Quick Takes: Kevin Spacey and Sam Mendes team up again

They gained Oscar glory working together on “American Beauty.” Now actor Kevin Spacey and British director Sam Mendes are teaming up again for a transatlantic stage production of Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” producers said Thursday.

Spacey, 51, will play the title role in the play, which depicts the short reign of the English tyrant. Memorable feature versions starred Laurence Olivier and Ian McKellen.

It will open in February 2012 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater in New York, followed by a brief international tour before playing at London’s Old Vic theater in May.

—Reuters

Close look at WWII aircraft

Bombers and torpedo planes will be the stars of the latest expansion of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, and visitors will be able to get close-up views of the war planes on elevated catwalks.

Construction of the new $35-million exhibit will be formally announced Friday. The wing will be called the U.S. Freedom Pavilion: Land, Sea and Air. It is scheduled to open early in 2012.

“This will be our largest building and a wonderful new chapter on the story of the war,” said Gordon Mueller, the museum’s president and chief executive.

The pavilion will be financed by a $20-million grant through the Department of Defense and $15 million given by the Boeing Co.

One of Boeing’s most famous World War II aircraft, the B-17G Flying Fortress heavy bomber, will be a centerpiece of the new exhibit.

—Associated Press

Bristol Palin to go ‘Dancing’?

Forget the pit bull with lipstick! It looks like her pup is about to learn some new tricks.

E! Online reported Thursday that Sarah Palin’s 19-year-old daughter, Bristol, will compete in the 11th season of “Dancing With the Stars.”

ABC declined to comment. The full lineup of contestants will be revealed Monday on ABC during “Bachelor Pad.”

—Yvonne Villarreal

Winfrey will try not to cry

Oprah Winfrey says she is hoping to remain relatively dry-eyed during the last season of her syndicated daytime talk show.

“I don’t intend to be crying the whole season,” Winfrey told TV Guide. “The only time I get really emotional and nostalgic about the show is when I think about the viewers. Hopefully some of them will follow me to OWN, but I know not everybody will.”

Winfrey added that “the show hasn’t been a big part of my life. It’s been my life. I didn’t have children. I had the show.”

The 56-year-old media mogul said she’s got different standards for her guests this season.

“I can assure you we’re saying to all of our celebrity friends this is not the year you can come on and just promote your book or promote your song. You have to create moments,” Winfrey said.

—CNN

Hogan is stuck in Australia

Actor Paul Hogan, star of the “Crocodile Dundee” movie trilogy, has been barred from leaving Australia until he pays a disputed tax bill, his lawyer said Thursday.

The 70-year-old actor, who currently lives in Los Angeles and first gained a public profile in the United States with his cheerful offer to “slip an extra shrimp on the barbie” in Australian tourism TV ads in the mid 1980s, arrived in Sydney last week to attend the funeral of his mother, Florence Hogan.

Hogan was served with an Australian Taxation Office order after landing last Friday that prevents him from leaving Australia until he settles a multimillion-dollar tax bill, lawyer Andrew Robinson said.

Australian tax and crime investigators have fought Hogan in a five-year legal wrangle in Australian and U.S. courts to investigate evidence that he used offshore bank accounts to conceal earnings since his low-budget “Crocodile Dundee” movie became an international hit in 1986.

—Associated Press

‘MacGruber’ exits ‘SNL’

Will Forte is leaving “Saturday Night Live” after eight seasons.

Forte’s publicist, Lewis Kay, said Thursday that Forte is moving on from NBC’s late-night comedy franchise “to pursue other opportunities.”

Forte, 40, starred in and co-wrote the “SNL” spinoff film “MacGruber,” which was released in May.

—Associated Press