ONCE upon a time in Hollywood, an actor bought a dinosaur skull from another actor.
In this instance, renowned collector of oddities Nicolas Cage was not involved. It was a business deal between Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio which took place at the latter’s house and involved vodka.
It seems, how should Sleb Safari put it... odd? Yes, 'odd' is definitely the word. It seems odd that a person could own a dinosaur skull. Shouldn’t they be in museums and on display for the public? Being able to buy a part of something that is both prehistoric and extinct just seems wrong.
That aside, Leo and Russell were enjoying a few vodka martinis way back in the way back when, and the subject of offloading a dinosaur skull came up.
"I bought it for my kids, and you know, cut myself a little bit of slack here, there was a bunch of vodka involved in the transaction and it happened at Leonardo’s house," was how Russell explained the transaction on Howard Stern’s radio show.
"I think he started the conversation, he’s like, ‘I got this one, but there’s another one coming on the market that I really want so I’m trying to sell this one’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ll buy it’.
"I said ‘How much you want for it?’ He was pretty cool about it, he said, ‘Just give me what I paid for it,’ and I think he paid 30, 35 grand for it.
"Part of the reason for buying it, is that when I did buy it around 2008, 2009, my kids, particularly my oldest were fascinated, into dinosaurs, so I said, ‘Here you go, here’s one for the playroom’."
His children must have outgrown their ‘toy’ because Russell included it in his 2018 Russell Crowe: The Art of Divorce auction which took place on what would have been his 15th wedding anniversary. Who says romance is dead?
Read more:Russell Crowe's spring clean
Sotheby’s handled the auction which included a chariot from Gladiator and a violin from Master and Commander as well as the skull which once belonged to a Mosasaur.
Sotheby’s described Mosasaurs as "giant, serpentine" marine reptiles which were "formidable hunters, with a double-hinged jaw and a flexible skull enabling them to eat their prey whole".
Sleb Safari has definitely encountered one or two of those in its time.
But hey, let’s not rush to judgement on the acquisition of prehistoric trinkets. Let he who hasn’t bought a dinosaur skull from a buddy after one vodka too many cast the first stone.
Little Women is marching towards the cinema
"There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind."
That was written by Lousia May Alcott in 1868 and if you recognised it you’ll be happy to know there’s going to be another film made of Little Women.
This time Greta Gerwig of Lady Bird fame is at the helm and Saoirse Ronan is starring as Jo.
The cast is impressive, with Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Emma Watson and Florence Pugh joining Saoirse.
Little Women is in cinemas next January and it’ll be interesting to see how Greta Gerwig handles a book which, though written more than 150 years ago, still resonates today.
Twins: The remake
MORE movie news. This time it’s a proposed remake of 80s film Twins with Jason Mamoa and Peter Dinklage instead of Danny de Vito and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A member of the audience suggested it to Jason Mamoa at an Aquaman live event and he reacted with a surprising level of enthusiasm.
We await Peter Dinklage’s formal response.
