What Brazilian beauty has what men want?
Gisele Bundchen, you say? Wrong.
Rather, men’s Web site askmen.com crowned Bundchen’s fellow Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima the most desirable woman of 2005.
Lima beat out gossip magnets Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. Of course, poll respondents were asked to choose female celebs they would want in a long-term relationship. Previous askmen.com honorees include Charlize Theron and Monica Bellucci.
Busted
Celebrity photographer-filmmaker David LaChapelle was arrested during the opening weekend of the Sundance Film Festival after a run-in with police.
LaChapelle was arrested early Saturday after police were called to control a crowd that had gathered as security attempted to escort two actresses from the Marquee Club on Main Street. Summit County sheriff’s deputies said they asked LaChapelle several times to back up, but he failed to comply. LaChapelle was booked into the Summit County jail and later released. He was cited for disorderly conduct.
Meanwhile, there’s word that Emmy Award-winning actress Stockard Channing of “The West Wing” was jailed for nearly three hours last month after being arrested for alleged drunken driving, Los Angeles officials said Tuesday.
She was stopped by a California Highway Patrol officer on Dec. 14 for allegedly driving on the shoulder of Highway 101, city attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. Two misdemeanor counts of driving while under the influence of alcohol were filed against her Monday, Mateljan said.
Payday
Winning awards at the Sundance Film Festival is nice, but independent filmmakers also have an eye on big studios willing to pony up millions of dollars for their movies.
Producer John Singleton certainly hit the jackpot this week. In one of the bigger sales ever to come down at Sundance, Paramount Pictures and MTV Films bought the Singleton-produced “Hustle & Flow” (from writer-director Craig Brewer) for $9 million. As part of the agreement, Singleton will make two other films for Paramount for $3.5 million, bringing the total package to $16 million.
“Hustle & Flow” follows a pimp in a midlife crisis. Sources said New Line Cinema had offered a higher price, in the range of $10 million, for “Hustle & Flow” but that Singleton ultimately decided to go with Viacom’s MTV and Paramount.
BUYERS’ MARKET? Say what? P. Diddy could be a surprise bidder for part of “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera” creator Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theater group, British media reported.
Diddy’s Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group wouldn’t comment on the reports.
Lloyd Webber was coy about whether there had been an approach from Combs. He is sole owner of the Really Useful Group (RUG), which manages the rights for his shows and retains 50 percent of the Really Useful Theatres company, which owns 11 theaters throughout London’s famed West End entertainment district.
Following reports on a possible sale of assets, newspapers on Monday said that Diddy could make a bid, focusing on four of RUG’s century-old theaters in London.
Quit bugging!
Creep alert: Someone’s listening in on Nicole Kidman.
Detectives are investigating an electronic listening device that was allegedly planted outside the Oscar winner’s mansion in Australia, police said.
The device was found near a security car that was monitoring Kidman’s home from the street, chief bodyguard Neil McMaster told Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph for its Tuesday edition. He said surveillance footage taken from the house provided “conclusive evidence” that the device had been intentionally planted.
The bug was apparently discovered when security officers searched the house early Sunday in preparation for Kidman’s return to film her new movie, “Eucalyptus.” Police inspector Grant Taylor told reporters, “At the time this device was found, there were media paparazzi, if I may use that term, in the street.”
Ironically, Kidman plays a UN interpreter who overhears an assassination plot in the upcoming thriller “The Interpreter.”
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Compiled from news services and edited by Leo Ebersole (lebersole@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com)
