Horror and romance
Opening Friday, Oct. 23, is “Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant,” a sophisticated horror thriller. Darren (Chris Massoglia), a 14-year-old suburban boy, stumbles on a traveling freak show and learns that a member of the show, played by John C. Reilly, is a real-life vampire. Darren joins the show and is drawn into the vampire universe. Salma Hayek co-stars as the show’s bearded lady. “Cirque” is directed and co-written by Paul Weitz, the son of the late fashion designer John Weitz and actress Susan Kohner, 72. Paul Weitz, 44, directed the hit films “About a Boy,” “In Good Company” and the first “American Pie.”
“Always and Forever” is an original Hallmark Channel film that premieres Saturday, Oct. 24 at 9 p.m. Rena Sofer, 40, plays Grace, who had a high school romance with Michael (played by Dean McDermott, the real-life husband of actress Tori Spelling). The couple meets up again at their 20-year high school reunion and wonder if they can recapture their old magic. “Barney Miller” co-star Max Gail Jr., 66, plays Grace’s father. San Francisco native Barbara Eden (“I Dream of Jeannie”), 76, plays Grace’s mother.
Sofer, a strikingly beautiful woman, has been steadily working in TV for about 15 years — but she has never found a star breakthough role. Her father is an Orthodox rabbi and he presided over Sofer’s wedding to her husband, TV director Sandy Bookstaver.
Making beautiful music
People magazine is reporting that actress-singer Emmy Rossum, 23 (“Phantom of the Opera,” “The Day After”) and Bay Area–raised rock star Adam Duritz, 45, the lead singer of Counting Crows, are a hot-and-heavy romantic couple.
Duritz, a very average looking guy, is known as a great ladies’ man and he has dated such A-listers as Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Mary Louise Parker, and Winona Ryder. Duritz’s rather spectacular love life is the subject of a lot of Internet chatter, including some unkind remarks about his looks. But a lot of “average guys” on the Internet simply write that he is an “inspiration” to average guys everywhere.
People magazine caught up with the couple coming out of a Lincoln Center ballet performance. Duritz said, “She [Rossum] can sing her tush off … She toured with us onstage, so I knew how she could sing. I sing with her all the time. I actually think she sings better onstage with us … I like to make music with her.”
Gosselin and Glassman
Jon Gosselin, 32, is the TLC channel reality show star of “Jon & Kate Plus 8” whose private life is the subject of almost daily gossip news headlines. He is now involved in a very messy divorce with his wife, Kate, who is the mother of his eight young children. Earlier this year, Jon moved out of his Pennsylvania home and stayed with a doctor friend, a plastic surgeon who did Kate’s tummy tuck. Shortly thereafter, he began a romantic relationship with Hailey Glassman, 22, the doctor’s daughter.
Last week, the Web site Parentdish.com asked Jon about his interest in Judaism since he began dating Hailey. He said: “I just went through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and learned about the New Year and every Friday is the Shabbat dinner. I love challah bread … My mom came to [New York City] on Yom Kippur and asked where all the traffic was. I got from the West Side to Midtown in five minutes. She wants to come to the city every year on Yom Kippur … I talked to Rabbi Shmuley [Boteach] a couple of times [about converting to Judaism]. He has nine kids. I was really nervous dating a Jewish girl. She’s like the best girl ever. She’s the rock of my life.”