Sandra Bullock has already jinxed herself for the Oscars. “I’m so not winning an Oscar,” said Bullock, whose work is finally receiving acclaim. Her star turn in The Blind Side has earned her an Academy Award nomination for this year’s awards ceremony, to be held in the heart of Hollywood at the Kodak Theatre on March 7.

But the star of such light weight rom-coms as The Proposal told reporters at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival: “Nine times out of 10 I always pick who’s going to win. And I already know who’s going to win. I’m not going to say, but nine times out of 10 I’m right.”

Bullock, 45, was picking up the American Riviera Award for the influence she has shown in film.

Before that she won best actress in a drama at the at Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild award.

But she just said: “I have to say, all the ladies in our category, we don’t care who wins. Someone’s going to win and the rest of us will be really happy for whoever won. We’re just happy to be here. And we like the company we’re in.”

She noted: “You go home and you have to pick up dog poop … To me, that’s not mundane, though. Life is tricky enough that I actually love and embrace the normal day-to-day rituals. You get up, you make your coffee, read your paper, you do the school run, you go do your things. I’m just lucky that I get to do them.”

Couric, 53, who is an anchor on CBS Evening News, has a 17-year age gap with her entrepreneur boyfriend Brooks Perlin but said she doesn’t like the term “cougar”.

She said to US magazine Harper’s Bazaar: “I just find it stupid. I think it also surmises that the older woman is always the pursuer. That’s not necessarily true.

“I always say that maybe the older woman is the prey and someone else is the predator. It’s just silly.”

James Cameron’s 3D epic Avatar has finally been toppled at the box office by Amanda Seyfried’s new romantic drama Dear John.

Seyfried and co-star Channing Tatum’s Dear John took $32.4m in its opening weekend, to take over as America’s number one movie.

Avatar fell one place to second spot but still sold $23.6m in tickets, taking its US total to a record-breaking $630.1m

The movie was recently nominated for nine Oscars and has taken a whopping $2.2bn, beating Cameron’s previous record holder, $1.8bn Titanic.

Actress Keira Knightley said people regularly call her a ’sh** actress’ in interviews.

The 24-year-old is currently starring in the West End production of The Misanthrope in London and has previously appeared in movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Atonement.

She told ELLE magazine: “Every time I do an interview with the English press, one of their questions is: ‘How do you feel knowing that everyone thinks you’re a sh** actress’?”

However, her wages prove she can’t be that bad – two years ago she was named as the second-highest-earning actress by Forbes.

Angelina Jolie has got the better of Jennifer Aniston yet again – out-earning her by $1 million over the past year, according to Vanity Fair’s Hollywood’s Top 40 list.

Jolie raked in $21 million to put her at number 32 in Hollywood’s highest earners list.

Almost all the moolah, $20 million, came from her fee for the upcoming action blockbuster Salt, which will hits theatres in July.

Her additional $1 million came from royalties from previous films, according to the magazine’s estimates.

Aniston appeared at number 31, earning $20 million last year.

The former Friends actress had to work a little harder for her position on the list, with $8 million each for The Bounty Hunter with Gerard Butler and The Baster. She banked a further $3 million for 2008’s Marley & Me and $1 million from He’s Just Not That Into You.

Prince Of Persia star Jake Gyllenhaal is quite a ‘goofy’ person, according to his co-star Gemma Arterton.

Arterton, 24, plays the role of Tamina opposite Gyllenhaal in the new movie, which is out later this year.

Asked about working with Gyllenhaal, she said: “He’s absolutely gorgeous and lovely, and quite goofy once you get to know him.

“The film was originally a video game so there was a lot of pressure on him from the fans, but he really went for it – he worked out every day, on top of filming. I’ve got no idea how he managed it.”

Mel Gibson has called a US reporter an “ass****” live on TV.

The actor was appearing via a satellite link on Chicago’s WGN-TV to promote his new movie Edge Of Darkness.

But when reporter Dean Richards began questioning him about his past drunken exploits, things turned sour.

Gibson was arrested back in 2006 for DUI and famously went on an anti-semitic rant and later called the arresting officer “sugar t*ts”.

But the star did not want to relive that episode during the interview and called Richards an “ass****” under his breath as the interview came to an end.

Richards initially asked Gibson about the movie, before moving on to the question: “Do you think the public will perceive you differently after all you have been through?”

Holding a coffee cup and smirking, Gibson responded: “What are you referring to specifically?”

Richards then told him: “The drinking problems, what’s been called the anti-semitic rant … you know what I am talking about.”

Gibson looked uncomfortable as he replied: “Ok so that’s almost four years ago, dude, I’ve moved on, I guess you haven’t.”

Richards then tried to continue to get an answer out of Gibson as he prodded: “I am just wondering if you think the public has moved on or if they perceive you in the same light?”

But Gibson snapped back: “Well I certainly hope so, you know, it is a while back and I’ve done all the necessary mea culpa, so let’s move on dude.”

As Richards then cut short the interview, Gibson nonchalantly drinks out of his coffee cup before mumbling the derogatory term before sarcastically saying: “Bye, bye.”

Jennifer Garner has joked that she and her new BFF Jessica Biel should swap their famous partners – Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

The 37-year-old mum-of-two made the cheeky comment in a magazine interview with Biel.

The two women, who appear on the cover of the March issue of US Marie Claire, play best friends in the romantic comedy Valentine’s Day.

Asked whether they gossip about their respective partners, Garner quipped: “Yeah, from time to time we talk about swapping.”

In the interview, Garner, who is married to Affleck gushes about her husband Affleck and the 37-year-old actor’s commitment to his new movie project, The Town – which he wrote, stars in and directs.

She said: “I’m so impressed by his discipline. He gets up and works out every day at 4am before heading off to work. Every day.”

In contrast to her co-star, Biel revealed that she isn’t ready for marriage and motherhood just yet.

She said: “I’m just happy with my life right now. I don’t know the answer to that.”

But she insisted that it helps to be dating someone famous who can share the limelight.

“It does help to have a partner who understands what fame is about and can share that with you,” she said of her 29-year-old pop star boyfriend.

“It’s a hurdle you don’t have to get over.”

Jon Fiore told Radaronline.com that Brooke Mueller – the mother of Sheen’s twin boys – checked into a North Carolina centre to deal with emotional issues caused by the high-profile Christmas fallout with the actor.

“Brooke is doing great,” Fiore told the website. “Brooke is getting massages daily at Two Dreams [Outer Banks in North Carolina] and even played tennis with her mother while she was visiting.”

Despite widespread reports that Mueller is battling an addiction, Fiore denied that she had been admitted to the facility for any drug or alcohol abuse.

“She is just there to heal herself from all the stress. There really wasn’t any kind of drugs involved. Her body was in turmoil and she had a lot of stress, so she went there to rest and get away from everything.”

Dame Helen Mirren has said she is ‘very happy’ about her recently announced Oscar nomination.

The 64-year-old star is up for the Best Actress award at the 82nd Academy Awards next month.

She is nominated for her role as Leo Tolstoy’s wife in The Last Station.

She said: “I’m very happy and honoured for Christopher, myself and our film.

“I think Tolstoy himself would have been perplexed by all this, but Sofya his wife would have been over the moon.

“So, in that spirit, I am too.”

Mirren’s co-star Christopher Plummer has also received a nomination for an Oscar, in the actor in a supporting role category.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie and her brother James Haven have posted a tribute to their late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, on YouTube.

The pair have put together a short video clip featuring home movies of the family in 1981 – when Jolie was just six years old.

The clip shows the Salt star and her brother as children with their mother messing around during a holiday in Hawaii.

Bertrand is seen giggling and hugging her children near the beach before doing a hula-style dance with the young Jolie.

In a different shot, Bertrand, who died from cancer on 27 January 2007, is seen grinning at the camera in a hotel room before hiding around a corner.

The video begins with the words: “One place Marcheline loved was Hawaii – she made many happy memories for her family there.”

The video ends with the message, “We Miss You Mum… With Love Angelina and James”.

The clip was posted on YouTube to mark the three-year anniversary of Bertrand’s death.

It’s a battle of the divas as Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher comes pout to snout with Miss Piggy in a new Disney TV ad.

Dressed in a white vest top and jeans, with a tool-belt slung around her hips, the actress looks more like handyman Mike Delfino from the hit TV show.

But it’s all part of a campaign to encourage people to volunteer in exchange for a free day pass to one of the US Disney theme parks.

In contrast, Miss Piggy is dressed head-to-toe in pink, including a pink hardhat and matching gloves.

”Miss Piggy, it’s so great of you to be donating your talents,” Hatcher, 45, says.

”Thanks Teri,” replies the Muppet Show star. “There are those who actually see me as selfish, insensitive…”

Hatcher cuts in and says, “Thoughtless…”, but then quickly corrects herself by saying: “I mean… how thoughtless?”

Then Hatcher reminds Miss Piggy that she will get a free ticket to a US Disney park for volunteering her services.

Habitat for Humanity – the charity where volunteers can help build homes for the poor – is among the US organisations involved in the campaign.

Source: Splash News

Talk show host Jay Leno said he felt “really bad” for Conan O’Brien leaving the Tonight Show – but jabbed that his failure in ratings had been “destructive” to the famous franchise.

In a sombre interview with Oprah Winfrey, the TV veteran finally opened up about the late-night shuffle fiasco that has become one of the hottest stories in the showbiz world.

He said he felt bad for O’Brien losing what he dubbed in his last episode his “dream job” – but didn’t feel responsible for the outcome.

“I did, I felt really bad for Conan, I think it’s unfair, but television is unfair,” he said. “The reason was the ratings.”

He added: “It’s really just a matter of dollars and cents – if the numbers had been there, they wouldn’t have asked me (to take over the Tonight Show). I only got it after Conan turned (the move in time) down.”

Leno said NBC “couldn’t have handled it worse, the whole thing was a huge mess”.

But he said he would have O’Brien as a guest on his show and added: “I hope Conan gets a job somewhere else … and we all compete together, and it raises the level of interest and you know what happens? The best man wins. Maybe I will get my butt kicked, maybe we will win.”