Michael Clarke Duncan died of natural causes

The L.A. County coroner's office reportedly does not see any reason to review Michael Clarke Duncan's death case. Craig Harvey of the coroner's office revealed that, as a doctor has signed Duncan's death certificate, all the evidence suggests that the Oscar nominee died of natural causes. Duncan's fiancée, Rev. Omarosa Manigault told ET that the actor "never fully recovered" from a heart attack suffered on July 13. Duncan was born in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles in 1990, supporting himself as a bodyguard while pursuing an acting career. His first roles closely resembled his day job, playing either guards or bouncers in films such as "Back in Business," "A Night at the Roxbury," "The Players Club" and "Bulworth."  Soon he landed more meaty roles, playing Bear in "Armageddon" and portraying John Coffey in his breakout film "The Green Mile" (adapted from the Stephen King novel) for which he was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. Duncan passed away at a Los Angeles hospital on September 3. He was 54.

Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day Singer, Hospitalized

Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong was hospitalized over the weekend – and the band was forced to cancel a concert in Italy. "We're beyond upset," said drummer Tre Cool in a video posted on the band's website. "We're as sad as you guys are. Billie is extremely upset about it." Armstrong, 40, was "rushed to the hospital ... due to illness" on Saturday night, said bassist Mike Dirnt in the video. The nature of the illness wasn't disclosed, but Dirnt said the "doctors didn't think it's a good idea" for Armstrong to play Sunday at a concert in Bologna. The band's rep hasn't responded to request for comment. Green Day's next scheduled show is Sept. 21 in Las Vegas.

 

Tom Cruise girlfriend audition story is 'hogwash,' says Church of Scientology

The Church of Scientology is lashing out against claims that it "embarked on a top-secret project" in 2004 to help find a girlfriend for Tom Cruise. According to a story in the October issue of Vanity Fair, Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, headed up the effort, which eventually led to Cruise dating actress Nazanin Boniadi for a short time. "The entire story is hogwash. There was no project, secret or otherwise, ever conducted by the Church to find a bride (audition or otherwise) for any member of the church," the church says in a statement to Us Weekly. "The allegation and entire premise of the Vanity Fair article is totally false ... We have been denying this ridiculous tale now since it first appeared in print four years ago." Filmmaker and former Scientologist Paul Haggis wrote an email to Showbiz411.com on Sunday (Sept. 2), confirming the Vanity Fair report.  "Naz was embarrassed by her unwitting involvement in the incident and never wanted it to come out, so I kept silent," Haggis writes about his friend. "However I was deeply disturbed by how the highest ranking members of a church could so easily justify using one of their members; how they so callously punished her and then so effectively silenced her when it was done." The church's rep calls Haggis "a status obsessed apostate who exploited a tenuous connection with Scientology to grab headlines via a publicity stunt whereby he 'resigned' from the Church where he had not been an active parishioner for decades. ... He is doing the same again -- attempting to grab headlines and falsely slander his former religion. No Church members were 'used,' nor were they punished, nor silenced. This is totally false."  

 Just six days after Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and her fiancé Jionni LaValle welcomed their first child, Lorenzo Dominic, they opened their home to PEOPLE to help introduce him to the world.  "It's a different kind of love that I never felt before," says Polizzi, 24, who is currently filming the second season of her MTV spin-off Snooki & JWOWW. It took more than 24 hours of labor, but the pint-sized reality star finally gave birth to her son on Aug. 26. Happily, she and LaValle say that choosing a moniker was much easier.  "We were going back and forth, and I just happened to think of Lorenzo," says LaValle, 25, who adds that he was inspired by a child he knew from his hometown, where he and Polizzi now live with his parents. "She loved it." The baby's middle name, Dominic, is in memory of Polizzi's uncle, who died. "I did it for my dad," she says.

Emily Robison Welcomes Daughter Violet Isabel

Emily Robison welcomed her fourth child, Violet Isabel Strayer, on Tuesday, Sept. 4, her rep confirmed. Violet, who is the first child together for the Dixie Chicks and Court Yard Hounds musician and boyfriend Martin Strayer, arrived at 3:01 a.m. weighing in at 8.5 lbs.  Robison, 40, is also mom to twins Juliana Tex and Henry Benjamin, 7, and son Charles Augustus, 9½, with ex-husband Charlie Robison.
 Chad Johnson desperately wants to let Evelyn Lozada know he still cares about her ... so he went out and got an image of her FACE tattooed on his right leg with the name "Eve" underneath it. Johnson posted the photo on his Twitter page today ... the image is his new profile pic featured at the top of his page. It's unclear if the tat is real ... or of the temporary variety. Sources tell us Chad got the work done this past weekend.  Evelyn says she still feels strongly about divorcing Johnson and she's made it clear to friends she will NOT be getting back together with the former NFL star. Evelyn filed for divorce last month ... three days after Chad allegedly headbutted her during a heated argument. Chad was arrested for domestic violence over the incident -- but officials are still deciding whether or not charges will be filed against him.


The Redemption of Cain
Sony Pictures Entertainment is moving forward with its Biblical epic “The Redemption of Cain”, giving the Will Smith project the green light. Caleeb Pinkett's script tells the story of Cain and Abel with a vampiric twist. Filming is expected to take place in London and Jordan with the exteriors shot in Morocco starting in July next year. Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment is producing. The project has been in development for several years and is being developed as both a potential directing and starring vehicle for the actor.

Nate Parker Circling Spike Lee’s ‘Old Boy’

Samuel L. Jackson is reuniting with Spike Lee for the Americanized Oldboy remake, Old Boy; it appears another familiar face from the Lee cinema-verse, Nate Parker, may be joining them soon. Parker recently made Variety‘s 10 Actors to Watch in 2012 list, thanks to his enjoyable lead performance earlier this year in the otherwise-lackluster Red Tails – as well as his buzzed-about supporting role in next week’s Richard Gere drama-thriller Arbitrage. He can also be seen in Lee’s Red Hook Summer. Old Boy tells the tale of Joe Douchett (Josh Brolin), a man kidnapped and held captive in a motel room for some 15-20 years by a sadistic billionaire (Sharlto Copley) who has formed a pathological obsession with Joe for mysterious reasons. Joe is eventually freed, under order that he must discover the truth behind his “punishment” in a matter of days – or suffer further, painful, consequences.


Are We Officially Dating
Zac Efron is attached to star in Tom Gormican's indie comedy "Are We Officially Dating?". Scott Aversano and Kevin Turin are producing. The story follows three friends in Manhattan who make a pact to remain single just as they each start to fall in love.


Crossing Lines
William Fichtner, Donald Sutherland, Marc Lavoine and Genevieve O’Reilly are amongst the names to sign on for Ed Bernero's new action/crime drama series "Crossing Lines". Shooting kicks off at the end of the month in France and the Czech Republic. The story follows the workings of a special crime unit set up by the International Criminal Court to investigate serialized crimes that cross European borders and to hunt down criminals to bring them to justice.


Hobbit Trilogy Dates and Titles
Having now been expanded from two films to a fully-fledged trilogy, Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM Pictures have jointly announced the official missing title and new release date plans for Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit".  The first film, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", remains on track for a December 14th release this year. The second film is now going by the new title of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and will retain the previously announced December 13th 2013 release date. The third film now takes the second film's old title, "The Hobbit: There and Back Again", but rather than wait another year fans only have to wait a few months. It will score a global release on July 18th 2014.


Chained
Ryan Phillippe will both make his directorial debut and star in the thriller "Chained" at Twisted Pictures and Cassian Elwes. Phillippe will play troubled young actor on location in a small town who must plot his escape after he is abducted by thugs and driven to a shack in the middle of a swamp.

Daniel Craig's personal life suffered during Bond shoot

Daniel Craig's personal life suffered when he shot the latest James Bond movie, "Skyfall," because he becomes "totally single-minded" while working on the 007 blockbusters. The actor, who is married to fellow Brit Rachel Weisz, admits filming his scenes as Bond is "all-encompassing" and he struggles to switch off when he heads home. He tells Britain's Empire magazine, "When I'm doing the movie, I'm totally single-minded. It is to the detriment of my personal life, but fortunately I have a very understanding family and they understand that that's part of it and that it's all-encompassing. I keep my energy levels as high as I can all the time." Regardless, Craig is thankful for the opportunity to work on such an established film series, adding: "I want to inspire, and be inspired. And I'm lucky enough to work with some incredible people with vast experience. I was standing on top of a train in Turkey with this crew of people, I looked around and I thought, 'You know, this is the best place to be for an actor.' So I kind of give it all I've got, and then collapse for a while."

 The Pregnant Man is trying for his fourth child. Thomas Beatie shares that he's fallen in love following his separation from wife, Nancy, and hopes to expand his family. Although Beatie, 38, is already a father of three, he hopes to conceive with girlfriend Amber Nicholas. "Being pregnant is the most incredible experience," he tells the Sunday Mirror. "But we want Amber to do it this time around. I think it would be amazing to experience pregnancy as the father." Beatie is eager to have another child with Nicholas. "It is even possible we could both be pregnant at the same time. Amber suggested we both try to get pregnant and whoever gets there first goes through with it," he says. Beatie, a transgender male who preserved his female reproductive organs, first made headlines in 2007 after photos of his bearded face and pregnant belly were made public. His wife Nancy, who had two children from a previous marriage, was unable to get pregnant following a hysterectomy. While married, the couple had three children together, and Beatie gave birth to all three. After nine years of marriage, the couple filed for divorce last April.

TV NEWS
MTV has moved up the start of its annual Video Music Awards so its fans won’t have to choose between pop stars and President Barack Obama. The show is airing Thursday, the night Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for another term as president. But MTV said Tuesday it will run the show an hour earlier than it usually does to not conflict with  Obama's speech. The show will run from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time. The president is scheduled to speak from the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., after 10 p.m. The video awards are a considerable draw for young viewers and usually run around Labor Day. MTV often uses the awards show to introduce new programming in the hour afterward but will not do so this year.


Sunday's midseason finale of AMC's Breaking Bad at 10p tallied 2.8 million total viewers, +47% better than the season four finale.  The 10p airing also delivered 1.7 million among A18-49 and 1.5 million A25-54 viewers.  Sunday's episode concluded the first half of season five and the final eight episodes of Breaking Bad will air next summer. 


TBS ordered a second season of its new sitcom Sullivan & Son which presently airs on Thursdays at 10p.  To date, the comedy is average more than 2.5 million viewers during season one.  TBS ordered 10 episodes for the second season slated to return in 2013. 


Marc Anthony will act as a mentor on the upcoming season of The X Factor. He’s been tapped to assist Simon Cowell’s group of contestants.


Season 8 of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will debut Thursday, Oct. 11 at 10/9c, FX announced Monday. In addition, just as pigskin season’s heating up, the fantasy-sports-league sitcom The League will return for Season 4 in the post-Sunny slot: Thursday, Oct. 11 at 10:30 pm.  The net is also bringing back Russell Brand’s late-night project Brand X With Russell Brand for an additional seven episodes which will bow on Thursday, Oct. 11 at 11 pm. The Ultimate Fighter Fridays will kick back into action with a two-hour premiere on Friday, Sept. 14 at 9 pm. American Horror Story: Asylum will commence spooking at 10 pm on Wednesday, Oct. 17, and Sons of Anarchy starts its Season 5 ride at 10 pm on Tuesday, Sept. 11.


Barry Zuckerkorn is reuniting with the Bluths! Henry Winkler revealed via Twitter that he’ll reprise his role as the inept family attorney in Netflix’s upcoming Arrested Development continuation.


Tough-as-nails trainer Jillian Michaels is returning to NBC's The Biggest Loser when the weight-loss competition returns in January for its 14th season. The new season will also tackle the problem of childhood obesity, adding contestants between the ages of 13 and 17 who will compete alongside adult contestants, according to reports. But the teens won't face elimination on the show and will not be weighed for the broadcast. Michael's long-awaited return comes after the fitness guru announced in December 2010 that the show's 11th season would be her last. At the time, she told fans, "I want to take a year off TV and focus on becoming a mommy and doing more charity work."


Fox has renewed Gordon Ramsay’s Hotel Hell for a second season.


The New Normal has found a new home in Utah. The Ogden-based KUCW-TV has picked up the Peacock Network’s fall comedy after Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV announced its refusal to air the Ryan Murphy-produced series about a same-sex couple and their surrogate. The New Normal will now be broadcast on Saturdays at 10/9c, ahead of Saturday Night Live.


Oprah Winfrey Network: OWN picked up the exclusive cable rights to Rachael Ray and the now-cancelled The Nate Berkus Show.  Both shows are produced in part by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios.  Rachael Ray, which launched in 2006, joins OWN from CBS Television Distribution and will air episodes from the first five seasons back-to-back on weekdays at 9a beginning September 10.  Rachael Ray is also produced by CBS Television Distribution, Watch Entertainment and Scripps Network.  The Nate Berkus Show, produced by Harpo Studios and Sony Pictures Television ran as a nationally syndicated show from September 13, 2010 to May 24, 2012 before it was cancelled.  OWN acquired The Nate Berkus Show from Harpo Studios and will air episodes from its two seasons beginning September 10 with back-to-back episodes at 11a. 


Tonight's Premieres:NBC: Sunday Night Football (special night) at 830p
Syfy: Ghost Hunters at 9p
DIY Network: Sweat Equity at 10p
Tonight's Finales:
TV Land: The Soul Man at 10p; The Exes at 1030p