Ask the Answer B!tch

Christopher Peterson/BuzzFoto/Getty Images

What is with TomKat dressing Suri up like a teenage fashion freak? High heels are not appropriate on a toddler!
—Liz Ruiz, via Facebook

Well, neither is fame, but Suri's parents have had no problem parading her around in public and in the media since the day she was born. How on earth is Katie Holmes supposed to boost her image as a fashionista without dressing up her 3-year-old like a tiny runway model for an itty-bitty Paris Fashion Week?

I mean what do you want Katie to do, concentrate on her fashion line? Yeesh.

Indeed, high heels were basically designed to make females look sexier. They lengthen the leg and tilt the hips forward. But given that the shoe height on Suri is pretty small, the real issue here may actually be something more serious...

Keep Reading

Jonathan Wenk/Sony Pictures Entertainment, AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Since when can Bill Clinton just call up a studio and order a copy of a movie that's still in theaters? Somebody needs to tell him he isn't president anymore.
—Pala

Correct. He is not. Bill Clinton does, however, still wield legendary Gonads of Diplomacy, which freed two imprisoned journalists from North Korea—and which, apparently, enjoy chick flicks like The Ugly Truth. Ditto with first lady Michelle Obama, who arranged a private screening of Julie & Julia at the White House—one month before it opened.

Now, this is not a case of somebody sending over a DVD movie screener. We're in much too high a stratosphere for that. If you're powerful enough, you enjoy only big-screen movies, messengered to your home, direct from the source, in a kind of elite library system for the rich and famous...

Keep Reading

WENN

Why do famous kids seem to only play with other famous kids? How do celebrity playdates work?
—Shadi, Culver City, Calif.

First let's make sure we're looking at an authentic messiah-on-messiah playdate. Suri Cruise playing with the Beckham boys? Real. Suri playing with Shiloh Jolie-Pitt? Not real. Beckhams playing with Kingston Rossdale, son of Gwen Stefani? Real. And we even have photos proving the truly true, absolute realness of this planet-shaking apotheosis—see?

So how do such summits go down? The publicist for the Cruises—who happens to also rep the Beckhams—wouldn't tell me. But I found a real live Hollywood nanny to dish all the details...

Keep Reading

Barry Wetcher/ Fox

Why are there so many movies opening on Christmas Day? There's Marley & Me, Benjamin Button, Valkyrie with Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories.
—Anna, West Virginia

Don't forget Doubt, starring Meryl Streep as a nun, and The Spirit, costarring Scarlett Johanssen, Eva Mendes and Jamie King as ... the exact opposite of all that.

"The end of the year is one of the biggest times for movie ticket sales," says Box Office Mojo's Brandon Gray. "This week in December, since the year 2000, has consistently been the highest-grossing week of the year."

So in other words, people go to the movies on Christmas. Because, as Gray puts it so well, "You're opening presents on Christmas morning, and then what? So you go to the movies." But there's more...

Keep Reading

Universal Pictures; Merie Weismiller/DreamWorks

How did Tom Cruise get nominated for that small part in Tropic Thunder? Wasn't he only in it for a few scenes?
—Annys, Croyden

Remember, Judi Dench's almost microscopic part in Shakespeare in Love lasted all of eight minutes. She essentially walked onto a set and asked Joseph Fiennes to write a play for Twelfth Night, sending a fine claret shooting out of the noses of literary snobs across the greater Oxford-Cambridge area. Dench won an Oscar.

Moral of the story: It's not about the time on screen. It's about the screen credit. And the ability to shoot claret out of somebody's nose. Onward, with this very special, all-Globes edition of your Burning Q's!

I'm wondering who determines what celebrities go to an awards show like the Golden Globes. If a celeb didn't get an invite, can he or she still attend?
—Lil

Keep Reading

Lisa O'Connor/ZUMAPress.com

Does an association with Scientology weaken an actor's star power? Aren't there elements of Scientology in the new school that Will Smith is helping build? Hasn't he denied involvement with Scientology?
—Emerald Arts, Australia

In order of your asking: (1) No, unless he/she starts yapping about it and jumping on couches, in which case, yes. (2) Yes. Per Fox News, the New Village Academy in Calabasas, Calif., which is getting $1 million from Will Smith, plans to implement several teaching techniques first developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. (3) Right. Smith's rep has said the actor is not a Scientologist. But then again, Smith has said he has studied elements of it through Tom Cruise.

Now go ahead and digest all that while I move on to more of your Burning Q's!

Keep Reading

Lisa O'Connor/ZUMAPress.com

Which celebrities are Scientologists, and why are there so many? Is Will Smith one now?
—Silvia, Phoenix

Here's what we know for sure:

• Smith is tight with Tom Cruise, a very public Scientologist.
• So tight that Cruise showed up at Smith's recent induction to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the premiere of Smith's flick I Am Legend.
• Smith recently told Men's Vogue that he has "studied Scientology through Tom [Cruise]."
• Smith has likened Scientology to mainstream religions, telling Men's Vogue that "98 percent of the principles [in Scientology] are identical to the principles of the Bible."
• After wrapping his latest movie, Hancock, Smith reportedly gave the crew vouchers for personality tests offered by the Church of Scientology.
• Sources close to Smith told MSNBC the actor "has been getting more and more involved" in Scientology.
• Smith's reps may be too busy taking personality tests to answer your question. They didn't reply to a request for comment on whether Smith is or is not, in fact, a Scientologist.

So, it's clear that Smith is at least very interested in Scientology, which is followed by thousands, perhaps millions, of people who believe their bodies are occupied by the troubled spirits of departed aliens. Either that or Smith just really loves personality tests.

If Smith and his wife, Jada, have joined—or plan to join—the church, they have plenty of celebrity compadres. Other people who count themselves as Scientologists:

Giovanni Ribisi, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Beck, Greta Van Susteren, Jenna Elfman, Jason Lee, the Masterson brothers, John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Laura Prepon, Lisa Marie Presley, and her mom, Priscilla.

Briefly, the doctrine of Scientology posits that man is an immortal spiritual being "who is endowed with abilities well beyond those which he normally considers he possesses."

There's no discounting the group's popularity in Hollywood. Part of that popularity can be chalked up to the TLC the church gives to stars via its "Celebrity Centre" retreat here in L.A. The networking can't hurt, either. But perhaps most important, Scientology is largely about active recruitment. Take a stroll down Hollywood Boulevard, and you'll likely see squadrons of bushy-tailed kids offering the church's personality tests to passersby. Critics have called it a cult, noting that adherents believe ancient alien spirits plague most of mankind.

Speaking of plagues, you'll excuse me. I think my editor wants something.