'Will Smith did not praise Hitler'

A Jewish group said Wednesday that it accepts Will Smith's explanation that he never praised Adolf Hitler in remarks the star says were misinterpreted. "We welcome and accept Will Smith's statement that Hitler was a `vicious killer' and that he did not mean for his remarks about the Nazi leader to be mistaken as praise," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement. Smith "took immediate steps to clarify his words" and condemn Hitler, Foxman said. Foxman said words "can be twisted by those with hate and bigotry in their hearts." "This is why all celebrities bear a special responsibility to weigh their words carefully, and an obligation to speak out against racism and bigotry whenever even a whiff of it appears, as Will Smith has done in this instance," he said. The Daily Record, a Scottish newspaper, recently quoted Smith as saying: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, `let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was good." The quote was preceded by the writer's observation: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good." Many celebrity gossip Web sites posted articles alleging that the 39-year-old actor believed Hitler was a good person. In a statement Monday, Smith called that "an awful and disgusting lie," and said he was furious about his remarks being misinterpreted. "Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet, "the statement said.

Williams to perform for LA homeless project

British pop singer Robbie Williams is to perform for a Los Angeles homeless project. Williams is volunteering at the Skid Row charity centre, ananova.com reports. A source close to the star has revealed that Williams is planning on taking his guitar along. Chef Raymond Terry, who introduced Williams to the centre, said: "Robbie does an awful lot for charity work. And this is really close to his heart." "Most of the guys over here don't really know who Robbie is. But there's a lot of excitement in the air because they've been told he's a big pop star in Europe," he added. "He's planning on performing Christmas carols to everybody there after the meal, " a source added.

Snoop Dogg doesn't want to divorce wife

Rapper Snoop Dogg is certain he does not want to divorce his wife Shante because he cannot handle the thought of another man raising his children. Snoop had filed for divorce from Shante in 2004 after being married for seven years, but he changed his mind when he realised he would have a lot to lose, the sun.co.uk reports. He said: "I was going to split up with my wife - my wife wasn't going to split up with me. You know, I was caught up with Hollywood, and the girls and the nightlife. I thought I was the man and I was willing to give up what I had at home for that, until I realised that what I had at home was irreplaceable, so I gave that up to go back home. " I just don't want another man raising my kids. That was the main goal. I had kids with my wife because I wanted to be with my wife. And those three babies are all I wanted, and I wanted to be with them."

Berry upset when she found Santa was not real

Oscar winning actress Halle Berry was upset when she discovered that Santa was not real. Berry recalls catching her mom eating Santa's plate of cookies. She had made cookies for Santa but he never got them, the sun.co.uk reports. She said: "The day I saw my mum eating the Santa cookies on the plate was one of the most horrific days of my life. I never let her forget it. I had at least three more good years that I could have believed had she not been so careless."

Actor begged trainer to let him keep Abbey the German shepherd

LOS ANGELES - Will Smith has a leading lady of a four-legged kind in “I Am Legend.”

Smith and Abbey the German shepherd bonded on set, but first, Will had to court the canine to win her affection.

“I love that dog,” Will enthused to Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson.

List names ‘Sweeney Todd’ star most gracious celeb third year in a row

NEW YORK - Want an autograph from Johnny Depp? Chances are, he’ll sign something for you — and not be a jerk about it.

The 44-year-old actor is the most gracious celebrity — for the third year in a row — on Autograph magazine’s annual list of the “10 Best and 10 Worst Hollywood Signers.”

Depp is “‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ on film, and Johnny and the Signing Factory in person,” the magazine said.

K-Fed Lawyer Seeks Spears Sanctions

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 14) - Running out of patience with Britney Spears , Kevin Federline's attorney on Friday said he plans to seek consequences.

Mark Vincent Kaplan, who represents Spears' ex-husband in their child custody case, said Friday that he would ask for sanctions against the pop star for calling in sick to her court-ordered deposition.


Spears didn't show up to testify at Kaplan's office Wednesday as scheduled, and Kaplan said later that her lawyers told him she wasn't feeling well. Spears was photographed later that day driving with a friend.

"This can be done with her active participation or without it," said Kaplan, who said he would file papers asking the court to impose sanctions on Spears before Jan. 23, the next scheduled court date.

A telephone call to Spears' attorneys was not immediately returned Friday.

Judges often impose monetary sanctions, including attorney fees, said Professor Charlotte Goldberg, who teaches family law at Loyola Law School.

"There is always the possibility of (holding Spears in) contempt of court," Goldberg said. "After a certain point, when it's repeated behavior, courts become skeptical about that kind of excuse."

Kaplan said Spears had missed at least three previously scheduled depositions "for various reasons," so he asked the court to order her to appear at his law offices to be deposed on Dec. 12.

Spears and Federline have been wrangling for months over custody of their sons, 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James.

Federline has temporary custody of the children because Spears, who has limited visitation rights, has defied court orders. Attorneys for Spears and Federline, married in October 2004, have repeatedly been in court about custody since they split. Their divorce was final in July.

Charmed Will Smith is sole survivor, too

Will Smith already has it all: the picture-perfect family, a film career that blends commercial hits with artistic acclaim, the occasional foray into music, where he scored his first success. Now Smith even gets to outlive us all. In his latest film, I am Legent one of Hollywood's most consistent box-office draws plays the man who may be the sole human survivor of a global plague. The 39-year-old's golden touch would be vexing, if he weren't such a nice guy. "Until I met him, I've always believed that there are balances in people. That you really can't be smart, handsome, charismatic, happy. You can't be all of that," said Legend director Francis Lawrence. "He's one of the only people that I can truly say kind of has all of that. He's funny, he's charming, he's smart, he's handsome, he's happy, he's got a great marriage, he's a great father, he's great at what he does, he's happy at what he does. It's sort of disgusting. So if anybody would be the last man standing, it's Will." How lucky is he? Here's how the past year has gone for Smith, who made the leap to the big screen after rising to TV stardom with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. After a string of hits such as the romance Hitch, the cartoon comedy Shark Tale and the sci-fi saga I, Robot, Smith put out last December's smaller, riskier The Pursuit of Happyness, the story of a struggling single dad who ends up homeless along with his young son. Not necessarily the feel-good film of the holiday season, and topping things off, the boy was played by Jaden Smith, his 9-year-old son with actress Jada Pinkett Smith. That could have spelled dreary ego project, but the film caught on with audiences, becoming Smith's latest $100 million smash and earning him his second Academy Award nomination as best actor, following a previous honor for the title role in 2001's Ali. Now he's back with an apocalyptic tale f or the holidays, when people generally have things on their minds other than the end of the world. If anyone can turn I Am Legend into a hit, though, it has to be Smith. Oh, and he gets to work with one of his kids again. This time, it was take-Will's-daughter-to-work day, with his and Pinkett Smith's 7-year-old girl, Willow Smith, playing his daughter in flashback scenes. With mom and dad in show business, the children seem to have acting bred in the bone, Smith said. "Jaden always likes the scripts for some reason. He likes having scripts read to him. He likes the idea of maybe the shorter pages of reading than actually a book," Smith told The Associated Press in an interview. "So he from 4 years old has always said, `Acting's easy. I don't know why it's such a big deal. What you do, Daddy, I can do that easy.'"He looks at the Fresh Prince and he's like, `That's not even good acting, Daddy.'"Jaden and Willow already have very different acting approaches, Smith said. His son is an emotional sponge, absorbing the moods of those around him, reacting with authentic, visceral feeling to others, even in make-believe acting situations. On the other hand, Willow is Teflon, taking things in and making conscious choices over how to react in her performance, Smith said. Smith's own style comes closer to his son's. "I need everyone to be in a good mood in order to be able to perform well," Smith said. "I need the set to be comfortable. I need the emotion or the mood of the set to lend itself to the mood of the scene. Those types of things are a real necessity for me. "I will get physically sick if I spend too much time in down situations. I was in Sweden once in the winter time when it's dark. I got physically sick. And it's hugely important for me to be like (claps his hands loudly) `Come on, let's get going!' I'm faster, I'm better, I can be funnier. It's better for my body, for my sanity, for my family, for my life, if people are having fun. My skin is better." Nearly everyone gets physically sick in I Am Legend, the third adaptation of Richard Matheson's book, which previously was filmed as Vincent Price's The Last Man on Earth and Charlton Heston's The Omega Man. This version has Smith alone with a dog for much of the movie, scrounging supplies in New York City and trying to find a cure for a disease that has wiped out most of humanity and turned the rest into ravenous, vampire-like creatures. Besides the dog, Smith interacts mainly with mannequins for the first hour, so the role required someone with huge charisma to hold audiences' attention. "It's a big challenge, and I really admire him for it," said Alice Braga, who plays one of the film's few other human characters. "He's perfect for this role. People are really engaged with him. When he walks in a room, of course, everyone goes, `It's Will Smith!' But forget that he's Will Smith. He is really that engaging." Smith's infectious personality turns movie sets often overloaded with egos and prima donnas into truly pleasant workplaces, colleagues say. "Will comes in every day as if it is his job to be generous. It's so extraordinary. It engenders this work environment where you feel safe and you get to play around. There's nothing worse than a movie set where there are eggshells on the floor," said Akiva Goldsman, whose credits include the screenplays for I Am Legend, I, Robot and next summer's Hancock, in which Smith plays an alcoholic superhero opposite Charlize Theron. Goldsman jokes that he wants fellow Hollywood saint Ron Howard, for whom he wrote the screenplay for A Beautiful Mind, to work on a film together "so that we could all die of nice." Smith and Howard would make a good fit, men with keen box-office instincts but also an interest in stretching themselves artistically, so they're not just doing the same thing over and over. In Smith's case, work choices come down to stories and filmmakers. "It's all material and team. It's that simple," Smith said. "My experience has been that a lot of actors start with a good role that they would want to play. I never start with the role. I start with, is this a movie that people would want to see? Would anyone want to see this movie? OK, who? What about this makes it a MOVIE people want to see vs. a CHARACTER people would want to see?" Most of Smith's big-budgeted films have paid off nicely, including the Men in Black movies, Bad Boys II and Independence Day. Even his few misses, such as The Legend of Bagger Vance, have tended toward fiscal responsibility, since those more character-driven pieces are shot on lower budgets than his $100-million-plus spectacles, with Smith taking a much smaller paycheck up front. "The budget has to be on par, parallel to the audiences' desire to see the movie. Then every once in a while, you're wrong one way or the other. I was actually dead wrong with Pursuit of Happyness. It was, `OK, this movie has to be $40 million, and I'm not taking my fee and all of that.' " Which turned out to be wrong. But that's the good wrong......If you're wrong the Pursuit of Happyness way, you're a hero. If you're wrong the other way, you get 75 people fired at the studio, and I don't ever want to be that guy."

Britney deposed? Nope, try indisposed

Britney Spears was apparently too under the weather to go under oath. The pop star was a no-show at a court-ordered deposition Wednesday morning in her ongoing child custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline. A throng of news media and paparazzi was waiting for the pop star to show up at 10 a.m. at attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan's office. About an hour later, Kaplan, Federline's attorney, said he had been informed that Spears was not coming. Kaplan said he was told Spears didn't feel well. "She's going to show at a later date," Kaplan said, "but we don't waive any rights to ask for certain relief from the court as a result of having a court-ordered deposition not attended." Spears hasn't exactly been developing a reputation for punctuality: Kaplan complained in court last month that she was routinely ducking court-ordered drug tests, often failing to pick up her telephone or respond promptly when called to the laboratory. After that hearing, the court ordered her to provide a reliable telephone number. Spears and Federline have been wrangling for months over custody of their sons, 2-year-old Sean Preston and 1-year-old Jayden James. Federline has temporary custody of the children because Spears, who has limited visitation rights, has defied court orders. Attorneys for Spears and Federline, married in October 2004, have repeatedly been in court about custody since they split. Their divorce was final in July.

Jessica Alba, boyfriend expecting a baby

Jessica Alba and her boyfriend, producer Cash Warren, are expecting a baby. "I can confirm that Jessica and Cash are expecting a baby in late spring/early summer," Alba's publicist, Brad Cafarelli, said Wednesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. The couple met on the set of The Fantastic Four. Alba co-starred in the 2005 film and Warren was a director's assistant, according to People magazine, which first reported Alba's pregnancy on its Web site. Alba, 26, stars in the new thriller Awake and recently appeared in Good Luck Chuck and The Ten. The sex symbol first gained fame as an action star on TV's Dark Angel, then in films including Fantastic Four and Sin City.

Spice Girls reveal their style secrets

Fashion designer Roberto Cavalli reveals that Spice Girls singer Victoria Beckham wanted her outfits for the band's comeback tour to enhance her derriere."She wanted to experiment, to surprise and be different. Her only request was that we give her hips," he said.Dailysnack.com reports that Cavalli also revealed that Geri Halliwell wanted to show off her toned body while Emma Bunton wanted to cover up.He said: "I met each one on their own so I could get an idea of their personality. I asked them about their bodies, what they wanted to show and hide, and we talked about how they had evolved in the years since they were Spice Girls. Then I let them view my archive and asked them what they wanted."Cavalli added: "We updated Geri's iconic Union Jack dress into a corseted Swarovski crystal-studded mini dress. Mel B, she was very strong, very assertive. Oh my, she was very hard work. I had to change her outfits twice. She wanted shiny, body-conscious clothes, and animal prints. "Because Melanie C is the main vocalist, she wanted to be more rock chick than sporty. So for her more trousers.