'Innocence of Muslims' filmmaker arrested on probation violation

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the filmmaker behind the controversial “Innocence of Muslims” movie that has sparked days of rioting across the Muslim world, has been arrested on suspicion of violating terms of his probation, federal authorities said.

He is expected to appear in federal court Thursday afternoon.

Nakoula was convicted on bank fraud charges in 2010 and warned against misbehaving on the Internet. He was ordered not to own or use devices with access to the Web without approval from his probation officer -– and any approved computers were to be used for work only. "Defendant shall not access a computer for any other purpose," according to the terms of his probation. 

There were also restrictions placed on him in enlisting others to get on the Internet for him. Some speculated that Nakoula may have violated those terms after the film trailer was loaded onto YouTube, although it is unclear what exactly prompted the recent arrest.

Nakoula had been arrested in 2009 after federal agents searched his home in Cerritos on suspicion that he had engaged in a scheme to create fake identities and open credit cards in those names, then draw tens of thousands of dollars from the phony accounts. 

According to the court file, Nakoula operated under a dizzying array of aliases, including Kritbag Difrat. In June 2010, he was convicted on four counts, including bank fraud and identity theft, and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay $794,700.57 in restitution. 

He was released, according to federal records, in June 2011.

Authorities interviewed Nakoula earlier this month amid the furor over the film. Actors have identified him as the filmmaker.

snopp Doggs jamaican reincarnation

By making Reincarnated with Vice Films, Snoopadelic Films is hitching its wagon to indie cinema's unlikeliest rising star. "I'm a bit of an accidental filmmaker," says Vice co-founder Suroosh Alvi, who co-founded Vice magazine in 1994 with cash from his welfare check. The company's stock value soared to $40 million during the dotcom bubble. "Then the bubble burst, and we were bankrupt," says Alvi.

In 2000, Vice fled to an unheated Brooklyn warehouse with crack whores in the hallways; within a year, it grew to also become a record label and book publisher. ("We stumbled upward," says Alvi.) Jeff Yapp, then an MTV executive and now CEO of digital music service WutzNxt, got Vice into video production in 2005. 

"Spike Jonze taught us how to tell a story through video," says Alvi, who co-directed Heavy Metal in Baghdad, a 2007 documentary about a rock band that defied snipers during the Iraqi insurgency. "As an experiment, we submitted it to the Toronto International Film Festival."

 Heavy Metal was accepted and has since earned an 83 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Vice now has 800 employees, operations in 34 countries and a new globe-trotting HBO newsmagazine, The Vice Show -- which is a lot like MTV's 2010-11 series The Vice Guide to Everything, only with bigger budgets and Bill Maher as an executive producer. "We're the largest youth media brand in the world," says Alvi, "if you don't mention MTV."

In October, Snoop -- a fan of the Heavy Metal film -- invited Vice to Jamaica to document him making his new album, Reincarnated. Alvi urged Snoop to visit Kingston's worst slum, Tivoli Gardens, where 76 people died in riots after the area's drug-lord ruler, Christopher "Dudus" Coke, was arrested in 2010. Snoop rolled with five SUVs full of crew and security guards, but that didn't keep a volatile crowd from surrounding him. 

When the rapper climbed on a rooftop, struck a pose right out of his 1993 debut video Who Am I? (What's My Name?) and charmed the crowd, Alvi e-mailed Vice's New York office, "I think we're going to make a feature here."

Trying to keep up with Snoop's weed intake also proved risky. "My entire crew was baked," says Reincarnated director and Vice global editor Andy Capper, who also directed The Vice Guide to Liberia. "I took four puffs and didn't know what country I was in. 'Am I in France? Germany? Oh f--, what if I'm in Africa again?!' "

The Reincarnated production was fast and cheap -- a good thing since Snoop paid for the production out of his own pocket in exchange for control. "We shot for 20 days, 10 days on location," says Capper. "Movies that take ages are shit." Skywalker Sound owner George Lucas, who owed Snoop a favor, gave the film a rather ridiculous deal on sound design. "We probably got it 75 percent cheaper than Hollywood studios would," says Alvi.

Reincarnated got a standing ovation at Toronto in September, and with a few distribution offers on the table, the filmmakers are mulling their next steps. At the very least, there will be an Oscar-qualifying run by year's end. "We have 130 hours of footage, so we'll probably release 60 pieces online in addition to the film," says Alvi. 

"That will roll out through fall and all next year as the album and the coffee-table book come out. … We're educating ourselves: How does PPV work? Or a theatrical one-off event versus a traditional theatrical thing? Snoop wants to make sure everything he does is in the best interest of the project."

Capper offers a sobering thought: "If Katy Perry can have 1,500 cinemas, I don't see why this can't."

Jennifer Lopez's posh home up for sale

According to our friends at Zillow, Jennifer Lopez sold the estate for $13.9 million in 2005 before it resurfaced on the market in 2010 with a new $29 million price tag. A year later, the house was listed again for a soaring $42.5 million. 

While the new $40 million asking price is lower, it remains on the higher end of Miami real estate. Still, after admiring the abounding A-list amenities, peerless views, and spacious rooms, we wouldn't be surprised if it sold. Keep reading for a full tour of this immaculate Miami estate.

Lindsay Lohan's Seductive Liz & Dick Poster(photos)

The first poster for the Elizabeth Taylor biopic Liz & Dick is finally here - and it is sexy!

Draped in diamonds and rocking matte-red lipstick, star Lindsay Lohan bears an uncanny resemblance to the iconic actress, who was generally recognized as one of the most beautiful women in the world. But the similarities between the two women are more than skin deep.

In the poster, words describing Taylor's tumultuous life frame Lohan. "Child star," "provocative," "controversial love affairs," and "tabloid front page" could just as easily describe LiLo's life.

 

 In fact, she made headlines just this Wednesday after she was arrested for fleeing the scene of an accident -- only the most recent issue in a long history of run-ins with the law. 

 

The real question is how Lohan translates her own experiences with media and romance to the story of Taylor and her on-and-off love, Richard Burton.
It looks like we'll only have a few more months to wait. Liz & Dick premieres this November on Lifetime.

Judges ban magazine from printing topless pictures of kate

 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge won a landmark legal case yesterday blocking further publication of topless photographs of Kate.Judges banned French magazine Closer from selling or republishing the pictures and said its decision to use them had been a ‘brutal’ invasion of the couple’s privacy.

However, the injunction was branded a ‘hollow victory’ because more than 500,000 copies of the magazine have already been sold, about 100,000 more then normal.And there were fears that the ruling would do little to halt the worldwide spread of the pictures because the magazine does not own the copyright.

A freelance photographer based in France is understood to have taken the ‘particularly intrusive’ pictures and sold them to Closer. He or she is thought to own the copyright.

The French judicial system has so far been unable to discover the name of the photographer.

As a result, no injunction banning him from selling the pictures in France or around the world can be put in place. This means that although William and Kate have won their hearing, they have been unable to ban any future sales.

The judges said the magazine’s use of the photos was a ‘brutal exhibition’ of the couple’s intimacy.Last night a French legal source told the Mail: ‘This ruling is all about stopping Closer from publishing more pictures. Although it is an important legal step for William and Kate, it doesn’t stop more pictures from being published because we can’t find the photographer. To some extent it’s a hollow victory.

‘However, a French judge would certainly take a dim view of any French paper or magazine which decided to print the pictures after this ruling.’In a written judgment handed down at the Tribunal de Grand Instance in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, judges agreed that the couple ‘could legitimately suppose’ the chateau they were staying in ‘was sheltered from prying eyes’.

Closer magazine was also ordered to hand over all files containing the intimate images to representatives of the couple within 24 hours.Mondadori Magazines France, the glossy magazine’s publisher, faces a fine of £8,000 for every day it refuses to hand over the pictures.

The company was also ordered to pay £1,600 in court costs. Such sums are meagre given the huge success of the latest edition of Closer, which features the pictures of a topless Kate.

Closer will be fined £80,000 if it sells the pictures to another publication, the judgment states. Publication of the photos, taken in Provence on September 5, was also banned ‘on digital tablets’. Royal lawyers did not ask for any remaining copies of the magazine to be removed from newsagents because ‘the damage has already been done’.

Last night a royal source said William and Kate were delighted with the decision.‘They welcome the injunction that’s been granted,’ the source said. ‘They always believed the law was broken and that they were entitled to their privacy.’ 

The Duke and Duchess have also filed a criminal complaint under France’s privacy laws. If Closer is found guilty it could be fined up to £36,000 and its editor could, in theory at least, serve up to a year in prison.

Kris Jenner tells Kanye West: 'Stop talking about Kim's sex tape'

Kris Jenner might have made Kim Kardashianfamous by spruiking her sex tape once upon a time, but she doesn't want to be reminded of her daughter's X-rated beginnings anymore.

The reality "momager" has warned Kim's boyfriend Kanye West to stop talking about the embarrassing scandal that made Kim a star back in 2007 after he rapped about the adult video and even (reportedly) admitted that he used to watch the tape with former lovers.

"Kris had stern words with Kanye when she saw that he said he would put Kim's sex tape on while romping with other women," a source tells Radar Online."She thinks it's a disrespectful claim and told Kanye to stop talking about it at every given opportunity.

"As far as Kris is concerned, the video with Ray J is history and since then Kim has become a reality TV star, a fashion designer, even a philanthropist — so she's moved on."By bringing up the past, Kanye is making it worse for Kim, but he doesn't see it as that much of a big deal.

"Kim is, however, caught in the middle. She wants her mum and Kanye to get along because she wants Kris to approve their marriage. She won't if Kanye keeps doing things like this," the source said.

Kim Kardashian is a philanthropist now? Hands up who thinks this "source" is just Kim's publicist.