It was a mixed bag Wednesday night for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. They came to the red carpet for “Mad Money,” Holmes’ first film release since their marriage.

In the lobby of the Mann Westwood Village theater, Cruise graciously shook hands with yours truly and Holmes and I shared a reluctant hug.

But that was it. The couple left as the Callie Khouri-directed feature unspooled and they weren’t seen again.

Even though co-stars Diane Keaton, Ted Danson and Queen Latifah made it to the lavish Overture Pictures premiere party at UCLA Westwood’s Royce Hall, the Cruises were a decided no-show. Tom’s cousin, actor William Mapother, made it to both events but didn’t know what had happened to his hosts. (Source: FOX News)

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Tom Cruise and the fabulous Katie Holmes can now add hero to their résumés. In Touch Weekly reports that in late December Tom was driving his Hummer near his home in Telluride, Colorado, with his wife, Katie, and his three children, Isabella 15, Connor, 13, and Suri, 21 months.

Hubby and wife saw a woman who was stranded when her vehicle ran off the road. An onlooker tells In Touch, “The police were waiting with the woman for a tow truck and all of a sudden, a Hummer pulled up and it was Tom Cruise!” He and his bodyguard helped push the woman’s car out of the snow.

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The weekly entertainment magazine reports that the famous family had spent the holiday week frolicking in the snow. “We ski. We have big dinners and laugh,” Katie says. “We love cooking. Tom’s really good in the kitchen. He makes great pasta carbonara and lemon pasta.”

Is there anything he doesn’t do well? Tom regularly rescues damsels in distress on the big screen. Tom and Katie, 29, wished the woman a happy New Year as they drove away. (National Ledger, Jan. 9, 2008)

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Album: January 5, 2008 – Drive in Telluride

Album: Redskins game
Updated: Des’ computer art

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TOLDJA! So the story I broke Friday night about the Writers Guild making that “independent agreement” with Tom Cruise’s and Paula Wagner’s United Artists was officially announced today. How interesting that UA and the WGA both took great care to make clear that “the agreement is unique to United Artists Films and does not involve Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), a shareholder of United Artists Entertainment.” No doubt that’s because of what I’ve already reported: that the Hollywood moguls are furious at MGM Chairman Harry Sloan for allowing this UA side deal to be negotiated since it goes against the wishes of the AMPTP.

Here’s the official United Artists and WGA announcement:

LOS ANGELES – January 7, 2008: The Writers Guild of America and legendary United Artists Films have reached a mutually beneficial independent agreement. While the details are not being disclosed in this announcement, the comprehensive agreement addresses the issues important to writers, including New Media.

As a result of this agreement, Writers Guild members will be able to work with United Artists while the strike against other companies continues.

The agreement is unique to United Artists Films and does not involve Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), a shareholder of United Artists Entertainment.

“United Artists has lived up to its name. UA and the Writers Guild came together and negotiated seriously. The end result is that we have a deal that will put people back to work,” said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West.

“This agreement is important, unique, and makes good business sense for United Artists. In keeping with the philosophy of its original founders, artists who sought to create a studio in which artists and their creative visions could flourish, we are pleased to have reached an agreement with the WGA,” said UA co-owner and CEO Paula Wagner.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had this to say today:

One-off deals do nothing to bring the WGA closer to a permanent solution for
working writers. These interim agreements are sideshows and mean only that some writers will be employed at the same time other writers will be picketing. In the end, until the people in charge at WGA decide to focus on the main event rather than these sideshows, the economic harm being caused by the strike will continue. (Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily)

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From Deadline Hollywood Daily:

Shocker! WGA to announce side deal with Tom Cruise’s United Artists; now studio moguls mad at MGM’s Sloan

SATURDAY UPDATE: I’ve just been told that the Hollywood/Big Media CEOs who belong to the AMPTP are furious at MGM chairman Harry Sloan for “allowing” this WGA-United Artists deal to go through.

FRIDAY NIGHT: This is big. This is BIG! Because WGA sources just told me that the guild has clinched an “Independent Agreement” with Tom Cruise’s and Paula Wagner’s re-started United Artists. This now means that small and struggling UA has a leg up on every other Hollywood studio because it will be able to hire the striking writers. This is to date the first so-called side deal cut by the WGA with a movie studio since the strike began on November 3rd as part of the guild’s newly articulated “divide and conquer” strategy. The WGA’s first side deal with a production company was an “interim agreement” with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants which owns both The Late Show and the Late Late Show airing on CBS. Granted, given how tiny UA is — only six executives — and how limited their movie development can be, this is more of a symbolic than a significant development in the ongoing WGA strike.

I’m told that, like Letterman’s company, UA has accepted the very same proposals that the WGA presented to the media conglomerates when the Alliance Of Motion Picture & Television Producers walked out of contract negotiations back on December 7th. “It’s the same kind of agreement that the guild made with [David Letterman's] Worldwide Pants. But ‘interim agreement’ is not the right word,” a WGA insider explained to me. “At the end of the day, once an overall agreement is done between the WGA and AMPTP, if the terms and conditions of that agreement are more favorable to UA, they will be able to enjoy that. This essentially means that UA has the ability to be in business with the WGA.”

The official announcement will be made on Sunday in order to get maximum media coverage on Monday, I understand. My sources had no information about which UA movies stalled because of the strike might get re-started. Cruise’s movies-only studio is partnered with MGM, which knew about the negotiations underway, I’ve learned.

I’m told the deal was hammered out under the utmost secrecy by UA’s Paula Wagner, who has long been Cruise’s producing partner, and WGA leaders Dave Young and Patric Verrone. Guild sources said it definitely helped during negotiations that Cruise is a longtime SAG member and Wagner also started out as an actress before she became an agent then producer and then UA studio mogul. “They said, ‘All we want to do is make movies. And we know that you can’t do that without the artists, especially the ones that create the stories. And those are the writers.’ ”

Of course, UA was originally founded some 86 years ago by movie greats Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and D.W. Griffith who wanted to get out from under the moguls’ control and start an artists-friendly studio. After a long time when the studio was essentially dormant, Cruise and Wagner announced the rebirth of UA in November 2006. They followed that up about 9 months later with the news that Merrill Lynch set up a $500 million revolving credit to finance UA’s film production.

(Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily, Jan 4th, 2008)

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. (January 5, 2008) – Bad news Suri Cruise fans, the cuddly tot won’t be lending her pipes to voice adorable German polar bear, Knut, in an animatedmovie about the cub’s life.

“Tom and Katie have no plans for Suri to begin an acting career,” a rep for the Cruise family told MSNBC’s The Scoop.

Rumors began swirling that Tom and Katie’s little one was being lined up for the role after the film’s producer, Ash R. Shah, said “I want Suri Cruise to be the English voice of Knut.”

Even if Suri did have acting ambitions, there’s little chance the bowl-cut babe could take her dreams by the reigns at the minute. According to a Cruise family friend, who spoke to MSNBC, “Suri doesn’t even speak in full sentences yet.”

Meanwhile the film itself, isn’t even ready to be made.

Though Shah reportedly has offered $5 million for Knut’s story, a Zoo rep hasn’t said yes. (Source: Access Hollywood)

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Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner’s indie movie studio is expected to announce an interim agreement with striking writers

United Artists, the independent arm of MGM revived in 2006 and run by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, is in talks with the striking Writers Guild of America for an interim deal that would cover the studio’s movie projects, as first reported by Deadline Hollywood and confirmed by reports in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. On Monday, an official announcement is expected regarding the interim deal, which sources told the trades will be similar to the one the WGA made with David Letterman’s Worldwide Pants (that pact allowed the writing staffs of Letterman’s The Late Show and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson to return to work). The deal would not cover UA’s parent MGM.

A WGA source told Variety that several other indies are engaged in some level of negotiations for interim deals. However, negotiations between the WGA and the group that represents the majors, the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, have not commenced since talks broke down Dec. 7.

One UA project that may pick up steam again should a deal with the WGA be announced: Oliver Stone’s My Lai Massacre project, Pinkville, which stopped production in mid-November (UA said at the time a script rewrite was needed to proceed). (Source: Entertainment Weekly)

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