adaptation.
Past winners include “Million Dollar Baby,” “Mystic River,” “Seabiscuit” and “Wonder Boys.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) – Anthony Hopkins says he thought Oliver Stone was kidding when the director first asked him to play Richard Nixon.
“I said, ‘I can’t play Nixon. I’m not an American,”‘ Hopkins said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“(Stone) said, ‘Well, I want you to do it.’ He said, ‘I think you understand his paranoia and his insecurity.’ I said, ‘Well, OK, but does that qualify me to play this?’ I think so.”
The British actor starred in the 1995 film “Nixon” and earned an Academy Award nomination for the role.
Hopkins was to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the 63rd annual Golden Globe awards Monday.
He won an Oscar for portraying Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs” and also was nominated for his portrayal of John Quincy Adams in the movie “Amistad.”
Hopkins said it’s important as an actor not to judge the characters portrayed.
“You don’t have to take a moral judgment because once you start judging the characters, you can’t play them,” he said.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Ani DiFranco gave hundreds of people a first glimpse at her latest project: a Gothic revival church being transformed into a performance and art space.
The indie musician and owner of Righteous Babe Records has spearheaded a $10 million restoration of the old church along with her manager.
More than 500 people got a first look inside “The Church” on Friday.
“A few years ago, when this space was much more raw, I did a little playing here, and I thought this is going to be a beautiful place to perform,’ DiFranco told the invitation-only crowd.
The nearly completed performance space is expected to open in late spring.
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