Neeson to appear in Ted 2
DUBLIN: Liam Neeson has joined the cast of Ted 2, director Seth MacFarlane has revealed. The filmmaker announced on Twitter that he has reunited with his A Million Ways To Die In The West co-star on the upcoming comedy sequel. ‘Yesterday Liam Neeson, today Morgan Freeman. Not a bad week for #Ted2,’ he tweeted. Mark Wahlberg and Amanda Seyfried, who has replaced Mila Kunis as the female lead, are already on board for Ted 2, which Seth will write and direct. He will also be the voice of the foul-mouthed teddy bear. Both Liam and Morgan will have guest roles, although details about their characters have been kept under wraps. Ted 2 is set to be released in cinemas on June 2015. Liam played a villainous cowboy in Seth’s A Million Ways To Die In The West, which also starred Charlize Theron.–BTG
Idris releasing Mandela-inspired LP
LONDON: Idris Elba is releasing an album inspired by Nelson Mandela after he played the South African statesman in the biopic Long Walk To Freedom. The British actor, who also starred in US cop drama The Wire and UK crime series Luther, has teamed up with South African musicians to make mi Mandela - an album inspired by the anti-apartheid pioneer who died last year. Idris said the idea came out of his research for the role when he started listening to traditional South African music, adding: ‘ South Africa has numerous different tribes and each one has a musical expression, and each one has a very unique, different sound style. ‘At the time I had my studio at the apartment I was staying in while I was making Mandela - a little keyboard, a laptop - and as an experiment to myself, I vowed to keep making music.’–BEL
Sheeran told off over 1D songs
LONDON: Ed Sheeran has revealed how writing hit songs for One Direction got him in trouble with his record label. The chart-topping singer, who penned Moments and Little Things for the X Factor boyband, admitted he defied Atlantic Records, who had been ‘annoyed’ that his best-performing song had been recorded by someone else. He told Australian radio station Nova’s Kent ‘Smallzy’ Small: ‘I wasn’t gonna do it... Basically, my record label got very annoyed that my first Number One was a song that I gave to someone else, and they were kind of like ‘Don’t do it’.’ Ed said he initially turned down a request from Simon Cowell to write a track for the group’s forthcoming album, Four, after hearing his label’s complaints, but changed his mind when inspiration struck him in Copenhagen.–BEL .
Lindsay Lohan fluffs lines on stage
New York: Lindsay Lohan missed some of her lines when she made her West End debut in Speed-the-Plow, according to reports. The actress took the stage in David Mamet’s play and, according to a review from The Daily Beast, the star had the audience giggling when she forgot a few lines. ‘On the first night of previews, a work-in-progress feel is to be expected. But halfway through the second act of Speed-the-Plow, the audience was openly laughing at Lohan’s struggle to grasp Mamet’s sharp, trademark dialogue,’ Nico Hines writes. But he also added that Lohan remained charming throughout, that this was ‘no car crash’ and that her return marks a modest return to the spotlight after years of court appearances and tales of unrest on set. I’ve been bad’ and much of her performance was fine.–BFT
Stewart sued for breaking fan’s nose
LAS VEGAS: A soccer ball kicked into the crowd by Rod Stewart at his Las Vegas concert has bounced back at the singer in the form of a lawsuit. A 53-year-old Southern California man who says he has lingering injuries after his nose was broken by the ball has filed the suit. Mostafa Kashe’s civil negligence complaint alleges that he didn’t expect to be hit in the face by a ball kicked by the raspy-voiced British singer from the stage during a show at the Caesars Palace resort in October 2012. Representatives of Stewart, promoter AEG Live and Caesars Entertainment Corp. didn’t immediately comment Wednesday on the lawsuit filed against them on Monday in Nevada’s Clark County District Court. Michael Roth, of AEG Live, said his firm had not yet been served with the complaint. Kashe, an electrical engineer from Diamond Bar, California, seeks unspecified damages of at least $10,000 plus attorney fees.–DM
Streisand makes history with No 1 albums
LOS ANGELES: Barbra Streisand made music history on Wednesday by becoming the only performer to have a No 1 album in each of the past six decades, as her latest release “Partners” topped the US Billboard 200 chart. The album sold 196,000 copies in its first week, according to sales figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. With her latest hit, Streisand also became the only female artist to grab the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart on 10 different occasions. She now holds fourth place on the list of acts with the most No. 1 albums, tailing The Beatles’ 19 chart-toppers, Jay Z’s 13 records and Bruce Springsteen’s 11. Streisand’s first No. 1 album came almost exactly 50 years ago when “People” hit No. 1 on the chart dated Oct. 31, 1964, Billboard said.–Reuters