Troy star Eric Bana will play the villain in the new Star Trek movie. The Aussie actor has signed on to play Nero in Lost creator J.J. Abrams' much-anticipated new film - a prequel to the Star Trek television series of the 1960s. Black Hawk Down actor Bana will join Heroes star Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana and Anton Yelchin on the cast of the new sci-fi film, which will also feature original Star Trek regular Leonard Nimoy. The film is expected to hit cinemas on Christmas Day, 2008.

Hollywood star Julia Roberts has been honored with the 2007 American Cinematheque award at a starstudded Los Angeles bash. The award recognizes Erin Brockovich actress Roberts' long and successful acting career. After accepting the trophy, the 39-year-old Oscar winner told an audience including Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman and Sally Field, "I really am just a girl from a little town in Georgia, who had this giant, absurd dream. I think I came along at a kinder time in the business... you could really cultivate your work a little more gently." Hanks later paid tribute, saying, "Everybody loves Julia Roberts. Everybody, everybody, everybody."

Former The O.C. star Samaire Armstrong has checked into an "outpatient facility" in Los Angeles as she tackles "personal issues", according to the actress' publicist. The aide refused to go into details about the nature of Amstrong's issues, but confirmed she will continue to work on her new TV show Dirty Sexy Money. In a statement released late on Friday, Armstrong's publicist told People.com, "Samaire Armstrong decided to enter an outpatient facility to deal with some personal issues in a therapeutic atmosphere and is doing very well. She continues to work on her show and will be completing her treatment in a matter of weeks."

California's Attorney General Jerry Brown has confirmed he launched a massive investigation into the death of Anna Nicole Smith with a dawn raid on her state-based physicians' homes. Wenn has already reported that the late model/actress' psychiatrist, Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, was among those served with a search warrant at her home on Friday, and now Brown has revealed the early morning raid was just the start of a thorough new investigation. At a press conference on Friday, the Attorney General said, "The investigation started when I reviewed the fact that all these different dangerous drugs and controlled substances were part of the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and I learned that these were California doctors and California prescriptions." Smith died of a fatal overdose in a Florida hotel room back in February, and although the death was ruled accidental, Brown isn't convinced there's no one to blame. He explains, "To get a search warrant you need probable cause that a crime has been committed... If a judge issues a search warrant to go into somebody's home there's some serious evidence. I'm not going to speculate on what the charges would be, but we do know... that there's someone's who's dead and their body, upon investigation, is full of controlled substances and combinations of drugs that turned out to be illegal. We're looking into a number of possible violations." Brown refused to go into detail about the investigation but reports suggest six California locations were raided on Friday morning, including the offices and homes of two doctors. Detectives found 600 pills in Smith's hotel suite on the day she died - 450 were muscle relaxants and 11 were prescription drugs. Dr. Eroshevich was traveling with the actress/model in the days before she died.

Wesley Snipes' tax evasion trial has been postponed until early next year after the actor fired his legal team. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges accused Snipes of deliberately delaying the trial during a hearing in Florida on Wednesday - but conceded it was within the public interest to postpone the date. The star of the Blade trilogy was last year accused of fraudulently claiming refunds totaling nearly $12 million for income taxes already paid between 1996 and 1997. He was further charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through to 2004. Snipes was expected to stand trial on October 22, but fired attorney William R. Martin last week. Snipes' new lawyer, Robert G. Bernhoft, previously represented him in a paternity case.

The producers of new movie The Kite Runner have decided to postpone the release of the film, so they have time to get the film's young stars out of their native Afghanistan - and avoid local ethnic tensions. The three young actors in the adaptation of the 2003 bestseller are involved in a harrowing rape scene in the film and the boys' families feared they'd be targeted once news of the controversy spread through their local community. So producers at Paramount Vantage have agreed to postpone the film's U.S. release for six weeks - and relocate the young stars and their families in the United Arab Emirates until the growing fuss over the film ends. Director Marc Forster accepts the decision by his producers, telling Entertainment Weekly magazine, "Everybody's primary concern is the safety and welfare of those kids." The film will now be released on December 14. The three boys are expected to attend the movie's U.S. premiere.

Pamela Anderson is definitely not pregnant, the former Baywatch star has confirmed. On Wednesday it was claimed Anderson is two months pregnant with new husband Rick Salomon's baby. A source told In Touch Weekly magazine she discovered she was expecting a child on September 29 - the same day she and Salomon applied for a wedding license. Doubts were first cast when Anderson was spotted drinking at a party - and she has now spoken out to end speculation. The 40-year-old says, "Please tell everybody - categorically I am not pregnant. It's just not true. I would tell you if it was." In a posting on her website she adds, "I don't normally look at press but Rick does sometimes. And so much nonsense. Don't believe what you read."

Ben Affleck was so determined to keep costs down on the set of his feature film directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, he refused to use extras in bar and street scenes. Instead, the canny actor/director gave Boston, Massachusetts locals the chance to become film stars for the day. He explains, "Basically, what we did was, wherever possible, we went down to locations - say we shot in a bar - and we basically said, 'Whoever's at your barstool, we're gonna show up and make the movie, stay where you are. We're gonna make the movie around you.' A lot of times, and I'm not sure if this is legal, we were just buying people drinks. We would come into neighborhoods... we'd set the scene, bring the cameras and, as people came out of their house to see what was going on, say, 'You folks are in the movie...' We cast all our smaller roles from people who were not only local to Boston but people who were in that neighborhood."

Penelope Cruz has been spotted kissing and cuddling fellow Spaniard Javier Bardem, just months after laughing off reports the pair are dating. The couple, who are in talks to star in upcoming movie musical Nine together, were photographed embracing in the sea during a romantic vacation in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Cruz and Bardem were also "very touchy-feely" at the New York Film Festival recently, according to PageSix.com. An onlooker tells the website: "They held hands when they thought no one was watching, and she kissed his cheek, and he put his arm around her." However, in July, Cruz was adamant her relationship with Bardem was purely platonic, dismissing speculation of any romance: "It's not true. He's a friend and the best actor in the world."

Former The West Wing star Kristin Chenoweth is smiling through the pain after cracking ribs and damaging her chest wall in a parking lot fall. The actress/singer tumbled down 12 concrete stairs four weeks ago on her way to a first date with a new guy, and ended up spending the night in hospital. She recalls, "Nobody was around. I decided to try to get to the lobby and all I could do was crawl on this arm... There's people everywhere all the time (but) not this day. I was getting ready to go out on a date and the guy took me to the hospital instead. It was a wonderful date - he saw all my lingerie... I'm so glad I matched!" Chenoweth is now treading carefully as she recovers from her fall - but she admits the drugs are helping as she films new TV series Pushing Daisies. She explains, "Percocet, by the way, is a great drug... It can addict you, but I noticed I was very good in the scenes... They (producers) just said they saw the episode the other day and I was great, I was better than ever. I was like, 'Should I just take drugs?'"