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SUBBED: After a premature exit by Kate Winslet, director Woody Allen has tapped Lost in Translation costar Scarlett Johansson, 19, to join Emily Mortimer and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers on the set of his latest film, due to begin production shortly at London's Ealing Studios, notes the Hollywood Reporter. Winslet, 28, who recently won kudos for her starring role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, dropped out of the project Friday, the trade paper notes, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.
OPENED: Surviving family of rock 'n' roll legend Jimi Hendrix entered court Monday for the opening of a legal battle over the superstar's $80-million estate, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The late musician's brother, Leon Hendrix, 56, has sued to challenge his father's will, which cut him out of a share in Jimi Hendrix's estate. According to Leon's attorneys, Janie Hendrix – the adopted daughter of Jimi Hendrix's father, Al, who inherited the song copyrights to his son's music – bullied her father to gain control of the Jimi Hendrix estate and then indulged lavishly on the family tab.
SETTLED: Marlon Brando and his former personal assistant, Caroline Barrett, have settled a lawsuit over a $185,000 "gift," AP reports. Brando, 80, claimed the sum was a loan; Barrett, who says she worked for the "On the Waterfront" star from 1976 to 2001, said it had been a gift intended to help her buy a London home in the mid-1980s.
UPLOADED: In a trial promotion using file-sharing network Kazaa, singer Steve Winwood, 56, has made available a previously unreleased, eight-minute live version of "Dear Mr. Fantasy," notes Reuters. The catch: Embedded in the download file is a 5-second ad steering users to the Web site of syndicated TV program Access Hollywood – where fans can hear other Winwood tracks, buy Winwood's latest CD and register to win an autographed guitar.
