Movies

In-fighting at Warner Bros. has the studio officially apologizing to its WB counterparts in Japan, who are outraged about what they see as an insensitive Barbenheimer meme on the U.S. "Barbie" Twitter account.

So, here's the deal ... "Barbie" is a WB movie, and the film's official U.S. Twitter account replied to some fan-created fun art of Margot Robbie (as Barbie) riding Cillian Murphy's shoulder (as Oppenheimer) with an explosion and fire in the background.

It's a Barbenheimer gag obviously, and seemingly innocent on its own ... that is, until the U.S. "Barbie" Twitter account chimed in with the comment, "It's going to be a summer to remember," adding some cutesy emojis to boot.

That didn't sit well with folks in WB's Japanese arm -- the official Japanese "Barbie" Twitter account blasted its parent company for co-signing on the joking atomic bomb imagery.

It wrote, "We consider it extremely regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the movie ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’ fans. We take this situation very seriously. We are asking the U.S. headquarters to take appropriate action. We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate reactions. Warner Bros Japan."

Yep, that's a big yikes. 😬

So, in response to that public call-out, Warner issued its mea culpa -- "Warner Brothers regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement. The studio offers a sincere apology."

BTW, Twitter/X itself didn't find the imagery very amusing, because the company actually slapped a fact check Twitter note underneath -- mentioning the hundreds of thousands of Japanese deaths that resulted from the U.S.'s decision to drop bombs during WWII.

There's been a lot of chatter about "Oppenheimer" and its handling of the depiction of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings -- namely, the fact the movie doesn't show it whatsoever. Some feel like the film glossed over the impact of the bombings ... and have found it insensitive to the countless lives lost in Japan.

That appears to be the position of Japan as a nation, too ... because it has yet to set a release date for the film within its borders.

Stephen Amell is a bit of a walking contradiction -- on the one hand, he says he backs his union amid the ongoing strike, but on the other ... he doesn't approve of them actually striking.

The "Arrow" star made the controversial comments during a recent promotional appearance in North Carolina, where he was plugging a new season of his Starz show 'Heels' ... and breaking with SAG-AFTRA's strike protocol in doing so.

Actors aren't supposed to be promoting projects during the strike, but there was Stephen plugging away, and not holding back his opinion on the work stoppage ... calling it unproductive and unnecessary.

Take a listen for yourself ... his disdain for how SAG is handling things is clear, although he does say he supports them as an org. What he doesn't condone is its decision to shut down the industry to get what they want.

He calls it a "reductive negotiating tactic" ... but doesn't really elaborate much more beyond that. Amell also said he found the entire ordeal incredibly frustrating and myopic.

Of course, his remarks here are not sitting well with other actors in the biz ... and Amell is getting dragged on social media right now as a would-be traitor and scab. A lot of folks are pointing out his sentiment doesn't actually make sense -- arguing it's all or nothing.

Amell appears to have responded ... taking to IG to shout out everyone who came to see him, and promising to keep going during a workout. Seems he's telegraphing something.

Jennifer Lopez isn't gonna shy away from flashing her moves, not even at 54 -- 'cause she hopped up on a table and did exactly that as a group of her closest peeps celebrated her big day.

J Lo rang in another year with a bash that went down last week at her new $60 million Bev Hills pad, which she and hubby Ben Affleck scooped up in May. Jen says Ben hosted the shindig, inviting their closest family and friends over.

Clearly, she was feelin' fantastic -- getting low on top of the table to Lizzo's "About Damn Time" ... all while her pals cheered her on.

Ya don't see Ben in the clip, but he was definitely there ... maybe cheering his boo on from somewhere off-camera. Dancing isn't his role in this relationship. Or hey, maybe the host was keeping busy behind the scenes!

ICYMI, Jennifer shared a bunch of looks -- she did a few fit changes -- from her party, and added, it's "always a good day when Lola comes to play" ... a shout-out to her self-proclaimed alter ego. According to her, Lola's a lot more playful and carefree than regular ol' J Lo.

It looks like Jennifer and "Lola" are enjoying their time in the new home.

TMZ broke the story, the happy couple sealed the deal on the massive mansion after 2 years of house hunting, and it comes with sweet stuff like a spa, whiskey lounge, massage room, and even a boxing ring.

Paul Reubens -- the comedic actor best known for playing Pee-wee Herman -- is dead after a private battle with cancer.

Paul died Sunday night, according to a statement posted Monday on his Instagram account ... a statement that revealed, for the first time, the medical crisis with which he'd be dealing -- "Paul bravely and privately fought cancer for years with his trademark tenacity and wit."

We're told he had a brain tumor 6 years ago, but doctors were able to surgically remove it ... and it was considered a successful procedure. It's unclear what kind of cancer he'd been diagnosed with most recently.

The comedic icon will forever be remembered for his Pee-wee Herman character, which Paul created in 1978 during an improv exercise with The Groundlings. Paul worked with another comedy legend, the late Phil Hartman, to develop the character.

That led to the eventual launch of the "Pee-wee's Playhouse" TV show in 1986 ... and although it was Saturday morning programming, it became a huge hit with kids and adults.

He also brought the character to the big screen with the film, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," which was a huge commercial success.

The movie featured a scene with Pee-wee dancing to the 1958 hit song, "Tequila" by The Champs. The character, and that dance, were so beloved ... you can't hear that song without thinking of Pee-wee.

While Pee-wee is his most iconic role, Paul had been doing live comedy routines long before that. In addition to his time in The Groundlings, he made 14 appearances on "The Gong Show" back in the '70s.

He's also done a ton of acting unrelated to Pee-wee -- having roles in movies, like "Blow," "Batman Returns," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Doctor Dolittle" ... as well as hit TV shows like "Murphy Brown," "Ally McBeal" and "Everybody Loves Raymond."

As for his cancer battle -- Paul addressed it in a note he'd written, saying ... "Please accept my apology for not going public with what I've been facing the last six years. I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you."

Paul was 70 years old.

RIP

Hollywood actors are stuck between a rock and a hard place amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike -- best exemplified by one particular thespian, who's now doing odd jobs to keep afloat.

Josh Hooks, who's been on shows like "Will Trent," "Swagger" and "The Game," among others ... joined us Monday on "TMZ Live" to explain how he -- like tens of thousands of other actors and writers -- is maintaining job/money-wise during the labor stalemate.

One gig Josh has picked up is cleaning houses, plus several other odd jobs -- as he explains, it's a great time to be a jack of all trades. Sounds like Craigslist is his best friend these days.

There are methods JH and his fellow striking actors are implementing to get by during this hard time -- including leaning on each other for support, which he says entails cooking and sharing grub, or referring somebody to a new gig if there's work on the table to go around.

He also reflects on how frustrating his journey in showbiz has been in these recent years. First, his momentum from 2019 got derailed because of COVID ... which halted a lot of productions for a good long while. Now that he's got some mojo again ... it's the strike.

Despite this ... Josh fully backs his union in hitting the picket lines, adding that he's happy to serve as a voice for countless people who are fighting for better working conditions.

He's hoping these differences can be resolved sooner than later, but in the meantime -- he's clearly making do however he can ... just like so many others are as well.

Tough times.

Former actor Jonathan Morgan Heit was only 8 years old when he played the role of Patrick -- the young boy who loves nothing more than creating bedtime stories -- in the comedy/family film "Bedtime Stories" back in 2008.

Jonathan shared the screen with Adam Sandler as the hotel handyman and main babysitter, Skeeter, Russell Brand as Skeet's scruffy friend and hotel employee, Mickey and Keri Russell as the elementary school teacher who also babysits the children, Jill.

After portraying his character as Patrick, Jonathan appeared in two rom-com films in 2010: "Valentine's Day" with Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway and "Date Night" with Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

Sharon Stone says "Basic Instinct" turned her into a sex symbol overnight -- and people wanted a piece of her, it seems ... 'cause they were crawling all over her whip!

The actress dished to CNN's Chris Wallace about the impact of that film and how it affected her celebrity at the time. As she says, she went into that weekend as a relative nobody in Hollywood ... and emerged as a massive star come Tuesday, after everyone had seen it.

Of course, what she's referring to specifically is the infamous interrogation scene ... where she flashed her vagina on camera, and which undoubtedly went down in cinematic history.

As Wallace rightly notes, that changed her life forever ... but little did we know to what extent, until now. Watch -- Sharon describes going out to run an errand the week after 'BI' was released, and says people were literally leaping at her in the streets of Los Angeles.

Not just at her person though, as SS explains ... she claims folks were dogpiling her actual car at stoplights. It got so bad, apparently, that she didn't know if she should drive away!

Now, this is far from the first time Sharon's talked "Basic Instinct" -- which she's publicly said she had mixed feelings about. At the time, she says she felt duped into the vagina moment ... allegedly having been reassured by the crew/producers that they couldn't see anything.

Disney has another dud on their hands -- this time, it's "The Haunted Mansion" ... which paled in comparison to last week's big hits, including "Barbie" -- who reigns supreme again.

The Mouse House's latest offering -- featuring a star-studded cast, including the likes of Lakeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish and others -- got off to a bad start this weekend ... having only generated $24.6 million in North America markets.

Overseas, it did even worse -- raking in only $9.1 mil, meaning worldwide ... it's got about $33 million to its name so far. The problem, the film's budget was $150 mil -- plus tens of millions that Disney reported spent to market the movie. So, yeah ... way down in the red.

"Haunted Mansion's" poor performance at the box office is emblematic of how its premiere felt ... very empty/soulless. Granted that was SAG strike related, but still -- they run parallel.

It ain't the only Disney flick of late to disappoint. The new 'Indiana Jones' didn't do so hot either -- although, their other films have done somewhat decently big picture this year. It's a mixed bag ... but it's certainly nowhere near where Bog Iger would like to see the numbers.

Elsewhere in movie land ... "Barbie" cleaned up for the 2nd week in a row. Margot Robbie and co. still had momentum from just 7 days ago, with a massive $93 million haul domestically. Mind you, that's in addition to the $162 mil from the opening weekend. And don't get us started on the international numbers ... at this point. "Barbie" has made over $750M.

"Oppenheimer," too, is riding a second wave of success. It clawed an extra $46.6 million from ticket holders this weekend ... bringing its final domestic tally to $174 million. Not half bad!

Lots of actors who are on strike are getting work ... courtesy of Beverly Hills plastic surgeons!

Business is booming ... so says Dr. Ben Talei of the Beverly Hills Center for Plastic Surgery. He told Harvey and Charles on "TMZ Live" he's working 7 days a week, because actors are using the downtime to go under the knife and recover without being noticed or missing work.

Dr. Talei says it's the A and B-listers who are swarming his office ... mostly because they can afford it. He's been doing work on some of his favorite sports stars and actors, and there's an interesting story about a famous Scientologist who went under his knife.

And here's the most fascinating part ... he says some actors made contingency plans -- if it seemed the strike wouldn't last long, they'd get minor, filler work, but if it was prolonged, they get the full monty.

Amanda Bynes is ditching outpatient care and going back to inpatient ... and this time she's trying a new mental health treatment center as she continues to work on her illness.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Amanda checked herself into an intensive inpatient mental health treatment center in Orange County at the beginning of July, nearly a week after checking out of a Los Angeles area mental health facility for outpatient treatment

We're told Amanda wanted more of a therapeutic place to live rather than living by herself at her L.A. apartment ... and felt she needed more help than the outpatient treatment was providing.

Our sources say Amanda was introduced to this center in Orange County through her last treatment center, and she likes how she's able to be around a medical team, therapists and other patients, because it provides social interaction and company ... as opposed to being on her own.

Plus, we're told Amanda's receiving a higher level of care at the inpatient center than she was in an outpatient setting ... she's in residential treatment getting 24/7 care, while also taking part in daily therapy sessions and activities to help her develop skills to use when she leaves the center.

Our sources insist it was Amanda's decision to check into this new facility ... which is a running theme with her.

TMZ broke the story ... Amanda called cops June 17 to report she was in distress and felt she could harm herself. Police responded with a mental health specialist who determined Amanda needed to be placed on a psych hold ... and she spent time in a psychiatric facility before briefly moving to outpatient care.

Our sources say there's no time frame on how long Amanda will be in this new facility ... it's dependent on when she feels ready to leave and be on her own again.

Hidden behind this mashed-up pic is an actress, country singer and a momma bear of two daughters who live in "Music City," and when she’s not hangin' with the kiddos, you can catch her on Netflix in a set of scrubs.

Throwing it back to 2002 when she made her acting debut in the movie “Crossroads” as the younger version of Lucy Wagner ... and it wasn’t too long after for Nickelodeon to have her star in her own show as a boarding school student (with its follow-up film premiering earlier this week)!

Viola Davis might be setting a tone for A-listers -- because, despite recently receiving an independent film waiver, she's stopping down on her new movie ... all to support the strike.

The actress told Deadline Saturday that she was bowing out of her Amazon flick, "G20," for now -- saying ... "I love this movie, but I do not feel that it would be appropriate for this production to move forward during the strike."

She adds, "I appreciate that the producers on the project agree with this decision. JuVee Productions and I stand in solidarity with actors, SAG/AFTRA and the WGA."

It's a bold move, and speaks volumes on where Viola's priorities are. Like we said, just the other day ... the producers behind "G20" got the green light to go ahead and continue with production -- even though Amazon is obviously a major studio. The fact an independent production company, MRC, is also behind it appears to be the reason it got a pass.

In any case, it would seem moving forward while thousands of other actors are on the picket lines wasn't sitting well with her ... which is interesting, because a lot of other big stars are also attached to independent flicks right now that got SAG waivers as well.

Those names include ... Anne Hathaway, Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd, Matthew McConaughey, Mark Wahlberg, Sigourney Weaver, Mads Mikkelsen, Ben Kingsley, Dave Bautista, Ice Cube, Dakota Fanning, John Malkovich, Sean Bean, Rebel Wilson ... to name a few.

Again, them being attached to indie films -- with no direct ties to AMPTP -- is why they can keep trucking (especially overseas) ... but some have raised an eyebrow regardless -- viewing their continued work as a betrayal. That's, perhaps, unfair, but it's a real POV out there.

Now that Viola is putting her foot down ... it may be a signal for other mega stars to do the same -- even though they can technically proceed through the SAG indie loophole.

The principle of the matter could be why Brad Pitt reportedly stood down on filming as well. There was word that his F1 movie, "Apex," was continuing to film in Hungary last week -- with some claiming BP himself even got behind the wheel at one point for some scenes.

Oliver Stone thinks President Biden is leading us right into a looming Armageddon as it relates to Russia's war with Ukraine -- while also lamenting ever having voted for the guy.

The famed director went off on POTUS during a recent interview he did with Russell Brand -- who has tended to lean right in his political views these days. That was echoed in Oliver's diatribe ... where he accused Biden of being on the verge of starting World War III.

Check it out ... OS says Joe is repeating historical missteps with his foreign policy, especially as it relates to how he and his administration are dealing with the ongoing conflict.

He doesn't really get into specifics -- at least not in this lone clip -- but he seems to be alluding to the fact that the U.S. continues to support Ukraine through funding and weaponry ... which he seems to think is only further antagonizing Putin, maybe for the worse.

Stone also had this to say about having buyer's remorse on election night ... "I voted for him – I made a mistake, I was thinking he was an old man now that he would calm down, that he would be more mellow and so-forth, I didn’t see that at all. I see a man who maybe is not in charge of his own administration. Who knows."

Ariana Grande hasn't seen her boyfriend Ethan Slater in person for awhile ... because he's preoccupied with his estranged wife and their divorce, and she's giving him space to work things out.

.Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Ariana and her 'Wicked' costar haven't been in the same city for several weeks. Ethan's currently in New York, trying to navigate the end of his marriage with estranged wife, Lilly Jay.

Our sources say Ariana is coming to Los Angeles this weekend. We're told she and Ethan want to see each other, but that's not in the cards for the immediate future.

Ethan's got a lot to work out with Lilly ... they share a child together and, as we first reported, he "desperately" wants to co-parent their baby son. We've been told Ethan and Lilly have been talking daily, mostly about their little boy.

Remember ... Ariana and Ethan started dating several months ago while filming 'Wicked' together, a romance that came as a surprise to Lilly, who is feeling betrayed and heartbroken.

To be clear, sources close to Ariana and Ethan have maintained they were both split from their spouses -- Dalton Gomez and Lilly -- when they first got together.

Ethan's since filed for divorce ... and divorce docs are on the horizon for Ariana and Dalton.

Inga Swenson, famous for her work in the early 1980s ABC sitcom "Benson," is dead.

The actress died Sunday night in Los Angeles as a result of natural causes ... her son, Mark, tells TMZ.

Inga's son says her husband, Lowell Harris, was with her when she died at a board and care facility. We're told Inga's heath had been in decline for the past 6 months, so her death did not come as a shock to the family.

Inga famously played German cook Gretchen Kraus on "Benson" ... appearing in over 150 episodes over seven years and earning three Emmy nominations for her work.

"Benson" was a spin-off of another TV sitcom, "Soap," where Inga had a multi-episode role as Ingrid Svenson.

In addition to "Benson," Inga also starred on Broadway ... and her performances as Lizzie Curry in "110 in the Shade" and Irene Adler in "Baker Street" resulted in two nominations for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She's a trained lyrical soprano.

Inga acted in two movies in 1962 ... with a pair of supporting roles in "Advise and Consent" and "The Miracle Worker," where she plays Helen Keller's mother.

She married Lowell, a sound engineer, in February 1953, and the couple had two children, one of whom already passed away ... and in 1998 she retired from Hollywood.

We're told she wanted to be cremated and have her ashes buried with her late son in San Rafael, CA.

Inga was 90.

Offset and Cardi B know how to handle their real-life drama well -- take all the turmoil and turn it into a hit record that boosts their bank account!!!

The former Migos member took full advantage of having a superstar rapper wife when he dropped his new single "Jealously" on Friday ... along with a music video he directed himself, taking a page outta John Singleton's 2001 classic hood romance, "Baby Boy!!!"

The visual costars Offset and Cardi's children, as well as "Baby Boy" star Taraji P. Henson, who resumes her role as the hot-headed "Yvette" to instruct Cardi on how to deal with her hubby's fictional transgressions ... strictly for the music vid.

It was just a month ago when Cardi lashed out at Offset, who had publicly accused her of cheating on him after he was accused of doing the same thing! Real messy stuff ... the song definitely sounds better.

"Jealously" was released on Motown Records, a big win for Offset as he had sued his ex-label Quality Control for blocking his music from coming out.