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Well here's some rotten news to brighten up your Monday morning: Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary (best known for co-writing Pulp Fiction, although he also had a fairly big hit with last year's Beowulf rendition) was arrested late Sunday night for charges stemming from a car accident that took the life of 34-year-old Italian man Andreas Zedini.

Mr. Zedini was a passenger in Avary's car. According to Reuters, "Avary, 42, was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence ... He was released from jail after posting $50,000 bail." Mr. Avary's wife also sustained serious injuries, although details on her current condition are unknown. Reuters further indicates that the fatal accident occurred "in the city of Ojai, 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles, at about 1 a.m."

Horrible news indeed. Here's hoping for some good news regarding Mrs. Avary.

Or, alternatively, which do you think would make more money at the theater: I Know Who Killed Me or Lindsay Lohan talking to Larry King for an hour? In case you've just woken up and Cinematical is the first thing you're reading today (if so, we're honored -- thanks!), La Lohan was once again arrested in the wee hours of the morning and charged with a number of things, including drunken driving and cocaine possession. Apparently, the cops were called when the mother of Lohan's former personal assistant found her vehicle being chased around a parking lot by Lohan. Just another day in the life, huh Linds? Her arrest comes only a couple days before her latest film, I Know Who Killed Me, is set to hit theaters. Since the marketing campaign for that film has been all but non-existent (has anyone even seen a TV spot?), there's a chance all this free publicity might turn out to be great for a film heading into the weekend with little to no buzz behind it.

Although something similar happened the week before Georgia Rule hit theaters (in that case, video of Lohan snorting coke had surfaced online), it did nothing to bolster that film's box office take. Then again, Georgia Rule wasn't very controversial and/or appetizing -- I guess some would call it a "chick flick." On the other hand, I Know Who Killed Me features Lohan playing a stripper -- it's a thriller -- and those attracted to her bad girl image might be more inclined to check it out after seeing her name splashed across the news all week. Keep in mind, each and every single story that mentions Lohan will, at some point, talk about I Know Who Killed Me. And although TriStar Pictures would never admit it, her getting arrested could be the best thing to happen to a little thriller lost amongst the hustle and bustle of this summer's bigger films. What do you think? Will you be seeing the film this weekend? And will Lohan's latest arrest factor into your decision?

About five years ago, Ray Liotta was worried that people wouldn't think he was a good guy. He wanted to make it clear that he wasn't like the roles he played, and IMDb quoted him as saying: "I'm nothing like anything I play. I'm not a violent person, I've never been arrested. I don't beat people up. I'm not an alcoholic or a drug addict." Well, we can definitely scratch off one of those 'never-done' items, and possibly two, if it turns out that Liotta has a problem with alcohol.

On Saturday night, Liotta was arrested just before 8:30 P.M. by the LAPD. He had been driving alone in his Pacific Palisades neighborhood when he crashed his SUV into two parked cars. Luckily, no one was injured, and the cops nabbed him and booked him with a misdemeanor DUI. The Wild Hogs co-star was released on $15,000 bail and must appear in court next month. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Liotta's publicist was not available for comment. I'm sure he's up to his ears in crisis control.

Maybe it is time that we stop focusing on smoking in films, and send Barbara Babb over to every celebrity as mandatory drunk driving school -- showering them in the images of the crashes that don't end well. Liotta is just one of many who has at least one notch on their intoxicated driving belt -- Mel Gibson, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, Rip Torn, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthis Watros, and on, and on, and on. It's not like these actors don't have enough money for a cab.

It's a time-worn holiday tale: Have a few drinks at an event, run into a police sobriety roadblock. On Thursday night, according to this report from CNN, that's pretty much what happened to Drugstore Cowboy and Elephant director Gus Van Sant. The director was pulled over in Portland -- his base of operations, as well as the shooting location for his upcoming Paranoid Park -- for having darkened headlights and failed an administered breathalyzer test, but further details are not known at this time. Cinematical's Matt Bradshaw has been following Park's pre-production; the details about Van Sant's arrest can all be found here.

Eighteen-year-old Haley Joel Osment pleaded no contest in court yesterday, and the judge didn't offer him a chance to Pay it Forward. Osment will serve three years probation, serve 60 hours in an alcohol rehabilitation program, attend 26 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings over a six month period, and pay $1500 in fines. Osment, who fractured a rib and injured his shoulder during an accident in July which involved him flipping a 1995 Saturn after crashing into a brick mailbox outside of Los Angeles, also had a .16 blood alcohol content (twice the legal limit) and a quantity of marijuana.

Osment's film Home of the Giants is currently in post-production and should be released later this year or in early 2007, so what will this mean for the teenage star? He doesn't have a next film lined up, which isn't too uncommon, but his last film was Secondhand Lions, which performed poorly at the box office in 2003 (although I highly enjoyed the Michael Caine and Robert Duvall pairing). He's done a lot of voiceover work since then, but this might put his live-action career on the skids for awhile. He's fallen a long way since his Oscar nominated performance in The Sixth Sense.

While it could bring trouble for the young actor, high-profile arrests in Hollywood have often proven to boost careers, just look at Hugh Grant, Russell Crowe, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, and Mel Gibson. While the jury is still out on how Mel will ultimately be affected, all of the other actors have enjoyed success after their days in court.

What do you think? Will this hurt or harm his career?

More Haley Joel Osment on Cinematical:

BREAKING: Haley Joel Osment in Serious Car Crash

Haley Joel Heads to Jail?

Now that the initial uproar following his drunken exploits has (somewhat) died down, Mel Gibson must turn from dealing with public accusations to those of the legal variety. According to press reports, the actor has now been officially charged with three violations: "Driving under the influence of alcohol, having an elevated blood-alcohol level and an open container of liquor in his car." Though a guilty finding could theoretically result in up to six months in prison, first-time DUI offenders rarely find themselves in prison, at least not for very long. A more likely punishment for the offenses -- given Gibson's apologies, it's unlikely he'll suddenly deny his guilt -- is a fine, possibly accompanied by community service.

Gibson's arraignment is scheduled for September 28.

In a shockingly normal-person decision by a celeb in trouble, Mel Gibson has come out with a statement about his DUI in which he takes full responsibility for his behavior. You can find the full text of the statement online, but to summarize, Gibson doesn't dispute anything in the report we told you about this morning. Instead, he describes his behavior at the time of arrest as "completely out of control," and goes on (referring primarily, one assumes, to his anti-Semitic words) to say: "[I] said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said." He also apologizes to the deputies with whom he was involved during the arrest, and praises them several times for the jobs they do, and were doing last night.

So, there it is. I'm really, really impressed that he's put out a statement simply accepting that he was wrong -- you don't see that much 'round Hollywood way, at least not from names as big as Gibson's. I'm still troubled, however, by his drunken anti-Semitism. From some of the comments on the previous post, it sounds like some of you accept that sort of thing as being par for the course when people get drunk. So I'm curious: Do you honestly think that, under the influence of alcohol, people with no prejudicial beliefs can suddenly become racist, or anti-Semitic, or anti-Muslim, or anti-whatever? Because I've never known anyone to whom that happens (lucky for me, I guess) -- what are your experiences like?

Edit: Comments on this post are now closed.

So, you know that Mel Gibson arrest for DUI that went off "without incident"? Well, according to documents obtained by TMZ, that's not entirely accurate. If this handwritten report (link points to a PDF file) by the arresting officer is real, there was was nothing cooperative whatsoever about saintly Gibson. Instead, after allegedly running for his own vehicle when asked to get into the squad car (and subsequently being cuffed), he commenced swearing like a sailor, threatening to "get even" with the cop who was taking him in. In what the officer reported were the actor's own words, revenge would be simple because, as Gibson repeatedly told the arresting officer, he "own[s] Malibu." When that didn't work, Gibson allegedly took the old, reliable anti-Semitic route. Again according to the arresting officer's (alleged) report, the actor went off a tirade, apropos of nothing: "'F*****g Jews ... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.' Gibson then asked the deputy, 'Are you a Jew?'" Boy, nothing but class there, huh?

Just to say it one more time: This is all alleged at the moment. But, damn, it sounds bad. Either Mel is a really nasty drunk, or there's a cop in the LA County Sheriff's Department who really, really wants to be famous.

Edit: Comments on this post are now closed.

Early this morning, Mel Gibson was arrested on suspicion of DUI by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in Malibu. There isn't much to report just yet, as the incident is still being investigated, but Gibson was released on bail, which was set at $5,000. All that is known at this time is that Gibson was pulled over while driving on the Pacific Coast Highway and he was administered a Breathalyzer test. He was arrested at 2:36am and booked an hour-and-a-half later.

It isn't being said what he was doing at the time the police decided to pull him over, but I imagine that when Mel is drunk, he likes to pretend he's Mad Max and go crazy out on the highway. And if he still has that ridiculously long beard he grew while shooting Apocalypto, then he probably looked even more like a nut to the cops.

Anyway, I'm not going to bother with the whole "He should know better, being an upstanding representative of Christianity" (you know, because he directed The Passion of the Christ, and all) thing, because it's not as if one has anything to do with the other. But I'm sure there are some of you who are going to point this out, so I figured I'd beat you to it and smash it. Besides, everyone should know better, regardless of profession or religious background, right? Right.