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| Nicole Kidman is sexy *again* in ‘Paperboy’ | By Meriah Doty | Movie Talk
Reminiscent of her seductive-yet-psycho character in "To Die For" (1995), Nicole Kidman is taking on another twisted-sex-pot role. And yes, in this one she also dons bleach blonde hair.
< Kidman, 44, has love scenes with Zac Efron, 24, in "The Paperboy," a sexual thriller due for release later this year. And while Efron described the scenes as "the highlight of my life," he is not the only one Kidman's character gets intimate with: She plays a woman who writes letters to death row inmates. Kidman's character Charlotte Bless also begins communicating with a murder suspect, played by John Cuscack. We'll just have to add Kidman's sexy scenes to a growing list she is knocking out lately—including her steamy on-screen play opposite Clive Owen in the HBO film "Hemingway & Gellhorn." Kidman recently told W Magazine how she feels about getting nude on set:
"I don't mind being naked. Maybe as I get older, and now having had a baby, it might be different, but I enjoy not letting my issues get in the way of a performance. Once I start putting all my little insecurities in my mind, I'm not actually acting. Then it's about me — and it should never be about me. It should be about the character."
| | | The Hunger Games’ scores rare trifecta: #1 movie, #1 book, and #1 album | By Adam Pockross :
The Hunger Games" is virtually guaranteed to win the box office again this weekend, with an estimated $60 million haul.
The dystopian thriller is also expected to dominate the global markets as well. But why stop there? In a rare feat that effectively amounts to popular culture dominance, "The Hunger Games" is now the #1 movie, book, and album in America.
The film is based on Suzanne Collins's book of the same title, the first installment of a well-read trilogy.
Scholastic, the book's publisher, released up to date stats this week that reveal a staggering 36.5 million copies of the three books in print.
The first book has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for 180 consecutive weeks. Even more impressive, all three books -- "The Hunger Games," "Caching Fire," and "Mocking Jay" -- have held court a top of the USA Today's bestseller list for ten of the last eleven weeks, including this week.
This week, the film's soundtrack debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. It's the first soundtrack to debut at the top spot since 2009, when Michael Jackson's "This is It" capitalized on the King of Pop's unexpected death.
The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond" features a cavalcade of today's top stars, among them Taylor Swift, Arcade Fire, Miranda Lambert, and Maroon 5. The album is produced by veteran rocker and Academy Award winner T-Bone Burnett ("Crazy Heart" 2009).
To celebrate this admirable feat, Lionsgate has released a new 30 second spot, aptly titled "Trifecta". As you'll see below, the spot contains unreleased footage from the film.
It should satiate ravenous fans for a minute or two, at least until they go see "The Hunger Games" again, as they listen to the soundtrack on the way to theater, and read the book at red lights.
| | | Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart Headed for Cannes? | By Steve Pond | The Wrap – Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Marion Cotillard, Michael Haneke and David Cronenberg, will probably be walking the red carpet at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Woody Allen, after debuting his last two films at the festival, won't. And as for last year's Palme d'Or winner, the elusive Terrence Malick – who knows? The official Cannes lineup won't be announced until April 19, though the festival has already revealed that the opening-night attraction will be Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom."
But speculation runs rampant about which upcoming titles will land on the Croisette. And that speculation is particularly heated after a year in which three Cannes debuts – Allen's "Midnight in Paris," Malick's "The Tree of Life" and Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist" – received Oscar Best Picture nominations, the last of them taking home the top prize.
The consensus among Cannes-watchers is that Malick's new film, "The Funeral," will debut at Cannes if the notoriously painstaking director finishes it in time. Of course, "The Tree of Life" was widely rumored to be debuting at the festival in 2010, and it ended up missing that deadline by a full year.
The outlook for "The Funeral," which stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem and Rachel Weisz, also is far from certain. Allen, meanwhile, has opted to open his new film in Italy in late April rather than taking it to Cannes, where "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" screened and where "Midnight in Paris" served as the festival's opening-night film last year. (The film will be released in the U.S. on June 22 by Sony Pictures Classics.) Amid all the question marks, here are 10 films that could well make the cut – though Cannes is often unpredictable, as are post-production schedules.
As usual for Cannes, the lineup will no doubt be longer on European auteurs than American movie stars. And Pattinson and Stewart will be on hand not to promote the next "Twilight" installment, but on behalf of two smaller films in which they appear separately.
"Cogan's Trade," Andrew Dominick. Brad Pitt (top) reunited with the director of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" for a film (previously titled "Killing Them Softly") in which the actor investigates a mob heist.
Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini also star in the Weinstein Co. release, which will open in September, presumably following a festival debut. "Cosmopolis," David Cronenberg. An adaptation of Don DeLillo's Wall Street thriller could again bring out the dark side of director Cronenberg ("A Dangerous Method," "Eastern Promises"), though he raised a few eyebrows with his choice of "Twilight" star Pattinson (right) in the lead role. "The End," Abbas Kiarostami. The Iranian director made a splash at Cannes two years ago with "Certified Copy," for which Juliette Binoche won the festival's best actress prize.
This film is reportedly a continuation of that one, although it is set in Japan and shot in Japanese with a cast that includes Aoi Miyazaki. "Holly Motors," Leos Carax. Eva Mendes, Denis Lavant and Kylie Minogue are among the stars of Carax's low-budget film about a businessman who leads parallel lives as a beggar and a murderer.
It is the director's first feature since "Pola X," which was a Cannes entry in 1999. "In the House" "("Dans la maison"), Francois Ozon. If Ozon can finish this follow-up to the well-received "Potiche" in time for Cannes, the comedic drama starring Emmanuelle Seigner and Kristin Scott-Thomas is a good bet to make the lineup. The film is adapted from a stage play by Juan Mayorga, and deals with a French teacher and a mysterious young student in his class. "Lawrence Anyways," Xavier Dolan. The French-Canadian enfant terrible Dolan is working his way through the Cannes ranks, where "I Killed My Mother" screened in the Directors Fortnight in 2009 and "Heartbeats" made it into Un Certain Regard the following year.
"Lawrence" stars Nathalie Baye as a woman in a relationship with a man who's undergoing a sex change.
"Love" ("Amour"), Michael Haneke. Nearly every Haneke movie has debuted at Cannes, and "The White Ribbon" won the Palme d'Or in 2009. "Love" stars Isabelle Huppert as a pianist who is partially paralyzed after a stroke. "On the Road," Walter Salles. Jack Kerouac's quintessentially American story took a Brazilian director (Salles), English leading man (Sam Riley) and Australian and French producers (Rebecca Yeldham and Nathanael Karmitz, respectively) to finally get made, so it makes some kind of sense for it to bow at Cannes.
Garrett Hedlund, Steve Buscemi, Viggo Mortensen, Amy Adams, Terrence Howard and Kristen Stewart (right) could fill a star-studded red carpet. "Rust and Bone" ("Un gout de rouille et d'os"), Jacques Audiard. The director's last film, "A Prophet," debuted at Cannes and won the Grand Prize, and his new one was partially shot in the city.
It stars Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts and has been acquired by Sony Classics. "Something in the Air" ("Apres Mai"), Olivier Assayas. A 2011 Cannes juror, Assayas could well find himself being judged for this partly autobiographical story set in Paris in the 1970s. Clement Matayer and Lola Creton star. Other potential Cannes entries include Alain Resnais' "Vous n'avez encore rien vu," Ken Loach's "The Angel's Share," Cristian Mungiu's "Beyond the Hills," Pablo Trapero's "Elefante Blanco," Wong Kar-Wai's "The Grandmasters," Carlos Reygadas' "Post Tenebras Lux" and Koji Wakamatsu's "Mishima." "The Place Beyond the Pines" could find its place at Cannes if "Blue Valentine" director Derek Cianfrance finishes it in time, while Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" would be a high-profile addition in the unlikely event that it is ready. The Sundance sensation "Beasts of the Southern Wild," the Stanley Kubrick documentary "Room 237" and Michel Gondry's "The We and the I" could also show up. John Hillcoat's "Lawless" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" are likelier for Venice, Telluride or Toronto. And while the speculation continues, Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux is currently figuring out who's in and who's out.
The final verdict will come on April 19. | | | 2012 Oscar Winners List | After weeks of hype and fanfare, the Oscars are finally here. Check out everyone who takes home a gold trophy live as it happens:
5:44pm PST -- Cinematography: Robert Richardson, "Hugo"
5:45pm PST -- Art Direction: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo, "Hugo"
5:55pm PST -- Costume Design: Mark Bridges, "The Artist"
5:57pm PST -- Makeup: Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland, "The Iron Lady"
6:06pm PST -- Foreign Language Film: "A Separation"
6:13pm PST -- Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
6:22pm PST -- Film Editing: Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
6:26pm PST -- Sound Editing: Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, "Hugo"
6: 28pm PST -- Sound Mixing: Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, "Hugo"
6:42pm PST -- Documentary Feature: "Undefeated"
6:46pm PST -- Animated Feature: "Rango"
6:54pm PST -- Visual Effects: Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben
Grossman and Alex Henning, "Hugo"
7:00pm PST -- Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
7:13pm PST -- Original Score: Ludovic Bource, "The Artist"
7:18pm PST -- Original Song: Bret McKenzie, "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets"
7:26pm PST -- Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
7:30pm PST -- Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
7:40pm PST -- Live Action Short: "The Shore"
7:42pm PST -- Documentary Short: "Saving Face"
7:45pm PST -- Animated Short: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
7:52pm PST -- Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
8:15pm PST -- Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
8:30pm PST -- Best Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
8:36pm PST -- Best Picture: "The Artist"
| | | Stacy Keibler: George Clooney Is 'Not Allowed To Play Pranks On Me' | Access Hollywood, George Clooney might be planning a major prank on pal Brad Pitt, but when it comes to girlfriend Stacy Keibler - she's off limits!
Access Hollywood caught up with the star couple on Tuesday at New York's Cipriani 42nd Street, where George was honored with the Best Actor award for his role in "The Descendants" from the National Board of Review.
On the red carpet, Stacy revealed that George's practical jokes are best left for his friends.
"We have a rule that he is not allowed to play pranks on me," the blonde beauty told Access, as George smiled by her side.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: She’s Got Legs! Hot Shots Of The Lovely Stacy Keibler!
As for his planned prank on Pitt, George said it's going to be major.
"I can't tell you what it is, but I can tell you it's going to end his career," the actor joked. "I actually am working on something for [Brad,] but I want to wait until, you know, for a while. Let it run for a couple of years."
Stacy, 32, who towered above George last night, also revealed that she wasn't sporting heels at the event, but said her beau enjoys a nice pair of stilettos on her.
"George loves me to wear my heels," Stacy, who was sporting a Marchesa gown, said.
And the actor might like his lady in a pair of heels, but the Golden Globe nominee doesn't chime in on what she should wear on the red carpet.
| | | Perry, 'Potter' win big at People's Choice Awards | By DERRIK J. LANG | Associated Press. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Katy Perry is in the popular clique now.
The singer-actress won the most People's Choice Awards at Wednesday's 38th annual fan-favorite extravaganza, but viewers wouldn't have known it from watching the ceremony.
An absentee Perry was honored in five categories, including favorite female artist, tour headliner, song of the year for "E.T." with Kanye West, music video for "Last Friday Night" and TV guest star for "How I Met Your Mother."
Despite originally being touted by the show's organizers as among the nominees expected to attend, Perry told fans on Twitter earlier this week that she wouldn't make it to the show but that "I want to thank u all for voting for me, fingers crossed!" It would have marked Perry's first public appearance since British actor-comedian Russell Brand filed for divorce from Perry last month after 14 months of marriage.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the final installment of the magical film series starring Daniel Radcliffe, followed behind Perry with four wins for favorite movie, action movie, book adaptation and ensemble movie cast, but the film's stars also weren't present at the ceremony, leaving more screen time on the CBS broadcast for other winners in the show's 43 categories honoring TV, film and music.
Ellen DeGeneres, Nina Dobrev, Chloe Grace Moretz, Adam Levine, Lea Michele and Demi Lovato, who performed "Give Your Heart a Break," were among the winners on hand to accept their awards selected by Internet votes.
"For all the Rachel Berrys out there, this one's for you guys," said Michele, who won as favorite comedy TV actress for her "Glee" role.
Emma Stone and Johnny Depp — another no-show — won two trophies at the ceremony, which was hosted by "The Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco. Depp and Stone, respectively, won the favorite movie actor and actress awards, while Depp was also honored as favorite animated movie voice for "Rango," and Stone was selected as favorite comedic movie actress.
"I moved to L.A. eight years ago this week with my mom, who's right there," Stone said while accepting her pair of crystal trophies. "It is so insane to be standing up here right now. It is hard to describe to you."
Among the TV winners were "How I Met Your Mother" for TV comedy, "Two Broke Girls" for new TV comedy, "Hot in Cleveland" for cable TV comedy, Neil Patrick Harris for TV comedy actor, "Supernatural" for TV drama and sci-fi/fantasy show, "Person of Interest" for new TV drama, "Pretty Little Liars" for cable TV drama and Nathan Fillion for TV drama actor.
Winners in the movie categories included Hugh Jackman for action star, "Bridesmaids" for comedy movie, "Water for Elephants" for drama movie, Adam Sandler for comedic movie actor and Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern for favorite superhero. Morgan Freeman was bestowed with the first-ever favorite movie icon award.
"When I found out that I'd been nominated for the first-ever People's Choice movie icon award, I decided to look up 'icon,'" Freeman said. "Here's what I found: The first definition said an icon is a tiny picture on a computer screen that represents a file."
| | | 2012 People's Choice Awards: The Best-Dressed Stars |
Us Weekly, In Los Angeles Wednesday night, Hollywood's hottest stars in TV, music and movies worked the Nokia Theatre red carpet in anything but normal, run-of-the-mill dresses.
Glee's Lea Michele, 25, who took home the PCA for Favorite TV Comedy Actress, showed off her fringe benefits in a white, hand draped bugle bead dress by Marchesa, which she wore with Jimmy Choo "Senora" glitter sandals.
Before she took the stage to perform her latest single, "Give Your Heart a Break", Demi Lovato worked the red carpet in a glamorous pink silk chiffon draped strapless gown with embroidered bodice detail by Marchesa. She teamed the whimsical number with a turquoise and pearl embroidered square box clutch, also by the designer. (The 19-year-old also received the award for Favorite Pop Artist.)
And The Vampire Diaries' Nina Dobrev, 22, who nabbed the award for Favorite TV Drama Actress, looked gorgeous in a kelly green cocktail dress with lace sleeves and nude pumps, both by Elie Saab, and a Lauren Merkin clutch.
| | | Brad Pitt Consoles Suicidal Actor at Moneyball Event |
US- Brad Pitt was a real pal to a stranger in need on Sunday.
Following a special screening of Moneyball at the Cary Grant Theatre in Culver City, Calif. on Sunday, the star, 47, encountered a distraught man during a Q&A session with hundreds of fans.
According to an attendee, a 30-something struggling actor announced to Pitt, costar Jonah Hill and the crowd that he was battling suicidal thoughts alone in his car before the night's event-- but the film gave him "a renewed sense of hope."
(In the acclaimed film, Pitt plays real-life Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who built a champion team using computer-generated analysis to draft its player.)
"It was a really awkward moment," the attendee tells Us, adding that the actor got "choked up" as he revealed his battles to the crowd.
But Pitt didn't flinch, the witness says. "He said, 'Look, man, life is up and down, it's a vicious cycle, but you have to go through it and deal with that,'" the observer reveals.
The father of six and longtime love to Angelina Jolie continued in his pep talk: "'You can be down, but then you come back up again, and every failure can lead to success.'"
"It was a touching moment," adds a second observer. "As he left the theatre he even stopped to talk with the guy to offer him some more words of encouragemen,t because he was obviously fragile."
Marvels the first witness: "Brad handled the situation really well in front of several hundred people -- it was a difficult moment that shocked everyone."
| | | Michelle Trachtenberg Was Almost Bella in Twilight? | US- Michelle Trachtenberg was a vampire slayer's little sister on Buffy, and she could've fallen in love with a creature of the night on the silver screen, too!
The 26-year-old actress told Us Weekly Wednesday at the opening of LOLA in NYC that she was indeed considered for a role in the Twilight films. "There was definitely interest here and there because there's only so few pale girls in Hollywood," she explained.
"I've known [director] Catherine Hardwicke since the movie Thirteen," she said. "I was actually supposed to star in that, but I was on Buffy at the time." (Hardwicke, who went on to directed the very first Twilight film in 2009, directed the saga's star Nikki Reed in the 2003 drama and Evan Rachel Wood played the film's primary character. Reed cowrote the gritty screenplay.)
So why did Reed, Kristen Stewart and Ashley Greene end up as Breaking Dawn's leading ladies instead of Trachtenberg? "I guess schedules never worked out," she explained.
"I already have Buffy," she added. "I've already done the vampire thing."
But the Gossip Girl star doesn't want to speculate how her life would be different if she'd starred opposite Robert Pattinson in the blockbuster films. "[Hypothetical answers mean] you're not living in the moment and you're looking negatively at what you're doing now," she mused. | | | Jennifer Love Hewitt Dyes Her Hair Red: Love It or Hate It? | US - Better off red? In the past few months, Jennifer Love Hewitt has been undergoing some serious hair changes.
After debuting a shoulder-length cut with blunt bangs in August, the 32-year-old loaded up her locks with long extensions (about 12-inches worth) in September. And now the star has switched up her look again by following in the footsteps of Scarlett Johansson and Demi Lovato and dyeing her hair a deep red. She debuted her fiery new hue when she helped out at the Los Angeles Mission alongside Kim Kardashian and Zoe Saldana November 23. VIDEO: Jennifer Love Hewitt shows some skin as a sexy stripper
"Why does getting your hair done always make a girl wanna smile. And tweet apparently lol," the Can't Hardly Wait actress tweeted along with a pic of her new 'do November 19, just days after rocking a glossy brunette color with sun-kissed streaks at the L.A. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 premiere November 14.
| | | Angelina Jolie Wears Tight Red-Hot Dress With Brad Pitt in Tokyo | Konichiwa, Brangelina!
Brad Pitt had the ultimate arm candy at Wednesday's Moneyball premiere in Tokyo, Japan: Angelina Jolie.
Jolie, 36, stunned in a simple but very sexy slinky red cocktail paired with nude pumps (which could be channeling Kate Middleton's favorite LK Bennet kicks!) and bold red lips. The mother of six wore her hair in side-swept, glamorous waves.
The Tourist actress's scarlet-hued look was the perfect contrast to Pitt, 47, who wore a casual all-black ensemble, sporting a scruffy beard and long hair -- all grown out for his work on World War Z.
PHOTOS: Brad's cutest moments with his eldest son Maddox
The superstar couple was photographed arriving in Tokyo on Tuesday, with their kids Shiloh, 5, 3-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, Pax, 7, Maddox, 10 and Zahara, 6.
| | | Schwarzenegger to star in film |
By Joshua L. Weinstein | Reuters – Mon, Oct 17, 2011 3:22 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is back at work -- with a real Jackass.
The former California governor and action star is now shooting "The Last Stand," Lionsgate's chase story, with "Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, Lionsgate announced Monday.
Harry Dean Stanton, Eduardo Noriega, Rodrigo Santoro, Luis Guzman and Jaimie Alexander also star.
Shooting began Monday and will take place in New Mexico and Nevada.
The Korean director Kim Jee-Woon ("A Tale of Two Sisters," "The Good, The Bad, The Weird") is directing.
"The Last Stand" is about a former Los Angeles Police officer who becomes the sheriff of a sleepy border town and finds himself standing between a ruthless drug cartel leader and the border.
Lionsgate says the movie includes "one of the most daring face offs in cinema history."
The movie is based on Andrew Knauer's spec script which Jeffrey Nachmanoff
| | | Cage laments lack of screen time for 'Trespass' | By DAVID GERMAIN - AP Movie Writer
TORONTO (AP) — Nicolas Cage may be happy he got to work with Nicole Kidman and reunite with director Joel Schumacher on his new thriller "Trespass." Yet Cage isn't thrilled that viewers will be able to watch the movie at home the same day it opens in a handful of theaters.
The story of a family terrorized by home intruders, "Trespass" debuts Friday for a limited theatrical run in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and seven other major markets. It will be available at the same time for home viewing through video on demand.
The DVD and Blu-ray release follow barely two weeks later on Nov. 1, compared with a typical window of about four months between the time most Hollywood films open in theaters and debut on home video.
It's a business decision that will help "Trespass" distributor Millennium Entertainment, an independent outfit that does not have the big marketing bucks of a Hollywood studio, make the most of its advertising dollars.
Cage understands that, but he wishes the movie could have a separate life on the big-screen before it goes to smaller television and computer screens — or even tiny cell-phone screens.
"I like movies to be seen the way the director wanted them to be seen, which is on the big-screen, with an audience, with their popcorn," Cage said in an interview alongside Schumacher at September's Toronto International Film Festival, where "Trespass" premiered.
"I want movies to be an event. I want people to get excited about it and go out for the night with their wife or their date, whatever it may be, and have it be an event. I don't want it to get smaller and smaller and wind up on a cell phone."
Smaller distributors such as Magnolia Pictures and IFC Films often release films to theaters and video on demand around the same time. Some films can be watched at home ahead of their theatrical release, such as Kirsten Dunst's "Melancholia," already available to rent through video services a month before it debuts in U.S. cinemas.
With Academy Award winners Cage and Kidman, along with director Schumacher ("Batman Forever," ''A Time to Kill"), "Trespass" arguably is the biggest test yet for simultaneous big-screen and home releases. Cage stars as a diamond dealer taken hostage with his wife (Kidman) and daughter by masked thugs looking for jewels and cash.
Several studios experimented with plans offering video-on-demand rentals of films such as Adam Sandler's "Just Go with It" and Matt Damon's "The Adjustment Bureau" just 60 days after their theatrical release. Those were expensive rentals — $30 a pop — and the timing was after the films already had done most of their business in theaters.
As another test, Universal Pictures had planned to offer home rentals of the Eddie Murphy-Ben Stiller action comedy "Tower Heist" to viewers in Atlanta and Portland, Ore., just three weeks after its Nov. 4 theatrical release.
But Universal said Wednesday it was delaying the VOD release after theater owners complained it might cut into their business. The "Tower Heist" VOD would have cost $60 to rent, a hefty price for home viewing but potentially cheaper than movie tickets, popcorn and sodas for an entire family to see it in theaters.
"Trespass" will be available to rent for as little as $6.99 through such sites and services as Amazon.com, Blockbuster and DirecTV. At that price, and since it plays only in 10 theaters, it's fair to say that most viewers of "Trespass" will end up seeing it at home.
"We're very encouraged that it will be quite successful," said David Sobieraj, president of strategic planning and television at Millennium Entertainment. "In this day and age, independents are pretty much consolidating some of the windows on theatrical and home releases. It maximizes the marketing dollars across the board."
Those shrinking windows have theater owners worried that more people will stay home and wait for movies on video rather than heading out to cinemas. Top filmmakers including among them James Cameron ("Avatar") and Michael Bay (the "Transformers" movies) sided with theater owners in an open letter last spring, as studios were testing their $30 video-on-demand rentals.
Schumacher, who previously directed Cage in "8MM" and Kidman in "Batman Forever," said he would prefer that people see his movies in a theater. But he acknowledges that technology is changing the way fans watch movies.
"I'm easily assimilated," Schumacher said. "Yes, it's wonderful when people see your movie on the big-screen, but a lot of our movies are seen over and over again on television, and also DVDs have brought a whole new audience. ... I'll accept it if they say they watched it on their cell phone one day. They watched it and they enjoyed it."
Cage concedes that with the high cost of taking the whole family to a movie, parents could save up for a couple of months, "get a big-screen TV and just watch your movies at home.
"So that's why people have to get smart about how they release movies, and they have a point. Put it on the big-screen and also get ready for the future, which is, people are going to be watching movies at home with their friends, drinking beer and talking as loud as they want," Cage said. "I get it. I just don't like it."
| | | Jim Carrey offered role in New Line's "Burt Wonderstone" | LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - New Line has offered Jim Carrey a role in its comedy "Burt Wonderstone," but the two sides haven't started talking money yet, TheWrap has learned.
Steve Carell has been attached to the project for more than a year.
The movie is about a successful Las Vegas magician whose partner dies in a risky stunt. The magician -- Burt Wonderstone (played by Carell) -- has to rediscover his love for magic and defeat a rival magician.
Carrey and Carell have worked together several times, including on one episode of "The Office." Carell had a role in Carey's 2003 "Bruce Almighty" and in the animated 2008 "Horton Hears a Who!"
Don Scardino, who has directing more than 70 episodes of "30 Rock" and many episodes of "Law and Order," "Hope & Faith" and others, is directing.
Jason Reitman wrote the most recent version of the script.
By Joshua L. Weinstein | Reuters
| | | New "Die Hard" movie to debut Valentine's Day 2013 | By Joshua L. Weinstein | Reuters
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) Isn't it romantic?
Fox has slated "Die Hard 5" -- now titled "A Good Day to Die Hard" -- for a Valentine's Day 2013 release.
It'll be the first "Die Hard" film to arrive in the winter.
"Die Hard," the 1988 action thriller that propelled Bruce Willis to movie stardom, came out on July 15. "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" was released July 6 two years later. "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" followed on May 19, five years later, and "Live Free Or Die Hard" was released June 27, 2007.
The latest installment will once again star Willis as John McClane, an iron-tough New York cop. He already has saved hostages from a Los Angeles office building, battled mercenaries who threaten to crash an airplane, taken on Internet terrorists and gone up against a bomber. This time, he'll be in Russia.
John Moore ("Max Payne," "Behind Enemy Lines") is directing. Alex Young is producing.
The four previous "Die Hard" movies have grossed a total of about 530 million worldwide.
| | | Former Michael Jackson manager Frank Dileo dies | LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Music industry executive Frank Dileo, who managed Michael Jackson's career in the 1980s and returned as his manager in the superstar's final days, died Wednesday. He was 63.
Publicist Karen Sundell said Dileo died in the morning. The cause of death was not immediately available, but he had recently experienced complications following heart surgery.
The short, portly Dileo was a colorful figure in the entertainment industry and had movie roles as an actor, notably portraying a gangster in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas."
A native of Pittsburgh, Dileo began his career in the music industry working as a promoter for CBS subsidiary Epic Records. He signed so many stars that he was credited with catapulting the small company to the No. 2 label in the country. Jackson was at CBS Records at the time and together they worked on the phenomenally successful "Thriller" album.
In his book "Moonwalk," Jackson credited Dileo as one of the people "responsible for turning my dream for `Thriller' into a reality."
Jackson wrote that Dileo's "brilliant understanding of the recording industry proved invaluable" and described how Dileo decided to release "Beat It" as a single while "Billie Jean" was still the No. 1 song in the country.
"CBS screamed `You're crazy. This will kill Billie Jean,'" Jackson recalled. "But Frank told them not to worry, that both songs would be No. 1 and both would be in the Top 10 at the same time. They were."
In 1984, with "Thriller" soaring, Jackson recruited Dileo to leave Epic and manage his career. Dileo accepted and presided over one of the most productive periods for Jackson.
He executive-produced the full-length Jackson movie, "Moonwalker." He also wrote, produced and negotiated a series of lucrative Pepsi commercials for Jackson.
And he managed two of Jackson's concert tours — the Victory Tour with other members of the Jackson family and the Bad World Tour, Jackson's first solo excursion which became the largest grossing concert tour of all time.
After five years together, Dileo and Jackson abruptly ended their business relationship without explanation.
Dileo went on to manage the careers of other musicians, including Taylor Dayne, Jodeci, Laura Branigan and Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. He also worked with Prince on several projects.
He founded Dileo Entertainment Group in Nashville, Tenn., a company focused on launching the careers of young artists.
In 2005, when Jackson stood trial on child molestation charges, Dileo returned to his side. He later described their emotional reunion. After Jackson's acquittal, they remained in touch and in the summer of 2009, as Jackson prepared to launch his This is It tour, the singer asked Dileo to manage him again. They were working together when Jackson died on June 25, 2009.
John Branca, co-executor of the Jackson estate, said he had the privilege of knowing Dileo for more than two decades.
"He was not only one of the great veterans of the music business, he was a beloved friend to me and all who were lucky enough to have had him in their lives. He was one of a kind," Branca said, and "we will miss him."
Dileo is survived by his wife, Linda; two children, Belinda and Dominic; and a grandson, Frank.
| | | Winehouse album becomes century's bestseller | LONDON (AP) — Amy Winehouse is still hitting music milestones after her untimely death last month.
Britain's Official Charts Company says Winehouse's Grammy-award winning "Back to Black" has become the best-selling album in the U.K. in the 21st century.
The company, which tracks music sales in the U.K., said Wednesday that "Back to Black" overtook James Blunt's 2005 debut album to claim the title this week.
Winehouse's second album had jumped to the No. 1 spot on the charts shortly after the soul singer was found dead in her London town house on July 23. An initial post-mortem failed to determine cause of death, and Winehouse's family said Tuesday that toxicology tests showed she had no illegal drugs in her system when she died.
An inquest into Winehouse's death begins in October.
| | | Paris Hilton's 'World' reportedly over; Oxygen to sack starlet's show | As Kim Kardashian skyrockets to the top of the reality show heap, her onetime BFF Paris Hilton continues her slide into yesterday's news.
The most recent example came Wednesday as reports surfaced that her Oxygen show, "The World According to Paris," has been canceled after just one season.
Calls to Hilton's publicist for comment were not returned.
If this turns out to be the case, it's not unexpected. When the series debuted in June, the ratings were underwhelming at best. The first episode drew a paltry 400,000 viewers. By way of comparison, the Season 5 premiere of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" drew 4.7 million viewers.
After the disappointing opening to the series, things only got worse for Hilton as she continued show promotion.
During an appearance on "The View," Barbara Walters grilled the heiress about her life choices after her 2007 jail stint.
Then, during a sit-down with ABC's Dan Harris, Hilton had enough when Harris asked her if she "was ever worried about her moment having passed." That's when Hilton got up and left. While she returned 15 minutes later, clearly Hilton was not pleased. Hilton even recently earned the dubious distinction of being named America's "Most Unpopular Personality."
The starlet has had a good run with hits like "The Simple Life" and "Paris Hilton: My New BFF" in addition to acting, modeling and commercial work.
But now with the likely cancellation of "The World According to Paris," we might soon be in a world with less of her.
| | | Mila Kunis Defends Justin Timberlake in Russian (Video) | As Friends With Benefits co-stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis continue on their press tour, the actress went back to her roots.
While at a press conference in Moscow, Kunis -- who is originally from Ukraine -- defended her co-star when a reporter asked him the expected question why he is making more films as of late and not music, she took it upon herself to ask a few questions of a her own in Russian.
"Why movies? Why not? What kind of question is that? Why are you here," she asked the reporter in a roomful of journalists.
"What is she saying?," Timberlake asked at one point during her response.
When Timberlake heard Kunis' response -- translated -- he laughed, declaring to the room: "This is my bodyguard."
Kunis isn't the first celebrity to speak in a foreign tongue. Bradley Cooper recently conducted an entire interview in French and Natalie Portman spoke Hebrew while promoting her film V for Vendetta. This past weekend, Matt Damon was candid about his thoughts on the debt ceiling debate.
| | | Jennifer Aniston's Horrible Bosses May Get a Sequel | Horrible Bosses has grossed $82.6 million domestically since its July 8 debut, and now director Seth Gordon is toying with the idea of reuniting the all-star cast back for a second installment.
"We're talking about it," Gordon tells USA Today.
In the original film, Jennifer Aniston, 42, played a sexually aggressive dentist who harasses one of her male employees (Charlie Day). Meanwhile, Kevin Spacey, 52, portrayed a tyrannical corporate executive who's determined to make his subordinates' lives hell.
PHOTOS: Jennifer's hair history
The only potential problem? The third boss, Colin Farrell's cocaine-loving, macho-man character Bobby Pellitt was -- spoiler alert! -- gunned down in the first movie. "I feel like it would be a shame not have Bobby Pellitt," Gordon says. "Maybe in some sort of dream sequence."
Adds Farrell, 35: "Bobby Pellitt, kung-fu master extraordinaire. So much fun. I love watching the film because I'm in it for three f**king minutes. It wasn't ruined for me. I could just enjoy it. I can't remember having such fun designing the physical world of a character as I have with that guy, down to the car that he drove, the fact that he loved karaoke. All of it."
| | | 'Sucker Punch' Stays Atop DVD Sales Chart for Second Week | dearth of strong new releases the week ended July 10 helped keep Warner Home Video’s Sucker Punch atop the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for a second consecutive week.
Warner held the top three spots on the First Alert chart, which tracks overall disc sales, with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 jumping up to No. 2, and The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Extended Edition dropping a slot to No. 3.
The Rings boxed set, however, did manage to repeat atop Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart, with Sucker Punch again at No. 2
Magnolia’s 13 Assassins fared best among new releases, at No. 7 on First Alert and No. 3 on the Blu-ray chart.
Other new releases in the overall top 20 include Universal’s TV DVD Eureka: Season 4.0 at No. 15 and Magnolia’s Hobo With a Shotgun at No. 17.
Hobo, with 58.8 percent of its sales coming on Blu-ray, landed at No. 7 on the Blu-ray chart. Assassins scored with 53.8 percent of its sales on the high-def format.
With most of the major new releases the past few weeks being from studios imposing 28-day embargoes to Redbox and Netflix, Sony Pictures’ Just Go With It moved back into the top spot on Home Media Magazine’s weekly rental chart in its fifth week on shelves. The Adam Sandler comedy has been the top rental twice in that span and has yet to finish below No. 3.
Universal’s Sanctum, coming off its 28-day holdback, rose to No. 5 on the rental chart.
| | | Man pleads not guilty to stalking Halle Berry (AP) | LOS ANGELES - A man charged with stalking Halle Berry pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was ordered to stay 500 yards away from the Oscar-winning actress if he is released from jail.
Richard A. Franco, 27, did not speak during a brief arraignment hearing that occurred hours after he was charged with stalking.
Deputy Public Defender Ken Star, entered the plea on his behalf and did not oppose the court order protecting Berry that was issued by Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra.
The actress did not attend the hearing, but has come face-to-face at least twice since Saturday, when he first breached security at her Hollywood Hills home.
A prosecutor and Star said Berry identified Franco after his arrest Monday night.
Star read from a police report that stated Berry "appeared very shaken and showed signs of stress" when police asked her to identify Franco, but he conceded his client admitted to being at her home.
"She's in extreme fear of this defendant," Deputy District Attorney Wendy Segall said during the arraignment.
Berry obtained a civil restraining order requiring Franco to stay 100 yards away from her and her 3-year-old daughter on Tuesday. She wrote that Franco almost followed her into her kitchen on Sunday afternoon. She said she was able to lock the door and call police before he entered her house.
Kalra's order will expire in three years or once the case against Franco has concluded.
Franco will return to court on July 27 for a preliminary hearing where some of the evidence against him will be presented. He faces up to three years in prison if convicted. He remains jailed with bail set at $150,000.
| | | Schwarzenegger to return to acting in 'Last Stand' (AP) | LOS ANGELES - Arnold Schwarzenegger said he'd be back.
The former governor of California will return to acting with a starring role in the Lionsgate film "Last Stand." Schwarzenegger will play a border-town sheriff who unwittingly finds himself battling a notorious drug kingpin on the run.
Joe Drake, president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said Schwarzenegger will "bring incredible magnetism" to the character of Sheriff Owens.
The role represents Schwarzenegger's first major movie role since 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." He made a cameo appearance in last summer's "The Expendables."
Drake said Schwarzenegger's appearance in that film "electrified the audience" and that he expects the action star-turned-politician to bring that same energy to this Western tale.
The film will be directed by Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-Woon. No shooting or release date was announced.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Daniel Ketchell confirmed Tuesday that Schwarzenegger will appear in "Last Stand" but did not elaborate.
Schwarzenegger said in May that he was putting his acting projects on hold after disclosing that he fathered a child with a family housekeeper and splitting with wife Maria Shriver.
| | | Capsule reviews: `Green Lantern' and more (AP) | 
- "The Art of Getting By" — The title nicely sums up this trifling teen tale of first love, which artfully dodges any pretense of substance or authenticity, trying to scrape by on the charms of its almost intolerably cute cast. There's an ease and playfulness that carries along writer-director Gavin Wiesen's debut film for a while. Yet the indie production plays out as blandly and predictably as a Hollywood teen romance, the characters artificial, the story hollow. As a troubled youth on the verge of throwing his life away before it's begun, Freddie Highmore behaves weirdly even-keeled, his rebelliousness cloaked in a Zen-like calm, like a heavily sedated cousin of "Catcher in the Rye" hero Holden Caulfield. As the object of his affection, Emma Roberts is similarly one-dimensional in the opposite direction, a whirlwind whose pretty perkiness feels phony and soon grows tiresome. Still, they make for an adorable couple, and Wiesen milks a few enjoyable moments out of his lead actors and some of the supporting cast, particularly Elizabeth Reaser as Roberts' amorous mom. PG-13 for thematic elements, including sexual content, language, teen drinking and partying. 84 minutes. Two stars out of four.
• David Germain, AP Movie Writer
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"Buck" — Jack Nicholson has that famous line in "As Good As It Gets" in which he says to Helen Hunt, "You make me want to be a better man." This will sound corny, but "Buck" will make you want to be a better person. Buck Brannaman, the real-life "horse whisperer" who inspired the novel and the Robert Redford film, just oozes decency, grace and class. And the fact that he doesn't seem to take himself so damn seriously only adds to his allure. He has a charismatic, no-nonsense style and a dry, low-key sense of humor that help him connect with people of all ages and backgrounds as he travels the country giving clinics 40 weeks out of the year. Cindy Meehl's documentary about Brannaman does teeter on the brink of deifying him. But then again, it's hard to argue with her: He seems like a truly good guy doing truly good work. Winner of the documentary audience award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, "Buck" introduces us to the lifelong cowboy who helps trainers and riders of all levels learn to work more patiently and effectively with their horses. He has an unusually kind and introspective approach, but the fact that Brannaman honed it and reached this point of peace and success in his life, given his horrific upbringing, is what's truly remarkable. Unrated. 88 minutes. Three stars out of four.
• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"Green Lantern" — Remember when big, summer blockbusters were fun? That notion apparently eluded the makers of "Green Lantern," a joyless amalgamation of expository dialogue and special effects that aren't especially special. Even Ryan Reynolds, with his sparkling charisma and chiseled body, cannot make this thing interesting. Then again, he doesn't have much to work with. He's essentially called upon to make some flippant comments to reflect how shallow and self-absorbed his character is, then once he gets his superhero makeover, he flies around in a skintight green suit and zaps stuff with his ring. The script, credited to four screenwriters and inspired by the DC Comics series, does little to flesh him out beyond some cliched daddy issues and a fear of death that prompts him to run from commitment. Reynolds' Hal Jordan is a brash, cocky test pilot, and "Green Lantern" plays like "Top Gun" with magical jewelry. When a spaceship crash-lands one day, the alien inside bequeaths his ring — and membership in an intergalactic peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps — to the reluctant Hal. As the corps' first human, he's somehow the only one who can stop an evil force in the universe known as the Parallax. Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Tim Robbins co-star. PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action. 114 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
• Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic
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"Mr. Popper's Penguins" — One assumes that when Hollywood gets its hands on a charming children's book like Richard and Florence Atwater's 1938 classic, bad things ensue. But director Mark Waters ("Mean Girls," "Freaky Friday") surprisingly has turned in something with its own charm. Yes, it's a saccharine family film with predictable story lines and glossy studio veneer. But thanks largely to Jim Carrey's deft, funny performance, enough wit slides in between the cracks that it avoids becoming the kiddie schmaltz it would seem destined to be. Tom Popper (Carrey) has been transferred from the country to the Big Apple, from the poor house to the penthouse. He's a shark of a real estate developer, and his commitment to work has lost him his wife (Carla Gugino). He sees his kids (Madeline Carroll, Maxwell Perry Cotton) on the weekends. But when his father bequeaths him a penguin and five more follow, the tuxedoed ones — and you saw this coming — turn his life upside down. Slapstick and flatulence jokes follow, but Carrey continuously inserts clever lines and rubbery faces. Waters mixes it well, avoiding too much cheese ball humor, and the film maintains a light breeze despite its wintery environs. With Angela Lansbury as the owner of Tavern on the Green. PG for mild rude humor and some language. 95 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
• Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer
| | | Academy Votes Against Creating Oscar Category for Stunt Coordinators | The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declined Tuesday to create an Oscar category for stunt coordinators, a group that’s been trying for 20 years to achieve such recognition.
Stunt coordinator Jack Gill, who has been leading that effort, told The Hollywood Reporter that the Academy informed him that it appreciates the work coordinators put into movies but will not add any new categories, even if the coordinators agreed to be in a non-telecast pre-Oscars ceremony.
In an e-mail, Gill said, “I will try again next year and gather more and more support.”
He also said that the Academy declined to reveal the number of votes for or against the proposal.
At the same meeting, the Academy’s Board of Governors revised the rules relating to the best picture award, to allow for anywhere from five to 10 nominees in the category.
Stunt coordinators can become members of the Academy, but in the At-Large branch (which also includes casting directors). Only 19 are, however, and at most two are admitted per year. At-Large members have all the privileges of branch membership, an Academy spokesperson previously told THR, except for representation on the board.
One stunt performer (not coordinator) has actually won an award from the Academy, Yakima Canutt, but his 1966 statue was an honorary award -- "for achievements as a stunt man and for developing safety devices to protect stunt men everywhere -- rather than an award in a specified category.
Stunt coordinators design the complex stunts seen in movies and TV shows -- car chases, fight scenes, fiery explosions, underwater work, high dives and more. The stunts are then executed by stunt performers (stuntmen and -women), or occasionally by principal performers.
In a separate development, SAG (which represents stunt performers and coordinators) will be hosting an evening with stuntman Hal Needham on Wednesday. The event, which is for members and guests only, will include a discussion of Needham’s new book, Stuntman! and is already at capacity.
| | | 6 Facts About 'X-Men: First Class' Star James McAvoy | ames McAvoy takes over the role of mind-reading Mutant leader Professor X in X-Men: First Class, a prequel directed by Matthew Vaughn.
(Patrick Stewart played the role in the previous movies.) Read THR's review here.
Here are six facts about the actor:
1. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his parents divorced. McAvoy was born in Port Glasgow, Scotland, to a psychiatric nurse and a builder, who divorced when he was 7. He still has contact with his mother but told the U.K.'s Guardian that he has not spoken to his father since childhood.
2. As a teenager, he considering becoming a priest. McAvoy attended Catholic school and considered the priesthood as a teen -- but not for the right reasons, he admits. "I wanted to be a missionary, but it was only because I wanted a free ticket to go and explore the world," he told the U.K.'s Telegraph. "I realized I was using God and religion to get my kicks so I knocked that on the head. I suppose I'm still spiritual but not in a Catholic way any more."
3. He met his while working on a U.K. TV show. McAvoy met Anne-Marie Duff while both were working on Shameless, which premiered in 2004. (An American version debuted on Showtime in January.) The couple married in 2006 and have a son, 1-year-old Brendan. They also co-starred in 2009's The Last Station, but McAvoy says he's hesitant to work with her again. "You have to weigh it up against how much of a headache it would be. It exposes you to a lot of questions," he told USA Today. "I'm very big in saying that I don't agree that if you put yourself in the spotlight, you have to accept it. I do think that if you work together as husband and wife, you're kind of asking for it."
4. He got his first big break in HBO's Band of Brothers. The 2001 World War II miniseries was executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. It starred Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Donnie Wahlberg, Matthew Settle and Scott Grimes, among others.
5. He earned a Golden Globe nomination for Atonement. In the 2007 movie, directed by Joe Wright, McAvoy played the doomed lover of Keira Knightley's character. He also earned critical notice for his role in 2006's The Last King of Scotland, opposite Forest Whitaker.
6. He wanted the X-Men role because the film was shooting close to his house. "It was in London, 30 minutes from my front door," he quipped to USA Today. "That's always nice." But he admits that he felt a huge responsibility to get the character just right, despite the fact that he doesn't take his job too seriously. "You're playing with people's affections and there's trust as well, in you," he said. "That's a big responsibility. But at the end of the day, it's entertainment." | | | Scarlett Johansson & Sean Penn Split | NBC Universal, Inc. After quietly dating for several months, Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansson have split, a source told People.
Sean, 50, and Scarlett, 26, never confirmed they were dating, but were spotted looking like a couple by the paparazzi on various occasions.
Rumors first surfaced that the two were dating back in February 2011, and things seemed to heat up when they were caught by the paparazzi vacationing together in Mexico a few weeks later.
In April, they were spotted together at the White House Correspondents dinner.
Sean was the first person Scarlett was linked to after she and Ryan Reynolds filed for divorce late last year.
| | | Cannes pays homage riotous homage to Bollywood (AP) | CANNES, France - Saris swished, heaved and swirled Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival, as the rarified bastion of auteur cinema paid homage to the world's most popular movie industry: Bollywood.
A montage of footage culled from nearly seven decades of Indian films, "Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told," bursts with the irrepressible energy and over-the-top exuberance of Bollywood, and India itself.
Directors Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Jeff Zimbalist, a 32-year-old American, appear to have been trying to pack snippets from as many films as they can into the movie's 81-minute running time. They allow most scenes just a few seconds, giving the movie the feel of an extended music video.
The idea for the movie, which screened out of competition, stemmed from a conversation one of the producers, Shekhar Kapur, had with festival organizers last year, when the "Elizabeth" director was on the jury.
The montage is loosely arranged around Bollywood's eternal themes — love at first sight, love thwarted, love regained. Couples chase each other through fields filled with yellow flowers, race toward one another on train platforms, roll in haystacks and frolic in the rain in a seemingly endless parade of wet sari shots.
There's also a surprising number of locked lips, considering that on-screen kisses only made it onto Bollywood's silver screen in the last few years.
For the uninitiated, "Bollywood" can be exasperating. But for the estimated 2 billion regular consumers of Bollywood films, it's a thrilling ride. All the best moments of all the best movies are there, from the elaborately choreographed dance scenes of crossover blockbusters like "Devdas" or "Lagaan" to the train-top scene in "Dil Se" to the pathos-filled crooning of classic tear jerker "Mother India."
But the jewels of the movie are the stars themselves: Muscle-bound Hrithik Roshan, sweet girl-next-door Kajol, long and lean Katrina Kaif and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. And of course, two men widely considered cinematic gods in India: Amitabh Bachchan — worshipped for his roles as a take-no-prisoners gangster and an irresistible ladies man in the 1970s — and today's undisputed superstar, Shah Rukh Khan.
"It's a celebration of Bollywood ... a documentary take on all the razzmatazz," Roonie Screwvala, one of the film's three producers, told journalists at Cannes. "There's just so much excitement around Indian cinema and we wanted to capture that."
| | | ady Gaga & Gwyneth Paltrow Share Embarrassing Stories Of Family & Fashion Gone Wrong |
In what can only be described as a pop culture lover's dream, Lady Gaga appeared alongside Gwyneth Paltrow on BBC's "The Graham Norton Show" on Friday night,
and the dynamic blond beauties had the audience in stitches as they swapped stories of fashion nightmares and discussed preparing their elderly, old-fashioned family members for their more risqué moments in the public eye.
Gwyneth, the daughter of "Meet the Parents" star Blythe Danner and the late producer Bruce Paltrow, struggled to keep a straight face while recalling her dread as she warned her aging grandfather about her famed topless scene in "Shakespeare in Love."
"My grandfather - I was very close to him -- was very conservative, " Gwyneth told the show's host, Graham Norton. "I said to him, 'Grandpa, I think you're going to be really upset, but I just wanted to let you know that I do kind of expose my breasts in this movie.'
"He was like, 'Ehh - I've seen it before. Two eggs, sunny side up!'" she continued, in her best New York accent.
Lady Gaga followed suit, revealing she'd recently been forced to call her grandmother prior to the airing of her "The Monster Ball" HBO concert special.
"My grandma's blind - but I still had to call her and warn her because early on in the show I say, 'I don't know if you've heard, but I have a pretty tremendous d**k, so get your d**ks out,'" Gaga said. "And so I had to call my grandma and [say], 'I just wanted to explain, Grandma, that it's really just a metaphor for being strong and being aggressive and having a good time.'
"And she just said, 'I don't understand,'" Gaga continued, while the audience erupted into laughter. "My sweet grandma."
The Irish host then confronted Lady Gaga - who also performed her two latest hits, "Judas" and "Born This Way" on Friday's show - with a photo of the beloved Mother Monster taking a tumble while walking through London's Heathrow Airport, saying, "You love clothes and fashion, but fashion sometimes doesn't love you..."
"Oh, I ate s**t at Heathrow!" Gaga exclaimed. "I had these really big shoes and I was so excited, and I was on the plane going, 'Oh I can't wait to show off my shoes - they're from Japan, they're custom, they're like 50-feet-tall,' I couldn't wait.
"I took three steps and I f**king fell so flat," she continued while the audience roared. "All the cameras were on me and I said, ' London's going to think I'm that I'm a wasted mess!'"
"I once had one disaster [that was] like, crazy," Gwyneth added. "I went to a premiere of a friend's movie and I was wearing these pink suede pants - it was the '90s."
"Don't apologize to me about pink suede pants!" Lady Gaga interjected.
"As I sat down, the crotch ripped from there all the way back," Gwyneth continued, motioning toward her nether regions.
"That's very nice - good promotion," Gaga added with a mischievous grin.
"How am I going to get back to my car? My a** is hanging out - literally hanging out - of these pants," Gwyneth recalled. "Luckily, I had a scarf and I wrapped it around my... bottom. And the next day in the papers they said, 'Oh it's a new trend! A scarf around your pants!"
| | | 3-D erotic comedy shakes up Hong Kong box office (AP) | HONG KONG - A pioneering 3-D erotic comedy has taken the Hong Kong box office by storm,
beating the first-day record set by "Avatar" and drawing viewers from mainland China as it eyes a global rollout.
The $3.5 million Cantonese-language production "3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" had earned 17 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.2 million) as of Tuesday since opening last week on 73 screens, according to figures provided by producer Stephen Shiu. That's nearly seven times the total take so far for Hollywood thriller "Scream 4," which has earned HK$2.5 million ($320,000).
"Sex and Zen" — a remake of a 1991 Hong Kong movie by the same name — features full nudity and camouflaged lovemaking scenes but does not show actual sexual intercourse, as is common in pornographic films. The movie, which stars Japanese porn stars Hara Saori and Suo Yukiko and Hong Kong actress Vonnie Liu, tells the story of a sexually frustrated scholar in ancient China who loses himself in the harem of a duke he befriends.
The film brought in HK$2.78 million ($360,000) on its opening day last Thursday, eclipsing the previous first-day record set by James Cameron's 2009 3-D sci-fi epic "Avatar," which earned HK$2.63 million ($340,000) on its first day.
In Taiwan, where the movie opened Friday on 77 screens, it earned 17 million New Taiwan Dollars ($590,000) through Sunday. That figure is still inferior to Hollywood competition but marks the best opening weekend for a Chinese-language movie in Taiwan this year, Shiu said Wednesday.
Shiu, whose father Stephen Shiu Sr. served as executive producer on the original "Sex and Zen," said he believes he has capitalized on a huge desire for 3-D erotic movies.
"We met people's expectations. People have always thought that you need 3-D technology for this kind of content. So people were very curious," he said.
"Sex and Zen" bills itself as the world's first 3-D erotic film, although Shiu acknowledges that a South Korean production — last year's "Natali" — hit the market before his release did. However, Shiu's movie is still a pioneering attempt at using new 3-D technology in theatrical releases of erotic films, given that the market in the West is now largely dominated by DVD releases.
The movie's Hong Kong performance has also been boosted by an influx of mainland Chinese viewers, whom Shiu estimates accounted for up to half of the business at some theaters. Although former British colony Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, it still maintains a separate political system — and film regulatory regime. While Hong Kong has a film ratings system, mainland China doesn't, which effectively rules out erotic content.
"Sex and Zen" received a restricted rating in Hong Kong, allowing only audiences aged 18 and older to see the film.
It's not the first time mainland viewers have traveled to Hong Kong to evade censorship by Chinese authorities. Many mainlanders crossed over to watch the uncut version of Oscar-winning Taiwanese director Ang Lee's sexually explicit 2007 spy thriller "Lust, Caution."
Hong Kong theater operators have also sought to cash in on the novelty factor by staging women-only screenings.
"Sex and Zen" has also been released in about a dozen theaters in Chinese communities in the Australian cities Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but Shiu didn't have box office results. The movie is scheduled to be released in South Korea on May 12, and in France, Italy and India in June. Shiu is also targeting a May release for Singapore, although the filmmakers are still working with local censors on the final cut.
| | | Three Films That Put Marion Cotillard on the Map | Marion Cotillard’s casting in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises was made official Tuesday, but the French actress gained fame for three other high-profile roles.
1. La Vie en Rose (2007)
She won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of singer Edith Piaf. At the time, she told Elle magazine of her sudden success: "I wouldn't even have imagined being with my French movie in the United States, which is a country of cinema. I'm living a dream I didn't dare to have." She later told London's Telegraph: “The movie and the Oscar changed my life in a very good way. It put me in a different universe. When I was in Los Angeles during the campaign process for the Academy Awards, I kept telling myself that it was not real life, it was something else. I was having an amazing time and really enjoying the fantasy of it all and then I thought I should stop saying it wasn’t real because it WAS real.”
2. Nine (2009)
She landed her first American role opposite Daniel Day Lewis and Penelope Cruz in the movie version of the Broadway musical Nine. “To have the chance to be part of a musical comedy with the likes of all those people was already really exceptional,” she told France Today at the time. “There was a bond between us all from the beginning. I admire Nicole Kidman and Penelope Cruz enormously; they're the actresses I spent the most time with on set. The fact that I was able to share all that time with those two made me really happy.”
3. Inception (2010)
She starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Nolan’s science-fiction adventure. “I had never read a script like it before,” she told London's Telegraph when asked why she signed on for the role of a mysterious femme fatale. “It is so emotionally complex I had to read it a second time. But I was touched by the different layers of the story and I wanted to be a part of it.” | | | Isla Fisher in Talks to Join Baz Luhrmann's 'Great Gatsby' (Exclusive) | Isla Fisher is in negotiations to join Baz Lurhmann’s 3D adaptation of The Great Gatsby being made by Warner Bros.
Fisher will join Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan. Ben Affleck is also in negotiations to join the production, which is eyeing a late summer start.
DiCaprio is pegged to play the wealthy and mysterious Jay Gatsby, while Maguire is playing Nick Carraway, who in the novel is the narrator. Mulligan is playing Gatsby's love, Daisy Buchanan, who is married to a wealthy chap named Tom Buchanan, whom Affleck would play if his deal makes.
Fisher will play Myrtle, a married woman having an affair with Buchanan. She is later killed by a speeding car, an event that leads to the book’s tragic ending.
Fisher last appeared in Burke and Hare, John Landis’ period horror thriller that also starred Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis. She recently voice a part in Paramount’s animated film Rango and will be heard again in DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians. | | | Robert Pattinson Shares Love Scene Secrets From 'Water For Elephants' |
"The Twilight Saga" star Robert Pattinson recently finished shooting the 1930's love story "Water for Elephants" with Reese Witherspoon, but the handsome Brit says creating the onscreen passion between the two actors wasn't necessarily as sexy as it seems.
"The love scene in ['Water for Elephants'] was -- I was doing it when I had a really bad cold," Robert explained, in an interview for "MTV First: Robert Pattinson" posted on Saturday. "I'm not generally that awkward doing stuff, apart from when I've got my belly coming out, but my nose [was] running all over the place!
"Reese had this wig on and I was literally wiping my nose on her wig," he continued. "We'd be doing this really passionate love scene and I had to be [wiping my nose]. It was so stupid!"
The 24-year-old star is known for making ladies all over the world swoon, but admits filming love scenes is still somewhat of a challenge.
"You've kind of got to really know what you're doing," Robert said. "If it's just a sort of arbitrary love scene, its always quite difficult.
"The one on 'Breaking Dawn' is pretty funny," he added, laughing.
RPattz also opened up about shooting the highly anticipated "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," where he and Kristen Stewart's character will marry and have a child -- played by newcomer Mackenzie Foy -- and Rob said no time was wasted when it came to setting up a monetary penalty for cussing in front of the 10-year-old child.
"[Mackenzie] is really cool, she's really smart," he said of his onscreen daughter. "She's earned a lot of money out of us swearing around her."
He added, "I do it by accident. And especially Kristen [Stewart] does it by accident, because she apologizes with a swear. She's like, 'Oh s*** aaugh!' and she just can't stop [swearing] for about 15 minutes.
"[Mackenzie] just waits there like [with her hand out]," he continued, laughing. "She has to do a hard part too because she's playing like, a baby in some scenes. Oh man... we've done very strange things on the 'Breaking Dawn' shoot in special effects stuff."
Watch Robert romance Reese Witherspoon when "Water for Elephants" hits theaters on April 22.
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" is slated for release on November 18, while "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" is scheduled for release on November 16, 2012.
| | | Report: 'Limitless' Star Bradley Cooper & Girlfriend Renee Zellweger Call It Quits |
After nearly two years of dating, Bradley Cooper and Renee Zellweger have reportedly split, according to People and UsWeekly.
The couple initially met six years ago while filming the horror flick "Case 39," but did not become romantically involved until 2009.
Reps for the actors were not immediately available for comment on the reported breakup when contacted by Access Hollywood on Friday.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, both stars have short-lived marriages in their past.
Renee married country superstar Kenny Chesney in May 2005, but filed for divorce just four months later citing "fraud" on the court papers at the time.
Bradley, 36, married "Blue Bloods" actress Jennifer Esposito in late December 2006 - but the couple split in May 2007.
Additionally, the handsome "Limitless" actor was interviewed by shock jock Howard Stern on Monday and was reluctant to answer any questions regarding his relationship with Renee.
"I'm not going to talk about that," Bradley told Howard, when asked about his love life at the time. "I just don't talk about it... certain things are just -- you understand that." | | | 'Hunger Games' Director Gary Ross: Casting Jennifer Lawrence Was 'Easiest Casting Decision I Ever Made |
Despite some fan grumblings about Jennifer Lawrence being chosen as the lead in "The Hunger Games,
"director Gary Ross said that there was no question that he made the right choice picking the Oscar nominee for the role of Katniss Everdeen.
"I absolutely cast the right person for the role and in my view there wasn't even a question who the best Katniss was," Gary told Entertainment Weekly. "It was the easiest casting decision I ever made in my life."
As for the fans who might think that Jennifer is too old for the role of Katniss, Gary stated that not only was Jennifer his top pick, but the author of the series, Suzanne Collins, also gave her vote of approval.
"Suzanne saw every single audition. And not only did Suzanne not have an issue with Jen's age, she felt you need someone of a certain maturity and power to be Katniss," Gary asserted. "This is a girl who needs to incite a revolution. We can't have an insubstantial person play her, and we can't have someone who's too young to play this."
In fact, the "Winter's Bone" star impressed the director right from the start, when she came in for the audition.
"She came in and read for me and it just knocked me out," Gary told EW. "I don't want to go into too many details, but we did a scene from the movie and it was so amazingly powerful that it was sort of stunning. You glimpsed every aspect of the role and the potential of the whole movie."
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the actress beating out fellow Oscar nominees Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin for the leading role in the Young Adult bestselling trilogy.
Speculation continues on which young star will be cast as Katniss' closest ally from District 12, Peeta Mellark.
"Beastly" star Alex Pettyfer told Access that he met with producers about the role.
"Yes, but undecided yet, still [waiting] to see a script," Alex said.
E! Online reported this week that "Weeds" star Hunter Parrish is up for the part. Still other reports have mentioned that Josh Hutcherson from the recent Oscar nominated film "The Kids Are All Right" was being considered.
According to Gary, fans won't have to wait long to find out who will be starring alongside Jennifer.
"We've read a lot of people for a lot of roles... We're very close," the director to EW. "I have very, very good ideas about who I want in a lot of other roles. So I think there'll be a lot of stuff coming pretty quickly."
"The Hunger Games" is slated to arrive in theaters on March 23, 2012.
| | | Emma Watson breaks studies to focus on acting (AP) | LONDON - She played a girl who studied hard. But "Harry Potter" actress Emma Watson says she is going to take a break from her working on her degree to focus on her film career.
The actress — who plays the character of bookworm Hermione Granger — said Tuesday that she had found it hard to juggle her blossoming film career with her studies.
Watson enrolled to study literature at Brown University in Rhode Island in 2009. She says she still plans to finish her studies but will take some extra semesters to complete her degree.
Watson has just finished filming "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2" which will premier in London in July. She has also just finished filming "My Week With Marilyn", opposite
| | | Movie audiences discover "Unknown" at box offices (Reuters) | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Thriller "Unknown" topped movie box office charts with $21.8 million in ticket sales during a sluggish weekend over the long Presidents Day holiday in the United States.
"Unknown," starring Liam Neeson as a man who must reclaim his identity after finding it stolen when he awakens from a coma, bested another new release, sci-fi adventure "I Am Number Four," which landed in the No. 2 spot with $19.5 million, according to film studio estimates on Sunday.
Animated "Gnomeo & Juliet" rounded out the top three on Sunday, earning $19.4 million for a scant drop of only 23 percent from its debut last weekend. Typically, a major studio release like "Gnomeo" might be expected drop 40-50 percent in its second weekend, but the family film has been helped by generally good critics' reviews and audience ratings.
Box office estimates will likely change by Tuesday when U.S. moviegoers return to work after a long holiday weekend that includes Presidents Day.
By Sunday, the weekend's No. 4 movie was comedy "Just Go With It" starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. Its ticket sales dropped 40 percent to $18.2 million from last weekend and now total $60.8 million in the United States and Canada.
Last week's No. 2 movie, "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never," a look at the life of teenage singing sensation Bieber, saw a decline of 54 percent and fell to No. 6 with 13.6 million. Its total domestic revenues number $51.7 million after two weeks.
The weekend's other new major release, Martin Lawrence comedy "Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son" claimed the No. 5 spot with a $17 million debut.
Ticket sales for all films in theaters from Friday through Sunday were estimated at $144 million, down around 30 percent from 2010's Presidents Day weekend tally of $204.6 million, according to industry tracker Hollywood.com Box Office.
Other notable releases included Oscar hopeful "The King's Speech," which landed at No 7. with $6.6 million and pushed its total box office up to $103.3 million.
Rounding out the top 10 were holdovers from recent weeks: "The Roommate," "The Eagle" and "No Strings Attached" in the No. 8, 9 and 10 spots, respectively.
"Unknown" was released by Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc. "I Am Number Four" was produced by privately held DreamWorks and distributed by the studio unit of The Walt Disney Co, while "Gnomeo and Juliet" was co-produced and distributed by studio units of Walt Disney.
"Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son" was released by 20th Century Fox, a division of News Corp. "Just Go With It" was released by Columbia Pictures and "The Roommate" was released by Screen Gems. Both are units of Sony Corp.
"The Eagle" was released by Focus Features, part of Universal Pictures that is 51 percent-owned by Comcast Corp. "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" and "No Strings Attached" were released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, and "The King's Speech" was released by the Weinstein Co, which is privately held.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
| | | Jessica Alba says she's pregnant with baby No. 2 (AP) | NEW YORK - Jessica Alba and her husband, Cash Warren, are expecting their second child.
Alba announced the news Wednesday on her Facebook page
and Twitter account.
The 29-year-old actress wrote on the social networking site: "I thought I'd drop by to let you all in on some exciting news. Honor is going to be a Big Sister!"
She added: "Cash and I are thrilled."
Their daughter, Honor Marie, was born in 2008.
Alba's film credits include "Little Fockers," "Fantastic Four," "The Love Guru" and "Meet Bill." She also starred on TV's "Dark Angel." | | | Lindsay Lohan Investigated For Possible Grand Theft Of Jewelry | Lindsay Lohan is being investigated for an alleged connection to a missing necklace, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Access Hollywood.
The necklace in question is valued at $2,500 and disappeared from a Venice, Calif. jewelry store, reportedly Kamofie & Company, which is located close to Lohan's new home.
A search warrant was issued for the actress' home on Tuesday, but LAPD said the necklace was returned before they executed the warrant.
According to a TMZ source, Lohan claimed the necklace was loaned to her on January 22 and that she gave it back to a stylist, who in turn did not return the item on time. Their source claims that the actress also said that the unidentified stylist returned the item to authorities on Tuesday.
TMZ's source quoted Lindsay directly as saying, "I didn't have any part in the non-returning on time."
The grand theft case is currently under investigation.
Lohan's attorney and a rep from the District Attorney's office were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday morning.
The current investigation is Lohan's latest issue with the law. As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, the actress is also currently being investigated for an alleged skirmish with a Betty Ford Center rehabilitation technician, where she spent three months.
Lohan is currently on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case. She is due in court on February 25 for her next hearing.
| | | Kate Hudson Shoots Down Engagement Rumors & Dishes On Pregnancy: 'I'm Just Starting To Pop!' | Despite recent reports claiming Kate Hudson is engaged to Muse rocker Matthew Bellamy (with whom she is expecting a child), the actress said not only is she not engaged, she has no plans to marry in the near future.
"No... no that I know of," Kate answered when asked if she is engaged in an interview airing on the UK's "Graham Norton Show" on Friday. "I don't like putting that sort of pressure on it and I don't feel it necessary to get married."
PLAY IT NOW: Inside ELLE Magazine’s 17th Annual Women In Hollywood Event (Part I)
The bubbly blonde, who split from former husband and Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson in 2006 after six years of marriage, said she's learned a trip down the aisle does not guarantee happiness.
"I am 31, I already have one child, and have had one divorce," Kate said. "So [marriage] is not necessarily the golden ticket -- I just want to be happy.
"My parents have been 30 years not married," Kate added, of her mom Goldie Hawn's lasting relationship with her "Overboard" co-star, Kurt Russell. "So it's not something I feel I have to do."
Kate, who has a 7-year-old son (Ryder) from her marriage to Chris, isn't yet sure of her soon-to-arrive baby's sex but said it "feels like a girl."
"I don't know. Ryder thinks it's a girl," Kate said."[Matthew and I] have a couple of names, but we're not telling anyone."
Kate, who was previously linked to her "You, Me & Dupree" co-star Owen Wilson, as well as New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodiguez and seven-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong, said she was surprised to see a noticeable difference between American men and her new British love.
"I never thought I would notice the difference but there are a lot of differences, it's just a different way," she said. "He is polite and kind and so sweet."
While Matthew's manners initially attracted the "Nine" star, it was his English accent that made Kate go weak in the knees.
"It was the phone calls that signed the deal for me - hearing his voice on the phone," Kate said. "It was so lovely.
"He has corrected some of my use of English," she added, jokingly. | | | Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem have a son (AP) | NEW YORK - Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are proud parents of a baby boy.
A spokeswoman for the actress confirmed Wednesday that Cruz gave birth to a boy last week. She says "both parents and baby are doing great." She provided no other details.
The couple were married at the beginning of July in the Bahamas.
The 36-year-old Cruz and the 41-year-old Bardem are from Spain. They appeared together in the 2008 Woody Allen romantic comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Cruz won a supporting-actress Oscar for her role.
Bardem is nominated for best actor this year for his role in the Spanish-language drama "Biutiful." He won a supporting-actor Oscar for the 2007 crime thriller "No Country for Old Men." | | | Box Office Preview: Most green going to 'Hornet' (AP) |
LOS ANGELES - The movie business has suffered a down streak at the box office for nine straight weeks.
but the unlikeliest of super heroes will attempt to save the day this holiday weekend as Seth Rogen stars in the big-screen version of "The Green Hornet." Industry buzz has the Sony/Screen Gems 3-D thriller opening on top in the high $30 million range.
The ironic casting of a goofy comedy star in the title role will draw audiences looking for a decidedly tongue-in-cheek action experience. Combine that with the addition of numerous IMAX screens, a Martin Luther King weekend release that also takes advantage of the less-competitive January marketplace and "The Green Hornet" should become the first official box-office hit of 2011.
Notably, the film is directed by indie auteur Michel Gondry, who helmed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and other offbeat films, and features co-stars Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz and Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou as the sidekick Kato.
Of course, one dynamic duo deserves another and Vince Vaughn and Kevin James will give audiences a comedy choice with Ron Howard's "The Dilemma," in which the discovery of a wife's infidelity leaves one of the buddies in the predicament of how to tell his best friend. With a strong cast that includes Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah, the Universal film should grab the date crowd and a second-place finish in the high teens.
The third and fourth spots will be filled by two films that have bridged the gap between critical and commercial success: the Coen Brothers' "True Grit," which is fast becoming one of the highest-grossing Westerns of all time, and "Black Swan," which takes the ballet film to new commercial heights. Look for "Grit" to collect a reward of around $10 million and "Swan" to twirl its way to a weekend performance of just under $10 million.
Finally, everyone's favorite Fockers will make their mark in fifth position as "Little Fockers" continues to perform solidly in the post-Holiday period. A weekend gross in the $5 million range will take the film to over $130 million in its fourth weekend of release. | | | Mel Gibson's next film to debut at Texas festival (AP) | LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson's return to the big screen will begin in March at the South by Southwest festival.
Organizers of the Austin, Texas, multimedia entertainment festival announced Thursday that "The Beaver" will be one of five films that will have their international premieres at the event, commonly known as SXSW.
Jodie Foster directed and co-stars in "The Beaver," which features Gibson as a troubled family man trying to cope with help from an unusual friend — a beaver puppet he wears on his hand.
The film will be shown a week before a limited public release on March 23, with an expansion to more theaters planned on April 8.
Its release had been delayed as Gibson dealt with bad publicity from a public breakup with his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. Their split has spawned a bitter custody fight over their infant daughter, as well as investigations into claims of physical abuse by the actor-director and extortion by the Russian musician.
Los Angeles prosecutors are still mulling whether to press charges against either Gibson or Grigorieva.
It remains unclear whether the Gibson, who last appeared in 2010's "Edge of Darkness," will attend South by Southwest.
SXSW film spokeswoman Rebecca Feferman said Foster will attend the premiere when it is shown in the festival's "centerpiece" slot.
Gibson's publicist, Alan Nierob, said in an e-mail that he did not yet know whether the 55-year-old Academy-Award winner would make an appearance.
"The Beaver" also features Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence.
Among the other films premiering at SWSX is the documentary "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop," which focused on the comedian's tour after his much-publicized split from NBC as host of "The Tonight Show" last year. | | | Clooney, Google, UN team up to watch Sudan border (AP) | WASHINGTON -
A group founded by American actor George Clooney said Tuesday it has teamed up with Google, a U.N. agency and anti-genocide organizations to launch satellite surveillance of the border between north and south Sudan to try to prevent a new civil war after the south votes in a secession referendum next month.
Clooney's Not On Our Watch is funding the start-up phase Satellite Sentinel Project that will collect real-time satellite imagery and combine it with field analysis from the Enough Project and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, organizers said.
The data will point out movements of troops, civilians and other signs of impending conflict. The U.N. Operational Satellite Applications Program and Google will then publish the findings online.
"We want to let potential perpetrators of genocide and other war crimes know that we're watching, the world is watching," Clooney said in a statement. "War criminals thrive in the dark. It's a lot harder to commit mass atrocities in the glare of the media spotlight."
The groups hope that early warnings will reduce the risk of violence.
Southern Sudan's looming Jan. 9 independence referendum has raised fears of renewed north-south civil war. The vote is the result of a 2005 peace deal that ended a 21-year conflict that claimed the lives of two million people and left twice as many displaced.
| | | Reese Witherspoon announces plans for 2nd marriage (AP) | NEW YORK - Reese Witherspoon is engaged to Hollywood agent Jim Toth.
A representative for the actress confirmed that the couple will wed and says they're "extremely happy." The engagement was first reported by Us Weekly.
The 34-year-old actress from New Orleans was previously married to actor Ryan Phillippe. She has two children with him and they divorced in 2008.
Witherspoon won an Oscar for her performance in "Walk the Line." She stars in the recently released comedy "How Do You Know."
Toth is an agent for Creative Artists Agency. Witherspoon is a CAA client but is represented by another agent. | | | Angelina Jolie On Expanding Her Brood & How She Protects Her Kids From The Paparazzi |
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are done having kids... for now.
"The Tourist" actress told Larry King on Wednesday's "Larry King Live" that they aren't planning on expanding their brood -- via adoption or naturally -- at the moment.
"No plans at the moment," Angelina told Larry. "But we're always open [to the idea]."
As for their current family, which includes six little ones, Angelina revealed that she and Brad do their best to make sure the kids aren't scared by the constant attention from the paparazzi.
"Well, we try not to get them into the middle of it. We try to get them around things and under things so they [aren't exposed to the photographers], but when they do [capture the children], we just have to kind of smile and say, 'Don't worry, it's not scary. They just like to take pictures,'" Angelina explained. "As a parent, the only thing you can do is try to make sure that they don't feel it's a threat, you don't act like it's a threat, and you just keep smiling so they don't feel anything negative."
Larry also asked Angelina if she thinks there will ever be "a cure for the paparazzi," something the actress said it will take baby steps to combat.
"I don't think the hunger for it will ever go away, so I think that'll always be fed. I do think and I do hope there will at some point be laws about how close they can get to children with cameras, because I think at some point, it's gonna be clearer that it's emotionally not healthy, and with long lenses, there's no need," she said. "I am somebody that would like there to be a law about the distance they have to children, so I think we work for things like that, something simple and practical, but the overall of it, it's a monster that you can't think about or control
| | | 'Potter' continues its spell on global box office (AP) | LOS ANGELES - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" took in another $54.5 million in 46 territories of the international marketplace last weekend.
Crossing the $700 million mark in global revenue after just 17 days of release.
It's notable that the top three films on the international chart all have family appeal, with "Rapunzel" ("Tangled" in North America) in the second spot with an impressive $20.4 million in just 15 territories and "Megamind" in third with $12 million in 25 territories. As in North America, the pastime of holiday family moviegoing is a universal experience and the international numbers tell the tale.
Outside of the top 10, "The Social Network" and "Red" remain popular titles in the international arena as both continue to play well in an impressive number of territories.
Here are the top 20 movies at international theaters last weekend, followed by international gross for the weekend (excluding North America), number of theater locations, number of territories, worldwide gross to date (including North America), and number of weeks in release as compiled Wednesday by global media measurement company Rentrak Corp. and provided by Hollywood.com:
1. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I," $54,519,218, 10,876 locations, 46 territories, $707,907,102, three weeks.
2. "Rapunzel," $20,422,915, 6,194 locations, 15 territories, $142,823,797, two weeks.
3. "Megamind," $12,032,418, 5,386 locations, 25 territories, $189,149,385, six weeks.
4. "Space Battleship Yamato," $6,401,968, NA, one territory, $11,440,827, one week.
5. "Due Date," $6,110,465, 4,220 locations, 37 territories, $170,109,264, five weeks.
6. "Jackass 3D," $4,815,346, 918 locations, 19 territories, $165,052,880, eight weeks.
7. "Saw 3D," $3,712,281, 800 locations, 24 territories, $123,477,993, six weeks.
8. "Unstoppable," $3,569,900, 4,927 locations, 31 territories, $114,941,970, four weeks.
9. "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger," $3,216,038, 322 locations, 13 territories, $23,681,395, 15 weeks.
10. "Jjae Jjae Han Romance," $3,200,331, NA, one territory, $4,025,082, one week.
11. "Tres Metros Sobre El Cielo," $2,757,513, 392 locations, one territory, $2,757,513, one week.
12. "Av Mevsimi," $2,698,063, 712 locations, three territories, $2,698,063, one week.
13. "A Natale Mi Sposo," $2,485,252, NA, one territory, $6,688,257, two weeks.
14. "Skyline," $2,471,171, 1,187 locations, 16 territories, $51,379,257, four weeks.
15. "The Social Network," $2,454,578, 936 locations, 44 territories, $184,903,217, 10 weeks.
16. "Bleach the Movie the Hell Verse," $2,413,663, NA, one territory, $2,413,663, one week.
17. "The Warrior's Way," $2,286,293, 1,841 locations, four territories, $6,332,413, one week.
18. "Red," $2,175,924, 1,942 locations, 25 territories, $154,421,628, eight weeks.
19. "A Bout Portant," $1,986,386, 317 locations, two territories, $2,491,337, one week.
20. "Abacus and Sword," $1,791,719, NA, one territory, $2,036,599, two weeks.
| | | Pre-wedding brunch leads to "Hangover II" mayhem (Reuters) | LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. has revealed a key plot-point for "The Hangover Part II" -- a seemingly innocent brunch will set the wheels in motion for the comedy.
The newly released studio press kit reveals how "The Hangover" crew of Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis) and Doug (Justin Bartha) will find trouble when Helms' character gets married in Thailand.
"After the unforgettable bachelor party in Las Vegas, Stu is taking no chances and has opted for a safe, subdued pre-wedding brunch," the release says. "However, things don't always go as planned."
In the "Hangover," Las Vegas served as the location for the mayhem that followed a lost bachelor party evening. The sequel promises even more.
"What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in Bangkok can't even be imagined," the synopsis says.
Director Todd Phillips is returning, as are Ken Jeong and Mike Tyson. Mel Gibson was supposed to have a cameo as a tattoo artist, but the ill-starred actor was dropped by the nervous studio and replaced by Liam Neeson. Jamie Chung has also joined the lineup, as the new fiancee of Helms' character. The film is scheduled to be released next May.
| | | Robert De Niro to get lifetime Golden Globe award (Reuters) | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Double Oscar winner Robert De Niro will soon add another accolade to his legendary, 40-year movie career.
The "Meet the Parents" and "Taxi Driver" actor will be given a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes in January, joining the ranks of previous honorees including Steven Spielberg, Al Pacino, Barbra Streisand and Anthony Hopkins, organizers said on Tuesday.
De Niro, 67, has made more than 70 movies in a career that started in 1968. He won Oscars for his role as the young Vito Corleone in "The Godfather, Part II", and for playing boxer Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull".
The taciturn actor later surprised audiences with his comedic turns in the "Meet the Parents" franchise, and its upcoming third movie "Little Fockers."
De Niro also founded the Tribeca film festival in 2001 as a bid to revitalize lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and promote New York City as a filmmaking center.
De Niro will be presented with his award at the Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills on January 16 that will also hand out awards to the best movies, TV shows and actors of 2010.
| | | 'Twilight' leads People's Choice Awards nominees (AP) | LOS ANGELES - "The Twilight Saga" has a chance to eclipse the competition at the 2011 People's Choice Awards.
Nominations were announced Tuesday, and the vampire love story and its stars racked up a leading eight bids.
The film is up for favorite movie and favorite drama, and stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are nominated for favorite on-screen team. Pattinson and Lautner are also nominated individually for favorite movie actor, Stewart is up for favorite movie actress, and she and Pattinson are also nominated for favorite movie star under 25.
Other multiple nominees in the movie category include Robert Downey Jr., who's up for favorite actor, favorite action star and favorite on-screen team with Don Cheadle; "Iron Man 2," nominated for favorite movie and action movie; and "Inception," in the running for favorite movie, favorite drama and favorite on-screen team for stars Leonardo diCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy and Dileep Rao.
Favorite TV drama nominee "Grey's Anatomy" led the television category, with individual acting nods for stars Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh. Dempsey, Oh and co-star Ellem Pompeo were also nominated for favorite TV doctor.
In the music category, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry, Beyonce, P!nk, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga were all multiple nominees.
Fans can vote for the winners online until Dec. 7. The People's Choice Awards will be presented Jan. 5, 2011, at the Nokia Theatre and broadcast on CBS.
| | | Mel Gibson's 'Hangover 2' cameo cancelled | Jeff Sneider, TheWrap- It looks like Mel Gibson won't be making a cameo appearance in "The Hangover 2" after all.
Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and director Todd Phillips confirmed on Thursday that Gibson will not be joining stars Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms in the highly-anticipated sequel, which follows the gang to the exotic but dangerous locale of Thailand.
Phillips stated: "I thought Mel would have been great in the movie and I had the full backing of [WB president] Jeff Robinov and his team. But I realize filmmaking is a collaborative effort, and this decision ultimately did not have the full support of my entire cast and crew."
Galifianakis was rumored to be upset with the decision to cast Gibson in a cameo, explaining to Comedy Death-Ray podcast host Scott Aukerman that he's turned down several projects on moral grounds, saying: "But a movie you're acting in, you don't have a lot of control — you just show up and vomit your lines out. I'm not the boss. I'm in a deep protest right now with a movie I'm working on, up in arms about something. But I can't get the guys to [listen] ... I'm not making any leeway."
Galifianakis cut Aukerman off with an abrupt warning sound as the host began to mention the film's title, but after Aukerman pressed, "I know you're filming The Hhhhhhhh ... " Galifianakis admitted, "It has something to do with a movie I'm working on, yeah. I'll tell you about it later. It's very frustrating."
That's not to say that Galifianakis had anything to do with Gibson's removal, though it is interesting how much the times have changed, when a guy who was best known as a stand-up comic three years ago expresses his frustration (which he has every right to do in this case) and a major (yet controversial) movie star is forced to leave a project that would've been beneficial to both parties.
Also intriguing is the notion that the media might have played a role in this decision. If the New York Post hadn't spoiled Gibson's cameo and all the blogs (including this one) hadn't rushed to confirm and pick up the story, would Gibson still be leaving the project, or would the cast and crew's objections have been handled internally?
| | | Theron and Knightley to play Princess Diana in rival movies ? | WENN- Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron may go up against Keira Knightley in a big-screen battle: Both are reportedly lined up to play Princess Diana.
The "Monster" star is said to be likely to portray the late British royal in a movie centered on her friendship with her former bodyguard, Ken Wharfe, who will reportedly be played by "Trainspotting" actor Ewan McGregor.
The film would be based on Wharfe's controversial book, "Diana: Closely Guarded Secret," which details the eight years he spent with the princess as her personal bodyguard. She died in a car accident in 1997.
The film is due to start shooting early next year, but it could be set for some fierce competition. Film company Pathe wants to make a Princess Diana biopic with Knightley in the lead role.
Pathe is hoping for a 2011 release to mark what would have been the princess's 50th birthday.
Producer Stephen Evans, who is directing the Theron-related project, tells Britain's Daily Mail, "We are intending to make the authentic movie of Diana by using the voices of the people who were there -- and Ken Wharfe was right there at her side at the most significant part of her life."
The producers behind the Knightley movie are said to be lining up Helen Mirren, who won an Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth II in 2006's "The Queen," to play Diana's mother, Frances Shand Kydd.
| | | 'Neds' wins Spanish top film award (AP) | SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain - British director Peter Mullan's film "Neds," has won this year's top award at Spain's San Sebastian Film Festival, organizers said Saturday.
The movie, a British-French-Italian co-production, is an insightful exploration of the violent upheavals of adolescence within the harsh environment of 1970s Glasgow in Scotland. It tells the story of the struggle of a young John McGill to make his mark on life.
Connor McCarron won the best actor award for his role as McGill, an intelligent, sensitive boy eager to learn and forge a future for himself but who finds life's chances stacked heavily against him, in the urban of Glasgow harbors another strong influence — the gangs — which include the Neds, Non-Educated Delinquents.
Mullan gained experience working in Mel Gibson's "Braveheart," Ken Loach's "Riff-Raff", and Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting."
Nora Navas was voted best actress for her part in Spanish film "Pa Negre," meaning "Black Bread" in the Catalan language. The movie, directed by Agusti Villaronga, is set in a Catalonia devastated by the 1936-39 Spanish civil war.
The best director award went to Raul Ruiz of Chile for "Misterios de Lisboa," a Portuguese production, while the festival jury's special mention award went to Spanish film "Elisa K."
The best photography category was awarded to Jimmy Gimferrer for his work in the Spanish production "Aita," and the best screenplay prize went to Bent Hamer for "Home for Christmas," a Norway-Sweden-Germany co-production.
The awards will be handed to winners at a glittering ceremony at this seaside resort city on Saturday night.
| | | Emma Stone Reportedly Eying 'Spider-Man' & '21 Jump Street' Reboots | Is Emma Stone about to be caught in a web and go undercover in high school?
The actress is reportedly being considered for major roles in the "Spider-Man" and "21 Jump Street" franchise reboots.
According to Variety, the "Easy A" star has been added to the coveted list of actresses reportedly being considered for one of the two female leads in the Marvel super hero movie. The list also reportedly includes "The Blind Side's" Lily Collins, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice's" Teresa Palmer and "The Kids Are All Right" star Mia Wasikowska.
In addition to possibly starring opposite new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, the 21-year-old star is also reportedly being eyed for the "21 Jump Street" big screen reboot of the '80's television series, for which she could potentially reunite with "Superbad" co-star Jonah Hill, who is writing the script.
A rep for Sony told Access Hollywood.com, they have "no comment, as no decisions have been made." A rep for the actress was not immediately available for comment.
| | | 'Inception' Star Tom Hardy Reportedly Engaged | Inception" star Tom Hardy is reportedly about to embark on a real world dream of his very own.
According to People, the 33-year-old actor is engaged to his "Wuthering Heights" co-star, Charlotte Riley.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Rising Star: Tom Hardy
The couple is hoping to tie the knot in 2011, the mag reported.
According to Britain's Daily Mail, Charlotte -- who also sings in a band called The Flirtinis -- is planning on performing for guests and her groom at their wedding.
The couple reportedly met last year while filming the British TV adaptation of the classic Emily Bronte story.
A rep for the actor was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Access Hollywood.
| | | ROLL CALL: Angelina Jolie: 'I Don't Have A Lot Of Friends I Talk To' | Lonely Aneglina?: Besides Brad Pitt and her family, does Angelina Jolie have any other friends?
During an interview with CNN's Sanjay Gupta this week from Pakistan, the actress was asked how she handles loneliness while traveling abroad without her brood. "I'll talk to my family. I talk to Brad...he wants to know as much as he can about these issues and every trip. He's been here as well; he came with me after the earthquake.
But I don't know... I don't have a lot of friends I talk to. He is really the only person I talk to," the actress said. Angie, we'd always take your call, give us a ring at Roll Call headquarters anytime!
Ali Larter's Raunchy Pregnancy Joke!: Ali Larter has been sporting a large baby bump recently and Thursday night on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," while promoting her new film "Resident Evil: Afterlife," she joked about the gender of her little bundle of joy. "We're having a boy," Ali said of her first child with husband Hayes MacArthur. "I have a little penis inside of me!" Of course, Jimmy added, "That's what she said!" It's one thing to embarrass your child after they're born... but before they even get here!? No fair!
"Jersey Shore" Boxing Match?: The "Jersey Shore" girls are not afraid to throw a few blows (as witnessed on Thursday's episode) - and now Angelina wants to take on J-WOWW in the ring on "Celebrity Boxing." "I've been asked to do it and I'm so excited," she told Radar Online. "I want to beat the s*** out of someone. I don't care who I fight, but I hope it's J-WOWW in the ring." After leaving one of reality TV's hottest shows twice, we didn't think Angelina could possibly make any more horrible decisions - but we stand corrected! If this pairing should make it into the ring, we'll be in J-WOWW's corner!
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Then & Now: The Lovely Angelina Jolie!
Kristin Cavallari Gets The LiLo Treatment: Lindsay Lohan isn't the only starlet that can take racy pictures with Tyler Shields. Kristin Cavallari, formerly of MTV's "The Hills," recently posed for a series of jaw-dropping shots with the snapper who shot LiLo's Linda Lovelace pics.
"Kristin Cavallari was down and got down, I kicked dirt in her face then she cut me with a giant knife, all and all, a fun night," the photographer wrote on his website. And just another night in the life of the girl who attempted to replace Lauren Conrad. See Kristin's shots, HERE!
| | | Stallone durable at box office with "Expendables" | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sylvester Stallone outmuscled Julia Roberts at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday to score the biggest opening of his career with his new film "The Expendables."
The action hero's all-star mercenary thriller earned an estimated $35 million across the United States and Canada during its first three days of release, distributor Lionsgate said.
The opening, which was in line with bullish expectations, marks a boost not only for Stallone, who directed and co-wrote the project as well, but also for Lionsgate, whose Lions Gate Entertainment Corp parent is fending off a hostile takeover from investor Carl Icahn.
Julia Roberts, whose career has been almost as cold as Stallone's in recent years, followed at a distant No. 2 with "Eat Pray Love." The big-screen adaptation of a bestselling memoir of a woman's international search for herself, opened with $23.7 million, also in line with expectations.
The female-skewing drama was released by Sony Corp's Columbia Pictures, which topped the box office last weekend with "The Other Guys." The Will Ferrell cop comedy fell to No. 3 with $18 million, taking its 10-day total to $70.5 million.
A third newcomer, the comic-book adaptation "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," bombed at No. 5 with $10.5 million. It marks the second disappointment this month for General Electric Co-owned distributor Universal Pictures, following "Charlie St. Cloud."
Stallone, 64, was last in theaters with a pair of modest retreads revisiting his glory days, 2008's "Rambo" and 2006's "Rocky Balboa." They opened to $18 million and $12 million, respectively.
His best opening, before accounting for ticket-price inflation was the $33 million start for the children's movie "Spy Kids 3D" in 2003. On an adjusted basis, he did better with a pair of films in 1985: "Rambo: First Blood Part II" and "Rocky IV," with about $45 million each, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.
"The Expendables," whose multinational lineup includes English tough guy Jason Statham, Sweden's Dolph Lundgren and Chinese martial-arts veteran Jet Li, revolves around a team of mercenaries who inflict carnage on a fictional South American dictatorship. Bruce Willis and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have cameos. Roberts' older brother Eric, from whom the actress was once estranged, plays a villain.
The film was made by independent producer Avi Lerner's Nu Image/Millennium for about $85 million. Lionsgate paid $20 million for distribution rights.
| | | Bardem says co-starring with Roberts was `easy' (AP) | NEW YORK - If Javier Bardem had to choose whether to eat, pray or love, he doesn't know which one he'd pick.
"The three of them? Why people want to choose one?" said the 41-year-old actor, who co-stars with Julia Roberts in the new film "Eat Pray Love," directed by Ryan Murphy. "That's why it's called `Eat Pray Love.' The movie talks about the importance of feeding yourself for things that make you be healthier. The three of them are very important."
Bardem attended the premiere of "Eat Pray Love" at the Ziegfeld Theater on Tuesday night.
"Even if you don't practice any religion, we all pray," he said. "When things get wrong we all close our eyes and we hope that there is somebody stronger and wiser and more able than us that can help us."
Bardem won a supporting-actor Oscar for the 2007 crime thriller "No Country for Old Men." He married fellow Oscar winner Penelope Cruz last month. The couple, who are from Spain, appeared together in the 2008 Woody Allen romantic comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Cruz won a supporting-actress Oscar for her role in the movie.
"Eat Pray Love," inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir, follows the story of a frustrated divorcee who decides to take a long trip oversees in search of some peace.
Bardem plays a handsome stranger in Bali who offers to help Roberts' character after she's hit by a car while riding a bicycle. He becomes her tour guide, seducing her with his knowledge of the local traditions and delicious food.
Bardem said working with Roberts was "easy."
"I'm always saying that the great actress that she is we all knew. I'm not discovering anything here," he said. "But I didn't know the person and I was very impressed about how generous she is and how fun to work with her. And then when were fighting, after work we were having a good laugh."
"Eat Pray Love" opens in theaters Friday. | | | Over-40 actresses dominate September magazine covers (Reuters) | NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - When the September issues of fashion magazines -- typically their biggest of the year, ad-wise -- hit newsstands this month, the three most prestigious ones will feature actresses in their 40s on the cover.
Vogue has booked Halle Berry, who turns 44 on Saturday; Harper's Bazaar will have 41-year-old Jennifer Aniston, promoting "The Switch"; and Elle has landed 42-year-old Julia Roberts, promoting her new film, "Eat Pray Love."
Putting these actresses on the cover of arguably the most important issue of the year sends a message that though we live in a youth-obsessed culture, there's still something to be said for the enduring appeal of women who have been in the public eye for nearly 20 years.
Laura Brown, projects/features director at Harper's Bazaar, pointed out that the average reader of the magazine is in their late 30s -- and that the readers view women like Aniston as "aspirational."
"They're cool, fashionable, interesting, compelling -- they have something to say," Brown said. "I love that they've grown into their style. One of the things about getting older is you do grow into your sense of self. You don't look victim-y anymore."
Lesley Jane Seymour, editor of More magazine, which is targeted to women in their 40s and older, echoed that sentiment.
"They're the ones with real style, real staying power, real beauty," said Seymour, who previously edited Marie Claire. "As the American population continues to grow older, everyone can relate better to a woman with a little wear on her tires."
Plus, she added, "Who is there with any kind of real style or longevity in their 30s or 20s right now? Britney Spears? Kim Kardashian? These are flashes in the pan. Many are shallow reality stars like Snooki. Style icon? Um, talk to me in a year. Frankly, it's here today, gone tomorrow. Lindsay Lohan? What's to look up to?"
The statistics for several magazines bear her out. The average age of Vogue cover models in the past year is 34.5; Harper's Bazaar, 32.5; Elle, 31.6; InStyle, 34.2; and W, 34.9. Harper's had the biggest range, putting 17-year-old Miley Cyrus on its February cover and 47-year-old Demi Moore out front in April. (Moore also graced the cover of the December issue of W; she is the oldest cover model for those five magazines.)
Data released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed that single-copy sales of magazines dropped by 5.6% in the most recent six-month period measured. So it's ever more important for editors to select cover models who will appeal to people buying mags at newsstands, grocery stores and airports, where, of course, they pay full price. And in that context, older women can seem a safer bet, appealing to a wider audience -- and a wider magazine-buying audience -- than, say, a younger reality show star, singer or actress.
Indeed, it might seem as if the "Twilight" films have taken over the zeitgeist, but those movies' twentysomething stars don't come close to the star power of older actresses. At 46, Sandra Bullock is now the highest-earning woman in Hollywood, according to Forbes; she made $56 million last year with "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side." Rounding out the top five were two actresses in their 30s, Reese Witherspoon at No. 2 and Cameron Diaz at No. 3, and two in their 40s, Aniston (No. 4) and Sarah Jessica Parker (No. 5).
It remains to be seen whether Kristen Stewart can open a non-"Twilight" movie, but in the meantime, films starring the likes of Parker ("Sex and the City 2"), 49-year-old Julianne Moore and 52-year-old Annette Bening (both from "The Kids Are All Right"), 35-year-old Angelina Jolie ("Salt") and 40-year-old Tina Fey ("Date Night") were box office draws this summer.
Outside of Stewart, no actress in her 20s has held a significant role in a box office hit this summer. Megan Fox in "Jonah Hex" is the prime example of a twentysomething struggling for audience.
Indeed, the age of a cover subject seems to show that older often can be better. On InStyle's covers, 40-year-old Gwen Stefani outsold 25-year-olds Scarlett Johansson and Leona Lewis (648,000, 579,000 and 610,000, respectively) -- and all three were outsold by Jennifer Lopez, who was 40 when she was on the cover in September and sold a whopping 853,000 copies (though September, as mentioned, usually is the biggest month).
But not every over-40 woman is a sure thing, of course. Whitney Houston, then 46, showed up on January's cover and sold a relatively paltry 408,000 copies.
At Elle, when Parker, then 44, was on the cover in December, she outsold Lopez on the cover from February (285,000 copies vs. 161,000 copies on newsstands) and 20-year-old Stewart's June cover (207,000 copies). Vogue also had good luck with Parker, whose May cover sold nearly 325,000 copies on the newsstand. Parker outsold June's cover with 22-year-old Blake Lively on the cover (248,000) and December's with Cate Blanchett, then 40, out front.
"I will put anybody of any age on the cover," Bazaar's Brown said. "I never think of someone's age when I'm booking a cover." Bazaar has been relatively steady on the newsstand, with its youngest cover model, Cyrus, barely outselling its oldest, Moore (126,000 vs. 114,000 copies).
Elle editor-in-chief Robbie Myers likewise was adamant that a cover subject's age has no bearing on whether the magazine books her. "We don't look at a subject's age when we decide to put her on the cover," she said. "It's a question of a certain kind of chic, what the project is and how excited we think the buyer will be about reading about someone at a particular moment."
But it's perhaps not surprising that Myers chose Roberts, whose "Eat Pray Love," which opens Friday, seems to speak to a certain recession-era mentality of self-discovery and authenticity. And Roberts herself has a carefully cultivated persona of keeping herself above the tabloid fray, putting her children first and choosing her projects carefully.
Jon Penn, a magazine consultant and president of the media and entertainment division of Penn, Schoen & Berland who works clients (including several from Conde Nast) to do market research on magazine covers, said it's not surprising that editors are choosing seemingly approachable, down-to-earth actresses like Roberts for their covers.
"In the post-recession era, consumer values have changed at the newsstand," Penn said. "Instead of seeking out escapism into the lives of over-the-top and often out-of-bounds celebrities, consumers are drawn to the authentic, down-to-earth and relatable. We are in a period of reflection where self-improvement, not self-indulgence, is a new language at the newsstand."
There's also less of a chance that a cover model of Aniston's or Roberts' ilk is going to end up scandalously in the tabloids (though Bullock probably would beg to differ). Brown noted that working with these types of actresses in many ways makes the magazine's job easier.
"They give you just enough for the magazine," Brown said. "They know how to conduct an interview. Sarah Jessica Parker would give you the impression that she would sit with you all day."
Perhaps the more salient question, then, is who will be the Parkers and Robertses of tomorrow's magazine covers. Of the cover models on Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle and W in the past year, no one appeared on all four. But Parker, Blanchett, Moore and Aniston each appeared on two, along with 37-year-old Gwyneth Paltrow and 35-year-old Kate Moss. The only woman under 30 to appear on two of those magazine's covers was 22-year-old Rihanna, who was on the cover of Elle in July and W in February.
"The young actresses are fascinating in their own way," Brown said, "but they need to be put in the wine barrel a bit longer." | | | Bullock Tops Forbes Highest-Paid Actresses List | In a town where youth is prized, and actresses over 40 are often passed over in favor of the newest, hottest talent, America's sweetheart, Sandra Bullock, again came out on top!
Despite a roller coaster year which included both an Oscar win and a highly publicized divorce, the 46-year-old is currently the highest-paid actress of the past year according to Forbes, bringing in $56 million between June 2009 and June 2010. Sandra's romantic comedy "The Proposal" grossed $320 million on an estimated budget of only $40 million, while her heartwarming hit "The Blind Side" earned $310 at the box office on a budget of only $30 million.
Tying for second place are blond beauties Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon, each taking in a reported $32 million.
Though Reese hasn't been seen onscreen since 2008's "Four Christmases," she voiced the heroine of the animated film "Monsters Vs. Aliens," and has been paid for two upcoming films that have yet to be released. She also earns additional income from Avon for her work as an "ambassador."
In addition to headlining recent films such as "Knight and Day" with Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz has made a small fortune from voicing Princess Fiona in the incredibly popular "Shrek" series, which has earned a total $28 billion internationally via its four films and other revenue-generating outlets.
Jennifer Aniston ranks fourth on the list, with $27 million. Despite a few box office flops, Jen is still Hollywood's choice for romantic comedies, according to Forbes. Her upcoming movies include "The Switch," a film about a woman having a baby on her own, co-starring Jason Bateman, and an Adam Sandler film titled "Just Go With It." Jen is also still receiving residual pay from "Friends," and just launched her own self-named fragrance line.
Rounding out the Top 5 is the fabulous Sarah Jessica Parker. Sarah earned only slightly less than Jennifer with $25 million. "Sex and The City" has been solid gold for this glamorous gal -- not only does she earn residual pay from the HBO show's syndication, the "Sex and The City 2" feature film sequel earned $280 million internationally. Sarah also owns a successful perfume line, with several popular scents including NYC, and Lovely.
| | | Elisabetta Canalis Opens Up About Her Relationship With George Clooney | Italian model/actress Elisabetta Canalis has broken the silence regarding her relationship with boyfriend George Clooney.
Elisabetta spoke with Vanity Fair's Italian edition from George's Lake Como estate, People reported.
"I am happy like I was when I was 18 years old," Elisabetta, 31, reportedly told the mag. "Those who criticize or invent stories about us are jealous."
Rumors of a possible separation swirled earlier this year when an Italian newspaper announced the couple had split.
"It might seem a cliche, but unfortunately it is true: the Italians never support their own citizens who earn an opportunity or a recognition abroad," Elisabetta explained. "I don't expect to be celebrated, but neither do I expect the newspapers of our country to use as a reference point a gossip blog which is full of insults, racism and violence."
The brunette beauty went on to say that some people are jealous that she's landed one of Hollywood's hottest leading men - and it's not just her fellow Italians.
"I have heard of women - even famous women - that due to this [relationship] removed his photo as screensavers from their computers... But in the end the best revenge over these jealous people is to be happy," she reportedly said.
Despite dating People's twice-anointed "Sexiest Man Alive", it's not just about looks for Elisabetta. The quality she admires most about George is "his humanity" and "his ability in giving to others."
According to the mag, the glamorous couple will hit the red carpet together on August 29 for the 2010 Emmy Awards, where George will be given the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his work with victims of the Haiti earthquake.
| | | Real Life 'Salt'-Like Alleged Spy Awaits Bail Hearing In New York | Audiences heading to the theaters this summer are hoping to find out, "Who is Salt?", once this highly-anticipated film opens on July 23, but, maybe we should be asking, "Who is Anna?"
In a case of life imitating art, much like Angelina Jolie who plays Evelyn Salt, a woman accused of being a Russian spy in the upcoming summer blockbuster "Salt," over the weekend nine people living in America were arrested and charged with acting as Russian spies - and one of them, Anna Chapman, has been dubbed by many media outlets the group's red-headed femme fatale.
According to the Associated Press, the 28-year-old - and nine others - have been charged with failing to register as foreign agents and could face anywhere from five to 25 years in prison.
Chapman reportedly used various social media networking sites to ingratiate herself into the New York social scene.
According to the AP, Chapman is accused of transmitting information to an unnamed Russian official. She was apprehended last week during a sting operation, as she was reportedly about to leave the country.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz told the AP that the evidence against Chapman is "devastating. [She is] someone who has extraordinary training, who is a sophisticated agent of Russia."
Chapman and eight others - including a woman, Cynthia Murphy, who was an New Jersey housewife with two kids who just received her MBA from Columbia University - await bail hearings in federal courts on Thursday in New York, Boston and Alexandria, Va., while another alleged spy who was arrested fled the country after posting bail.
On Wednesday, Chapman's mother, Irina Kushchenko, told the AP that her daughter is wrongly accused, saying, "Of course I believe that she's innocent," while Chapman's lawyer told the AP that the case against her is weak.
| | | 'Twilight' eclipses record with $68.5M debut (AP) | LOS ANGELES - Fans are over the moon for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which pulled in $68.5 million in its first day to set a new record for a movie debuting on Wednesday.
The third installment in the vampire romance surpassed the previous Wednesday record of $62 million set last year by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."
But "Eclipse" fell short of the all-time best opening day, a record held by its predecessor, last November's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which took in $72.7 million. "New Moon" opened on a Friday, typically a busier day at theaters than weekdays.
"Eclipse" opened in a record 4,416 theaters and expands to 4,468 cinemas Friday for the Fourth of July weekend, one of the biggest box-office weekends of the year.
With so much money already in the bank and a long holiday weekend ahead, distributor Summit Entertainment hopes "Eclipse" can top the $200 million haul for "Revenge of the Fallen" in its first five days, a record for a movie opening on Wednesday.
"It certainly is a target for us," said Richie Fay, head of distribution for Summit. "I'd be real hesitant to say that we will break that. We would love to and are striving to. We have the location and screen count that could get us there. But if the weather isn't in our favor, if people are out barbecuing and looking at fireworks Sunday night, we may not get there."
In a single day, "Eclipse" took in a fraction more than the $68 million the movie cost to produce.
Fay said "Eclipse" followed the pattern of "New Moon," whose audience was 80 percent female. With generally better reviews on "Eclipse" than its predecessors and a marketing campaign that played up the movie's action, Summit executives hope the latest sequel will draw in more males as the weekend progresses, he said.
"Eclipse" continues the story of brooding teen Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), caught in a love triangle involving her vampire boyfriend (Robert Pattinson) and her werewolf pal (Taylor Lautner). The new movie forces vampires and werewolves to set aside old rivalries and unite against a band of ravenous newborn bloodsuckers.
The franchise concludes with a two-part adaptation of "Breaking Dawn," the final novel in Stephenie Meyer's best-selling series. Part one of "Breaking Dawn" is due in theaters Nov. 18, 2011.
| | | Holding Oscars earlier would be tricky | Hollywood's awards season is kind of like the weather: Everyone complains about it, but nobody does much about it.
Even before the final envelopes are opened at the Oscars each year, campaigners are lamenting that the process has grown too expensive; too many events crowd the limelight; and mostly that the season, which begins in early December and this year runs through the Academy Awards in late February, is just too damn long.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a special pet peeve: Too many other awards shows have muscled into its territory, forcing eventual Oscar winners to repeat their acceptance speeches as they pick up precursor kudos, and, arguably, damaging the Oscar broadcast's ratings on ABC by making the show feel less special and more akin to a rerun.
As a result, within Academy circles there have been frequent conversations about holding the awards earlier. In 2004, the awards -- traditionally held in late March or early April -- moved into February for the first time. Last year, the show shifted to March 7 to avoid going head-to-head with the Vancouver Olympics' closing ceremonies, but the 83rd Academy Awards are sliding to Feb. 27.
But should the Oscars be held even earlier? That topic came up at Tuesday's meeting of the Academy's board of governors. And when word of the discussion leaked out, folks were in a tizzy about the prospects that the next Oscars might abruptly shift to January.
Not so, the Academy quickly asserted Wednesday. The 83rd Academy Awards, which Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer have just been selected to produce, aren't moving from the announced Feb. 27 date.
But while it has set itself no deadline for a decision, the Academy admitted it's continuing to discuss a change, possibly in 2012.
"There are a number of questions still to be answered and challenges to be addressed with regard to moving the show to an earlier date," it said. "The Academy governors and staff have been and will continue to look into those questions and challenges ... This idea is simply under consideration and being explored as a possibility."
If the Oscars were to move into mid-February, it wouldn't seriously upend the current awards season calendar. (And the Academy could probably squeeze a week or two out of its current voting timetable without too much trouble.) But shifting into January would have serious repercussions for the rhythm of awards season, beginning with release schedules.
Currently, most Academy members, quite happily, use the Christmas holidays and much of January to screen competing movies.
Earlier nomination deadlines would force that process to begin earlier in October and November and could, theoretically, disadvantage some of the December releases.
That probably wouldn't draw objections from the major studios, which, as they gorge on popcorn movies, have surrendered a lot of the awards ground to their specialty units and the indie film companies.
Last year, for example, the studios released only two eventual best picture nominees in December -- Paramount's "Up in the Air" and Fox's "Avatar" -- so the studios could shift their handful of contenders into an October/November release corridor without too much difficulty.
It's a different matter for the indies, who now use the protracted awards season to slowly roll out many of their films.
Last year, Fox Searchlight opened "Crazy Heart," which ultimately scored three Oscar noms and two wins, in four theaters on Dec. 18, but didn't begin to widen it to more than 800 theaters until Feb. 5, post nominations. And it didn't reach its peak of 1,361 theaters until the weekend after the Oscars as it chugged its way to an eventual $39 million domestic gross.
Of course, the smaller films could simply roll out earlier, but indie distributors worry that will cost them more money since they'll be buying more advertising time in a month like December when they have to compete with big studio TV buys as well as all the Christmas season advertisers.
If the push to move Oscar dates starts developing real momentum, it could end up pitting the indies against the majors in a repeat of the Great Screener War that broke out in 2003.
But, argue proponents of an Oscar move, shifting the show to January would bring in more viewers, which could, in turn, benefit all the nominated films.
However, that proposition remains untested. If the Oscars were to move into the third or fourth weekend of January, what's to prevent the Golden Globes, which already air in mid-January, and possibly the SAG Awards as well, from beating the Oscars to air? In fact, the TV schedule could end up with three awards shows on three successive weekends, with the Oscars still coming last.
If ratings are the goal, it's hard to see how an abbreviated season necessarily ups the odds of improving the numbers, especially since the ratings seem to be more a function of the popularity of the nominated movies than the calendar itself. With "Avatar" in the mix, 41.3 million people tuned in to this year's show, a 14% increase from the previous year. Would that number have been dramatically different if the Oscars had taken place in January rather than March?
If there's anything to be said for its current calendar, it's that the Academy is now able to use most of February for a series of promotional events designed to hype the broadcast. A rush to air could sacrifice some of those opportunities.
Yes, it's true that for its major players, the current awards season can feel like a long slog. But a dramatic change risks turning it into nothing but a blur.
| | | Man wants conviction tossed in Dunst handbag heist (AP) | NEW YORK - A man who says he was duped into helping take Kirsten Dunst's designer purse from a New York City hotel suite is trying to get his burglary conviction tossed.
A lawyer for James Jimenez (JIH'-mehn-ehz) asked a judge Wednesday to overturn jurors' guilty verdict in the August 2007 heist.
Lawyer Robert Parker is questioning the judge's decision not to declare a mistrial after a juror acknowledged seeing a newspaper article about the trial and briefly mentioning the story to other jurors.
Prosecutors declined to comment. A ruling is expected in August.
Dunst's purse, actor Simon Pegg's cell phone and other items were stolen from a suite they used while filming "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People."
Jimenez says he was accompanying a co-defendant he thought had permission to be there.
| | | Robert Pattinson and Dracula are distant relatives (AP) | LOS ANGELES - Robert Pattinson isn't the only famous vampire in his family.
Genealogists say the 24-year-old "Twilight" star is related to Vlad the Impaler, widely cited as the inspiration for the main character in Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
Researchers at Ancestry.com discovered that Pattinson and the Transylvanian leader (real name: Vlad III Dracula) are connected through their relationship to the British royal family. Prince William and Prince Harry are Pattinson's distant cousins; Vlad the Impaler was their distant uncle.
"Tracing Pattinson's family back to Vlad was difficult research, but the pieces that unraveled created the perfect accompaniment to the Twilight Saga," said Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com. "Without any myth or magic, we find royalty and vampires lurking in Pattinson's life — making his story just as supernatural as the one he's playing on screen."
Also connected to the prince's lineage and therefore to Dracula? Stephenie Meyer, the author of the "Twilight" series.
The latest big-screen installment in the popular vampire saga, "Eclipse," opens June 30.
| | | "Sex and the City" sequel slips at box office (Reuters) |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Sex" is losing its allure at cinemas.
"Sex and the City 2" sold $46.3 million worth of tickets during its first four days of release across North America, falling far short of the opening round for the first film in the series, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
Warner Bros' first-big screen adaptation of the HBO series about four New York women earned $57 million in its first three days two years ago.
Their latest cinematic exploits got a head start on the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, opening on Thursday instead of the traditional Friday.
"Yes, I would love to have seen a bigger number, but I'm not concerned until I see how the second weekend plays out," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at the Time Warner Inc unit.
He predicted the film would earn about $53 million once sales for the Monday holiday were included. Industry forecasters had expected the five-day haul to exceed $60 million.
Critics ripped the sequel, which reunites actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis with director Michael Patrick King.
Women accounted for 90 percent of the audience, up a few points from the first one. They also liked it a little less. The new film garnered a B-plus rating in exit surveys conducted by research firm CinemaScore, down from an A-minus, Warner Bros. said.
| | | Cannes Film Festival prize winners (AP) | CANNES, France - Awards presented Sunday at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, chosen by a jury headed by U.S. director Tim Burton:
- Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand)
- Grand Prize: "Of Gods and Men" by Xavier Beauvois (France)
- Jury Prize: "A Screaming Man" by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad)
- Best Director: Mathieu Amalric for "On Tour" (France)
- Best Actor: Javier Bardem, "Biutiful" (Mexico) and Elio Germano, "La Nostra Vita" (Italy)
- Best Actress: Juliette Binoche, "Certified Copy" (Iran)
- Best Screenplay: Lee Chang-Dong, "Poetry" (Korea)
- Camera d'Or (first-time director): "Ano Bisiesto" by Michael Rowe (Mexico)
- Best short film: "Chienne d'Histoire," by Serge Avedikian (France)
| | | Cannes finale: Festival readies for awards night (AP) | CANNES, France - Three past winners of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival — Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Abbas Kiarostami — are in the running for the same award again as 19 films compete at the world's premier cinema showcase.
Critics have been generally unimpressed with the lineup Cannes presented at the 12-day festival along the French Riviera, with a handful of films stirring some buzz but most of the entries premiering to lukewarm receptions.
The festival ends Sunday night with the awards ceremony and a screening of the closing film, French director Julie Bertuccelli's "The Tree," a family drama starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, who won the best-actress award at Cannes last year for "Antichrist."
Kristin Scott Thomas, who presided over the festival's opening ceremonies, handles the same duties for awards night.
British director Leigh's ensemble drama "Another Year," featuring Jim Broadbent and Imelda Staunton, received favorable reviews, particularly for co-star Lesley Manville as a lonely middle-aged woman desperate for companionship. Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" won the festival's top honor, the Palme d'Or, in 1996.
Fellow British director Loach, whose "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" won that prize at Cannes in 2006, competes again with his Iraq War thriller "Route Irish." Iranian director Kiarostami, who earned the Palme d'Or in 1997 with "Taste of Cherry," is entered this year with his cryptic love story "Certified Copy," starring Juliette Binoche.
Other solid contenders include Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Biutiful," starring Javier Bardem as a father on the edge of the law; Frenchman Xavier Beauvois' "Of Gods and Men," centered on a group of martyred monks in North Africa; and South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong's "Poetry," about a grandmother who finds solace writing poems amid the onset of Alzheimer's and troubles with her broody grandson.
"Alice in Wonderland" director Tim Burton heads the jury that will decide on Cannes award winners. The nine-member jury also includes actors Kate Beckinsale and Benicio Del Toro and director Shekhar Kapur.
| | | Lindsay Lohan En Route To LA | Lindsay Lohan is finally heading home.
The star is making her way from Cannes, France to LAX on Saturday after catching a flight from London's Heathrow airport scheduled to arrive back in LA this evening, a source told Access Hollywood.
On Thursday, Lindsay missed a scheduled court date after making a last-minute trip to the Cannes Film Festival to promote her upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic, "Inferno." In court, her lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holley, stated that the actress' passport had been stolen and she had attempted to get a new one in time to fly back for the hearing.
Judge Marsha Revel then issued a warrant for the star's arrest, which was recalled later that evening after a $10,000 bail bond had been posted.
Lindsay will have her delayed day in court on Monday before Judge Revel, whom the LA Superior Court previously told Access is cutting short her vacation to make the appearance.
| | | Scarlett Johansson: 'I Can Get Down' | Scarlett Johansson may be an A-List movie star, but she's rarely spotted out at night in Hollywood.
Don't mistake her absence on the scene, however, as an indication she's spending evenings at home in her PJs drinking flavored tea.
"I can get down, don't get me wrong," the actress laughed during an interview on Monday with Access Hollywood's Tony Potts to promote her new film, "Iron Man 2."
When Scarlett, who is married to fellow actor Ryan Reynolds, does head outdoors, she's not at the bars, but instead, at concert halls.
"I do -- I go out occasionally," she explained. "I like to go out. I like to hear music and go out for dinners and stuff like that but I'm not really a party in the club kind of girl."
Scarlett, a singer herself, said she prefers to keep things more low profile in order to keep her personal life, personal.
"You know, it's hard, particularly in this day and age, to kind of surprise your audience because they already know so much about you personally," she told Tony. "So I try to avoid that kind of scene as much as possible."
ScarJo also said she is thrilled for the upcoming May 7 release of "Iron Man 2," which marks her debut as sexy secret agent Natalie Romanova, AKA Black Widow; and she wouldn't mind taking her superhero for a solo trip.
"These movies are very fan driven so if the fans like my interpretation of the character, I would be happy to don the cat suit again and, you know, carry the torch," she said of a possible spin off film. "But there is no plan for anything like that. I know that Marvel is very behind this character so I'm keeping my fingers crossed."
In the meantime, Scarlett is just happy she gets to flex some girl power on the big screen alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in "Iron Man 2."
"These characters are strong, independent women that could function with or without the men in their lives," Scarlett enthused. "They run a smooth, efficient operation and are at the head of their game and I really attribute that to Jon Favreau's appreciation for a strong lady.
"It's very exciting to be that kind of role model for young girls and for women to see that you don't have to be the damsel in distress," she continued. "You can actually kick some a** and look fabulous doing it."
| | | "Letters to Juliet" -- return to sender (Reuters) |
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Like "Mamma Mia!" for the Shakespeare set,
"Letters to Juliet" figures all you need to woo a certain kind of moviegoer is miles of gorgeous scenery, an unquestioning belief in destiny and the large-eyed presence of Amanda Seyfried. The box office will likely reward the movie's limited ambitions after the Summit release opens May 14, but expect eye-rolling alongside the swoons at this bland, predictable picture, whose sole assets are a cute premise, the Italian countryside and the dignity Vanessa Redgrave brings to a part that, on the page, is quite beneath her.
Redgrave plays Claire, an Englishwoman who, vacationing in Italy 50 years ago, was among the many girls who write letters to Shakespeare's doomed heroine and place them on a wall in Verona. Her letter goes missing until aspiring writer Sophie (Seyfried) decides to answer it in Juliet's voice, urging the now-aged woman to seek out the boy she loved and lost during her Italian summer.
Seyfried has stumbled across this Miss Lonelyhearts-ish "letters to Juliet" business while on a romantic vacation with her fiance (Gael Garcia Bernal) that has somehow become a working trip for him. ("It's a win-win!" he says each time the two find things they can do independently of each other.) She's only too relieved when Claire follows her advice, shows up in Verona and lets her join the quest while Sophie's hubby-to-be is off hunting rare wines and truffles for his restaurant.
Naturally, Claire is escorted by a grandson so incredibly rude, so opposed to the silliness of True Love, that Sophie must somehow manage to fall for him by the penultimate reel. (Christopher Egan, who plays the unlikely love interest, should be sending thank-you cards to Bernal, whose performance is so devoid of the qualities that typically make Bernal lovable onscreen that even this snotty, narrow-eyed Brit looks like a step up.)
While we wait for the inevitable, viewers get a stiff dose of sappy Italian pop music in between bouts of Andrea Guerra's busy score, long drives through the countryside and a few genuinely amusing moments as the seekers find one elderly Italian man after another who would be only too happy to pretend to be Redgrave's once-and-future lover. Wouldn't we all, boys? The pleasure of seeing a pair of lovestruck senior citizens reunite pushes the movie's last chapter in a happy direction, and those who ask little more from love than a clumsy balcony climb and a last-minute transatlantic flight or two will leave the theater more than satisfied.
For everyone else, may we suggest those Shakespeare romances that actually had happy endings?
| | | Single Ladies: Paris Hilton, Abbie Cornish Spotted Out With New Guys |
Hollywood's single ladies are making the most of it.
According to The Huffington Post, Abbie Cornish was spotted out on Saturday night with Josh Hartnett, staying late at a back corner table at New York's Warren 77 bar. The two talked and left together at 1 AM, the site reported.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Abbie split with longtime boyfriend Ryan Philippe back in February. Reps for each star claimed that their client was the one to end it - Ryan's rep told Access, "Ryan ended his relationship with Abbie recently while she was in Australia," while Abbie's rep stated, "Abbie ended the relationship with Ryan and she moved out of their home."
According to Perez Hilton, Abbie wasn't the only girl out with a hot new guy on Saturday night.
Paris Hilton, who recently broke up with Doug Reinhardt, was photographed out with model Jason Shaw, who previously dated the celebutante, in Beverly Hills, where they dined at restaurant Woo Lae Oak.
"Jason couldn't keep his eyes of her, the entire dinner they laughed and smiled," a source told the site.
Paris previously told Access that she was happy to be on her own again - and blasted Doug's statements to the press about their break-up, where he suggested they split by mutual agreement.
"I am great and enjoying being single," she said earlier this month. "[Doug] is just angry because I broke up with him."
| | | Angelina Jolie Takes on the Guys in New Summer Action Movie Trailers |
Action movies have a history of being made by dudes, starring dudes, and for dudes. However, one actress has established a reputation for carrying a blockbuster as well as any man: Angelina Jolie.
This summer, Jolie will be headlining another action movie, "Salt." While she shared the screen with Brad Pitt in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," and was really a supporting character in "Wanted," in her new film she is the singular focus. And what's truly unique is that the role of a CIA officer who is accused of being a Russian sleeper agent was originally written for a man.
A new trailer for "Salt" was released this week, and it certainly looks like Angelina hasn't lost a step when it comes to delivering thrills. But previews for three more guy-centric action flicks were also unveiled. So how does Jolie's movie match up to the macho flicks "The A-Team," "Knight and Day" and "The Expendables"? Take a look at all four below.
"SALT"
When an informant accuses Evelyn Salt of being a double-agent, she must go on the run and escape her compatriots to prove her innocence. That means dying her hair, jumping off bridges, crashing cars, and busting some heads. "Salt" reunites Jolie with her "The Bone Collector" director Phillip Noyce, and from the footage it looks like it could be the start of her own "Bourne Identity"-type series. "Salt" opens July 23.
| | | Jennifer Aniston Says No To Botox, Cheers On Drew Barrymore | Jennifer Aniston may be 41, but life has begun again, the actress told the British edition of Harper's Bazaar.
"The last five years have been about spring cleaning for me," she told the mag's May 2010 issue. "Now it's time for my rebirth. I love trying new things. I can't just be put in a box."
The future, however, isn't likely to include Botox.
"I could do it, and I mean these lines are getting deeper every day, but when I tell you what's happened to me -- these lines are just about living," the actress said. "Look I eat really well and I work out, but I also indulge when I want to. I don't starve myself in an extremist way. You're not taking away my coffee or my dairy or my glass of wine because I'd be devastated. My advice: just stop eating sh** every day."
Jennifer, who is currently starring alongside pal Gerard Butler in "The Bounty Hunter," revealed she is inspired by other strong women in Hollywood, including the head of Flower Films.
"I love what Drew Barrymore is doing with directing. It's so much about a rebirth for her, and I love it when people are living in the now, like her. I hate it when people look back and regret what they haven't got," Jennifer said. "That's how I feel about my own life now. And my God, let's talk about how much I love Demi Moore as well. What kind of Kool-Aid is she drinking?"
The actress also revealed that she's proud of what women have achieved in her lifetime.
"I grew up admiring strong women like journalist Barbara Walters and super-agent Sue Mengers, who represented Ali McGraw," she said. "But now look where we've got to as women. We've had a woman run for President. There is nothing like our power."
| | | Jesse James & Sandra Bullock's '28 Days' Rehab Connection | Jesse James has checked himself into rehab at a place that should be familiar to wife Sandra Bullock.
Jesse, whose rep released a statement to People on Tuesday that the reality star had "checked himself into a treatment facility to deal with personal issues," is at Sierra Tucson Rehabiliation Center in Arizona - a place that has treated Michael Douglas, Ringo Starr, Julie Andrews and, reportedly, Whitney Houston and Nicole Richie.
One more star who spent time there? Sandra herself, who visited the facility 10 years ago for a few days to d research for her role as an alcoholic in the film "28 Days."
The 160-acre campus costs around $40,000 to $64,000 a month, according to the Sierra Tucson Web site, which terms sex addiction as "sexual compulsivity" - a condition that former sex addict Benoit Denizet Lewis told Orlando's WESH requires family participation to recover from.
"For anyone in sex addiction rehab, if they are hoping to save their marriage and a lot of them are, the participation obviously of the wife or the partner is absolutely critical," he said.
Whether Sandra is willing to participate remains to be seen - according to Star magazine, the actress found a graphic and shocking pornographer stash on Jesse's computer that revolted her as she moved out of their shared home.
In news that could affect potential divorce proceedings, Access has uncovered their marriage license - signed in Texas, not California (where the pair had their July 16, 2005 wedding), meaning one party could be held responsible for a "fault" divorce for a cause such as adultery. Under California law, divorces are no-fault.
In more related news, one of Jesse's alleged mistresses has broken her silence.
"They said I said he was a dud in bed, blatant lie," Brigitte Daguerre said in new paparazzi footage. "I never said that."
In the interview, she also attacked claims of being a homewrecker.
"I think it's very unfair to call any woman a homewrecker in that situation because the only one who can wreck their home is themselves, the married person. It's their responsibility," she said. "And I wasn't sure if he was married or not, I don't know."
Jesse has been allegedly linked to three other women.
| | | Heidi Montag Talks Playing A Plastic Surgery Power Couple In 'Just Go With It' | Heidi Montag has revealed her role in "Just Go With It," Adam Sandler's 2011-due comedy, will find her playing one half of a plastic surgery-driven power couple.
"Kevin Nealon is my husband," Heidi told Jay Leno during Friday's "Tonight Show" of her on-screen love interest, played by the former "Saturday Night Live" funnyman. "And he's had more surgery than I have in the movie, so we kept playing around with who has more injections."
In fact, Kevin recently Tweeted a photo of his "Just Go With It" look, showing the "Weeds" star with an almost unrecognizable face.
Heidi told Jay that she acquired the part in the film, which also stars Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman and Sports Illustrated cover star Brooklyn Decker, through a phone call.
"They just called me and they said, 'We'd love to have you,'" she said.
"The Hills" star, who recently recorded a public service announcement about paying for plastic surgery with plastic on FunnyOrDie.com -- a clip directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard -- revealed she actually hasn't had to try out for any of the parts she has secured thus far.
"That God I haven't had to audition yet," she said.
When Jay asked if she could handle rejection, Heidi, who underwent 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day in late 2009, joked that being turned down for a role could lead her to going under the knife again.
"I don't know. I might have to get more surgery if they rejected me," she said. "No, I'm just kidding."
But Heidi told Jay she has reached a good plastic surgery stopping point - for now.
"I've reached the point. I think I'm good for a while. I'm surgery'd out," she said.
As for working with Ron on that FunnyOrDie clip, Heidi said it's made her want to re-do some of the movies he is famous for.
"Actually, I'm the biggest fan of Ron Howard. 'Splash' is one my favorite[s]. I'm telling him I want to do the remake...I wanna be the mermaid," she said, referring to the role that helped make a young Daryl Hannah a household name back in 1984 . "I think I could play her pretty well, you know. So I think I wanna do that. And, 'Willow.' And I loved 'Willow.'"
| | | British actress Kate Winslet splits from husband | LONDON (AP) -- British movie star Kate Winslet has separated from her film director husband Sam Mendes after nearly seven years of marriage, their law firm said Monday.
The surprise split puts an end to a golden couple of Britain's show business world, buttressed by matching Oscars and a host of commercial successes and artistic accolades.
The pair's law firm, Schillings, said the split was "entirely amicable and is by mutual agreement."
Winslet, 34, shot to international stardom on the back of her appearance opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in James Cameron's "Titanic," and sealed her reputation with an Academy Award for best actress for her role in "The Reader" in 2009.
Mendes, 44, was already an acclaimed stage director by the time he won an Oscar for directing "American Beauty" in 1999.
The pair married in a small, low-key ceremony in the Caribbean in May 2003. It was Winslet's second marriage. Her first, to British director Jim Threapleton, ended in divorce in 2001.
Winslet has an 9-year-old daughter, Mia, from her marriage to Threapleton and a 6-year-old son, Joe, with Mendes. Schillings' statement said Winslet and Mendes were "fully committed to the future joint parenting of their children."
It wasn't clear whether divorce proceedings have begun. The statement said no further comment would be made, and calls and e-mails seeking comment from the law firm weren't immediately returned.
Born into a family with a strong thespian tradition, Winslet threw herself into acting early, securing bit roles in TV dramas in her early teens. Her breakthrough came in Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures," which traced the obsessive relationship between two schoolgirls in 1950s New Zealand.
She went on to run through a number of other stage and film roles — including a memorable turn as Ophelia in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of "Hamlet" — but stardom would not come until "Titantic," one of the most commercially successful films in cinematic history.
Winslet met Oxford-educated Mendes the same year she split from her first husband, at a time when Mendes was still serving as artistic director of London's Donmar Warehouse theater. Both Winslet and Mendes are natives of Reading, an English town just northwest of London.
At the time, Mendes told the AP that "there's no story, really, other than two people — one famous person, another one who is slightly less famous and slightly less interesting."
Mendes followed the success of his cinematic debut, "American Beauty," with meditative gangster film "Road to Perdition," starring Tom Hanks. More recently he directed his wife in "Revolutionary Road," a film about a crumbling marriage that reunited Winslet with DiCaprio.
Reviews were largely favorable, but the film failed to set off the same box office fever that made "Titanic" such a huge hit.
In "Revolutionary Road," Winslet portrayed a suburban housewife who became increasingly bored and desperate with her stay-at-home life. The film won Winslet a Golden Globe for best dramatic actress, and in her acceptance speech she thanked her husband for pushing her so hard.
"Thank you for directing this film, babe, and thank you for killing us every single day and really enjoying us actually being in such horrific pain," she said last year. "But I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that I loved every second of working with you and it's made me love you more."
Mendes said directing his wife had been one of the best experiences of his life, although he said she liked to discuss the movie 24 hours a day while he preferred to do something else, like watch a baseball game, at night when work was done.
His next project is the 23rd James Bond film, which is expected to go into production later this year.
| | | Lindsay Lohan Sues E-Trade Over Super Bowl Commercial | Lindsay Lohan is suing E-Trade over a Super Bowl commercial, which features a "milkaholic" boyfriend-stealing baby named Lindsay.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Nassau County Supreme Court in New York and obtained by Access Hollywood, claims that Lohan's rights under the New York state civil-rights law were violated when E-Trade used the "likeness of the plaintiff's name, characterization, and personality" in the commercial.
The suit claims that E-Trade "committed tortuous acts" and "are causing injury to" Lohan with the commercial.
The suit goes on to claim that the commercial, which features stock trading babies talking to each via a video chat "violated the plaintiff's right of privacy."
When contacted by Access, an E-Trade spokesperson said, "We have not yet reviewed the action and so we don't have a comment."
In the ad, a baby boy is apologizing to a baby girl for not calling her.
"And that milkaholic Lindsay wasn't over?" the baby girl asks.
"Lindsay?" the boy replies, as another baby girl appears on screen and says, "Milk-a-what?"
According to the suit, Lohan is asking for $50 million in exemplary damages and another $50 million in compensatory damages.
When contacted by Access Hollywood, Lohan's attorney, Anand Ahuja, said it was obvious that Lohan's likeness has been used and denied it was a publicity stunt.
"It's very much a legitimate case because if anybody looks at it they know her name and characterization have been used," he told Access. "Everybody has a right to have one's own perception, all that matters is that the truth will come out in court."
In addition to $100 million in damages, the suit is asking for the E-Trade commercial be removed from the air and wants the financial company to turn over all copies of the spot to Lohan.
Access caught up with attorney Mark Geragos - who has defended Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder and Chris Brown - on Tuesday, who said the case would be difficult for Lohan's legal team.
"It's a very tough lawsuit to prevail on cause you run into a very meddlesome barrier which is the First Amendment," he told Access. "I don't think this is going to pass a pleading stage or motion to dismiss."
He added that Lohan might walk away with more money if she decided to use E-Trade rather than sue the company, saying, "The average price for an E-Trade is probably more than they'll ever get for this lawsuit."
| | | George Clooney: I Avoid Pools When Sandra Bullock Is Near! | Oscar winner Sandra Bullock called out George Clooney when she accepted the award for Best Actress on Sunday,
saying the actor threw her into a pool in 2000 at Joel Schumacher's birthday - and George is looking over his shoulder waiting for payback.
"George Clooney threw me in a pool years ago," "The Blind Side" star said on the Kodak Theatre stage during the Oscars. "I'm still holding a grudge."
On Tuesday, George told Access Hollywood that he steers clear of pools when Sandra is around.
"Sandy and I have been friends for 25 years... and I do stay away from pools when she walks by," the actor said in a statement to Access on Tuesday morning.
As for George's scowl when Oscar hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin took a few jabs at him during the show's opening monologue - a source close to the "Up In The Air" star told Access it was all planned and that he was in on the joke.
To find out why George was rocking a mullet during the Oscars, CLICK HERE!
| | | Bullock, 'Transformers' make Razzies worst list | LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sandra Bullock made history tonight when she won a Best Actress Oscar for "The Blind Side" the day after stopping by the Razzies to collect a dubious honor:
a worst-actress prize for her romantic comedy flop "All About Steve."
"I think this is an extraordinary award," said Bullock, who had promised throughout awards season that if she won the Razzie, she would accept it in person. "And I didn't realize that, in Hollywood, all you had to do was say you'd show up, and then you'd get the award. If I'd known that, I would have said I was appearing at the Oscars a long time ago."
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was picked as last year's worst picture and won two other Razzies, worst director for Michael Bay and worst screenplay for Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.
Bay and his team probably will not lose any asleep over it. Though reviled by critics, "Transformers" took in $402.1 million domestically, No. 2 on the 2009 box-office chart behind "Avatar."
Bullock, who also shared the Razzie for worst screen couple with "All About Steve" co-star Bradley Cooper, was the first acting winner to show up at the Razzies since Halle Berry won worst-actress for "Catwoman" five years ago.
As she took the stage, Bullock pulled a little red wagon filled with DVDs of "All About Steve," saying she was giving a copy to everyone in the audience of about 300.
Bullock implied that many Razzie voters had not actually seen the movie but cast ballots for her hoping to get her to show up at the awards. Bullock said if they watched the DVD — "I mean really watch it" — and decided it was not the worst performance of the year after all, then she would come back next year and "give back the Razzie. ... then we'll go drink afterwards."
The worst-actor Razzie went to siblings Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas for "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."
The Jonas' pal Miley Cyrus, star of "Hannah Montana: The Movie," lost the worst-actress category to Bullock. But her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was named worst supporting actor for the big-screen "Hannah Montana."
Sienna Miller received the worst supporting-actress Razzie for the action tale "G.I. Joe."
Will Ferrell's action comedy flop "Land of the Lost" had come in tied with "Transformers" for the Razzies lead with seven nominations, but it was nearly shut out in every category.
Once ballots had been counted from the roughly 650 Razzies voters, "Land of the Lost" was tied for the group's worst remake, rip-off or sequel prize. Razzies founder John Wilson, who always votes last, gave the tie-breaking vote to "Land of the Lost."
"It really did stink and I thought, well, it ought to get something, because it is a very bad movie," Wilson said.
Razzie voters also made worst-of-the-decade picks, with John Travolta's science-fiction debacle "Battlefield Earth" winning worst picture.
Among all-time Hollywood dreck, "Battlefield Earth" is "like the 800-pound mongrel gorilla in the room," Wilson said. "It's one of my favorite type of bad movies. It's so bad, it's entertaining, in ways that the people who made it had no idea it would be."
Paris Hilton was chosen as the decade's worst actress for movies such as "The Hottie and the Nottie" and "Repo: The Genetic Opera." Eddie Murphy, a 2009 Razzie nominee for "Imagine That," was named the decade's worst actor for such bombs as "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," "I Spy" and "Meet Dave."
| | | Angelina Jolie visits Haiti with UN refugee body (AP) |
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Angelina Jolie began two days of meetings with Haiti earthquake victims Tuesday in her role as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency.
The actress, representing the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, met with U.N. officials in Port-au-Prince and visited an SOS Villages camp for orphans outside the capital, where she was cheered by Haitians yelling, "Angie! Angie!"
That same camp took care of 33 Haitian children after a U.S.-based Baptist group was arrested at the Dominican border trying to take the kids out of the country. It wasn't known if Jolie spoke with any of the children, and journalists were kept at a distance throughout her visit.
The American missionaries have been accused of trying to take the children out of Haiti without proper documentation. The group says it was heading to a Dominican orphanage following Haiti's quake and had only good intentions.
Jolie also toured a Doctors Without Borders hospital in a Port-au-Prince suburb, waving to onlookers. She and husband Brad Pitt have contributed $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for its emergency medical operations in Haiti.
Jolie was meeting with Haitians employed in quake debris cleanup through a joint U.N.-U.S. Agency for International Development program before spending the night at a Brazilian military camp outside the city.
On Wednesday, Jolie planned to visit the southern city of Jacmel, a camp for people made homeless by the quake, as well as a Save the Children relief supply center before returning to Port-au-Prince and leaving for the neighboring Dominican Republic.
Jolie has previously visited Iraq, Thailand, Pakistan and other countries with UNHCR.
| | | Tom Cruise To Star In 'Mission: Impossible IV' |
Tom Cruise has accepted his new "Mission."
Cruise will produce and star in "Mission: Impossible IV," Paramount Studios confirmed on Tuesday.
Joining Tom as producer will be J.J. Abrams, who also helmed the third installment in the Cruise super spy franchise.
"Tom and J.J. are great talents and we are excited to be working with them to re-launch this legendary franchise," Paramount Pictures Chairman & CEO Brad Grey said in a statement on Tuesday.
Both Cruise and Abrams are working together to find a director for the film, which will be released on Memorial Day weekend 2011. The film will go up against Warner Bros.' "The Hangover 2," also slated for that weekend.
Cruise first stepped into the "Impossible" shoes of secret agent Ethan Hunt for the original "Mission: Impossible" film in 1996. He reprised the role four years later in the second chapter, directed by John Woo.
The "Mission: Impossible" franchise has grossed more than $1.4 billion globally.
Cruise recently wrapped production on the spy action "Knight and Day," opposite Cameron Diaz, slated for release in July 2010.
His last big screen appearance was in December 2008's "Valkyrie," which came four months after his comic cameo in August 2008's "Tropic Thunder."
Abrams is coming off of huge success with the 2009 summer blockbuster "Star Trek," which brought in over $385 million at the box office worldwide.
| | | "Avatar" replaces "Titanic" in record books (Reuters) | LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Titanic" just hit an iceberg named "Avatar."
James Cameron's sci-fi spectacular replaced his maritime melodrama as the biggest international release of all time during the weekend and is on the verge of claiming its worldwide crown, which also includes North American receipts, distributor 20th Century Fox said Sunday.
The News Corp-owned studio said "Avatar" has sold $1.841 billion worth of tickets worldwide during its unbroken six-week reign, and was a day or so away from surpassing the seemingly insurmountable $1.843 billion racked up by "Titanic" in 1997-1998.
The international portion stands at $1.288 billion, eclipsing the $1.242 billion haul of "Titanic."
In North America, "Avatar" may have to wait up to two weeks to sink the $601 million total of "Titanic," Fox said. Moviegoers in the United States and Canada have chipped in $552.8 million, enough to replace 2008's "The Dark Knight" ($533 million) as the second-biggest movie of all time.
Data are not adjusted for inflation, and "Avatar" ticket sales got an additional boost from premium pricing for 3-D screenings. Imax Corp said its big-screen engagements have sold a record $134 million worth of tickets worldwide.
The biggest movie of all time in North America -- adjusted for inflation -- is 1939's "Gone with the Wind," with sales of almost $1.5 billion, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo. "Avatar" ranks No. 26 by that measure.
During the latest weekend, "Avatar" earned $36 million in North America and $107 million from 111 international markets, far outpacing other offerings.
It led the field in at least 29 foreign markets, including France ($123 million to date), China ($102 million), Germany ($96 million), Russia ($95 million) and Britain ($93 million).
In North America, "Avatar" was trailed by the new supernatural action thriller "Legion" at No. 2 with $18.2 million, while the Denzel Washington drama "The Book of Eli" slipped to No. 3 with $17 million in its second weekend.
"Legion," released by Sony Corp's Screen Gems budget label, cost about $25 million to make, and played primarily to men, the studio said. Paul Bettany, Lucas Black and Tyrese Gibson star in the tale of an of-the-way diner that becomes the unlikely battleground for the survival of the human race.
"Eli," a similarly themed apocalyptic drama released by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros. Pictures on behalf of independent producer Alcon Entertainment, has earned $62 million after 10 days.
Two other films opened in the top-10: Fox's Dwayne Johnson family film "The Tooth Fairy" at No. 4 with a promising $14.5 million, and the Harrison Ford medical drama "Extraordinary Measures" at No. 7 with a disappointing $7 million.
"Extraordinary Measures" is the debut release of CBS Corp's CBS Films, which said its fact-based storyline about a father trying to save the lives of his children made it a tough sell. Older audiences in the Midwest and mountain areas were the primary demographic, the studio said.
Fox said "Tooth Fairy" played well across the board, despite or because of its depiction of former wrestler Johnson, a.k.a. "The Rock" in a tutu and wings.
"It's a very sweet, wonderful message movie," said Chris Aronson, Fox's senior vice-president of domestic distribution.
| | | Source: Brad & Angelina Split Rumors 'Not True' | Reports of Brad Pitt and Angelina's break-up are "not true," a publicist close to Brad Pitt's assistant told Access Hollywood's Billy Bush.
Reports of a split spread like wildfire from the Internet to radio and TV news over the weekend -- while other reports besides Access' have also denied the break-up.
The rumors reached a fever pitch on Saturday night, when both stars became Twitter trending topics following a report from the UK tabloid News of the World.
According to News of the World's report, Brad and Angelina are set to divide their multi-million dollar fortune and share custody of their six children, who will live full-time with Angelina. The "Salt" star is reportedly consulting with a Beverly Hills lawyer.
Additionally, several mainstream media outlets, including NBC's "Today" show, CBS Radio and the Times of London, began picking up the story on Sunday - not reporting it as fact, but reporting on News of the World's report.
Reps for neither Brad nor Angelina have commented on the report, with Angelina's manager, Geyer Kosinski, unresponsive to request for comment from Access Hollywood.
However, in addition to Access' source, a source also told People magazine that "everything is fine" with the couple, bashing the split rumors. And Perez Hilton claimed that a rep for the couple also denied the story, though other outlets have yet to report such a denial.
The couple has been together since 2005, following Brad's break-up with ex-wife Jennifer Aniston after four and a half years of marriage. The two connected while filming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" together in 2004.
Since then, they've become Hollywood's most famous duo, landing on hundreds of magazine covers and inspiring constant rumors over their state of their relationship - with many such stories including a mention of secret meetings or contact with Jennifer.
The couple has three biological children as well as three adopted from across the world.
The pair was spotted together as recently as January 3, when they took their four oldest children to a Broadway matinee performance of "Mary Poppins" in New York City. The family was in town while Angelina wrapped up production on her latest film, "Salt," due out in summer 2010.
In November, they stepped out at the MOCA NEW 30th anniversary gala in LA and made a number of public appearances in 2009, including at Brad's "Inglourious Basterds" worldwide premieres and at awards ceremonies ranging from the Golden Globes to the Oscars to the BAFTAS.
The pair recently donated $1 million for Haiti relief and have donated millions through their joint charity, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
| | | Complete list of winners at 16th SAG Awards | Winners of the 16th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards presented Saturday night:
Movies:
- Cast: "Inglourious Basterds."
- Actor in a leading role: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart."
- Actress in a leading role: Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side."
- Supporting actor: Christoph Waltz, "Inglorious Basterds"
- Supporting actress: Mo'Nique, "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"
- Stunt ensemble: "Star Trek."
Television:
- Drama series cast: "Mad Men."
- Actor in a drama series: Michael C. Hall, "Dexter."
- Actress in a drama series: Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife."
- Comedy series cast: "Glee."
- Actor in a comedy series: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock."
- Actress in a comedy series: Tina Fey, "30 Rock."
- Actor in a movie or miniseries: Kevin Bacon, "Taking Chance."
- Actress in a movie or miniseries: Drew Barrymore, "Grey Gardens."
- Stunt ensemble: "24."
- Life Achievement: Betty White.
| | | Brittany's mom, husband say drugs didn't kill her (AP) | LOS ANGELES - A month after her sudden death, Brittany Murphy's mother and husband say they are convinced the actress died of natural causes, not drugs or an eating disorder.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sharon Murphy and Simon Monjack said that Murphy did not use drugs or alcohol and that they are awaiting a determination from coroner's officials that will end speculation prescription medicine caused Murphy's death on Dec. 20 at age 32.
Monjack said some of the prescription medications found in the couple's Hollywood Hills home belonged to him.
Murphy had mitral valve prolapse, a common condition where a heart valve does not properly close, but doctors said the actress "would live a long and healthy life," Monjack said.
"She had a fear of dying," Sharon Murphy said. "She would not take too much caffeine. She wouldn't even have a glass of champagne on New Year's. She was just high on life, and people see that as something else I guess.
Murphy, the star of varied films such as "Clueless," "8 Mile," "Sin City" and the television series "King of the Hill," was buried in a private funeral on Christmas Eve. At the service, Monjack told mourners that the actress was his best friend and soul mate, sentiments he repeated during the Tuesday interview.
Monjack, who married Murphy in 2007, said police and coroner's officials have not contacted the family to say his wife's death was from anything other than natural causes.
Authorities continue to investigate her death but do not suspect foul play. An autopsy was inconclusive and coroner's officials are awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue tests before determining what killed the actress.
Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Tuesday that he had not seen Murphy's autopsy report, but the condition of her heart would be looked at before her cause of death is determined.
Sharon Murphy described the wait for answers as torture. "We wish we knew," she said.
"She was alive one minute and she was dead the next," Monjack said.
The pair worked frantically to save Murphy's life the morning she died, as revealed in a heart-wrenching 911 call where Sharon Murphy implores, "Brittany, please come back!" as Monjack performs CPR.
Sharon Murphy said she has largely ignored tabloid reports that have suggested her daughter abused drugs or had an eating disorder. She said her daughter had always been petite and ate often, but burned it off with an active lifestyle.
Monjack, who has read some of the reports, called them lies based on anonymous sources who weren't close to Brittany Murphy or him. He said he is considering suing some British outlets for "outright fabrications."
He said the rumors of her drug use were unfounded and had cost his wife roles in some major films.
He said he is also considering whether to sue the Los Angeles County Coroner's Department over an initial report that was obtained by celebrity Web site TMZ.com , which listed several prescription medications found in Murphy's home. Monjack said most of the medicines listed in the report were his.
He said his wife took the anti-seizure medication klonopin ever since an episode she had while filming "8 Mile." She also occasionally took Sarafem, a drug aimed at pain and mood swings during menstrual periods, Monjack said.
Klonopin has been cited in several celebrity overdose deaths, but with many other medications mixed in.
He said he did not think a harmful interaction of drugs played a role in his wife's death. She had been sick with flu-like symptoms in the days before her death and had been taking Robitussin, but nothing more, he said.
Monjack and Sharon Murphy remain in the Hollywood Hills home where Brittany Murphy collapsed a month ago. Several framed photographic portraits of the actress that Monjack shot adorn the walls and other areas of the living room.
"I'm comforted by these photographs," Monjack said. "I'm comforted by the transformation from girl to woman that I witnessed."
It was just one of the couple's plans, which included starting a family and moving to New York. Sharon Murphy said her daughter was talking about having a child the night before she died. Monjack said they already had baby names picked out.
Now the pair are planning a public memorial to celebrate Brittany Murphy's life, which will be held in the Los Angeles area at the end of February. Monjack and Sharon Murphy said they have asked many of the actress' friends to refrain from making public comments, but that they expect the memorial will remind people of her talents and beauty.
Monjack said the memorial will coincide with the launch of the Brittany Murphy Foundation, a charitable group that he said will support arts education for children and other causes his wife believed in.
Both Monjack and Sharon Murphy said they expect respect to grow for Brittany Murphy's work and life, once questions about her death are settled. The actress had completed two unreleased films before her death but their prospects are uncertain.
Sharon Murphy expressed reluctance about their release because of the filmmakers' inexperience, but Monjack said he would approve if the releases were respectfully done and the profits donated to the Brittany Murphy Foundation.
"I think the dust will settle, the truth will come out," Monjack said. "I think people will come to realize the genius of Brittany Murphy and come to regret the way they treated her while she was alive."
| | | Sandra Bullock gives $1 million to Haiti relief (AP) | LOS ANGELES - Sandra Bullock said Friday she donated $1 million toward Haitian earthquake relief, and Madonna announced she gave $250,000 toward the effort as celebrity aid continued to pour into the devestated country.
Bullock's contribution went to Doctors Without Borders' emergency operations in Port-Au-Prince, where three of the organization's existing facilities were damaged by the magnitude 7.0 quake. "I wanted to ensure that my donation would be used immediately to meet the needs of the Haitian people affected by this catastrophic event," said Bullock in a statement. Madonna's gift was to Partners In Health, a longtime medical provider in Haiti. "I urge all of my friends and fans around the world to join me collectively to match my contribution or give in any way you can," she said. "We must act now." Earlier Friday, Not On Our Watch, an advocacy and grantmaking group founded by George Clooney, Brad Pitt and others, donated $1 million to Partners in Health. The international Red Cross estimates 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed in the earthquake, which devastated the Caribbean nation on Tuesday.
| | | John Corbett Shoots Down 'Sex And The City 2' Rumors, Says He Wasn't In Morocco | Despite reports and plenty of wishing on the part of the fans, Carrie Bradshaw's second "Big"-gest love, Aiden Shaw, won't be making an appearance in "Sex and The City 2."
On Saturday afternoon, following his Television Critics Association panel to promote Season 2 of his Showtime series with Toni Collette, "The United States of Tara," John said he won't be in the movie.
In December, Sarah Jessica Parker told MTV News she could not "confirm nor deny" that John was coming back for a cameo as Aiden, after he was reportedly spotted in Morocco at the same time "Sex and The City 2" was being filmed there.
But on Saturday, John told AccessHollywood.com he wasn't even in the North African country as past reports suggested.
"I wasn't in Morocco," John told Access.
In fact, John said the shots of the star people have referred to are actually from some time ago.
"I was in Istanbul about six years ago and somebody put a picture up and said I was Morocco," he said.
When asked about Sarah Jessica's recent non-denial and non-confirmation, John smiled and said his former co-star was doing the right thing for her film.
"Well, if I were a producer, I would do the same thing," he laughed.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, "Sex and The City 2" will hit theaters this summer.
| | | Angelina Jolie No Longer The Face Of St. John |
Angelina Jolie will be having a little less face time in magazines and on billboards now that fashion label St. John is changing direction.
Angelina won't be featured in the fashion house's ads any longer, but despite reports, she has not been dropped.
In fact, a source told Access Hollywood that Angelina's contract with the brand ended "years ago." It ran from 2005 until 2008 and the actress and brand are "all on good terms."
She might not be working for St. John anymore, but Angelina will stay busy in 2010 with the release of her next movie, "Salt," which hits theaters in July.
As for St. John, the brand will now feature Manchester, England, bred model Karen Elson, the wife of rocker Jack White, in their new ads. | | | Halle Berry, Colin Farrell & Matthew Fox Added To List Of Golden Globe Presenters | Halle Berry, Colin Farrell and Matthew Fox are heading to the Golden Globes.
The stars were added to the list of presenters at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards show, the Hollywood
Foreign Press Association announced on Monday.
Halle, Colin and Matthew join an illustrious list of stars already announced to present at the January 17
ceremony, including Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts and Mickey Rourke.
Martin Scorsese will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the event and it will be presented by Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio.
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com the Golden Globe Awards will air January 17 on NBC from the
Beverly Hilton. They ceremony will be presided over by host, British funnyman Ricky Gervais.
"Up In The Air" heads into the awards ceremony with six nominations, including Best Drama and a Best Actor
nod for star George Clooney, the most for any fi | | | '2012' sets box office record in China (AP) | HONG KONG - A second Hollywood movie has shattered the Chinese box office record in a year, as Beijing faces increased pressure to ease its annual quota of 20 foreign blockbusters.
The American disaster film "2012" has made 460 million Chinese yuan ($67.3 million) as of Dec. 23, eclipsing the previous of mark of 450 million yuan set by another Hollywood blockbuster, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" earlier this year, Weng Li, spokesman for the state-owned film importer, China Film Group, told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Beijing on Monday.
The new record came just days after the World Trade Organization on Dec. 21 upheld an earlier ruling that China is illegally restricting U.S. music, film and book imports. China only shares revenues with foreign movie studios on 20 imports a year — a restriction that amounts to a quota on foreign blockbusters.
Hollywood's success in China in 2009 may justify to Chinese officials that local movies still need protection — although domestic fare has also enjoyed a strong year.
The Chinese propaganda movie "The Founding of a Republic," made 415 million yuan earlier this year, landing it the No. 3 spot in the all-time box office ranking after "2012" and "Transformers." That star-studded production featuring cameos by Jackie Chan and Jet Li, however, was a politically important film made to mark 60 years of communist rule, with many movie theater operators saturating their screens with showings.
Weng said Monday that he had not read the WTO ruling and had no immediate comment, but he added that foreign imports were going "smoothly," noting that the James Cameron 3-D sci-fi blockbuster "Avatar," is scheduled to hit Chinese screens on Jan. 4. Cameron was China's box office champion for 11 years with "Titanic" until his record of 360 million was broken by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" in July.
The strong Chinese results of "2012" and "Transformers" highlights the huge potential of the mainland box office. In 2008, Chinese box office revenues surged 30.5 percent to 4.3 billion Chinese yuan ($629 million).
"2012" was also helped by a plot that was politically correct for patriotic Chinese audiences. As the Earth's core overheats, world leaders build an ark in the mountains of central China to house people and animals that can repopulate the planet. Scenes from the nearly 3-hour movie feature a U.S. military officer saying that only the Chinese could build an ark of such a scale so quickly.
Since opening in China on Nov. 13, the Roland Emmerich movie has been shown on as many as 1,900 screens and is currently still showing on about 300, according to Li Chow, Sony Pictures Releasing International's general manager for China. China had 4,100 screens as of the end of 2008.
| | | Coroner: Brittany Murphy's Death 'Appears To Be Natural' | Brittany Murphy appears to have died of natural causes, according to LA County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter.
"It appears to be natural at this time," he told Access Hollywood at a press conference outside the late star's home on Sunday evening. "We do understand she had a bit of medical history."
He added that the 32-year-old actress, who was pronounced dead on Sunday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, would be undergoing an autopsy.
"We'll be probably doing an autopsy tomorrow or Tuesday," he explained. "The final results will be pending toxicology and further tests."
Winter also said that Brittany was found "collapsed in the bathroom," but would not elaborate further on the circumstances.
The family is being "very cooperative," he said. "The family is very distraught."
Copyright 2009 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
| | | Actress Brittany Murphy dies in LA at age 32 (AP) | LOS ANGELES - Brittany Murphy, who gained fame in such movies as "8 Mile" and "Just Married" before giving voice to popular animated characters, has died at age 32.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said her death Sunday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center appeared to be from natural causes but police were investigating.
Murphy was transported to the hospital after the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. at the home she shared with her husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, in the Hollywood Hills.
Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Murphy apparently collapsed in the bathroom, and authorities were looking into her medical history.
An official cause of death may not be determined for some time, since toxicology tests will be required, but "it appears to be natural," Winter said. He said an autopsy was planned for Monday or Tuesday.
Los Angeles police have opened an investigation into Murphy's death, Officer Norma Eisenman said. Detectives and coroner's officials were at Murphy and Monjack's home Sunday afternoon but did not talk to reporters. Paparazzi were camped outside the multistory home, located above the Sunset Strip.
Neighbor Clare Staples said she saw firefighters working to resuscitate the actress Sunday morning. She said Murphy was on a stretcher.
Murphy's husband, wearing pajama bottoms and no shoes, appeared "dazed" as firefighters tried to save her, Staples said. "It's just tragic," she added.
TMZ.com first reported Murphy's death Sunday morning.
Murphy's publicist, Nicole Perna, said in a statement: "In this time of sadness, the family thanks you for your love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy."
Messages left for Murphy's manager and agent by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.
Murphy's father, Angelo Bertolotti, said he learned of her death from his son, the actress's brother, and was stunned.
"She was just an absolute doll since she was born," Bertolotti said from his Branford, Fla., home. "Her personality was always outward. Everybody loved her — people that made movies with her, people on a cruise — they all loved her. She was just a regular gal."
He said he hadn't heard much about the circumstances of Murphy's death. Bertolotti divorced her mother when Murphy was young and hadn't seen Murphy in the past few years.
"She was just talented," Bertolotti said. "And I loved her very much."
Born Nov. 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Murphy grew up in New Jersey and later moved with her mother to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
Her career started in the early 1990s with small roles in television series, commercials and movies. She is best known for parts in "Girl, Interrupted," "Clueless" and "8 Mile."
Her on-screen work had lessened of late, but Murphy's voice gave life to numerous animated characters, including Luanne Platter on more than 200 episodes of Fox's "King of the Hill" and Gloria the penguin in the 2006 feature "Happy Feet."
She is due to appear in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film, "The Expendables," set for release next year.
Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told AP in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said. "That was the difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."
Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.
"When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy said. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."
She dated Ashton Kutcher, who costarred with Murphy in 2003's romantic comedy "Just Married."
Kutcher sent a message on Twitter Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
| | | `Princess and the Frog' hops to No. 1 with $25M |
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "The Princess and the Frog" earned a big wet kiss from family audiences as the animated musical leaped to No. 1 with $25 million in its first weekend of nationwide release, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Disney musical is the studio's first hand-drawn animated tale in five years, a contrast to the computer-animated films that now dominate the cartoon world.
"I've always believed that when you start with great storytelling, then the format aside doesn't mean anything," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.
The movie also is a return to Disney's reinvention of classic fairy tales, offering a 1920s New Orleans twist on the Brothers Grimm story "The Frog Prince," following the adventures of a young woman turned into a frog by a kiss from an amphibian.
Despite its No. 1 finish, "The Princess and the Frog" drew modest crowds compared to many big animated tales, which can open with two or three times as much business. Those films typically open during the busy summer season, though, and Disney is counting on the long shelf life that many films manage during the holidays.
"The Princess and the Frog" took over at No. 1 from the inspiring sports tale "The Blind Side," which slipped to second-place with $15.5 million. Released by Warner Bros., "The Blind Side" raised its total to $150.2 million.
A surprise box-office sensation, "The Blind Side" is on its way to a domestic total of about $230 million, said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution.
"The Blind Side" chronicles the real-life story of Baltimore Ravens rookie lineman Michael Oher, who had been a homeless teen taken in by a wealthy couple (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw).
"It's the heartland that's pulling the strings of the movie," Fellman said. "While it's performing well everywhere, the response in smaller marketplaces and Christian communities has been outstanding."
The film opened the same weekend as "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," but with only a fraction of that movie's blockbuster business. Audience word-of-mouth has kept crowds coming for "The Blind Side," while "New Moon" has waned to the No. 4 spot with an $8 million weekend, raising its domestic haul to $267.4 million.
Warner Bros. also had the No. 3 film with a $9.1 million debut for another inspirational sports drama, Clint Eastwood's Nelson Mandela saga "Invictus," featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Freeman stars as the South African leader, who uses an underdog World Cup run by the country's rugby team to help unite the racially divided nation.
Though it had a modest start, "Invictus" debuted in the range of Eastwood's sober drama's "Mystic River" and "Million Dollar Baby" in their first weekends of wide release. Eastwood's films draw older audiences and tend to have a long life at the box office, Fellman said.
"The Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson had a strong opening in limited release for "The Lovely Bones," which pulled in $116,000 in three theaters.
The Paramount Pictures release features Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in an adaptation of Alice Sebold's best-seller about a murdered girl looking back on her grieving family from the afterlife.
The Weinstein Co. drama "A Single Man" also started well with $216,328 in nine theaters. The film stars Colin Firth as a gay academic in the early 1960s who's planning to end his life amid grief over his lover's death.
Hollywood is poised for a big finish to its record box-office year, with James Cameron's science-fiction epic "Avatar" opening Friday, followed Christmas week by the family comedy "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," Robert Downey Jr.'s action tale "Sherlock Holmes" and the nationwide expansion of George Clooney's comedy "Up in the Air."
With nearly three weeks left in the year, 2009 domestic revenues already have set a new record of $9.79 billion, surpassing the previous high of $9.68 billion in 2007, according to Paul Dergarabedian, Hollywood.com box-office analyst.
Domestic grosses should top $10 billion for the first time within the next 10 days or so. Dergarabedian estimates that Hollywood will finish the year with $10.5 billion domestically.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Princess and the Frog," $25 million.
2. "The Blind Side," $15.5 million.
3. "Invictus," $9.1 million.
4. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," $8 million.
5. "Disney's a Christmas Carol," $6.9 million.
6. "Brothers," $5 million.
7. "2012," $4.4 million.
8. "Old Dogs," $4.39 million.
9. "Armored," $3.5 million.
10. "Ninja Assassin," $2.7 million.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed.
| | | "White Ribbon" tops European Film Awards (Reuters) | BOCHUM, Germany (Hollywood Reporter) - "The White Ribbon," Michael Haneke's powerful depiction of a German village on the eve of World War I, conquered the European Film Awards on Saturday, beating out Oscar champ "Slumdog Millionaire" to win the top trophies in the best film and director categories.
"I'm stunned. I'm overwhelmed," Haneke said as he hoisted his best film trophy, adding that the film was "truly an European production" as it featured funding and production teams from four countries -- Germany, Austria, France and Italy.
Haneke also won the screenwriter prize for "The White Ribbon," which traces the roots of fascism in the oppressive religious and civil society of Germany in 1913.
"Slumdog Millionaire" didn't go away empty-handed, picking up the people's choice award as well as the cinematographer honor for Anthony Dod Mantle, who was also honored for his work on Lars von Trier's shocker "Antichrist."
Kate Winslet added a European Film Award to her Oscar and BAFTA, winning the actress prize for her starring role as a Nazi in Stephen Daldry's "The Reader."
French newcomer Tahar Rahim won the actor nod for his performance in Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" as a young Arab man sent to prison who rises to become a mafia boss.
Instead of their usual locale of one of Europe's glamour capitals, this year's event was held in the industrial town of Bochum in the heart of Germany's rust belt, the Ruhr region. The ceremony reflected the town's working-class origins, with winners framed by the factory girders of Bochum's Century Hall -- a former factory -- and U.K. industrial band Bauhaus providing the show's soundtrack.
Two legends in European cinema -- French actress Isabelle Huppert and English director Ken Loach -- received lifetime achievement awards and glowing accolades, from Oscar-winning director Volker Schlondorff and soccer champ-turned-actor Eric Cantona, respectively.
Loach got one of the biggest cheers of the night when he called on European politicians to intervene to ensure European films get seen in European cinemas.
"The sad fact is that most of the films tonight will not be seen in large areas in Europe," Loach said. "That's certainly true in my country that unless you live near an art-house cinema. Maybe we should look to the Americans for a solution.
Because I seem to remember the American politicians intervening in free market to protect their steel and their agriculture so why can't our politicians do the same to protect our cinema?"
| | | Obama's brother turns down film role (AP) | GUANGZHOU, China - President Barack Obama's half brother in China says he has not accepted requests to be in the movie "Let the Bullets Fly" because he wants to focus on his writing and charity work.
Mark Ndesandjo told The Associated Press on Monday the $18 million Chinese frontier film is a "high quality and popular production" directed by Jiang Wen. The movie features Hong Kong mega star Chow Yun-fat.
The Guangzhou Daily News reported Monday that Ndesandjo was offered a role to star as a pastor in the film.
But Ndesandjo says he neither evaluated nor accepted a request to be in the film. He says he's busy focusing on his writing and charity projects.
Ndesandjo, who recently published a novel, works as a consultant in the southern city of Shenzhen.
| | | Nicolas Cage wins U.N. award for humanitarian work | UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Nicolas Cage has won a U.N. award night for his humanitarian work and has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the actor and filmmaker with the U.N. Correspondents Association's Global Citizen of the Year award for humanitarian endeavors.
Cage said his role will be "to shine a spotlight on the need for global justice."
The Amnesty International advocate has donated $2 million to establish a fund to help former child soldiers and led a campaign around his film, "Lord of War," to raise awareness about international arms control.
The secretary-general also presented a Global Citizen of the Year award to William Roedy, chairman of MTV Networks International, for his work to combat HIV and AIDS.
| | | Penelope Cruz confirmed for 'Sex and the City 2' |
Add another face to the "Sex and the City 2" lineup: Penelope Cruz confirmed she will be appearing alongside Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.
While Cruz told StarPulse she spent half a day shooting her scenes, she was coy when it came to exactly what she'll be doing.
Here's hoping she has a meatier part than fellow "Sex and the City 2" co-star Miley Cyrus, who will do little more than react to Samantha (Kim Cattrall) in a red-carpet setting.
Tim Gunn and Liza Minelli are also rumored to be making cameos in the "Sex" sequel.
| | | Top 10 movie flops of the decade (Reuters) | LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Movie flops aren't just about losing money. Yes, big budgets that go bust are one consideration. But flops are also about lofty expectations dashed and high profiles brought low.
They trigger embarrassing catcalls from the peanut gallery and a general whoever-thought-that-was-a-good-idea-in-the-first-place bewilderment.
Any judgments of flopitude are necessarily subjective, but here are 10 movies from the past decade that made those few moviegoers who saw them cringe. Disagree? Talk among yourselves.
10. THE SPIRIT
* Release date: December 25, 2008
* Estimated cost: $60 million
* Domestic gross: $19.8 million
Frank Miller, the man who created the comics "300" and "Sin City," and who redefined Batman and Daredevil for the modern age, directed this adaptation of Will Eisner's comic-strip hero. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and a bevy of beauties, it may have looked good on the page. But onscreen, the heavily stylized, nearly black-and-white results were disastrous. The expensive movie was killed by comic fans, who wanted Miller to go back to comics, and critics, who trashed the movie's over-the-top tones and aesthetics. Consequently, the partners at the company behind the production, Odd Lot Entertainment, parted ways after 23 years together. It even killed plans for a Miller-directed version of "Buck Rogers."
9. GRINDHOUSE
* Release date: April 6, 2007
* Estimated cost: $67 million
* Domestic gross: $25 million
Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez managed to turn twice the filmmaking firepower into half the box office (and a third of the critical praise). With "Grindhouse," what began as an explicit exercise in joyous B-movie cinema homage -- a double bill of '70s-style schlock, one film from each director -- ended up aping its scuzzy genre ancestors a little too closely in the receipts department. After the three-hour-plus "Grindhouse" opened to a mere $11.6 million, Harvey Weinstein split the film's two parts -- "Death Proof" and "Planet Terror" -- and shuttled them to international markets individually. While that recouped a little of the Weinstein Co.'s money, it incurred the wrath of purists who were angry that the original film had been corrupted. Tarantino and Weinstein are famously loyal to each other, and while the writer-director eventually made good on the losses with the $120 million-grossing "Inglourious Basterds" this year, "Grindhouse" was one instance where loyalty nearly brought down the house.
8. ROLLERBALL
* Release date: February 8, 2002
* Estimated cost: $70 million
* Domestic gross: $19 million
Norman Jewison's 1975 comment on violence, corporatism and spectacle has its place in the paranoid '70s-era cult film pantheon. John McTiernan's remake, on the other hand, would be totally forgettable if it weren't so spectacularly misconceived in every way. The cast -- Jean Reno, Chris Klein, LL Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos -- was a C-list mishmash closer to reality TV than big-budget studio moviemaking. McTiernan had long since dented his box-office bona fides with "Last Action Hero" and "The 13th Warrior." And the studio releasing it -- MGM -- was so aware of its bomb-worthiness that it pushed the release back four times, out of the summer 2001 field and into the barren wasteland of February. In a last act of desperation, the movie was also re-edited from an R to a PG-13 rating, sabotaging any last chance it had at an audience. Ultimately, it pretty much wrecked McTiernan's career (he has directed only one film since).
7. THE INVASION
* Release date: August 17, 2007
* Estimated cost: $80 million
* Domestic gross: $15.1 million
Nicole Kidman couldn't have started the decade any hotter, scoring with "Moulin Rouge," "The Others" and "The Hours." But after 2002, her career went cold in the U.S. ("Stepford Wives," "Bewitched," "Australia" and "The Golden Compass"); it's as if the actress was abducted by some sort of soul-draining body snatcher. But wait, isn't that what she's fighting in "The Invasion," Hollywood's latest remake of the 1956 film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"? This time around, the eerie premise, based on a novel by Jack Finney, failed to catch fire. The Wachowski brothers' second unit director, James McTeigue, was called in to shoot additional scenes written by the "Matrix" whiz kids after original director Oliver Hirschbiegel was sent packing, having filmed the bulk of the movie. In an omen of things to come, Kidman suffered an on-set fender-bender during the reshoots. When the film arrived in theaters more than a year late, Kidman's regal bearing took another dent.
6. CATWOMAN
* Release date: July 23, 2004
* Estimated cost: $100 million
* Domestic gross: $40 million
It was inevitable after Michelle Pfeiffer stole scenes as Catwoman in "Batman Returns" that her black-latexed anti-heroine would get a spinoff of her own. But when the inevitable occurred in 2004, this time with Halle Berry playing the character, audiences tried hard to cover up the kitty litter. No one involved with the movie came out unscathed. Not Berry, who just two years earlier had won an Oscar for "Monster's Ball"; not Sharon Stone, who chewed up the scenery as the movie's villainess; and not Pitof, the French filmmaker making his American directorial debut. He went back to his native land and hasn't directed a theatrical feature since. The movie is another example cited by studios in their long-held contention that female superhero movies just don't work.
5. TOWN & COUNTRY
* Release date: April 27, 2001
* Estimated cost: $90 million
* Domestic gross: $6.7 million
Twenty-five years after he seduced audiences in "Shampoo," Warren Beatty decided the time was ripe for another sex comedy, albeit one with a somewhat older circle of friends. He somehow persuaded New Line, which usually concentrated on the youth market, to foot the bill. And what a bill it was: With the script still furiously going through rewrites, Peter Chelsom began shooting in June 1998; 10 months and take after take after take later, the film was still shooting. That's when co-stars like Diane Keaton and Gary Shandling had to leave to fulfill other commitments. A full year later, the whole cast regrouped to finish the shoot, which had escalated to more than twice its original $44 million price tag. The completed film was actually something of a tepid affair. Beatty dithers as a New York architect who cheats on his wife with several women; Shandling's his best pal trying to come out as gay. And then there's Charlton Heston, playing against type, as a gun nut.
4. GIGLI
* Release date: August 1, 2003
* Estimated cost: $54 million
* Domestic gross: $6.1 million
If the course of true love rarely runs smoothly, then "Gigli" is an object lesson in how rocky it can get. As the new century dawned, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez -- tabloid code name: Bennifer -- were the couple of the moment. With an Oscar for writing "Good Will Hunting" and starring roles in "Pearl Harbor" and "The Sum of All Fears," his movie career was in high gear; she could boast a solid-gold music resume and rom-com appeal in movies like "The Wedding Planner" and "Maid in Manhattan." Onscreen romantic sparks seemed made to order. So what went wrong? Start with that title, "Gigli," that no one was sure how to pronounce. Add lots of lovey-dovey media appearances that erased a bit of their mystique. And then there was Martin Brest's film itself: a low-rent-mobster-boy-meets-enforcer-chick tale complete with a kidnapping, severed thumbs and Al Pacino in high dudgeon. Bennifer split in 2004, just before sharing the bill in another film not too far away on the flop-o-meter, "Jersey Girl."
3. LAND OF THE LOST
* Release date: June 5, 2009
* Estimated cost: $100 million
* Domestic gross: $65 million
Producer/puppeteers Sid and Marty Kroft were masters of the weird and cheesy; their old Saturday morning TV show, "Land of the Lost," is remembered fondly by kids who grew up in the '70s. But the material experienced something of a time warp when director Brad Silbering tried to give it a hipster spin this summer with the help of Will Ferrell, playing a paleontologist who journeys to a parallel universe where he meets the Sleestaks. Normally, any movie with a rampaging Tyrannosaurus (see "Journey to the Center of the Earth," "Night at the Museum") can't miss, but "Lost" was, well, lost in translation. The movie's PG-13 rating wasn't a comfort to many families when word got around of its toilet humor. Older moviegoers weren't interested, and Kroft purists weren't amused. Over the years, Disney and Sony had both held remake rights, but ultimately this hot potato landed at Universal, where it was one of the factors that resulted in the ouster of the studio's two top executives in October.
2. BATTLEFIELD EARTH
* Release date: May 12, 2000
* Estimated cost: $75 million
* Domestic gross: $21 million
Blame it on the Thetans if you want, but John Travolta's space oddity "Battlefield Earth" virtually imploded on the launching pad. Travolta's career was enjoying a resurgence in the wake of "Pulp Fiction" when he wagered a big chunk of his newfound credibility, as well as some of his own coin, on this passion project. "Battlefield Earth" was based on a 1972 sci-fi novel by Scientology guru L. Ron Hubbard, which Travolta promised would be "like 'Star Wars,' only better." Studios shied away, but Travolta found financing from Franchise Pictures, which would later be sued by investors for overstating the movie's costs as $100 million. Originally, Travolta hoped to play the young hero who leads a rebellion against the alien race that enslaves Earth, but the film took so long to assemble he ultimately opted instead to don dreadlocks and platform shoes to play the villain, barking lines like "Execute all man-animals at will, and happy hunting!" A planned sequel, which would have covered the second half of the novel, never materialized. "Some movies run off the rails," observed Roger Ebert. "This one is like the train crash in 'The Fugitive.'"
1. THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH
* Release date: August 6, 2002
* Estimated cost: $100 million
* Domestic gross: $4.4 million
Eddie Murphy is some kind of miracle. Five of his recent films lost more than $250 million, and yet he not only still gets hired but also commands his salary quote. But on the flop-o-meter, one Murphy title towers above even "Meet Dave," "Showtime" and "I Spy": Trumpets, please, for "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," whose release was delayed for 14 months. It instantly became the "Cleopatra" of our age. A sci-fi gangster comedy, complete with robot sidekick, set on the moon, "Pluto" was neither fish nor fowl -- but mostly foul. But unlike most stars who are tarnished by a mega-flop, Murphy -- who did take time off from broad comedies to redeem himself with his Oscar-nominated turn in "Dreamgirls" -- just keeps going and going and going.
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