After a hilarious (yet insightful) Comic-Con panel, the stars and producers of "Supernatural" hit the press room to shed further light on their characters and the direction of Season 8.

HuffPost TV caught Jared Padalecki, Jeremy Carver, Ben Edlund, Jim Beaver and Mark Sheppard on the press line (sadly no Misha Collins or Jensen Ackles this time) to discuss what's coming up for the Winchesters, their allies and enemies in the next season.

Jared Padalecki

On Sam's mindset and emotional stability going into Season 8: "He's happy; he's Winchester brother happy! [Laughs.] Nothing's ever going to be lollipops and candy canes, he's obviously had a lot of hurt and a lot of loss in his life; obviously he's had demon blood in him, he's done it all. He's able to finally resolve himself to get out of it, to get away, to say 'listen, I've lost everything -- I got it back and lost it all over again, it's too much.' He's wanted to live a normal life for a long, long time, so he's able to finally go 'You know what? I'm gonna go try to live a normal life and walk away from it, to get a job and get a dog.'"

On his new love interest: "We do see his love interest but we see it only in flashbacks. This one's not a demon, she's not going to end up on the roof, the Yellow Eyed Demon is dead, Sam's out of the life so he's not putting anyone in harm's way as far as he's concerned. But he has a relationship with this girl. It's not gonna affect Sam and Dean's relationship because Sam and Amelia are done by the time Dean shows back up."

Jeremy Carver:

How he approached coming back to the show after being with "Being Human": "The most significant change for me is that for the last two years I've been telling stories from the monsters' point of view, and this year I'm telling stories from the perspective of two guys whose mission in life is to kill monsters so that's the biggest shift. [Laughs.] But truly, it was an honor to be asked back."

On the broad strokes of next season: The boys have spent a significant amount of time apart from each other, when they reunite they're coming from slightly different perspectives -- or renewed perspectives on life, it takes a special sort of quest to get them back in the mire together and it's one that again, is very near and dear to their hearts and they're very much interested in going on the offensive.

On bringing it back to the emotional core of the characters: "For me, the main attraction to the story has always been the emotional connection between the boys. After seven seasons, we have such a deep, deep mythology that it can be a little hard to keep track of. My idea was to reel it back just a little bit and make the mythology almost a reboot, so that everyone can catch their breath and so that we can set up a -- hopefully -- seasons long mythology."

Ben Edlund

On where we'll find Sam and Dean mentally next season: "Maybe a little shocked to realize that in this profound period of separation, they've figured out how to survive without each other. That's part of it, a little bit growing up and realizing that they can't be the only things to each other or they have too closed a world or too closed an emotional complex. [They'll meet] new people, have new relationships, and are looking outward from this partnership that is both highly functional in terms of saving the world but also highly dysfunctional in terms of how you might relate to the world."

On Castiel's arc next season: "I think he's -- in the most general sense -- he's moving back towards his roots in a way. He's an angel who's had all these strange experiences with free will and he's actually starting to gravitate back towards ... towards home in a sense, but that's gonna be a different home because the angels' home has been destroyed. He's got a story to play, but it'll take a little longer than the other ones because we kind of front-load it with the boys and then bring him in."

Check back later for our interviews with Jim Beaver and Mark Sheppard.

Anne Hathaway is rumoured to be pregnant with her first child.

The 29-year-old Devil Wears Prada actress and her fiance Adam Schulman reportedly arranged a dinner in New York on Thursday night to announce the happy news to family and close friends.

A source told RadarOnline.com: "Not only did both Anne and Adam have their parents at dinner with them, which is unusual, but the amount of enthusiasm and excitement made it clear that they were celebrating some major news, and while everyone else sipped on wine at dinner, Anne didn't drink any alcohol, which is an indication that she could be pregnant."

The party celebrated into the wee small hours at the Picholine restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side and, according to the source, the actress was said to have a visible baby bump.

"It looked like there was a bump on her belly," they said.

"Anne and Adam are already engaged, so the only other good news could be a baby on the way!"

The couple - who have been together since 2008 and engaged since November last year - have yet to set a date for their wedding.

Meanwhile, Anne has revealed how much fun she had playing Catwoman in the forthcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

She told The Daily Record: “The training was really hard but it actually ended up being fun because I got to learn how to fight.

“The training had to get me to a place where I could believably defend myself against guys three times the size of me.

“I had an absolute blast. The day we finished the rooftop fight was one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had as an actor."

> IN PICS: PREGNANT CELEBS

Madonna is to be sued by France's far-right National Front party after the singer showed an image of the leader, Marine Le Pen, with a swastika imposed on her forehead during a concert in Paris.

The image formed part of a video to accompany the song Nobody Knows Me performed as part of Madonna's 80-date MDNA world tour.

National Front vice-president, Florian Philippot, said a lawsuit would be filed this week

"This is just another provocation in Madonna's world tour so that people will talk about her," he said.

"Marine Le Pen will defend not only her own honour but her supporters and the millions of National Front voters."

Marine Le Pen had already warned that she would take Madonna to court if she aired the video in France after she showed it on the opening night in Tel Aviv in May.

"If she tries that in France, we'll see what happens," she told The Guardian. "It's understandable when ageing singers who need publicity go to such extremes."

Ouch.

Madonna is due to perform in France again on 21 August, in Nice.

> IN PICS: MADONNA 'TURN UP THE RADIO' VIDEO SHOOT

Things are getting absolutely crazy on "Mob Wives: Chicago" (Sun., 8 p.m. ET on VH1). When Nora initially decided to leave Christina's dinner party for fear she'd wind up in a physical altercation with Renee, she probably should have stood by that decision.

Instead, she came back and exactly what she expected to happen went down. And then some. Nora found herself in a fight with both Renee and Pia.

Of course, it was her own mouth that lead to her getting a black eye. She called Pia a "whore" for dancing in a strip club, remember that Nora had also danced as a stripper and Pia had been keeping her secret from the other women.

Then, out of nowhere, Nora shouted to Renee, "Your father raped you every f***ing day!" There was no basis for this claim, so she must have just been going for shock value on this one, and she got just what she wanted, as the women gave one of the ugliest fights yet seen on reality television.

At the "Sons Of Anarchy" panel at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Jimmy Smits and Harold Perrineau talked about their guest arcs on the show's fifth season, which arrives Sept. 11 on FX. And after the panel, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, series creator Kurt Sutter revealed that the show will likely end after its seventh season.

"We have a sense of it playing out in seven [seasons], Sutter told THR. "At this point, which is not outside the realm of possibility, I think I'd really have to f--- things up not to get seven seasons."

Earlier in the panel, Sutter talked about his vision for concluding the series. "As we came into Season 5, it was really the first season I had to have a very clear sense of what my endgame is. Now I have to write that endgame," Sutter said.

Charlie Hunnam, who plays Jax Teller, the conflicted biker at the heart of the show, wasn't at the panel, but Sutter was asked if the show could ever function without all three of the lead characters -- Jax, Gemma and Clay. "I don't think the show continues without Jax, it's his journey."

Introducing his new gang-member character Nero Padilla, Smits quipped, "I'm just happy I don't have to wear a suit."

"It was a character that I'd been thinking about for a couple of seasons," Sutter said, "and he had taken a couple of different shapes and forms. We landed on the idea of Nero, who is an outlaw from a different environment" and a potential mentor for Jax, the conflicted biker at the heart of the show.

Perrineau said his character, a criminal named Damon Pope, brought back memories of growing up in a tough Brooklyn environment. He said that a relative recently told him, "I'm so glad you made it" out of the neighborhood, the actor said.

"She didn't think I was tough enough to make it out of there. It was really extreme circumstances," and those memories allowed him to find a way into the character, the "Lost" veteran reflected.

Pope is "a guy who had come out of the streets and really changed the perception of who he was," Sutter said. He wanted an actor who could portray refinement and vulnerability while standing up in front of a city council meeting in a suit and tie, and yet also had an ability to "turn dark and do some of the things that he does in the first couple of episodes. There's a handful of actors who can pull that off, and Harold is one of them."

In the fifth season, Katey Sagal's character, Gemma Teller-Morrow, has split from Jax's stepfather, Clay Morrow, and hooks up with Smits' character.

"Gemma's sort of lost all the things that matter to her -- her marriage is falling apart and her son is at the head of the [club's] table but her daughter-in-law is giving her a problem ... She's falling apart," Sagal said. With Nero, "she feels he's a kindred spirit and a safe place. They just have a lot of chemistry, it's one of those unspoken things."

As for Clay, he begins the season looking pretty sick, and he's very much on the outside of the Sons, the motorcycle club he co-founded.

"It's the same guy but a completely different set of circumstances," said actor Ron Perlman, who plays the patriarch. He added that he enjoyed taking on the portrayal of a changed Clay. Getting that acting challenge was "very fortunate," he noted.

In writing Clay's arc this season, Sutter said he asked himself, "What does Clay look like broken? What does his remorse look like? What does that look like from an alpha-male, narcissistic Machiavellian like Clay Morrow?" The goal wasn't to get the audience to like the character again, it was just to create a story from the "truth of the circumstances he's created."

Ashley Tisdale and Joel McHale are also among Season 5's guest stars, but the most unusual cameo could be that of biker Chuck Zito, whom Sutter had castigated with typical bluntness a couple of years ago on his blog after Zito filed a lawsuit claiming he had the original idea for "Sons Of Anarchy."

The blog post "was horrendous, I completely humiliated the dude, which, if you know Chuck, is just insane," Sutter said Saturday. "I felt really bad as the [lawsuit] was going on, I realized I had completely mischaracterized Chuck. He truly felt wronged. I felt bad."

After the lawsuit was thrown out of court, Sutter had lunch with Zito, who showed up in a Sons of Anarchy "cut" or leather jacket.

"I thought, either this is really bad" and he still felt he was owed ownership of the show, or he's a fan of the drama," Sutter said. It turned out Zito was "a superfan and we had a great lunch" and ultimately he asked Zito to appear on the show.

LONDON — Tom Jones has apologized to fans after pulling out of an Olympic celebration concert in London after contracting bronchitis.

The 72-year-old Welsh crooner had been due to entertain tens of thousands of people at the outdoor concert in Hyde Park on Saturday. He was replaced by British singer Will Young.

Jones tweeted "sorry to all," adding that doctors had ordered him to cancel gigs scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.

He later added: "Thanks for all the lovely messages, I don't know if everyone's understanding and support is making me feel better or worse! You're the best!"

The concert was part of the BT London Live series that is offering fans without Olympic tickets an opportunity to listen to music and watch sports on big screens.

James Cameron's "Avatar" business doesn't have an official motto, but perhaps the King of the World should consider something like "slow and steady wins the race."

In a New York Times feature profile about Cameron's purchase of 2,500 acres of land at New Zealand's Lake Pounui, the director revealed that "Avatar 2" will probably arrive in theaters sometime after 2015, with part three arriving after that. Moreover, reports of "Avatar 4" are a bit "premature," though Cameron "hasn't ruled it out," according to the Times.

For those "Avatar" fans obsessively following the development process of the sequels, none of this is too surprising. "Avatar 2" was initially set to hit theaters in 2014, but but that was recently pushed back to 2016 -- at the earliest. The 2015 date that Cameron cites is actually an improvement on that timeline. Cameron is planning to work on the scripts for the films in the fall after he moves his family to New Zealand. (That story is wild and Pandora-like in its own right; click over to the Times to read more.)

As for the fourth "Avatar" film, perhaps Cameron hasn't ruled it out since he's the person who brought up the idea of it in the first place.

"I’m making 'Avatar 2,' 'Avatar 3,' maybe 'Avatar 4,'" Cameron told the Times during an interview about the Chinese film industry back in May. "I’m not going to produce other people’s movies for them. I’m not interested in taking scripts."

That's good, because he'll likely be busy over the next decade bringing the "Avatar" universe back to theaters. The first film grossed $2.7 billion worldwide, so expect Twentieth Century Fox -- the studio that distributed "Avatar" -- to be very patient with Cameron during the process.

For more on his New Zealand relocation, head over to the Times.

RELATED:

Sorry, ladies: Mark-Paul Gosselaar is officially off the market.

One year after the Franklin & Bash star proposed to advertising executive Catriona McGinn, the couple said "I do" on Saturday at the Sunstone winery in Santa Ynez, Calif.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- The producer of this year's Emmy Awards said it's a challenge to decide who to include in the ceremony's memorial tribute.

About three-dozen stars and other industry notables typically are honored in the "in memoriam" segment, although many more are deserving, executive producer Don Mischer said Friday.

He said he and the TV academy identify the late actors and other TV notables who will create an "emotional response" among Emmy viewers. That drew a wry observation from Jimmy Kimmel, who will host the Sept. 23 awards on ABC.

"I love that even in death, you're subject to a popularity contest," Kimmel said.

Omissions typically are more an issue for the Oscars than the Emmys. But some viewers objected when the death of "Taxi" star Jeff Conaway wasn't noted in last year's Emmy tribute.

Other than the host, the segment is consistently the audience's favorite part of the telecast, Mischer said told a meeting of the Television Critics Association.

He was asked if Andy Griffith, who died July 3 at age 86, would get special attention because of the actor's beloved 1960s comedy, "The Andy Griffith Show," and his subsequent long-running legal drama, "Matlock."

There are ways to focus attention on individuals with a unique position in the industry, Mischer said, such as placing their tribute at the beginning or end of the memorial segment.

ABC late-night host Kimmel was asked if he was annoyed the network didn't ask him to host the Emmys the last time it aired the awards, in 2008. The emcee job went to five reality TV show hosts, including Jeff Probst of "Survivor" and Heidi Klum of "Project Runway," who were roundly panned.

Kimmel said he took some satisfaction in the outcome.

"I was able to look good by not doing anything at all. That's my goal in life, by the way," he said.

___

Online:

We spend lots of time focusing on what stars wear (and any wardrobe malfunctions they may have), but what about what they put on their faces? Although makeup may not seem important, it can be controversial and plenty of women won't leave home without it.

In a survey, two-thirds of British women said that heading to the office bare-faced caused them more stress than public speaking, going on a first date or enduring a job interview. 91 percent of women surveyed would rather cancel a first date altogether than go without makeup on. And in the U.S., women spend around $7 billion on cosmetics every year.

And that doesn't even include hair. The AP recently reported that in 1950, about seven percent of women dyed their hair. Today? 95 percent or more.

With all that beauty-obsession (and our own love of makeup) in mind, we're taking a look at This Week In Beauty. From this week forward, we'll be showcasing the best, worst and most interesting styles of hair, makeup and nails that we came across this week. Take a look, get inspired and vote for your faves!

Another day, another Madonna controversy. At a small club show in Paris last week, the pop superstar was booed mercilessly by fans who shouted for refunds after the brief, 45-minute set. Now, however, it appears the unrest wasn't the result of the show's length. According to TMZ, a small group of concertgoers started the trouble in response to Madonna's treatment of French politician Marine Le Pen.

As you may have heard, Madonna has caused quite a stir during her MDNA tour by showing a photo of the French National Front leader with a swastika superimposed on her face.

Per TMZ, the irate audience members who started the trouble at the Olympia club "were overheard yelling about Marine Le Pen."

Following the show, Madonna's public relations team released the following statement:

Madonna's Paris club show was planned as her heartfelt thank you to France which she expressed at the start of her show. Despite a grueling concert tour, she desperately wanted to perform for her fans in an intimate setting at the historic Olympia as a means to honor her love for French artists, French cinema and a tribute to France's long history of welcoming and inspiring artists, authors, painters, poets and minorities from other countries over the years. The show was not billed as her full MDNA concert and tremendous effort was made to keep the ticket prices reasonable ($100 for 2000 floor seats) and keep them strictly for her fans. The show cost Madonna close to a million dollars to produce. She has done a handful of club dates in the past and they were never more than 45 minutes. And by the way, she put on a fabulous show which was streamed for millions of fans around the world.

For her part, Madonna isn't backing down from the inflammatory imagery. She defended the swastika use as highlighting "the intolerance human beings have for one another."

"I always like to tell a story," the 53-year-old singer told a Brazilian television station (via the New York Times. "Music should be about ideas, right? Ideas inspire music."

As previously reported on HuffPost Entertainment, your one-stop shop for Madonna news, the image appears behind the popstar during her rendition of "Nobody Knows Me." Earlier this month, National Front vowed to sue the singer after the image appeared during a concert in Paris.

For more on Madonna's recent dust-up, including why true Madge fans know the booing in Paris wasn't a result of the brief set, click over to TMZ.

[via TMZ]

Brooke Mueller has a brand new boyfriend in her life and she's telling friends it NEVER could have happened if not for her ex, Charlie Sheen.

'Call Me Maybe' is the song that just keeps on giving -- covers and parodies, that is.

Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen has created a monster as there is no escaping this ultra catchy song, not even at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

The USA Olympic swim team just released their own cover of Jepsen's No. 1 hit single, but the good people at NOC have brought us a hilarious new parody that pokes fun at Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps' rivalry.

2012 is Lochte's year, as he already proved by leaving Phelps in his dust -- wining the gold medal in the 400-meter individual medley, while Phelps finished fourth on July 28.

Despite the rivalry, Phelps and Lochte are still pals, but NOC's parody's doesn't hold back anything back with lyrics that suggest Lochte has a darker side, and is looking to destroy the 14-time Olympic gold medal winner:

I'm in a personal hell/ I kind of hate Michael Phelps/I wish he'd drown in a well/ That dude is in my way

When I first saw that guy swim/ He got nothing but wins/I could've sworn he had fins/ But now he's in my way

More gold than Mark Spitz/ Strange pecs, taking bong hits/ Stay smooth, shave your armpits/ Where you think you're swimming, Mikey?

Hey, I'm not Michael, don't eat at Subway/ But this is my year, so call me Lochte/ It's hard to swim right, by Phelps baby/But this is my year, so call me Lochte

Now I'm the king of the pool/ I made you look like a tool/Bob Costas thinks that I'm cool/I pushed you out of my way

You were my idol/Now you're just a rival/Don't get suicidal/Where you think you're swimming, Mikey?

Check out the best "Call Me Maybe" videos and parodies below.

There's nothing quite like a potty East Ender railing against the injustices of the day; and when Terry Jones of Monty Python fame is the voice of the person in question, the result is truly sublime.

While the Olympics host city would probably like us to believe that simply everyone in the country is on board with hosting the games, it's never the case. In fact, the event can be a downright nuisance for the taxpaying citizens who live within the city limits. And Brick Lane Bertha here is no exception.

The animated short above, created by The Final Edition, is a treat for fans of Jones' "Life Of Brian" mother character, or pretty much any of the female characters he played over the years. It's also a bit of a cathartic balm for those of us who were tired of The Olympics before they even started.

Because you've always wondered about the origins of the Gold Room at the Overlook Hotel, Warner Bros. is kicking the tires on a prequel to "The Shining."

According to the Los Angeles Times, the studio has enlisted Laeta Kalogridis, Bradley Fischer and James Vanderbilt to work on the project, which would precede the events in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's best-selling book.

For his part, King is working on a sequel to "The Shining," but it doesn't appear that the prequel is connected with that novel. King's new book would focus on a now-grown Danny Torrance, the son of "Shining" protagonist Jack Torrance (played in the film by Jack Nicholson).

The author wasn't the biggest fan of Kubrick's take on "The Shining." As King was quoted as saying, he felt "The Shining" never grabbed audiences "by the throat and hangs on the way real horror should."

"The Shining" was readapted into a television miniseries back in 1997, but it will be forever remembered as the horror classic that gave audiences such iconic moments as "REDRUM" and "Here's Johnny!"

For more on "The Shining" prequel and why Kalogridis is a potentially perfect choice to handle its path to the big screen, head over to the Times.

[via LAT/24 Frames]

A Tenacious D concert in Las Vegas ended abruptly on Saturday after an altercation between two audience members led to a stabbing.

According to a Las Vegas Review Journal report, Jack Black and Kyle Gass were about halfway through their show at Mandalay Bay when the fight broke out.

TMZ is reporting that one person was stabbed in the leg and taken to the hospital, but that the wound was not life-threatening. The concert was cut short by a half hour and the audience was instructed by officials not to leave until the area was secure.

Tenacious D is currently touring in support of their latest album Rize of the Fenix, which was released in May, and are scheduled to perform on Sunday at the SDSU Open Air Theatre in San Diego.

Despite much debate on Saturday afternoon over whether the massacre in Aurora, Colo. on July 20 would negatively affect ticket sales for the rest of the summer, "The Dark Knight Rises" easily topped a pair of newcomers at the box office. Thanks to a massive Saturday night bounce (up 42 percent from Friday, according to Deadline.com), Christopher Nolan's Batman finale earned an estimated $64.1 million over the three-day frame.

That gives "The Dark Knight Rises" roughly $289.1 million in North American grosses -- and over $500 million worldwide -- after just 10 days of release. (As the Los Angeles Times notes, Warner Bros. did not officially report "Dark Knight Rises" earnings for a second straight week out of respect for the victims in Aurora.)

While that still counts as a significant gross under normal circumstances, "The Dark Knight Rises" is running roughly $25 million behind "The Dark Knight," which came out in 2008. That could have to do with the Aurora massacre -- nearly 20 percent of potential moviegoers were reportedly still spooked by the tragedy and planning to stay home, according to research released last week -- but also the London Olympics. ("The Dark Knight" didn't have to contend with the Beijing games in 2008, as they started in August.)

As for the new releases, "The Watch" and "Step Up Revolution" both stumbled in their debuts. Whether audiences stayed away from "The Watch" because of residual fears, Olympic fanfare or simple disinterest is unclear, but the Ben Stiller comedy flopped during its opening weekend. Despite Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill leading the way, "The Watch" earned just $13.5 million. That's only about $500,000 more than "That's My Boy" earned during its disappointing opening. (Both films are R-rated.)

"Step Up Revolution" fared even worse, with just $11.8 million in ticket sales.

For the full box office report, head over to THR.com.

Katie Holmes and her daughter Suri feed giraffes while spending the afternoon at the Bronx Zoo on Saturday (July 28) in New York City.

Amy Winehouse dressed as Frida Kahlo?

Argentinean artist Carolina Gallo created this striking image of the late English singer and song writer dressed as Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, with an emblematic unibrow and slight facial hair. The image closely resembles Kahlo's "Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird." We're not sure exactly what the painting means, but some say the comparison between the two artists is obvious.

Michael Lopez of MTV Tr3s writes, "They were both immensely talented, fiercely original and gone from this world way too soon."

What do you think of the image? Pointless or poignant? Let us know in the comment section below.

PHOTO:

It's been a tough week for Robert Pattinson. Not only is he having some serious relationship problems with Kristen Stewart, he's having to deal with them in the public spotlight.

So where does one go to escape from the drama and mend a broken heart? To his pal and "Water for Elephants" co-star Reese Witherspoon's house, of course.

According to People, Pattinson has been hiding out at Witherspoon's Ojai, Calif., vacation home since he was reportedly blindsided by news that Stewart had cheated on him with her "Snow White and the Huntsman" director, Rupert Sanders.

"There was no sign that either of them was unhappy," a source close to the actor told People. "He would have done anything for her."

News broke on July 24 that all was not well between KStew and RPatz -- and Us Weekly had the photos to prove it. Intimate shots of Stewart and Sanders taken at a local lookout point hit newsstands July 25 and Stewart quickly responded with a heartfelt -- and very public -- apology to Pattinson, telling the world: "I love him, I love him, I'm so sorry."

Sanders, who is married to British actress-model Liberty Ross, with whom he has two children, followed with a public apology of his own.

So far, there has been no word from Pattinson, though he reportedly asked Stewart to move out of the Los Feliz, Calif., home they share. Moving vans were spotted outside the property over the weekend.

For more on Pattinson's heartbreak, head over to People.

Check out a photo of Witherspoon's Ojai, Calif., home below: