"Rampart" star Harrelson tries to avoid Oscar buzz (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) – Woody Harrelson is winning praise for an intense performance as dirty cop in "Rampart", but the former "Cheers" star is trying hard not to dwell on the prospect of a third Oscar nomination.

"It's always nice to get an invite to the party, but we can't count on those things," he told reporters at the Toronto Film Festival. "I can't really think about those things. On the other hand I can't think about anything else."

"Rampart", which had its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, reteams Harrelson with "The Messenger" director Oren Moverman. Harrelson received an Oscar nomination for that movie, playing a U.S. soldier who notifies families when their loved ones are killed.

The pair's latest film moves into starkly different terrain. Co-written by Moverman and "L.A. Confidential" author James Ellroy, it tells the story of Los Angeles police officer Dave Brown.

Nicknamed "Date Rape" by his colleagues for killing a serial rapist years before, the hard-drinking Brown finds his life spinning out of control in the midst of a wider corruption scandal.

With a combination of violence, charm and self-destructiveness, Harrelson's character is reminiscent of the corrupt police officers played by Denzel Washington in "Training Day", Richard Gere in "Internal Affairs" and Harvey Keitel in "The Bad Lieutenant"

But the 50 year-old Harrelson, who was also nominated for an Oscar with his portrayal of porn king Larry Flynt in 1996 movie "The People vs. Larry Flynt", said he had to put those other actors out of his mind.

"I didn't really try to stack myself up against Harvey Keitel or any of these other performances. If I were to think that way, I'd shoot myself in the foot before I got out of the gate because those are amazing performances," he said.

"To me it was just about coming to believe that I could be a cop. That was my hardest thing."

To achieve this, Harrelson spent time in patrol cars with Los Angeles police officers. He also lost 29 lbs, giving his pill-popping character a lean and hungry look.

Harrelson credits Moverman with the buzz that "Rampart" is receiving, saying the director is consistently aiming high.

But co-star Ben Foster, who also worked with Harrelson in "The Messenger", said the former sitcom star is humble about his talent and the work he puts into bringing a character to life.

"He's one of the most thorough actors. He's a national treasure," Foster said of Harrelson.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)

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Doctor's trial may avoid Michael Jackson's past (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson's former doctor faces a tough challenge clearing himself of involuntary manslaughter charges in the pop star's death as his trial, which promises to avoid many dark aspects of Jackson's life, begins with jury selection this week.

While it is Dr. Conrad Murray, who will be on trial when attorneys begin selecting a panel on Thursday, the "Thriller" singer's infamy will loom large over the proceedings.

Jackson was one of the world's most recognizable singers, dubbed the King of Pop, when he died in June 2009, at age 50. He also was known to have battled an addiction to painkillers, and Murray's attorneys had hoped to present evidence of his past drug use at the trial.

But in an obstacle for the defense, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor barred testimony from a half-dozen doctors whom Murray's attorneys had indicated in court papers would portray Jackson as drug-dependent.

"The deck is, for various reasons, stacked against the defense here," said Stan Goldman, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Jackson stopped breathing at his Los Angeles mansion on June 25, 2009, in what authorities say was an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol and various sedatives.

Murray, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter, has admitted giving Jackson propofol, a drug normally used for surgery, as a sleep aid.

During a series of court hearings earlier this year defense attorneys suggested that when Murray was out of the room, Jackson could have given himself a large, fatal dose of the drug, possibly by swallowing it.

Murray faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

FINDING A JURY

As for choosing an impartial jury, legal experts say it will be impossible to find anyone who knows nothing of Jackson. Some will adore him, while others will abhor him. So attorneys will have to work to find the most unbiased jury possible under the circumstances.

"It's going to be like a Ouija board, it's going to be guess work," Goldman said.

After a jury panel is selected, the trial will be recessed until opening arguments begin the last week of September.

Jackson's family has faithfully attended all the court hearings in the case, with his mother, Katherine, 81, often sitting with his father, Joseph, 83.

The King of Pop's supporters also will be on hand, and if earlier hearings are any indication they will wear black as a sign of mourning over their fallen idol. At earlier court hearings, some fans hired a plane to fly a banner over the courthouse that read "Change charges to murder."

"If the jurors walk through, on the way to the courthouse, a massive amount of fans who are declaring the guilt of the defendant in the case, I find it hard to believe it won't have some impact," Goldman said.

But some trial watchers say the circus atmosphere that is expected outside the courthouse may, in fact, never materialize. Indeed, Jackson's fans failed to jam the streets of downtown Los Angeles during his 2009 memorial, as had been widely expected.

Laurie Levenson, a colleague of Goldman's at Loyola Law School, said she does not believe the proceedings will become anywhere near the public and media frenzy that accompanied the 1995 murder trial and acquittal of O.J. Simpson.

For one, the Grenada-born Murray is not a celebrity, just a doctor with patients in Nevada and Texas.

"We have a 'trial of the century' about every six months here in Los Angeles," Levenson said wryly.

(Editing by Chris Michaud and Bob Tourtellotte)

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Princes William and Harry mark shoes to avoid mix-up (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Princes William and Harry have resorted to writing their initials on the soles of their shoes after finding they kept picking up the wrong ones in their shared flat in London, a report said Sunday.

The secret was revealed when someone spotted a "W" daubed on William's shoes at a charity gala he attended with his new wife Catherine this week, the Sunday Times reported.

The newlyweds are sharing a flat in Clarence House with Harry until they move into their own place at Kensington Palace.

"William and Harry are similar in shoe size, so I think this is his way of making sure he's wearing the right shoes. It's quite sweet, really," a royal source told the weekly newspaper.

William and Catherine live in north Wales most of the time, where the prince works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, but stay in London when they attend official engagements.

Yahoo! News

Princes William and Harry mark shoes to avoid mix-up (AFP)

LONDON (AFP) – Princes William and Harry have resorted to writing their initials on the soles of their shoes after finding they kept picking up the wrong ones in their shared flat in London, a report said Sunday.

The secret was revealed when someone spotted a "W" daubed on William's shoes at a charity gala he attended with his new wife Catherine this week, the Sunday Times reported.

The newlyweds are sharing a flat in Clarence House with Harry until they move into their own place at Kensington Palace.

"William and Harry are similar in shoe size, so I think this is his way of making sure he's wearing the right shoes. It's quite sweet, really," a royal source told the weekly newspaper.

William and Catherine live in north Wales most of the time, where the prince works as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, but stay in London when they attend official engagements.

Yahoo! News

Denise Richards Flees U.S. to Avoid Charlie Sheen's Rage

After a disastrous start to his 'Violent Torpedo Of Truth, Defeat Is Not An Option' tour in Detroit and a slightly improved performance in Chicago, Charlie Sheen is looking to lash out and blame someone for his failure. This time it won't be ex-wife Denise Richards.

"Denise doesn't want to get dragged into any of this and has taken herself and her girls far away to the Bahamas on vacation," a friend of Charlie's tells me. "Whenever things go bad for Charlie he always lashes out at Denise. This time she took no chances and fled the country before he even stepped foot on stage."
At Sheen's first performance, on Saturday evening, the crowd was already restless, booing the opening comic off stage before Charlie appeared. Once the former 'Two and a Half Men' star appeared, his standing ovation quickly gave way to boos and attendees walking out and demanding refunds.

The new biggest fear for Team Sheen is that bad word of mouth will affect the already tepid ticket sales in the following cities.

"What will most likely happen is discounts will be offered to Ticketmaster's email list and bulk sales groups like Groupon," an A-list tour promoter tells me. "Groupon does mass email to their buyers in specific zip codes, offering deep discounts and taking a hefty percentage for providing the service. On most of these services, you don't know about it unless you previously bought something and are on their mass email list. In other words, you probably just couldn't go to the Ticketmaster website and find the discounted tickets."

But it's not just ticket sales that are a concern. Friends of Charlie's warn that the actor's ego will not tolerate half-empty houses and bad audience reaction for long.

"Charlie has a hard time when confronted with reality," a friend of the actor tells me. "He would rather cancel the whole tour and blame it on bad promoters than admit he's not winning."

Which means Denise might be able to cut her getaway short, too. She might want to stick in the Bahamas a bit longer, though -- if Charlie is anything, it's unpredictable.
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