newsmakers

newsmakers

Estevez to shoot racing film in Ohio

CINCINNATI

Actor-director Emilio Estevez will shoot a movie about harness racing in the Cincinnati area.

It’s called “Johnny Longshot” and is set to start filming in January. The cast, locations and other details weren’t released Thursday.

Ohio development officials say the family-friendly movie will receive an Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit of nearly $3.5 million and will hire about 1,500 cast, crew and extras. Ohio in recent years has lured filming of other movies including “The Avengers” and “The Ides of March.”

Estevez says his movie will be about a retired jockey getting into harness racing.

His previous roles included a youth hockey coach in “The Mighty Ducks.” Brother Charlie Sheen played a Cleveland Indians pitcher in “Major League.”

Iconic Scarlett O’Hara dresses restored

AUSTIN, Texas

It turns out there will be another day for Scarlett O’Hara’s green curtain dress. Many of them.

The iconic dress and Scarlett’s burgundy ball gown from the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind” have been saved from deterioration by a $30,000 conservation effort by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.

The dresses are now on display for the first time in nearly 30 years at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum as part of a Hollywood costume exhibit.

Ransom Center announced the project in 2010, noting the dresses were in danger of falling apart from age. Center officials say the project was not intended to restore the dresses to looking brand new, but to save them so they could again be viewed by the public.

Katy Perry wears ballot at Obama rally

LAS VEGAS

Katy Perry’s doing her best get-out-the vote effort: At a rally for President Barack Obama, she wore a tight white dress imprinted like a ballot, and a square box on her right hip filled in the names of Obama and Joe Biden.

Perry gave a free concert at a park in a historically minority neighborhood just northwest of downtown Las Vegas to screaming fans about 9 p.m., the same time Air Force One landed at McCarran International Airport across town.

Obama later told the crowd, “I believe in you. I need you to keep believing in me.”

The Las Vegas campaign event drew more than 10,000 people, according to fire officials and organizers, with long lines still on sidewalks during Perry’s 30-minute performance before Obama arrived.

‘Spider-Man’ actor offers safety advice

NEW YORK

Look who’s giving safety advice: None other than Broadway’s one-time injury-happy Spider-Man.

Reeve Carney, who plays the hero in the hit musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and Robert Cuccioli, who plays the Green Goblin, put aside their substantial comic book differences Thursday — and apparently any sense of irony — to team up and offer tips about Halloween safety.

Flanked by four costumed villains from the show and representatives from the New York City’s fire and police departments, the actors reminded parents to examine all Halloween candy, ensure children wear flame-retardant costumes and avoid strangers.

The advice was somewhat comical coming from a show that had a rocky start, safety-wise. Several accidents marred performances and one stunt man suffered a fractured skull.

Wire reports