Firebrand actress Sharon Stone is lashing out over a lost role in an upcoming Lana Turner biopic — a role reportedly handed to the much-younger Catherine Zeta-Jones. At 35, Zeta-Jones is more than a decade younger than the 47 year-old Stone; she’ll be playing a 37 year-old Turner in the upcoming Stompanato, which recounts the 1958 murder of the blonde actress’ boyfriend Johnny Stompanato by Turner’s own daughter. According to reports, Stone had long planned to play her golden-haired predecessor onscreen, and had been handpicked by Turner to play the role before the legendary actress died in 1995. Stompanato is set to star Keanu Reeves as the doomed mobster boyfriend opposite Zeta-Jones; an account of the scandal was fictionalized 18 years ago in the Woody Allen flick, September. Meanwhile, Stone has two highly anticipated films of her own in the works: the crime drama Alpha Dog, and next spring’s Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction.
After her wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against aggressive paparazzi was dismissed last month, Reese Witherspoon found herself once again a target of the lens-for-hire as another insistent photog attacked Friday at Disneyland. Reminiscent of Scarlett Johansson’s run-in last month in a Disneyland parking lot, Witherspoon was at the California Adventures amusement park with a group, including children, when a lensman who’d already been snapping away approached. Two park employees chaperoning the group were pushed when they attempted to shield the Just Like Heaven star and her party; the photographer, Todd Wallace, was charged with misdemeanor assault and battery before being released.
And finally, say hello to the next big action hero — Jose Canseco. The former Major League slugger, who retired in 2001 and published the memoir/’roids expose Juiced earlier this year, has hired a manager and is shopping himself around Tinseltown as the next Van Damme, Seagal, or Stallone. The 41 year-old 6’4" human growth hormone enthusiast already has a black belt in martial arts and, after starring on this year’s D-list reality show The Surreal Life, has gotten a taste for being in front of the camera. And the man in charge of facilitating Canseco’s entry into Hollywood? That would be producer Bob DeBrino, a Hollywood dreamer with rumored mob ties, who in 2001 introduced Steven Seagal to his cousin in prison — an incident that, according to Seagal, resulted in Seagal paying $10,000 for protection from the Gambino crime family. DeBrino also served as Tom Sizemore‘s personal manager and has optioned the film rights to a recent book: Juiced, by Jose Canseco.
