Celebrity Buzz surrounding rising star Chris Pine but his former agents aren’t happy with him and have filed suit alleging improprieties. The producer of film starring Antonio Banderas is alleged to have committed forgery in order to drum up the necessary funding. And good ol’ Charlie Sheen is still throwing bombs. What’s in the water in Hollywood these days…?
Pine is onscreen now in “This Means War,” an action-comedy costarring Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy. And he’s currently filming the hotly anticipated sequel to the 2009 “Star Trek” reboot, which really amped his star wattage.
Waiting in the wings is the lead role as Jack Ryan in another big-budget action franchise getting a revamp. But last year, after Pine had lined up his A-ticket movies, he ditched his longtime talent agency SDB. The company had repped him since 2002, when he was just another good-looking actor with designs on Hollywood.
As reported by TheWrap.com, SDB has filed against Pine “an exceptionally personal lawsuit that accuses him of breach of contact and implies that he is disloyal.”
It’s pretty clear certain parties at the agency feel betrayed. “Pine did not even have the courtesy of picking up the telephone to tell SDB that he was ending their relationship of nine years,” reads the suit, in part. “Even though no one else was willing to touch Pine, in 2002, SDB agreed to take Pine on as a client.”
As yet, the actor and his new reps have not responded publicly to the lawsuit.
In other news, a “major bank in Hong Kong” is alleging that production company Hannibal Pictures had “forged signatures on key documents to obtain financing for the Antonio Banderas film, ‘The Big Bang,’” notes TheWrap.
“The alleged forgeries were provided to Standard Chartered Bank, which announced [last week] it had halted all new film lending activities.”
Approximately $7 million of the $17-million budget was secured in loans for the action-thriller, which was poorly reviewed and received a middling release. “Whatever the film’s virtues or demerits, the affair is an embarrassment to the bank, which appears to have inadequately verified the documents at the time of signatures. The alleged forgeries were discovered later, when then movie was delivered.” An investigation is underway. 
In the meantime, Charlie Sheen must have been hopped up on a new batch of tiger’s blood when he dropped his penitent façade last week and he told TMZ that his former show “Two and a Half Men” was “a steaming pile of ass.” He also said Ashton Kutcher, his replacement on the show, is a letdown.
“I’m tired of lying. I’m tired of pretending the show doesn’t suck. I’m tired of pretending Ashton doesn’t suck. It’s nothing personal,” said Sheen. “I just feel bad for him; he’s saddled with such bad writing.”
What do you think? Are we seeing more bad behavior than usual from Hollywoodland? Or is it merely business as usual?
CLICK HERE for CHRIS PINE story by The Wrap
CLICK HERE for forgery story on “The Big Bang” movie
CLICK HERE for Deadline’s report on Charlie Sheen