MP3.com News Breakers: Cobain, Bjork, Vedder, Stones, U-God vs. Wu, DMX
Love reportedly wants Gosling, Johansson for biopic; singer roughs photographer; Pearl Jam man nabs Golden Globe; Wood has surgery; rapper sues Wu; DMX owes $1.5M.
Report: Courtney eyes Gosling, Johansson for biopic
With preproduction underway for the long-rumored Kurt Cobain biopic, Courtney Love is reportedly shooting for the stars in both the vanity and acting chops departments. For Heavier Than Heaven, a biopic about Kurt Cobain based on the Charles Cross biography of the same name, Cobain's widow wants Ryan Gosling to play Cobain and Scarlett Johansson to play her, according to UK newspaper The Mirror.
The paper said that Love asked Johansson personally to play her in the film, for which she is serving as executive producer. "Kirsten Dunst was rumored to be in the frame, but Courtney really admires Scarlett and has already sent the contract out for her to sign," the paper reported. "Courtney even copied Scarlett's sleek blonde movie look when she was in London for the Fashion Rocks party last year. This is a labor of love for Courtney and she is putting her heart and soul into making it an accurate, credible glimpse of her life with Kurt."
Bjork attacks photographer
Upon her arrival in Auckland, New Zealand for the annual Big Day Out touring festival, Bjork got into a scuffle--OK, more of an attack--with a photographer for the New Zealand Herald, the paper reported today. After photographer Glenn Jeffrey ignored Bjork's male companion's request not to take any photographs upon her arrival at 7:50 a.m. yesterday, Bjork tore Jeffrey's shirt in half, after he photographed her arriving.
"I took a couple of pictures and I got about three or four frames of her...and as I turned and walked away she came up behind me, grabbed the back of my black skivvy (sweatshirt) and tore it down the back," Jeffrey told the paper. "As she did this she fell over, she fell to the ground. At no stage did I touch her or speak with her."
Jeffrey went to Auckland police about the incident. "I don't see being assaulted as I'm working as a press photographer as an acceptable thing," he said. "If anybody assaults anybody you have the right to a legal recourse, whoever they are."
This isn't the first time the Icelandic singer has gotten into it with the paparazzi, as she roughed up a journalist in 1996 after a long flight to Thailand. The Herald's Web site reported later that neither the newspaper nor Jeffrey plans to file charges against Bjork, and an Auckland police spokesman said it was not investigating the incident.
Vedder lands Globe for Wild song
Never one for the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Eddie Vedder didn't have worry about walking the red carpet for the 65th Golden Globes last night. The Hollywood Foreign Press skipped its awards show in favor of a short press conference that was lacking in star power due to the ongoing writer's strike. But the Pearl Jam frontman grabbed an award anyway, winning Best Original Song for "Guaranteed," a track on his soundtrack for the Sean Penn-directed Into the Wild. The film is based on the true story about the mysterious and fatal Alaskan adventure of wanderer Chris McCandless.
Vedder was also nominated for his contribution to the film's score, but Dario Marianelli won that prize for his contribution to the acclaimed movie Atonement. Check out all the winners here.
Stones' Wood recovering from surgery
The Rolling Stones' marathon "A Bigger Bang" tour ended in London last August, but Ronnie Wood delayed surgery for a hernia he suffered on the tour until after the holidays. The 60-year-old Stones' guitarist reportedly sustained the injury at some point during the tour and is at home recovering.
"He doesn't know exactly the moment it happened, just that it happened while he was on tour and that it got progressively more uncomfortable," a spokesman told Gigwise. "He waited until after Christmas to have the operation last week and is now resting. He's meant to be taking two months off but, knowing Ronnie, he'll be back on his feet sooner rather than later."
U-God files lawsuit against Wu
Although he remains with the group as it tours the US in support of its latest album, 8 Diagrams, Wu-Tang Clan rapper U-God has filed a lawsuit against the group's company, Wu Music Group, alleging breach of contract.
U-God--real name Lamont Hawkins--filed the complaint in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In it, he seeks $150,000 from the label, which is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, for "failure and/or refusal to fulfill its financial payment obligations" in exchange for his contributions to 8 Diagrams, the tours in support of it, and the Rock the Bells tour in 2007.
The allegations align with arguments made late last year by fellow Wu-Tang members Raekwon and Ghostface--that Wu-Tang leader RZA was withholding money in the aftermath of disagreements over the creative direction of 8 Diagrams. Wu-Tang continues tonight in Burlington, Vermont, and wraps up January 26 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
DMX ordered to pay $1.5M in damages
A woman that DMX once accused of raping him by having sex with him while he was asleep has won $1.5 in damages from the rapper, according to the Washington Post. Maryland native Monique Wayne, who gave birth to her child with DMX in 2004 and later won a paternity suit and child support from the rapper, had sued the rapper in October 2006, claiming defamation, false statements, and "unreasonable publicity" about her private life.
The suit was filed after the rapper--real name Earl Simmons--told Sister 2 Sister magazine that she "raped" him while he slept after they had met at Washington, D.C.'s Dream nightclub in 2003. Wayne testified in the court hearing that Simmons admitted to her he made the rape claim in an effort to placate his wife. The rapper did not show up at the proceedings on Friday and no attorney was listed as representing him in the case, the paper reported.
