THE BIG PICTURE
Cruise Control Taylor Lautner plays it cool as he spends the day on a ship with a lucky fan
More PhotosTop 10 Stories
- Tiger Woods Tells Golf Channel: "I Hurt So Many People"
- Jennifer Aniston Strong, but Not Wimpy; Alice Most Powerful of All
- Police Called to Sandra Bullock and Jesse James' Home
- Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora's Daughter Rocks Her Runway Debut
- Kimora Lee Simmons: Nothing Fab About John & Kate Plus 8
- Week in Review: Sandra Bullock's Husband Tarnishes Our Faith in Tats and Sweet Talk
- Kate Winslet Pulls a Bullock
- Ellen Arranges $30,000 Scholarship for Gay Teen in Small-Town Prom Flap
- Out With the Oprah, in With the Rosie O'Donnell?
- Jesse James' Alleged Mistress Bombshell McGee in "Touchy" Tug-of-War Over Son
Fashion Police
Tulle AcademySarah Jessica dazzles in this crazy confection...are you feeling the impending arrival of SATC 2?
More Photos
Latest Movie Reviews
De Niro Raging over Dad's Paintings
Someone's definitely out of the Circle of Trust.
Robert De Niro plans to put the squeeze on an Italian art dealer to return a batch of paintings by his late artist-father that were sold without permission.
According to the Meet the Parents star's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, De Niro will pursue "legal action" against Benucci S.r.l., which owns arthouses in Rome. The move comes after New York-based Salander-O'Reilly Galleries sold the firm 12 works by Robert De Niro Sr., a noted abstract expressionist, to pay off a $5 million debt.
The paintings were "entrusted" to the Upper East Side gallery, Rosenfield says, but the actor was upset to learn that instead of selling them on his behalf, Salander gave them to Benucci as part of a large debt repayment plan.
In lieu of some goodfellas, De Niro has hired the services of international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which has offices in New York and Rome.
"Based on documents that have been provided to us, it appears that in June of 2007, Salander O'Reilly Galleries attempted to settle $5 million in debt that it owed to Benucci by delivering over 50 paintings to Benucci, including 12 paintings of Robert De Niro Sr. owned by his son," said a spokeman for the firm.
No word yet when Willkie will file the complaint. A rep for Salander O'Reilly could not be reached for comment.
The elder De Niro was a well regarded postwar artist whose work was often displayed alongside such contemporaries as William de Kooning and Franz Kline and exhibited in museums around the country.
He was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1968, as his son launched his acting career in such flicks as Roger Corman's Bloody Mama and Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party.
De Niro Sr. died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 71.
Junior, meanwhile, has just finished filming Righteous Kill, a cop thriller costarring Al Pacino.
He's also set to reunite with Taxi Driver costar Jodie Foster in a legal drama, which Foster is directing. After that, De Niro is due to reteam with Heat helmer Michael Mann for Frankie Machine, playing an ex-Mafia hitman pulled back into his deadly profession.
De Niro is also scheduled to be on hand at Monday's 25th annual International Emmy Awards to present newly minted Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore with a special International Emmy Founders Award for his efforts to raise awareness about climate change as well as launching Current TV.
1 Comments
-
Show the next 1 - 0 of 1 comments
Now loading...