Heard Em Say: Ben Kingsley Inspired By Britney Spears, Coppola Calls Pals Lazy, Van Sant Wanted Ben Affleck Dead

“She’s my role model, really. An inspiration, should I say?” – Sir Ben Kingsley gets blindsided by the idiots at TMZ asking about Britney Spears, so after appearing completely flummoxed, you can see the gears of improv start to churn and he basically fucks with the reporters. We’re a bit sad for half the online sources that probably can’t figure this one out (including those that reported it). [TMZ]

“They were young and insecure. Now Pacino is rich, maybe because he never spends any money, he just puts it under the mattress. De Niro … created an empire and is wealthy and powerful. Nicholson was — when I met him and worked with him — he was always kind of a joker. He’s got a little bit of a mean streak. He’s intelligent, always wired in with the big guys and the big bosses of the studios.” – Newly reinvigorated director Francis Ford Coppola chides his old pals Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and Jack Nicholson for being lazy old men that rest on their laurels. His new “Youth Against Youth” film must really be getting to his head considering he stopped making movies for a decade to drink wine. [GQ via NYDailyNews]

“Good Will Hunting didn’t have a death, but I tried to put one in. I tried to kill Chuckie [Ben Affleck’s character]. There was actually a wake scene and everything. But I think it was getting to be too much my movie, and they decided to go back to what they had before.”- Try as he might and despite having his own “death trilogy,” Gus Van Sant couldn’t kill Ben Affleck in “Good Will Hunting.” [Vulture]