NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Chicken pox keeps Jolie from ‘Unbroken’ promotions

LOS ANGELES

Angelina Jolie is reluctantly calling in sick for “Unbroken” promotional duty.

Universal Pictures said Friday that Jolie is suffering from “a mild bout of chicken pox” that will keep her from making public appearances in the coming days to support the film, which she directed. “Unbroken,” about former Olympian Louis Zamperini, is set to premiere in LA on Monday.

Universal said Jolie’s children and her husband, Brad Pitt, will represent her at the premiere. The studio added that she’s “in very good spirits” regardless. The actress, appearing pale and drawn, also explained her plight in a YouTube post. “I will be home itching and missing everyone,” she says in the video. “I can’t believe it, because this film means so much to me ... but such is life. There it is.”

Judge rejects bid to delay Tracy Morgan lawsuit

NEWARK, N.J.

A federal judge has refused to delay a lawsuit brought by Tracy Morgan stemming from a fatal crash in New Jersey.

The ruling issued late Friday afternoon came on a motion by Kevin Roper, the driver of the Wal-Mart truck authorities say slammed into the back of Morgan’s limo van on the New Jersey Turnpike in June.

Roper, of Georgia, isn’t named as a defendant but is facing criminal charges. He wanted the suit delayed until his criminal case was resolved.

But U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp said Roper failed to show he requires “emergent relief.”

Attorneys for the plaintiffs had argued that Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart was using Roper’s motion to stall the suit because it wanted to avoid disclosing safety practices.

Associated Press