Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

JACKSON ADMITS SHARING BED WITH KIDS

Disgraced pop star Michael Jackson says he doesn't see anything wrong with sharing a bed with young boys.

That's just one of the shocking revelations Jackson makes in a British documentary broadcast in the United Kingdom Monday and set to air here Thursday night on ABC's "20/20."

"I have slept in a bed with many children," Jackson tells British celebrity journalist Martin Bashir. "I am Peter Pan in my heart."

The 44-year-old singer defends his invitations to children to stay at his Los Angeles-area compound, arguing: "It's not sexual... I tuck them in, put music on, read a book, give them hot milk. It's very charming."

Naming popular sibling actors Macaulay and Kieran Culkin as past bedmates, Jackson goes on to say children are his main reason for living.

"If there were no children on this Earth, if someone announced all kids were dead, I would jump off the balcony immediately," he declares.

COURTNEY LOVE CAUSES RUCKUS ON PLANE

Wild child Courtney Love was arrested in London Tuesday after allegedly causing a ruckus on a trans-Atlantic flight.

The 38-year-old singer-actress was arrested for disruptive behavior and endangering an aircraft, British police confirm.

They say they arrested Kurt Cobain's widow at Heathrow Airport after Virgin Atlantic cabin crew members complained Love had verbally abused them and become disruptive during a flight from Los Angeles to London. The captain radioed authorities and police were waiting for the singer-actress when the plane landed.

Says a spokesman for Virgin: "We will not tolerate disruptive behavior by passengers on board any of our aircraft and always report it to the authorities. The matter is now in the hands of the police."

None of the 200 people on board the plane was injured during the incident.

VICTIM ID'D IN SPECTOR CASE

Police have released the identity of the woman shot to death at Phil Spector's California home Monday.

The victim was identified by police as 40-year-old Lana Clarkson, a sometime actress, according to published reports. The Internet Movie Data Base lists a Lana Clarkson who appeared in the films "Scarface" and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," and more recently in "Vice Girls," "Love in Paris" and "March."

Spector, who produced records for Elvis Presley, the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, the Ramones and the Beatles, was arrested at his Alhambra home early Monday morning and later charged with first-degree murder in connection with Clarkson's death.

The 62-year-old record producer was released after posting $1 million bail Monday night.

Robert Shapiro, whose most infamous client was O.J. Simpson, was hired to represent Spector.

WELLES' DAUGHTER SUES FOR 'KANE' RIGHTS

The daughter of legendary filmmaker Orson Welles has filed a lawsuit claiming she owns the rights to her dad's 1941 classic, "Citizen Kane."

Filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco by Beatrice Welles, the suit names Turner Entertainment Co. and RKO Pictures as defendants, Variety reports.

The lawsuit alleges Welles entered into a 1939 contract to write, produce and star in "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons," but that a 1944 agreement between Welles and RKO terminated the earlier agreement and restored the copyrights in the films to Welles.

The complaint seeks a ruling on which contract is applicable, explains the trade paper. It contends if the 1944 agreement is in force, Welles' heirs own the rights to "Kane" and "Ambersons."

LAW DENIES KIDMAN FLING

Handsome British actor Jude Law insists he did not cheat on ailing wife Sadie Frost with Aussie siren Nicole Kidman.

"My family and I are angry and saddened by the malicious, meanspirited and absolutely untrue stories that have run in the press over the past two weeks," Law seethes in a statement written in all capital letters and delivered to the New York Daily News.

"Other than the fact that my wife has been suffering from postnatal depression -- for which she has been receiving treatment -- there is not one shred of truth in anything that has been written. There is absolutely no third party involved in our marriage," he continues. "My lawyers will follow all legal action necessary to ensure that these kind of vicious lies are put to a stop."

Law plays Kidman's lover in the upcoming Civil War epic, "Cold Mountain." His remarks apparently are in reaction to tabloid reports that claim the pair shared an off-screen romance as well.

MUSICALS BASED ON FILMS THE NEW TREND

Just as film musicals are poised to make a box office comeback, Broadway is abuzz with plans to turn more movies into stage musicals.

Word from the New York Post is that Broadway backers are so happy with the recent success of musicals based on the films "Hairspray" and "The Producers," they are planning to bring to the Great White Way musicals based on the hit films, "Young Frankenstein," "Legally Blonde," "Moonstruck," "Monsoon Wedding," "The Wedding Singer," and "Edward Scissorhands." A musical based on the hit 1980 John Travolta drama, "Urban Cowboy," starts previews this month.

"I hear they're doing 'The Night They Raided Minsky's,' I hear 'Batman,' I hear 'Little Mermaid,'" producer Hal Luftig, who just cinched a deal with MGM for "Legally Blonde," tells The Post.

"There is a poverty of ideas, a dearth of invention afoot," laments critic John Simon of New York magazine, who called the "The Dance of the Vampires" -- a musical rendering of a Roman Polanski film -- "a new low."

A BEAUTIFUL RIGHT?

Russell Crowe has signed on to star in Ron Howard's upcoming boxing drama, "Cinderella Man."

This marks the second time Crowe and Howard will work together. Their last effort was the Oscar-winning 2001 film, "A Beautiful Mind."

Variety says "Cinderella Man" will chronicle the life of Depression-era fighter and folk hero Jim Braddock, who defeated heavyweight champ Max Baer in a 15-round slugfest in 1935.

The project is set for a mid-November start date. Perhaps Crowe's ex-girlfriend, Meg Ryan, can give the actor some pointers in the ring. She stars in the boxing film "Against the Ropes," due out later this year.