After the screenwriter Joe Eszterhas accused him of being anti-Semitic and released tapes of him screaming profanities, Mel Gibson finally spoke out on Friday on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
When Leno asked Gibson about the taped swearing tirade, he said: "You know, maybe you don't know this about me, but I've got a little bit of a temper."
The actor added: "It's like living in a bad B movie. From slipping on a banana peel in your driveway to sort of midnight phone calls. How did I get here? It is bizarre!"
Young Artist Award calls for entries
This year's Sheikha Manal Young Artist Award (YAA) has announced its call for entries, accepting applications from May 1 to November 1.
First launched in 2006, the competition recognises emerging artists in the UAE, under the patronage of HH Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
It is open to all UAE residents, age 18 to 35. Applicants should not have had a previous independent solo exhibit.
For more information, visit www.youngartistaward.ae.
Kristen Stewart voted best dressed
The UK's Glamour magazine has voted the Twilight actress Kristen Stewart as best dressed woman. "Whether she's working bodycon Monique Lhuillier on the red carpet, or dressing down in jeans and a T-shirt, Kristen is always effortlessly on-trend," reads the magazine article. "Her evolution from awkward teen to style queen has made the Twilight star a fashion icon every girl can relate to."
Stewart was followed by Emma Watson, Victoria Beckham and Kate Middleton in the rankings.
"The Duchess of Cambridge's classic elegance has set the high street alight, causing both Zara and Reiss to sell out of her favourite pieces," Glamour said.
Actors recall favourite films at CinemaCon
Some 5,000 people from the film universe gathered this week for the theatre operators' convention known as CinemaCon.
Among attendees are movie stars who like to meet and greet exhibitors in hopes of getting their new releases into more cineplexes.
Tyrese Gibson of Transformers fame was there for another reason - to mentor eight student filmmakers with dreams of getting their own films shown on the big screen.
Oddly enough, Gibson's first cinema memory came not in a cinema but at home, on videotape. "I don't remember going to the theatre," he said, noting his first favourite on VHS was 1985's Back to the Future. Taylor Kitsch, who appears in this month's Battleship, also cited Future as "the first movie that I saw in a cinema that really knocked me out".
Jennifer Garner, who was pushing August's Disney family drama The Odd Life of Timothy Green, recalled going to the theatre to see the 1981 comedy, The Incredible Shrinking Woman.
The Hunger Games's Josh Hutcherson remembered 1986's Space Jam. "One of the movies that I watched over and over," he said.
Anna Faris, of May's The Dictator, said: "My mum took me to the movies to see Annie [1982] when I was four or five. I remember being terrified at [Carol Burnett's villainous] Miss Hannigan, and then later on I came to admire her very much."
Charlize Theron of June's Snow White and the Huntsman revealed she "learnt everything from love, watching Splash [1984], and that's why I'm still single", generating big laughs from the audience. "So, thanks Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, for that."
* AP
Artist dog Uggie bags book deal
Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who appeared in the Oscar-winning The Artist, has a memoir coming. Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced on Friday that Uggie: My Story will come out in October. His tale of tails will be transcribed by the biographer (and presumed dog whisperer) Wendy Holden.
Uggie's other films include The Descendants and Water for Elephants, so look for the inside doggy dish on George Clooney and Reese Witherspoon.
007 film depicts inner demons
The next James Bond movie, Skyfall, promises a journey into the troubled psyche of the spy. After all, the director of the 23rd film in the franchise is Sam Mendes, whose cinematic studies of emotional turmoil include American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.
"Some people sometimes forget in the cliché of Bond, which is someone who almost never breaks a sweat, that he is actually a very conflicted character in Ian Fleming's books," said Mendes, who was joined by the actor Daniel Craig at a news conference on Sunday in Istanbul, where Skyfall was filmed.
In Fleming's last novels, Mendes said, Bond suffered from a "combination of lassitude, boredom, depression, difficulty with what he's chosen to do for a living, which is to kill. That makes him a much more interesting character, and some of those things are explored in this movie because Daniel as an actor is capable of exploring them".
Skyfall is due for release on October 26.
* AP
Follow
Arts & Life on Twitter
to keep up with all the latest news and events
