Clearly all the nude scenes in upcoming comedy Love & Other Drugs have taken the shyness out of Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. The pair stripped off for the cover of Entertainment Weekly, and from the looks of things, they had a great time doing so. Happy and laughing, Jake has his arms wrapped around Anne for three different covers of the magazine.

The couple opened up about the making of the film, and how they got over any initial awkwardness with the sex scenes.

Anne admitted she “totally fell apart” the first time she and Jake were expected to take their clothes off. So to lighten the mood, director Edward Zwick took off his clothes as well and climbed into bed with both actors. Both Jake and Anne soon found themselves becoming accustomed to the non-stop nudity. “We were, like, fake having sex and being like, “Knock the pot off, knock the pot off,” Jake told Entertainment Weekly.

“I was not focusing on her at all and instead focusing on knocking the f-ing pot off for Ed [the director].” Meanwhile, Anne was also trying to focus on anything but herself. She says: “As with all things in life, the second you stop making it about you and you make it about everyone else, it just got, dare I say, fun. There wasn’t anything to be nervous about. It was another scene.”

Anne added: “The lack of clothing meant that there wasn’t a lot of padding, so I was constantly bruised.”

Jake, 29, and Anne, 28, play a couple in a sex romp; free-spirited woman named Maggie and Viagra pharmaceutical sales rep Jamie (Gyllenhaal). According to Jake, they were naked 65 per cent of the time.

Love & Other Drugs will be released in the US on November 24.

— Daily Mail

Sarah Palin reveals admiration for Simon Cowell in new book: “He upholds the highest standards”

Most people either love him or hate him — but Simon Cowell has attracted an unlikely new fan in the form of US politician Sarah Palin. In her new book America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, the former governor of Alaska reveals her admiration for the mogul in her own assessment of his US show, American Idol.

One of several scanned pages of the book on the US website Gawker sees the 46-year-old praising Cowell for being ‘almost alone in his willingness to tell hard truths’ to deluded contestants who believe they are talented singers. “No one they’ve encountered in their lives, from their parents to their teachers to their president — wanted them to feel bad about hearing the truth,” Palin said. “So they grew up convinced they could become big pop stars like Michael Jackson.” She added: “Cowell can be a little harsh at times, but he upholds the highest standards, and something in us recognises and responds to that.”

Palin also speaks about her 20-year-old daughter Bristol, who is mother to one-year-old son Tripp, in the book, and insists she is a good role model for young women. She writes: “Bristol has boldly and publicly acknowledged in ads for the Candie’s Foundation that abstinence is the only surefire way of preventing pregnancy. And for this, she has been accused of being a hypocrite.”

“But to those critics, I say this: Which is the more courageous course for a young, single mother — to sit down and shut up and avoid the critics, or to speak out in a painfully honest way about how tough single parenting is?”

Palin’s book is due for publication next week.

— Daily Mail

Tom Cruise performs death-defying stunt on world’s highest skyscraper

He’s well-known for doing all his own stunts, no matter how dangerous they are. But action hero Tom Cruise may have gone to new heights both literally and figuratively yesterday during a scene for Mission Impossible IV in Dubai. A figure was clearly perched on top of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, which stands at 2,717 feet — and judging by his adrenaline junkie behaviour, it’s very likely to be Cruise. Reprising his Ethan Hunt superspy role, just a few days ago Cruise was running around the windows below the tower’s Observation Deck, 124 floors above the ground during a chase scene.

At a press conference last week, Cruise informed attendees that he would be “spending many days [and] many hours on the side of this building. I can’t give details, but I will be up there.” The actor’s spokeswoman says: “Tom has been preparing for the stunt for some time. He believes if he performs the stunts himself, the audience believes more in his character.” Cruise apparently relived his Days of Thunder glory recently on a night out. The actor took 75 of his Mission Impossible crew and castmates, including British actor Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner, out go-karting at the Dubai Kartdrome. He even used his character’s name from the 1990 race car film. A source says: “Cruise used the name Cole Trickle, his character from Days as his moniker during the outing.” Generous Cruise also treated the whole group to burgers and fries.

Meanwhile wife Katie Holmes is home in the US with daughter Suri, filming new movie Jack and Jill with Adam Sandler.

The film tells the story of Jack who is forced to deal with his twin sister, Jill, when she visits for Thanksgiving, but then won’t leave. Katie plays Jack’s wife in the movie, which also stars Al Pacino and Christie Brinkley.

— Daily Mail