The 2013 Cannes film festival opens on Wednesday with Baz Luhrmann’s 3D version of “The Great Gatsby,” a lavish throwback to the Roaring Twenties that befits the glamor and excess of the world’s biggest cinema showcase.

The Australian director’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel starring Leonardo DiCaprio surprised some Hollywood insiders, because Cannes traditionally launches on the palm-lined French Riviera with a splashy world premiere.

But “The Great Gatsby” has already opened in the United States to mixed reviews and solid box office, potentially dampening buzz surrounding the start of 12 days of screenings, champagne-fueled parties and dealmaking.

Stars expected to face a phalanx of flash bulbs along the red carpet include Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Ryan Gosling, Emma Watson and Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan.

Their pictures will undergo one of the most grueling tests in moviemaking — pleasing Cannes’ notoriously picky critics, who regularly boo as the credits roll if they are unhappy.

And behind the scenes at the event, up to 40,000 film professionals will be seeking to buy and sell the next box office hit at the most important movie market of the year.

“This is the hardest 10 days of the year for me. There are always three or four movies that are exceptional and you have to find them so it is a detective job,” said Tom Bernard, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics.

Critics have praised the selection of films being screened at the 66th Cannes festival, saying it is a strong, well-curated list ranging from hotly anticipated potential crowd-pleasers to beautifully crafted, artistic cinema.

Strong U.S. showing

American directors have their biggest showing in six years in the main competition at Cannes, making up five of 20 films vying for the coveted Palme D’Or for best picture awarded by a jury headed by Steven Spielberg on the final day, May 26.

Steven Soderbergh’s “Behind the Candelabra,” starring Douglas as the gay pianist Liberace and Damon as his young lover, is already generating huge interest, particularly as Soderbergh has hinted that this could be his last movie.

Also in focus is Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis” about New York’s gritty 1960s folk music scene, James Gray’s “The Immigrant,” Jim Jarmusch’s vampire movie “Only Lovers Left Alive” and Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska.”

French filmmakers are also well represented with five films in the main competition, including Roman Polanski’s French-language “La Venus a la Fourrure” (Venus in Fur), a backstage drama starring his wife Emmanuelle Seigner.

Two Japanese movies are in the running and one each from China, Chad, Mexico, Iran, Tunisia, Italy and the Netherlands, while Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Only God Forgives” with Ryan Gosling in a Thai gangland thriller is creating buzz.

Critics have earmarked “Le Passe” by Iran’s Asghar Farhadi and “Like Father, Like Son” by leading Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda as strong domestic dramas. Farhadi won an Oscar for best foreign language film in 2012 for “A Separation.”

Despite criticism of an all-male lineup last year, only one female director has made the 2013 competition. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, sister of former French first lady Carla Bruni, is in the field with “Un Chateau en Italie.”

The sidebar section, Un Certain Regard, set up to recognize young filmmakers, will feature 19 films including “The Bling Ring” by Sofia Coppola starring Harry Potter actress Emma Watson about a real-life gang stealing from celebrities’ homes.

“It is a strong line-up this year looking at the names of the directors, especially those in competition,” said Wendy Mitchell, editor of the magazine Screen International.

“There are some very sellable films this year, and the fact that business was down at the Berlin festival (in February) usually means that there will be keen buyers at Cannes.”

Out of competition, hundreds of films will be shown in special sessions while 4,000 or so films, many yet to be made, will be haggled over in meetings along the Croisette, the resort’s chic promenade, or on extravagant yachts moored nearby.

Patrick Wachsberger, co-chairman of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said he never had time to go to screenings but used Cannes to build buzz for new films including the second and third “Hunger Games” movies.

“You meet with distributors every 30 minutes and it really is like going to the dentist,” said Wachsberger. “The business seems more complicated than it used to be and a bit more frantic, but the money at stake is higher and it’s a bigger gamble.”

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Tony Stark’s superhero antics kept the blockbuster “Iron Man 3″ on top of movie charts in the United States and Canada, beating out a strong debut over the weekend for lavish Jazz Age drama “The Great Gatsby.”

Coming off a gigantic opening a week earlier, “Iron Man 3″ commanded $72.5 million in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday in its second weekend. “Gatsby,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio as millionaire Jay Gatsby in the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald tale, earned a strong $51.1 million, according to studio estimates.

Domestic ticket sales for “Iron Man 3″ dropped 58 percent from a week earlier, when the film hauled in $174.1 million for the second-biggest movie opening of all time. The film from Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios stars Robert Downey Jr. as Stark, a billionaire businessman with a superhero alter ego.

International sales for “Iron Man 3″ reached a massive $664 million through Sunday after adding $89 million from the weekend, Disney said. The film’s worldwide take now stands at $949 million.

“Gatsby” outpaced pre-weekend forecasts for an opening of up to $45 million. Directed by Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, it is the latest Hollywood rendition of Fitzgerald’s classic American novel, “The Great Gatsby.” A 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow fared poorly at the box office.

DiCaprio stars in the title role, a millionaire pining for a lost love, played by Carey Mulligan, during the height of the hedonistic 1920s. Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton also star. Rapper Jay-Z produced the soundtrack.

“We never expected to open this picture at this level,” said Dan Fellman, president of theatrical distribution for Warner Bros., the Time Warner Inc unit that distributed the film.

Fellman said the picture, which has been accorded the prestigious opening night slot at this week’s Cannes Film Festival, was now well-positioned for a long run into the summer as an alternative to traditional action movies.

The majority of ticket buyers were female by 59 percent to 41 percent, and 31 percent of ticket buyers were under age 25, Warner Bros. said.

“We’re going to have a nice, long healthy run,” he told Reuters.

DiCaprio’s performance was widely praised, but the movie, which cost about $105 million to produce, received a mixed reception from critics. As of Saturday, 48 percent of reviews recommended the film on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

But in its opening weekend, the film very nearly eclipsed the total $57.4 million take of Luhrmann’s most successful film, “Moulin Rouge,” which went on to win several Academy Awards.

Elsewhere over the weekend, dark action comedy “Pain & Gain” starring Mark Wahlberg placed a distant third with $5 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters.

Comedy “Peeples,” the other new nationwide release, finished fourth with $4.9 million. Produced by Tyler Perry, the film stars Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington in the story of a well-off family’s reunion that is interrupted when a man arrives to seek their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Baseball drama “42″ finished in fifth place with $4.7 million.

“Star Trek Into Darkness,” which opens domestically on Wednesday, took in $31.7 million in seven international territories including Britain, Mexico, Australia and Germany, Paramount Pictures reported.

“Pain & Gain” was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. Lions Gate Entertainment distributed “Peeples,” and Warner Bros. distributed “42.”

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‘The Great Gatsby’
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan
Rating: PG-13
2 (out of 5) Globes

It’s both tragic and nastily enjoyable when people who don’t understand lit classics turn them into films. The funniest part about Baz Luhrmann’s amusingly inappropriate 3-D-plus-Jay-Z film of “The Great Gatsby” comes right at the end. Judgmental but ineffectual blank slate Nick (Tobey Maguire) has been jotting down the novel’s/film’s events, and his musings are eloquent and incisive enough, it appears, to justify being a book. He writes the title: “Gatsby.” But a sentimental mood overtakes him — the loss of a man (Leonardo DiCaprio) whose decency stood out amid a society of cads. So Nick adds “The Great.”

Baz couldn’t even crack open the Cliffs Notes? The idea that the title is not loaded, that it is in fact completely sincere, betrays a dereliction of duty. This capper is the film’s dumbest, forehead-slappiest moment. The rest is brain-drained and simplified, but almost disappointingly inoffensive, even with Bryan Ferry’s jazz-tinged renditions of rap songs blasting as flappers guzzle martinis. Luhrmann’s excess, as Luhrmann will tell you, is almost defensible when portraying a Roaring Twenties bacchanalia.

But he mostly keeps a lid on it. The 3-D isn’t overdone, and is even sometimes well done. The green light from across the harbor, separating Gatsby from Daisy (Carey Mulligan), his unobtainable beloved, gets an extra dimension of longing and impossibility when given a third dimension, especially a fake one. The technology is mostly used on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s actual words, which periodically float onto the screen when they’re uttered — as though Luhrmann could possess their meaning by literally throwing it on the screen, in comin’-at-ya 3-D.

He can’t, in part because he seems to think of “Gatsby” as a sad love story, with Daisy simply kept from Gatsby by mean Tom (Joel Edgerton, a fine actor miscast — although you try to beat Bruce Dern’s spot-on turn in the 1974 version). Luhrmann’s version is faithful to the narrative — not hard when you have 2 ½ hours to tackle a slender work — but without understanding its complexities. Riotous, time-warpy parties and all, Baz plays it straight, or as straight as one can when his actors always look like they’re standing in front of green screen. (Or in Maguire’s case, just staring, mouth mildly agape. A thankless role is the one he was born to play.) Every image looks artificial, and the actors are directed to act like animatronic versions of themselves, to fit in. Only DiCaprio makes it out alive. Where Robert Redford, in the ’74 one, looked the part, DiCaprio does that and nails the desperation, the sketchiness, the charisma and the reckless passion.

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What Baz Luhrmann did to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” has dominated reports on the film: the 3-D, the rap music, the dazzling digital effects in a film about flappers and pre-Depression excess. But there are still actors with characters they had to play, ones who have been continuously debated over the novel’s nine-decade existence.

“Everyone has an interpretation of who these characters are,” says Leonardo DiCaprio, who stresses the Robert Redford comparisons further by playing mystery millionaire Jay Gatsby, as Redford did in the 1974 film adaptation. “The Gatsby I remember reading when I was 15 years old is far different the Gatsby I read as an adult,” he says. “What I remember from junior high was this hopeless romantic, who was solely in love with this one woman, who created this great amount of wealth to respectfully hold her hand.

“To reread it as an adult, it was fascinating. It’s nuanced, it’s existential, and at the center is this man who is incredibly hollow. He’s attached himself to this relic known as Daisy. She’s a mirage,” he says. “I was struck by the sadness in him the first time. Now I look at him completely differently. I look at him as someone who is very hollow and searching for some meaning. He’s holding onto this image. One very telling sequence is when Nick notices that Gatsby is holding onto Daisy, but he’s still staring at the green light. He’s finally got her in his arms, but he’s still searching for this thing he thinks will complete him. That’s the Gatsby I was incredibly excited about playing as an actor.”

Carey Mulligan had similar difficulties with Daisy, the trophy wife, married to wealthy cad Tom (Joel Edgerton), with whom Gatsby is obsessed. “There are holes in Daisy’s character, and she disappears for a long time,” Mulligan explains. “Often she’s not saying what she means, or acts quite erratically. There’s quite a lot to fill in, just to play her consistently.” But Mulligan chose a side. “She was a product of her time. When I defend Daisy, I always say she came from a family that would demand she marry for money. If she didn’t, that would have been scandalous.”

Luhrmann made great attempts to modernize the novel, chiefly by splicing modern music between hot jazz. But the novel has much to say about our era on its own. “In a lot of ways this book predicted the great crash of the late 1920s in America,” says DiCaprio. “It’s a book that talks about the great opulence in America during that time period, and the idea that the future is endless and we can keep consuming and living the way we do without any consequences. It’s timeless in the sense that it’s an 80-year cycle. We encountered it again in our modern era. It’s not an American novel in that regard; it’s something that’s worldwide. Fitzgerald is commenting on society and human nature and the great pursuit of wealth. “

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Carey Mulligan stars as Daisy Buchanan and Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Village Roadshow Pictures’ drama “THE GREAT GATSBY,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Today writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann reminded anybody with internet connection of his unique skill at taking old texts and modernizing them in cinematic majesty. As a new trailer for “The Great Gatsby” hit YouTube, it revealed a colorful, lush and melodramatic universe not too far from the ones he showed us in “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge!” One interesting difference between the upcoming “Gatsby” production and Luhrmann’s earlier works is his collaborator Jay-Z, who supervised the elite soundtrack, the lineup of which was also revealed today.

In an attempt to update the sound of Fitzgerald’s story, Jay-Z and executive music consultant Jeymes Samuel (aka Bullitts) have assembled a cast of some of music’s biggest names in an attempt to create the modern day equivalent of the Jazz Age.

As director Baz Luhrman notes, “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is peppered with contemporary music references specific to the story’s setting of 1922. While we acknowledge, as Fitzgerald phrased it, ‘the Jazz Age,’ and this is the period represented on screen, we—our audience—are living in the ‘hip-hop age’ and want our viewers to feel the impact of modern-day music the way Fitzgerald did for the readers of his novel at the time of its publication.”

That being said, Jay-Z and company do not disappoint. Available on Interscope Records on May 4, the album includes a collaborations between Andre 3000 and Beyonce, Fergie and Q-Tip, as well as tracks by Jack White, will,i,am and Jay-Z, himself.

The full track listing is as follows:

1. 100$ Bill – JAY Z
2. Back To Black – Beyoncé x André 3000
3. Bang Bang – will.i.am
4. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) – Fergie + Q Tip + GoonRock
5. Young And Beautiful – Lana Del Rey
6. Love Is The Drug – Bryan Ferry with The Bryan Ferry Orchestra
7. Over The Love – Florence + The Machine
8. Where The Wind Blows – Coco O. of Quadron
9. Crazy in Love – Emeli Sandé and The Bryan Ferry Orchestra
10. Together – The xx
11. Hearts A Mess – Gotye
12. Love Is Blindness – Jack White
13. Into the Past – Nero
14. Kill and Run – Sia

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The film covers a wide span of Hoover’s life. When were you were writing it, did you know it would be played by one actor?

No, in fact I try not to consider casting when I’m writing — especially a biopic like this, when I don’t have the opportunity to meet the real guy. It’s enough work to try and figure out who he was and get a handle on how he might’ve been, how he might’ve talked, the things he might’ve been thinking and feeling, his behavior — you know, all that’s tough enough. So it’s not until I’ve turned it in, I think wow, that’s going to be challenging. He has to play 20s into his 30s and then 60s into his 70s, and that’s a pretty broad range.

At what point did you know Leonardo DiCaprio would be playing the part?

Things moved very quickly once I turned in the script. Brian Grazer got it to Clint Eastwood, and while Clint was reading it I got a phone call from my lawyer — who works at the same firm Leo’s represented by — and they said, “Hey, you’re not showing this to anyone else, are you?” I mean, I was very excited that it was Leo, if that’s what you want to know about, because this movie was supposed to be about subverting some expectations — confirming some things and subverting others.

Eastwood recently voiced his support for gay marriage, saying people are “making a big deal out of things we shouldn’t make a big deal out of.” Did you two discuss any political or social issues?

Yeah, I mean we talked about things here or there. Mostly we were just making a movie, though. But those are Clint’s ideas. He’s known as a conservative guy, but he’s a libertarian at heart and in no way homophobic. I mean, I didn’t have to teach him what gay love or a relationship would look like. He just treated it with the same respect he would have a heterosexual love story. I hate a lot of other questions, but never one about that.

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While Leonardo DiCaprio has been linked to 21-year-old Australian model Alyce Crawford since his split from Blake Lively, reports from Australia suggest he’s actually spending time with more than one model. Australia’s Daily Telegraph, which reported on DiCaprio and Crawford’s rumored canoodling, also says the “Inception” star is seeing model Kendal Schuler, 20, while in the country to film “The Great Gatsby.” The two had previously met in Los Angeles. But a source tells People magazine that the reports aren’t to be trusted. “Leo is shooting ‘Gatsby’ and that’s about it,” the source says. “The gossips are on overdrive. They have linked him to half of Australia at this point.”

Ozzy’s to be a grandfather!

It’s a big month for Jack Osbourne, as his fiancee, Lisa Stelly, is pregnant with their first child, he told Piers Morgan in an interview, meaning shock rocker Ozzy will soon be a grandfather. “I’m excited,” Osbourne said. “I’m a little nervous.” Osbourne and Stelly announced their engagement two weeks ago.

Jolie goes to Libya

Though she usually can’t make a move without paparazzi knowing it, Angelina Jolie made a secret trip to Libya this week, reports Reuters. “I have come to Libya for a variety of reasons, to see a country in transition at every level,” Jolie said in a statement. “I will be meeting with officials from all sides, but above all listening to the local people in the street. I am here to express solidarity with them.” She visited the country under her role as an ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency.

For more gossip news visit Dorothy
Robinson’s Word blog. Follow her on Twitter @DorothyatMetro.

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Leonardo DiCaprio has had plenty of box-office success — not that he’s keeping score. “Throughout my career, I never knew which movies of mine made money and which didn’t,” he tells GQ. “The [money] stuff never mattered to me until I was into my 30s and got interested in producing. … But even now I say that unless you want to prove that you can carry a film with your name, continuously trying to achieve box-office success is a dead end.”

Do tell, Amanda Seyfried …

Amanda Seyfried isn’t the type of actress to complain about onscreen intimacy. “Sex scenes are great. A lot of my co-stars have been sexy guys my age, and so, why not? I’m not going to pretend it’s not fun,” she tells W magazine. Her latest co-star to fit that bill — in the sci-fi thriller “In Time” — is Justin Timberlake. “Justin was great,” she says. “He had come from ‘Friends with Benefits,’ where he basically had sex every day at work, and so it was easy for both of us.”

Buy Hilary Duff’s home

Hilary Duff is looking to unload her Toluca Lake home once again, according to AOL Real Estate. The pregnant singer first listed the 9,000-square-foot Spanish-style home in 2010 for $7 million but was unable to find a buyer. The home has been re-listed at $6.25 million.

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Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake put an end to their relationship back in March, but now there’s speculation that their breakup might not stick, according to Hollyscoop. Biel and Timberlake were spotted recently sharing brunch and a leisurely bike ride in Toronto, where Biel is currently filming. “They were in good spirits,” an eyewitness says. “They seemed happy. They had brunch together. They were talking. They enjoyed their food. They had a nice time.” But even if the pair are rekindling their flame, don’t expect Timberlake to get too talkative about it. “In my 30 years, she is the most special person,” he told Vanity Fair in June. “I don’t want to say much more, because I have to protect things that are dear to me — for instance, her.”

Baby time for Weisz?

Newlyweds Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig haven’t ruled out adding a baby to their household, but the motivation has to be right, Weisz tells Lucky magazine. “Oh, I wouldn’t make [a baby] just for the sake of giving my son a sibling,” she says. “But you never know.” Weisz has a 5-year-old son, Henry, from her relationship with Darren Aronofsky, while Craig has a 19-year-old daughter, Ella, from a previous marriage.

Lively treks it to Australia

Blake Lively made quite the trek for a belated birthday dinner with rumored boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio, reportedly flying to Australia, where he’s filming “The Great Gatsby,” according to Us Weeky. Sources say the pair shared a romantic dinner in Sydney to toast Lively’s 24th birthday. It was something of a whirlwind trip, though, as the “Gossip Girl” star was back at work in New York by Tuesday, sources confirm.

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Feeling blue from being blue (literally)

Zoe Saldana admits that the success of “Avatar” was too much for her. “The year after ‘Avatar’ was just emotionally overwhelming. I was traveling all over the world, waking up in different time zones. Your body gets exhausted, and by the end of the year I just collapsed,” Saldana tells Latina magazine. “I was sitting in my hotel room, and I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t stay awake. I must have slept for an entire month.” Things are much better now that Saldana has learned to take some time for herself, though: “I just stay at home and do absolutely nothing,” Zoe says. “I don’t shower if I don’t want to. I don’t answer e-mails. It’s a healthy way of being selfish.”

You can still dress like Winehouse

Despite her untimely death last week, Amy Winehouse’s clothing collections for Fred Perry will still see the light of day. “When Fred Perry came to us to ask what we would like to do with the new collection it was natural to continue,” Mitch Winehouse, Amy’s father, says in a statement to Women’s Wear Daily. “Amy loved working on both collections and would want them to be made available.” Proceeds from the first of the two collections will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.

For more gossip news visit Dorothy Robinson’s Word blog. Follow her on Twitter @DorothyatMetro.

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Although there were rumors earlier this weekend that Leonardo DiCaprio and Blake Lively had split up, the pair are still very much together, sources tell Us Weekly. “They seemed very much in love,” says a source who spotted them shopping for sunglasses in Santa Barbara, Calif. But the couple only got about 10 minutes of browsing in “before a crowd of fans noticed them and they rushed out,” the source adds.

Arnold’s son recovering

Despite their ongoing divorce drama, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have come together after their younger son, Christopher, was involved in a harrowing surfing accident, according to TMZ. “A few days ago, our son Christopher suffered an accident at the beach,” Schwarzenegger and Shriver say in a statement. “While it has been a very scary week, Christopher is surrounded by his family and friends. He is a brave boy and is expected to make a full recovery.” Christopher reportedly incurred several broken bones and a collapsed lung and spent several days in the ICU.

Rhys Ifans arrested

Welsh actor Rhys Ifans was arrested for battery at San Diego Comic-Con after an altercation with a security guard, according to TMZ. Ifans, who was trying to re-enter the San Diego Convention Center for a panel promoting his upcoming “The Amazing Spider-Man,” was stopped by a female security guard. The actor then became “abusive, belligerent and aggressive” and shoved the guard, who made a citizen’s arrest and called the police.

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Leonardo DiCaprio’s European tour with rumored girlfriend Blake Lively continues, though the pair are doing their best to not be seen together. After a trip to Italy, DiCaprio and Lively returned to France, where they were twice spotted leaving the Saint-Paul de Vence hotel in Saint-Paul separately, according to Us Weekly. The next day, they returned to Cannes, where they were first spotted together two weeks ago, and boarded a yacht. “Blake is definitely being wooed,” a source says.

Sheen’s home up for sale

Just days after Charlie Sheen announced he is selling his infamous Los Angeles mansion — which he dubbed “Sober Valley Ranch” during his in-home rehab earlier this year — he already has an offer. The home is listed at $7.2 million, but adult entertainment company YouPorn is reportedly offering $4.5 million in cash, according to TMZ. There’s more to the offer, though, as the company wants to move several of Sheen’s favorite porn stars into the 5-bedroom, 7-bathroom estate and offer him 24-hour-a-day access.

Cheryl Cole cashes in

While Cheryl Cole won’t be making the jump to the U.S. “X Factor” after all, she won’t go back to England empty-handed, as the axed judge will reportedly still take home her full salary for the season, according to The Sun. Cole, who was dropped from the show four days into rehearsal, will take home nearly $2 million, sources say. Hopefully the payout will help ease some of the guilt Simon Cowell is reportedly feeling over the sudden change. “He loves Cheryl and did everything in his power to get her on U.S. TV,” a source says.

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Just a month after being spotted out with Justin Timberlake, recently divorced Olivia Wilde is reportedly dating Bradley Cooper, according to Life & Style. “Olivia was Bradley’s date,” a source says of the two, who attended the “Hangover Part II” premiere party in New York together. “He was always taking her hand or putting his hand on her lower back, it was really sweet. He took care of her all night.” Other attendees of the party concur: “They were definitely together,” adds another source. “They seemed really comfortable with each other.”

Sofia Coppola to get hitched

Sofia Coppola is planning to marry her longtime boyfriend and the father of her children, French rocker Thomas Mars, according to Us Weekly. The happy couple will reportedly exchange vows at Palazzo Margherita, Francis Ford Coppola’s 19th-century villa in southern Italy. Coppola and Mars have two daughters: Romy, 4 years old, and Cosima, 23 months. Coppola was previously married to director Spike Jonze, but they divorced in 2003.

Armie locks lips with Leo

For his latest film, “J. Edgar,” “Social Network” star Armie Hammer faced a new challenge: making out with Leonardo DiCaprio. “It’s the same kind of thing as if you walk onto a set and they hand you a machine gun and [say], ‘Shoot this like you know what you’re doing.’ — You kind of have to go, ‘OK, I know what I’m doing,’ and you’ve just got to go for it,” Hammer tells Just Jared. “It wasn’t weird — I have never kissed a guy — it’s not something I’m going to do in my private life.”

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Leonardo DiCaprio and Blake Lively are doing nothing to stop speculation that they’re fostering a romance, as the pair jetted off to Portofino, Italy, together over the weekend after turning heads at the Cannes International Film Festival, according to Hollyscoop. DiCaprio and Lively “seemed happy in each other’s company” and were “laughing and walking” together, says an eyewitness who spotted the pair in Italy. While in Cannes, DiCaprio entertained Lively during a party on a private yacht.

Dylan on his addiction

Bob Dylan, who just turned 70, admitted to a heroin addiction in a 45-year-old interview with journalist and friend Robert Shelton that has just been released, according to BBC News. “I kicked a heroin habit in New York City,” Dylan says in the 1966 chat. “I got very, very strung out for a while, I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it.”

Wait — how old are these two?

After some very public displays of affection at the Billboard Music Awards, Justin Bieber and girlfriend Selena Gomez are off to Hawaii for a romantic vacation, according to E! Online. “After working their asses off, they’ve carved out some serious time to hang out,” a source says.

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Translation: “‘The World According to Paris’ is yet another feeble attempt to get back into the fading reality TV spotlight stolen from me by the Kardashian sisters.”

What can Hilton do to get back in the public consciousness — besides release yet another sex tape? Write in with your suggestions.

New couple alert?

Leonardo DiCaprio may already be moving on from Bar Refaeli with his potential “Great Gatsby” co-star, Blake Lively, according to Hollyscoop. DiCaprio entertained Lively — along with Steven Spielberg and Lukas Haas — aboard a private yacht off the coast of Cannes, and the two looked very chummy in photographs of the get-together. The pair have also been spotted out together several times in the last few weeks. Lively previously dated her “Gossip Girl” co-star Penn Badgely, though the pair split last year.

Follow Dorothy Robinson, and tweet her your Paris Hilton comeback ideas, on Twitter @DorothyatMetro.

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