Mendes

No, this isn't an April Fool's prank. According to both The Times' Hero Complex blog and the Hollywood Reporter, Sam Mendes, the wonderfully cerebral and cultured filmmaker who once upon a time won an Oscar for directing "American Beauty," is in discussions to make the new James Bond film, which could go into production as early as this June. Daniel Craig would be onboard, reprising his role as Mr. 007. While I'm also happy to see filmmakers practicing their craft, this is a bad decision in oh, so many ways, not to mention a depressing example of how hard it is for filmmakers to find any good studio material to work with.

The Angels' training room is so crowded the team sent shortstop Erick Aybar and relievers Kevin Jepsen and Ryan Madson to its extended spring-training facility in Arizona on Wednesday to continue rehabbing the injuries that put them on the disabled list. The Angels have seven players on the DL and several active players, including Albert Pujols , who require daily treatment for nagging injuries. That has taxed the medical staff so much that the team decided some players might benefit from more focused attention in minor league camp.

Nearly three decades after he organized Brasil '66, SergioMendes has worked all the way through Brasil '77, Brasil '78 and Brasil '86 to his current group, Brasil '99. Despite the passing years, the ensemble he brought to the Rhythm Cafe Saturday night bore remarkably strong resemblance to his gold record-gathering band of the mid-'60s.

Miranda Kerr's car crash had the Victoria's Secret angel sporting a neck brace earlier this week, but the model said Thursday that she is healing. " Thank you all for your love and support. I am on the mend!" she tweeted in tandem with a pink photo with "love" written in black script. Orlando Bloom's wife and her assistant were involved in a car accident Monday on an L.A. freeway when another motorist rear-ended her vehicle. The motorist is said to have been arrested and could be charged with reckless driving.

Robert Redford, Ted Turner, David Puttnam and Paramount Pictures have all been reported vying for rights to make a film about Francisco (Chico) Mendes. Tonight's "Frontline," "Murder in the Amazon" (at 9 on Channels 28 and 15, and at 10 on Channel 50) shows why. It's a fairly good introduction to an environmental activist who gave his life in the fight against deforestation in western Brazil. One hopes, though, that the movie, when and if it's produced, will fill in many of the gaps left by this well-made but incomplete documentary.

Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and Sam Mendes' "Skyfall," the latest installment in the James Bond series, both enjoyed overflow crowds at theaters this weekend, including one venue of particular note -- the 1,012-seat Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills -- which had to turn away film academy members who showed up too close to the movies' 7:30 p.m. start times. "Lincoln" screened Saturday night and, judging from the ovations afforded the post-screening panel -- director Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy, leads Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field, screenwriter Tony Kushner and composer John Williams -- the film appears poised to fulfill its promise as an awards-season juggernaut.  "You could feel the respect in the room, but it went beyond that," said one academy member in attendance.

Hey girl, it turns out that Ryan Gosling really may be able to do it all. The Oscar-nominated actor who has broken up street fights and saved pedestrians from oncoming traffic is now set to direct his first feature film, "How to Catch a Monster. " The movie, which will star "Mad Men" actress Christina Hendricks, was also written by Gosling and is set to start filming next spring. The film, set in what a news release described as a "surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city," follows a single mother whose teenage son uncovers a frightening and mysterious underwater town.

Country music star Johnny Cash was joking with staff at Nashville's Baptist Hospital and doing well--despite suffering some pulmonary complications after his heart surgery last week, hospital officials said. Spokeswoman Aileen Katcher said doctors would not release more specific information about Cash's setback over the weekend. "The only thing more I can say is that he had problems with his lungs," she said Tuesday. Although he's still in intensive care, Cash is "up and walking around. . . .

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Closer Ryan Madson pitched off a mound for the first time in six weeks Monday, throwing 20 pitches in a short bullpen session. Madson said he threw only fastballs and at about half-speed. Madson, signed as a free agent in November, missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He will almost certainly start the season on the disabled list. "He looked good, really good," said catcher John Hester, who caught Madson on Monday. "The ball was coming out of his hand good.

Sam Mendes wasn't exactly quoting a James Bond title - “Never Say Never Again” - but it does appear that the filmmaker behind the highest-grossing 007 movie won't be back in the Bond director's chair any time soon. In an interview with the British film magazine Empire, Mendes said that although directing “Skyfall,” which grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide, was “one of the best experiences of my professional life," he needed to focus on several previous commitments, including the upcoming plays “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “King Lear.” Mendes said he recently told Bond producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of his decision not to direct the 24th installment in the long-running spy series.

Porn star Ron Jeremy wants the world to know he's alive and well following two surgeries last week for an aneurysm near his heart. "Thank you ALL for the concern & well wishes," he told the Ministry through his rep on Wednesday. "I'm doing very well thanks to modern technology!" His rep said Jeremy is alert, cracking jokes and "touched and delighted" by the outpouring of support from fans. He's still in the ICU but is "awake and on the road to recovery, in spite of this ordeal," according to his Twitter feed.

Barbara Walters is on the road to recovery after taking a tumble at an inauguration party over the weekend. "Barbara went to Washington to cover the inauguration," Whoopi Goldberg, her co-host on "The View," said on the show Tuesday. "She missed a step and had a fall, which cut her upper temple. The doctors stitched her up, and she is doing fine, but they want her to take it easy. " The fall occurred Saturday when the ABC News veteran fell on a stair at the British ambassador's residence in Washington.

Ryan Gosling took his mom, Donna, to the world premiere of his new film, "Gangster Squad," at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Monday night. When she was asked on the red carpet who she was wearing, Mom came back with "Eva Mendes," having raided the closet of Ryan's girlfriend. [E!] Beyonce and Solange Knowles are talented and famous ... and nice enough to return borrowed clothes they've worn clean and pressed. Designer Rubin Singer, who dressed Beyonce for a New Year's Eve performance in Las Vegas, said the sisters are the only celebrities who "always dry clean and send clothes back in a box, with a handwritten thank you note.

A new report on Los Angeles' creative economy shows the entertainment industry emerging from its recession-induced slump, with modest job gains in 2011 hinting at the early stages of a recovery. The entertainment industry employed about 120,400 people in Los Angeles County last year -- off about 7% from the peak in 2006, but an improvement over 2010, according to the Otis Report on the Creative Economy of the Los Angeles Region released Tuesday. Motion picture and video production accounted for the greatest number of job losses in the entertainment sector from 2006 to 2011.

JERUSALEM - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is virtually certain to win passage Thursday of a United Nations General Assembly resolution upgrading the status of the Palestinian territories from "observer entity" to "nonmember observer state" in the international body. But he won't have much time to bask in the diplomatic victory. This month's eight-day clash between Israel and the Islamist militant movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip provided fresh momentum for Abbas' U.N. campaign while also raising the stakes for what was once seen largely as a symbolic step to jump-start peace talks and rattle Israel into making concessions.

Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and Sam Mendes' "Skyfall," the latest installment in the James Bond series, both enjoyed overflow crowds at theaters this weekend, including one venue of particular note -- the 1,012-seat Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills -- which had to turn away film academy members who showed up too close to the movies' 7:30 p.m. start times. "Lincoln" screened Saturday night and, judging from the ovations afforded the post-screening panel -- director Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy, leads Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field, screenwriter Tony Kushner and composer John Williams -- the film appears poised to fulfill its promise as an awards-season juggernaut.  "You could feel the respect in the room, but it went beyond that," said one academy member in attendance.