From the Los Angeles Times’ Ministry of Gossip blog:
A mini “Friends” reunion came together with the upcoming comedy “Wanderlust,” which stars Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd — the celebrity alter-egos of Rachel Green and Mike Hannigan, love interest of character Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan.
Their “Wanderlust” co-stars revealed they have traits akin to the characters they played on the hit sitcom.
“She’s kind of Rachel-y,” Jordan Peele said of Aniston at the film’s world premiere Thursday in Los Angeles.
“She’s awesome, she’s open, she’s warm and she’s loving. She just pulls you right in — magnetic.”
Actress Kerri Kenney-Silver shares a bedroom scene with Rudd in the film about a couple that leaves New York City and stumbles upon a free-love commune called Elysium, where they start a new life. Kenney-Silver said that they filmed about 20 takes of the scene before she was able to get out her lines without Rudd making her laugh.
“He’s such a goofball. He’s the first one to try to make you to crack up,” she said on the red carpet outside the Mann Village Westwood.
Malin Akerman, who plays a member of the commune, said that while acting with Rudd, “It was really hard to keep a straight face. He is such a good improv actor.
“Things would come out of his mouth, and I was like, ‘Did you just say that? That’s crazy!’ ”
The movie was also a reunion for some of the talent behind “Wet Hot American Summer,” a box-office flop that launched the careers of several now-successful actors, including Bradley Cooper and Elizabeth Banks. (A real reunion may be coming soon with a sequel in the works.) Kenney-Silver was among the “American Summer” alums in “Wanderlust,” along with Rudd, writer-director David Wain, writer-actor Ken Marino and actor Joe Lo Truglio.
“Any time I get to work with David or Ken or Joe or any of the guys, it’s home,” Kenney-Silver said. “This was the first time really that we were able to incorporate huge movie stars and a huge company and have it feel like it was still home, but we just bumped it up like 10 notches.”
The comedy’s cast members differed a bit in their ideas of what would be the best part of the Elysium lifestyle to bring back to the real world. Akerman said she likes the idea of growing a vegetable garden, but “not the nudist part and sharing of my husband.”
Peele, though, could see the advantages of the nudist lifestyle. “I think nudity is very underrated. ... Do you understand how long it took my girlfriend to get ready for today? I would be sitting down in my seat right now if it weren’t for clothing.”
As for what Aniston hopes audiences get out of the movie, she told reporters, “Don’t take yourself so seriously. Live a little bit. Relax!”
“Wanderlust,” which also stars Aniston’s new beau, Justin Theroux, and was produced by Judd Apatow, opens in theaters Feb. 24.
— Emily Rome
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With Whitney Houston’s funeral looming Saturday in her home state, controversies surrounding her death bubbled up on both coasts, one involving New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and the other involving Los Angeles talk-radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampiou, who were suspended Thursday after insensitive comments about the dead singer.
Christie found himself defending his Tuesday decision to have state government buildings’ flags lowered to half-staff on the day of Houston’s funeral.
“I am disturbed by people who believe that because her ultimate demise — and we don’t know what is the cause of her death yet — but because of her history of substance abuse that somehow she’s forfeited the good things that she did in her life,” the governor said at a news briefing Thursday. “I just reject that on a human level.”
On Twitter, he pointed out, “Flag being lowered for her cultural contributions as an artist & New Jerseyan. Her struggles w/substance abuse r a diff topic.” He also noted that during his time in office flags had also been lowered for 31 fallen soldiers from the state as well as all fallen police officers.
Meanwhile, radio station KFI-AM hosts Kobylt and Chiampou were suspended “for making insensitive and inappropriate comments about the late Whitney Houston,” KFI said in a statement on its website. “KFI AM 640 Management does not condone, support or tolerate statements of this kind.”
The DJs on Wednesday had called Houston a “crack ho” and referred to her as “cracked out for 20 years” — she’d publicly denied smoking crack — with Kobylt saying, “Then you find out she’s dead and it’s like, really, it took this long?’” Additional slams can be heard in audio from the show, posted by Urban Informer.
“We made a mistake, and we accept the station’s decision,” Kobylt said in the statement. ’”We used language that was inappropriate, and we sincerely apologize to our listeners and to the family of Ms. Houston.’”
Kobylt and Chiampou were expected to be back on the air Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times’ L.A. Now blog
— Christie D’Zurilla
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Nick Cannon, whose health was a major concern for him over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, has quit his weekday morning radio show on doctors’ orders.
“Under doctors’ orders, I have been asked to put my health first and cut back on some of my professional commitments in order to allow my body to get the rest that it needs to keep up with the demands of my multi-tasking schedule,” Cannon said in a statement today, the day he hosted his final morning show at WXRK-FM in New York..
On Twitter, he called it “a bitter sweet morning,” noting that doctors had “found blood clots in my lungs and said if I don’t slow down and stop working so hard then it’s a wrap!”
Cannon has had more than work to keep him busy in recent months: He and wife Mariah Carey welcomed twins last April. He was hospitalized in high-altitude Aspen, Colo., over the holidays, then moved to Los Angeles for further treatment, reportedly for kidney issues.
He had given a few details about his current situation Wednesday on the show: “It’s my first day back since Friday, and not many people have known this but, uh ... I’ve been in the hospital since Friday. I was having a lot of pain in my back. ... I learned that I had blood clots in my lung ... an enlarged ventricle in the right side of my heart.”
The “America’s Got Talent” host — he’s slated to return to that job this summer — said Friday that he’ll continue to host his syndicated “Cannon’s Countdown” weekend program.
“I guess I can’t drive at 200 mph for the whole road trip, Time to put the car in cruise control,” he said on Twitter, adding, “Even Super Man had to sleep!”
— Christie D’Zurilla
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After shaking his his bon bon on “Glee,” Ricky Martin is dancing around matters a touch more serious — like his thoughts on gay marriage and whether he’ll take that next step in his own relationship.
“It’s about civil rights. I’m not telling you what to believe. I wish people understood that love manifests in different ways,” Martin told Details about the equality question facing the country.
“Allow me to have my life and I won’t mess with yours,” he added.
That life includes twin boys and a four-year relationship with boyfriend Carlos Gonzalez Abella, and Martin is in no rush to tie the knot — legal or not.
“Everybody is asking me when I’m going to get married. People that I don’t know are pushing it. But it’s not something that we’re talking about,” he said.
Forgive him if he’s otherwise occupied. In addition to his kids he’s bringing “Evita” back to Broadway. How does he maintain his stamina?
“I go to the gym. I do yoga. I’m a father to two toddlers, and lifting them is a workout — this is biceps, this is triceps. I also try to make love. That helps,” said Martin.
— Matt Donnelly
Ministry of Gossip: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/
