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“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

The plot sounds very “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” yet in “This Means War” the spies who turn on each other are best friends rather than husband and wife. It’s that classic story of a woman coming between two guys and ruining their friendship. Or, can I please, please presume that Witherspoon is one of the friends, not the object of affection for two men?

That would be a bold twist that Fox likely wouldn’t explore. Too “Being John Malkovich,” not enough “There’s Something About Mary” or “Feeling Minnesota” (all these films star Cameron Diaz, coincidentally). Of course, the Hollywood ending would probably cop out and suppress the lesbianism aspect by having Cooper and Witherspoon’s spy buddies make up, make out and fall in love with each other. Probably because that dream woman (cast Diaz!) turns out to be a bad guy or something.

Whatever the case, if McG is on board, I’m still looking forward to this. I’m one of the few people not embarrassed to say I like both “Charlie’s Angels” movies and really enjoyed the director’s “Terminator” sequel and ideas for continuing the series. I could definitely see him doing something fun along the lines of the “Charlie’s” movies combined with “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”

I also urge all McG haters out there to watch the director in the FunnyOrDie video where he’s directing Rachel Bilson in a sex scene for a fake film called “Hearts of Palm.” Hilarious and disturbing.

From MTV

She’s an Oscar-winning actress with one of the hottest careers in Hollywood. But off-duty, Reese Witherspoon is a down-to-earth southern belle who adores her kids, cooking with boyfriend Jake Gyllenhaal and clothes-swapping with friends…

By Nicole Vecchiarelli. Photographs Mark Abrahams. Styling Elizabeth Stewart

In a corner of Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market (an indoor farmers’ market housed in a converted train station), Reese Witherspoon waits patiently in line for a table at the Down Home Diner. It’s a busy Saturday morning and golf buddies are gathering for their weekly brunch at one table, while a mother peels her son off the jukebox at another.

Reese might be one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, with a best actress Oscar (for 2005’s Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, with Joaquin Phoenix) and a slew of popular films to her name, but here, amid the perfume of the diner’s famed hickory-smoked bacon and waitresses juggling their plates, she blends in just fine.

Jake Gyllenhaal, her boyfriend of two and a half years, is off exploring the market’s cluttered stalls and will return later to show off the breakfast sausage and fried chicken he’s collected to bring home to her children (their father is her ex-husband, actor Ryan Phillippe) Ava, ten, and Deacon, 6. The foursome have set up camp in Philadelphia while Reese works on a movie (as yet untitled), in which she stars as a professional softball player opposite Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson. She’s got the slightest trace of a shiner under her left eye from a catch gone wrong, but her make-up-free face doesn’t betray any sleepiness from another late night of filming.

Wearing a blue shirt and a casual linen miniskirt, the 33-year-old goes mostly unnoticed in the crowded joint. She slides into a booth, orders an egg-white scramble with a side of biscuits (which are like savoury breakfast scones) and catches up with InStyle about what’s been going on in her world.

You’re about to get a few weeks off after you finish filming your latest project. How would you describe your life when you’re not working?

“I try to exercise every day. I like to run for about an hour and I’m big into working out with girlfriends. It’s an acquired skill, being able to discuss your love life, children and friends – all while you’re running! But we have mastered it.”

What else do you do when you’re just hanging out with your girlfriends?

“There are three of us who wear pretty much the same size, so we’ll get together on a Friday night and I’ll bring clothes I want to trade and they’ll bring theirs. We swap shoes and handbags a lot. I wore my girlfriend’s dress to a wedding recently. It’s fun.”

Does your daughter Ava go through your closet?

“Sometimes. She’s almost as tall as me – it’s getting scary. But when she and Deacon get home from school, it’s more about gymnastics, horse riding, karate, or whatever.”

Do you like to cook?

“I do. And Jake is a great cook – he does it a lot. We spend the weekends outside LA in Ojai [in southern California], where I have a farmhouse. We have chickens and we grow cucumbers and tomatoes. I love it. It reminds me of where I grew up in [Nashville] Tennessee.”

Do you find it’s hard to raise your children so far from where you spent your childhood?

“Sometimes it’s really difficult for me, being far away from home. LA is where my job is and I have to be close, but I never imagined that my children wouldn’t grow up next door to my brother’s children. Or that my mum and dad wouldn’t constantly be around.

“You know, I had dinner every night with my grandparents as a kid, so I think missing out on that is a hard compromise. At least I have a lot of southern friends in LA – I gravitate toward them. I think of those people as a part of my family: they take care of me and I take care of them.”

You’ve been working on your current film for a few months. How do you balance being on set for long hours with being a mother?

“I love my life without work and I love my life with work. My mother, who’s a nurse, called me the other day when I was really stressed out from working a 15-hour day. And she was like, ‘Yeah, but think of it as a part-time job’. And I thought, ‘That’s actually right, it puts it in perspective’. I work incredibly hard for three months, but then I get a break. It’s about really enjoying my time off.

“I have to ask myself questions such as, ‘Where do I relax the most? Where are my children happiest?’ My ideal scenario is to do one movie a year. But as an actor, I don’t think you can do an awful lot of planning.

“In fact, my new philosophy in life is: ‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it’. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the future, as if I could magically predict it if I planned it enough. And then I realised, I can’t.”

Was it your divorce that reinforced that for you [Reese and Ryan divorced in 2007 after seven years of marriage]?

“Yes. You reconsider certain things, but you just have to keep going. You have to keep it together for your kids and for yourself too. I’m trying to learn from the things that have happened in my life, live more in the moment and have more fun.

“Someone told me recently to live in the present, but make plans and take pictures. And I am. I’m writing more, I’m reading more. Going to more concerts. Jake and I went to Coachella [an annual music festival in California] this year.”

Would you say your approach to your relationship with Jake is different from your last one because of what you’ve been through in the past?

“I don’t know. But I do know I’m not trying to be something I’m not. As you get older, you know what you like and what you don’t like, and you’re not apologetic about it. I definitely feel much more confident. I used to judge myself so harshly – I think women in their twenties do. You’re hard on your body, you’re hard on yourself.

“But you start to realise that none of it is really all that important. As long as you’re comfortable, the best parts of yourself come through no matter what. Your mother can tell you that a million times, but you don’t understand it until you live it! I am much more secure and confident now – and I feel so young still. I have a lot of life to live. I want to learn and travel and see art and hear music to get me inspired.”

You’ve talked before about figuring out a role for yourself beyond acting…

“I especially love working and travelling with Avon. Signing on as their global ambassador matched what I was involved in doing personally; every charity I championed, like the Children’s Defense Fund and Save the Children, was for kids.

“But I discovered that, for me, the best way I can help kids is by empowering women. And all of a sudden I had this incredible sponsor behind these ideas I’ve been promoting for so long.”

What’s been a highlight?

“My favourite part has been going to the Avon representative conferences. The top sellers get together regularly and I’ll meet them and we get to ask each other whatever we want. They all have great stories and each one is different.

“I met one woman who was divorced and left to support three children. She couldn’t work two jobs, so she decided to be a representative and she did so well that she became a regional manager and now will be moving up again to be put in charge of a state.

“It’s amazing to see people’s drive to survive. It resonates with me. So I get to hug everybody and see that collective power of people working hard to take care of their families. It’s really moving.”

Part of your appeal is that people feel they can connect with you without knowing you. Why do you think that is?

“I believe we’re all the same – we’re all just people going through life, so maybe that comes through. I feel I’m so lucky to be able to do movies that create characters who are real women. I throw myself 100 per cent into things. It’s just deeply personal for me.

“I care a lot and I want to know that I’m making a difference. I grew up in a community where, every day of my life, my parents and grandparents would wake up and say, ‘What can I do for somebody else?’ In that sense, I do feel like I’m on this journey that has a greater purpose. I’m not totally there yet, but I’m finding my way.”

Reese’s next starring role

Ms W is using her star power to speak out against domestic violence and has lent her support to Avon’s new campaign (in conjunction with charity Refuge) Four Ways to Speak Out (fourwaystospeakout.com). And on International Women’s Day on 8 March, Reese will launch a piece of jewellery for Avon (£3; avonshop.co.uk) to help raise money for domestic violence charities internationally. Now that’s what we call spending with soul.

Reese introduces her new perfume: In Bloom

“I have a lot of favourite smells from growing up in the south [she was born in New Orleans, Louisiana] that I wanted to capture in this scent [left],” says Reese. “As a kid, I was always outside. There was a magnolia tree in the front yard that I think I spent most of first, second and third years of school in.

“And there was the smell of honeysuckle from the creek that ran down by our house. Gardenias were important too, because every Mother’s Day or on my birthday, my father would buy small bouquets or corsages for my mother and me.

“While we were working on the perfume, Avon asked me if I could explore other notes, but I kept going back to white flowers! The packaging reminds me of my grandma’s bureau, where she’d have little perfume bottles out. I love it.”

They join the previously announced presenters Josh Brolin, Taylor Lautner, Amy Poehler, Chace Crawford, Cameron Diaz, Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Garner, Tom Hanks, Cher, Keifer Sutherland, Neil Patrick Harris, Christina Aguilera, Gerard Butler, Mel Gibson, Sophia Loren, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Colin Farrell, Matthew Fox, Julia Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Nicole Kidman, Steven Spielberg and Sam Worthington (“Avatar”).

The show, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcast live coast to coast on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from The Beverly Hilton on January 17, 2010.

As also previously announced, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio who will present the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese.

“The 67th AnnuAl Golden Globe Awards” will be seen in more than 160 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements.

The first time I find myself face to face with Reese Witherspoon we are at the Houses of Parliament on a sunny but crisply cold morning. Everyone is swathed in their winter wardrobes, apart from Reese, who is wearing an exquisite – but
bone-chillingly sleeveless – Roland Mouret dress and traversing the flagstones of Westminster Hall in spiky Martin Margiela heels.

It’s the day when the Prime Minister will later, rather embarrassingly, confuse Reese with her friend and fellow actress Renée Zellweger. But actually, when you’ve witnessed full-on Hollywood glamour teleported into the hub of British politics, you can understand why Gordon Brown found himself momentarily flummoxed. It’s not so much that Reese and Renée are both petite and blonde and have names beginning with R; more that Reese and the PM occupy parallel universes. He’s far too dour and serious to cross the threshold into her glitzy world, which begs the question, why is she, as one of the most successful Hollywood actresses of her generation, so eager to dip an immaculately pedicured toe into his?

Now 33, Reese made her name as ditzy Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, but cemented her acting credentials five years ago with her Oscar-winning performance in Walk the Line. Her role as June Carter Cash, wife of the country music legend Johnny, catapulted her to the top of the Hollywood pay league, outstripping Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz, and she commands a reputed $20 million (£12 million) a film.

Like many Hollywood A-listers, she is keen to ‘give back’. Two years ago she became global ambassador for Avon, and it is in this capacity that she is in London, to raise awareness for a new campaign the company is launching with the domestic violence charity Refuge.

In a Westminster committee room, she listens transfixed as Wendy Turner Webster – the television presenter and younger sister of Anthea Turner – speaks about her violent first marriage. It’s a harrowing and sadly all too familiar tale. In her early 20s, Wendy, now 42, spent five years married to a man who beat her and made her feel worthless. She found it difficult to leave him because she felt trapped. As Wendy (who today is thankfully happily remarried with two children) recalls how it felt to be stripped of dignity and confidence, the pained sympathy on Reese’s face is evident.

‘I had tears in my eyes,’ she tells me afterwards. ‘And do you know what really moved me? It was that psychological component – the way that having someone tear down your self-esteem can make you feel immobilised.’

Wendy’s story, Reese says, prompted memories of a friend from her past, who had an abusive boyfriend. ‘He hit her and threatened her life many times. It went on for about two years. I had no idea of what was happening between them until she confided in me. She ended up living with me for a few months – we were only about 20 at the time. She had to move and change her telephone numbers and it was hard. I remember thinking, how can this be happening to this girl who is articulate and educated? I didn’t understand why she hadn’t just left him sooner. And it was only hearing Wendy speaking that reminded me of that.’

We are sitting now in the more familiar surroundings, for Reese at least, of a sumptuous hotel suite. Although she is tiny – 5ft 2in tall – with delicate, doll-like features, she exudes no sense of fragility. Deft and assertive, it is hard to imagine her ever suffering the same crisis of confidence as either Wendy or her own long-ago friend.

Indeed, if you examine many of the women she has portrayed – from Elle Woods, who chases her intellectual snob of a boyfriend to Harvard and discovers she has a bigger brain than he has, to the fiery but grounded June Carter Cash – you quickly identify a common strand of female empowerment. ‘I don’t have a set of rules about what kind of movies I make, but I am definitely drawn to women who are strong,’ she says.

Reese, who was born Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon (Reese being her mother’s maiden name), grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where her father John is an ear, nose and throat surgeon and her mother Betty is a professor of nursing. At her elite private girls’ school she proved as academically able as her parents, and at home, life for both herself and her elder brother John was privileged and comfortable. She remembers her paternal grandmother, a teacher, being an enormous influence.

‘In her day, girls could only go to certain colleges, where they were trained to be teachers or nurses, so she urged me to get a good education. She would say, “You can be whatever you want to be.” She taught me to have strength and self-respect.’

Reese’s parents, too, were never anything less than proud, ‘whether I was making my bed or making a movie’. So it is curious that, even today, Reese admits to a fear of being ‘underestimated. I’ve always had the need to prove myself,’ she says. She believes it has nothing to do with her upbringing and everything to do with being a Southern gal. ‘Growing up, a lot of my girlfriends’ ambitions were to get married and be homemakers. And that is completely wonderful for them – it was just never my ambition.’

Reese dabbled with acting lessons as a child, but her earliest aspirations were not for a show business career. ‘I can remember standing up in third grade [aged eight] and saying that I wanted to be the first female president of the United States. I wanted to change the world.’

When she was 12, Reese appeared in a local television commercial, and two years later, when she heard that a film called The Man in the Moon was to be shot locally, she went along with some friends to audition as an extra. The directors plucked her from the melee and cast her in the lead role. Reese seized her chance, delivering a highly acclaimed performance.

By the age of 18 she had eight movies under her belt, but she also finished her schooling and secured a place at Stanford University to read English. A year into her studies, however, she found herself going against her grandmother’s advice when offered a part alongside Paul Newman in the thriller Twilight.

‘I don’t have a lot of regrets, but I do wish I’d finished college,’ she says ruefully. ‘It’s not just about the learning, it’s about discovering yourself. I’ll be telling my own kids to go to college.’

Reese’s first child Ava Elizabeth was born in September 1999, three months after she married the actor Ryan Phillippe. They had a son, Deacon, in 2003. In the past she admitted that she hadn’t planned to be a young mother, but now she sees that parenthood at 23 gave her focus. ‘When you are young, you think you know everything. The older I get, the more I realise I know nothing,’ she says. ‘Yes, my children gave me big responsibilities, but I was never someone who partied. I like being home.’

Reese and Ryan separated four years ago, and she spoke last year about how their subsequent divorce was ‘very humiliating and isolating’. He left her for the Australian actress Abbie Cornish, with whom he now lives. The complex domestic tableau means inevitably that Ava Elizabeth’s and Deacon’s upbringing will be different from Reese’s.

‘But my kids have two great parents, and we balance our schedules so one of us is always with them,’ she says. ‘When you care enough and are determined to make them the focus of your life, then somehow it works. And I’ve had help. Through difficult times I have always found counselling helpful and I don’t think there is anything shameful in that.’

There is something refreshing about the way Reese is prepared to admit to her fallibility. ‘It’s tough being a woman. You are supposed to be self-sufficient, but we all need our sisters. I have three women friends who will drop anything to help me and I will do the same for them. I believe in those female bonds, because a lot of stuff happens with men and marriage and divorce, but family and friends are paramount.’ She’s right, but I wonder whether this might make her a scary prospect for men? ‘No. I love men! I’m still a girl,’ she says, laughing.

The one thing I’ve been told Reese doesn’t want to talk about is her recent split from actor Jake Gyllenhaal (they had been together for two years). All she does say is: ‘Certainly, being in a relationship is important to me.’ It’s the only time in our conversation that I see a flicker of vulnerability in her eyes.

She’s just finished making an as yet untitled film with Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd, in which she plays a professional athlete – a role for which she is physically, as well as professionally, well equipped. She runs regularly and loves Spinning. Living in Los Angeles has made her particularly aware though, she says, of teaching her children not about ‘fat and skinny’, but about ‘healthy and unhealthy.

I can remember my own mother struggling with her weight and self-esteem. It was hard for me to watch her, because I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. When we women talk about our bodies and our looks, we have to be mindful of the effect this can have on little girls.’

In truth, Reese confesses, she finds living in LA ‘totally bizarre. I don’t feel I belong – my heart isn’t there.’ At weekends, she decamps to her farm outside the city where she and the children keep chickens, goats and two pigs. ‘Don’t get me wrong,’ she says, ‘I love the sun, and it is where my business is, so it’s right for now – I just don’t think I’ll be there for ever.’

By business, she means her acting and the production company she set up ten years ago to capitalise on her career. It’s called Type A Films – after Reese’s childhood nickname, Little Miss Type A. ‘Taking care of myself financially was something my mother always emphasised,’ she says.

Reese doesn’t talk about her money, but she is smart enough to look after it and encourages other women to do the same. When we finish our interview, we head downstairs to meet a group of Avon’s highest performing representatives. One, Gail Reynolds, a 38-year-old mother of three, is a former accountant who now makes £85,000 a year as an Avon sales leader. Another, ex-factory worker Debbie Davis, 29, earned an astonishing £250,000 last year. They talk to Reese about her recently launched Avon perfume In Bloom; she talks to them about entrepreneurship.

For most actresses, beauty product endorsements are a lucrative sideline. Although Reese is happy to advertise lipstick and mascara, the real attraction that made her sign the deal with Avon, she says, was that it is a company that both professionally and philanthropically is all about empowering women. ‘It dovetailed exactly with my own ideals.’

Across the room, an assistant is signalling it’s time to go. It turns out Reese has been issued an invitation to have tea with Sarah Brown at 10 Downing Street. The girl who once declared to her classmates that she wanted to change the world has become a significant player. Next stop the White House? Who knows? But I wouldn’t underestimate her.

For more information on Avon’s campaign against domestic violence, visit fourwaystospeakout.com. Reese’s In Bloom fragrance, from £16, is available from Avon reps or avonshop.co.uk

From the Mail Online

According to Avon, two women are killed each week in England and Wales by current or former partners, and one in four women will be victims of domestic violence at some point. However, Avon research shows that most people don’t know of anyone who is suffering from such abuse, due mostly to the shame felt by surviving victims, which keeps them from talking about it. It is a well-kept secret that shouldn’t be.

Witherspoon has called upon the UK government to improve services for victims. “There remains what can seem like an impenetrable wall of silence around violence,” she said, “and we must all play a role in breaking this silence.”

Refuge’s campaign to raise awareness of domestic abuse is their latest attempt to keep domestic violence on the political agenda. You can add your name to the petition at Four Ways To Speak Out.

From Look to the Stars

There is going to be more changes with this site coming around – so stay tuned!

Gallery Links:
- Public Appearances > Appearances From 2009 > Avon Foundation Celebrates “Champions Who Change Women’s Lives”
- Public Appearances > Appearances From 2009 > Reese Witherspoon And Avon Launch “In Bloom By Reese Witherspoon”
- Public Appearances > Appearances From 2009 > Reese Witherspoon Reveals Wall Of Silence Around Domestic Violence