Rihanna's Late Night Ashton Kutcher Visit; Obama's Long St. Patrick's Day
Welcome to the Smart Set: Every morning, we bring you the gossip coverage filtered. Today: Rihanna reportedly visited Ashton Kutcher's house in the middle of the night, President Obama continued to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at the White House last night, and Brett Ratner is in talks to ruin Midnight Run.
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It turns out the "undisclosed" place where Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino is getting "much needed rest and recuperation" is in fact a rehab clinic, contrary to what his rep insisted earlier in the week. For shame, Mike Sorrentino's rep. In a post on his Facebook page, Sorrentino says he had "voluntarily taken steps to get control of a prescription medication problem I had due to exhaustion" and "spent the past several weeks getting treatment for this problem and recuperating." Meanwhile, Page Six hears Sorrentino has "dabbled in prescription drugs since becoming a star." A what? [Page Six]
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Something might be going on with Ashton Kutcher and Rihanna. A photographer snapped pictures of her showing up at his house last night just after midnight, and tells TMZ that she didn't leave until around 4 a.m. So what were they doing? Shooting hoops probably. As you would expect, the visit isn't playing well with Rihanna's abusive ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown. After the news broke, Brown tweeted "Eternity's Gate," a somewhat obvious, Chris Brown-esque attempt to liken himself to the guy in a van Gogh painting, who also felt sad once. Layered metaphor you got there, Chris. [TMZ]
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Oh, no. Oh, no: plans for a sequel to the much-beloved (by us) 1988 bounty hunter buddy comedy Midnight Run are apparently "heating up" and Universal is negotiating with Brett Ratner to direct. Brett Ratner. Robert De Niro is also attached to reprise his role as Jack Foley, bounty hunter and would-be coffee shop owner. No word on the involvement of Charles Grodin, which is fitting, because only Brett Ratner would make a sequel to Midnight Run that doesn't include Charles Grodin. Ratner also probably does think the wistful dialogue scene between the two leads in a boxcar -- embedded below, starting at the 7:24 mark -- quietly features the best work De Niro has ever done, not because the scene sad and wistful and hopeful and perfect, but because Bobby D makes a silly joke about having relations with a chicken early on. Please, Universal: do not let this man ruin Midnight Run. And if you do let him ruin Midnight Run, at least make him bring back Charles Grodin. [Deadline]
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Howie Mandel -- the fellow who doesn't like to be touched -- is apparently "miffed" that the considerably more famous Howard Stern is getting all the attention on the whistlestop tour the America's Got Talent judges have been on in recent weeks. Poor Howie Mandel. If we were with him now, we would give him a hug, and he would probably flip out. [Page Six]
Say what you will about this president, but the man respects the heck out of St. Patrick's Day. Days after popping in on D.C. institution The Dubliner before noon to see how the early drinking was going, President Obama had Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and his celtic rock band, O'Malley's March, play a five-song set in the East Room to honor visiting Irish prime minister Enda Kenny. Per the pool report, the group did "a fair job at entertaining the crowd.” We also hear they performed a cover of the Saw Doctors' "The Green and Red of Mayo," which is just terrific. [The Reliable Source]
McClatchy Company chairman and president Gary Pruitt will replace the retiring Tom Curley as president of the Associated Press. Pruitt's first day be in July. [Media Decoder]