LOS ANGELES: Catherine Zeta-Jones lost a bid on to stop a businessman from running his information technology business from a barn near her new luxury home in her Welsh hometown.

Swansea councilors voted to let entrepreneur Steve Gwynn continue using the outbuilding on a prestigious estate in the seaside village of Mumbles, where Zeta-Jones has built a $2 million home.

Lawyers for the actress’ parents and her firm, CZ Investments, had written to the council expressing extreme “concern and alarm” about Gywnn’s business.

The letter said the family was concerned that visits by staff members working for the IT firm would jeopardise their privacy, asserting that they bought the plot “on the clear understanding that it would be private, prestigious and exclusive and extremely safe and secure as it was a ‘gated’ development.” Gwynn pointed out in return that his property generates far less interest than the Zeta-Jones mansion, which has already attracted flocks of stargazers.

Swansea Councilor Des Thomas, who pointed out that the compound was close to a cricket club and other public facilities, said the family should have built their home in the more secluded town of Llandeilo if they wanted more privacy.

Another councilor, Mary Jones, said she thought the council had been put under extreme pressure to close down the business because of Zeta-Jones’ involvement.

“If it was one of us or anyone else we would not have this pressure put upon us,” Jones said. — AP

Hawke uncomfortable, Jolie has a decent movie LOS ANGELES: Ethan Hawke says he was uncomfortable with the seamy plot in his new movie, ‘Taking Lives’.

Hawke plays Angelina Jolie’s love interest in the thriller. He is an art dealer who gets involved in the search for a serial killer and becomes a target. “The movie certainly deals with some kind of sexuality-with-violence that I’ve never dealt with in movies,” Hawke said. “It’s something that I find pretty uncomfortable and that I don’t enjoy.” But Angelina Jolie finally has a decent movie on her hands with ‘Taking Lives’. Since winning the supporting-actress Academy Award for 1999’s ‘Girl, Interrupted’, Jolie has starred in a string of bad movies although she has managed to maintain a strong screen presence in the service of rotten films such as ‘Original Sin’, ‘Beyond Borders’, ‘Life Or Something Like It’ and her two ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ outings.

With ‘Taking Lives’, Jolie gives her finest performance since her Oscar win and is surrounded by a robust supporting cast in a fairly fresh serial-killer tale. — AP