Swift, Minaj to perform at awards
10/25/2012It'll be a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll on stage at next month's American Music Awards.
Organizers announced Wednesday that Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Linkin Park will perform at the 40th annual ceremony on Nov. 18.
All are also up for awards.
Minaj is the night's leading nominee, along with Rihanna, with four bids each. Swift is nominated for favorite female country artist and Linkin Park is in the running for alternative artist. Fans can pick the winners by voting online.
Christina Aguilera will also perform at the ceremony at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, where it will be broadcast live on ABC.
Cruise files suit
An attorney for Tom Cruise says he has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against the publishers of Life & Style magazine for articles that said the actor has abandoned his 6-year-old daughter Suri.
Bert Fields says the lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court. Fields says Cruise doesn't like to file lawsuits but that the assertion that the actor has abandoned his daughter is a "vicious lie." If Cruise prevails, Fields says his client would give the money to charity.
Cruise and Siri's mother, Toledo native Katie Holmes, were divorced earlier this year. They had been married for six years.
Honor for Burnett
Carol Burnett is being honored by her alma mater.
Hollywood High School's Performing Arts Center announced Tuesday that it is naming an annual award after Burnett and that the 79-year-old entertainer will be its first recipient.
She will receive the Carol Burnett Honor of Distinction Award on Jan. 10 at the El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, just around the corner from the high school she graduated from in 1951.
Other famous alumni of the Sunset Boulevard campus include Judy Garland, Rudolph Valentino, Cher, Laurence Fishburne, John Ritter, and Mickey Rooney.
'Hobbit' sounds
Middle-earth will sound more realistic in The Hobbit.
Dolby Laboratories Inc. and director Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production announced Wednesday that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be mixed and released in Dolby Atmos. The immersive new sound system features two extra arrays of overhead speakers and the ability to direct sounds to individual speakers inside movie theaters.
The Hobbit film series is adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien's tale of Bilbo Baggins and is set in the fictional realm of Middle-earth 60 years before The Lord of the Rings.
The first of three films in The Hobbit series is slated to be released Dec. 14.
'Now What?'
Jane Fonda made her TV series debut this year with guest shots on Aaron Sorkin's HBO series, The Newsroom. Apparently, she liked how that felt because the 74-year-old actress is on board for another series, this time as star.
Now What? is a single-camera half-hour comedy in development at ABC, according to Variety.
Fonda will star as a mother who becomes roommates again with her daughter after the latter writes a blog post titled, "Dear Mom, Here's Why I Hate You ..." The mother refuses to move out until the two resolve their differences.
Fonda's move to TV doesn't mean she's given up her big-screen career.
The two-time Oscar winner will soon be appearing as Nancy Reagan in director Lee Daniels' next film, The Butler.
Vote of confidence
CBS has given full season orders to two of its freshman series: Vegas and Elementary.
Vegas stars Dennis Quaid and Michael Chiklis in a drama about the clash between a sheriff and a mob boss in 1960s Las Vegas. Elementary is a modern twist on Sherlock Holmes starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.