Celebrities: May 2008 Archives

Jude Law did his bit for world peace yesterday (Monday May 19), attending the premiere of The Day After Peace, a documentary he worked on with filmmaker pal Jeremy Gilley.

Gilley, the founder of the Peace One Day organization, successfully lobbied world leaders and the United Nations General Assembly, who in 2001, with resolution A/Res/55/282, established an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on September 21. Gilley documented his journey towards Peace Day in the 1999 film, Peace One Day.

Though he's yet to achieve actual world peace, even for one day, the annual vacation from violence that Gilley helped create has had a profound effect. Last year, 27.6 million people in 200 countries observed Peace Day in some way.

As part of an ongoing quest to persuade those who bear arms to give up the nasty habit for at least 24 hours, Gilley and Law made a secret trip to Afghanistan, where they shot footage for a follow-up film. The resulting documentary, The Day After Peace, features Kofi Annan, The Dalai Lama, Annie Lennox, Jonny Lee Miller, and Angelina Jolie.

U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Jolie is shown in the film meeting with Gilley at his home, which is somewhat more modest than the Hollywood star has become accustomed to. Law and Gilley weren’t tempted to track down other A-listers for their project however. "Organizations can drown under the weight of too many faces," said Law in Cannes.

As an A-lister himself, the handsome star, who was caught by paparazzi sucking face with Kimberly Stewart this past weekend, enjoyed the anonymity his trip to Afghanistan afforded. "They had no idea who I was. I was really there as a B cameraman,” said Law, who is already planning a further foray to the region. He vowed, "I will return to Afghanistan to show the film there."

Eccentric American singer/songwriter Tom Waits staged a fake press conference, which was recorded and posted on YouTube (see video), to announce his upcoming Glitter And Doom Tour. With some recorded crowd noise for company, Waits explained that he was guided by astrology when routing his tour, noting his journey will mirror the snake-like Hydra constellation. The fun loving and free spirited Sagittarius singer, whose vocals have been likened to a two week old cigarette stub at the bottom of an emptied glass of bourbon, further explained that he picked the towns he's due to play according to the principle of Pehdtsckjmba (pronounced peh-ska-JIM-bah).

Click HERE to view tour schedule.

Tom Cruise has launched his own website as a “thank you” to his fans, and to mark his quarter century in showbiz celebrations. Any references to Scientology are notable by their absence from the site.

Cruise’s very public proselytizing on behalf of the church caused a major rift between the actor and his one-time studio boss Summer Redstone in 2006. After “operation normal” went into effect, with Cruise’s image repairing Oprah appearances, it’s also notable that Cruise and the Paramount chief have kissed and made up, paving the way for the next Mission Impossible installment.

If those two superpowers, who were once divided by faith, can get along for the greater good, what’s stopping China and the Dalai Lama from following suit? Can’t we all just get along?

TomKat welcome Oprah into their Colorado home for an interview the talk show host promises will "clear up everything." Does Tom pull-off his most challenging role to date, namely acting normal (a word Oprah uses in her interview repeatedly). Will this intimate tête-à-tête repair the superstar Scientologist's damaged reputation? As Star magazine reports Katies Holmes is to spend 3 days at Scientology's Gold Base boot camp, is that even possible at this point? Watch the clips and decide.