Entertainment briefs for August 28, 2010
Tax officials keep Hogan in Australia
SYDNEY - Actor Paul Hogan, star of the "Crocodile Dundee" movie trilogy, has been barred from leaving Australia until he pays a disputed tax bill, his lawyer said on Thursday.
The 70-year-old actor, who currently lives in Los Angeles and first gained a public profile in the United States with his cheerful offer to "slip an extra shrimp on the barbie" in Australian tourism TV ads in the mid 1980s, arrived in Sydney last week to attend the funeral of his mother Florence Hogan.
Hogan was served with an Australian Taxation Office order after landing last Friday that prevents him from leaving Australia until he settles a multimillion dollar tax bill, lawyer Andrew Robinson said.
"These may not be the appropriate circumstances to effectively make Paul a prisoner of Australia," Robinson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
The order was "absolutely devastating" for Hogan's wife, "Crocodile Dundee" co-star Linda Kozlowski, and their 12-year-old son Chance, both of whom remained in Los Angeles, Robinson said.
Australian tax and crime investigators have fought Hogan in a five-year legal wrangle in Australian and U.S. courts to investigate evidence that he used offshore bank accounts to conceal earnings since his low-budget "Crocodile Dundee" movie became an international hit in 1986.
Tax authorities last month claimed Hogan owed tax on 38 million Australian dollars ($34 million) in allegedly undisclosed income. The exact tax bill has not been disclosed.
Hogan has denied any wrongdoing and disputes the tax bill. He has never been charged with tax evasion.
The Australian Tax Office refuses to comment due to a policy of not discussing individual cases.
Robinson said lawyers are negotiating with tax authorities to have the order revoked.
"Those discussions are ongoing. We are hoping that they will result in an arrangement that will allow him to go back to his wife and son," Robinson said, without elaborating.
Mendes to direct Spacey in film
LONDON - Kevin Spacey and Sam Mendes are reuniting for a trans-Atlantic production of "Richard III," producers announced Thursday.
Spacey will play the villainous English king in a production of Shakespeare's play directed by Mendes, which is set for an international tour in 2012.
The play will form the third and final season of the Bridge Project, which brings together British and American actors on classic plays directed by Mendes.
"Richard III" will open at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music in February 2012, then tour internationally before opening that May at London's Old Vic Theatre, where Spacey is artistic director.
The two men last worked together on the 1999 film "American Beauty," which won five Academy Awards, including best actor for Spacey and best director for Mendes.
Richard III, who battled for the throne during England's 15th century Wars of the Roses, is one of Shakespeare's great villains.