Halle Berry says ‘I was the lucky one’ in Morris Chestnut love scenes

As Halle Berry and Morris Chestnut visited Chicago recently to promote their film “The Call” (opening Friday), the two actors made it clear they enjoyed working together for the first time.

“What’s not to like?” said Chestnut with a wink. “I get to play Halle Berry’s boyfriend!”

Not missing a beat, the Oscar-winning actress shot back, “I think most of the women in the world — and maybe a few men — would think I was the lucky one, since I get to kiss Morris Chestnut!”

Sure, with 40 or 50 crew people watching. And how was it?

Berry smiled slyly. “That’s for me to know,” but Chestnut didn’t hesitate to rave about his co-star.

“When you’re in a romantic scene it often is very staged. They’re telling you, ‘Move this way. Roll over this way.’ … That kind of thing.

“But when you’re with Halle Berry, it’s like there’s nobody else around. It’s just you and Halle Berry!”

Despite that lighthearted opening, the conversation quickly turned serious, given the grim circumstances in “The Call.” Berry plays a 911 operator who has to face a twisted serial killer — not once, but twice. Chestnut portrays a police officer romantically involved with Berry’s character.

For much of the shoot, Berry said she sometimes felt a bit disconnected from what would become the final movie as edited.

“You have to remember that most of my scenes involved me talking on the phone through a headset with Abigail Breslin [who plays a girl kidnapped on Berry’s watch]. It’s a lot more challenging when you don’t have another actor to interact with directly …without the ability to look into their eyes and watch the way they move.”

For Berry and Chestnut, both parents to daughters, the concept of girls being kidnapped is disturbing. “I’m horrified whenever I hear one of those stories in the news,” said Chestnut. “Even if I didn’t have a child, I would be upset, but of course when you think about your own child, your own daughter, those stories hit much harder and closer to home.”

Berry added that she is even more protective of her daughter, Nahla, since filming “The Call.”

“I’ve always been a big Mama Bear type anyway,” said Berry. “It’s just now I’m focused on teaching my daughter in the years ahead how to protect herself and how to be aware of the ugliness that does exist in our world.”

While the focus of “The Call” is on the serial killer snatching up beautiful young girls in Southern California, the stars stressed that the film is supposed to be a tense, often chilling thriller.

“I’m fairly sure that it will keep people on the edge of their seats from start to finish,” said Berry. “And, I’m particularly happy that I also get to play a part in the nice little twist that is thrown in at the end!”

Kate Middleton Suing Over Topless Photo Scandal!

Kate Middleton is putting on a brave face in the midst of her topless photo scandal as St. James Palace announced that they have begun “legal proceedings,” against the magazine that published the shocking photos.

The statement released by the Palace said “legal proceedings for breach of privacy have been commenced today in France" by the royal couple, which they described as “grotesque and totally unjustifiable.”


French gossip magazine Closer published the photos of Kate without her bikini top, which were taken while they were sunbathing around the swimming pool of Château d'Autet, the private residence of the Queen’s nephew Viscount Linley.

With Prince William by her side, Kate had a serious look on her face but managed a few smiles in these photos obtained by RadarOnline.com of the couple at a Diamond Jubilee tea party at the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


Wearing an ice blue lace dress by Alice Temperley with her hair decorated with pearl pins, Kate was charming at the reception seeming to ignore the swirling scandal about the topless photos.

St. James Palace swiftly condemned the photos and invoked the memory of the late Princess Diana in their statement.

“Their Royal Highnesses have been hugely saddened to learn that a French publication and a photographer have invaded their privacy in such a grotesque and totally unjustifiable manner. The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to The Duke and Duchess for being so.

“Their Royal Highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote house. It is unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them.”


The 30-year-old Duchess was on vacation with her husband in Luberon, France when the lurking photog snapped the invasive pictures which have rocked the world.

"Discover the incredible pictures of the future Queen of England as you've never seen her before... and as you will never see her again!” the magazine’s website bragged about the photos.

PHOTOS: Bikini bods Kate Middleton vs Pippa Middleton

Shockingly, the editor of Closer said the photos would show Kate “fully topless” and be able to see Her Royal Highness’s “nipples.”

'They raped me with their hands': Reporter Lara Logan reveals terrifying details of mob sex attack in Egypt

• Correspondent reveals 200-strong mob 'tore her clothes to pieces'
  
• 'I thought, not only am I going to die here, but it's going to be a torturous death'

Lara Logan has spoken out for the first time since her terrifying sexual assault in Egypt, describing how attackers 'raped her with their hands'.
The 39-year-old CBS foreign correspondent said she was convinced she was going to die when the frenzied mob tore her away from her film crew and bodyguard in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
A group of at least 200 men beat her, pinched her and tore at her clothes in a 40-minute attack that only ended when a group of women came to her aid.
She told the New York Times: 'For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands...What really struck me was how merciless they were. 'They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence.'
She revealed the terrifying details in an interview with the newspaper today, and is expected to speak about her attack at greater length in an appearance on 60 Minutes on Sunday.
Ms Logan, who returned to work this month, has not previously spoken about the assault, which reverberated around the world and highlighted the dangers women face while reporting.
But she said these will be her first and last interviews about the vicious assault. She said: 'I don’t want this to define me.' She was attacked on February 11, on her first day back in the city - and the day Hosni Mubarak's government finally fell.

'What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence'

She had been forced to leave a week before after she was detained and interrogated by Egyptian forces.
Ms Logan and her film crew made their way to Tahrir Square, where a jubilant crowd begged her for autographs.
But suddenly, as she was preparing a report for 60 Minutes, the mood turned violent. The camera battery went down, forcing the crew to stop.
As they worked to replace it her Egyptian cameraman heard one of the men in the crowd say he wanted to pull her pants down in Arabic. She told CBS: 'Suddenly, Bahar [the Egyptian cameraman] looks at me and says, "we've got to get out of here".
'I thought, not only am I going to die here, but it's going to be just a torturous death that's going to go on forever and ever and ever.' She told the Times: 'That was literally the moment the mob set on me.'
Jeff Fager, the chairman of CBS News, told the Times her producer, Max McClellan, and her two drivers were 'helpless because the mob was just so powerful'.
He said her bodyguard managed to hold on to her for a while, but the mob proved too strong and carried her away. Mr Fager said: 'For Max, to see the bodyguard come out of the pile without her, that was one of the worst parts.'
Ms Logan described how her hand was sore for days afterwards, and she only later realised it was because she had been holding on so tightly to her bodyguard's hand.
She told the Times: 'My clothes were torn to pieces.' The attack lasted 40 minutes. She was only rescued when a group of local women brought 20 Egyptian soldiers to her aid. Mr Fager said he hoped Sunday's interview would help raise awareness of the sexual violence women journalists face when reporting from conflict zones.

He said: 'There’s a code of silence about it that I think it is in Lara’s interest and in our interest to break.'
CBS immediately flew her back to the U.S. The channel posted guards outside her Washington home, where she hid herself away to recuperate along with her husband Joseph Burkett and their two young children.
Mr Fager said: 'She was quite traumatised, as you can imagine, for a period of time.'
Four days after the attack, he and Ms Logan drafted a statement released by CBS, until now the only official comment.

It said she had 'suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers'.
Ms Logan said she made the decision to speak out soon after the assault, on behalf of 'millions of voiceless women who are subjected to attacks like this and worse'.
She said the statement 'didn’t leave me to carry the burden alone, like my dirty little secret, something that I had to be ashamed of'.
While physical violence against men is often discussed by the media, sexual threats against female journalists are rarely mentioned.
Ms Logan said, with sexual violence 'you only have your word. The physical wounds heal. You don’t carry around the evidence the way you would if you had lost your leg or your arm in Afghanistan.'
Just two months after the attack, Ms Logan has already vowed to return to Afghanistan and other conflict zones, but said she has decided she will not return to Middle Eastern countries while widespread protests are ongoing.

She told the Times: 'The very nature of what we do - communicating information - is what’s undoing these regimes. It makes us the enemy, whether we like it or not.'
More than a dozen foreign journalists have been kidnapped in Libya since the uprising began there.
Times journalist Lynsey Addario said she was groped and harassed by her Libyan captors, a story which Ms Logan said was a 'setback' to her own recovery.

Amy Poehler Out-Delights Everyone at Time 100 Gala

If you are not already convinced that Amy Poehler is the most delightful woman on earth, then you haven’t witnessed Amy Poehler at a party. From the second she set foot inside Jazz at Lincoln Center for the Time 100 gala, Poehler turned into what could only be described as a cruise director. Here she was, grabbing Patrick McMullan to take a picture of her and Cecile Richards and all the other “kick-ass ladies” in the room. There she was, telling reporters what to write in their notebooks: “Martha Stewart arrived late, smelling of turkey.” She was on the scene when Patrick McMullan accidentally ripped the train of Blake Lively’s dress, gleefully crying out, “You ripped her dress! Patrick, you ripped her dress!” as if it were the greatest, most wonderful thing that had ever happened.
Inside the dinner, she was first and most enthusiastic to answer Bruno Mars’s calls to the crowd to get on their feet as he sang "Billionaire." She could be seen among the dinner stragglers, cornering Cory Booker and asking him if he watched The Wire. (We missed it, but we’re pretty sure she was telling him that she’d thought of the perfect character he could play on the show if they ever resurrected it for another season.) She even held court during the after-party, interrupting our interview (really nicely!) with George R.R. Martin to tell him what HUGE fans she and Seth Meyers are of Game of Thrones, and how much she loves all the nudity. As she left, among the very last guests, she kept fishing around for TV recommendations. We told her to watch The Good Wife, and since we have no reason to believe that Amy Poehler is not the most awesome human ever, we think she probably will.
Oh, and she also gave the best toast of the night. Poehler was introduced by Time executive editor Jim Frederick and was preceded by preacher Rob Bell. Here's what she said.

Well when I met Jim five minutes ago, I told him, “Move over! I’m a righty. And don’t let me follow a preacher.” Thanks for nothing, Jim. When Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live and I hosted this awards show in 2008, I remember thinking it would be really nice if we were to make this list together. And tonight, I am happy to say that it is just as sweet making the list without him. I have so much influence; I am lousy with influence. I am what you call a connector. Bruno Mars is not here, but if he was, he would meet Aziz Ansari tonight, because I would introduce them. Chris Colfer, have you ever met Martha Stewart? Because I can I make that happen. Jonathan Franzen and Patti Smith are sitting at the same table. I know that because I’m on the list. If you shook my hand tonight, you might not want to drive home because you may be pulled over for a DUI. [Editor's note: This was her recycling a joke she’d used on us earlier in the evening ... Still delightful!] But tonight, I’m genuinely very humbled and honored to be part of this evening, so I would like to take my remaining minute to um … I have thought very hard and long about what has influenced me over the past couple of years, and since I have been at this dinner in 2008, I have given birth to two boys and I’ve left Saturday Night Live and I started my own TV show, and it’s been a crazy couple of years, and I thought who besides Madam Secretary Clinton and Lorne Michaels have influenced me? And it was the women who helped me take care of my children. It is Jackie Johnson from Trinidad and it is Dawa Chodon from Tibet, who come to my house and help me raise my children. And for you working women who are out there tonight who get to do what you get to do because there are wonderful people who help you at home, I would like to take a moment to thank those people, some of whom are watching their children right now, while you’re at this event. Those are people who love your children as much as you do, and who inspire them and influence them and on behalf of every sister and mother and person who stands in your kitchen and helps you love your child, I say thank you and I celebrate you tonight.

Chelsy Davy and Prince Harry: Back On?

For one night, at least, Prince Harry managed to wrestle the romantic spotlight away from his brother.
With Great Britain counting down the days until Prince William's April 29 wedding to Kate Middleton, Harry has made headlines over the weekend for appearing at a private London club with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy.
According to The Sun, the pair exited in the trunk of a Jaguar together around 4 a.m.

Security guards flanked the vehicle, but onlookers caught a glimpse of the on-again/off-again duo and told the newspaper: "Neither seemed the worse the wear for drink when they climbed in and they acted as if it was the most normal thing."

For Davy and Harry, it was the normal thing for five years, until a surprising split in November. On the heels of this hook-up, however, insiders say Harry has also invited Chelsy to his brother's nuptials.

They should officially be an item again in no time.

Jessica Alba Honestly Thinks She’s a Good Actress. Honest.

 

Apparently somewhere along the way, someone, somewhere, convinced Jessica Alba that she’s an actual, honest to goodness actress who isn’t just another pretty face. Look, I get it — some dude wanted to get in her pants and told her some big fat lies. But apparently it stuck, because from what we’ve been hearing from Jessica Alba lately is that she’s, uh, a really good actress who hasn’t really gotten the right parts to show off her wares yet. Or if she has, she’s been torpedoed either by bad writing or bad directors.

In an interview with Elle Magazine this month, Alba famously opined this on the topic of screenwriters and what it means to be a “good actor”:

Good actors, never use the script unless it’s amazing writing. All the good actors I’ve worked with, they all say whatever they want to say. Lest you think Alba was misquoted, she goes on to declare how bad directors have similarly clashed with her acting:

    I remember when I was dying in ‘Silver Surfer. The director was like, ‘It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry?… Don’t do that thing with your face. Just make it flat. We can CGI the tears in.’

    It all got me thinking Am I not good enough? Are my instincts and my emotions not good enough? Do people hate them so much that they don’t want me to be a real person?… And so I just said, ‘F*** it. I don’t’ care about this business anymore.

Screenwriter John August (“Big Fish”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “) took offense to her first quote about good scripts, writing on his blog:

 Following your logic, you’ve never been in a movie with both good actors and amazing writing. That may be true, but it might hurt the feelings of David Wain, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller.

Again, I get it, Jessica Alba is desired and famous and she’s surrounded by Yes men and women who have convinced her she’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. I don’t blame her, but to go so publicly and say this stuff? Someone’s really been blowing lies in the girl’s ear.

Although, it could explain why she did Michael Winterbottom’s “The Killer Inside Me”, where she played a prostitute who gets murdered. That is probably her most daring and most “actress”-ish role to date. (And no, I don’t consider playing a stripper who never actually strips in “Sin City” to be very risque whatsoever.) The rest of her filmography? Not exactly signs that someone wants to be taken seriously as an actress, or someone who “just say whatever they want to say”. I’m just sayin’.

Below, Jessica flashes the acting skills to pay the bills: