Congratulations are in order for opinionated actress Lauren Bacall.

Bacall was one of many presented with an Oscar as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences presented its honorary Oscars separately this year from the annual Oscar ceremony.

The event took place at a private, black-tie dinner in Hollywood's Kodak Theather with about 600 guests Saturday night.

Presenters included Tom Hanks, Quentin Tarantino and Annette Bening just to name a few.

And many of the guests actually preferred that the ceremony wasn't being filmed.

Said Warren Beatty, "It's so much better … that nobody's worrying whether 36.5 million people are watching us or 29.2."

Bacall was presented her award by Anjelica Huston who added that Bacall "defines what it means to be a great actress and also a huge movie star."

As for the rest of the event, it was taped but didn't air this weekend. Instead, excerpts of the footage will be shown during the 82nd annual Academy Awards next year on March 7th.

[Image via Adriana Barraza / WENN.]

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The wheels are in motion for what's sure to be a shiteous romantic comedy revolving around the song catalogue of Barry Manilow.

Single Cell and Playtone are collaborating on the project with Michael Stipe and Tom Hanks directly involved in production.

Apparently the film won't be a traditional musical a la Mamma Mia with the actors bursting into song at any given moment, but rather the plot is being compared to Love Actually with intersecting story lines between the characters.

The characters will all be old Manilow fans going to Las Vegas for a weekend to see the singer perform at Mandalay Bay.

His music will be played throughout the movie with a performance or two from Manilow himself, of course.

This is the first time Manilow has allowed his song catalogue to be used in a film.

Sounds HOrrendous!

Will U go see this movie?

[Image via WENN.]

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The Beatles' guitarist George Harrison was posthumously honored in Los Angeles yesterday with a star on Hollywood's infamous Walk of Fame!

Friends and family members of the late guitarist gathered for the ceremony, including widow Olivia, son Dhani, Paul McCartney, Monty Python alum Eric Idle, Tom Hanks, and Tom Petty.

Dhani looks like the spitting image of his father, don't U think???

[Image via WENN.]

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With so many problems in the world, we find it funny the Vatican has time to focus on this nonsense!

Tom Hank's latest flick, Angels & Demons, based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, is receiving strong opposition from the Vatican.

According to Avvenire, the Vatican's official newspaper, the church "cannot approve" the film. Another Italian newspaper claims the Vatican will soon call for Catholics worldwide to boycott the flick.

However, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis is worried that boycotting the movie will create a "boomerang effect" by giving it more publicity.

Guess the Pope and his posse are still bothered by the fact that the book and movie suggested Jesus had secretly married that "whore", Mary Magdalene.

Jesus loves all - some more than others!

Even last year, while filming, the Vatican banned filmmakers from entering the Holy City or any church in Rome really. So one of the movie's key scenes, set inside church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, had to be filmed on a soundstage.

According to a Vatican spokesman, Father Marco Fibbi, he said, "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn't necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough."

The flick hits theaters worldwide this May 15th.

We bet the Vatican will be watching it in secret!

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Forbes decided to do yet another(!) survey - they gotta keep their writers busy - and they decided to take a look at some numbers.

What did they discover?

They discovered that Will Smith is the most valuable actor in Hollywood.

Smith was the only actor to received a perfect 10 in the Forbes Star Currency survey.

Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Angelina Jolie all tied for second place. The rest of the top 20 include Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon.

These are the folks who can almost guarantee to pull in numbers at the box office, regardless of the film they're starring in. And with a combined 69 nominations and 15 wins, as far as film awards go, they're not so bad at acting either.

So in an economy where people might not want to spent $10 on a movie they might end up not liking, we bet we'll be seeing Will Smith's face a whole lot more these days!

[Image via WENN.]

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Pirates wouldn't be Pirates without him!

The UK's Daily Mail reports that Johnny Depp is getting a cool $55.8 million upfront from Disney to come back as Captain Jack Sparrow in the next - fourth - installment of Pirates of the Carribbean.

The biggest known upfront payout to an actor was formerly the $50 million Tom Hanks was given to come back for the sequel to the Da Vinci Code.

Looks like there's a new king of Hollywood, Toms (Hanks and Cruise)!

All hail King Johnny!

[Image via WENN.]

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Katie Holmes made her Broadway debut last night in a production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

And, no one was more enthusiastic about "Kate's" performance than - you guessed it - husband Tom Cruise, who gushed to The Associated Press, "Did you see it? … It was extraordinary."

He then leaped onto a sofa and pumped his fists in the air.

Just kidding!

But that would have pleased the group of about thirty Scientology protesters who had gathered outside the theater under the name Anonymous. With some of them wearing masks like the one in V For Vendetta and one member waving a "FREE KATIE" sign, the protesters chanted, "Scientology kills!"

Despite her captivity, Katie apparently put on a good show, much to the surprised delight of audience members. "I'm actually surprised that she's, you know, enough of an actress for being on Broadway," said one of them.

With a resume that includes such impressive titles as Dawnson's Creek and Batman Begins, are you really that shocked?!

Ha!

[Image via WENN.]

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Thespian union the Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) must be peeved!

Big name, super huge, A-list star Tom Hanks threw his weight behind the other actor's union, AFTRA, this weekend.

We've mentioned before that SAG and AFTRA failed to work together to cut a 'unified' actors deal with the media moguls.

AFTRA made a deal with the suits that's yet to be voted on by their members.

SAG's been trying to convince the nearly 40,000 actors who are in both unions not to accept the AFTRA deal cause they think they can get a 'better' deal'.

With Hanks on board with AFTRA, looks like SAGs job will be that much harder!

We just hope that the actors get what they deserve without a strike!!

[Image via WENN.]

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Looks like nice guy Tom Hanks and director Ron 'Opey' Howard couldn't charm their way into the hearts of Rome's Catholic diocese.

Rome church officials have banned the crew of Hanks' latest film, Angels & Demons, from filming in two of the city's churches.

Angels & Demons is the 'prequel' to the blockbuster The Da Vinci Code.

The Da Vinci Code book and flick angered many Catholics across the world.

According to a diocese spokesman, the movie's filming requests were turned down because the movie "does not conform to our views." said Monsignor Marco Fibbi, a spokesman for the diocese.

The source reports that calls to Sony Pictures (the studio in charge) in London and Rome were not immediately returned Monday.

Too bad super Catholic Mel Gibson isn't a producer!

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