Ben Affleck arrived solo at LAX on Saturday night en route to the Venice Film Festival, where he met Jon Hamm for the first stop on their promotional tour for The Town. Jon's been hard at work filming Mad Men in California, while the most recent episode is being heralded as one of the best ever. Ben's not the only Affleck in Italy, as Casey is unleashing the highly anticipated Joaquin Phoenix "documentary" I'm Still Here. Ben and Casey spent some sweet time together with their families before heading to Europe and while both movies come out in September, they're so different it won't be much of a box office battle. The brothers both have red carpet screenings during the event this week and perhaps without wives and kids around, they'll be each other's dates.

Michelle Williams pulled up for a photo call by boat on Sunday morning after making a stunning entrance to show off her film, Meek's Cutoff, Saturday night. She's starting a long month of being photo-ready as she's off to Toronto for Blue Valentine next. Stephen Dorff joined director Sofia Coppola and Elle Fanning for the Friday night premiere of Somewhere as did Gossip Girl newcomer Clemence Poesy who will be a very familiar face when the show returns.

To see more photos from the festival, just read more.

Ben and Casey Affleck had their parents in town yesterday, which meant a family-filled afternoon in Pasadena, CA. Jennifer Garner spent another morning solo before bringing Violet and Seraphina to see Ben's mom and dad. Casey and his wife Summer brought their own two little ones, Indiana and Atticus. The kids all changed into swimsuits to splash around while the adults watched on and caught up with each other. Casey is moving on from his sexual harassment allegations drama, and it looks like the brothers had their own playful moments at the park. Both of the Affleck boys are bringing directorial projects to the Venice Film Festival this weekend - Casey's debuting his movie about brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix, I'm Still Here, while Ben is showing off his Boston-based drama, The Town.

To see more of Jennifer Garner, just read more.

Casey Affleck has been sued for sexual harassment by a female producer named Amanda White, who worked on Casey’s documentary, I’m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix. White claims that Casey habitually demeaned her, spoke in graphic detail about sex, said and texted rude things and invited her to spend the night with him in a hotel, and after she refused, he got aggressive and grabby, and then he didn’t pay her. Casey is married to Joaquin’s sister, Summer, and they have two sons together, Indiana (who is six years old) and Atticus (who will be three years old in November).

Maybe Casey Affleck is looking to quit acting for a while, too. One of the producers on the “Joaquin Phoenix tries hip-hop” documentary the actor’s been working on has sued Affleck for $2 million, claiming he refused to pay her after she refused to spend the night in a hotel with him.

Affleck—who denies all—is married to Phoenix’s little sister, Summer, and they have two sons.

In the lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Amanda White alleges that she endured “uninvited and unwelcome sexual advances in the workplace” throughout the making of I’m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix, which, incidentally, just recently found a distributor.

“Affleck repeatedly referred to women as ‘cows’; he discussed his sexual exploits and those of other celebrities that he allegedly witnessed; and asked [White], after learning her age, ‘Isn’t it about time you get pregnant?’” the suit states.

White also claims that, while shooting in Costa Rica, she was unable to go to her hotel room one night because Phoenix and Affleck were in there with two women. While filming at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, White continues, Affleck hired prostitutes to be on set, but none of that footage ended up in the movie. She believes that Affleck employed the hookers “for his personal gratification,” subjecting her and cinematographer Magdalena Gorka to the scene “for reasons having nothing to do with the purpose of the project.”

Finally, White claims, when the production moved to San Francisco, Affleck tried to get her to share a hotel room with him. When she refused, the suit states, he “became hostile and aggressive” and “violently grabbed her arm in an effort to intimidate her into staying.” After being slighted, he sent her “abusive” text messages.

Ultimately, Affleck refused to give White the $50,000 they had agreed on for her work on the film and, after she repeatedly complained and got nothing, she quit.

In response to the suit, attorney Michael J. Plonsker said in a statement to E! News on behalf of Affleck and codefendant Flemmy Productions that White’s claims are “preposterous and without merit.”

“Ms. White was terminated from the production over a year ago,” Plonsker said. “She and her lawyers believe that this maliciously and erroneously filed complaint will cause the producers to succumb to her outrageous and baseless demands. She is mistaken. The complaint will be vigorously defended and cross-claims will be filed against her.”

White is asking for at least $2 million in damages to cover sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to prevent harassment/retaliation, constructive discharge in violation of public policy, breach of oral contract, unjust enrichment, and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

[From E! News]

It’s so oddly specific, I tend to think there might be something there. Plus, I’ve always believed Casey is a strange dude, and maybe this answers some questions? Of course we don’t know who is telling the truth, and it’s a bold move for Casey to counter-sue, especially if White does have any proof of her allegations. Maybe we can find a way to blame Joaquin and his f-cked up performance art.

Header: Casey on January 30, 2008. Credit: WENN.

Kate Hudson has a very long and extensive interview in The Telegraph today. She’s promoting The Killer Inside Me, that Michael Winterbottom-directed film costarring Jessica Alba and Casey Affleck. In the interview she talks about getting spanked - on camera - by Casey Affleck, which was the highlight of the piece for me. She also talks about body image, but she doesn’t confirm or deny the not-so-alleged boob job. The full Telegraph interview is here, and here are some highlights:

On the violence of The Killer Inside Me, and empathy: “I was shocked too. But I don’t like watching myself on the big screen at the best of times. I hardly recognised myself in this one. I’d gained a little weigh. I wasn’t working out… because right before then I had been working out a lot and had become super muscular, which I didn’t like either. It wouldn’t have been right for that part, I wanted to look plainer. Not glamorous. Small town. There is something kind of masochistic about her. She wasn’t easy to empathise with.” Empathy is one of Hudson’s favourite words. And something she reckons she is good at, as I discover when I ask if she is ‘an empath’? “Empath? That’s a proper word? Someone who can empathise?’ I nod. ‘I love that! As I entered my thirties I realised I was an empath. A noun.”

On her death scene in The Killer Inside Me: “Yes, but you prepare for a movie like this in the same way you would any movie. I’ve never seen anyone die but I did nearly choke to death once, when I was 12, on a fireball that blocked my windpipe. And there was another time when I was winded after falling off a horse. You know, struggling for breath. So I tried to draw on those experiences to make my death scene look convincing.”

On being spanked by Casey Affleck for the film: “Ha! There were a couple in there when I thought: God, Casey! He got a bit of power behind it. It was definitely real. I think it depends on your sense of humour where you draw your boundaries. After about the 20th spank we all started to laugh because you become quite comfortable with the idea and it becomes about the technical side of things. I’ve known Casey for so long that you can’t help but laugh every now and then.”

On body image: “I’m pretty comfortable with my body. I’m imperfect. The imperfections are there. People are going to see them, but I take the view you only live once and, hey, I’m getting spanked today! And I’m working with Michael Winterbottom, who is an amazing director. Not sure, but the older I get the more I am OK with it. When I was younger I felt I had to apologise for being so happy, for not seeing things in a negative way.”

On letting her son see some films: “I normally take him on the set with me, but not for that one. ‘Mummy is going to be naked on the bed, smoking and getting spanked in the next scene, honey!’ I guess it will be weird for him when he does eventually watch it. I had to watch my dad die in films. I was 13 when I saw Backdraft and I was bawling.”

What her mom and step dad taught her about sex: “My brothers might feel differently about it but, for me, I felt my parents laid it out for us pretty well. We always had a good perspective about sex. When you grow up with parents in showbiz who are loud and funny and the life of the party, you get pretty relaxed about that stuff.”

On the cries of nepotism: “Well, for a while I felt I had to apologise for it, at the beginning of my career. I didn’t want to talk about it. Cameron Crowe [the director of her first film] was asked by the press if he knew my parents when he cast me. He said: “So what, it’s like Goldie and Kurt turned up demanding I cast their daughter? It doesn’t work like that.”’

On dating other actors: “I think when you have one person in a relationship who is an actor and the other isn’t that can be difficult, because the one who isn’t wonders whether the one who is, is acting. But when you have two people who are actors that doesn’t happen so much because they both understand about creative space. You know where it begins and ends. You know acting is not normality, that you have to be a little dysfunctional to be an actor. You know you could be laughing one minute and then crying the next, because a director has asked you to cry. That’s not normal behaviour.”

On the paparazzi and media focus on her personal life: “I can disappear, though. There is a way not to draw attention to yourself. If I want to draw attention to myself, put on heels and a tight dress and do my hair up, then I can. But I can also tone it down. For me I’d go crazy if I couldn’t go out and walk in the streets. I learnt some of that from my mum. She is so recognisable. She’s just so Goldie! When I was a girl I would get embarrassed and say: “Mum, put a hat on or something.” I hate it [when the paparazzi stalk me]. It’s so invasive. I went through a phase where it really affected me. You know, there might be a picture of you with your butt hanging out of your dress and you think what has that got to do with my work? But it’s not just the long lens, it’s what they say to you up close, the most horrible things, in front of my son. There have been days when I have been in three different tabloids, writing about me being in three different relationships, with people I haven’t even met. It’s that bad!”

[From The Telegraph]

Most of you know that I have a strange affection for Kate - I don’t think she’s God’s gift or anything, but she doesn’t bother me at all, and I appreciate that she never tries to play the poor, pitiful victim of whatever is going on in her life. Usually. But this is the first time I’ve read an interview with her where she seems like she’s trying to be all “I didn’t ask for this”. Kate, you sat front and center for all of your boyfriend’s Yankees games. You change boyfriends like I change underwear (every day). Don’t start with the whole “it’s so bad” crap. Sure, I understand the complaints about people saying sh-t to your son. That sucks, and you have every right to say so. But enough with the bitching about how your love life gets played out in the press - YOU DID IT TO YOURSELF.

Joaquin Phoenix had his baseball cap pulled down low last night on his way out of LA's Bardot. His sister Summer and her husband Casey Affleck weren't far behind, after the trio reportedly stepped out to see Rain Phoenix's band, Papercranes, perform. The boys spent their evening letting loose after they finished up work on their mockumentary about Joaquin's "lost year." Joaquin seems to be getting back to his old self as he slowly returns to the social scene, and we'll perhaps get a closer look what really happened if his and Casey's film ever finds a distributor.

To see more from the Phoenixs' night out, just read more.