Matt Lauer Officially Retires ‘Where In The World’ Segment… For Now

“Today” show co-host Matt Lauer is officially retiring the NBC show’s popular “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” segment after 10 seasons of globetrotting… for now.

On Friday’s Access Hollywood Live, Billy Bush asked Matt – live via satellite from Barbados – if he was ready to hang up his traveling hat.

“Are you done with ‘Where in the World’ for sure?” Billy asked Matt.

“You know, 10 sounds like a better number to end on than nine did, so I think so,” Matt said. “I think we’ve had a great time. We’ve been to 51 places… around the world.”

However, the veteran journalist left the door open for the segment to return in the future.

“It gets tougher and tougher to find extraordinary places,” he said. “So, if we’re not completely done with it, we’re certainly going to rest it for a good long while and maybe revisit it with a twist at some future date.”

In addition to Barbados, the 10th and (possibly) final “Where in the World…?” trip saw the 53-year-old traipsing through Spain, Malaysia, Switzerland and Namibia. It was the latter locale where Matt impressed “Today” viewers – and his co-workers – with his extreme sports skills as he gracefully skied down the sand dunes along the country’s Skeleton Coast.

“I think the most fun I had was the sand-skiing,” he told Billy. “It was a good way to start the week.”

As for the most memorable moment of this trip, Matt said Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, won him over.

“That reveal on Thursday from the top of Europe – 11,745 feet up – just the trip up there was ridiculous,” he said. “But to stand at that spot and look out over the glaciers and the Swiss Alps – that, I think, was my favorite moment of the week.”

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Posted in: Access Hollywood Live,Leo Talks Taking,Matt Lauer Officially Retires,Pregnancy Is A Friend Of Mine,Where In The World

Charlie Sheen Gets Back To Work

Charlie Sheen is having a blast of a time being back at work – literally.

Over the weekend, the actor posted photos on his WhoSay.com account, including one showing the actor dodging an explosion on the set of “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III.”

“this is at least TWO AND A HALF times more fun than my last gig,” Charlie wrote to accompany the explosion photo, a reference to his former job — as the star of the CBS comedy, “Two and a Half Men.”

The film, about a graphic designer, whose life takes a turn for the worse when his girlfriend dumps him, is being directed by Roman Coppola and stars Charlie, alongside Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.

In addition to the new film, Charlie has another project in the works – his new sitcom, “Anger Management,” which late last month found a home on FX.

The sitcom, based around the big screen 2003 film of the same name, will begin airing in summer 2012, FX previously confirmed.

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Leo Talks Taking On ‘J. Edgar’ & Bringing 3-D To ‘Great Gatsby’

Leonardo DiCaprio is hoping to help bring a fresh take to a classic story, when he stars in the latest big screen version of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel “The Great Gatsby,” slated to hit theaters Christmas 2012.

And besides a slew of sexy modern faces – Leo will share the screen with the likes of Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher in the film – the producers are also bringing another modern-day twist to the reboot: 3-D technology.

“We’re shooting ‘The Great Gatsby’ in Australia right now and what’s really cool is working with [director] Baz [Luhrmann] and this 3-D format that’s being used for drama,” Leo told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, while promoting his latest movie, “J. Edgar,” in Los Angeles over the weekend.

“Most of the time, you associate 3-D with the spectacle of it, but he really wants to use 3-D to create emotional impact with the characters and almost use it like what it would be like to immerse yourself in a theater production,” Leo explained. “So I’m having a good time with that. Plus, it’s the great American novel.

“I’m having a great time with the material for sure,” he added.

When it comes to his current project, “J. Edgar,” Leo said there was plenty that drew him to portraying such a historic, yet controversial, figure — J. Edgar Hoover.

“What interested you in Hoover?” Billy asked Leo.

“He was always a very mysterious figure in American history. His personal life was always shrouded in mystery — I never could quite put my finger on it,” the star said. “He was this bulldog figure, he was sort of the face of the FBI, he changed our country in a time of great lawlessness where bank robbers were going from state to state robbing banks, becoming local heroes. He sort of cleaned up all that mess… he was creating this new federal police force single-handedly.

“But then, there are all those salacious rumors that you heard about him too. So, it was very exciting to see somebody’s very specific take on who J. Edgar Hoover was through these different time periods from the beginning of his career and how he was this very ambitious young man that created this police force all the way to the end of his life where he, you know, became a political dinosaur and didn’t adapt to the changing of our country,” Leo concluded.

Despite the ranging opinions on Hoover’s legacy, Leo said he didn’t see any risk in taking on the role.

“If there is a risk, I think that that may be something that other people might attribute to this character. But to me, it was a no-brainer. It’s like, how often do you get to portray somebody with this much complexity and intrigue?” Leo suggested. “I mean, this guy had a crock pot of different eccentricities and that’s like an actor’s dream.

“So I just looked at it as that perspective — like how could I not play this character?” he said.

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