The 2011 recipients of stars also include actors Danny DeVito and Neil Patrick Harris, Oprah Winfrey and comic Tina Fey for their work in television.

Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am is to be recognized for achievements in recording.

The 30 names were chosen from hundreds of nominees. The stars will be honored at presentation ceremonies throughout 2011.

In 2008, a $4.2 million restoration of the Walk of Fame was initiated. At least 778 stars will eventually be repaired or replaced during the ongoing project because of wear and tear suffered over the years.

From Zimbio

Congratulations Reese, this is an amazing and well deserved achievement!

While I’m surprised it could start that soon, it looks like casting is moving along. As we already know, Anderson fav Philip Seymour Hoffman has the lead role and Jeremy Renner is indeed in. They also report that Reese Witherspoon has been offered to join the production.

The Playlist speculates she could play “one of the the Master’s daughters who acts as his caretakers and vigilant lieutenants (possibly the one named Mary-Sue).” The film is “very loosely based on the life and times of L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology.” Renner would play his right hand man, a young drifter.

Paul Thomas Anderson hasn’t made a bad film yet and this cast is shaping up quite nicely. If Witherspoon decides to join it will mark her first serious role in quite some time and I’d be glad to see her do it.

From The Film Stage

Witherspoon in 2007 initially optioned Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the gruesome murder of Reena Virk by eight fellow students under a small bridge in Saanich, B.C.

Virk’s death, and the subsequent trial and convictions of her slayers, provoked a national debate among Canadians over high school bullying and violence.

Vancouver-based Brightlight and Toronto-based Rhombus will partner with Type A Films to develop “Under the Bridge.”

Shawn Williamson and Stephen Hegyes will produce for Brightlight, Niv Fichman for Rhombus and Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Simpson will produce for Type A Films.

No word on creative elements and casting.

Brightlight and Rhombus most recently co-produced “Gunless,” a comic western starring Paul Gross and Sienna Guillory, and directed by William Philips, set for theatrical release here on April 30 by Alliance Films.

From the Hollywood Reporter

Among the names:

J.K. Rowling, Reese Witherspoon, Apolo Ohno, Mariska Hargitay, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, Elmo and Maria of Sesame Street and Betty DeGeneres will read on the Storytime Stage

Former Chicagoan Billy Jonas, a native Hyde Parker who lived across the alley of the Obama family when they lived in their condo at 5450 S. East View will be performing on the Ellipse. The invitation to the Billy Jonas Band came from a staffer–not the Obama’s–but that was just fine for Jonas now based in Asheville, N.C. Jonas is a graduate of Kenwood High School.

Chef Art Smith–another Chicagoan who lives in Hyde Park– plus Chef José Andrés, Chef Cliff Wharton, Chef Nora Poullion, Chef Robert Wiedmaier, Chef Susan Limb, Chef Victor Albisu, and the White House Chefs will prepare healthy eating demonstrations.

Tennis great Billie Jean King–who lives part time in Chicago– plus sports figures Gigi Fernandez, Ilana Kloss, Delaney Rudd, Liezel Huber, Katrina Adams, Anna Rawson, Jane Geddes, Kris Tschetter, Martin Gramatica, Michele Smith, Al Bumbry and Earl Boykins will help organize games.

From the Sun Times

Word in the development community has the A-listers eying the lead roles in “Paper Wings,” a love story set in the world of rodeo that’s being developed at Sony. Cruise would take the role of a rodeo champ who falls for an up-and-coming country singer, played by Witherspoon.

The actress has taken several rides into country-and-western territory, of course, with her Oscar-winning turn as June Carter Cash in “Walk the Line” and, most recently, signing on for Sony’s “The Pioneer Woman,” the story of a woman who falls in love with a cowboy while on a cross-country road trip and winds up living on an Oklahoma ranch. Cruise, as far as we know, has never played a cowboy.

The project has been around for some time — it was set up at New Line before it came to Sony — but the Cruise and Witherspoon interest could turn it into an arm jerker (yes, we had to look that one up).

Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment is producing the project, which has led producers to talk to Gabriele Muccino about directing; the Italian film maker and Smith favorite also directed Overbrook’s underrated drama “Seven Pounds” and Oscar nominee “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Several other directors are also in the mix.

Rodeo-set stories haven’t exactly been hugely popular in Hollywood — one of the most well-known is 1994′s “8 Seconds,” which starred Luke Perry and Stephen Baldwin, which tells you something. But with “Crazy Heart’s” breakout success, unlikely love stories set in the country-and-western world now seem to be in vogue. Or are, um, chasing the cans.

From the Los Angeles Times

Witherspoon told MTV in early November that the movie had just wrapped, though it still didn’t have a title. Now it does, along with a release date and a few new details.

The New York Times reports (via The Playlist) that the Brooks-directed comedy/drama, now called “How Do You Know,” will hit theaters on December 17. I have to say, the secrecy surrounding this project is pretty remarkable; Brooks, known best as executive producer of “The Simpsons,” has a ton of street cred on his own. Add the star-studded cast into the mix, and you’d think this is something Columbia would be shouting to the heavens about.

All of the info that the NY Times dug up comes from an anonymous source, since Brooks and his fellow producers are still wary about discussing specifics about the movie. The idea was apparently born roughly five years ago, when Brooks decided he wanted to tell a story about a female athlete.

Witherspoon plays Lisa Jorgenson, a 27-year-old woman who is “just past her sporting prime.” Rudd’s and Nicholson’s characters were born out of Brooks’ interest in the world of corporate executives while Wilson’s character is there “to complicate Lisa’s love life.” While it had been previously believed that baseball would be a heavy focus for the story, it seems that it will factor in mostly as background. The story grows out of “an encounter between two people who meet on the worst night of their respective lives” and is about “people trying to figure out exactly what, for each of them, matters most.”

So there you have it. We’ve gone from knowing virtually nothing to having a title, a release date and a rough synopsis. Call me crazy, but “Untitled James L. Brooks Comedy” is starting to look an awful lot like a real movie!

From MTV

According to reports, the Oscar-winning actress is honorary chairperson of the Avon Foundation, which is teaming up with the Women’s Aid charity to launch the Empowering Women’s Awards, a ceremony to honour females who have survived violence in the home.

The 33-year-old star is delighted to be part of the initiative in which she will oversee the nominations and winners of the awards.

“Domestic violence affects one in four women in the UK and many are suffering in silence. It’s so important that we find a way to reach out in every community and offer our understanding, protection and support,” Witherspoon said.

Apart from Witherspoon, other judges on the panel include British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah Brown and celebrity TV chef Gordon Ramsay’s wife Tana.

“I’m very proud to be part of the first ever Avon and Women’s Aid Empowerment Awards in association with Marie Claire, drawing attention to the bravery of some incredible women who have stood up against domestic violence, and celebrating the achievements of others who are determined to end this debilitating pandemic,” she added. The award winners will be announced later this year.

From NDTV

Laura Ziskin and Pam Williams will produce. Drummond wrote a bestselling cookbook, and has turned her homespun tales into Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, a book that will be published by William Morrow next Valentine’s Day.

Drummond has a large following for a blog she writes from the cattle ranch that covers everything from cooking to tips on home schooling. The film will explore the fantasy of trading big city living for a wholesome simpler life. Rights to the book are part of the deal brokered by UTA and LJK Literary Management.

From Deadline

“EW is reporting that rising star Bradley Cooper has traded in his role in an upcoming McG-directed spy comedy called This Is War for The Hangover 2. War is about two best friends spies whose relationship falls apart when they both fall for the same woman (Reese Witherspoon).

Twentieth Century Fox confirms Cooper’s departure from This Is War, citing scheduling conflicts with The Hangover 2 as the reason.(…) This Is War is apparently considered a high priority for Fox (although the 12 years in gestation doesn’t suggest that…) but it’s not clear what direction Fox is heading in now, including who they will get to replace Cooper. The Proposal’s Ryan Reynolds will probably be getting a call pretty soon.”

So far, the cast includes Reese Witherspoon (voice of Merida), Emma Thompson (voice of Queen Elinor), Julie Walters (voice of the Witch) and Billy Connolly (voice of King Fergus).

Other upcoming Pixar projects that we will tell you about later include Newt and Monster Inc. 2.

From Disnology