Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson has joined the cast of “Sex and the City: The Movie,” which begins filming next week in New York.
Hudson will play the assistant to Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw, in the film based on the hit HBO comedy series.

In July, the show’s four leads, including Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, came aboard for the film after New Line Cinema agreed to finance and distribute it. Chris Noth also joined the cast to reprise his role as Mr. Big.
Michael Patrick King is writing and directing.

Hudson, who won an Oscar for her supporting role in “Dreamgirls,” recently completed production on the ensemble drama “Winged Creatures” starring Kate Beckinsale, Forrest Whitaker, Jackie Earle Haley and Dakota Fanning. Sony is distributing the film.

The former “American Idol” contestant is also in the studio working on her debut album for Arista Records, due for release in the first quarter of 2008.

The Emmys got edgy as an off-color “Saturday Night Live” video featuring Justin Timberlake and strategically placed gift boxes was honored at the creative arts ceremony.

“(Blank) in a Box,” last December’s fake music video performed by Timberlake and “SNL” cast member Andy Samberg, is about wrapping a certain part of the male anatomy and presenting it to a loved one as a holiday present.

“I think it’s safe to say that when we first set out to make this song, we were all thinking `Emmy!’” Samberg said in accepting the award Saturday for best original music and lyrics.

“The other thing we were thinking was, `Hey! Here’s this young up and comer, Justin Timberlake, who is clearly very talented and could clearly use a break,’” Samberg said. “So, Justin, if you’re out there, congrats to you, kid.’”

The video, which beat out competition that included two songs from a musical edition of Scrubs,” became an Internet sensation. It garnered millions of views on YouTube and NBC’s Web site, which posted an un-bleeped version.

The Creative Arts Emmys, which recognize technical and other achievements for the 2006-07 season, will air Sept. 15 on E!, the night before the Primetime Emmy Awards on Fox.

Timberlake was elsewhere Saturday: He had a concert scheduled in Tacoma, Wash. But his tour takes him to Los Angeles on Primetime Emmys night, raising the possibility he could perform “Box” at the ceremony.

As Samberg arrived at the creative arts awards, he told The Associated Press that he had yet to be asked by the TV academy to perform the song with Timberlake on the Fox broadcast— but he was willing, he said.

The four-hour-plus ceremony got more censor-worthy jolts from veteran actress Elaine Stritch and stand-up comic Kathy Griffin.
Stritch, 82, who won for a guest shot on the sitcom “30 Rock,” said that, even after a lifetime in show business, winning felt “un-(blanking)-believable.” And Griffin, a winner for her reality series “My Life on the D-List,” noted, “I guess hell froze over!”

“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus,” Griffin said, going on to hold up her Emmy and proclaim, “This award is my god now!”

Despite the irreverence, both women generated huge laughter and received big applause from the crowd in the downtown Shrine Auditorium.

Besides Stritch, three other actors received awards for series guest roles: Leslie Caron for “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” John Goodman for “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and Stanley Tucci for “Monk.”

“I think I was nominated in 1951 for the most promising newcomer. I’m glad I finally realized my potential,” Caron said.
Spike Lee’s New Orleans documentary, “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts,” received three awards, including a directing trophy.

“Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” won a leading five awards. The film, which chronicles events leading up to the assassination of Sitting Bull and the Sioux massacre at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890, is up for more Emmy honors, including best TV movie, next weekend.

“This project has been a labor of love and a labor of conscience for everyone who worked on it,” said executive producer Dick Wolf.

Entertainment industry executive Rich Frank, former president of Television Academy, received the Syd Cassyd Founders Award.
HBO collected the most trophies, 15, followed by NBC with 12, CBS with nine and Cartoon Network with eight. Fox earned seven awards, PBS six and ABC four.

Richard Jeni, a standup comedian who played to sold-out crowds, was a regular on the “Tonight Show” and appeared in movies, died of a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide, police said Sunday.

Police found the 49-year-old comedian alive but gravely injured in a West Hollywood home when they responded to a call Saturday morning from Jeni’s girlfriend, Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman said.

Eisenman said the caller told police: “My boyfriend shot himself in the face.”

Jeni died at a nearby hospital.

Eisenman said suicide had not been officially confirmed and the investigation was continuing. An autopsy on Jeni would be done Monday, said Lt. Fred Corral from the investigation division of the coroner’s office.

Jeni regularly toured the country with a standup act and had starred in several HBO comedy specials, most recently “A Big Steaming Pile of Me” during the 2005-06 season.

Another HBO special, “Platypus Man,” won a Cable ACE award for best standup comedy special, and formed the basis for his UPN sitcom of the same name, which ran for one season.

Jeni’s movie credits included “The Mask,” in which he played Jim Carrey’s best friend, “The Aristocrats,” “National Lampoon’s Dad’s Week Off,” and “An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn.”

He had guest appearances in the TV shows “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Married: With Children,” and updated versions of the game shows “Hollywood Squares” and “Match Game.”

Frazer Smith, standup comedian who often opened for Jeni and the emcee at the Ice House, where Jeni often performed, said young comedians looked up to him.

“He was probably one of the best standup comedians in the last 50 years,” said Smith. “He had tons and tons of material. He was looked up to by all the young comedians, a total pro.”

The Brooklyn-born comic first received national attention in 1990 with the Showtime special “Richard Jeni: Boy From New York City.” Two years later, his “Crazy From the Heat” special attracted the highest ratings in Showtime’s history.

Jeni became a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show” during Johnny Carson’s reign and continued to appear after Jay Leno took over as host.

He also wrote comic material for the 2005 Academy Awards, which was hosted by his friend
Chris Rock.

Earlier this week, Bloomfield’s (North Jersey) mayor and council had denied a permit to film the Sopranos series’ final scene, saying they found the HBO mob drama a disparaging portrait of Italian-Americans.

Township attorney Brian Aloia has decided, however, that the town clerk is required to issue a filming permit and the council doesn’t have a say unless the permit requires a waiver. A waiver wasn’t needed for “The Sopranos” shoot because producers would be filming in a commercial area instead of a residential one after 8 p.m., he said.

HBO was to shoot the scene at an ice cream shop in Bloomfield. The town borders Newark, where fictional mob boss Tony Soprano grew up.

Aloia said the clerk must issue a permit after determining that a shoot fulfills certain legal requirements, such as having adequate insurance.

“She must look at the application in an objective manner,” he said. “She cannot consider, for instance, what’s being filmed or in this case if she likes the show or doesn’t like the show.”

Permits were approved last week. But after complaints, the council voted again on Monday and rejected them.

Bloomfield Mayor Raymond McCarthy, whose wife is Italian, voted against the shoot twice.

“I don’t think 1The Sopranos‘ depicts the life of a typical Italian American in a positive way,” he said, “and I still don’t like the way people see New Jersey based upon ‘The Sopranos’ series.”

The owners of the old-fashioned ice cream parlor selected for the series’ final scene, Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionary, said personal feelings shouldn’t stand in the way.

After receiving word on Friday of the town’s reversal, co-owner Ron Stark said he was excited about becoming a pop culture landmark.

“Hopefully this will all work out,” he said.

The show is scheduled to resume on April 8.