Posts Tagged ‘tropic thunder’

Suri in the City!

August 26th, 2008

Katie Holmes’s big Broadway debut is just weeks away, and between rehearsals for All My Sons and glamorous dinners with her celeb pals, Suri’s mom is making every effort to to keep her 2-year-old tot entertained.

And with a super-star dad like Tom Cruise, that’s not hard to do! From her $35 million Beverly Hills home to Helicopter rides around Manhattan,  Suri’s young life is the epitome of Hollywood royalty.

By day she’s just like any other Manhattan toddler, enjoying playtime in Central Park and at the playground near the one bedroom East Village apartment the Cruise’s currently share.

A source, who spotted Katie and Suri frolicking on August 18 tells OK!, "Suri was on the swings, and then started running around–Katie was chasing her. Suri couldn’t have been happier."

But by night, it’s off to attend some of Broadway’s biggest shows, including The Little Mermaid and Mary Poppins. And don’t forget the extravagant 5-star dinners with Mom and Dad’s famous friends!

On August 15, Tom, 46, and Katie, 29, met up with Tom’s Tropic Thunder co-star Ben Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor at Nobu.

"They had Suri in a booster seat, and Ben kept leaning over to play with her throughout the dinner," an on-looker tells OK!. "The food looked amazing, but the focus was on Suri the entire time."

For the full scoop on Suri’s life in the Big Apple, pick up the new OK!–on newsstands everywhere on Thursday!

Tom and Katie Together Again in N.Y.C.

August 19th, 2008

Reunited and it feels so good! Tom Cruise flew in to N.Y.C. on a late-night flight from L.A. on Aug. 14 so he could walk wife Katie Holmes to her Broadway play rehearsals. The smiling couple strolled from their East Village apartment to the West Village theater where Katie is getting ready for her performance in All My Sons.

“Tom and Katie looked so sweet and relaxed together. They laughed and smiled the whole time,” an eyewitness tells OK!. “Katie was very affectionate. When they waited
to cross the street, she kissed him on the cheek.”

The happy family spent more quality time together later that night, taking daughter Suri out to dinner at Nobu with Tom’s Tropic Thunder co-star Ben Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor.

And on Aug. 16, Tom went into Mr. Mom mode, taking Suri to the indoor playground at N.Y.C.’s Chelsea Piers while Katie rehearsed. What a guy!

Tropic Blunder?

August 12th, 2008

Admid the line-up of A-list stars at Monday night’s premiere of Tropic Thunder, dozens of people from orginizations such as the Special Olympics and the American Association of People with Disabilities protested the film from across the street.

Chanting things like "Ban the movie, ban the word," the groups were outraged over the film’s portrayal of people with mental disabilities.

”I think it’s open to interpretation and that’s the great thing,” Robert Downey Jr., who stars in the film, told the AP at Monday night’s premiere. ”You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that’s my right as an American, and it’s also any artist’s right to say and do whatever they wanna do.”

In the movie, Ben Stiller plays a fame-hungry actor cast in a war movie who previously had a role as a mentally disabled character called Simple Jack.

”When I heard about it, I felt really hurt inside,” said Special Olympics global messenger Dustin Plunkett. ”I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It’s the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don’t like the word ‘retard.’ We are people.”

Following some of the original complaints from advocacy groups, Dreamworks has pulled some of its promotional material including a Web site that promoted the film-within-a-film starring Stiller’s character which contained the tag line ”Once there was a retard.”

”If you want to pick on people, as the old playground saying goes, pick on people your own size,” said Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, who is calling for a boycott of ”Tropic Thunder” along with the other groups. ”This population struggles too much with the basics to have to struggle against Hollywood. We’re sending a message that this hate speech is no longer acceptable.”

Katie Holmes: Frequent Flier

August 12th, 2008 / Author: OK! Staff

Does Katie Holmes ever sleep? Racking up more air miles than a flock of birds in spring, Tom Cruise’s missus was back in L.A. on Monday without showing a hint of jet lag!

Katie first headed to the Kodak Theater in Hollywood for a dance rehearsal with a private instructor, making sure to enter the theater through a side door in the alley so that the paparazzi and tourists wouldn’t see her.

Later that night, she and hubby glammed up for the premiere of Tropic Thunder in Westwood. Tom has a cameo in the film where he is unrecognizable in bald cap and fat suit.

Between daily rehearsals for the Arthur Miller play All My Sons, taking Suri to Broadway musicals and supporting Tom, the 29-year-old actress sure has been busy!

With all this flying back and forth, we hope Katie’s getting some shut-eye on board Tom’s private jet! She’ll need her energy for her big Broadway debut next month.

Robert Downey Jr.’s Memoir Postponed

July 22nd, 2008

You won’t be able to cozy up in bed with Robert Downey Jr.’s memoir this year.

The Iron Man star has halted plans to release a self-penned memoir, the Associated Press reports.

Described as an in-depth look at "the highs and lows of [the actor's] life and career" — which has been plagued by drug busts and jail terms — the book was due out this year, but Robert has put it on the backburner and returned his advance to publisher HarperCollins.

The 43-year-old star’s rep confirmed the postponement, but declined to clarify the reason.

Perhaps Robert couldn’t fit writing into his busy schedule. The Oscar nominee is experiencing a career renaissance of sorts this year, headlining the year’s biggest movie so far, Iron Man, and August’s highly anticipated Tropic Thunder, in which he plays a black man.

Two weeks ago, the star signed on to play Detective Sherlock Holmes in a Guy Ritchie-helmed flick, which will start production in October.

Jack Black Gets Slim & Trim

June 6th, 2008

There’s a little less of Jack Black to go around these days!

The lovably rotund star looks particularly trimmed and fit in his upcoming Vietnman War comedy, Tropic Thunder, and there’s a definite reason for that. After getting more than an eyeful of himself on a 40-foot screen, Jack decided it was time to cut the fat.

"When I saw my rear end in my nude scene in Margot at the Wedding, it actually had a double chin," he tells Parade.com. "I’ve joined a gym because the next time you see me naked I’ll be trim."

Although looking good in nude scenes is priority No. 1, health played a factor in the 38-year-old’s decision as well.

"I want to feel good too," he says. "Now If I eat a cheeseburger and fries, it tastes so good at the time and then right after it’s like, ‘What did I do? Why?’"

Tropic Thunder, co-starring Ben Stiller (who also directed the film) and Robert Downey Jr. revolves around three actors filming a movie about the Vietnam War. Craziness ensues when their director ditches them mid-production.

"I play kind of a Chris Farley-esque type , an actor, who is big into the excesses of the industry," Jack says of his character, Jeff "Fats" Portnoy. "He parties too hard. It’s about shooting a film about the Vietnam War film in Hawaii. My character is looking for a shot at an Oscar because usually he makes fart comedies. Come to think of it, I guess it kind of mirrors my actual reality."

The film hits theaters Aug. 15, but those longing for a dose of Black attack can check out the comedian in the animated Kung Fu Panda, which opened today. Since it was a voice role, Jack, who just welcomed his second son, did not get the chance to learn some martial arts and kick some ass — but he has in the past!

"When I was a kid, I took karate and judo classes," he says. "I even won a trophy in a judo tournament, but I confess I outweighed the competition by 20 pounds. I never took any kung-fu classes though, I just saw it on TV and in the movies."

Tom Cruise Going Fat & Bald!

November 16th, 2007 / Author: cwillett

A few days ago OK! reported that Katie Holmes would be filming a cameo in the upcoming Ben Stiller movie Tropic Thunder as she was spotted meticulously studying the script on set this week. Well… we made a small mistake — but we were onto something, as we’ve learned it’s actually Katie’s hubby Tom Cruise who will be featured in the film instead. And trust us, you’ll barely recognize him.

Decked out in a fat suit and bald cap, Cruise has been skulking around the set of Tropic Thunder, which co-stars Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr. and Matthew McConaughey, while devoted wife Katie has been there with him, offering her support and reading through the script with him.

The movie’s producers had been hoping to keep Mr. Mission: Impossible’s participation totally under wraps until the film opens next year, but when it comes to TomKat, you can’t keep secrets like this from OK!. Remember, we told you Katie would run the NYC Marathon a month before she slipped into her running shoes.

According to a source on the set, the Oscar-nominated star had to undergo hours of makeup each day and even the other actors on the set didn’t recognize him. So how did this all come about? Tom and the film’s director, Ben, who is well-known for his note-perfect impersonation of Cruise, have been pals for years and are even planning to co-star in The Hardy Men next year.

OK! Exclusive: Katie Holmes Goes for Laughs

November 13th, 2007 / Author: OK! Staff

Looks like Katie Holmes, who recently exercised her muscles in the New York City Marathon, has chosen to exercise her comedic acting chops with a cameo appearance in the upcoming film Tropic Thunder.

OK! can exclusively reveal that Mrs. Tom Cruise will join the film’s star (and producer and director) Ben Stiller and co-stars Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black and Nick Nolte in the (hopefully) funny flick about actors appearing in a low-budget war movie who are drafted into becoming real-life soldiers.

Shirtless stud Matthew McConaughey is also slated to make an appearance in a role initially written for Stiller’s frequent co-star Owen Wilson, who pulled out of the film in August as he continues to recover from his suicide attempt.

As reported last week by OK!, Katie is still hoping to star in The Other Side, a fantasy/comedy set to start shooting in January in Nova Scotia, though the ongoing Writers’ Guild Strike has placed that schedule in jeopardy.

AD FPO