By Eileen Murphy
James Bond meets the Material Girl? Sounds like a great title for a movie, but unfortunately, there’s no truth to the rumor that Madonna will appear in the next 007 caper. She will, however, contribute a song to the film’s soundtrack.
No word yet on whether Mrs. Ritchie will follow in the footsteps of famous Bond theme warblers like Shirley “Goldfinger” Bassey, Duran “View to a Kill” Duran or Paul “Live and Let Die” McCartney. But we’d bet the farm that part of the attraction for Madonna is the chance to rub elbows with Pierce Brosnan, the guy People magazine dubbed Sexiest Man Alive. (Well, that would be our motivation.)
It’s official: Ali Hewson is sick of changing nappies.
Well, she didn’t put it exactly like that. But this week, Bono’s better half told ShowbizIreland.com that she’s finished with the whole stretchy maternity clothes thing.
“The house is full enough,” said the mother of four.” No more kids.”
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Of course, Ali cherishes her brood, which includes daughters Jordan and Eve, and sons Elijah and John. She just thinks it’s time to call it a family.
“That’s it — we are done and we are very happy,” she chuckled. “Definitely no more kids. We are overrun as it is.”
In addition to being a very hands-on parent — she has gone on record saying that she, not a nannny, stays up with the children at night — Ali has remained a committed social activist throughout the years. With her good friend Adi Roche, she has led the fight to aid the victims of Chernobyl through their organization, the Chernobyl Children’s Project. Currently, she is organizing a public awareness event about the new dangers posed by Sellafield. She is also getting ready to lobby the politicians.
“Since Sept. 11 I have definitely been more conscious,” she said.
“Who knows what terrorists will do? Sellafield can’t be fully protected,” she stressed. “We will lobby the Irish government. Not just Bertie Ahern. We will be going after Tony Blair as well.”
On the lighter side, Ali says that she’s not up in a heap after being denied planning permission for changes to her Killiney home. She and Bono has planned to add a whole new floor to the house.
“We didn’t get permission but that’s OK,” she said.
“An Taisce are doing a good job and keeping an eye out for everybody. So, as long as we are treated the same as everybody else, that’s fine. I am not bothered, because it’s one less thing to worry about this year.”
Some people say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but we’d hazard a guess that Richard Harris is not one of them. The Limerick-born actor has gone on record saying that Kevin Costner “stole” from Harris’s classic movie, “A Man Called Horse.” And the older actor resents him for it.
In a recent interview with a Chicago newspaper, Harris was asked if he had any plans to produce a remake of “Horse.” Harris retorted that Hollywood “has already remade it.”
“It’s called ‘Dances With Wolves,’ ” groused Harris.
“In fact,” he said, “I ran into Kevin Costner one day and asked him how many times he had seen my movie and he said once. Funny, but he stole entire scenes out of my picture and he won a few Oscars.”
We’ll try to restrain from making silly jokes about this next item. (But really, there isn’t a ghost of a chance that we’ll succeed.)
Here goes: Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has joined the cast of the upcoming suspense thriller “Ghost Ship.” The film will be shot in Australia, where Byrne can get into the spirit with co-stars (and “ER” alums) Julianna Margulies and Ron Eldard.
The plot revolves around a salvage crew that happens upon an abandoned ship that has been missing since the 1950s. The crew decides to tow the ship into harbor, but no sooner are the mainsails buoyed (or whatever) baaaaaaad things start happening, the crew gets trapped on the ghost ship, there’s something about demonic possession . . . you know yerself. Look for it to hit theaters next year, mate. Or is that, matey?
Never say never again
A word of caution to all the single gals reading this who won’t be getting a box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day: another single man is off the market. And it’s the one you were secretly pining for.
Yes, girls, we hear that Lord of the Dance star Michael Flatley has reunited with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, blonde Dubliner Lisa Murphy. The two are once again sharing living space and bottles of Clairol, this time on the tropical island of St. James in the Caribbean. The reconciliation took place just a few weeks ago.
The couple has been hounded by paparazzi as they — Michael and Lisa — scamper about in their customarily skimpy bathing suits. (It’s nice to know that Michael still favors Speedos, eh?) We hear that the photos appeared in some of the downmarket tabloids, much to Flatley’s annoyance. But then, the course of true love never did run smooth.
The couple, who’ve rented a luxury villa on the island, plan to stay there for at least a few more weeks, entertaining pals like Cliff Richard and Luciano Pavarotti. Then it’s back to rainy old England, where Michael will launch his Ubicorn entertainment company on the London stock market.