Lady Gaga is hot on the promotional trail for her new album, Born This Way.  Of all the places I expected her to stop, though, the Financial Times would have been about the last.  And yet, she sat down last week for tea with quintessential Brit Stephen Fry for an interview for just that venerable rag.  Here are a few highlights.

On bankrupting herself doing the Monster Ball tour: I put everything in the show and I actually went bankrupt after the first extension of the Monster Ball.  And it was funny because I didn’t know and I remember I called everybody and I said, “well, why is everybody saying that I have no money? This is ridiculous! I had five number one singles, the Monster Ball’s doing great,” and they said, “you’re $3m in debt”. So I got really lucky because I had a good show and Live Nation loved it so much and they said “we want to put you in arenas and we want to support you”, and then the fairytale of where we are now became the HBO special and the whole world got to see the Monster Ball.

On what it means to be Born This Way: In fact, sexuality is just one very small part of it and I think it’s so interesting to see the way people latch on to words. You say the word gay in a song and suddenly all the other words float away and the focus goes in just on one word. I’m happy that everyone focused on that word, though. It’s an important word to liberate. But the album is about rebirth in every sense. It’s about being able to be reborn over and over again until you find the identity inside of yourself that defines you best for who you are, that makes you feel the most like a champion of life.

On being Gaga and Stefani Germanotta at the same time: I…see myself to be in an endless transformative state… I am committed wholeheartedly to theatre with no intermission.

On what it’s all really about: I study everything that I do to become better all the time at my craft. The beauty for me about being an artist is that the dream will never die because I’m not obsessed with material things and don’t care about the money and don’t care about the attention of the public but only the love of my fans. For me it’s about keeping the dream alive of how much more devoted, how much more honest, how much better of an artist can I become? That’s the only fear that I ever have, that the dream will die.

Gaga really stumps me.  On one hand, she sounds so genuine… on the other, when someone says they are committed to “theatre with no intermission,” then how do you know whether she’s being herself or playing a role?  And then you have to ask yourself whether, in fact, that’s not the point.

For the entire transcript of the Fry/Gaga interview, click here (free registration required).

[ Images by PNP/WENN.com ]

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Beaming the biggest smiles, Prince William and Kate Middleton cover the July issue of Vanity Fair magazine in a close-up pic from their engagement photo sessions with Mario Testino.

The image, selected by Testino himself and never-before-seen, shows the couple in a more candid, relaxed light than previously seen.

Royal watcher Katie Nicholl writes that despite being titled with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge by Queen Elizabeth at their April 29th wedding in Westminster Abbey, William prefers to keep being referred to as Prince William and then, Kate’s title will be Princess Catherine.

Nicholl details the couple’s interest in catching their own nuptials on TV after the ceremony and bringing Prince Harry in on the fun.

“It was just the two of them, and they were so excited to actually see it on the television,” a Palace aide told Nicholl. “Harry joined them afterwards, and they were all in high spirits.”

It was William’s idea for the honeymoon fake-out: going back to work for a couple of days to shift focus from the newlyweds so they could escape to the Seychelles and enjoy their first nights of wedded bliss without the scrutiny of the world media.

“William wanted the honeymoon to be a secret,” sources close to the couple told Nicholl. “By going back to work before leaving for their honeymoon, they were able to escape. It was a deliberate decoy.”

Nicholl also reports that the couple’s favorite snack is Philadelphia Cream Cheese (really?) and that they dined on Brussels sprouts, which are high in folic acid, adding to the baby-making royal heir speculation.

VF is on sale in NY and LA on Thursday, June 2nd and available nationwide Tuesday, June 7th.

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As we told you a couple of weeks ago, the cast of Jersey Shore are currently abroad, sharing their own very special brand of low class with all of Italy.   And predictably, they’re wreaking havoc.  Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi has gone and got herself in trouble again.  She managed to crash her car into the police vehicle that had been assigned to escort the show’s entourage through the streets of Florence.     The accident was described as a “low speed impact,” but the two officers she hit still went to the hospital in an ambulance.  Smooth move, Snooki.  Smooth move.

It’s not just Snooki, though.  Evidently the whole cast is having trouble navigating Italy by car – they’ve racked up nearly 300 Euros ($428 US) in traffic fines over the last few weeks, and concede that “driving [there] is difficult.”

[ Images by Alex Jackson/WENN.com ]

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Singer Sean Kingston has been moved to ICU from the trauma unit at a Florida hospital after a jet ski accident that left the 21 year-old in very serious condition over the Memorial Day weekend.

Kingston, who changed his name from Kisean Anderson, was riding with a female passenger off of Miami’s famous South Beach area when the watercraft crashed after going under a small bridge.

The Beautiful Girls singer was rushed to Jackson-Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami after a nearby couple and an off duty Coast Guard helped keep the singer’s head above water.

Johnathan Rivera told TMZ that he was flagged over to the scene where the couple were struggling with keeping Kingston afloat as his life jacket had come off.

Rivera, the Coast Guard member, reported Kingston was “convulsing and throwing up blood” while Rivera held on for roughly 15 minutes before a rescue boat came.

The singer’s condition has stabilized and he was moved from the trauma unit to ICU early on Tuesday morning.

“Sean Kingston is now stabilized and has moved from the trauma unit to ICU. Sean’s family thanks everyone for their prayers and support during this time,” Kingston’s publicist, Joseph Carrozza said.

Kingston’s passenger, Cassandra Sanchez, was alert and responding to questions from investigators after the crash. Alcohol is being ruled out as a reason for the crash but speed may be the culprit.

Sanchez said she knew they were not going to fit under the bridge and begged for Kingston to slow down.

“We can’t fit under there! Are we going to try and go under there?  Sean stop!” she said noting that she thought Kingston was trying to turn away at the last minute, but because they were going so fast, he was unable to correct his course and crashed.

[images: Flashpoint/WENN]

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Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating today, May 31st, including:

1930 – Clint Eastwood, actor
1943 – Sharon Gless, actress
1943 – Joe Namath, football player
1949 – Tom Berenger, actor
1950 – Gregory Harrison, actor
1960 – Chris Elliot, comedian
1961 – Lea Thompson, actress
1962 – Corey Hart, musician
1964 – Darryl McDaniels, musician
1965 – Brooke Shields, actress
1968 – John Connolly, author
1976 – Colin Farrell, actor
1977 – Eric Christian Olsen, actor
1982 – Johnathan Tucker, actor
1986 – Waka Flocka Flame, rapper

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X-Men: First Class is getting rave reviews from the critics, many saying it’s the best Marvel film yet! Here are some snippets from various reviewers:

Smartly scripted, smoothly directed and well-acted. Not just the best film in the series, but the best adaptation of a Marvel comic title yet. - Garth Franklin

A blast of colorful and passionate enthusiasm with just enough weight to matter. – Katey Rich

The best praise I can give X-Men: First Class is that it’s a wonderful movie, not just a wonderful X-Men movie or a wonderful Marvel movie or a wonderful superhero movie. It’s a damn good film, full stop, all other genres and ghetto-izations aside.  - Devin Faraci

Big and bold and aggressively told, it feels to me like this is the first film in a brand-new franchise, and I think Fox just got it right, really right, in a way they haven’t on any of their Marvel films so far. – Drew McWeeny

That’s just a few of the reviews! As of now on the Rottentomatoes.com tomato meter score is 100%! That’s a rare sight, which I’m sure will change in coming days. I’m suddenly actually quite excited to see it myself, especially after all the doubt I’ve cast in recent months. I’ll be seeing this at a midnight show, my glimmer of hope that this movie would be really good seems to be coming to fruition. I think it’s largely due to Bryan Singer (director of the first two X-Men films) being the producer of this project.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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Uglydolls (pictured above) will be the inspiration for an animated feature film about the unfortunate looking toys.

Illumination Entertainment chief Chris Meledandri has acquired rights to turn the Uglydoll franchise into an animated feature film. Universal Pictures and Illumination will develop the film based on the global line of Uglydoll characters launched by husband-wife artist team David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim. Meet the Fockers scribe Larry Stuckey will write the script, inspired by the dolls and stories created by Horvath and Kim. Meledandri will produce, and Horvath and Kim will be executive producers through their Pretty Ugly LLC banner. The plan is to start with the feature and then branch into a wider range of media opportunities.

They certainly look like they could be characters in an animated feature. It’s great for the creators of these toys! I’m sure they are beyond happy, having a film about these toys is going to make sales skyrocket. Not to mention the sweet deal they probably got selling the rights. I wonder which character will get the main role. More on this one as it develops.

Source: Deadline

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Here’s the latest character poster for the upcoming finale Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 featuring Draco Malfoy.

Boy does he look pale, I suppose it comes with the character. He’s always had that sickly look to him, a testament to the subtleties in the makeup for these films that have helped create all the characters that the world has come to love. I wonder  how many of these young actors careers will go on in coming years.

Source: IMP Awards

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The Hobbit films from director Peter Jackson have been given official titles and release dates. The first film will be called The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to be released on December 14, 2012. The second will be The Hobbit: There and Back Again which will come out on December 13, 2013. Here’s the official press release:

New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM have announced the titles and release dates for filmmaker Peter Jackson’s two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s enduringly popular masterpiece “The Hobbit.” The first film, titled The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will be released on December 14, 2012. The second film, titled The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is slated for release the following year, on December 13, 2013.

It’s great to finally see everything coming together for these highly anticipated prequels. The titles fit perfectly, I’m glad they didn’t decide to just call them The Hobbit: Part 1 and The Hobbit: Part 2 like so many of these other two parters have been doing lately. Having titles and official release dates means we’ll get to see promotional materials by Christmas and hopefully a teaser trailer by Thanksgiving!

Source: /Film

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Alice Braga is set to join Matt Damon and Jodi Foster in the upcoming Neill Blomkamp sci-fi film Elysium.

The latest addition to the cast of Neill Blomkamp‘s mysterious second film Elysium is Alice Braga, who has been seen in Predators, Repo Men, The Rite, and City of God. As with most of the cast of the film, we know nothing about her role at this point. Indeed, apart from the fact that the script contains some of the same blend of sci-fi and topical commentary that characterized District 9, and the fact that it is set 150 years in the future and involves Jodie Foster as the head of state of an alien planet, we know very little about Elysium as a whole.

Good to see more casting news for this secretive project. I really enjoyed District 9, I’m betting Elysium will be just as good. Braga is a solid actor, I’m sure she’ll bring passion to whatever role she’s playing in the film. Unfortunately Elysium isn’t scheduled to be released until 2013, so we’ve got some waiting to do.

Source: /Film
[images: WENN.com]

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