New & Noteworthy: Good ‘Omen’ for Mia

Fans of the 1976 shocker will remember great performances by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick as the beleaguered couple who inadvertently adopt Damien – a chubby, dimpled tot whose hobbies include riding his tricycle and committing murder. The kid, who apparently got his mousy brown locks from mom, and his homicidal mania from his real pop, the Prince of Darkness, is under the care of Mrs. Blaylock – the kind of caregiver who could whup the crumpet-eating crones of “Nanny: 911” without breaking a sweat. The ethereal Mia – who seems as delicate and willowy as ever – will be working against type as the scowling surrogate mommy. “Scream” movie veteran Live Schreiber and starlet Julia Stiles will play the unhappy parents of the precocious little, er, devil.

‘Good Luck’ for paparazzi
Hollywood a-lister George Clooney believes that there are times when life should imitate art. The actor, who directed and stars in the critically-acclaimed film, “Good Night and Good Luck,” takes the issue of free speech seriously – so seriously, in fact, that he’s willing to put up with flocks of paparazzi rather than set a precedent for limiting their rights.
“These guys can be real jerks, these paparazzi,” George told World Entertainment News Network. “They’re not trying to catch me doing something stupid, which I’ll take the hit for – they’re trying to create you doing something stupid.”
One way that the more predatory – or is that proactive? – photographers “create” situations is to hurl insults at their prey, and capture the reaction. “They walk through the airport and go, ‘Who’s that fat chick you’re with?'” said George.
But luckily for the snappers, particularly the health of their jaws and the state of their lenses, George holds freedom of the press dearer than his own freedom of expression.
“I’ll take all of those hits in lieu of restricting it, because the dangers of restricting it . . . [is] like burning the first book,” he said.
“I get that they do rotten things,” he continued. “[But] as a guy who believes in the free press, I think that some of these hits we have to take in order to not mess with freedom of speech.”

Bono tells Macca to buy, boy, buy!
In between touring, campaigning for Third World debt reduction and spearheading the One Campaign, U2 front man Bono is also something of a freelance financial advisor to his famous pals. This week, the beneficiary of his expertise is former Beatle Paul McCartney.
The two performers, who joined forces to open the show at last summer’s Live 8 concert in London, collaborated on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” just one of the Beatles classics whose rights are owned by Michael Jackson. When news reports indicated that the beleaguered (and nearly broke) former King of Pop had placed the Beatles catalog up for sale, Bono immediately rang his pal to give him the news.
“Bono rang me,” Paul told Rolling Stone magazine. “[He] said, ‘Did you hear? He’s selling the songs. You should buy them!'”
McCartney, widely regarded as the world’s richest rock star, decided to pass on the opportunity, for a variety of reasons.
“The thing is, I do get some cash from the publishing already,” he told Ireland Online. “And in a few years, more of the rights will automatically be reverting to me.”
Macca, who’s currently on the road with his sold-out (and, judging by the two shows I saw last week, absolutely sublime) “US 2005 Tour,” admits that there’s one thing about Jackson’s ownership of the catalog that irks him.
“When I tour America, I have to pay to play some of my own songs,” he growled. “But I don’t think about that. Because if I did, it would be too annoying.”
In more Paul McCartney news, the singer says he went through a few tough moments while forging a relationship with young gun Nigel Goodrich, who produced his new album, “Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.” As Macca prepared to record a bass line for the song “Riding to Vanity Fair,” the 30-year-old blurted out, “You know that song you played the other day? I really didn’t like it. I think it was crap.”
Paul, used to the more diplomatic approach of longtime Beatles producer George Martin, was stunned.
“I said, ‘Oh yeah?’ and I thought, ‘What will I do now? Punch him or just spit at him?'”
The next day, the two men had a heart-to-heart talk and worked through the difference in their styles.
“It was good for me,” said Paul. “It was similar to me and John [Lennon], back to when we were just kids.” Oh, and the song stayed on the album.

George, Has someone been a bad Boy?
Rumors are swirling that the dust gathering on faded 80s icon Boy George is actually a different type of powder, if you catch my drift. The singer was arrested at his New York home over the weekend, and charged with possession of cocaine – something he (through his lawyers) vehemently denies.
The circumstances of the arrest were a bit bizarre: the singer called the police at 3 a.m. on Saturday to report a that someone was trying to break into his luxury flat on Centre Street. When cops arrived, they found no evidence of a break-in – but artfully arranged piles of white stuff aroused their suspicions. A search of the premises yielded more bags of disco dust throughout the house.
The 44-year-old singer, born George O’Dowd to Irish parents in London, denies any knowledge of the illegal stuff.
“Other people were staying in the flat, and people are there frequently, so obviously someone else is dong it,” said George’s lawyer.
The former front man of the now-defunct Brit pop phenomenon Culture Club is better known these days as a celebrity DJ in downtown clubs. He, more than most, knows the hell of drug addiction and recovery, having suffered through heroin dependency after the breakup of the band.

What about Bill?
Iconic comedian / actor Bill Murray says that once he became a ready for prime time play-ah, the jerks started crawling out of the woodwork. And directly towards him.
The Chicago-born funnyman, who shot to fame on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and parlayed his fame into a movie career and an Oscar nod (for “Lost in Translation”), says that he hates the notoriety that comes with fame. That’s why he tries desperately to keep a low profile.
“It’s much better not to be easy to reach,” he told ContactMusic.com. “In all our lives, we meet a certain number of people that we like, [some] who are pleasant but forgotten, and [some] who are downright pesty.”
What Bill has learned – through hard experience – is that “the real savage jerks just keep calling. [And] You’ve gotta watch out for those miserable people.”

Sinead: Movie preview?
Irish singer Sinead O’Connor says that she’s got plenty of reasons to be grateful to haggis-eating Scottish hottie Ewan McGregor. And no, it’s not because Ewan likes to get his kit off onscreen – which, face it, is why most of us like him. It’s because his breakout film, “Trainspotting,” taught her about the evils of drug use – back when she was just an impressionable youngster staring out in the music business.
The odd note here is that “Trainspotting” hit theaters in 1996, when Sinead was 29. At that stage of her career, she has already topped the charts with her breakthrough album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” been declared MTV’s best New Artist, ripped up a picture of the pope on live TV, refused to sing the national anthem at a concert, been threatened with an arse-kicking by Frank Sinatra, and been ordained a Tridentine priest. (Whew.) But she IS a celebrity, so maybe she caught a r-e-a-l-l-y early screening. Or maybe she meant that she read the book.
In more Sinead news, the singer says that while she’s happy to be back living in her native Dublin, she doesn’t find it a particularly exciting place. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s nice but boring,” she told ContactMusic.com. “I live in a place called Monkstown.
“It’s the most appropriately named place in the world, she added impishly. “Nothing ever happens there – especially sex.”
One person who’s completely content to live in the Fair City is the singer’s 18-year-old son, Jake Reynolds.
It’s good for him,” she laughed. “He’s got a six foot girlfriend, blond, the whole thing. He travels around more than I do.”

Tara’s no video vixen
Boozy starlet Tara Reid, whose E! Network show, “Taradise,” has faded into urban myth territory, says that she’s sick of people calling her an out-of-control party girl. Or, if they want to call her an out-of-control party girl, they should at least acknowledge that she’s more of a lady than Paris Hilton.
Now, one might think that being more demure than the Hilton heiress requires no particular effort, but then, we don’t live in a celebrity fishbowl, do we? And we’re not rich and blond, are we? And we don’t have silicone body parts, do we? (Well, I don’t, anyway.)
See, the rest of us don’t face the kinds of temptations that trap these poor dears. After all, who can remember details like, um, underwear, when you’re walking the red carpet, right, Paris? And who hasn’t had a boob pop out in front of photographers at one of P. Diddy’s parties, right, Tara?
But Tara insists that while some of her raunchy rep is well-earned, at least she has never appeared in a raunchy internet video. No siree.
“I’m not stupid enough to put myself on video,” she huffed to Ireland Online. “The worst thing I ever did is dance on a table.”

Renee: Rice is no side dish
Hell hath no fury like that of a woman accused of being a floozy. This was especially true in the case of actress Renee Zellweger, who felt it was important to set the record straight about her love life.
The “Bridget Jones” star, who split from her country star hubby Kenny Chesney after just four months of wedded bliss, flew to Ireland to seek comfort from her former beau, singer Damien Rice. But the two shared only tea and sympathy and the occasional box of Kleenex.
Apparently, the actress thought that the New York Post’s Page Six column implied far more. So she marched over to the paper’s offices and rang the columnist from the lobby, according to the Daily Mirror.
“The story was hurtful about me being with another man,” she told the nonplussed reporter. “It wasn’t true and it made me look slutty.”

If you’re jetting anywhere over the next few weeks, don’t be surprised if the flight staff seem just a tad disgruntled. Between the stripteasing stewardess featured in Michael Flatley’s “Celtic Tiger” show and the acerbic attendants portrayed in the hit movie, “Flightplan,” the profession has been taking a bit of a mauling in the arena of popular culture.
The group’s national union, the Association of Flight Attendants, has taken specific aim at the producers of the Jodie Foster thriller. In the film, the attendants are depicted as surly and unhelpful as Foster’s character searches desperately for her child.
“[They] were rude, condescending and portrayed as uncaring,” snarled AFA spokesperson Corey Caldwell in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “There was eye-rolling, there was sarcasm . . . That’s not accurate.”
Of course, Disney, which produced the film, insists that they never intended to malign an entire group of workers. Particularly a group comprised of 80,000 sensitive members who’ve been on their feet all day and are just sick of passing out those &^%$# peanuts and wish you would just buy something and stop acting like you’ve never seen the duty-free cart before. Oh, and one that’s just itching to call a boycott of the movie.
“We are confident the public will be able to discern the difference between fiction and the incredible job real-life flight attendants do on a daily basis,” said a spokesperson.