People in the news

Sandler breaks ankle playing basketball

Los Angeles – Adam Sandler may wish he stuck to being “The Waterboy.”

The 41-year-old actor broke his ankle over the weekend while playing basketball – but still won the game – according to a statement sent to The Associated Press from Sandler’s representative.

Sandler, who starred in “Happy Gilmore” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” is currently shooting Walt Disney Pictures’ “Bedtime Stories.” In the film, due out later this year, Sandler plays as a hotel handyman whose bedtime stories magically come true. The statement said the injury will not affect production.

Cusack fan arrested on stalking charge

Malibu, Calif. – A woman who was ordered to stay away from John Cusack has been arrested on suspicion of stalking the actor and violating a restraining order.

Emily Leatherman was taken into custody Sunday after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were called to Cusack’s neighborhood, where a cab driver reported that a passenger didn’t have enough money to pay for the ride to get there, sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said Monday.

As the deputies were responding to the situation, they were flagged down by Cusack.

“He told them he recognized the woman in the cab and that she had been stalking him,” Whitmore said.

He said deputies found evidence at the scene that led to the arrest, but he declined to elaborate, citing the investigation.

Leatherman was arrested for investigation of stalking, violating a restraining order and petty theft. She was being held on $150,000 bail.

Whitmore said the 33-year-old woman is “considered a transient in the Santa Monica area.”

In July 2006, Cusack was granted a temporary restraining order stipulating that Leatherman stay at least 500 feet away from him, his home, his work, his car and offices or companies in which he does business.

In court papers, Cusack said Leatherman “is showing unusual interest by stalking, throwing long letters of interest over my fence in bags with rocks and screwdrivers inside, making unannounced visits to offices of people I work with in an attempt to meet with me and listing my address as her own during a recent arrest.”

Ebert to resume written reviews

Chicago – Roger Ebert will resume writing reviews later this month, but will not rejoin his syndicated TV show because he’s still unable to speak.

In a letter published in Tuesday’s Chicago Sun-Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and co-host of TV’s “Ebert & Roeper” said surgery in January ended in complications, and his ability to speak was not restored. He said the return of speech would require another surgery.

“But I still have all my other abilities, including the love of viewing movies and writing about them,” Ebert said.

Ebert, 65, said he’s looking forward to his annual film festival starting April 23. “I will resume writing movie reviews shortly thereafter,” he said.

Ebert, famous for his “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” critiques, had surgery in 2006 to remove a cancerous growth on his salivary gland. He also had emergency surgery that year after a blood vessel burst near the site of the operation.

He had undergone cancer surgery three times before the 2006 operation – once in 2002 to remove a malignant tumor on his thyroid gland and twice on his salivary gland the following year.

Ebert said he remains cancer-free, and is not ready to think about more surgery.

“I should be content with the abundance I have,” he said.

The 10th annual Ebertfest at the University of Illinois runs April 23-27. Ebert chose 13 films for the festival.

Carradine role recalls ‘Kung Fu’

Los Angeles – David Carradine doesn’t mind acting his age because, at 71, he’s getting “this nice little pile of quality movies” in which he plays an assortment of “really tough old men.”

His latest project is “Son of the Dragon,” airing today and Thursday on the new Hallmark Movie Channel HD. Carradine plays Bird, mentor to a young thief who pretends to be a prince so he can woo a Chinese princess.

“My character changes so much throughout the story,” Carradine told the Hallmark Channel. “You’ve got this fierce warrior who resolves never to draw his sword again and then leads this sweet, peaceful life, taking in all these homeless kids. It’s almost like I had a Clark Kent/Superman thing going: a mild-mannered guy with a secret life.”

Among his upcoming projects: “Chatham,” in which he plays a crusty sea captain who falls in love with a younger widow played by Mariel Hemingway.

“I’m too old for the parts I did 35 years ago,” Carradine said. “But instead, what I get now with this nice little pile of quality movies that are all waiting to be released, is this assortment of really tough old men.”

Carradine is perhaps still best known for his role as a Shaolin priest traveling the American frontier West in “Kung Fu,” which aired 1972-75.

His “Son of the Dragon” character has several touches that are uniquely Carradine.

“There’s a scene where I literally fight myself, another version of me,” he said, “which is something I did on the original ‘Kung Fu.’ That’s a moment my die-hard fans should instantly pick up on.”