"Inherent Vice," Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name, was set to give Robert Downey Jr. his first non-franchise role since "Due Date" in 2010. Now, however, it appears Downey has dropped out of the project; Joaquin Phoenix, who starred in "The Master" for Anderson and earned an Oscar nomination for his troubles, is reportedly in talks for the leading role.

Downey has been attached to "Inherent Vice" for some time, though not in any official capacity. In a 2011 interview with MTV, the "Iron Man" star sounded excited about working with Anderson.

"Anything that has to do with Paul Thomas Anderson and I doing a movie is probably true," Downey said. "We tend to talk about a variety of potential projects, and Thomas Pynchon's 'Inherent Vice' could be great. We'll see."

As recently as Jan. 8, Downey was reportedly still attached to the film. No word yet on why he dropped out, but it could be because of scheduling.

"I feel like I'm booked, but I'm not," Downey told MTV in 2011. "I make space for what I want to do. I just think he's one of our great American directors. I just like hanging out with the guy."

Marvel has kept Downey busy in recent years. He'll reprise the role of Tony Stark in "Iron Man 3" and "Marvel's The Avengers 2."

As for Phoenix, playing the lead in "Inherent Vice" would reunite him with Anderson. The actor received some of the best reviews of his career for "The Master," and was nominated for Best Actor despite speaking out against the Academy Awards.

"Inherent Vice" is a noir comedy-thriller set in Los Angeles during 1969 and 1970. The lead role, Doc Sportello, is a detective embroiled in the middle of a kidnapping case.

For more on "Inherent Vice," head over to THR.

[via THR]

Spoiler alert: There's a lot of death on "The Vampire Diaries." Sometimes it's a character you've come to know and love over many years. Sometimes it's just a pizza-delivery girl you just met for the first time in last week's episode and who presumably had a long, fruitful life ahead of her -- it's not like she was going to be a pizza-delivery girl forever. She had plans. But somehow the characters that deserve to die never get killed, and all we can do is wonder why. Well, while we can't answer why, we can answer when.

In his second inaugural, President Obama called upon us to rededicate ourselves to the nation's enduring values -- freedom and equality, and squaring those ideals with reality -- by rebuilding our country and its infrastructure, so that the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness will not be limited to the few who can buy them for themselves, but to the many, to "we the People." As Obama said, "The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few."

We are now hearing from one of the privileged few, Phil Mickelson, one of golf's greatest. I have always liked Mickelson, a southpaw who had to struggle against adversity, albeit of his own predilection for choking, for many years before winning his first major tournament. Ultimately, of course, he learned to control his demons on the golf course, and now makes $47 million a year, and $43 million from endorsements in 2012. His biggest corporate endorsement payments come from KPMG, ExxonMobil, Titleist, Ford, Enbrel, Callaway, Rolex and Barclays. I thought he was living a happy and fulfilling if not charmed life, notwithstanding some serious medical issues that, from his TV ads and publicity, have afflicted him and his family. Among the conservative inhabitants of that individualistic world of golf professionals, Mickelson seemed to be among the most grateful for the opportunity this country had given him to develop and exploit his talent to the full, and a net worth estimated at $150-80 million, a $6 million estate in Rancho Santa Fe and a $60 million Gulfstream.

What a surprise then, to see Mickelson's cri de cœur in the paper today. A resident of Southern California, he told the press yesterday that the nation's new taxation framework just "doesn't work for me right now." What doesn't work? His income above a million is now subject to federal taxes of 39.6 percent and California's new millionaires' tax rate of 13.3 percent for a total above 50 percent, perhaps as much as 60 percent if you add in social security and disability taxes. He is going to take "drastic steps," so far unidentified, but speculation is that he is planning on moving out of California, or the United States entirely so that he can avoid his tax obligations.

I have a cri de cœur of my own: Phil, say it ain't so! Let's assume you can't find good tax advice and have to pay full freight, and that your $150-80 million throws off only a pittance in tax-favored dividends and capital gains. Forty percent of $46 million is almost $18.5 million. Forty percent of $60 million is $24 million. Seems more than enough to feed your family, support your lifestyle and keep your private jet in the air.

Coming on the day of the president's stirring inaugural, your complaint sounded a discordant, indeed sour note. Listen to some of the things the president said: "A great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune." Phil, just imagine if your wife and mother had to fight breast cancer without health insurance or access to good medical care. Don't you want to help make sure that no one in America faces that misfortune?

"No single person can train all the math and science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people." Phil, repairing our deteriorating infrastructure, educating our kids and preparing for a future of good jobs in new competitive industries and services will cost trillions, and if our richest and most accomplished citizens do not lead the way and help pay for it, who will?

"Our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it." Phil, we have a shrinking and increasingly stressed middle class whose earning power has actually declined since the 1970s. Many Americans are barely making it. Don't you want to help do what you can? Remember President Kennedy's words? "To those whom much is given, much is expected." Don't you agree?

And finally, "We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other -- through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security -- these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."

Phil, you are beloved by millions of Americans who have admired your achievements. Don't just be a taker. Help America keep its commitment to all of its people and their posterity. Rejoice in your extraordinary ability to contribute to our national renewal, and do it without any hesitation or mental reservation. Be a great American -- and rejoice rather than grumble that you can afford it.

You know the saying: Marilyn Monroe was a size 16. Or size 10. Or actually, a size 8. And while we may never actually get down to the real size of the cuvy '50s icon -- now considered a beacon of classic beauty -- we do know that when it comes to beauty, changing norms are the standard.

In this spirit, here are a handful of women who defy conventional body types in Hollywood -- and have no problem talking about it.

Celebrities have been known to overshare on various intimate topics. But lately we know way more about our favorite stars' bathroom habits than necessary.

Here's what they've had to say.

Celebrities, they're just like us. Only weirder, sometimes.

Though $20 million paychecks may bring to mind the kind of fun us laymen can't afford -- skydiving from a private jet onto a privately owned mountain covered in artificial snow, for instance -- many of Hollywood's elite engage in vastly different hobbies. We're talking serious mainstream heavyweights: Kristen Stewart, the Biebs, Rod Stewart, Johnny Depp. Who woulda thought!

What are they into, you ask?

Angelina Jolie, for instance, told W magazine in 2008 that collecting daggers is a pastime passed on to her by her mother. "My mom took me to buy my first daggers when I was 11 or 12," she said. "And I’ve already bought Maddox some things. We take him to a special shop."

Scientology front man Tom Cruise is into fencing. So much so, in fact, that he introduced his pals Will Smith and David Beckham to his hobby. "We don't get enough time to hang out, just us three guys, so this is his way of getting together and bonding," Smith said in 2008. "David and I go to his home and just do fencing. It's a lot of fun."

"Saturday Night Live" head writer and overall funny man Seth Meyers wrote a comic book with cast mate Bill Hader, titled "Spider-Man: The Short Halloween" in 2009. The idea, Meyers described in a New York Times interview at the time, came to them when they attended a Marvel party in 2007. He and Hader were as excited about the Marvel team as the latter were about the TV stars.

Click on through to find out who can solve a Rubik's Cube in under two minutes, who's a ping pong champ, which sexy lady is into WoW, and which Hollywood hunk loves playing with Barbies:

Emergency: It seems like American Idol viewers are responding more to Nicki Minaj than to Mariah Carey. This is unspeakable.

Mariah is the best, pseudo-craziest music legend we have. We need to respect her and everything she stands for, and that means tearing down Nicki Minaj at all costs. In this edition of Weeklings!, I teach you about why Nicki is inferior to Mariah, why Mariah is a bronze goddess sent from planet Mimi, and why I laugh at Nicki supporters. Sigh. Ryan Seacrest is losing his tan from all this shade.

WATCH:

You can find previous Weeklings! episodes here.

Michael Moore stopped by HuffPost Live on Friday to weigh in on the seemingly never-ending debate around "Zero Dark Thirty." Moore penned a HuffPost blog post defending the film against critics, many of whom say it condones and promotes torture.

"I understand why a lot of people on the left ... believe the movie endorses torture," Moore began on HuffPost Live. "But that's not how I saw it, I left the movie thinking it made an incredible statement against torture."

Moore also claimed it's important to move beyond the issue of whether torture "does or does not work." "The film shows the abject brutality [of torture]," Moore said. "It doesn't matter if it works. It's wrong."

"These are works of fiction -- 'Zero Dark Thirty,' '24,'" Moore said. "[The interrogators] torture 100 people. One guy has the information. Everyone who doesn't have the information makes up shit ... so you have 99 people making up information and one tells the truth. How do you know what's the truth?"

"Does the artist have a responsibility for the ignorance of the person watching the art?" Moore asked. "I don't want to have to dumb down my work for the people who won't get it. I want to put it out there and the people who get it, get it."

Host Marc Lamont Hill asked if Moore would feel the same way if he knew that the "dominant majority" of people watching the movie would feel as though the film endorses torture. "I think that throughout history, the dominant majority has been pretty wacky," Moore said. "The dominant majority believed the sun revolved around the Earth."

"Once the Obama administration took over and torture was gone, they had to resort to good police work," Moore said of the "Zero Dark Thirty" character's tactics. In the movie, CIA personnel stop using enhanced interrogation techniques once Obama decrees that there would be no further torture. Matt Zeller, a former CIA intelligence officer and veteran, confirmed that the tone within the agency changed as soon as Obama took office. "[The change in priorities] was like night and day," Zeller said of the emphasis put on finding bin Laden in what Moore described as "a way that will make our country proud."

Moore was joined by HuffPost Media Editor Jack Mirkinson, who took the counterpoint and asked what Moore would say to Lynn Cheney (Dick Cheney's wife, who supports the movie) or Alex Gibney, an Oscar-winning filmmaker who has come out against the film. Moore responded by repeating Bigelow's claim that "depiction is not endorsement" and cited Francis Ford Coppola's "Patton" as an example of a movie that was intended to be a portrait of a mad war-monger but ended up becoming Richard Nixon's favorite film.

One potentially sticky point of Moore's argument centers on his claim that the movie is "a work of fiction," despite the film's opening statement that it was based on real-life events and first-person testimony. Moore admitted that he wishes filmmakers would stop making such claims about their movies.

From our earlier reporting on the film:

The news comes amid a full-court press on Bigelow's part. Though "Zero Dark Thirty" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, Bigelow is not nominated for Best Director (she previously won that category for "The Hurt Locker"). It was a snub heard around the film world, and many point to the controversy surrounding the movie as the reason the Academy's voters shied away from Bigelow's name.

"Zero Dark Thirty" traces the efforts of the CIA and focuses heavily on what the George W. Bush administration referred to as "advanced interrogation techniques." There are graphic torture scenes in which characters are water-boarded and otherwise abused. A character who is tortured eventually gives a crucial tip that leads to the capture and killing of bin Laden -- a plot detail that has drawn harsh condemnation from senators and administration officials.

Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal ardently defend the film's veracity while also arguing that it is an apolitical work of art. The latter notion further incensed the film's detractors

Consider this new Twitter account to be the middle of a venn diagram of Kim Cattrall's career, where her role in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" meets her iconic character from "Sex & The City."

Star Trek & The City, or @trekandthecity is Twitter's latest answer to the question, "Why is it so funny when you combine one pop culture thing with another pop culture thing?" When you take Carrie-esque narration on sex and dating and add "Star Wars" references, the mashup is undeniably funny.

Check out some of the most entertaining tweets from this clever new parody account below.

Action star Jeremy Renner has appeared in multimillion dollar blockbuster films like "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," "The Avengers" and "The Bourne Legacy."

But if acting doesn't work out for him in the end, Renner can sleep well at night knowing he has a multimillion dollar hobby to fall back on: house flipping.

The actor held forth on his side gig last week on "The David Letterman Show," revealing that he and a business partner have flipped 20 homes in the last decade and all of them have turned a profit. The projects, which can last anywhere from three months to 1.5 years, involve Renner and his partner, actor Kristoffer Winters, moving into the rundown homes. Together, they work with contractors to install water and power. Throughout the process, joked Renner, he sleeps in a sleeping bag.

WATCH:

Renner's most recent flip is an art deco home in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif. He listed the property in mid-January for $24.95 million and looks to turn a tidy profit if he gets his asking price. Renner and Winters bought the mansion for around $7 million and "dumped a load into it," he told Letterman.

"It's probably going to be someone's third home, Dave," the actor deadpanned.

The Holmby Hills home, called "The Reserve," has six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and over 10,000 square feet of living space. It sits on two acres of land and features a pool, spa and theater. The listing calls it "fit for a 21st century Howard Hughes." The home is represented by listing agents Rayni Romito and Branden Williams of Hilton & Hyland.

Photos courtesy of Realtor.com. Go to Yahoo's omg! blog for photos of home's interior.

For some celebs, one trip down the aisle just isn't enough.

Forget about "til death do us part" -- these ultimate celebrity brides have been engaged or married so many times we can hardly keep track. In fact, some of these brides are so marriage-happy, they've tied the knot with the same man more than once!

Check out the slideshow below to see which celebs have said "I do"... over and over and over again.

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

"Magic Mike" was one of 2012's most profitable films. Made for just $7 million, Steven Soderbergh's sun-drenched ode to Tampa Bay and male strippers grossed $167 million worldwide, including $113 million in North America. Why, beyond the appeal of seeing stars Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Alex Pettyfer and Joe Manganiello in various stages of undress, was the film such a hit? According to Soderbergh, it had a lot to do with "Fifty Shades of Grey."

Appearing on HuffPost Live, Soderbergh said that "Magic Mike" benefited from the mania created by E L James trilogy of S&M-infused novels.

"We were the beneficiary of some things that we could have never predicted or controlled," Soderbergh told host Ricky Camilleri. "One of the huge ones was that, months earlier, these 'Fifty Shades of Grey' books came out. Suddenly, the whole issue of female fantasy was part of the cultural conversation [and] we were able to draft off of that. It really helped us enormously."

"Fifty Shades Of Grey" was picked up by Universal Studios and Focus Features, but don't expect Soderbergh to direct the film; following the theatrical release "Side Effects" (due out Feb. 8) and the HBO film "Behind the Candelabra," Soderbergh is set to retire.

"I have a sense that I need to reboot and there's really no way to do that incrementally," Soderbergh said to HuffPost Live. "I don't really have gears; I have an on-off switch, so I need to switch off for a while and see if I can rebuild my approach. We'll see. I don't know. It could be a few years -- it could be more than a few years, I just don't know."

Watch Soderbergh above.

Prince did not mince words when he threw shade at both Madonna and Maroon 5 during a recent interview with Billboard for its new, rebooted magazine.

Prince subtly disses Madonna when speaking about the dissolution of his 20-year relationship with Warner Bros. in 1996, saying, "It was also about Madonna. She was getting paid, but at the same time we were selling more records and selling out concerts on multiple nights. It wasn't about her. This was about business."

UsWeekly's preview of the interview misquotes Prince, claiming he said "It was always about Madonna." In the Billboard article, the musician actually acknowledges that it wasn't her fault.

The feud between Prince and Madonna has gone on for decades.

The duo, who briefly dated in 1985 and dueted on her single "Love Song," have made some very public jabs back and forth -- Madonna calling Prince a "little troll" in an interview, and Prince making fun of her brood of children during a concert, according to Rolling Stone. Things were copacetic between the two in January 2011, when the Queen of Pop showed up in the audience of his Madison Square Garden show.

But back to the Billboard interview.

Prince goes on to call out Adam Levine and Maroon 5 for covering his hit "Kiss" on their 2012 album, "Overexposed."

"I do pay performance royalties on others' songs I perform live, but I'm not recording these songs and putting them up for sale," he told Billboard, then referencing "Kiss." "Why do we need to hear another cover of a song someone else did? Art is about building a new foundation, not just laying something on top of what's already there."

The song no longer appears on the delux version of the album on iTunes, allegedly because Maroon 5 learned Prince disapproved.

The 54-year-old's diss to Maroon 5 likely has its roots in his preoccupation with media ownership and creative rights, an issue that cropped up when he refused to let the Billboard reporter record their conversation.

"The Internet's completely over," Prince told the Mirror in 2010. "I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it." Adding, "The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated."

Check out Prince's Billboard magazine cover below, then click here for Billboard's preview excerpt from the interview.

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Burt Reynolds has entered the intensive care unit of a Florida hospital, where he is being treated for the flu, TMZ reports.

Reynolds caught his own dose of the particularly harsh flu that's going around right now and was suffering from symptoms for several days. When those symptoms worsened, Reynolds reportedly entered the hospital. Reynold's rep says he was moved to the ICU after doctors said he was "severely dehydrated."

The "Smokey and the Bandit" actor is expected to make a full recovery.

PARK CITY, Utah — The Sundance Film Festival has never been sexier.

The annual independent-film showcase has featured a slew of sexually themed movies in its various categories this year. There are stories about women using sex to work through their mid-life crises, narrative and documentary examinations of pornography and its players, and coming-of-age stories in which sex plays a central role.

Festival founder Robert Redford says the on-screen sex of today is often devoid of the romance that was essential in late 1960s, when he first started making movies.

So what has inspired the Sundance sexual revolution? Stars and filmmakers weigh in on their sexy fare.

_ "When I got in the film business in the early `60s, it was a romantic time. Sex and romance were pretty well tied together; sexuality was pretty well expressed through romance. Times have changed, so now, 40, 50 years later, we see that sexual relations have moved to a place where it doesn't feel like there's so much romance involved. The romance is not part of the equation, because relations have changed, and they've changed because of changing times, and because of new technology. People are texting rather than dating and all that kind of stuff. So what we do, we just show what's there." – Sundance founder Robert Redford.

_ "It's relevant because people just started having sex. So I think because of that, because everyone just started having sex, it's extremely relevant right now." – Kristen Bell, star of dramatic contender "The Lifeguard."

_ "Sex is trendy." – Actress Mamie Gummer, who co-stars in "The Lifeguard."

_ "It's provocative. ... Filmmakers, I think you want to take people out of their comfort zone, and I think sex does that when you talk about it." – Tony Danza, who appears in the premiere film "Don Jon's Addiction."

_ "I wanted to tell a story about how we work as human beings, and let's face it, that's what drives a lot of us. And what I was trying to get at with `Don Jon's Addiction' is, yeah, let's talk about sex but let's really talk about it and not just go through the same cliches that we always go through. ... Those of us (who) – and we all do – consume this media, whether it's movies or porn or the news or, you know, the Bible, we consume these pieces of media and we form these rules for ourselves, these notions of how things are supposed to be. And to me, there's nothing less sexy than trying to fit in what you think you're supposed to be. What's sexy is when you're just being yourself and you're connecting in the present." – Joseph Gordon-Levitt, director, writer and star of "Don Jon's Addiction."

_ "It's funny isn't it, because it's this great taboo, really. And yet it's something that is in all of our lives, if we're lucky – some of us three or four times a day. Ugh, exhausting." – Matthew Goode, a star of the premiere "Stoker," which blends sex and violence.

_ "People's acceptance of new representations of sex is – I think it's a gradual thing that happens from all of these different kinds of outlets. Sundance is just one place, a nodal point in that trend." – James Franco, who produced the documentary "kink," produced and starred in "Interior. Leather Bar.," which explores leather-sex clubs and plays Hugh Hefner in "Lovelace."

_ "I think there's a sexual revolution going on, maybe. ... It's kind of moving in that direction, I would like to think. I would love if America kind of appreciated sex the way Europeans do. I feel like it's really not that big of a deal. There's so much stigma attached to it. I think it's better than violence. It's better than making movies about guns and people shooting each other and blood and stuff. ... It's a huge part of our culture. It's a huge part of every day. We all do it! So why are we not talking about it and why are we not portraying that in movies? I know why, actually. There are a lot of reasons. But I personally think that we need to see more of it. I mean, it's not that scary." – Amanda Seyfried, who plays pioneering porn star Linda Lovelace in the biopic "Lovelace."

_ "Sex is a part of life, and to shy away from it would not be very truthful, especially if it's a movie about Allen Ginsberg and the beat poets. I mean, to me it's a part of becoming who you are as a person. The first time you have sex is a very important part of every person's life, so I think when you're making a movie about Allen Ginsberg becoming Allen Ginsberg, probably the first time he had sex is a very important, defining moment in his life." – Actor Dane DeHaan, who co-stars in dramatic contender "Kill Your Darlings."

_ "If I track what might be the source of it now, it's that the civil rights movement of our era has to do with sex and sexuality. And so there's been this sort of repositioning of it as a central issue as opposed to a titillating side issue. It's a core issue to do with what and who we are. And to speak of it as anything but that is to diminish our humanity, really. And once that is cracked open, it applies to absolutely everyone, which is why the movement that starts with a gay and lesbian movement is actually a movement that is everyone." – Robin Weigert, who plays a woman who becomes a prostitute as a way of working through a mid-life crisis brought on by a baseball to the head in the dramatic contender "Concussion."

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AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson and AP Movie Writer David Germain contributed to this report.

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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: . www.twitter.com/APSandy

In the days following President Obama's second inauguration, one important issue has consumed the nation's attention for quite some time.

What topic could be so imperative that every news outlet, talk show host and celebrity felt the need to discuss it? Whether or not Beyonce lip-synced during her performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" at President Obama's inauguration...duh!

The debate over whether or not the superstar pre-recorded audio of her singing the national anthem left us reeling. First she did, then she didn't, then she did (this time officially). But what perplexed us even more was what seemed to be a fixation with the issue.

Cartoonist Kevin Eason illustrated the media's obsession with the singer's performance rather than focusing on pertinent issues like education or immigration reform. In Eason's opinion, it seems news anchors everywhere tossed their notes on those pervasive topics and focused on Bey.

What do you think? Was the media obsessed about whether or not Beyonce lip-synced at the inauguration? Did it even matter to you? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

About the artist:
Kevin Eason is a freelance editorial cartoonist and illustrator from New Jersey. His brand of satire covers news events in politics, entertainment, sports and much more. Kevin’s work features include: Gannet, TVOne, Uptown, The Urban Daily, NAACP, Cengage Publishing, Bossip, WBLS_107.5FM, and various newspapers and magazines throughout the country. Follow him on Facebook.

The wives of some of the most successful Beverly Hills plastic surgeons are getting together to talk Botox, fake boobs and even Hollywood’s latest craze, vagina surgery, on TLC's new series "Plastic Wives."

"Vagina comes up more times than [on] any show in history," Dayna Devon, the former "Extra" host and "Plastic Wives" cast member, tells The Huffington Post. "It comes up a lot. One of the doctors on the show is the vagina doctor. For a number of reasons, the way it looks, after gravity or after kids, you want it done. It's huge in Hollywood."

The surgeons' wives have heard all the secrets of the stars.

"Celebrities say they don't want to look like Nicole Kidman. Actors and actresses need that expression," says Devon, referring to Kidman's Botox use. "I would love to know who is doing Madonna. She has had the best work done and paid a lot of money. I think we all have seen Michael Douglas has the scars. In reality, most every celebrity is doing something. I would say it's 75 percent of women celebrities have had something tweaked."

Angry about all the bad plastic surgery she has seen over the years, Devon says she wanted to be part of "Plastic Wives" to give people knowledge and power.

"People send more time researching what running shoes they buy than picking doctors. I wanted to show what a good doctor could do," says Devon.

Her advice: "Angelina's lips are the most requested, but that's a disaster waiting to happen. There is only one person in the world that can have Angelina Jolie's lips, and that's Angelina. A lot of people want to look like Jennifer Aniston, and she's been quite open about having surgery, although she said it was to correct a deviated septum. A lot of people say they want to age like Courteney Cox. This is no longer true, but people used to always say they wanted to age like Demi Moore."

TLC's "Plastic Wives" debuts Sunday, Feb. 27, at 10 p.m.

Kim Kardashian leads a fabulous lifestyle, what with all the designer wear that always hugs her famous curves, the grandiose photo shoots, her immensely popular TV show and her many endorsements. Yet, nothing is sweeter than super-fancy jewelry from her beau.

The middle Kardashian took to Instagram yesterday and posted a photo of her arm decked in new Cartier bracelets. We count at least five. She captioned it with the revealing "The Don strikes again!!! #SoLucky!!!!!!" so that no doubt remains who's pampering the reality goddess.

Earlier today Kim posted this (gorgeous, if we may) photo of her decked in the new bracelets. She captioned her photo with "Good morning #matteblacknails #allcartierwrist" before blasting it out to her 6 million Instagram fans and 17 million Twitter followers.

RadarOnline claims the bling is worth an astounding $200,000, while CBS News estimated the loot at a more "modest" $65,000.

This is not the first time Kanye West has spoiled his girlfriend-turned-baby-mama. Back in October, Yeezy dropped $1 million on Kim's 32nd birthday.

Director Steven Soderbergh spoke at length about Hollywood's early dismissal of his latest project, "Behind the Candelabra."

Earlier this month, Soderbergh revealed that his much-anticipated Liberace biopic, which stars Michael Douglas as the flamboyant piano legend and Matt Damon as his longtime lover Scott Thorson, had been deemed "too gay" by multiple movie studios despite an all-star cast.

Now "Behind the Candleabra" is now set to air on HBO, which doesn't seem to bother Soderbergh (whose credits include "Traffic," "Ocean's Eleven" and "Magic Mike," among others) one bit.

Though he calls the less-than-enthusiastic response to his new movie "a surprise," he admits, "We weren't shy about the relationship." Joking that producer Jerry Weintraub has deemed the film "'La Cage aux Folles' on steroids," Soderbergh added, "It's pretty gay, but it's also pretty entertaining."

LOS ANGELES — It's official. The force is with J.J. Abrams.

The Walt Disney Co. issued a statement Friday night confirming reports that had been circulating for two days that Abrams, Emmy-award-winning creator of TV's "Lost" and director of 2009's "Star Trek" movie, has been pegged to direct the seventh installment of the "Star Wars" franchise.

"J.J. is the perfect director to helm this," said Kathleen Kennedy, the movie's producer and president of Lucasfilm, which was acquired by Disney last month for $4.06 billion.

"Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience," Kennedy said in the statement.

The movie will have a script from "Toy Story 3" writer Michael Arndt and a 2015 release.

Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" in the original trilogy, will work as a consultant on the new project.

Abrams has already headed the reboot of another storied space franchise, "Star Trek," for rival studio Paramount Pictures. The next installment in that series, "Star Trek: Into Darkness," is set to hit theaters May 17.

But he has long been known as a "Star Wars" devotee. Abrams spoke about the plot of the original "Star Wars" in the lecture series "TED Talks" in March 2007, and reportedly became enamored of "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof partly because Lindelof was wearing a "Star Wars" T-shirt when they first met.

In 2009, Abrams told the Los Angeles Times: "As a kid, `Star Wars' was much more my thing than `Star Trek' was."

In Friday night's statement he called it an "absolute honor" to get the job.

"I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid," Abrams said.

Lucas himself said in the statement that "I've consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller. He's an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn't be in better hands."