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Word is Will Smith is producing a bio-pic about Tennis Hall of Famer Arthur Ashe and has hired Nick Cannon to play Ashe. With some of the biggest films in the past few years being bio-pic or based on real-life characters, can Will trust Nick Cannon not to drop the ball?

Though Nick doesn’t have a ton of experience as a dramatic actor, it sounds like the project is pretty major. He says Will Smith is producting it, they’ve been working with Arthur Ashe’s wife on the script, and they’re looking for a director. They’re planning to rip off the Walk the Line formula for the film, in other words it’ll end when the man in the story reaches the age of the actor who is playing him. Since Nick Cannon isn’t exactly old, we’re talking about a movie based primarily on his youth, which is to say none of the interesting stuff that happened in his later years when he became an activist. Cannon says, “We wanna deal with the rise of Arthur Ashe, and how he got to be who he was. It’ll be the young-man years.”

Nick Cannon was last seen as part of the huge cast of Bobby. Before that he’d mostly done a lot of fluff, so you have to assume that his performance there had something to do with Will Smith’s production company targeting him for a serious acting role like this.

Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. ( 1943 –1993) was a prominent African American tennis player who was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his playing career, he won three Grand Slam titles. Ashe is also remembered for his efforts to further social causes.

In 1965, Ashe won the individual NCAA championship and was a chief contributor in UCLA’s winning the team NCAA tennis championship. While at UCLA, Ashe was initiated as a member of the Upsilon chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi … after several years of lower levels of success, Ashe played his best season ever by winning Wimbledon, unexpectedly defeating Jimmy Connors in the final. He remains the only African American player ever to win the men’s singles at Wimbledon,

The story of Ashe’s life turned from success to tragedy in 1988, however, when Ashe discovered he had contracted HIV during the blood transfusions he had received during one of his two heart surgeries. He and his wife kept his illness private until April 8, 1992, when reports that the newspaper USA Today was about to publish a story about his condition forced him to make a public announcement that he had the disease. In the last year of his life, Arthur Ashe did much to call attention to AIDS sufferers worldwide. Two months before his death, he founded the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, to help address issues of inadequate health care delivery and was named Sports Illustrated magazine’s Sportsman of the Year. He also spent much of the last years of his life writing his memoir Days of Grace, finishing the manuscript less than a week before his death.

source: wikipedia

Were the patrons of Chelsea meat market Marquee feeling ill last night? Jamie Foxx seemed to think so. The Dreamgirls star had quite the antidote for those suffering from a lil’ case of sobriety: a bottle of vodka filled with sex-on-the-beach.

Jamie’s Unpredictable Party

As Foxx rolled around a cordoned-off VIP section near the DJ booth (”very important” status bestowed only upon those with a propensity for grinding), he implored all ladies in earshot to “come and get yo’ medicine,” at which point the dutiful patients lined up, tilted their heads back, and had Foxx funnel “cough syrup” down their gullets via a hot pink plastic pour top. Not that this comes as a surprise: he told a publicist he was going to be on call beforehand.

the Oscar winner requested Belvedere, plastic pour spouts and pre-made, hot-pink, sex-on-the-beach mix. Flack Lind say Zantop, who reps Belvedere, said: “Curious publicist that I am, I [asked] why the need for the pour spouts when he has a dedicated waitress? The answer - he loves to douse lovely ladies at his soirees with luxury vodka and sex-and-the-beach. Turns out, it’s ‘his thing.’ “

Jamie’s thoughts on kissing Jay-Z’s girl

Foxx also riffed on how he couldn’t really enjoy kissing Beyoncé in a scene from “Dreamgirls” because he had it in the back of his mind that she is Jay-Z’s girl. He said all he heard in his head during the onscreen lip-lock was, “Jiggg-aaah!”

read article @ MTV
see pictured from that night @ SkinnyDipp

source:pagesix,radar

Queen Latifah and Alicia came out to support the launch of Common’s new Hat line “Soji” last night

AHH Had This blurb on the new line:

Common, along with invited guests Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, Jeremy Piven and others, will preview the high-end hats, which will be sold exclusively at La Coppola Storta stores, a trendy retailer with locations in Palermo, Roma, Firenze, Bologna, and New York City’s SOHO district.

“I love hats man, I been wearing them for so long and people always ask me where I get my hats from. So, why not just design something,” Common told AllHipHop.com in a previous interview. “I want to keep it high-end and quality on the hat side.”

The rapper also explained how the high-end hat line received its unique name. “[Soji] is my next door neighbor’s name and I love that name,” Common revealed.

Aside: Soji is a Nigerian name and is also prevalent in Japan

Usher brought his new girl woman Tameka Foster to the Trumpet awards on Monday night… seems not only does he like older women, but he likes them tall too ( remember Naomi and Eisha? )

See who else was there after the jump..!

Omorosa, Lisa Raye Misick, Hill Harper

Justin Guarini embraces his black side, Eric Benet might be dating his daughter… she’s goes everywhere with him..

Some say she makes thick look good.. others are waiting for her to go on a diet… what do you think? Should Tyra care? Maybe she’s just trying to push a more realistic body image as she’s been saying for years.. Well one thing is constant and that’s her hair, makeup and outfits.. here she is looking fabu @ an event a few days ago

Mariah out and about looking kinda cute!

Vanessa L. WIlliams @ LAX


Eddie and Tracey @ Sundance

Heard:
Cassie and her Hair Stylist

Tara Reid riding Akon on stage

Despite the lackings of Dreamgirls, the movie was able to snag a few Oscar nominations. Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy were fittingly awarded with nominations while Beyonce was fittingly left off. Jamie Foxx might have got a nod for a good performance but with Will Smith, Forrest Whittaker, Leonardo Di Caprio and other heavy weights, it just wasn’t his year. Will Smith won the only nomination for Happyness as did Forrest Whitaker. Will Smith was previously nominated for Ali. Oft overlooked ( second time Oscar nominee ) Djimon Hounsou is up against Eddie Murphy for Best Actor in a supporting role. If you’re into award shows, you can catch it on February 25th.

Full list of nominations

Best Motion Picture Of The Year
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role
Leonardo Dicaprio - Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit Of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King Of Scotland

Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg - The Departed

Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role
Penélope Cruz - Volver
Judi Dench - Notes On A Scandal
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet - Little Children

Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes On A Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

Achievement In Directing
Babel - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
The Departed - Martin Scorsese
Letters From Iwo Jima - Clint Eastwood
The Queen - Stephen Frears
United 93 - Paul Greengrass

Best Animated Feature Film Of The Year
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Best Documentary Feature
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq In Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Best Foreign Language Film Of The Year
After The Wedding
Days Of Glory (Indigènes)
The Lives Of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth
Water

Achievement In Cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children Of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige

Achievement In Costume Design
Curse Of The Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

Achievement In Film Editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children Of Men
The Departed
United 93

Achievement In Makeup
Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labyrinth

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Score)
Babel
The Good German
Notes On A Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Song)
“I Need To Wake Up” - An Inconvenient Truth
“Listen” - Dreamgirls
“Love You I Do” - Dreamgirls
“Our Town” - Cars
“Patience” - Dreamgirls

Achievement In Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags Of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Achievement In Sound Mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags Of Our Fathers
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Achievement In Visual Effects
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Adapted Screenplay
Borat Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan
Children Of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes On A Scandal

Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen

Beyonce showed up at the Dreamgirls UK premiere looking like she put her hair on in the dark. She’s might just have too much going on these days.. re-releasing B’Day, Dreamgirls promotions, preparing for her world tour, shooting 5 new video’s for her DVD…. she might want to take some time to interview a new makeup artist.. or just take a break!

Anika and Jennifer were looking lovely in all black… what’s up with that anyway?

The Bey Machine update:

“I’m doing five new videos so I’ll have a video for every song and I’m actually starting on those videos (this week) and doing them all in seven days which is really crazy. I think it’s a great concept because people can see my interpretations of the songs when they were written.” Bey said, “(The reissue) is a dual disc – there’s music on one disc and videos on the DVD.

The busy lady, in the UK last night (January 21) for the premier of her Oscar-tipped new flick Dreamgirls, is also in preparations for her B’Day world tour which kicks off on April 30 in Frankfurt.

MTV UK piece on Beyonce

Beyonce has revealed details of her highly anticipated duet with Shakira.

Talking to MTV, the ‘Deja Vu’ diva said she loved every minute of working with the swivel-hipped star on their new track, ‘Beautiful Liar’.

“I’ve always loved her and I’ve always wanted to work with her and the song fits perfectly,” she said.

“It basically talks about two women; the same guy is trying to get at both of them but instead of them fighting, they’re saying, ‘He’s a beautiful liar, let’s not fight, let’s stick together – forget him!’ I think it’s a great concept.”

The track will feature on the re-issued version of Beyonce’s latest album, ‘B’Day’.

The singer also revealed she’s recorded brand new promos for five of the tracks on the long-player - which could see all those fans incensed by her Deja Vu video (they didn’t like Bey’s dance routines, costumes or the flashing imagery!) finally placated with an easier-on-the-eye offering.

Bey said, “(The reissue) is a dual disc – there’s music on one disc and videos on the DVD.

“I’m doing five new videos so I’ll have a video for every song and I’m actually starting on those videos (this week) and doing them all in seven days which is really crazy. I think it’s a great concept because people can see my interpretations of the songs when they were written.”

The busy lady, in the UK last night (January 21) for the premier of her Oscar-tipped new flick Dreamgirls, is also in preparations for her B’Day world tour which kicks off on April 30 in Frankfurt.

And it’s going to be a totally girl power event by all accounts.

“This tour is exciting as I have an all-female band,” she explained. “I held worldwide auditions and women from all around the world came to five different cities. I narrowed thousands of women down to ten and didn’t go through agencies because I know there are lots of people who don’t have agents.

“It took a lot of time but I found the most incredible women. I start rehearsing in three weeks and I’m so in love with performing. I love going on tour and seeing fans we’ve had for almost 10 years.”

We can’t wait…

Stars with SWAG-ger…. @ Park City over the past few days

Rashida Jones kept is “classy” and only went for name brand swag


Regina King is cute.. she likes undies, lacoste and netflix

Tracey Edmonds is trying to look good for free

Nick Cannon doesn’t let his millionaire status interfere

Jill Scott smiles her way through


Damon Dash is caked up but not too proud to swag

Akon bag’d his up

Alicia has started the video-show round-about to push Smoking Aces.. she looks great lately ( she’s been working out ) and her new hairstyle looks better here than on premiere night…

Bonus: Premiere night departure shots

It must the the adhesive spray that’s getting them hooked.. Cassie joins lace front queens Ciara, Beyonce, Trina, Jennifer Hudson and Tyra by replacing her own hair with a long fake, tangled heap of store bought hair. We’re not hating.. just a little worried this might be catching. If you notice, they all wear the same style.. how do they expect to stand out if they’re all buying the same wig, dressing the same and singing the same songs written by the same people? It’s damn near an epidemic.. that might just be us here at SD.. are you all feeling Cassie’s new hair??

Omar Epps and Dwayne Wade show theirs some love.. Keisha Epps (from Total ) and Siovaughn Wade got some time to shine on the red carpet recently.. Don’t we love how real they look?

Siovaughn, Dwayne, Kelly Rowland and Rick Ross @ a party last night looking cute!

So, you’ve already seen the magazine, you’ve seen her strip dance in her living room, you’ve seen her and ice um… “partying” now you can see her try to dance.. CoCo and her man Ice-T were out at a Smooth Magazine Cover party they probably threw for themselves…

Party Pics