Taking Names

Fighting back

A clothing company known for its racy ads is fighting a $10 million lawsuit brought by Woody Allen, arguing that it can’t have damaged his reputation by using his image because the film director has already ruined it himself.

Mr. Allen, 73, started the fight against American Apparel Inc. when he sued the company last year for using his image on the company’s billboards in Hollywood and New York and on a Web site. According to Associated Press, the filmmaker - who does not endorse products in the United States - said he had not authorized the displays, which the Los Angeles-based company said were up for only a week.

Now the company plans to make Mr. Allen’s relationships with actress Mia Farrow and her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn the focus of a trial scheduled to begin in federal court in Manhattan on May 18, according to the company’s lawyer, Stuart Slotnick.

“Woody Allen expects $10 million for use of his image on billboards that were up and down in less than one week. I think Woody Allen overestimates the value of his image,” Mr. Slotnick said.

One billboard featured a frame from “Annie Hall,” a film that won Mr. Allen a best-director Oscar. The image showed Mr. Allen dressed as a Hasidic Jew with a long beard and black hat and Yiddish text. The words “American Apparel” also were on the billboard.

Mr. Allen’s lawsuit said the billboard falsely implied that Mr. Allen sponsored, endorsed or was associated with American Apparel. Mr. Slotnick said it was not a cheap shot to bring up Mr. Allen’s sex life in a lawsuit over the billboard and Internet ads.

Miss Farrow starred in several of Mr. Allen’s movies during a relationship with the director that ended in 1992, when she discovered he was having an affair with Miss Previn, her oldest adopted daughter. Mr. Allen married Miss Previn in 1997.

Foxx to Cyrus: My bad

Jamie Foxx has issued a mea culpa to Miley Cyrus after suggesting she make a sex tape, become a lesbian and do heroin, the New York Daily News reports.

“I so apologize … and this is sincere,” he said during a Tuesday appearance on NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

“I am a comedian, and you guys know that whatever I say, I don’t mean any of it. I have a radio show … . We’re really the black Howard Stern. We go at everybody. There was a situation with Miley Cyrus, and I just want to say, I apologize for what I said. I didn’t mean it maliciously. You know I’m a comedian. You know my heart.”

Mr. Foxx, 41, came under fire from Miley fans after verbally attacking the “Hannah Montana” star on his Sirius radio show on Easter Sunday, notes the Daily News, suggesting that the 16-year-old should “get like Britney Spears and do some heroin.”

“Do like Lindsay Lohan and start seeing a lesbian and get some crack in your pipe. Catch chlamydia on a bicycle seat,” Mr. Foxx opined.

Now he’s taken a different tack.

“Miley, I apologize, so I’ll call you,” Mr. Foxx said. “I got a daughter, too, so I completely understand.”

No foul play

Authorities say they do not suspect foul play in the death of pioneering adult star Marilyn Chambers and were conducting toxicology tests, according to The New York Daily News. The angelic-looking, blue-eyed blond starred in “Behind the Green Door” (1972), the first hard-core film to reach a mainstream audience.

The actress, 56, was found dead at her home in northern Los Angeles County by her 17-year-old daughter on Sunday night. The cause of death has not been determined, Denverpost.com reports.

A ’Night’ in the Park

Four-time Tony winner Audra McDonald and Raul Esparza will be joining Anne Hathaway in New York’s Central Park this summer.

The trio will be in the cast of the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of “Twelfth Night,” which will run June 10-July 12 at the outdoor Delacorte Theater. Opening night is June 25, AP reports.

Miss McDonald will portray Olivia, and Mr. Esparza will be Orsino in the production, which will be directed by Daniel Sullivan. Miss Hathaway, an Academy Award nominee for “Rachel Getting Married,” will play Viola.

The cast also features Michael Cumpsty, Hamish Linklater, David Pittu and Jay O. Sanders.

c Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports