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Johnny Depp’s flamboyant portrayal of Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean” was good enough for an Oscar nomination, but the actor says Disney was less than thrilled.

Depp talked about it in an interview with rocker Patti Smith for the January edition of Vanity Fair magazine. Depp said Disney “couldn’t stand” his Sparrow and one person there even asked if Sparrow was gay. Depp told the Disney executive “all my characters are gay,” and he said that “really made her nervous.”

Depp’s next role is in the movie “The Tourist” with Angelina Jolie. It opens Dec. 10.

Depp said he felt sorry for the way the paparazzi hunted Jolie, and had to be careful that photographers didn’t catch them too close together so rumors wouldn’t start.

Actor Brad Pitt poses as he arrives for the premiere of the film “Megamind” in Paris November 29, 2010.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway have just what Academy Awards producers want as hosts of Hollywood’s biggest night. They’ll put on a show, rather than just another awards ceremony, organizers say.

Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer, producers of the Feb. 27 telecast, said Monday they had chosen Franco and Hathaway as hosts because the two are rising stars with broad talent that will help turn the night into a celebration of film.

“What we have here are two really emerging talents who are very respected and are going to have, I think, magnificent careers,” Mischer said. “They deserve to be there, they’ve got the chops to be there, they want to be there, and I think that’s going to make the audience really relate to them.”

Both have done serious drama and comedy. Hathaway earned a best-actress Oscar nomination for 2008′s “Rachel Getting Married” and starred in such comedies as “The Princess Diaries” and “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Outside the Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York, where she was presenting an award, Hathaway said she couldn’t yet discuss her Oscar night duties.

“I can probably let it slip that I’m terrified and exhilarated and excited,” she said.

Franco had an Emmy nomination for the title role of 2001′s “James Dean,” costarred in the Oscar-winning “Milk” and delivered a memorable comic turn as a spacey pot dealer in “Pineapple Express.”

Hathaway also showed off her musical talents in a duet at the 2008 Oscars with the show’s host, Hugh Jackman. Oscar producers were uncertain whether Franco can sing.

“There’s a rumor that he can, and we will be exploring that,” Cohen said.

“What we do know is they both have a great sense of humor and a great sense of comedy,” Mischer said.

While most Oscar shows over the past two decades had a comedian such as Billy Crystal, Chris Rock or Jon Stewart as emcee, Hathaway and Franco continue a recent trend of using film stars.

Steve Martin, a past solo host of the Oscars, and his “It’s Complicated” co-star Alec Baldwin teamed up as hosts last time, while “X-Men” and Broadway star Jackman was host the year before.

That harks back to a period in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, in between the years when Bob Hope and later Johnny Carson were fairly regular Oscar hosts, when big-screen stars would partner up as masters of ceremony.

“There was a period for many years after Bob Hope and before Johnny Carson where movie stars would host every year,” Cohen said. “Mostly, that hasn’t happened in years since, but perhaps we’re entering another period of the glory years of movie stars hosting the Oscars.”

Hillary Swank, a two-time Oscar winner for her lead roles in “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby,” praised the Hathaway-Franco teaming at the Gotham Awards.

“It’s an interesting choice,” Swank said. “It’s a different choice and I think it’s always fun to mix it up.”

Franco and Hathaway as hosts also could revive another old Oscar night occurrence: The possibility that one or both hosts might also be nominees. Franco is considered a solid best-actor prospect for the survival drama “127 Hours,” while Hathaway has a chance for a best-actress slot for the romance “Love & Other Drugs.”

It happened a handful of times in decades past that hosts also wound up as nominees. Michael Caine and Walter Matthau were nominated in years they served as co-hosts, while David Niven won the best-actor Oscar for 1958′s “Separate Tables” at the same ceremony in which he was co-host.

The producers say they aim to keep the Oscar show fast-paced and shorter than it has been in recent times. The show has dragged on for four hours in some years.

The job of keeping the show brisk has been made easier since lifetime-achievement Oscars and other honorary awards were moved to a separate event. But producers will have to squeeze in 10 best-picture nominees for the second-straight year, double the usual number.

Cohen and Mischer said they also plan to continue recent efforts to liven up the way some awards are presented and group awards together in ways that make sense to viewers.

“We’re really hoping this year to link what James and Anne are doing thematically to the show,” Cohen said. “That they are the world’s window in that they are the welcoming committee, but also the two people through the evening who are taking you through this journey of giving out 24 Oscars.”

Russian model Irina Shayk, who is also known for being the girlfriend of soccer superstar (and Armani undies model) Cristiano Ronaldo, is considering taking legal action against Spanish GQ after nude pictures of her were published in the magazine’s December issue.

Shayk says she was actually wearing underwear during the shoot, which GQ reportedly airbrushed away without her permission. The magazine also allegedly violated a contract that gave her the right to view the images before they went to print.

Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga take charity work seriously, and they’re going offline to prove it.

Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Usher and other celebrities have joined a new campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice on behalf of Keys’ charity, Keep a Child Alive. The entertainers plan to sign off of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday, which is World AIDS Day. The participants will sign back on when the charity raises $1 million.

“It’s really important and super-cool to use mediums that we naturally are on,” Keys said in a phone interview from New York last week.

For the campaign — which also includes Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams, Janelle Monae and Keys’ husband, Swizz Beatz — celebrities have filmed “last tweet and testament” videos and will appear in ads showing them lying in coffins to represent what the campaign calls their digital deaths.

“It’s so important to shock you to the point of waking up,” Keys said. “It’s not that people don’t care or it’s not that people don’t want to do something, it’s that they never thought of it quite like that.”

The campaign, she said, puts the disease in perspective.

“This is such a direct and instantly emotional way and a little sarcastic, you know, of a way to get people to pay attention,” said Keys, who has more than 2.6 million followers on Twitter.

The foundation, which began in 2003, will accept donations through text messages and bar-code technology, which is featured in the charity’s Buy Life campaign. Raised efforts support families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.

“We’re trying to sort of make the remark: Why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we’re all from?” said Leigh Blake, the president and co-founder of Keep a Child Alive.

“It’s about love and respect and human dignity,” she added.

Keys said recruiting celebrities was difficult because of scheduling, but “once I got people on the phone and I was able to paint the concept for them, everybody was in.”

Not one person said no, Keys recalled.

“I have a feeling that Gaga is going to raise it all by herself,” Blake said. Lady Gaga has more than 7.2 million followers on Twitter, and nearly 24 million fans on Facebook.

“She’s got a very, very mobilized fan base and that’s beautiful to watch I think (and) she’s able to draw their attention to these issues that are very important, you know, and that people follow it and act.”

Keys is hoping more people — both famous folks and non-celebs — get involved once the new initiative launches: “It just doesn’t have to be just because you’re a celebrity or something like that. It can be anybody.”

Keys, 29, married rapper-producer Swizz Beatz in July. The two had their first son, Egypt, last month. The Grammy winner said that though her life’s getting busier, being a mother and wife makes her want to help others even more.

“As a human being, you deserve to have a chance at life,” she said.

More than 24 million Americans watched “Dirty Dancing” actress Jennifer Grey triumph over Bristol Palin to win TV’s “Dancing With the Stars” in what network ABC said on Wednesday was the show’s biggest audience in three years.

Grey’s victory on a combination of judges’ scores and public votes ended one of the most contentious and politically-charged seasons of “Dancing with the Stars” in its history.

Palin, 20, the daughter of conservative politician Sarah Palin who reached the finals despite get low judges’ scores for six weeks, said on Wednesday that prayer had got her through the controversy, which included an anthrax scare on the set.

“It is faith that got me through this and just praying all the time and just relying on God and knowing that He is on our side and we’ll get through this,” Palin told People magazine.

But in a comment on Tuesday’s broadcast, Palin said winning the contest and the glitzy mirrorball trophy “would be a great middle finger to all the people who hate my mom and me.”

Palin’s survival on “Dancing” took on political overtones after critics of her dance skills suggested she was benefiting from the popularity of her mother — a polarizing Tea Party favorite who is weighing a run for U.S. president in 2012.

Last week, an envelope containing what turned out to be talcum powder was delivered to the Los Angeles studio where “Dancing” is broadcast.

Votes from viewers count for half of the final tally in deciding who is eliminated each week. Producers said the public voted in record numbers for the three finalists, briefly crashing the show’s website, but that each of the remaining contestants were equally affected by the outage.

Time magazine TV writer James Poniewozik commented wryly on Wednesday that the “Mirrorball Primary is over.”

Television network ABC said that Tuesday’s results show was the most-watched TV program in America, attracting 24.1 million viewers. That number — the biggest “Dancing” audience since November 2007– grew to 26.4 million in the last 30 minutes as the winners were revealed.

Disney Channel star Kyle Massey, 19, was voted runner-up to Grey, with Palin taking 3rd place.

Grey, 50, is best known for starring opposite the late Patrick Swayze in the 1987 coming-of-age film “Dirty Dancing”.

She said she had resisted pressure to reinvent the movie’s iconic final dance scene for the TV show.

“I knew everybody wanted us to do something with ‘Time of My Life’, there was a lot of pressure for that. But I knew that was a dance for Patrick and me, and I wanted to leave it as such,” Grey told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.

Swayze died of pancreatic cancer in September 2009 at the age of 57.

The death of an aspiring Chinese pop singer during plastic surgery has cast an ugly light on an obsession with beauty that sees millions go under the knife in China each year.

Wang Bei, 24, a former contestant on Super Girl, China’s version of American Idol, died on Nov 15 during “facial bone-grinding surgery” in Wuhan, capital city of Central China’s Hubei province, media reports have said.

That Wang even felt she needed to improve her looks has underlined the extent to which cosmetic surgery has taken hold. Her beauty had already made her a popular contestant on the smash television hit Super Girl.

Her death has fuelled concerns about the dangers of plastic surgery in a country where three million people have operations each year to improve their appearances, according to figures published by State media.

An “anaesthetic accident” occurred during Wang’s procedure at the Zhong’ao Cosmetic Surgery Hospital, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the local health bureau.

Wang’s jaw suddenly started bleeding during the procedure, blocking her windpipe and causing her to suffocate, reports said.

Wang’s mother was having the same procedure at the clinic when her daughter died.

Surging demand for cosmetic surgery has led to untrained doctors carrying out operations, “which is risky and irresponsible”, Zhang Huabin, a professor of plastic surgery at southern China’s Guangdong Medical College, told Xinhua.

Web users have also expressed concern and questioned why a pretty girl such as Wang would feel the need for plastic surgery.

“I hope the tragedy can raise people’s awareness of the slack supervision of the plastic surgery industry,” one Web user said.

Wang “paid a painful price for beauty”, said an entry on popular Internet portal sina.com.

Another Web user asked why Wang wanted cosmetic surgery when she was already “so beautiful”.

“It is not possible to be famous based only on your face,” the posting said.

American woman director Debra Granik Saturday received the highest 7-kg Bronze Horse Prize for this year’s Best Film “Winter’s Bone” at a grand prize gala in Stockholm as the XXI Stockholm International Film Festival came to an end.

“Through her heroine, the director paints an original portrait of a matriarchy who, by turns, warns, punishes, and ultimately offers an unlikely deliverance. The story and performances worked together to realize an uncompromised vision,” a jury of the film festival said in a statement.

Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” won Best Actress Award for her skillful performance in the film while Best Actor Prize was awarded to George Pistereanu for his performance in the Romanian-Swedish film “If I want to whistle, I whistle.”

The 34-year-old Vietnamese director Phang Dang Di got Best First Feature and Best Cinematography for his best debut family drama, “Bi, Do not Be Afraid”, which revolves around a troubled generation of accommodation in Hanoi today.

Earlier during the festival which began on Nov. 17, the Stockholm Visionary Award was presented to director Gus Van Sant while the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Harriet Andersson.

The Stockholm International Film Festival started in 1990 with just 45 films and is today one of the leading competitive film festivals in Europe with 180 films.

The Festival is also recognized for its ability to promote and offer a venue for young and unestablished film-makers. As many as a third of the films selected are made by a debuting director and only directors who have made less than 3 films are selected for the competition.

Auctioneers overestimated the power of the dark side.

An original Darth Vader costume from a “Star Wars” movie did not sell at auction Thursday when no bidder offered to pay the reserve price, Christie’s auctioneers said.

The outfit — a jet-black helmet, mask and armor — was expected to sell for between 160,000 pounds and 230,000 pounds ($250,000 to $365,000). The reserve price is confidential but generally it is just under the minimum expected price.

Christie’s said bidding stopped at 150,000 pounds.

The costume is thought to have been made for “The Empire Strikes Back,” the second film in George Lucas’s sci-fi series, released in 1980.

The auction house’s head of popular culture, Neil Roberts, said the costume is one of the most iconic in the history of cinema.

Christie’s did not name the seller, identified only as an American private collector.

Meanwhile, a gun used in an advertising campaign for a James Bond movie was sold for more than 10 times its estimated value at Thursday’s auction of movie memorabilia.

The Walther air pistol held by Bond actor Sean Connery in the poster for the 1963 film, “From Russia With Love,” was sold for 277,250 pounds ($437,206) to an unidentified telephone bidder, Christie’s said.

Paris Hilton is countersuing the hair extension company which filed a lawsuit against her in August.

The hotel heiress was reportedly paid $3.5 million by Hairtech International in 2007 to be the face of their Dream Catchers range of clip-in locks but is being sued for $35 million after allegedly failing to promote the product and wearing extensions made by a competitor.

Now Paris has filed her own suit and is asking for is asking for $2.1 million in damages, at least $400,000 in punitive damages and attorney fees, and $500,000 in declaratory relief.

In documents filed at Los Angeles Superior Court the socialite’s lawyer alleges Hairtech International “sought to capitalise on Ms. Hilton’s brand and fame by offering to pay substantial ‘guaranteed’ royalties in exchange for the right to associate Ms. Hilton’s brand with their line of hair products”.

Paris is also accusing the company of fraud claiming they failed to pay her “in excess of $1.7 million,” and accusing them of “secretly altering documents presented to Ms. Hilton’s company for signature”.

Along with countersuing the hair extension company, Paris denies she was unprofessional and claims the company’s CEO Chris Volek wrote her an email praising her performance after she filmed a commercial for the company.

According to gossip website TMZ, the email said “Hey Paris. I know it was a long day, but baby you ‘Rocked.’ Just from the takes I saw this is going to be one hellava commercial, you were genuinely amazing.”