The daily dish... a spicy serving of celebrity news
Published: December 07, 2009, 12:30 am
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Mel going Mexican…
A Mexican governor says Mel Gibson will make a movie at a prison in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz next year.
Veracruz Gov. Fidel Herrera says part of the Ignacio Allende prison will be emptied in January “because a grand production will be filmed there with our friend, the actor and producer Mel Gibson.”
Gibson visited the prison in April 2008.
Gibson filmed his 2006 Mayanlanguage movie “Apocalypto” in Veracruz. The actor-director donated $1 million to replace storm-damaged homes in Veracruz and in neighboring Chiapas state earlier this year.
Cage goes global…
Film star Nicolas Cage has won a U. N. award for his humanitarian work and has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the U. N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
Secretary-GeneralBanKi-moon presented the actor and filmmaker with the U. N. Correspondents Association’s Global Citizen of the Year award for humanitarian endeavors.
The Amnesty International advocate has donated $2 million to establish a fund to help former child soldiers and led a campaign around his film, “Lord of War,” to raise awareness about international arms control.
The secretary-general also presented a Global Citizen of the Year award to William Roedy, chairman of MTV Networks International, for his work to combat HIV and AIDS.
Angels for animals…
An upstate New York-based animal sanctuary is getting a financial boost from a foundation started by rock singer RobThomas and his wife.
The directors of Pets Alive say the Sidewalk Angels Foundation has donated $100,000 to the no-kill animal sanctuary based in Middletown, 60 miles northwest of New York City.
Thomas, best known as frontman for Matchbox Twenty, and Marisol Thomas started the New York-based nonprofit foundation to assist charities in and around America’s big cities.
BacktoTV’s future…
The variety show was once a television staple, and Carrie Underwood thinks it might be time for a resurgence.
The country music star hosts tonight’s “An All-Star Holiday Special” on Fox, and believes it’s just the tonic for the regular TV lineup.
“I think it’s really great they’re making a comeback because I think it’s really good family programming, and nowadays it seems like every show is about, like, murder or police and people shooting at each other,” Underwood said.
The 26-year-old Oklahoma native was too young to catch the golden age of the variety show. It once was as common as the reality show with stars like Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell sisters, Sonny and Cher, and even The Muppets mixing music and comedy to draw in a family audience.
But Underwood did her research before shooting her show in Los Angeles earlier this fall.
“I remember a little bit of the Mandrell sisters and I have gone back and seen episodes of their show just to kind of, I don’t know, get some ideas and kind of see how it’s done from a master’s perspective,” she said.
She also had variety show veteran and country music star Dolly Parton on the set to lend advice.
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