Puck Pugilist's Vogue Gig Is Film Fodder

But will Brad Pitt play Marc Antony?

(NEWSER) - Angelina Jolie has signed on to play Cleopatra in an upcoming movie about the Queen of the Nile, reports US Weekly . Producer Scott Rudin bought the rights to the book Cleopatra: A Life, with nobody but Jolie in mind. The book is out in November; no word on film plans. The most famous biopic about Cleopatra had Elizabeth Taylor in the starring role in 1963, with real-life lover Richard Burton as Marc Antony. Maybe Brad Pitt can clear his schedule? More»

Dakota Fanning-Kristen Stewart vehicle divides critics

(NEWSER) - Critics praise the performances in The Runaways, about Joan Jett's seminal '70s band, but whether the flick succeeds is up for debate. Some takes:

• "Say what you will about the Runaways," Peter Travers writes in Rolling Stone , but "they never played it safe. The movie does." He wants more out of the verboten relationship between Dakota Fanning's Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart's Jett. Still, "Fanning scores a knockout."

If famed Packers coach's quotes don't do it, De Niro surely will

(NEWSER) - The upcoming movie starring Robert De Niro as Vince Lombardi will undoubtedly be the “greatest sports movie ever,” Julian Sancton writes. The famed Green Bay Packers coach was an inexhaustible source of quotable remarks, and a top-notch sports flick must have at least one memorable line, he writes in Vanity Fair . If Lombardi's wisdom somehow fails to do the trick, the film still has De Niro, star of the best sports movie ever, Raging Bull. Some Lombardi quotes: More»

October edition triggers debate on racism

(NEWSER) - A Dutch model painted black from face to toe in French Vogue has triggered angry charges of racism. The photos of model Lara Stone, taken by US photographer Steven Klein, are part of the magazine's October issue honoring models and photo shoots through history. What French Vogue and the photographer "should know is that painting white people black for the entertainment of other white people is offensive," notes a comment in Jezebel. More»

(NEWSER) - Irving Penn, a giant in photography whose images can be found in fashion magazines—he started at Vogue in 1943—as well as museums, is dead at 92. A roundup of obituaries of the man who photographed everyone from Picasso to Gisele Bündchen:

• New York Times: He's "one of the 20th century’s most prolific and influential photographers" with a "signature blend of classical elegance and cool minimalism."
• Los Angeles Times: "A grand master of American fashion photography whose 'less is more' aesthetic, combined with a startling sensuality, defined a visual style that he applied to designer dresses or fleshy nudes, famous artists or tribal chiefs, cigarette butts or cosmetics jars."