SkimIt
This week's celeb feuds have taken a turn for the disturbing -- especially with the return of one well-known hot-head (read: psycho).
The battle between screenwriters Joe Eszterhas and Mel Gibson for the upcoming Maccabees -- a film chronicling the 2nd-century Jewish battle against the Seleucid Empire -- took a dark turn on Wednesday, when Eszterhas' son Nick, 15, released tapes of Gibson at his family's home in Costa Rica going on yet another of his "colorful" rants. Some quotes include, "I go to work, you're getting paid, I'm not! Sh__! I am earning money for a filthy little c_______er who takes advantage of me! Just like every mother_____r! So hurry the f__k up!" Also recorded by Nick, who reportedly slept with a knife under his pillow for protection against the actor, is Gibson knocking over a large totem pole. Huh.
This kerfuffle may not appear to bode well for Gibson. But perhaps we've forgotten Mel's magical ability to be forgiven for every rage-filled, disturbing, racial or anti-semitic attack he goes on. Stars like Mickey Rourke and Jodi Foster have routinely rushed to defend Gibson, and no doubt he'll get support this time. If Eszterhas is correct in saying that "he's trying to organize a PR offensive questioning [his] truthfulness," then we can expect, at best, a well-acted apology, and at worst, claims of media conspiracy. Plans for this film, addressing one of the most revered moments in Jewish history, rubbed the Jewish community the wrong way from the get-go after Gibson's anti-Semitic rant to two police officers in 2006, during which he claimed that "the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world."
This one goes to Nick, the 15-year-old with the wherewithal to take on a Hollywood powerhouse -- but we might sleep with a knife under our pillow, too!
Mel Gibson and Joe Eszterhas (AP)
Courtney Love vs. Frances Bean Cobain
After making accusations that 43-year-old rock star Dave Grohl was after her 19-year-old daughter, Courtney Love felt the ire yet again of Frances Bean Cobain. Cobain said in an official statement: "While I'm generally silent on the affairs of my biological mother, her recent tirade has taken a gross turn. I have never been approached by Dave Grohl in more than a platonic way," adding, "I'm in a monogamous relationship and very happy. Twitter should ban my mother." Grohl, too, had previously stated that, "Unfortunately Courtney is on another hateful Twitter rant. These new accusations are upsetting, offensive and absolutely untrue."
In her defense, Love did own up to reacting to bad information, tweeting: "Bean, sorry I believed the gossip.. Mommy loves you" on April 14th.
But come on, gossip really isn't the issue, is it? Whatever it is that's keeps the notoriously wacky Love so fired up shouldn't be consumed before bedtime. Or probably ever.
Courtney Love and Frances Bean Cobain (AP)
Madonna vs. Lourdes
But that's not all in this week's mother-daughter celebrity feuding!
"I wasn't very happy," she told Rock Center's Harry Smith. "I think I need to be maybe tougher. It's hard. Every day is a negotiation. But cigarette smoking I'm not very fond of -- for anyone." When asked if Lourdes, 15, may have learned her rebel behavior from her mother, who is seen smoking in the video for her newest single "Girls Gone Wild," Madonna added: "I don't smoke. That's just an accessory! [Lourdes] smoked that cigarette before I did that video!"
Like all wise teenagers who want to avoid a Frances Bean/Courtney situation later down the road, Lourdes has kept mum on the issue.
The Girls of Girls vs. The Fans
Despite generally positive critical reviews, the cast of HBO's new comedy Girls -- a sort of Sex and the City meets Less Than Zero produced by Judd Apatow -- fans are shouting nepotism! It wasn't long after the series premiere that viewers and writers alike figured out that all four members of the main cast are the daughters of relatively famous parents. Lena Dunham's mother is renowned artist Laurie Collins; Zosia Mamet is the daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet; sexy Brit Jemima Kirke's dad was the drummer for the English rock group Bad Company; and Allison Williams (who plays Type A best friend to Dunham's wayward Hannah) is the child of none other than NBC news anchor Brian Williams.
Sure, sure, viewers are lashing out. Sometimes in good humor, sometimes not. And the titular girls' counter-reactions have been fittingly diverse: Kirke with the terse assertion that her parents "were not famous enough for it to affect my childhood one way or the other," while Dunham remaining unapologetic, having historically welcomed her mother into her art (casting her in her 2010 film Tiny Furniture as -- you guessed it -- her character's mother). And maybe there's something off-putting about the astronomical rises to fame the privileged few with family ties to Hollywood tend to have. But if we were to blacklist everyone in showbiz who got where they are with a little nepotism, we'd be saying goodbye to the likes of Ewan McGregor, Mariska Hargitay, Rachel Bilson, Miley Cyrus, Rosamund Pike, Jared Harris, Daniel Radcliffe, and Kristen Stewart, just to name a few.
Let's let these Girls prove their mettle before we break out the pitchforks.
(HBO)
