Newsmakers

Newsmakers

Kutcher to replace Sheen on series

NEW YORK

Ashton Kutcher will replace troubled star Charlie Sheen in the hit CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men” next season, the network and producers Warner Bros. Television said Friday.

The deal apparently came together quickly, following reports earlier this week that negotiations with film actor Hugh Grant to join the show had fallen through. Kutcher is familiar to television audiences through his role on Fox’s “That 70s Show,” film roles such as the romantic comedy “No Strings Attached” and for producing and hosting the prank show “Punk’d.”

Kutcher said he believes that “we can fill the stage with laughter that will echo in viewers’ homes.

“I can’t replace Charlie Sheen, but I’m going to work to entertain the hell out of people,” he said.

Kutcher’s quote was the only mention of Sheen in Friday’s news release.

Diana film slams royals as ‘gangsters’

CANNES, France

A provocative documentary screened in Cannes depicts Prince Philip as a psychopath and the British royal family as racist “gangsters in tiaras.”

“Unlawful Killing” deals with claims that Princess Diana was murdered by the British establishment and the crime covered up.

An inquest 10 years after Diana’s 1997 death in a Paris car crash deflated claims of a conspiracy, blaming her driver and pursuing vehicles. But the movie by actor Keith Allen, father of singer Lily Allen, revisits the theories.

Infection hospitalizes blues singer Etta James

RIVERSIDE, Calif.

Blues singer Etta James is in a Southern California hospital with a potentially deadly infection. Her son, Sametto James, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that his mother was admitted to an undisclosed hospital earlier this week for treatment of sepsis caused by a urinary tract infection. Sepsis is a potentially deadly blood poisoning caused by a bacterial infection.

The 73-year-old James lives in Woodcrest and was hospitalized for the same problem early last year. She suffers from dementia, leukemia, kidney problems and other ailments.

Retooled ‘Spider-Man’ finally is unveiled

NEW YORK

After close to 150 previews and a three-week hiatus, Broadway’s troubled “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” unveiled its new, heavily retooled version Thursday — a show that harks back to a more familiar story line, transforms a major character, adds new songs and seriously lightens its mood with a bunch of one-liners.

Opening night is scheduled for June 14. “This is almost a brand-new show,” said producer Michael Cohl.

And in many ways it was, from the ditching of the former Geek Chorus, a narration device; to the complete transformation of the character of Arachne, formerly a villainess, now a guiding angel; to the much-enhanced relationships between Peter Parker and girlfriend M.J., not to mention between Parker and his rival, Green Goblin.

Associated Press