Patrick Dempsey and wife split

Also, Madhuri Dixit-Nene heads new campaign to educate girls; Jennifer Aniston gets ‘nice’ Razzie nomination; Martin Scorsese starts new film in Taiwan; Bob Dylan gives away his new album for free; The people choose American Sniper; Strange Magic casts animated spell with pop tunes and fairies; Bradley Cooper’s Elephant Man opens in London in May; Al Pacino thinks he’d be a good short-order cook; 7th Heaven actor Stephen Collins’s divorce finalised; and Duplass Brothers sign a deal with Netflix.

Actor Patrick Dempsey, right, with Jillian Fink. The couple are splitting after 15 years of marriage. Charley Gallay / Getty Images for Porsche Design / AFP

After 15 years of marriage, actor Patrick Dempsey and his wife Jillian Fink are calling it quits. Fink filed for divorce while Dempsey was in Daytona Beach, Florida, for a racing event. In a joint statement, the Grey's Anatomy star and his wife told People magazine: "It is with careful consideration and mutual respect that we have decided to end our marriage. Our primary concern remains the well-being of our children and we ask with profound gratitude that you respect our family's privacy at this very sensitive time." The couple have three children: Tallulah Fyfe, age 12, and twins Sullivan Patrick and Darby Galen, age 7. – The National staff

Madhuri heads new campaign to educate girls

The Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit-Nene has been appointed the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao (save the girl child, educate the girl child) campaign by the Haryana state government. The initiative was launched on Thursday, January 22, by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to promote women’s empowerment and prevent female foeticide. The northern Indian state of Haryana has one of the worst male-to-female ratios in the country, with only 879 women per 1,000 men. – The National staff

Jennifer Aniston gets ‘nice’ Razzie nomination

Jennifer Aniston may not have an Oscar nomination, but she is up for a "nice" Razzie. In Cake, the former Friends star portrays a drug-addicted woman in chronic physical and emotional pain, which earned her Golden Globe and Critics' Choice nominations. She is also up for a Screen Actors Guild award, which will be announced on Sunday, January 25, night. While the motion picture academy passed Aniston by when it announced its nominations last week, the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, best known for its loving slams of bad cinema with The Razzies, has nominated Aniston for its new Razzie Redeemer Award, honouring former Razzie regulars who now are doing work worth applauding. "That's so nice," she said, sincerely. "You get a Nice Razzie." Aniston is a four-time Razzie nominee, primarily for roles in her string of generally poorly reviewed, but often commercially successful, romantic comedies. – AP

Martin Scorsese starts new film in Taiwan

Martin Scorsese's new film Silence will begin shooting on Friday, January 30, in Taiwan. Preparations for the filming began in November. Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver will star in the film, the first by Scorsese since The Wolf of Wall Street, which came out in 2013. The new film, based on a novel by Shusaku Endo, portrays Portuguese Jesuits in the 17th century suffering persecution as they work in isolated areas of Japan. "I've wanted to make Silence for almost two decades and it is finally a reality," said Scorcese. The film is scheduled to come out in 2016. The director's documentary on the former United States president Bill Clinton has apparently been indefinitely shelved after the sides disagreed on control of the film. The New York Times reports the film stalled after Clinton demanded more direction over the interview questions and the final product. – AFP

Bob Dylan gives away his new album for free

Bob Dylan is giving away his latest album for free to select seniors as the 73-year-old rock legend says he is at peace with getting older. Dylan's 36th studio album, Shadows in the Night, which interprets songs by Frank Sinatra, will be mailed at random to 50,000 readers of AARP's magazine, which is sent to about 35 million Americans age 50 or older. Speaking to the magazine in a rare interview, Dylan expected that members of AARP — which originally stood for the American Association of Retired Persons — would enjoy the album and said he has learnt that "passion is a young man's game". "Older people gotta be more wise. I mean, you're around awhile, you leave certain things to the young. Don't try to act like you're young. You could really hurt yourself," said Dylan, who maintains a rigorous touring schedule. Shadows in the Night is out on February 3. – AFP

The people choose American Sniper

If ordinary Americans voted for the Academy Awards, a Reuters/Ipsos Oscars poll reveals that American Sniper, would win Best Picture. Clint Eastwood's portrait of a sharpshooter in the Iraq war stars Bradley Cooper as the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle. It has been grounds for a heated political debate in the United States. In the online poll, conducted between January 16 and 23, the movie received the most votes for the top Oscar award, with 22 per cent of respondents voting it the best out of the eight nominees. – Reuters

Strange Magic casts animated spell with pop tunes and fairies

Take one feisty fairy princess, a misunderstood villain and a spunky elf, add a magical potion and a soundtrack of classic pop songs and you have the recipe for the George Lucas animated film Strange Magic, a fairy tale about finding unexpected love. Lucas, the creator of the blockbuster Star Wars franchise, is the executive producer and wrote the story for the film that opens in American theatres on Friday, January 30. – Reuters

Bradley Cooper’s Elephant Man opens in London in May

Producers announced that the Bradley Cooper-led production of The Elephant Man will open in London in May. Cooper — a three-time Academy Award nominee, most recently for American Sniper — has won praise for his performance as John Merrick, an extremely disfigured but indomitable man who becomes a celebrity in Victorian London. Bernard Pomerance's play, based on a true story, has been frequently revived since its 1979 New York debut. John Hurt starred in David Lynch's 1980 film adaptation. The current production closes at New York's Booth Theatre on February 21 and will run at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket from May 19 to August 8. – AP

Al Pacino thinks he’d be a good short-order cook

Al Pacino has been acting for nearly half a century and during that time, he says he's never really considered what other job he might be suited for – until now. Pacino says he thinks he'd be a good short-order cook. He does have experience. Pacino played an ex-con who works in a diner in the 1991 film Frankie and Johnny, which was shot in a working eatery. "I could do this, be a short-order cook," he remembers thinking at the time. In a recent interview to promote his new film The Humbling, about an ageing actor who is questioning his career, Pacino said being a cook was "really fun to be for the lunch hour or two when you're working back there; very creative and the time just flies by". The actor notes he never finished high school or went to college and says he "got educated through acting", picking up skills from playing doctors, lawyers and a cook. – AP

7th Heaven actor Stephen Collins’s divorce finalised

A judge has finalised the divorce of the veteran television actor Stephen Collins and his wife of nearly 30 years. The Los Angeles Superior Court judge Michael J Convey signed the pair's judgment during a brief hearing on Friday, January 23. The pair's divorce gained notoriety after Collins's estranged wife, Faye Grant, disclosed the actor had inappropriate contact with underage girls in court filings. Audio that Grant recorded of a therapy session with Collins in 2012 in which he acknowledged molesting three girls was posted on the celebrity website TMZ last year. Collins, who starred on the series 7th Heaven, lost several roles as a result of the audio's release. Collins and Grant had been trying to reach a settlement on financial issues before a divorce trial scheduled to begin next month. – AP

Duplass Brothers sign a deal with Netflix

Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass have signed a four-movie deal with Netflix. News of the Netflix deal was first reported by Deadline.com. The brothers are not on a timetable, so they can continue with their other projects, which include the HBO series Togetherness and the Amazon show Transparent. The deal is yet another big move for Netflix, which recently signed a four-movie deal with Adam Sandler and another with The Weinstein Company to release a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. At the end of 2014, Netflix had 57.4 million subscribers. – The National staff