The strangest movie stories of 2012

What a strange year it’s been for all things silver screen. We’ve had awkward arrests, uneasy nudity, ‘lewd behaviour’ and Clint Eastwood. Though thankfully not all at the same time. It’s been a buttock-clenching, career-denting spectacle of a year.

So what are you waiting for? Here are our 10 strangest stories of 2012…

Gollum takes over Wellington Airport
In the build-up to the release of Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, New Zealand went promotional tie-in mad. The crazy Kiwis issued Hobbit stamps and dollars and capital city Wellington was officially renamed ‘Middle of Middle-Earth’. Before all of this though, a 13-metre Gollum took over the airport.

Click here to read the full story.

Robert Pattinson’s weird party trick
More disturbing than drinking blood or glistening in the sunlight, Robert Pattinson’s bendy fingers are the real oddity. In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Movies UK the ‘Twilight’ star showed us his perplexing party trick.

Click here to read the full story.

Man stained green after Hulk costume goes wrong
When Brazilian swimming pool attendant Enrique dos Santos painted himself green for a Hulk costume, his dedication backfired – staining him green and attracting the attention of the press. Turned out his body paint of choice was more suited to covering nuclear submarines than naked Brazilians.

Click here to read the full story.

‘Sylvester Stallone’ spotted in Vatican painting
Amidst the everyday sightings of Jesus in the cornflakes and Mother Mary grilled on your toastie came this holiest of all apparitions: Sly Stallone in a 500-year-old Vatican artwork (pictured left, obviously). Spotted by a holidaying Harvard student and posted on Reddit, the dubious doppelganger became a viral hit.

Click here to read the full story.

Brazilian man arrested for using Jack Nicholson ID
The second baffling Brazilian act on this list: a 41-year-old man was arrested after he tried to open a bank account using a fake ID… featuring a mugshot of Jack Nicholson. Turns out Jack was the star of an ensemble cast, as six different IDs were found on the man. Unfortunately there’s no word on who the extras might have been.

Click here to read the full story.

Shia LaBeouf goes naked in new music video
Taking the Daniel Radcliffe route to scaring off typecasting, Shia LaBeouf appeared in La-’buff’ for a music video by Icelandic band Sigur Rós. The promo also featured the then 25-year-old ‘Transformers’ star performing an eight-minute dance solo. He was dressed for that bit though.

Click here to read the full story.

Fred Willard arrested for lewd conduct
Veteran comedian Fred Willard was literally caught with his pants down back in July. Charged with “suspicion of engaging in a lewd act” by LAPD, the 78-year-old actor was arrested in an adult theatre with his genitals exposed. After his release, Willard even reviewed the frisky film via Twitter - it was “lousy”.

Click here to read the full story.

Cinema shows Paranormal Activity instead of Madagascar 3
Children like talking animals. They don’t like demonic possessions. It’s sort of a rule of thumb. Something Cineworld Nottingham found out the hard way when they accidentally screened ‘Paranormal Activity 4’ instead of ‘Madagascar 3’ - resulting in a screaming evacuation of the cinema, unseen since Adam Sandler donned a dress for ‘Jack and Jill’.

Click here to read the full story.

Liam Neeson gets soaked for Charity
For one night only Liam Neeson shook off the wise action-hero image, as well as a few other things. The ‘Taken’ actor appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ chat show for a good old-fashioned charity gunging in nothing but a pair of inadequate pink pants. Neeson helped raise $10,000... and about a million eyebrows.

Click here to read the full story.

Clint gives ‘weird’ speech at Republican Convention
When Clint Eastwood was booked to appear in support of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney at the Republican convention, you can bet the candidate wasn’t expecting a mumbling surrealist rant and an invisible Barack Obama. In just 11 short minutes, legendary hardman Clint took his 60-year career and flung it over a rainbow. Was he disorganised, disorientated or just drunk? No one knows - but it was without doubt the strangest Hollywood story of 2012.

Click here to read the full story.