Michelle Williams

With the exception of the most important election of our lifetime, this has been the slowest news week ever. When the casting of Jack Black in an adaptation of Gulliver's Travels makes headlines, you know we're close to the bottom of the barrel. So! Why don't we use this as an opportunity to check in with the kids from Dawson's Creek? In case you haven't noticed, this has been a banner Fall for the former residents of Capeside! At least most of them.....  read more »

In an 11-year-old tape anonymously leaked to Page Six, Harvey Weinstein can be heard warning director Quentin Tarantino of potential "weird late night phone calls" from Robert De Niro, who was apparently angry about the salary he received for Tarantino's 1997 film Jackie Brown. [P6] 

Actor Shia LaBeouf will not be charged for a July drunk driving incident due to insufficient evidence. [TMZ] 

OK Magazine's Kent Brownridge may be putting a moratorium on the purchse of celebrity baby photos. Meanwhile, staffers are complaining that he seems "addled." [P6] 

 

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Madonna's head flack Liz Rosenberg is insisting that the singer has no plans to adopt a three-year-old girl from Malawi in the near future, as had been reported. [Us]

Sources say actress Michelle Williams is taking extra steps to avoid the paparazzi in her Brooklyn neighborhood, reportedly "having a bodygaurd go around her block and make sure there are no photographers" each time she leaves the house. [P6]

West Villagers--including Amy Sedaris--are opposing the renewal of Beatrice Inn's liquor license, citing issues with noise, smoking, drugs, and taxis the club brings to the neighborhood. [Eater]

Joy Behar, Lorraine Bracco, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Alfie Fanjul, Pete Peterson, Sandy Hill Pittman, Marjorie Gubelmann, Debbie and Leon Black, and Tory Burch and Lyor Cohen all attended a special screening of Woody Allen's new film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" in Southampton.  read more »

Courtenay Semel (daughter of former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel) and heiress Casey Johnson are no longer an item after Ms. Semel spent an  evening partying with Tila Tequila, Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson. [P6]

Michelle Williams is reportedly officially dating her close friend director Spike Jonze, who was previously married to Sofia Coppola. [Daily Mail]  

Vogue intern and New York Ranger Sean Avery, 28, is dating 51-year-old Kelly Klein, ex-wife of Calvin. [P6]   read more »

Brasserie Cognac's owner Vittorio Assaf is having to introduce a children's menu because neighborhood couples like Brooke Shields and husband Chris Henchy; Jeff Gordon and wife, Belgian model Ingrid; and designer Eric Villency and wife Kimberly Guilfoyle keep bringing in their toddlers. [P6]

Michelle Williams is reportedly making a film about Heath Ledger for daughter Matilda starring his friends and co-workers, who will share anecdotes of the late actor. [NY Daily News]

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's model wife, Carla Bruni, reportedly said she'd like to be pregnant. [The Cut]

When Russell Simmons breaks up with you and makes you move out of his home, he'll help you find an apartment and take you furniture shopping first.  read more »

Michelle Williams is reportedly feuding with Heath Ledger's family over the late actor's will. [P6]

Ron Perelman and his ex, Patricia Duff, are back in court because a court-appointed lawyer for their 13-year-old daughter says that the girl has been subjected to emotional abuse. [NY Daily News]

Ashley Dupre thanked her fans and critics on her MySpace page yesterday. [NY Daily News]

Helena Christensen will not shake your hand if you cross her. [P6]

Larry King's wife, Shawn Southwick King, has reportedly gone to rehab for her addiction to painkillers. [P6]

Bravo's Shear Genius stylists will give New Yorkers free blow-outs in Times Square today. [The Cut]

Even the gossipy bit—Who's That Girl?!?—that all of the tabs were after all day yesterday (us too, in fact) is broken first by The Times: Spitzer's prostitute "Kristen" is in fact known as Ashley Alexandra Dupré, though she was born 22 years ago as Ashley Youmans, in New Jersey. [The New York Times]  read more »

Did George Clooney pop the question? [Marie Claire UK]

All this while he avows that he is "gay, gay" (and not "gay, gay, gay"): "That third 'gay' was pushing it."[People]

Matt Damon's rep confirms he and his wife Luciana are expecting. [People]  read more »

This morning, the New York medical examiner’s office confirmed that Heath Ledger’s death was caused by an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

“Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine," Ellen Borakave, a spokesperson for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement. Actress Michelle Williams, the late actor’s ex-fiancee, and their daughter, Matilda, reportedly arrived in Perth, Australia earlier today to attend Mr. Ledger’s funeral.  read more »

A video—in what is sure to be a long chain of posthumous "leaks" portending doom for Heath Ledger—has recently “surfaced.” The video, which allegedly shows “a guilt-ridden” Mr. Ledger at a party in L.A.’s Chateau Marmont on Jan. 29, 2006, will likely air tonight on Australia’s Channel 9, according to the Daily News. This broadcast plan from down under flies in the face of what the paper billed “an uproar from the Hollywood community.”  read more »

Editors' Note: This article has been corrected from an earlier version which misidentified the Brooklyn neighborhood where Ledger lived with Michelle Williams. We regret the error.

The actor Heath Ledger was found dead on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 22, in a bed in a fourth-floor apartment at 421 Broome Street.

Months before, Ledger had broken up with his fiancee, Michelle Williams, with whom he had had a two-year-old daughter and a townhouse in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn.  read more »

It's hasn't been a good couple of months for Michelle Williams. First, she breaks up with Heath Ledger. Now, Spike Jonze is kicking her off of Where the Wild Things Are for Lauren Ambrose, the redhead who recently received rave reviews for her turn as Juliet in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Romeo and Juliet.

Reuters reports:

Ambrose is replacing the previously cast Michelle Williams. According to a production source, the filmmakers enjoyed working with Williams, but her voice didn't match their original vision of how the Wild Thing should sound.

Jonze and Dave Eggers wrote the screenplay adaptation of the book. The film, set for release in fall 2008, will use real actors, computer animation and live-action puppeteering.

We checked in today with celebrity life coach Patrick Wanis, Ph.D., in order to hear his expert opinions on what Hollywood people should be doing with themselves right now.

Again this week in the romance department, rumors and announcements surrounding novel couplings have proven their power to flabbergast outsiders. Last time we checked in with Mr. Wanis, he offered a bleak outlook on the prospect of Lance Armstrong and Ashley Olsen finding true love together. But this week, after hearing confirmation of singer Rihanna and actor Josh Hartnett’s relationship, Mr. Wanis was hopeful.  read more »

While Michelle Williams was busy planning to flee from her broken home in Brooklyn, she also nabbed a role in Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson's new movie, Mammoth.

Variety reports:

Williams, who was Oscar-nommed for "Brokeback Mountain," and Gael Garcia Bernal will play a New York couple facing a crisis.

The drama, Moodysson's first English-language film, starts shooting in Thailand on Nov. 5 before moving on to the Philippines, Sweden and New York.

Pic preems in Sweden in August.

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On the hot, sunny afternoon of Sunday, July 22, an enormous throng of young families was streaming toward the Prospect Park Bandshell to enjoy the free musical stylings of former Del Fuegos singer-turned-kiddie rocker Dan Zanes.

In a tented V.I.P.  read more »

They fall in love, buy strollers, hire cooks—Heath, Michelle, Liv, Nicole join prissy new bourgeoisie!  read more »

In a world where young actors establish their highbrow bona fides by working with New York directors  read more »

It was less than a year ago that Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams bought a $3.6 million townhouse in Boerum Hill, instantly becoming the neighborhood's "it" couple. And now, they've taken refuge in the Hollywood Hills.

Sadly, there will be no more subway sightings (They're Just Like Us!), or anti-Ratner rants. Remember when these two movie stars joined forces with other movies stars (and some literary types), in an effort to lobby on behalf of Brooklyn residents?

As the Daily News reported just two months ago:

"His vision will increase traffic, pollution and asthma," said Ledger's fiancee, actress Michelle Williams, another board member. The couple recently bought a Boerum Hill brownstone, where they live with their young daughter, Matilda.

"If Mr. Ratner lived here, he would understand what we love about it and why we want to preserve our open skies."

Hopefully, for the sake of our beleaguered West Coast transplants, Bruce Ratner won't now try to build an arena in the Hollywood Hills.

- Michael Calderone

UPDATE: NoLandGrab has scooped all the "professional snarks" out there, diving head first into what the they consider a "cauldron of celebrity gossip." (Cauldron, eh? Was that intentional)? Anyway, contrary to the reports in the July 21st Daily Telegraph that Mr. Ledger was abandoning Brooklyn--information seized upon by all those snarky blogs-- the couple might be staying in the borough after all, according to NoLandGrab. See, that Hollywood home might simply be a pied-a-terre. And Daniel Goldstein breathes a deep sigh of relief.  read more »

These past five days in Bryant Park, the anyone-can-be-a-celebrity theory embraced and air-kissed—  read more »

These past five days in Bryant Park, the anyone-can-be-a-celebrity theory embraced and air-kissed&md  read more »

In honor of Salon's new women's blog, The Broadsheet, The Transom is pleased to present excerpts from the New York Observer's men-only blog, The Cockpit.

You Know What's Awesome? Cowboy movies! Dude, why don't they make cowboy movies hardly anymore? John Wayne is like really old or something, I guess. Or dead? But back in the day, man, half of the movies were like romance, and the other half were all westerns! What happened to America? Now it's all In Her Sister's Traveling Pants with Romy And Michele's Joy Luck Club and shit.

So, anyway, I was really stoked when I heard there was a new western coming out with Jake whats-its and Heath Ledger. (Dude, Michelle Williams is SMOKING HOT, I would totally inseminate her too.) So I'm totally stoked -- we should all get together after work, go buy some cowboy hats, and go see Brokeback Mountain without the chicks from the office. BOO-YAH!  read more »

Wow, it totally smells like pancakes with syrup in my office. Weird. --posted by Choire "BROS BEFORE HOS" Sicha at 10:25 p.m.

—The Transom