Anne Hathaway Must Diet; Paul Haggis Takes Manhattan
Welcome to the Smart Set. Every morning we bring you the gossip coverage, filtered. Today: Anne Hathaway has been ordered to drop four dress sizes in less than three weeks, ABC is demanding changes to Madonna's racy new perfume ad, and George H.W. Bush went rogue after endorsing Mitt Romney.
RELATED: Lindsay Lohan Stays In; Gerard Butler Sings
Back in January, The Atlantic Wire's Richard Lawson noted how miserable everyone was on the set of the probably-doomed Les Miserables movie. Now there's word that Anne Hathaway has been ordered to lose "16lb in less than 20 days" to film her character's death scenes. To do this, Hathaway is reportedly eating "fewer than 500" calories a day, which is way, way too few calories. Currently a size ten, the goal is for Hathaway to get down to a size 6 by the time the scenes are filmed. Now, this bloghand is a boy and doesn't fully comprehend the whole dress sizes thing, but when he informed a female acquaintance that Hathaway was being asked to drop four sizes in two weeks, the response was a full-throated: "Oh my God!" Update: The women of the Wire have noted than Hathaway is a British size ten, which apparently is way different from an American ten. But they agree that four dress sizes is a lot to drop in the span of three weeks. [Mirror]
RELATED: Biel and Timberlake Share Pork Tacos; Sam Donaldson's Ranch Is In Flames
Did you hate Crash? Did you find The Next Three Days formulaic and predictable? If you're out and about on New York's party scene, you may have a chance to address these concerns with writer-director Paul Haggis face-to-face. Haggis reportedly relocated to New York to research a script about a fancy party reporter who gets into trouble, and has spotted out and and about recently at events at the Soho Grand, Tribeca Grand, Crosby Street Hotel, The Standard, doing what technically qualifies as research. [Page Six]
RELATED: Adrian Grenier Skipped His Coop Shift; The 'SNL' Departures Pushback
Mothers of Copenhagen, lock up your daughters: it appears Woody Allen is very interested in casting the newly-single, French-babbling heartthrob in his next European Woody Allen Movie, which is probably going to be set in the Danish capital. Allen also apparently wants Cate Blanchett for an unspecified role. [Deadline]
RELATED: Craig Ferguson Stays Put; Madonna's 'Crazed Stalker' Is Loose
At this point, the majority of the world's citizens could draw Madonna's chest and hindquarters from memory, but the good folks at ABC are taking no chances, and have requested a number of changes to a new 30-second spot for the Material Girl's perfume line. Specifically, according to a source, the network wants Madonna's "bra digitally made bigger, and to extend higher to cover more of her chest, and her corset longer to cover more of her bottom." They also reportedly wanted to "cut another suggestive scene where Madonna writhes around," apparently unaware that Madge has been writhing around in public for three decades now. [Page Six]
RELATED: Cameron Diaz 'Blackballed' Post Oscar; Uggie Treated as Top Dog
Funny story from George H.W. Bush's re-endorsement of Mitt Romney yesterday. Apparently, Romney's advance team told pool reporters there wouldn't be time for questions afterwards. But then, as the Romney team was escorting the pool out of the room, the 41st president blurted out, "OK. Any questions?" So everyone got to ask questions and was happy. (Please note: this does not qualify as a "gaffe" by the Romney campaign, since it was actually George H.W. Bush who went off message. Thank you.) [Playbook]
Maxim laid off six staffers yesterday, including senior editor Seth Porges, in the name of "corporate restructuring." Fishbowl NY notes that since the magazine only employed 13 staffers to begin, "that is one hell of a restructuring." Well said. [TechCrunch via Fishbowl NY]
