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Leno Apologizes for Gay Phillippe Remark
2 April 2008 (WENN)
TV talk show king Jay Leno has apologized for asking actor Ryan Phillippe to give him his "gayest look" during his late-night show. Stop-Loss star Phillippe spoke to Leno about his first paid acting role as a gay teen on soap One Life To Live, and comic Leno decided to poke fun at his admission when he was a guest on his late night show recently. He asked an embarrassed Phillippe, "Can you give me your gayest look? Say that camera is Billy Bob... Billy Bob has just ridden in shirtless from Wyoming." But the joke backfired on him when officials at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) urged Leno to apologize. And now the 57-year-old has done just that. He says, "In talking about Ryan's first role, I realize that what I said came out wrong. I certainly didn't mean any malice. I agree it was a dumb thing to say, and I apologize."

'21' Aces No. 1
1 April 2008 (StudioBriefing)
Box office forecasters crapped out over the weekend as the film they had bet on to lead the competition came in third and a film they had expected to flop wound up at the top. In fact, Sony's gambling movie 21 far surpassed predictions, taking in $24.1 million over the weekend. Fox's Horton Hears a Who!, meanwhile, continued to take advantage of the kids' Easter break from school and slid just $27 percent to $17.4 million, putting its three-week total well above the $100-million mark. But Superhero Movie clearly did not have the kind of muscle analysts thought it did, winding up with just $9.5 million in its debut -- a far cry from the $15-20 million that had been predicted for it. Paramount's Stop-Loss -- despite generally strong reviews -- was not expected to do well, and it didn't. It came in eighth with just $4.6 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. 21, Sony/Columbia, $24,105,943, (New) ); 2. Horton Hears a Who!, Fox, $17,740,106, 3 Wks. ($117,589,254); 3. Superhero Movie, MGM/The Weinstein Co., $9,510,297, (New); 4. Meet the Browns, Lionsgate, $7,481,508, 2 Wks. ($32,549,825); 5. Drillbit Taylor, Paramount, $5,713,585, 2 Wks. ($20,487,226); 6. Shutter, Fox, $5,221,016, 2 Wks. ($18,998,604); 7. 10,000 B.C., $4,947,174, 4 Wks. ($84,992,525); 8. Stop-Loss, Paramount, $4,555,117, (New) ); 9. College Road Trip, Disney, $3,457,756, 4 Wks. ($38,322,829); 10. The Bank Job, Lionsgate, $2,780,168, 4 Wks. ($19,521,672).

'21' Blackjacks Its Rivals
31 March 2008 (StudioBriefing)
Defying analysts' odds, the gambling flick 21 topped the box office over the weekend with $23.7 million. Superhero Movie, which most industry forecasters had picked to win the competition, wound up with just $9.5 million to place third. The third week of Horton Hears a Who turned out to be music to the ears of Fox executives as it wound up with $17.4 million, taking it well past the $100-million mark to $117.2 million. Meanwhile, Stop-Loss, the best-reviewed new film, became the latest anti-Iraq-war movie to be shot down at the box office, as it opened in eighth place with just $4.5 million. Not even making the top-ten list was the Picturehouse comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run, which barely got off the blocks with $2.4 million in ticket sales.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. 21, $23.7 million; 2. Horton Hears a Who!, $17.4 million; 3. Superhero Movie, $9.5 million; 4. Meet the Browns, $7.8 million; 5. Drillbit Taylor, $5.8 million; 6. Shutter, $5.3 million; 7. 10,000 B.C., $4.9 million; 8. Stop-Loss, $4.5 million; 9. College Road Trip, $3.5 million; 10. The Bank Job, $2.8 million.

Movie Reviews: 'Stop Loss'
28 March 2008 (StudioBriefing)
Critics are suggesting that Stop-Loss, from Boys Don't Cry director Kimberly Peirce, is unlike any antiwar film ever produced, certainly unlike any about the Iraq or Afghan wars. A.O. Scott in the New York Times offers an almost tortured description of the movie. It is, he writes, "not only an earnest, issue-driven narrative, but also a feverish entertainment, a passionate, at times overwrought melodrama gaudy with violent actions and emotions. The sober, mournful piety that has characterized a lot of the other fictional features about Iraq ... is almost entirely missing from Stop-Loss. ... Not that the movie is unsentimental -- far from it -- but its messy, chaotic welter of feeling has a tang of authenticity. Instead of high-minded indignation or sorrow, it runs on earthier fuel: sweat, blood, beer, testosterone, loud music and an ideologically indeterminate, freewheeling sense of rage." Likewise Jan Stewart in Newsday writes that the movie "builds a cumulative power and sense of urgency that can't be denied." Much of the credit for the film's success is being attributed to the performance of Ryan Phillippe, in the role of a soldier who resists orders to return to the Middle East. Philippe plays his character, says Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times, "not as a flawed hero but as a man with real and serious psychological problems trying to survive in a world of moral collapse." John Anderson in the Washington Post agrees: "Phillippe does a fine job translating the unspeakable anger of a soldier into action, expressing it physically instead of verbally," he writes. On the other hand, Amy Biancolli in the Houston Chronicle comments that the veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq "deserve a better movie" and faults Philippe for being unable "to broadcast inner torment. Oh, he'll yell when he needs to, he'll wince on cue ... but that roiling substratum of psychological pain just refuses to surface." And Kyle Smith, the lone, outspoken political conservative among the country's major newspaper critics, takes dead aim at the movie, calling it facetiously, "a highly patriotic film, if you happen to dream of the restored caliphate as you sleep in your Osama Bin Laden pajamas. Its message is that the good guys are U.S. soldiers who decide to desert."

Elephant Stalkers
28 March 2008 (StudioBriefing)
There's no consensus among box-office prognosticators on which film will likely emerge as the top box-office draw over the weekend. Four new films will be entering the fray, hoping to displace Horton Hears a Who!, which has held the top spot for the past two weeks and could do so again, with many kids winding up their Easter-week holiday. No film is expected to take in more than $20 million in ticket sales, however. Each film has a lot going against it. The Weinstein Co.'s Superhero Movie, which many analysts predict will come out ahead, was not even screened for critics and faces the possibility of a boycott and/or picketing by angry Star Wars fans, who object to the Weinsteins' handling of the unreleased film Fanboys. The drama 21, about young math whizzes who tackle the odds in Las Vegas, may have a lot going for it in terms of story and stars, but not in general awareness, according to tracking surveys, or reviews. The R-rated Stop Loss may also have some glamorous stars, but films about the Iraq war have been roadside bombs at the box office. The PG-rated comedy Run, Fat Boy, Run comes to the U.S. after a successful run in the U.K., where it was produced, but British comedies traditionally struggle at the U.S. box office.

Phillippe: "I Didn't Leave Witherspoon for Cornish"
12 February 2008 (WENN)
Ryan Phillippe has hit out at reports he left Reese Witherspoon for new girlfriend Abbie Cornish, insisting his marriage was over long before he met Cornish. Phillippe and Witherspoon finalized their divorce last October, marking the end of an eight-year marriage that brought the pair two children. The actor and Cornish were linked soon after - but Phillippe insists the Australian starlet, who co-stars with him in upcoming film Stop Loss, had nothing to do with his failed marriage and that they still aren't an item, despite frequently being photographed together. He tells W magazine, "I had difficulties in my relationship, and in my marriage, long before I ever met her. As far as I'm concerned, it's a friendship (with Cornish), and we are getting to know each other in a really difficult situation."

Phillippe and Cornish Dating?
7 December 2007 (WENN)
Actor Ryan Phillippe has sparked reports of a romance with Australian star Abbie Cornish, after they were spotted out and about in Los Angeles recently. The couple was alleged to have had a brief fling while co-starring in the forthcoming Stop Loss while Phillippe was still married to Legally Blonde beauty Reese Witherspoon - a claim both parties have denied. But according to the New York Daily News, the pair have now become more than just friends. A close pal says, "They are a real couple. (The relationship) has really grown. She's spending time with his kids (Ava, eight, and Deacon, four) - it's not like she's on the side. She's part of the family." And Phillippe's children appear to have warmed to Cornish, after they were snapped Christmas shopping together last weekend. A witness tells Us Weekly magazine, "Ava seemed very comfortable with Abbie. Ava picked a wreath, and Abbie put it around her head as a joke. They both were laughing." Another source adds, "Going out together and leaking a few photos is their discreet way of letting the public know it's official. It's not like you can send out a press release about these things."

Cornish No-Show at Premiere
10 November 2006 (WENN)
Australian actress Abbie Cornish was a no-show at the New York premiere of her new film Candy, after she was linked to the break-up of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe. A Good Year star Cornish, 24, has venomously denied rumors she had an affair with the Crash heart-throb, 32, on the set of Stop Loss in Texas earlier this year. At the screening at the city's TriBeCa Grand on Tuesday, Cornish failed to join co-stars Heath Ledger and Claire Danes and director Ron Howard. Witherspoon and Phillippe announced their split last week after seven years of marriage, and Witherspoon officially filed for divorce this week, citing irreconcilable differences and asking the court for joint legal custody of the couple's two children, Ava and Deacon.

Phillippe Speaks Out After Infidelity Rumors
9 November 2006 (WENN)
Hollywood star Ryan Phillippe has spoken out following his shock split from wife Reese Witherspoon last week, declaring he's "not guilty of a lot of things" he has been accused of. Witherspoon, 30, and Phillippe, 32, announced they were splitting after seven years of marriage and two children together on October 30. Following the announcement, tabloids began to speculate Phillippe had cheated on his Oscar winning wife with his Stop Loss co-star Abbie Cornish, which the Australian actress has vigorously denied. Speaking for the first time since the split, the Crash hunk tells America's People magazine, "I'm not a perfect person, but I'm not guilty of a lot of the things I have been accused of. My priority is and always has been the health and safety of my family." In response to rumors Witherspoon was unhappy with Phillippe's partying, his representative says, "Look, he went out, she went out, it wasn't a point of conflict." Meanwhile, Witherspoon has officially filed for divorce, asking the court for joint legal custody of the couple's two children. The actress is also asking the judge to block attempts by her estranged husband to get spousal support, and she is seeking "exclusive use of the family residence." In the legal documents, obtained by news website TMZ.com, Witherspoon lists the date of separation as October 30, and cites "irreconcilable differences" for the split.

Cornish "Not To Blame" for Witherspoon-Phillippe Split
1 November 2006 (WENN)
Publicists for Australian actress Abbie Cornish are refuting US reports that their client is the secret reason behind Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's shock split. Articles running in this week's US tabloids claim Witherspoon decided to end her marriage to the Crash star, 32, after learning he had romanced Cornish on the set of their new movie Stop Loss in Texas. The reports go so far as to suggest that the Legally Blonde star, 30, found out about her husband's alleged romance with Cornish after reading a saucy note on his BlackBerry communication device. But Cornish, 24, insists the reports are all false. In a statement, released yesterday, her publicist writes, "It's not true. They are co-stars and that is it."