NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new romantic comedy by the team behind 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' will open the Tribeca Film Festival that begins in April, festival organizers said on Wednesday.
'The Five-Year Engagement' is directed by Nicholas Stoller and stars Jason Segel and Emily Blunt as an engaged couple who keep getting tripped up on the long walk down the aisle.
Stoller and Segel wrote the screenplay for 'The Five-Year Engagement,' teaming up again after Stoller directed and Segel starred-in and wrote the screenplay for relationship comedy 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' which became a box office hit in 2008 grossing $105 million worldwide.
'The Five-Year Engagement' will premiere on April 18 at the opening night of Tribeca, one of the largest film festivals in the United States that runs until April 29s top honors among movies made out. Produced by Judd Apatow, it will be released in U.S accepted her Spirit Awar. cinemas on April 27.
The festival, which previously opened with the comedy 'Baby Mama' in 2008, will announce its complete line up of films on March 6 and 8.
(Reporting By Christine Kearney; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
"The Artist" paints golden picture at Oscars
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood showed some love for its history at the Oscars on Sunday, giving its best film award and four others to silent movie 'The Artist' in a ceremony that recalled why cinema is special to so many people.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also gave Oscars to Meryl Streep playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady,' marking Streep's third Academy Award in 17 nominations, and veteran Christopher Plummer made history by becoming the oldest winner ever at age 82 with his role as an elderly gay man in 'Beginners.'
But it was the 'The Artist,' a French movie that has been called a love letter to old Hollywood by its makers, that charmed Oscar votersSANTA MONICA, Califo. Made in the style of old silents, it tells a romantic story of a fading star in the era when silent movies were overtaken by talkies.
'The Artist' collected Oscars for its star Jean Dujardin and director Michel Hazanavicius, as well as for musical score and costume design.
'I am the happiest director in the world right nowhe feeling that in the room, . Thank you for that,' Hazanavicius told the audience of stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and members of the Academy.
Dujardin was equally excited, exclaiming 'I love this country' before thanking the Academy, the film's makers and his wife, and calling silent actor Douglas Fairbanks an inspiration.
Streep's victory surprised Oscar pundits who thought Viola Davis would win the Academy Award with her portrayal of a black maid in a southern white home in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
But Streep's turn as an elderly Thatcher who is slipping into dementia was too good to be ignoredn 'Beginners' as an . It was Streep's third Academy Award out of 17 nominations, and even she reckoned that Oscar voters would think she's been there, done that winner was Christopher Plum. Backstage she termed it 'Streep fatigue' to reporters.
'When they called my name, I could feel America saying, 'Oh why her again?' But whatever,' she jokedemy of Motion Picture Arts . Yet even the steely veteran could not hold back the emotion of an Oscar victory It's not expensive,' The nea. When she thanked her husband and talked about her career she came close to breaking into tears, and backstage she said it made her feel like a kid again.
MAKING HOLLYWOOD HISTORY
Veteran Plummer, a star of classic film 'The Sound of Music,' won his first ever Oscar for his portrayal of an elderly gay man who comes out to his family in 'Beginners.'
'You're only two years older than me, darling when she accepted her Spirit Award onstage, . Where have you been all of my life,' he said, looking at his golden Oscar, which was celebrating its 84th awards ceremony.
Spencer, a relative newcomer in contrast to Plummer, had to hold back tears as she accepted her trophy for her portrayal of a black, southern maid in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
'Thank you Academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,' she said holding her Oscar in her handas okay, possibly even preferred,' Williams. She then went on to talk about her family in Alabama and could not hold back her tears as she joyously accepted her trophy.
Director Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' which like 'The Artist' pays tribute to early filmmaking, came into the night with a leading 11 nominations - one more than 'Artist' - and also picked up five winse her own hair - no glitz and. But its Oscars came in technical categories cinematography, art direction, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.
Another highly touted movie, family drama 'The Descendants,' walked off with only one Oscar, adapted screenplay for its writer and director Alexander Payne and co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rashdo with booze, so pity . Woody Allen won for original screenplay with 'Midnight in Paris,' but he was not on hand to accept his trophy.
In other major wins, the foreign language film award went to Iranian divorce drama 'A Separation.' 'I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, the people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,' said its director, Ashgar Farhadi.
Asked backstage how he thought the Iranian government might respond, he said he really did not knowI want to say thank yo. 'I can't predict what's going to happen,' he said.
'Rango' claimed best animated film, while 'The Iron Lady,' won a second award for makeup.
BILLY'S RETURN
The documentary category saw another major surprise for 'Undefeated,' a film about football players in a poor struggling community to make their lives better for director J,C, Chandor, Will Reiser c. 'Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory' had been widely picked to win by pundits.
One of the film's makers, T.Jen at the show that takes place. Martin, used an expletive onstage in a sign of his joy, but it was edited out for television audiences and director in a prelude to the Osc. He apologized backstage in the press room.
Comedian Billy Crystal, who returned to emcee the show for the ninth time, had the crowd laughing loudly with an opening video in which he was edited into the year's top movies.
He was kissed by George Clooney on the lips in a scene out of 'The Descendants' and even ate a tainted pie from 'The Help.' He opened with a monologue in which he joked: 'there's nothing like watching a bunch of millionaires present each other with golden statues' and sang a comic song about the movies.
Other highlights included stars like Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler and others in brief video vignettes telling audiences why they loved moviesdered among the top . The clips highlighted this year's themes of reminding people what makes movies magical.
Finally, Hollywood's biggest fashion parade on the Oscar red carpet heated up with Michelle Williams in a stunning red dress from Louis Vuitton, 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain in a dazzling Alexander McQueen black and gold embroidered gown, while Gwyneth Paltrow chose Tom Ford and white, a popular color.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences also gave Oscars to Meryl Streep playing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady,' marking Streep's third Academy Award in 17 nominations, and veteran Christopher Plummer made history by becoming the oldest winner ever at age 82 with his role as an elderly gay man in 'Beginners.'
But it was the 'The Artist,' a French movie that has been called a love letter to old Hollywood by its makers, that charmed Oscar votersSANTA MONICA, Califo. Made in the style of old silents, it tells a romantic story of a fading star in the era when silent movies were overtaken by talkies.
'The Artist' collected Oscars for its star Jean Dujardin and director Michel Hazanavicius, as well as for musical score and costume design.
'I am the happiest director in the world right nowhe feeling that in the room, . Thank you for that,' Hazanavicius told the audience of stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and members of the Academy.
Dujardin was equally excited, exclaiming 'I love this country' before thanking the Academy, the film's makers and his wife, and calling silent actor Douglas Fairbanks an inspiration.
Streep's victory surprised Oscar pundits who thought Viola Davis would win the Academy Award with her portrayal of a black maid in a southern white home in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
But Streep's turn as an elderly Thatcher who is slipping into dementia was too good to be ignoredn 'Beginners' as an . It was Streep's third Academy Award out of 17 nominations, and even she reckoned that Oscar voters would think she's been there, done that winner was Christopher Plum. Backstage she termed it 'Streep fatigue' to reporters.
'When they called my name, I could feel America saying, 'Oh why her again?' But whatever,' she jokedemy of Motion Picture Arts . Yet even the steely veteran could not hold back the emotion of an Oscar victory It's not expensive,' The nea. When she thanked her husband and talked about her career she came close to breaking into tears, and backstage she said it made her feel like a kid again.
MAKING HOLLYWOOD HISTORY
Veteran Plummer, a star of classic film 'The Sound of Music,' won his first ever Oscar for his portrayal of an elderly gay man who comes out to his family in 'Beginners.'
'You're only two years older than me, darling when she accepted her Spirit Award onstage, . Where have you been all of my life,' he said, looking at his golden Oscar, which was celebrating its 84th awards ceremony.
Spencer, a relative newcomer in contrast to Plummer, had to hold back tears as she accepted her trophy for her portrayal of a black, southern maid in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
'Thank you Academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,' she said holding her Oscar in her handas okay, possibly even preferred,' Williams. She then went on to talk about her family in Alabama and could not hold back her tears as she joyously accepted her trophy.
Director Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' which like 'The Artist' pays tribute to early filmmaking, came into the night with a leading 11 nominations - one more than 'Artist' - and also picked up five winse her own hair - no glitz and. But its Oscars came in technical categories cinematography, art direction, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.
Another highly touted movie, family drama 'The Descendants,' walked off with only one Oscar, adapted screenplay for its writer and director Alexander Payne and co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rashdo with booze, so pity . Woody Allen won for original screenplay with 'Midnight in Paris,' but he was not on hand to accept his trophy.
In other major wins, the foreign language film award went to Iranian divorce drama 'A Separation.' 'I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, the people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,' said its director, Ashgar Farhadi.
Asked backstage how he thought the Iranian government might respond, he said he really did not knowI want to say thank yo. 'I can't predict what's going to happen,' he said.
'Rango' claimed best animated film, while 'The Iron Lady,' won a second award for makeup.
BILLY'S RETURN
The documentary category saw another major surprise for 'Undefeated,' a film about football players in a poor struggling community to make their lives better for director J,C, Chandor, Will Reiser c. 'Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory' had been widely picked to win by pundits.
One of the film's makers, T.Jen at the show that takes place. Martin, used an expletive onstage in a sign of his joy, but it was edited out for television audiences and director in a prelude to the Osc. He apologized backstage in the press room.
Comedian Billy Crystal, who returned to emcee the show for the ninth time, had the crowd laughing loudly with an opening video in which he was edited into the year's top movies.
He was kissed by George Clooney on the lips in a scene out of 'The Descendants' and even ate a tainted pie from 'The Help.' He opened with a monologue in which he joked: 'there's nothing like watching a bunch of millionaires present each other with golden statues' and sang a comic song about the movies.
Other highlights included stars like Morgan Freeman, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler and others in brief video vignettes telling audiences why they loved moviesdered among the top . The clips highlighted this year's themes of reminding people what makes movies magical.
Finally, Hollywood's biggest fashion parade on the Oscar red carpet heated up with Michelle Williams in a stunning red dress from Louis Vuitton, 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain in a dazzling Alexander McQueen black and gold embroidered gown, while Gwyneth Paltrow chose Tom Ford and white, a popular color.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler)
"The Artist" wins best film, four other Oscars
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Silent romance 'The Artist' won five Oscars on Sunday including best film, and Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' also took five of the world's top movie honors on a night where stories about movies felt the love of Hollywood.
'The Artist,' a black-and-white tale of a fading star who finds redemption through romance in the era when silent movies were overtaken by talkies, added to its best film victory with Oscars for its French star Jean Dujardin and director Michel Hazanavicius, as well for musical score and costume design.
'I am the happiest director in the world right nowy 'The Prince and the Showgirl' with. Thank you for that,' Hazanavicius told the audience of stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Dujardin was equally excited, exclaiming 'I love this country' before thanking the Academy, fellow filmmakers and his wife and recalling silent actor Douglas Fairbanks as an inspiration.
Meryl Streep won for her role as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who is slipping into dementia in 'The Iron Lady.' It was Streep's third Academy Award out of 17 nominationswrites a Buddhist name o. She joked that the audience was probably tired of seeing her, then added, 'whatever.' But Streep couldn't hide her emotion as she choked up while thanking her husband and talking about her long career.
Director Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' which tells of a boy lost in a train station and serves as an ode to early filmmaking, came into the night with a leading 11 nominations and picked up five wins for cinematography, art direction, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.
Veteran Plummer, a star of classic film 'The Sound of Music,' won his first ever Oscar for his portrayal of an elderly gay man who comes out to his family in 'Beginners,' making Oscar history becoming the oldest ever Academy Award winner at age 82.
'You're only two years older than me, darlinghis wife is in a coma in 'The Descendants,' . Where have you been all of my life,' he said, looking at his golden Oscar, which was celebrating its 84th awards ceremony.
Spencer, a relative newcomer in contrast to Plummer, had to hold back tears as she accepted her trophy for her portrayal of a black, southern made in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
'Thank you Academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,' she said holding her Oscar in her handY VS OLDMAN . She then went on to talk about her family in Alabama and could not hold back her tears as she joyously accepted her trophy.
In other major wins, the foreign language film award went to Iranian divorce drama 'A Separation.'
'I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, the people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,' said its director Ashgar Farhadi.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler)
'The Artist,' a black-and-white tale of a fading star who finds redemption through romance in the era when silent movies were overtaken by talkies, added to its best film victory with Oscars for its French star Jean Dujardin and director Michel Hazanavicius, as well for musical score and costume design.
'I am the happiest director in the world right nowy 'The Prince and the Showgirl' with. Thank you for that,' Hazanavicius told the audience of stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Dujardin was equally excited, exclaiming 'I love this country' before thanking the Academy, fellow filmmakers and his wife and recalling silent actor Douglas Fairbanks as an inspiration.
Meryl Streep won for her role as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who is slipping into dementia in 'The Iron Lady.' It was Streep's third Academy Award out of 17 nominationswrites a Buddhist name o. She joked that the audience was probably tired of seeing her, then added, 'whatever.' But Streep couldn't hide her emotion as she choked up while thanking her husband and talking about her long career.
Director Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' which tells of a boy lost in a train station and serves as an ode to early filmmaking, came into the night with a leading 11 nominations and picked up five wins for cinematography, art direction, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.
Veteran Plummer, a star of classic film 'The Sound of Music,' won his first ever Oscar for his portrayal of an elderly gay man who comes out to his family in 'Beginners,' making Oscar history becoming the oldest ever Academy Award winner at age 82.
'You're only two years older than me, darlinghis wife is in a coma in 'The Descendants,' . Where have you been all of my life,' he said, looking at his golden Oscar, which was celebrating its 84th awards ceremony.
Spencer, a relative newcomer in contrast to Plummer, had to hold back tears as she accepted her trophy for her portrayal of a black, southern made in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
'Thank you Academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,' she said holding her Oscar in her handY VS OLDMAN . She then went on to talk about her family in Alabama and could not hold back her tears as she joyously accepted her trophy.
In other major wins, the foreign language film award went to Iranian divorce drama 'A Separation.'
'I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, the people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,' said its director Ashgar Farhadi.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Early Oscars go to Octavia Spencer, "Hugo" and "The Artist"
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The curtain rose on Hollywood's Oscars on Sunday with host Billy Crystal playing the crowd for laughs, actresses stunning their fans in dazzling gowns and Octavia Spencer winning the first major award for supporting actress in 'The Help.'
Director Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' which tells of a boy lost in a train station and also serves as an ode to the early days of filmmaking, came into the night with 11 nominations and picked up two early wins for cinematography and art direction.
Silent movie romance 'The Artist' was close behind with 10 nominations and nabbed one early Oscar for costume design, while 'The Iron Lady,' which starred Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won for makeup by span class='yshortcuts' id. The foreign language film award went to Iran's divorce drama 'A Separation.'
But it was Spencer who was the night's first major winner in her role as a black maid in civil rights drama 'The Help,' and she earned a standing ovation.
'Thank you Academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,' she said holding her Oscar in her handspan and span class='ysho. She then went on to talk about her family in Alabama and could not hold back her tears as she joyously accepted her trophy.
Crystal, who returned to emcee the show for the ninth time, had the crowd of A-list Hollywood stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt laughing loudly with an opening video in which he was edited into the year's top movies including silent film 'The Artist.'
He was kissed by George Clooney on the lips in a scene out of 'The Descendants' and even ate a tainted pie from 'The Help.' He opened with a monologue in which he joked: 'there's nothing like watching a bunch of millionaires present each other with golden statues' and sang a song about the movies that drew a loud round of applause.
Hollywood's biggest fashion parade on the Oscar red carpet heated up with Michelle Williams in a stunning red dress from Louis Vuitton, 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain in a dazzling Alexander McQueen black and gold embroidered gown, while Gwyneth Paltrow chose Tom Ford and white, a popular color.
MAJOR AWARDS TO COME
Later in the night that the action truly begins with awards for best film, performances, directing and writing.
This year, 'The Artist,' a tale of old Hollywood that sees a fading star find redemption through the love of a woman just as silent movies are being taken over by talkies, is widely picked to take home best film by most industry pundits.
'It's unbeatable,' said Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
While it faces keen competition from civil rights drama 'The Help,' 'The Artist' has come out on top in most award shows this year1329321137_3'Josh Appelbaum/s. Still, pundits point out that 'The Help' did win best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, and actors make up the biggest group of Oscar voters.
The third movie that has had Hollywood buzzing this season is family drama 'The Descendants,' starring George Clooney as a man trying to keep his family together after his cheating wife is hospitalized in a comaathan Liebesman/span, who directed the . But 'Descendants' has failed to spark Oscar voters, and its key win is seen as adapted screenplay.
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep in 'The Iron Lady.' Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com calls that race 'neck and neck.'
The best actor category sees American Clooney 'Descendants' face Frenchman Jean Dujardin, star of 'The Artist.' For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other.
Supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners,' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in 'The Help.'
At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest Oscar winner ever, and if both Spencer and Davis are victorious, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director is widely tipped to go to 'The Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, but could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne and 'The Descendants.'
The other major award is for animated movie where major U.S;s Platinum Dunes, . studio movies 'Rango,' 'Puss in Boots' and 'Kung Fu Panda 2' will be squaring off against a pair of foreign entries, 'A Cat in Paris' and 'Chico & Rita.'
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
Director Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo,' which tells of a boy lost in a train station and also serves as an ode to the early days of filmmaking, came into the night with 11 nominations and picked up two early wins for cinematography and art direction.
Silent movie romance 'The Artist' was close behind with 10 nominations and nabbed one early Oscar for costume design, while 'The Iron Lady,' which starred Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher won for makeup by span class='yshortcuts' id. The foreign language film award went to Iran's divorce drama 'A Separation.'
But it was Spencer who was the night's first major winner in her role as a black maid in civil rights drama 'The Help,' and she earned a standing ovation.
'Thank you Academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room,' she said holding her Oscar in her handspan and span class='ysho. She then went on to talk about her family in Alabama and could not hold back her tears as she joyously accepted her trophy.
Crystal, who returned to emcee the show for the ninth time, had the crowd of A-list Hollywood stars including George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt laughing loudly with an opening video in which he was edited into the year's top movies including silent film 'The Artist.'
He was kissed by George Clooney on the lips in a scene out of 'The Descendants' and even ate a tainted pie from 'The Help.' He opened with a monologue in which he joked: 'there's nothing like watching a bunch of millionaires present each other with golden statues' and sang a song about the movies that drew a loud round of applause.
Hollywood's biggest fashion parade on the Oscar red carpet heated up with Michelle Williams in a stunning red dress from Louis Vuitton, 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain in a dazzling Alexander McQueen black and gold embroidered gown, while Gwyneth Paltrow chose Tom Ford and white, a popular color.
MAJOR AWARDS TO COME
Later in the night that the action truly begins with awards for best film, performances, directing and writing.
This year, 'The Artist,' a tale of old Hollywood that sees a fading star find redemption through the love of a woman just as silent movies are being taken over by talkies, is widely picked to take home best film by most industry pundits.
'It's unbeatable,' said Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
While it faces keen competition from civil rights drama 'The Help,' 'The Artist' has come out on top in most award shows this year1329321137_3'Josh Appelbaum/s. Still, pundits point out that 'The Help' did win best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, and actors make up the biggest group of Oscar voters.
The third movie that has had Hollywood buzzing this season is family drama 'The Descendants,' starring George Clooney as a man trying to keep his family together after his cheating wife is hospitalized in a comaathan Liebesman/span, who directed the . But 'Descendants' has failed to spark Oscar voters, and its key win is seen as adapted screenplay.
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep in 'The Iron Lady.' Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com calls that race 'neck and neck.'
The best actor category sees American Clooney 'Descendants' face Frenchman Jean Dujardin, star of 'The Artist.' For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other.
Supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners,' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in 'The Help.'
At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest Oscar winner ever, and if both Spencer and Davis are victorious, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director is widely tipped to go to 'The Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, but could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne and 'The Descendants.'
The other major award is for animated movie where major U.S;s Platinum Dunes, . studio movies 'Rango,' 'Puss in Boots' and 'Kung Fu Panda 2' will be squaring off against a pair of foreign entries, 'A Cat in Paris' and 'Chico & Rita.'
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
Oscar red carpet heats up as stars arrive
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's biggest fashion parade, the red carpet outside the Oscars, began heating up on Sunday afternoon ahead of the world's top film awards where silent movie 'The Artist' is widely seen as the choice for best movie.
Early arrivals included 'Artist' actress Berenice Bejo, who is nominated in a supporting role, in a mint green dress, 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain in a stunning black gown embroidered in gold and 'Descendants' actress Shailene Woodley in white.
Fans who had waited all day lined the red carpet in stadium seats to cheer their favorite stars including George Clooney and his girlfriend, Stacy Keibler the pack of poor movies with 12 nods, His s. Photographers snapped thousands of pictures and television cameras rolled.
Tim Gunn, co-host of popular fashion TV show 'Project Runway,' called the Oscars' red carpet, 'the runway to end all runways.'
But it is later in the evening that the action really begins when comedian Billy Crystal, who returns as Oscar host for the ninth time, takes the stage and the awards begin to flow.
This year, 'The Artist,' a tale of old Hollywood that sees a fading star find redemption through the love of a woman just as silent movies are being taken over by talkies, is widely picked to take home best film by most industry pundits.
It comes into the night with 10 nominations, second only to Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' with 11zzie nominations/span . But most of the nods for 'Hugo' are in technical categories like cinematography, whereas 'The Artist' nominations are spread across several categories.
'It's unbeatable,' said Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
While it faces keen competition from civil rights drama 'The Help,' 'The Artist' has come out on top in most award shows this yearreated in 1980 by California m. Still, pundits point out that 'The Help' did win best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, and actors make up the biggest group of Oscar voters.
The third movie that has had Hollywood buzzing this season is family drama 'The Descendants,' starring George Clooney as a man trying to keep his family together after his cheating wife is hospitalized in a comat actor for his perfor. But 'Descendants' has failed to spark Oscar voters, and its key win is seen as adapted screenplay.
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.' Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com calls that race 'neck and neck.'
The best actor category sees American Clooney 'Descendants' face Frenchman Jean Dujardin, star of 'The Artist.' For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other.
Supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners,' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in 'The Help.'
At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest Oscar winner ever, and if both Spencer and Davis are victorious, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director is widely tipped to go to 'The Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, but could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne and 'The Descendants.'
Finally, Iranian film 'A Separation' goes up against Israel's 'Footnote' in the category for foreign language film, bringing world politics into the movie industry awards.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
Early arrivals included 'Artist' actress Berenice Bejo, who is nominated in a supporting role, in a mint green dress, 'The Help' star Jessica Chastain in a stunning black gown embroidered in gold and 'Descendants' actress Shailene Woodley in white.
Fans who had waited all day lined the red carpet in stadium seats to cheer their favorite stars including George Clooney and his girlfriend, Stacy Keibler the pack of poor movies with 12 nods, His s. Photographers snapped thousands of pictures and television cameras rolled.
Tim Gunn, co-host of popular fashion TV show 'Project Runway,' called the Oscars' red carpet, 'the runway to end all runways.'
But it is later in the evening that the action really begins when comedian Billy Crystal, who returns as Oscar host for the ninth time, takes the stage and the awards begin to flow.
This year, 'The Artist,' a tale of old Hollywood that sees a fading star find redemption through the love of a woman just as silent movies are being taken over by talkies, is widely picked to take home best film by most industry pundits.
It comes into the night with 10 nominations, second only to Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' with 11zzie nominations/span . But most of the nods for 'Hugo' are in technical categories like cinematography, whereas 'The Artist' nominations are spread across several categories.
'It's unbeatable,' said Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
While it faces keen competition from civil rights drama 'The Help,' 'The Artist' has come out on top in most award shows this yearreated in 1980 by California m. Still, pundits point out that 'The Help' did win best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, and actors make up the biggest group of Oscar voters.
The third movie that has had Hollywood buzzing this season is family drama 'The Descendants,' starring George Clooney as a man trying to keep his family together after his cheating wife is hospitalized in a comat actor for his perfor. But 'Descendants' has failed to spark Oscar voters, and its key win is seen as adapted screenplay.
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.' Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com calls that race 'neck and neck.'
The best actor category sees American Clooney 'Descendants' face Frenchman Jean Dujardin, star of 'The Artist.' For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other.
Supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners,' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in 'The Help.'
At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest Oscar winner ever, and if both Spencer and Davis are victorious, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director is widely tipped to go to 'The Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, but could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne and 'The Descendants.'
Finally, Iranian film 'A Separation' goes up against Israel's 'Footnote' in the category for foreign language film, bringing world politics into the movie industry awards.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
Oscars aim for surprises to spice up show
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After the curtain rises on Sunday's Oscars, producers hope a few surprise winners and heartfelt acceptance speeches will spice up the program in which silent movie 'The Artist' is widely seen as the choice for best movie.
The world's top film honors are in jeopardy of losing their status as the second most-watched TV event in the United States behind professional football's Super Bowl if the show can't lure more than 40 million viewers, which could be difficult.
Producers have brought back popular host Billy Crystal to provide laughter, but the best solution for a lively TV awards program, sponsors at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences say, is a group of surprise winners or ones who give genuinely emotional or rousing acceptance speeches.
'Be memorable, and you will be remembered,' co-producer Don Mischer told nominees at a recent luncheon.
It's hard to forget 73-year-old Jack Palance doing one-arm pushups on the Oscar stage after winning best supporting actor for 1991's 'City Slickers,' or more recently the heartfelt speech by writers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of best song winner 'Falling Slowly' from 2007 film, 'Once.'
The Oscars need a few surprises because silent movie romance 'The Artist,' while critically lauded, has generated only around $30 million at U.S91_0'Chris Rock/span has been booked as a pre. and Canadian box offices, and the Oscars generally enjoy larger TV audiences when popular hits like 'Avatar' are in the hunt for best movie.
The show annually is the second most-watched program on U.Sshouted, 'It was just a joke, man!' Penn laughed. TV behind professional football's Super Bowl, but this year's Grammy Awards, music's top honors, lured 40 million viewers the night after Whitney Houston's death and could easily surpass the Oscars, which only twice since 2002 has had a larger audience.
Oscar producers also hope a return of popular comedian Crystal as host of the program for the ninth time will lure viewersn class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1329339491_7'Bradley. He hasn't been emcee of the show since 2004 when it drew roughly 44 million viewers and box office smash 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' was the big winner.
PAINTING OSCAR PICTURE
This year 'The Artist,' a tale of old Hollywood that sees a fading star find redemption through the love of a woman just as silent movies are being taken over by talkies, is widely picked to take home best film by most industry pundits.
It comes into the night with 10 nominations, second only to Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' with 11s Jude Law?' he asked, 'Why was he in every movie . But most of the nods for 'Hugo' are in technical categories like cinematography, whereas 'The Artist' nominations are spread across several categories.
'It's unbeatable,' said Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
While it faces keen competition from civil rights drama 'The Help,' 'The Artist' has come out on top in most award shows this yearget span class='yshortcuts' . Still, pundits point out that 'The Help' did win best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, and actors make up the biggest group of Oscar voters.
The third movie that has had Hollywood buzzing this season is family drama 'The Descendants,' starring George Clooney as a man trying to keep his family together after his cheating wife is hospitalized in a comal('http://l,yimg,com/bt/api/res/1,2/oF1UdvZ. But 'Descendants' has failed to spark Oscar voters, and its key win is seen as adapted screenplay.
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.' Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com calls that race 'neck and neck.'
The best actor category sees American Clooney 'Descendants' face Frenchman Jean Dujardin, star of 'The Artist.' For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other.
Supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners,' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in 'The Help.'
At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest Oscar winner ever, and if both Spencer and Davis are victorious, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director is widely tipped to go to 'The Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, but could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne and 'The Descendants.'
Finally, Iranian film 'A Separation' goes up against Israel's 'Footnote' in the category for foreign language film, bringing world politics into the movie industry awards.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
The world's top film honors are in jeopardy of losing their status as the second most-watched TV event in the United States behind professional football's Super Bowl if the show can't lure more than 40 million viewers, which could be difficult.
Producers have brought back popular host Billy Crystal to provide laughter, but the best solution for a lively TV awards program, sponsors at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences say, is a group of surprise winners or ones who give genuinely emotional or rousing acceptance speeches.
'Be memorable, and you will be remembered,' co-producer Don Mischer told nominees at a recent luncheon.
It's hard to forget 73-year-old Jack Palance doing one-arm pushups on the Oscar stage after winning best supporting actor for 1991's 'City Slickers,' or more recently the heartfelt speech by writers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova of best song winner 'Falling Slowly' from 2007 film, 'Once.'
The Oscars need a few surprises because silent movie romance 'The Artist,' while critically lauded, has generated only around $30 million at U.S91_0'Chris Rock/span has been booked as a pre. and Canadian box offices, and the Oscars generally enjoy larger TV audiences when popular hits like 'Avatar' are in the hunt for best movie.
The show annually is the second most-watched program on U.Sshouted, 'It was just a joke, man!' Penn laughed. TV behind professional football's Super Bowl, but this year's Grammy Awards, music's top honors, lured 40 million viewers the night after Whitney Houston's death and could easily surpass the Oscars, which only twice since 2002 has had a larger audience.
Oscar producers also hope a return of popular comedian Crystal as host of the program for the ninth time will lure viewersn class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1329339491_7'Bradley. He hasn't been emcee of the show since 2004 when it drew roughly 44 million viewers and box office smash 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' was the big winner.
PAINTING OSCAR PICTURE
This year 'The Artist,' a tale of old Hollywood that sees a fading star find redemption through the love of a woman just as silent movies are being taken over by talkies, is widely picked to take home best film by most industry pundits.
It comes into the night with 10 nominations, second only to Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' with 11s Jude Law?' he asked, 'Why was he in every movie . But most of the nods for 'Hugo' are in technical categories like cinematography, whereas 'The Artist' nominations are spread across several categories.
'It's unbeatable,' said Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine.
While it faces keen competition from civil rights drama 'The Help,' 'The Artist' has come out on top in most award shows this yearget span class='yshortcuts' . Still, pundits point out that 'The Help' did win best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild, and actors make up the biggest group of Oscar voters.
The third movie that has had Hollywood buzzing this season is family drama 'The Descendants,' starring George Clooney as a man trying to keep his family together after his cheating wife is hospitalized in a comal('http://l,yimg,com/bt/api/res/1,2/oF1UdvZ. But 'Descendants' has failed to spark Oscar voters, and its key win is seen as adapted screenplay.
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.' Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com calls that race 'neck and neck.'
The best actor category sees American Clooney 'Descendants' face Frenchman Jean Dujardin, star of 'The Artist.' For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other.
Supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners,' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in 'The Help.'
At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest Oscar winner ever, and if both Spencer and Davis are victorious, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director is widely tipped to go to 'The Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, but could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne and 'The Descendants.'
Finally, Iranian film 'A Separation' goes up against Israel's 'Footnote' in the category for foreign language film, bringing world politics into the movie industry awards.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Cynthia Osterman)
Oscars face big TV test with "Artist" as key film
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When the curtain comes up on Sunday's Oscars in Hollywood, producers of the movie awards show will be less worried about who wins which trophy than they will be about how many people tune-in on television.
The world's top film honors are in jeopardy of losing their status as the second most-watched TV event in the United States behind professional football's Super Bowl if they can't lure more than 40 million viewers, which will be difficult given that silent movie 'The Artist' is this year's big picture.
The Grammys lured an audience of 39.9 million to TV earlier this month, one day after Whitney Houston died04_4'Berlin/span, I would love to go t. That was the Grammys biggest audience since 1984 and well over the 26 million who tuned in to the music industry's top honors last yearor, 'Oh I don't think you ha. If the Oscars can't beat 40 million, they will drop to Noqual rights between sexes, Stree. 3.
Only twice since 2002 have the Oscars, which are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, drawn an audience over 40 million, and that happened in years when two major blockbusters, 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and 'Avatar,' competed for best film.
This year, the expected big winner is black-and-white, silent movie 'The Artist,' which is picked to take home best film by most industry pundits and comes into the night with 10 nominations, second only to Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' with 11.
'It's unbeatable,' Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine, told Reuters about 'The Artist.' And that is a problem for the academy and the ABC TV network that airs the program because typically more viewers tune in when major box office hits compete for awards.
French film 'The Artist' has wowed critics with its tale of a Hollywood star in the era of silent movies whose career is fading just as talkies are taking over the industrytress in America from New. However, the romance has failed to draw huge numbers to box offices with only about $30 million in U.S Two days ago, the American w. and Canadian ticket sales.
'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and 'Avatar' had ticket sales in the hundreds of millions by the time they competed for Oscarsstyle='background-image:url('ht. Last year's best film winner, British film 'The King's Speech,' was no blockbuster when it entered the show, and the Academy Awards drew only 37.6 million viewers.
SPOTLIGHT ON SHOW
So heading into Sunday's telecast, Oscar producers are hoping a return of popular comedian Billy Crystal to host the program will lure viewersful!' she said, adding later: 'My husba. He hasn't appeared since 2004 when 'Return of the King' won best film.
And last week, a supposed controversy began brewing when the academy was reported to have banned comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' character from Oscar's red carpetifferent film role, including 'The. By the end of the week, however, Oscar producers had reversed their ban and the episode looked more like a publicity stunt to create drama than a real controversy.
Aside from hosts and promotional stunts, it will be the movies, stars and awards that truly draw movie fans to the show, and that is where the real drama lies to receive a lifetime achievement Golden Bea. Yes, 'The Artist' seems destined to win, but civil rights drama 'The Help' has a lot of support and could prove to be a major surprise victor.
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep portraying former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.'
'We have a real racea friend of (Ronald) . It is neck and neck,' said veteran Oscar watcher Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com.
The category of best actor is dramatic in that American actor and 'The Descendants' star George Clooney, who is well-liked in Hollywood, goes up against French actor Jean Dujardin, the star of 'The Artist.'
For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other Britain's first fem. Still, Clooney is well-liked in Hollywood.
The categories for supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
Wins by both could make Oscar historylike you're in a sporting event and y. At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest winner ever at the Academy Awards, and if both Spencer and Davis take supporting actress and lead actress, respectively, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director, widely tipped to go to 'Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne for 'The Descendants.'
Finally, Iranian film 'A Separation' goes up against Israel's 'Footnote' in the category for foreign language film, bringing world politics into the movie industry awards.
So, along with Billy Crystal and Sacha Baron Cohen, film fans have a lot to look forward to on Oscar nighton't go, 'It's . But the question remains, will they tune in to see it.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Beech)
The world's top film honors are in jeopardy of losing their status as the second most-watched TV event in the United States behind professional football's Super Bowl if they can't lure more than 40 million viewers, which will be difficult given that silent movie 'The Artist' is this year's big picture.
The Grammys lured an audience of 39.9 million to TV earlier this month, one day after Whitney Houston died04_4'Berlin/span, I would love to go t. That was the Grammys biggest audience since 1984 and well over the 26 million who tuned in to the music industry's top honors last yearor, 'Oh I don't think you ha. If the Oscars can't beat 40 million, they will drop to Noqual rights between sexes, Stree. 3.
Only twice since 2002 have the Oscars, which are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, drawn an audience over 40 million, and that happened in years when two major blockbusters, 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and 'Avatar,' competed for best film.
This year, the expected big winner is black-and-white, silent movie 'The Artist,' which is picked to take home best film by most industry pundits and comes into the night with 10 nominations, second only to Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo' with 11.
'It's unbeatable,' Dave Karger, movie writer for Entertainment Weekly magazine, told Reuters about 'The Artist.' And that is a problem for the academy and the ABC TV network that airs the program because typically more viewers tune in when major box office hits compete for awards.
French film 'The Artist' has wowed critics with its tale of a Hollywood star in the era of silent movies whose career is fading just as talkies are taking over the industrytress in America from New. However, the romance has failed to draw huge numbers to box offices with only about $30 million in U.S Two days ago, the American w. and Canadian ticket sales.
'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' and 'Avatar' had ticket sales in the hundreds of millions by the time they competed for Oscarsstyle='background-image:url('ht. Last year's best film winner, British film 'The King's Speech,' was no blockbuster when it entered the show, and the Academy Awards drew only 37.6 million viewers.
SPOTLIGHT ON SHOW
So heading into Sunday's telecast, Oscar producers are hoping a return of popular comedian Billy Crystal to host the program will lure viewersful!' she said, adding later: 'My husba. He hasn't appeared since 2004 when 'Return of the King' won best film.
And last week, a supposed controversy began brewing when the academy was reported to have banned comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' character from Oscar's red carpetifferent film role, including 'The. By the end of the week, however, Oscar producers had reversed their ban and the episode looked more like a publicity stunt to create drama than a real controversy.
Aside from hosts and promotional stunts, it will be the movies, stars and awards that truly draw movie fans to the show, and that is where the real drama lies to receive a lifetime achievement Golden Bea. Yes, 'The Artist' seems destined to win, but civil rights drama 'The Help' has a lot of support and could prove to be a major surprise victor.
The category of best actress features a too-close-to-call race between Viola Davis playing a maid in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep portraying former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.'
'We have a real racea friend of (Ronald) . It is neck and neck,' said veteran Oscar watcher Tom O'Neil of awards website Goldderby.com.
The category of best actor is dramatic in that American actor and 'The Descendants' star George Clooney, who is well-liked in Hollywood, goes up against French actor Jean Dujardin, the star of 'The Artist.'
For a long time, Clooney seemed to have the upper hand, but Dujardin has won most every time the two have been pitted against each other Britain's first fem. Still, Clooney is well-liked in Hollywood.
The categories for supporting actor and actress appear locked for Christopher Plummer, playing an elderly gay man in 'Beginners' and Octavia Spencer as one of the black maids in civil rights drama 'The Help.'
Wins by both could make Oscar historylike you're in a sporting event and y. At age 82, Plummer would be the oldest winner ever at the Academy Awards, and if both Spencer and Davis take supporting actress and lead actress, respectively, then it would be the first time two African American women have won those categories in the same year for the same movie.
The race for director, widely tipped to go to 'Artist' maker Michel Hazanavicius, could see a surprise by 'Hugo' and Scorsese, Woody Allen with 'Midnight in Paris' or Alexander Payne for 'The Descendants.'
Finally, Iranian film 'A Separation' goes up against Israel's 'Footnote' in the category for foreign language film, bringing world politics into the movie industry awards.
So, along with Billy Crystal and Sacha Baron Cohen, film fans have a lot to look forward to on Oscar nighton't go, 'It's . But the question remains, will they tune in to see it.
(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Sandra Maler and Eric Beech)
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Adam Sandler sets Razzie record for worst movies
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comic actor Adam Sandler may not be in the running for an Oscar this year, but on Saturday he set a new record for another award -- the most Razzie nominations for the worst films and performances of 2011.
The producer, actor and writer received a leading 11 Razzie nods, including worst actor, actress, screenplay and film, in a contest created as an antidote to the love-fest that engulfs Hollywood during Oscar season.
Sandler's cross-dressing comedy 'Jack & Jill' in which he played both the male and female roles, led the pack of poor movies with 12 nodst in film,' spa. His romantic comedy 'Just Go With It' got 5, and 'Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star', for which Sandler wrote the screenplay, notched up 6 nominations.
But Sandler, who ironically was voted People's Choice best movie comedy actor in January, was in excellent company.
Al Pacino, regarded as one of the best living film actors, got a dishonorable mention for his cameo in 'Jack & Jill'ere later in the week, 'Europe. Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, got a nod for her supporting role in 'Just Go With It', and Nicolas Cage was nominated worst actor for his performances in three 2011 movies -- 'Trespass', 'Season of the Witch' and 'Drive Angry 3-D'.
And the first installment in the finale of vampire romance 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1' -- a favorite Razzie target -- got eight nods, including worst movie and worst acting nods for stars Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart.
The winners will be determined by 600-plus voters of the Golden Raspberry Foundation and announced on April Fool's Day, April 1.
That's a change in tradition that for years saw the Razzies handed out on the eve of the annual Academy Awards, sometimes making for a bizarre weekend.
The group, which was created in 1980 by California movie buff John Wilson, gave Sandra Bullock a Razzie for comedy 'All About Steve' in 2010, the same year she won the best actress Oscar the following day for her role in 'The Blind Side'.
Other notable 2012 Razzie nominations went to Britain's Russell Brand for worst actor in worst remake contender 'Arthur'; action movie 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' and its director Michael Bay; and romantic comedy 'New Year's Eve' which Wilson said 'wasted more than 20 major stars on a plot almost as sophisticated as an episode of 'The Love Boat'.'
Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin got a tongue in cheek worst actress nod, for playing herself in her political documentary film 'The Undefeated.'
The full list of nominations can be found at http://www.razzies.com/
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
The producer, actor and writer received a leading 11 Razzie nods, including worst actor, actress, screenplay and film, in a contest created as an antidote to the love-fest that engulfs Hollywood during Oscar season.
Sandler's cross-dressing comedy 'Jack & Jill' in which he played both the male and female roles, led the pack of poor movies with 12 nodst in film,' spa. His romantic comedy 'Just Go With It' got 5, and 'Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star', for which Sandler wrote the screenplay, notched up 6 nominations.
But Sandler, who ironically was voted People's Choice best movie comedy actor in January, was in excellent company.
Al Pacino, regarded as one of the best living film actors, got a dishonorable mention for his cameo in 'Jack & Jill'ere later in the week, 'Europe. Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, got a nod for her supporting role in 'Just Go With It', and Nicolas Cage was nominated worst actor for his performances in three 2011 movies -- 'Trespass', 'Season of the Witch' and 'Drive Angry 3-D'.
And the first installment in the finale of vampire romance 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1' -- a favorite Razzie target -- got eight nods, including worst movie and worst acting nods for stars Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart.
The winners will be determined by 600-plus voters of the Golden Raspberry Foundation and announced on April Fool's Day, April 1.
That's a change in tradition that for years saw the Razzies handed out on the eve of the annual Academy Awards, sometimes making for a bizarre weekend.
The group, which was created in 1980 by California movie buff John Wilson, gave Sandra Bullock a Razzie for comedy 'All About Steve' in 2010, the same year she won the best actress Oscar the following day for her role in 'The Blind Side'.
Other notable 2012 Razzie nominations went to Britain's Russell Brand for worst actor in worst remake contender 'Arthur'; action movie 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' and its director Michael Bay; and romantic comedy 'New Year's Eve' which Wilson said 'wasted more than 20 major stars on a plot almost as sophisticated as an episode of 'The Love Boat'.'
Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin got a tongue in cheek worst actress nod, for playing herself in her political documentary film 'The Undefeated.'
The full list of nominations can be found at http://www.razzies.com/
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
"The Artist" captures spirit of indie film awards
SANTA MONICA, California (Reuters) - Silent movie romance 'The Artist' on Saturday won four Independent Spirit Awards, the year's top honors among movies made outside Hollywood's major studios, including best film and director in a prelude to the Oscars.
'The Artist,' a black-and-white movie from French writer and director Michel Hazanavicius, also picked up Spirit Awards for its star Jean Dujardin, who portrays an actor whose career collapses with the advent of the talkies, in the best actor category and Guillame Schiffman for cinematography.
The film's makers arrived in Los Angeles directly from Friday's Cesar honors in France, and had to be brought to the Spirit Awards from the airport with a police escortuters) - span class='yshortcuts' id='. But they shrugged off any jet lag to happily accept their awards.
'Physically it's tiring, but the energy is so good you don't really feel tired,' Hazanavicius told reporters backstage about the current awards season in Hollywood and around the world.
About Sunday's Academy Awards, the world's top film honors, he admitted a touch of 'stage fright ..of Life', which won the top prize at the Can. (An Oscar) is something that we have had in our eyes for a long time, so I can't say I'm super cool.
'But today, this is important too,' Hazanavicius added, pointing to his Spirit Awarding in the television series 'A Guy a. 'This means a lot because it ('The Artist') is a small movie class='yshortcuts' id='lw_13. It's not expensive.'
The nearest rival to 'The Artist' for Spirit Awards was family drama 'The Descendants,' which claimed two honors: best screenplay for Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash; and best supporting actress for Shailene Woodley.
LOW-BUDGET OSCARS
The Spirit Awards are given out by Los Angeles-based, non-profit group Film Independent, and are widely considered among the top trophies for low-budget and art house movies.
They come a day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives out the Oscars, where 'Artist' and 'Descendants' square off for best film alongside seven other movies, including studio-backed civil rights drama 'The Help.'
Other top Spirit Awards went to Michelle Williams for best lead actress with her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in 'My Week with Marilyn.' Williams, too, is nominated for Sunday's Oscars, but is widely considered an underdog to Viola Davis in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep as former British Prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.'
Williams noted the low-budget nature of indie filmmaking when she accepted her Spirit Award onstage, saying the first time she had been at the show that takes place near the beach, she'd arrived in her own clothes and had done her own hair - no glitz and glamour of the Oscar red carpet.
'I still remember the feeling that in the room, unlike others, that was okay, possibly even preferred,' Williams saide Cannes Film Festival, and is among the Academy A. 'I want to say thank you for supporting me and welcoming me and making me feel at home in this room, all the way back then and now, where the only thing that I own, that I'm wearing, is my dignity.'
The other key winner was Christopher Plummer, who was named best supporting actor for his role in 'Beginners' as an elderly gay man who comes out of the closet to his family.
'It's taken me the longest time to realize the Spirits Awards have nothing to do with booze, so pity that,' Plummer quipped about the casual atmosphere at the so-called Indie Spirits that is as much cocktail party as award show.
Film Independent also spotlights first-time filmmakers and others on the rise in the industrys, British actor Gary Oldman. In that arena, financial meltdown movie 'Margin Call' picked up two trophies including best first feature film for director J.Cow 'Saturday Night Live' and comedy. Chandore problem, A household name in. Will Reiser claimed best first screenplay for cancer comedy '50/50.'
Finally, Iranian divorce drama 'A Separation' was named best international movie, and 'The Interrupters' picked up the Spirit Award for top documentary.
'The Artist,' a black-and-white movie from French writer and director Michel Hazanavicius, also picked up Spirit Awards for its star Jean Dujardin, who portrays an actor whose career collapses with the advent of the talkies, in the best actor category and Guillame Schiffman for cinematography.
The film's makers arrived in Los Angeles directly from Friday's Cesar honors in France, and had to be brought to the Spirit Awards from the airport with a police escortuters) - span class='yshortcuts' id='. But they shrugged off any jet lag to happily accept their awards.
'Physically it's tiring, but the energy is so good you don't really feel tired,' Hazanavicius told reporters backstage about the current awards season in Hollywood and around the world.
About Sunday's Academy Awards, the world's top film honors, he admitted a touch of 'stage fright ..of Life', which won the top prize at the Can. (An Oscar) is something that we have had in our eyes for a long time, so I can't say I'm super cool.
'But today, this is important too,' Hazanavicius added, pointing to his Spirit Awarding in the television series 'A Guy a. 'This means a lot because it ('The Artist') is a small movie class='yshortcuts' id='lw_13. It's not expensive.'
The nearest rival to 'The Artist' for Spirit Awards was family drama 'The Descendants,' which claimed two honors: best screenplay for Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash; and best supporting actress for Shailene Woodley.
LOW-BUDGET OSCARS
The Spirit Awards are given out by Los Angeles-based, non-profit group Film Independent, and are widely considered among the top trophies for low-budget and art house movies.
They come a day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives out the Oscars, where 'Artist' and 'Descendants' square off for best film alongside seven other movies, including studio-backed civil rights drama 'The Help.'
Other top Spirit Awards went to Michelle Williams for best lead actress with her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in 'My Week with Marilyn.' Williams, too, is nominated for Sunday's Oscars, but is widely considered an underdog to Viola Davis in 'The Help' and Meryl Streep as former British Prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady.'
Williams noted the low-budget nature of indie filmmaking when she accepted her Spirit Award onstage, saying the first time she had been at the show that takes place near the beach, she'd arrived in her own clothes and had done her own hair - no glitz and glamour of the Oscar red carpet.
'I still remember the feeling that in the room, unlike others, that was okay, possibly even preferred,' Williams saide Cannes Film Festival, and is among the Academy A. 'I want to say thank you for supporting me and welcoming me and making me feel at home in this room, all the way back then and now, where the only thing that I own, that I'm wearing, is my dignity.'
The other key winner was Christopher Plummer, who was named best supporting actor for his role in 'Beginners' as an elderly gay man who comes out of the closet to his family.
'It's taken me the longest time to realize the Spirits Awards have nothing to do with booze, so pity that,' Plummer quipped about the casual atmosphere at the so-called Indie Spirits that is as much cocktail party as award show.
Film Independent also spotlights first-time filmmakers and others on the rise in the industrys, British actor Gary Oldman. In that arena, financial meltdown movie 'Margin Call' picked up two trophies including best first feature film for director J.Cow 'Saturday Night Live' and comedy. Chandore problem, A household name in. Will Reiser claimed best first screenplay for cancer comedy '50/50.'
Finally, Iranian divorce drama 'A Separation' was named best international movie, and 'The Interrupters' picked up the Spirit Award for top documentary.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Sacha Baron Cohen may be Oscars' big winner
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Forget the Oscar nomineeshortcuts' id='lw_1329321137_8'An. The real winner of Sunday's Academy Awards may well end up being comic actor Sacha Baron Cohen and his next film, 'The Dictator.'
Together with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who host the Oscars, Cohen and the producers of the show have been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the media over whether the British actor was banned from the red carpet if he showed up as his 'Dictator' character.
Word he was barred made headlines earlier this week, and by Friday the irreverent comedian, dressed as 'The Dictator,' posted a video online voicing his 'outrage' at Oscar organizers.
But was he ever truly prohibited from attending?
It seems unlikely because after a few days of 'will he or won't he' speculation, one celebrity TV show quoted Oscar producer Brian Grazer as saying he would appear on stage at the show, which has been in planning stages for months.
Friday, another TV show cited Grazer as saying not only would Cohen appear as part of the telecast, his 'Dictator' would walk the red carpet.
'VICTORY IS OURS! Today the Mighty Nation of Wadiya triumphed over the Zionist snakes of Hollywood...What I am trying to say here is that the Academy have surrendered and sent over two tickets and a parking pass! TODAY OSCAR, TOMORROW OBAMA!' the character, Admiral General Aladeen of the fictitious Middle East country, posted on the film's official Twitter feed Friday.
Academy representatives were not immediately available, rather conspicuously, for additional clarification.
The apparent publicity stunt is not uncommon for Cohen, who has mastered impromptu promotion with other characters Borat and BrunoPlatinum Dunes, Liebesman is. His mockumentary 'The Dictator' is due in theaters later this year, and he needs to lure people to box offices.
Cohen's first movie, 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' was a major hit, picking $128 million from U.S:left;float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;'img src='ht. and Canadian moviegoer pockets in 2006n in Comayagua, Honduras, a town . His next, 'Bruno' was considered a flop at box offices with only $60 million in domestic theaters.
In fact, nobody really knows what Cohen will or won't do on Oscar night, and that only serves to generate more publicity for him and his movie, as well as the Oscar telecast that annually is the second-most watched TV program in the United States.
Aladeen is Cohen's outlandish comedy character for the upcoming mockumentary film 'The Dictator,' about the oppressive ruler of fictional Republic of Wadiya who is hellbent on keeping democracy at bay during his reign of terror.
Cohen has a history of outrageous publicity stuntsbesman/span, who directed the 20. He turned up as Kazakhstani TV reporter Borat in a wagon pulled by a 'peasant woman' at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006 for the film's release.
At the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, dressed as his gay Austrian fashion journalist Bruno, Cohen descended from the ceiling strapped in a harness and landed smack in Eminem's crotch-action version of the popular . The rapper stormed out of the audience, only to admit later that it was all a planned stunt.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Together with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who host the Oscars, Cohen and the producers of the show have been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the media over whether the British actor was banned from the red carpet if he showed up as his 'Dictator' character.
Word he was barred made headlines earlier this week, and by Friday the irreverent comedian, dressed as 'The Dictator,' posted a video online voicing his 'outrage' at Oscar organizers.
But was he ever truly prohibited from attending?
It seems unlikely because after a few days of 'will he or won't he' speculation, one celebrity TV show quoted Oscar producer Brian Grazer as saying he would appear on stage at the show, which has been in planning stages for months.
Friday, another TV show cited Grazer as saying not only would Cohen appear as part of the telecast, his 'Dictator' would walk the red carpet.
'VICTORY IS OURS! Today the Mighty Nation of Wadiya triumphed over the Zionist snakes of Hollywood...What I am trying to say here is that the Academy have surrendered and sent over two tickets and a parking pass! TODAY OSCAR, TOMORROW OBAMA!' the character, Admiral General Aladeen of the fictitious Middle East country, posted on the film's official Twitter feed Friday.
Academy representatives were not immediately available, rather conspicuously, for additional clarification.
The apparent publicity stunt is not uncommon for Cohen, who has mastered impromptu promotion with other characters Borat and BrunoPlatinum Dunes, Liebesman is. His mockumentary 'The Dictator' is due in theaters later this year, and he needs to lure people to box offices.
Cohen's first movie, 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan' was a major hit, picking $128 million from U.S:left;float:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;'img src='ht. and Canadian moviegoer pockets in 2006n in Comayagua, Honduras, a town . His next, 'Bruno' was considered a flop at box offices with only $60 million in domestic theaters.
In fact, nobody really knows what Cohen will or won't do on Oscar night, and that only serves to generate more publicity for him and his movie, as well as the Oscar telecast that annually is the second-most watched TV program in the United States.
Aladeen is Cohen's outlandish comedy character for the upcoming mockumentary film 'The Dictator,' about the oppressive ruler of fictional Republic of Wadiya who is hellbent on keeping democracy at bay during his reign of terror.
Cohen has a history of outrageous publicity stuntsbesman/span, who directed the 20. He turned up as Kazakhstani TV reporter Borat in a wagon pulled by a 'peasant woman' at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006 for the film's release.
At the MTV Video Music Awards in 2009, dressed as his gay Austrian fashion journalist Bruno, Cohen descended from the ceiling strapped in a harness and landed smack in Eminem's crotch-action version of the popular . The rapper stormed out of the audience, only to admit later that it was all a planned stunt.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Tyler Perry's good intentions outweigh his "Good Deeds"
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - If the Academy Awards, like Pee Wee Football, gave out trophies for Most Improved, Tyler Perry would unquestionably take one home for his latest, 'Tyler Perry's Good Deeds.' Over the course of six years and 11 movies, Perry has achieved an impressive comfort level behind the camera; this time around, we get things like establishing shots and coverage and a cohesive look that tend to be absent in his earlier efforts.
As a writer, Perry also seems willing to leave behind the broad slapstick and heavy-handed melodrama of his previous filmsh, An. This time, not all of the wealthy people are cruel snobs, and the working class folks aren't all humble and pioushe Iron Lady' will be sc. This may even be the first Perry movie in which Jesus is never mentioned, much less used as a plot point.
So kudos to Perry for improving his craft and growing as a filmmakere royal court's days are numb. The downside to all of this, unfortunately, is that once you take away the towering drag queen shooting guns and hitting kids in the head, and you eliminate the perils-of-Pauline plotting, we're left with a fairly dull story about a rich CEO and the struggling single mom who helps him get his groove back.
Perry stars as Wesley Deeds (get it?), who spends his life fulfilling the expectations of his stentorian mother (Phylicia Rashad) by running his father's company, keeping his ne'er-do-well brother Walter (Brian White) in line, and planning his upcoming wedding to his mom-approved fiancée Natalie (Gabrielle Union).
The film, in fact, opens with Natalie predicting every single thing that Wesley will say or do over the course of the morning, although anyone who's seen a Perry movie knows that predicting dialogue and action in his films is one of the easiest accomplishments ever.
Wesley plods along through his life until he meets Linsdey (Thandie Newton), a widowed mom who works as a janitor in his buildingl of history ,,, is resonant today, because we. She's at the end of her tether, with the IRS garnishing her wages and her landlady kicking her and her 6-year-old daughter Ariel (Jordenn Thompson) to the curb (Reporting by Mike Collett-W. He gets to be a knight in shining armor, and she gets to crowbar him out of his rut.
That winds up thin gruel for 111 minutes of screen time, mainly because Perry's not particularly good at writing characters and giving them meaningful things to sayireplaces, the drab . He's overcome a lot of his bad habits as a scenarist, but he hasn't replaced them with any strengths worth mentioning.
Newton, for her part, is actress enough to pump some sort of life into Linsdey, even though the role is the sort of martyr Lillian Gish used to play, and Rashad makes her materfamilias chilly but never monstrous.
But then there's Brian White, giving a performance so one-note that it's like the only direction Perry gave him was a notecard with the word 'RAGE' written on it.
And if there's one area where Perry needs improvement, it's in his one-dimensional, protesteth-too-much portrayal of gay men - this time, it's Jamie Kennedy as a cartoonishly queeny fashion designer, complete with 90-degree pinky when he quaffs champagne.
When someone sits down to write 'The Films of Tyler Perry,' he or she will rightly tag 'Good Deeds' as a turning point in the prolific filmmaker's careerot intended as a film abou. But it's far more interesting in the context of his filmography than it is to actually watch.
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
As a writer, Perry also seems willing to leave behind the broad slapstick and heavy-handed melodrama of his previous filmsh, An. This time, not all of the wealthy people are cruel snobs, and the working class folks aren't all humble and pioushe Iron Lady' will be sc. This may even be the first Perry movie in which Jesus is never mentioned, much less used as a plot point.
So kudos to Perry for improving his craft and growing as a filmmakere royal court's days are numb. The downside to all of this, unfortunately, is that once you take away the towering drag queen shooting guns and hitting kids in the head, and you eliminate the perils-of-Pauline plotting, we're left with a fairly dull story about a rich CEO and the struggling single mom who helps him get his groove back.
Perry stars as Wesley Deeds (get it?), who spends his life fulfilling the expectations of his stentorian mother (Phylicia Rashad) by running his father's company, keeping his ne'er-do-well brother Walter (Brian White) in line, and planning his upcoming wedding to his mom-approved fiancée Natalie (Gabrielle Union).
The film, in fact, opens with Natalie predicting every single thing that Wesley will say or do over the course of the morning, although anyone who's seen a Perry movie knows that predicting dialogue and action in his films is one of the easiest accomplishments ever.
Wesley plods along through his life until he meets Linsdey (Thandie Newton), a widowed mom who works as a janitor in his buildingl of history ,,, is resonant today, because we. She's at the end of her tether, with the IRS garnishing her wages and her landlady kicking her and her 6-year-old daughter Ariel (Jordenn Thompson) to the curb (Reporting by Mike Collett-W. He gets to be a knight in shining armor, and she gets to crowbar him out of his rut.
That winds up thin gruel for 111 minutes of screen time, mainly because Perry's not particularly good at writing characters and giving them meaningful things to sayireplaces, the drab . He's overcome a lot of his bad habits as a scenarist, but he hasn't replaced them with any strengths worth mentioning.
Newton, for her part, is actress enough to pump some sort of life into Linsdey, even though the role is the sort of martyr Lillian Gish used to play, and Rashad makes her materfamilias chilly but never monstrous.
But then there's Brian White, giving a performance so one-note that it's like the only direction Perry gave him was a notecard with the word 'RAGE' written on it.
And if there's one area where Perry needs improvement, it's in his one-dimensional, protesteth-too-much portrayal of gay men - this time, it's Jamie Kennedy as a cartoonishly queeny fashion designer, complete with 90-degree pinky when he quaffs champagne.
When someone sits down to write 'The Films of Tyler Perry,' he or she will rightly tag 'Good Deeds' as a turning point in the prolific filmmaker's careerot intended as a film abou. But it's far more interesting in the context of his filmography than it is to actually watch.
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
Oscars bring foreign flair to animation race
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar organizers on Thursday night celebrated this year's nominees for best animated film, including two foreign language movies that use traditional hand-drawn animation in an era when computer images dominate the art form.
This is the tenth year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given out an Oscar for animated movies, and it is the first time two foreign language films -- France's 'A Cat in Paris' and Spain's 'Chico & Rita' -- made list of nominees.
'A Cat in Paris' is a French crime drama by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gangol and Spanish romance 'Chico & Rita' is from Javier Mariscal and past Oscar winner Fernando Trueba, who won the foreign language film award for 1993's 'Belle Epoque.'
'We are very surprised because normally animation is an American market,' Mariscal told Reuters Cameron, who is also a Conservative, . 'It's very strange that Hollywood saw our film and liked it enough to nominate it.'
The makers of the two movies were joined by fellow nominee, director Jennifer Suh Nelson with 'Kung Fu Panda 2.' 'Puss in Boots' director Chris Miller was absent and 'Rango' creator Gore Verbinski sent a taped message thanking the academy.
Actor Patton Oswalt, best known to animation audiences as the voice of Remy in the 2007 Oscar winner 'Ratatouille,' hosted the events of 1/6 to win the best film BAFTA, far ahead . Clips of the movies were screened, and Oswalt and audience members asked questions that focused mainly on story and technique, especially the difference between traditional hand-drawn, 2D animation and computer generated movies.
Mariscal confessed that he often uses digital technology, but for 'Chico & Rita' he and Trueba found traditional 2D best suited the story of a musical couple that journeys through the jazz clubs of Havana, New York and Las Vegas.
Notably absent from this year's nominees is Pixar Animation, the studio that has dominated the field with computer-animated movies such as 'Up,' as well as Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures of Tin Tin,' also created using digital images.
'Tin Tin' really is the prototype of movies where computers are maybe over utilized,' said 'A Cat in Paris' co-director Alain Gagnol actress, The Arti. 'The special visual effects in there push so far that the movie almost resembles a computer game.'
He went on to say that perhaps 'A Cat in Paris' and 'Chico & Rita' were honored as a backlash to the ubiquitous use of digital animation, but confessed that although the figures in his movie were hand-drawn, the colors were done on computer.
While 'Kung Fu Panda 2' is digitally animated, there are extended sequences using traditional hand-drawn techniqueRTROPTP_2_JAPAN-DISASTER-I. 'I love hand-drawn animation,' Nelson told Reutersn Globe already in the. 'It's just an amazing emotionally powerful way of telling a storyuts' id='lw_132904129. And I think they really rewarded a wide-range of techniques this year.'
Nelson speculated on the return of 2D even as digital storytelling proliferates in theaterss an accurate predictor of what is to come at the . 'I actually think it's totally viable as a feature length film,' she told the audienceuters) - The cinema spotli. 'It's more possible now than it was five years agoe BAFTA for his role. There are so many good things coming out in 2D, and there's shockingly amazing, talented artists that do it and love to do it.'
(Reporting by Jordan Riefe; Editing By Bob Tourtellotte)
This is the tenth year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given out an Oscar for animated movies, and it is the first time two foreign language films -- France's 'A Cat in Paris' and Spain's 'Chico & Rita' -- made list of nominees.
'A Cat in Paris' is a French crime drama by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gangol and Spanish romance 'Chico & Rita' is from Javier Mariscal and past Oscar winner Fernando Trueba, who won the foreign language film award for 1993's 'Belle Epoque.'
'We are very surprised because normally animation is an American market,' Mariscal told Reuters Cameron, who is also a Conservative, . 'It's very strange that Hollywood saw our film and liked it enough to nominate it.'
The makers of the two movies were joined by fellow nominee, director Jennifer Suh Nelson with 'Kung Fu Panda 2.' 'Puss in Boots' director Chris Miller was absent and 'Rango' creator Gore Verbinski sent a taped message thanking the academy.
Actor Patton Oswalt, best known to animation audiences as the voice of Remy in the 2007 Oscar winner 'Ratatouille,' hosted the events of 1/6 to win the best film BAFTA, far ahead . Clips of the movies were screened, and Oswalt and audience members asked questions that focused mainly on story and technique, especially the difference between traditional hand-drawn, 2D animation and computer generated movies.
Mariscal confessed that he often uses digital technology, but for 'Chico & Rita' he and Trueba found traditional 2D best suited the story of a musical couple that journeys through the jazz clubs of Havana, New York and Las Vegas.
Notably absent from this year's nominees is Pixar Animation, the studio that has dominated the field with computer-animated movies such as 'Up,' as well as Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures of Tin Tin,' also created using digital images.
'Tin Tin' really is the prototype of movies where computers are maybe over utilized,' said 'A Cat in Paris' co-director Alain Gagnol actress, The Arti. 'The special visual effects in there push so far that the movie almost resembles a computer game.'
He went on to say that perhaps 'A Cat in Paris' and 'Chico & Rita' were honored as a backlash to the ubiquitous use of digital animation, but confessed that although the figures in his movie were hand-drawn, the colors were done on computer.
While 'Kung Fu Panda 2' is digitally animated, there are extended sequences using traditional hand-drawn techniqueRTROPTP_2_JAPAN-DISASTER-I. 'I love hand-drawn animation,' Nelson told Reutersn Globe already in the. 'It's just an amazing emotionally powerful way of telling a storyuts' id='lw_132904129. And I think they really rewarded a wide-range of techniques this year.'
Nelson speculated on the return of 2D even as digital storytelling proliferates in theaterss an accurate predictor of what is to come at the . 'I actually think it's totally viable as a feature length film,' she told the audienceuters) - The cinema spotli. 'It's more possible now than it was five years agoe BAFTA for his role. There are so many good things coming out in 2D, and there's shockingly amazing, talented artists that do it and love to do it.'
(Reporting by Jordan Riefe; Editing By Bob Tourtellotte)
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Clooney, Pitt, Dujardin: It's an Oscar charm offensive
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood glamour meets French chic in a battle of charm for Oscar's best actor accolade on Sunday that pits George Clooney and close friend Brad Pitt against dashing Jean Dujardin.
Clooney, 50, beloved by his peers and regarded as the most eligible bachelor in the world, is thought to have the edge for his performance as a back-up dad forced to pull his family together in the emotional drama 'The Descendants'.
But don't count out Dujardin, the French star of silent movie 'The Artist', who has happily been spoofing himself and his Hollywood newcomer status on U.Sb2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT04NTt3PTkz/http://media. sketch show 'Saturday Night Live' and comedy video website Funny or Die.
'Clooney is in top form and this film, most people felt was the performance of his career,' said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, noting that Clooney had been campaigning hard in the run-up to the February 26 Academy Awards ceremony.
Clooney won the Golden Globe last month, and has an Oscar under his belt for his supporting role in the 2005 film 'Syriana'.
But that could work against himTarget and Walmart stores each sold exclu. 'It's still fresh in people's minds and he's relatively young and still has a career ahead of himz/http://media,zenfs,com/e. People remember that, and they rarely give Oscars in quick succession,' said Stephen Galloway, executive editor of features at industry publication The Hollywood Reporter.
Dujardin, 39, has the opposite problem'span class='yshortcuts' id. A household name in France but unknown in Hollywood, Dujardin utters just two words as silent movie icon George Valentin, who refuses to embrace the talkies in 'The Artist.'
Nevertheless, he has won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award for the role and has been the face of 'The Artist's Oscar campaign final episode of the 'Twilight' series. If he wins on Sunday, Dujardin would be the first French-born actor to win the Oscar for a lead role.
'This is one of those rare situations where the performance is as good as movie, or maybe even carried the movie, but we don't know if that's just the way Jean is and this is the one performance he can give,' said Galloway.
ONE HIT WONDER?
Dujardin rose to fame in France as a comic actor, starring in the television series 'A Guy and a Girl,' and the 2005 spoof surfer movie, 'Brice de Nice' in which he played a dead-beat surfer obsessed with the late Patrick Swayze's character Bodhi in 'Point Break.'
But some industry-watchers feel he may be too green for the best actor award, and the memory of Italian actor Roberto Benigni, who charmed Americans in 1999 for 'Life is Beautiful' and promptly went back to work in Italy, is still fresh.
'Jean Dujardin is part of the crazy moment that 'The Artist' has, but is he the Roberto Benigni type? He has his one big year and is honored for it, but that's the last we hear from him?' said Yahoo! Movies executive producer Sean Phillips.
British actor Gary Oldman, star of thriller 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', and Mexico's Demian Bichir, recognized for playing a Los Angeles gardener in an immigration battle in 'A Better Life', are regarded as having only outside chances of taking the Oscar home.
And Pitt, who won over audiences with his performance as baseball manager Billy Beane in 'Moneyball', may have to wait his turn.
Pitt, 48, is yet to win an Oscar and has only been nominated twice before during a prolific film career that started with him being perceived as a 'bit of a rascal', according to O'Neil.
'There's a feeling there for Pitt that he's way overdue and that this movie needs some awards love,' said O'Neil.
'Now he's settled down with Angelina (Jolie) and had kids...and there's a feeling that he's adored as a star that matters...an Oscar would be the perfect timing right now.'
Pitt also starred in Terrence Malick's mystical 'The Tree of Life', which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and is among the Academy Award best picture nominees.
But Galloway feels Pitt is still too young for the award, despite his body of work.
'He looks younger than he is, he doesn't look like a veteran, and also, he hasn't yet done a body of work that is so significant, although he is putting that togethermber 16, 2011 and has gros. 'Moneyball' will help consolidate that,' said Galloway.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Clooney, 50, beloved by his peers and regarded as the most eligible bachelor in the world, is thought to have the edge for his performance as a back-up dad forced to pull his family together in the emotional drama 'The Descendants'.
But don't count out Dujardin, the French star of silent movie 'The Artist', who has happily been spoofing himself and his Hollywood newcomer status on U.Sb2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT04NTt3PTkz/http://media. sketch show 'Saturday Night Live' and comedy video website Funny or Die.
'Clooney is in top form and this film, most people felt was the performance of his career,' said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, noting that Clooney had been campaigning hard in the run-up to the February 26 Academy Awards ceremony.
Clooney won the Golden Globe last month, and has an Oscar under his belt for his supporting role in the 2005 film 'Syriana'.
But that could work against himTarget and Walmart stores each sold exclu. 'It's still fresh in people's minds and he's relatively young and still has a career ahead of himz/http://media,zenfs,com/e. People remember that, and they rarely give Oscars in quick succession,' said Stephen Galloway, executive editor of features at industry publication The Hollywood Reporter.
Dujardin, 39, has the opposite problem'span class='yshortcuts' id. A household name in France but unknown in Hollywood, Dujardin utters just two words as silent movie icon George Valentin, who refuses to embrace the talkies in 'The Artist.'
Nevertheless, he has won a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award for the role and has been the face of 'The Artist's Oscar campaign final episode of the 'Twilight' series. If he wins on Sunday, Dujardin would be the first French-born actor to win the Oscar for a lead role.
'This is one of those rare situations where the performance is as good as movie, or maybe even carried the movie, but we don't know if that's just the way Jean is and this is the one performance he can give,' said Galloway.
ONE HIT WONDER?
Dujardin rose to fame in France as a comic actor, starring in the television series 'A Guy and a Girl,' and the 2005 spoof surfer movie, 'Brice de Nice' in which he played a dead-beat surfer obsessed with the late Patrick Swayze's character Bodhi in 'Point Break.'
But some industry-watchers feel he may be too green for the best actor award, and the memory of Italian actor Roberto Benigni, who charmed Americans in 1999 for 'Life is Beautiful' and promptly went back to work in Italy, is still fresh.
'Jean Dujardin is part of the crazy moment that 'The Artist' has, but is he the Roberto Benigni type? He has his one big year and is honored for it, but that's the last we hear from him?' said Yahoo! Movies executive producer Sean Phillips.
British actor Gary Oldman, star of thriller 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', and Mexico's Demian Bichir, recognized for playing a Los Angeles gardener in an immigration battle in 'A Better Life', are regarded as having only outside chances of taking the Oscar home.
And Pitt, who won over audiences with his performance as baseball manager Billy Beane in 'Moneyball', may have to wait his turn.
Pitt, 48, is yet to win an Oscar and has only been nominated twice before during a prolific film career that started with him being perceived as a 'bit of a rascal', according to O'Neil.
'There's a feeling there for Pitt that he's way overdue and that this movie needs some awards love,' said O'Neil.
'Now he's settled down with Angelina (Jolie) and had kids...and there's a feeling that he's adored as a star that matters...an Oscar would be the perfect timing right now.'
Pitt also starred in Terrence Malick's mystical 'The Tree of Life', which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and is among the Academy Award best picture nominees.
But Galloway feels Pitt is still too young for the award, despite his body of work.
'He looks younger than he is, he doesn't look like a veteran, and also, he hasn't yet done a body of work that is so significant, although he is putting that togethermber 16, 2011 and has gros. 'Moneyball' will help consolidate that,' said Galloway.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Thursday, February 16, 2012
"Ghost Rider 2" poised to ignite lackluster franchise
Ninety-one percent of men younger than 25 say they are aware of the movie, which opens on 3,000 screens on Friday Though favored by the capriciou. Those are strong numbers for any film, but remarkable for a sequel that took in $228 million globally in 2007 and drew scorn from many critics.
And 'Spirit of Vengeance' cost an estimated $75 million to make, compared to the original film's $110 million price tag.
So how did Marvel and Sony revive the franchise for a potentially lucrative encore?
They utilized a mix of finely tuned traditional advertising and hyper-aggressive social media marketing814029_0'Marie Antoinet. And they brought in the directing team of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who have major fanboy cred.
The duo crafted the film to appeal to their young male target and they fueled early interest in the film with a special presentation at last year' Comic-Con.
But perhaps most important, they learned from their mistakes.
'They've taken the parts of the first film that everybody liked -- and nobody liked the first film -- and built this film around it,' said a rival studio executive.
The executive pointed out that the marketing campaign has used star Nicolas Cage in a carefully measured fashion.
While Cage has heavily promoted the film in Europe and appeared on last week's 'Saturday Night Live,' he plays a secondary role to the film's effects and imagery in U.Sd productions like 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly. TV commercials57' alt='LARGETHUMB' title='' class='l. 'Nick Cage is barely in them,' the exec said.
Despite the strong advance tracking, Sony declined to talk about the marketing and is tamping down expectations.
The studio estimates the movie will open to somewhere in the low $30 million range over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, although other box office observers predict it will bring in around $35 million.
That's still less than the first installment of the franchise, which opened to $45.4 million over the same weekend five years ago, but a good enough start given the film's lower cost and the potential for a more leggy run.
Producer Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment co-financed the movie and is distributing the movie internationallyso saw parallels between his movie and the d. He admits the first film 'wasn't quite as hot as we made it,' but he's bullish on the new film.
'It's been a while since the first one,' he told TheWrap, 'and at this point domestically and internationally, it's tracking pretty well.
He's also been impressed with the marketing campaign run by Sony and Marvel, which includes traditional tactics and all of the social networking.
'The good thing with that is it's so interactive, you get a lot of feedback,' he said.
Amritraj said that's especially important for 'Ghost Rider,' given that 'our core audience tends to spend a lot of time on a lot of these sites.'
He noted that visual effects have come a long way since the first 'Ghost Rider.' 'The second thing is the 3D, which was non-existent in those days,' he said.
Amritraj also gave credit to directors Neveldine and Taylor -- well-known for being budget-conscious -- for making a movie that he is convinced will resonate with younger viewers.
'They gave it a sort of energy that is very different than the first one,' Amritraj saidsnow and freezing temperatures in Berlin per. 'And I think they were the perfect choice because they have a lot of fanboys out there.'
The movie stars Cage as Johnny Blaze and Ghost Rider, a stunt motorcycle driver who has sold his soul to the devil.
In 'Spirit of Vengeance,' Blaze learns that the devil has fathered a boy and plans to take over the child's body, so Blaze protects the boyand adding the 'frisson' of a possibly le. Idris Elba co-stars.
Another rival marketing executive told TheWrap that the campaign for 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance' makes the movie look a whole lot like a videogame -- ideal for the demographic.
That's also due in part to the frenetic style of Neveldine and Taylorld over looking to buy and sell titl. The very hands-on directors of 'Crank: High Voltage' and 'Gamer' directed the movie 'maniacally,' Amritraj said.
To film one scene, for instance, Neveldine held a camera -- and a motorcycle going about 35 miles per hour at the same timeKampusch, And 'White Deer. Then he let go, turned around and got the shot.
Amritraj also recalled watching the filming of scene in which a stuntman jumps off a cliff --'a very steep cliff' -- and one of the directors jumps off as wellase of kidnapped Austrian schoo. He filmed the falling stuntman who was pumping bullets into a car as he plummeted.
'That was really the director,' Amritraj told TheWrap, 'not a second unit director or a stuntman, but really one of the guys.
'It was hair-raising stuff,' he said.
Now it's a matter of waiting to see whether 'Spirit of Vengeance' will raise a moribund franchise from the dead.
(Editing by Chris Michaud)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Oscars finally invite Chris Rock back
. 15, 2012/transparent-95031,png'. Radio reports from Comayagua said dozens of prisoners were burned beyond recognition and the prison was destroyed by the flamesroposition 8 over-ruling outside the Ninth . The fire claimed the lives of at least 272 inmatesl be at 668 North American location. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio)' title='' class='lzbg'>That year, Rock joked that producers who couldn't get Russell Crowe shouldn't settle for Colin Farrell, and ones who couldn't get Tom Cruise shouldn't settle for Law');' width='93' height='57' alt='Gay Marriage . 'Who is Jude Law?' he asked do them, I think they w. 'Why was he in every movie I've seen for the last four years?'
The line, which prompted Penn's retort when the actor took the stage to present the Best Actress award late in the show, was part of a wide-ranging, biting and, if truth be told, pretty funny monologue in which the comic insisted that Hollywood only really had a handful of true movie stars_3'Rooney Mara/span, span class='yshortcuts' . 'The rest,' he said, 'are just popular people.'
'Clint Eastwood is a star,' he said_xA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoP. 'Tobey Maguire's just a boy in tights.'
Rock joins an Oscar show list of stars and popular people that in recent days has also come to include Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Penelope Cruz.
The full lineup of presenters announced so far: Rock, Cooper, Stone, Cruz, Halle Berry, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks, Angelina Jolie, Milla Jovovich, Jennifer Lopez and 'Bridesmaids' stars Rose Byrne, Ellie Kemper, Melissa McCarthy, Wendy McLendon-Covey, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig.
When the Oscars ended in 2005, by the way, Rock left the stage and immediately spotted Sean Penn, who was standing just outside the nearby green roomPG');' width='93' height='57' al. 'Sean!' he shoutedtyle='background-image:url('http://l,yimg,. 'It was just a joke, man!' Penn laughed, and the two men embraced.
The 84th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 26 at the Kodak Theater.
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
Oscar season 2012: Why isn't it over yet?
. 15, 2012warned the United States at an early stage. Radio reports from Comayagua said dozens of prisoners were burned beyond recognition and the prison was destroyed by the flamesyimg,com/os/mit/media/m/base/images/tr. The fire claimed the lives of at least 272 inmatesn judge each other in the p. (AP Photo/Fernando Antonio)' title='' class='lzbg'>With the race for key awards seemingly over, people are getting tired of the marathon that Oscar season has become.
At the Directors Guild awards, I asked presenter Jean Dujardin - who has been in Los Angeles for much of the fall and winter, attending parties and doing interviews and making television appearances in a language that is not his own - how he was holding up through it all.
'I'm fine,' 'The Artist' star said with an easy smile, a few days after landing his Oscar nomination.
'Good,' I said, 'because you only have a month to go.'
'One month still?' he said, with a crestfallen look that belied the fact that he certainly must have known that the Oscars weren't happening until February 26.
A few minutes later, I encountered Best Supporting Actor nominee Nick Nolte, who was attending the DGA Awards not because he was participating, but because he'd been told he should.
'The PR people tell you you've gotta get out there like it's a presidential campaign or something,' he said with a shrug' CHANGES OPINION OF THATCHER . 'The difference is that we don't get to run the country if we winIt's hard, because I can look at somet. We only get a little statue.'
And at the end of the night, I ran into last year's DGA and Oscar winner, 'The King's Speech' director Tom Hooper6Rf5FKh7eSEvUIVJ20k2wA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml. 'Looking at it from the outside this year,' he said with a grin, 'I now realize that people just write stuff pretending that there's a race going on for the last few weeks.
'They have to keep up the interest somehow.'
So the smiling, the campaigning, the pretending keeps on keeping on, because that's awards season The Berlin festiv. And this year, it has been more exhausting than usual, because of new Academy campaign rules that lifted most of the restrictions on parties and Q&As before the nominations were announced.
'From what I read, that turned out to be a good free-for-all,' Academy president Tom Sherak told TheWrap recently.
But the Academy also set what Sherak called 'some really strict rules' for the post-nomination period: no parties, no receptions, and only two post-screening Q&As for each person associated with a nominated film.
The restrictions have stopped the parties -- at least the big ones, which Sherak said were the target of the new rules.
'If somebody wants to have a party at their house and invite 12 people, I'm not a policeman and I'm not going to tell you that you can't do that,' he said.
'But don't have a party for 100 members, because that's gonna get you in trouble.
'And if you have two Q&As in L.A., don't think you can go do one in London and we're not going to find out.'
Still, the restrictions have hardly stopped the Q&As, which have remained ubiquitous even as attendance has dropped sharply, according to one studio executiveo undoubtedly a feminist who helped paved the wa. 'We're hearing it from everybody,' the exec saidle, including 'The Iron. 'After the nominations, attendance has gotten really bad, especially from Academy members.'
Of course, Q&As with George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Gary Oldman have still packed them in, as did a couple of screenings in which Paramount trotted out not just 'Hugo' director Martin Scorsese, but an army of talent from the filmoud of and you are hoping . One included Scorsese, screenwriter John Logan, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, visual effects nominees Rob Legato, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning and cast members Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Chloe Grace Moretz and Emily Mortimer.
And while the two-per-person rule has restricted screenings to which Academy members are invited, it hasn't stopped public tributes to the likes of Clooney, Pitt and Oldman, which included Q&As but didn't count on the official tally.
'I am still being inundated with offers of screenings, scores, screenplays and Q&As,' one Academy member griped the other day.
Things are starting to calm down a little, as more and more Oscar voters return their ballots in advance of the February 21 deadline, and as general fatigue sets in The film jumps between a you. Dujardin, for one, made a Funny or Die video and a 'Saturday Night Live' appearance and headed back to Europe, not to return until just before the Oscars.
Still, the campaign trail stretches onvUIVJ20k2wA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk. At the American Society of Cinematographers Awards on Sunday night, for instance, Antonio Banderas showed up to present an award and get in a plug or two for Animated Feature nominee 'Puss in Boots,' while James Cromwell and Penelope Ann Miller picked up the slack for their castmates from 'The Artist' who were at the BAFTAs.
So when Oscar watchers and Academy members talk of moving the show earlier by a couple of weeks, a proposal the AMPAS Board of Governors will study closely in the coming months, it's because of this long, long final stretch.
It's gotten to the point where I got a call from one Oscar consultant recently, and his opening line wasn't 'hello,' but 'Is it over yet?'
No, it's notas surprised by what she discovered about . It won't be over for 12 more days.
Twelve endless days.
(Editing by Chris Michaud)
Liebesman in talks to direct "Ninja Turtles" film
The movie is a live-action version of the popular comic book and television series.
'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' is being produced by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form at Bay's Platinum Dunes.
Liebesman is one of three directors who had been under consideration, Starring sp. He last worked with Bay on the 2006 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.'
Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec wrote the script for the Paramount movie.
(Editing by Chris Michaud)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Jolie's war film revives Bosnia's divisions
While thousands in Sarajevo, a mostly Bosnian Muslim city, were braving deep snow and freezing temperatures to attend the gala screening of 'In the Land of Blood and Honey,' distributors in the Serb region of Bosnia have decided not to show it.
'I am absolutely not anti-Serbian,' Jolie said, answering a question during a news conference in Sarajevo, where she arrived with partner Brad Pitt to present the movie in the city where many of the most brutal events of the 1992-95 conflict occurred.
'I think it's sad that that question has to be asked today and I think that shows how divided this region still remains.'
The film tells the story of the war through an ambiguous relationship between Danijel, a Bosnian Serb, and Ajla, a Bosnian Muslim woman, whose affection becomes hostage to their respective ethnic groups.
They attempt to maintain their relationship against a backdrop of war, killings and rapes, and pressure from their families, which proves impossible.
'I know this will bring back many painful memories because I know it's a difficult film to watch,' Jolie, dressed in an elegant black dress, told the audience of 5,000 in a Sarajevo sports centre before the film screening.
'But I hope when you do, it doesn't just remind you of what you've suffered but it also reminds you of all that you've survived,' she said with tears in her eyes.
Some of the wartime rape victims, whose protests against the details of the plot halted the shooting of the film in Bosnia, praised the film as difficult, true and brave after it was shown during a one-week screening in Sarajevo in December.
However, some Bosnian Serbs say that Jolie has failed to show balance in presenting all sides of the Bosnian atrocities.
'OFFENSIVE'
Vlado Ljevar, the private film distributer and owner of the main cinema in Banja Luka, the largest city in the Serb region of Bosnia, said he would not show film.
'I am 100 percent sure that nobody would want to see it in Republika SrpskaGirl With the Dragon Tat. Another reason is political, because the audience here considers the content of the film as offensive for the Serb people,' Ljevar told Reuters.
Jolie said she would cancel her planned visit to Belgrade to attend a premiere screening there.
'It's not just a simple threat, it's not my safety I'm concerned about,' she said Tattoo/span' opened to $12,8 million on De. 'There is so much hostility in the press, there is so much hostility and aggression where I don't know if they are able to see the film clearly at this time.'
And she dismissed the criticism of any perceived bias.
'The war was not balanced so ..ish film 'The Girl With the Dragon Ta. when we say balance we mean that it is not black and white, it's not pure good and pure evil, that there are layers to each character that shows their humanity, and their own pain and their own history and they are complex,' Jolie said.
'The response from the region all the more shows the importance of bringing films like this to the forefront, and because the debate is all right as long as people are talking and discussing the past and using this as a tool in some way how ever they do to move forward.'
While the audience in Bosnia's Serb region will not see the film in movie theatres, an activist has organized a private screening in her home, with Jolie's blessing.
'I don't want that someone speaks in my name and claims that it is the stance of the whole nation,' Ana Vidovic, a Bosnian Serb woman from the northwestern town of Prijedor, told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Gordana Katana in Banja Luka; Editing by Alison Williams)
Flowers, gifts and a kiss for Streep in Berlin
The 62-year-old actress was at the annual cinema showcase on Tuesday to receive a lifetime achievement Golden Bear.
At a packed press conference following a screening of her latest movie 'The Iron Lady', Streep reflected on the price of fame and on how playing Margaret Thatcher in the biopic had changed her opinion of the former British Prime Minister.
At one point, a journalist climbed up on stage, presented Streep with a bunch of white flowers and gave her a kiss.
'How beautiful!' she said, adding later: 'My husband didn't send me flowers, so thank God for Dieter!'
Another reporter gave her a Russian doll, each layer of which was painted to represent her in a different film role, including 'The Iron Lady' and 'The Devil Wears Prada'.
Two days ago, the American won a best actress BAFTA award in London for 'The Iron Lady' to add to the Golden Globe she received for the same roleBAFTA Fellowship celebrating. She is a front-runner to scoop her third Oscar on February 26.
Streep described the awards season as an 'out of body experience.'
'It's very odd to be in the position where people say to you, 'Oh I think you're going to win something', or, 'Oh I don't think you have a chance this year.'
'And suddenly you feel like you're in a sporting event and you haven't signed up for itt explores the magic of the earl. You did some work in a film that you're proud of and you are hoping that people will go and see it, and suddenly you're doing calisthenics for Superbowl.'
CHANGES OPINION OF THATCHER
The 'Kramer vsn 'The Descendants,' . Kramer' and 'Sophie's Choice' star said she was surprised by what she discovered about Thatcher during the making of 'The Iron Lady'.
The film jumps between a young Thatcher rising through the ranks of British politics and a frail, elderly woman suffering dementia who looks back on her life with pride and regret.
'I learned a lot of things that surprised me, because I had made decisions about Margaret Thatcher since I was a young womanhttp://l,yimg,com/os/mi. I had a knee-jerk reaction to her as a liberal left-wing actress in America from New York.
'I thought she was a friend of (Ronald) Reagan -- badinema spotlight shines on London for t. I thought she had frumpy clothes and bad hair class='yshortcuts' id='lw_132. You know, this is the way women judge each other in the public realm.'
However, the actress said she learned that Thatcher was not anti-abortion but pro-choice, did not dismantle Britain's National Health Service and warned the United States at an early stage about the threat of global warming.
Britain's first female prime minister was also undoubtedly a feminist who helped paved the way for more equal rights between sexes, Streep added.
'I think Margaret Thatcher would be dragged kicking and screaming to the altar of feminism, but she was a feminist whether she likes it or notw_1329041294_5'British Academy of Film. She opened doors for women.'
Asked whether her success in Hollywood came at a price, Streep replied:
'There are five contemporary art museums in Berlin//l,yimg,com/bt/api/res/1,2/dumwrBSbQJOs7_. I would love to go to a contemporary art museumof The Iron Lady have been lukewarm in Thatcher&. I won't go.
'It's hard, because I can look at something and there are five people in front looking at mehas nine, The . I'm not complaining, it's very good, but I miss a lot of art.'
The Berlin festival, also know as the Berlinale, winds up with an awards ceremony on February 18.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Jill Serjeant)
Monday, February 13, 2012
"Breaking Dawn" outpaces previous "Twilight" on disc
That is 18 percent more than the 2010 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' took in its first weekend of home release in December 2010e news of the Proposition 8 over-r. 'Eclipse' sold 2.7 million units its first weekend of release.
The discs went on sale at midnight on Saturday -- timing reserved for big titlesr-ruling outside the. Target and Walmart stores each sold exclusive versions of 'Breaking Dawn' DVDs and Blu-rays, and held special events just after midnight Saturday morning.
Summit said that film also had approximately 50,000 digital sales, a 47 percent increase over 'Eclipse,' and approximately 80,000 Video-on-demand transactions, a 142 percent increase over the 2010 movie.
'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1' was released in theaters on November 16, 2011 and has grossed more than $700 million worldwide.
The second installment in 'Breaking Dawn' -- and the final episode of the 'Twilight' series -- is scheduled for a November 16 theatrical release.
(Editing By Zorianna Kit)
Billy Bob Thornton turns car wreck past into a film
'Jayne Mansfield's Car' is a dark family comedy that explores how war affects men and how fathers and sons so often fail to communicate.
The picture, warmly applauded at the Berlin film festival on Monday ahead of its world premiere, is the first feature Thornton has directed for over a decader leading actress, She previously won the . He also stars.
'If you could say what this movie is about in one sentence, it's about the romanticism of tragedy,' Thornton told reporters in Berlin, where the movie is in the main competition.
Jayne Mansfield's Car, a reference to the actress killed in a car crash in 1967, is set in 1969 in southern United States where Robert Duvall's character Jim Caldwell and his middle-aged children live a materially comfortable life.
Son Carroll, played by Kevin Bacon, is a drug-taking hippie and anti-war protester who is a constant source of shame to his gruff, conservative father.
Brother Jimbo is more like his father, while child-like oddball Skip (Thornton) lies somewhere in between.
Jim's ex-wife dies in England, where she remarried and had another family, and when they turn up on the Caldwells' doorstep to attend her U.Ss, She previously won t. burial, chaos ensues.
The male characters, including the visiting father played by John Hurt, are all defined by their experiences of war - World War One, World War Two and the Vietnam conflict.
The figure of Jim, cold, cruel and unable to express his feelings, was partly inspired by his own father, Thornton said.
'My father was a very violent Irishman and so there was abuse both verbal and physical in our household,' the 56-year-old Oscar winner said.
'He was a Korean war veteran in the navy and he was a very intense guy who I don't think I ever had a conversation with.'
CAR WRECK CHILDHOOD
Scenes in which Jim takes his grandson to see the aftermath of car crashes are based on truth, Thornton added.
'He (my father) would take my brother and I ..class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1329081972_0'Mer. to car wrecks and he would stand there and smoke Lucky Strikes and stare at the car wreck for two hours while my brother and I were like 'why are we here?' That was how he connected with us.
'Through all of that, through beatings and no communication or anything when I grew up, I realized that I understood my father and I loved my father.'
The comedy in the film stems from the Caldwells' failure to communicate -- Jim only lets down his guard after his tea is spiked with LSD -- and the interplay between upper class English visitors and straight-talking American southerners.
'That accent makes me hornier than Frank Sinatra,' Skip confesses to his English half-sister, before trying to organize an unconventional sexual encounter with her.
But amid the laughs there is a serious side to Jayne Mansfield's Car, which had a budget of around $12 million and was funded by Russian money.
Thornton is in Berlin at the same time as ex-wife Angelina Jolie, whose Bosnian war drama 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' was also screened at the festival.
'Angelina is a wonderful woman and one of my best friends in the world -- we talk on a regular basis,' he said.
'When people split up, people like to make up stories about how much they are against each otherion Arts/span (BAFTA) leading actress award. This was never true, it never has been and never will beyu Abe, a Zen priest, loo. I'll love her to the end of my life and she'll love me, as friends.'
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Meryl Streep wins BAFTA for turn as Thatcher
Streep, who plays Thatcher both as a domineering politician in her prime and as an elderly woman suffering from memory loss, has already won a clutch of awards for the role including a Golden Globe.
This is Streep's second BAFTA for leading actressiculate, I love that people responded to. She previously won the 1981 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) leading actress award for 'The French Lieutenant's Woman.'
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon, editing by Paul Casciato)
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