Friday, October 12, 2012

Grammys give Whitney Houston a glittering salute

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Whitney Houston was given a final sendoff by the Grammys on Thursday as Halle Berry, Britney Spears, Jennifer Hudson, Usher and other stars shared their memories and performed in homage to the late singer.

Academy-award winner Berry made a tearful introduction at the 'We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston' special, and praised the 'unforgettable' performer.

'She inspired a generation of little girls and women to believe in their own dream and to know that they had within themselves the greatest gift of all. I was one of those little girls who then became a woman who never ever, ever, stopped loving Whitney Houston,' Berry said.

The event was attended by Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, who was joined by boyfriend Nick Gordon and sister-in-law Pat Houston.

Noticeably absent was Houston's mother, Cissy, and her brother Gary. Record label executive Clive Davis, who discovered the late singer, sat alongside the family in the front row.

The tribute comes towards the end of a year in which the music world was rocked by Houston's sudden death at age 48 in February. She was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on the night before the Grammy awards, from what authorities said was accidental drowning brought on by cocaine use and heart disease.

A homage to Houston was quickly put together at the Grammy awards in February with Jennifer Hudson singing a heart-felt rendition of 'I Will Always Love You' on a stage lit by a single spotlight. Later in May, R&B star Jordin Sparks, who co-starred with Houston in the late singer's final movie 'Sparkle,' sang the same song at the Billboard Music Awards in tribute.

There was no mention of Houston's turbulent personal life and history of drug abuse on Thursday as the Grammy organizers decided to focus on the late singer's career achievements and best-known performances, including her rendition of the 'Star-Spangled Banner' at the 1991 Superbowl.

Hudson on Thursday channeled Houston's style from the 1980s with big hair and a glittering blazer, performing more uptempo numbers with a medley of 'I'm Every Woman,' 'How Will I Know' and 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody'.

R&B star Usher sang 'I Believe In You And Me' and gospel singers Cece Winans and Yolanda Adams delivered a rousing performance of 'Count On Me,' which had Houston's family in tears.

Canadian singer Celine Dion was on the bill to perform on the night but was unable to make it, taping her rendition of 'The Greatest Love Of All' in Canada to air during the televised special.

The event organizers decided to leave Houston's best-known song, 'I Will Always Love You,' to the late singer, showing a tape of her singing at the 1994 Grammy awards.

Presenters at the event shared their memories. Pop star and 'X Factor' judge Spears said her version of Houston's 'I Have Nothing' scored her a deal with a record label and started her career.

The audience were also treated to exclusive interviews from the early days of Houston's career, showing her talking about fame, philosophy and religion.

The one-hour CBS special will be aired on November 16.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Elaine Lies and Andrew Heavens)



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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tom Hanks to make Broadway debut in new Nora Ephron play

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tom Hanks will make his Broadway debut playing a tabloid journalist in 'Lucky Guy', a new drama by the late Nora Ephron, producers said in a statement on Thursday.

The Hollywood star will continue his long collaboration with Ephron that has included 'Sleepless in Seattle' in 1993 and 'You've Got Mail' in 1998. Ephron died in June at the age of 71 of complications from leukemia.

Based on a true story, 'Lucky Guy' opens in April next year, the statement said, and dramatizes the rise and fall of former tabloid columnist Mike McAlary as he covers the police scandals of a polarized, crime-ridden 1980s New York. McAlary died aged 41 in 1998.

Hanks, 56, has won two best actor Oscars for his performances in 'Philadelphia' and 'Forrest Gump' and is known for other popular films, but his stage acting has been limited to small Shakespeare productions in the 1970s.

Ephron started as a tabloid reporter before becoming known as a writer of essays, books and screenplays. She penned romantic comedies such as 1989's 'When Harry Met Sally', and wrote and directed 2009's 'Julie & Julia'.

'Lucky Guy' is billed as a drama with touches of her famed acerbic tone.

Her first Broadway play, 'Imaginary Friends', was produced in 2002 and starred Cherry Jones and Swoosie Kurtz. The play was largely panned by critics.

She also co-authored 'Love, Loss, and What I Wore' with her sister Delia, which was performed Off-Broadway to positive reviews in 2009 and enjoyed a long run followed by a national tour.

(Reporting by Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Christine Kearney and Dale Hudson)



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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

London film festival opens, Rolling Stones to star

LONDON (Reuters) - The London film festival opens on Wednesday with the European premiere of Tim Burton's stop-motion 3D animation drama 'Frankenweenie', kicking off the 12-day cinema showcase where more than 220 movies and documentaries will be screened.

It closes on October 21 with another European premiere, Mike Newell's adaptation of the classic Dickens novel 'Great Expectations' starring Ralph Fiennes as Abel Magwitch and Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham.

While not yet on a par with other festivals like Cannes and Toronto, which feature world premieres in their official selections, London allows people living in the capital to catch up with the latest arthouse movies from around the globe.

There will be stars on the red carpet too, most notably on October 18 when the Rolling Stones, one of rock'n'roll's biggest bands celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2012, appear to promote a new documentary 'Crossfire Hurricane'.

The movie, which is set to some of the group's most famous tracks, will focus mainly on the first 20 years, including the death in 1969 of founder member Brian Jones, musicians coming and going and memorable live performances.

The London film festival's new director Clare Stewart said several of the bigger titles would be screened at dozens of cinemas across Britain simultaneously with the premieres.

'Audiences around the UK will not only have the opportunity to see the film simultaneous to its premiere at Leicester Square ... but we'll also have the opportunity to see the red carpet action via live satellite,' she told Reuters.

Asked whether she would like to see more world premieres at the festival, she replied that several British films would debut in London.

'World premieres are only important in one context and that's about international media and reach, and that's important. But that's by no means the only reason for a festival,' she added.

Other big names appearing in London to promote their movies include Maggie Smith for Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut 'Quartet', Ben Affleck for his spy thriller 'Argo' and Helen Hunt for 'The Sessions'.

Among the movies Stewart has highlighted this year is 'Wadjda', which first screened in Venice last month, made by Saudi Arabia's first female director Haifaa Al Mansour.

Mansour is one of 12 debut directors shortlisted for the Sutherland Award honoring first-time filmmakers, as the festival aims to boost the profile of its prizes.

The main competition, also 12-strong and to be decided by a jury led by playwright and screenwriter David Hare, includes 'After Lucia' from Mexico, 'Fill the Void' from Israel, 'Ginger and Rosa' from Britain and 'In the House' from France.

At this year's awards ceremony on October 20 at the grand Banqueting House in central London, Burton and Bonham Carter will both receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor given by the British Film Institute industry body.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)



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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Nicolas Cage, Hayden Christensen sign on for "Outcast" for AFM

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Arclight Films is getting into the China business, with the feature film 'Outcast,' which is being presented to buyers ahead of next month's AFM with a cast that includes Hayden Christensen and Nicolas Cage, a person familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

Budgeted at $25 million, the film is set in 10th Century China, and follows a warrior who attempts to redeem himself by saving a princess.

James Dormer is writing the script for the feature, which will mark the directorial debut for stunt man, Nick Powell. Arclight Films is selling worldwide rights to the project, which is aiming to film next year.

Dormer has worked on a number of British television series, including the BBC's spy show, 'Spooks.' Cage recently signed on to 'I am Wrath' for Emmett/Furla, and David Gordon Green's southern drama, 'Joe.'

Reps for Christensen did respond for comment to TheWrap.



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Rushdie film to get India release despite protests

MUMBAI (Reuters) - A film based on Salman Rushdie's novel 'Midnight's Children' is set to be screened in India, its distributor said, a month after the movie's director said she feared 'insecure politicians' could prevent it from being shown.

The film, which chronicles the story of an Indian family living through the tumultuous events from India's recent past including the partition in 1947 and 1970s state of emergency, features a voiceover by Rushdie.

The British author, who won the coveted Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981, was forced to cancel a visit to a literature festival in his native India earlier this year after assassination threats were made against him.

Rushdie's 1988 novel 'The Satanic Verses', which many Muslims deemed blasphemous, is banned in India, and his depiction of sensitive issues like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's role during the Emergency in Midnight's Children had thrown the film's screening into doubt.

Director Deepa Mehta chose to film the movie in Sri Lanka instead of India, after her previous production in the country was hit by protests from right-wing Hindu groups.

But PVR Pictures, the distribution company that has acquired the film in India, does not expect any problems.

'We are not (expecting any trouble). We don't think the film is controversial,' Kamal Gianchandani, PVR's president, told Reuters, adding that the film was expected to be released in India in December.

He declined to say whether Rushdie, who has promoted the movie at festivals such as Toronto and Telluride, would be in India to launch it there.

'If the censor board has a perspective, it will be respected,' Gianchandani added. 'Whatever is the law of the land will be followed in (its) entirety.'

Last month, Mehta said she feared 'insecure politicians' might derail the film's release plans in India.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Henry Foy and Paul Casciato)



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Monday, October 8, 2012

Creator of "Sopranos" back with rock'n'roll tale

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The creator of the popular 'Sopranos' is back, this time on the big screen with a new saga set in the New Jersey suburbs filled with teenagers and rock 'n' roll instead of mobsters and violence.

David Chase's cinema debut, 'Not Fade Away', which premiered at the New York Film Festival, is a coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s, centered around a group of teens who form a band and taste the entwined allures of rock music and rebellion.

At the core of the story is Douglas, played by John Magaro with the sleepy eyes and curly mop of a young Bob Dylan, who aspires to become a singer and songwriter.

Along the way come friendships and conflicts among the band members and growing tension with Douglas' traditionally minded family, particularly his father, played by James Gandolfini.

Joining Gandolfini, best known as mobster Tony Soprano, in the making of 'Not Fade Away' is another 'Sopranos' alumnus, Steve Van Zandt. Van Zandt played mobster Silvio Dante on the hit HBO television series, produced and written by Chase, which ended five years ago.

A guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, Van Zandt served as music supervisor for 'Not Fade Away' and taught the actors to play hits by Buddy Holly, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks in a 3-month musical studio 'boot camp,' he said at a press briefing in New York.

'They're a band now. They could perform at a party tonight,' Van Zandt said. 'It took me, like, 10 years to learn what they learned in three months.'

Chase, 67, said the movie is immensely personal, but he stopped short of calling it autobiographical, despite his stint playing drums in a band as a teenager.

'We never got out of the basement,' he said. 'No one ever saw us.'

'Not Fade Away' is infused with music, from the songs the band members learn to play to the ones they dream of playing, the ones they listen to and the music in other scenes viewers get to hear.

And the music illustrates freedom, as promised by rock 'n' roll as Douglas tries to follow his dream, and the safer choices made by the older generation, poignantly depicted by Gandolfini as he listens to 'South Pacific' show tune 'Bali Ha'i' in his tiny New Jersey home.

The movie grows out of the conflict between security and freedom, Chase said.

'Human beings are always in that conflict about 'I want to be part of something, I want to be babied, I want to be taken care of' and ... 'I'm free and I can do what I want and I'm my own person,'' he said.

Early reviews have ranged from very good to fair. Some critics praised Chase's sharp dialogue and his ability to capture the era's social and political changes, and one described Gandolfini's performance as Oscar-worthy.

But other critics said Chase failed to develop his characters well and called his plot and story-telling formulaic, bringing no fresh insight to its look at an endlessly scrutinized era in U.S. history.

'Not Fade Away' is slated for release in December by Paramount Pictures.

(Editing by Christine Kearney; Editing by Richard Chang)



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"Wizard of Oz" dress set for auction, could fetch $500,000

(Reuters) - Judy Garland's blue-and-white pinafore from the beloved classic 'The Wizard of Oz' is going up for auction, where it is expected to sell for more than a half a million dollars, auctioneers said on Monday.

The outfit, consisting of the gingham dress and white puffy-sleeved blouse, which Garland wore throughout the 1939 film, will be sold next month at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, the auction house said in a statement.

Julien's estimated the outfit would sell for between $400,000 and $600,000, but similarly iconic Hollywood costumes have fetched many times the pre-sale expectations in recent years.

President Darren Julien told Reuters the dress, by MGM's famous costume designer, Adrian, had not been offered for sale, nor even publicly seen, since MGM costume designer Kent Warner sold it at Christie's in 1981.

'It's one of those key pieces that I'm sure collectors all over the world are going to be after,' said pop culture expert Laura Woolley of the Collector's Lab, an appraisal service for collectors, museums and other institutions, in a YouTube clip posted by Julien's.

'This is one piece that everybody recognizes instantly,' she said of the dress prominently featured in the Technicolor musical, which is still hugely popular with both children and adults nearly 75 years after it was made.

Another of Garland's dresses used in test shots for the film soared to nearly $1 million at auction last year, its $910,000 price more than 10 times the $60,000 to $80,000 estimate.

At the same sale of costumes from film star Debbie Reynolds' collection, which took in nearly $23 million, Marilyn Monroe's iconic 'subway dress' from 1955 movie 'The Seven Year Itch' sold for $4.6 million, or $5.5 million including commission and tax.

The 'Wizard of Oz' dress will go on public exhibition at Julien's in Beverly Hills from November 5-8 ahead of the two-day auction.

Other Hollywood memorabilia on offer at the November 9-10 sale include the white strapless Edith Head gown worn by Elizabeth Taylor in 'A Place in the Sun,' which is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000, and a Cecil Beaton triptych of Marilyn Monroe, which hung in Monroe's New York apartment, estimated at $35,000 to $40,000.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud in New York, editing by Jill Serjeant and Andre Grenon)



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