ANGELINA Jolie is reportedly being lined up to star as Batman's nemesis Catwoman in a new movie. The 33-year-old actress – who gave birth to twins Knox and Vivienne earlier this month – is said to be in final negotiations with studio bosses to play the feline villain who first appeared in the Batman comics. It is not clear whether she would play the role in the current Batman film series, starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader, or in a spin-off film as Halle Berry did in 2004's Catwoman.
Actress Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman in the Batman TV series from 1966 to 1967, has given her blessing for Jolie to play the part. "Angelina would own the part," Newmar, now 74, said. "My industry friends tell me she has already made enquiries about the role. I can understand how it would pique her interest. Catwoman is Batman's one true love. "She is tremendously popular with women because she's both a heroine and a villainess." Other actresses to take on the role of Catwoman include Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992 movie Batman Returns, and Eartha Kitt who took over from Newmar in the TV series. Jolie was recently tipped to be starring in The Thomas Crown Affair 2 alongside Pierce Brosnan and has reportedly been ordered by studio bosses to put on weight for the role.
The media were cruelly hoaxed by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt on Saturday morning, when a white van allegedly carrying the twins away from the Nice Lenval Hospital turned out to be a local pizza delivery vehicle. An eyewitness explained, "The van had a huge neon sign on its roof flashing the words 'Angelina, Brad and Twins inside'. Naturally, the paparazzi and film crews took chase. There must have been a good half mile tailback."
After about a mile, the van stopped outside a house in the Nice Suburbs. "The bandwagon screeched to a halt," continued the witness. "Cameras started flashing; reporters and film crew set up; it was pandemonium." Unknown to the media circus, out stepped 22-year-old Nicolas Duval, a 'Luigi's' pizza delivery man, with an order of 12" deep pan Hawaiian; fries; coleslaw; and two cokes. "The man seemed most puzzled by all the attention," continued the witness. "He began posing for shots and even took off his white delivery uniform, so the paparazzi could get pictures of an impressive hairy chest."
Meanwhile, Angelina and Brad were having a good laugh back at the hospital via a minicam placed on the neon light. "The flashing words suddenly changed to "Gotcha!" along with a smiley face. I don't think the media were best pleased." A spokesman from the Lenval Hospital later said, "Angelina and Brad are planning to stay for some time. They like it here; they love the food; and get on well with doctors and staff. They may even buy the hospital and live here. Negotiations are presently under way." Adding, "Oh, and the twins are doing just fine too." This event brings back memories of the infamous Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes hoax, when the couple fooled the media into believing they were Irish leprechauns.
PARIS: If only those hedge-fund hotties had taken their eyes off their screens and looked at Angelina Jolie's hemlines! Financial pundits should take note that in the months since the movie star found she was expecting twins and adopted a new, ankle-length, hippie-de-luxe style, the stock market has followed her downward trajectory.
The floor-sweeping style started a trend taken up by young Hollywood from Jessica Simpson to the über-stylist Rachel Zoe. Their look offers an eerie parallel with the 1970s - the last time that recession and plummeting hemlines were in unison.
Fashion is always a mirror of society. Thus, in a strange forecast of what the Federal Reserve discovered in the banking system, over-exposure and total transparency in the wardrobe has been followed by complex cover-ups and a downward spiral.
Fashion designers now seem clairvoyant. This summer's collections - shown last October, when the stocks were still riding high on a bull market - were filled with long skirts. From classic Chanel to cool Christopher Kane, dresses were long and languorous or a waterfall of frills - but always scraping the floor. Fashion had turned its back on the Paris Hilton girlie glitz: short, sheer dresses; sequinned sparkles; and any-color-as-long-as-it-is-pink.
Why wasn't Wall Street noting the sartorial changes? Although designers always dismiss the correlation between skirt lengths and financial markets as a fashion historian's fantasy, the parallels are striking. Up went hemlines to dizzying heights in the financial and social whirl of the roaring 1920s - revealing women's legs for the first time in recorded history. Then came the bear market and bare was out - except for low backs on the floor-length gowns that dropped hemlines just before the 1929 Wall Street crash.
War always brings clothing back to the status quo, according to James Laver, the historian who traced the rise and fall of waistlines as symbolic of social upheaval in his sweeping study "Costume: The Arts of Man," published in 1963. The end of the Second World War (and the arrival of Christian Dior) brought waists and hemlines back to "normal." But as soon as the economy expanded in the 1960s, up and away went miniskirts - only to crash with the financial troubles in the 1970s. And so the graph of skirt lengths has continued in tandem with Western economies with the 15-year run of bull markets reflected in short-and-sweet dresses.
You could, of course, put the current fashion down to boredom and a desire for change. Or, in the case of Jolie and other actresses like Jessica Alba and Gwen Stefani, a way of maternity dressing that elongates a puffy silhouette and conceals swollen ankles and veined legs.
But that simplistic view does not explain why the long skirts have caught on even with young French women, who traditionally have always worn short, slim outfits. The fact that Jolie's maternity wardrobe of high-waisted, floor sweeping dresses came from Gérard Darel, a middle market French clothing company, rather than from either a designer resource or a fast fashion chain, proves that there is a pent-up demand for the look. Expect a new version of the maxi coat to surface for winter.
Yet the absolute connection between finance and fashion remains more a hunch than a proven reality. Harold Koda, curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, instigated a research project at Harvard Business School to try and nail the reality of the myth.
"There were many exceptions - the rule does not always apply," says Koda, who himself looked at the idea that "flush times mean higher hemlines" by taking expansive fashion way back to the 1860s. "What you can say is that any great designer has his or her finger on the pulse of society," says Koda. "And when you are psychologically battered and feel a sense of encroaching pessimism, there is a tendency to cover up - whether that means long sleeves, higher necklines, long skirts or opaque tights."
Voice actor Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive for the screening of the animated film 'Kung Fu Panda' by directors Mark Osborne and John Stevenson at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 15, 2008. [Agencies] Angelina Jolie's twins may take a few more weeks to arrive, media quoted the actress's doctor as saying Thursday. Dr. Michel Sussman said the actress had checked into the hospital just for closer surveillance rather than for birth, adding that Jolie "will stay in the hospital until the birth."
"She is very well, and she's okay. Brad and Angelina want everyone to know that everything is going well. Everything is normal," Sussman assured. Sussman gave no due date about birth of Jolie's twins, saying they are expected to arrive in the weeks to come. "This is something you can't program, you never know for sure," Sussman said. The 33-year-old Oscar winner already has one daughter with actor Brad Pitt -- 2-year-old Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. The couple have also adopted three more children - Cambodian-born son Maddox, daughter Zahara from Ethiopia and Pax from Vietnam.
ANGELINA Jolie is reportedly being lined up to star as Batman's nemesis Catwoman in a new movie. The 33-year-old actress – who gave birth to twins Knox and Vivienne earlier this month – is said to be in final negotiations with studio bosses to play the feline villain who first appeared in the Batman comics. It is not clear whether she would play the role in the current Batman film series, starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader, or in a spin-off film as Halle Berry did in 2004's Catwoman.
