June Squibb– you may remember her from Alexander Payne’s “About Schmidt” as Jack Nicholson’s wife. She was so good in that 2002 movie that her career took off. The now almost 84 year old actress moved to Los Angeles and became a regular on “The Ghost Whisperer,” “The Young and the Restless” and lots of TV shows.

But now she’s back with Payne and stealing the show in his wonderful “Nebraska.” This black and white gem showed in Cannes and opens tonight at the New York Film Festival. Squibb is spot on as the wife of Bruce Dern’s Woody Grant. Dern, Squibb, and Will Forte, who plays their son, are all easily Oscar candidates. So is the film, Payne, and the screenplay. And let’s not the black and white cinematography.

Squibb is so hot now she’s been signed to play Hannah’s– Lena Dunham’s– grandmother in “Girls” for the coming season. I hope she has time for it. She’ll be doing a lot of promotion for “Nebraska.”

Last night Paramount screened the film, then hosted a spur of the moment gathering at their HQ pre-NYFF. All the principals were there. I also ran into two beloved and favorite New York theater (and often TV) actresses, Harriet Harris and Jan Maxwell, as well as the great Jessica Hecht. Plus, the film was introduced by legendary Mary Louise Smith, who plays Squibb’s sister in law in “Nebraska.” The movie opens November 15th.

Bruce Dern is 77 and seems like a lock for Best Actor nomination. Best Actor is now a dogfight. We have Dern, Hanks, and Redford. We also have Forest Whitaker, Chewitel Eijofor, and Idris Elba. Then there’s newcomers Oscar Isaac and Michael B. Jordan. Wait! What about Matthew McConnaughey. This is going to be insane. They all deserve, each one of them.

Dern told me he watched “Nebraska” last week with some old friends– Jane Fonda and Haskell Wexler. They made “Coming Home” together in 1977. He was nommed for Best Supporting Actor, his only Oscar nomination. So he screened “Nebraska” with them for good luck. I think it will work.

Miley Cyrus, always fun:

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Sandra Bullock should be very happy today. “Gravity” exceeded all predictions this weekend and took in around $55.5 million. It was well above the predicted $40 million. “Gravity” is headed to the Oscars for Best Picture, Director (Cuaron), Actress, maybe Best Supporting Actor for George Clooney, and all the tech nominations.

At last week’s laid back premiere at NY’s famed American Museum of Natural History, I asked Sandy what her next movie will be. “I don’t know,” she said. “I really don’t have any plans. But I think I will only do fluff from now on!” I asked if “The Heat” with Melissa McCarthy wasn’t fluff?

“That’s serious comedy!” she said. “I mean, real fluff!”

That’s because “Gravity” has little levity, just brevity. Mostly it’s heavy heavy heavy. And Bullock worked like a dog under physically exhausting conditions to make it right.

Meantime, “Runner Runner” turned out to be the dud that was indeed predicted, with $7.6 mil for the weekend. It’s too bad it didn’t work out. On to bigger and better things.

UPDATE Sunday Morning: A conflicting report–another source says Rowe is not planning anything. At the same time, it turns out that at least two people with no standing in way, shape or form may have filed bizarre custody requests about Michael Jackson’s kids. In the end, it’s hoped that level heads will allow the kids to remain in their current situation with Rowe as a devoted, if not legal, parent. Stay tuned…

(Sat night 6:35pm)EXCLUSIVE Sources tell me that Debbie Rowie is seriously considering a bid to get legal custody of her daughter, Paris Jackson. Paris has been at a school for troubled teens since June when she tried to take her own life. Now that the wrongful death trial is over, Rowe is said to be very close to asking the family court judge to turn Paris over to her from Katherine Jackson and her grandson, T.J.

The Michael Jackson estate, meantime, probably would be in favor of that, from what I’m told. They’ve had to endure name calling by the Jackson family, and letters to the executors suggesting malfeasance and the existence of another Michael Jackson will. “They dragged Paris and Prince through that trial for no reason,” says a source close to the case. “They’d each be better off with their own mother.”

Sources also say this would give Paris, who’s been away now from the Jacksons for months, to tell the judge with whom she should live.

I had heard rumblings about this before the jury came back this week. But now the jury has acquitted AEGLive, Rowe may feel this is a good time.  If one or both of Rowe’s kids with Michael Jackson, and even Blanket, who is not hers, moved houses, that would also create a huge shift in the power-money struggle between the estate and Michael’s siblings.

Of course, it won’t be so easy for Rowe unless the Jacksons concur with her. If the family mounts an opposition, Rowe will be heavily investigated and questioned as they’ve been.

Keep checking for updates…

Madonna has written what looks like a book proposal in the new issue of Harper’s Bazaar. In it she reviews her many “struggles,” white washing and rewriting plenty of history. She also describes how she was raped at knifepoint during her first year in New York City. It’s a shocking revelation except for one thing: it’s been revealed before.

Madonna talked about the rape a lot in 1995 when her “Sex” book came out. In the book, she had pictures depicting rape. The story has also been written about in several books including one published in 2001 by Randy Taraborelli. The rape is also discussed at length in another book, called “Like an Icon,” by Lucy O’Brien.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1370&dat=19951207&id=jY0mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1AoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2449,1134835

Not the rape wasn’t devastating and horrible, but Madonna knows the media better than anyone. By bringing it up again as if it were new she knows it will get attention. In the Harper’s Bazaar piece she ‘s essentially “sampling” her life.

The piece– which really does suggest she’s trying to land a book deal– Madonna also defends her involvement in the Kabbalah cult and in the way she adopted two children from the African country Malawi. She doesn’t mention her failed charity, millions of missing dollars, unrealized promises. etc. She also says she is now funding schools in Islamic countries– without giving any specifics.

Meantime, here’s my piece from this week about how Raising Malawi, Madonna’s African charity, finished 2012 in the red: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/10/03/exclusive-madonna-malawi-charity-almost-half-a-mil-in-the-red-for-2012