Kate Beckinsale Says No to Nude Scenes

Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Kate Beckinsale Says No to Nude Scenes
2. Natalie Portman Stumped by the Meaning of Celibacy
3. Will Smith’s Profound Respect for Religion
4. Demi Moore: 'I am Flawed' With Beauty
5. The True Hollywood Story of FDR
 

1. Kate Beckinsale Says No to Nude Scenes

Unlike many of today’s actresses, Kate Beckinsale, best known for her roles in “Pearl Harbor” (2001), “Underworld” (2003), and “The Aviator” (2004), intends to keep herself fully clothed in future movie scenes.

A childhood memory involving her actress-mother Judy Loe is the reason for the modest approach.

When Kate was only a decade old, Beckinsale’s mom took it all off for British television.

Consequently, Beckinsale was roundly teased at school and discovered firsthand what humiliation feels like.

“The mortification of going to school! People said, ‘I've seen your mother naked.’ I literally had to beat up nine of them,” the A-list actress told U.K.’s Contact Music.

Beckinsale is determined to protect her own daughter, Lily, from experiencing anything like what she had to suffer through.

Maybe Beckinsale will influence others in Tinseltown and help deep-six some of the “R” and “NC-17” rated films.

2. Natalie Portman Stumped by the Meaning of Celibacy

Why would actress Natalie Portman turn down the chance to be in a film with Oscar-winning Meryl Streep?

The answer lies in Portman’s attitude toward Roman Catholic vocations.

“Doubt,” a film adaptation of the successful play by John Patrick Shanley (who, incidentally, directs the movie), tells the story of two nuns (Meryl Streep and Amy Adams) that confront a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whom they suspect of abusing an altar boy. Themes of religion, morality, and authority punctuate the dialogue.

Portman reportedly wanted to co-star in the movie but turned down the part for what seems like a fairly flimsy reason, considering that she’s supposed to be a professional.

“She basically said she didn't understand celibacy,” Shanley told the GossipSauce Web site.

If it took so much brainpower to understand celibacy, Portman probably could have benefited from a class in abstinence.

Instead she’s likely to find out that she made a bad career move by ultimately denying herself what actors lust after most, and that is prestige, which in Hollywood comes in the form of a little gold statue.

“Doubt” opens in limited release on Dec. 12, just in time to qualify for Oscar’s attention.

3. Will Smith’s Profound Respect for Religion

The No. 1 actor in Hollywood knows about the antipathy many in Tinseltown have toward folks with more traditional religious views.

Smith recently talked with Newsweek about those who are nervous Nellies when it comes to faith, saying, “When people are afraid of religion they have to go back and get in touch with the Good Book.”

“Fear of other religions means you're questioning your own understanding, and that's just not where I am,” Smith added.

Because of his friendship with fellow actor Tom Cruise, Smith was asked about rumors of his possible conversion to Scientology.

“I love the nature of humanity's search for meaning. For me, I'm certain about my relationship with the model of perfection of human life that's laid out with the life of Jesus Christ,” Smith explained.

“I was in India recently, and my hotel was near the Taj Mahal. Five times a day there would be a call for prayer, and it was the most beautiful thing,” the “Seven Pounds” star recounted.

Smith found a way to relate his experience abroad to his own Baptist upbringing. “I was lying in my bed thinking, no matter what your religion is, it would be great to have that reminder five times a day to remember your Lord and savior,” he said.

Smith is “at home and not fearful” when at a mosque, synagogue, temple or the Church of Scientology, explaining that he likes “anywhere people are searching for the truth.”

“I respect their path and I'm intrigued by their path,” he shared.

Respect — Hollywood ought to give that value a try.

4. Demi Moore: 'I am Flawed' With Beauty

Demi Moore is not getting the attention or roles that she used to. But the actress has an explanation at the ready.

According to Moore, filmmakers are flummoxed by her age-defying attractiveness.

“Being the age I am, it has been a tough few years because there is so much focus on how I look. It almost got to the point where I felt like, ‘Well they don't know what to do with me,’” Moore told the U.K. Hello magazine.

Moore is married to the considerably younger actor, Ashton Kutcher. She denies reports of multiple sessions of plastic surgery and instead credits her “Charlie’s Angels” looks to nutrition and various beauty regimens.

She describes her excessively good looking condition as a defect. “I am flawed,” she complained.

“I'm not 20, not 30, but I'm certainly different from what most people feel someone in her 40s should be,” Moore moaned.

Someone should tell Demi not to fret. Time will take care of her beauty burden.

5. The True Hollywood Story of FDR

Ever since Decision 2008 wrapped up, the media have spewed a bunch of bilge about how during the Great Depression President Franklin Roosevelt saved the U.S. economy with gobs of government “stimulus,” aka "central planning."

Imagine a movie script that told the true story of how FDR’s New Deal didn’t put an end to the Depression but instead actually prolonged the pain of the worst economy in American history.

The plot would include the massive government spending that removed dollars from the only source of prosperity and growth, the private sector, and put it into wasteful, inefficient federal programs.

It’s not possible to have massive spending of taxpayers’ dollars without a hike in taxes.

And when FDR raised taxes, he hit Joe the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker from every side, increasing the taxpayer’s burden on income taxes, excise taxes, inheritance taxes, dividend taxes, liquor taxes, corporate taxes, holding company taxes and, of course, “excess profits” taxes.

He also invented the Social Security payroll tax.

The sheer weight of the increased tax burden put the brakes on growth and investment and subjected the country to persistent economic doldrums.

FDR helped those who already had jobs by bolstering unions and keeping wages at a high level. This insured that those who were unemployed would not get jobs. Unemployment under the Roosevelt administration generally remained high until 1941.

If the True Hollywood Story of FDR were ever told, dialogue in the script would have to include the 1939 admission of FDR’s Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, in which he said: “We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. We have never made good on our promises . . . I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started . . . And an enormous debt to boot!”