LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Kristen Wiig will contribute to the lunacy in 'Anchorman: The Legend Continues.'
Director Adam McKay announced on Facebook that the 'Bridesmaids' star had joined the cast of the follow-up to the 2004 hit.
'Kristen Wiig is officially on board for Anchorman 2,' McKay wrote. 'Couldn't be more excited.'
TheWrap first reported that Wiig was eyeing the project in December. McKay did not say what role she would play in the film, but sources told TheWrap at the time that she would play the love interest of Brick Tamland, the dim-witted weatherman played by Steve Carell in the first movie.
Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd are all reprising their roles in the sequel, with Judd Apatow once again producing the picture.
'Anchorman: The Legend Continues' will hit theaters on December 20, 2013.
The 'Saturday Night Live' vet, who earned an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay for 2012's breakout hit 'Bridesmaids,' will star opposite Ben Stiller in the remake of 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' and will lend her voice to 'Despicable Me 2.'
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Robert De Niro cements place in Hollywood movies
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Double Oscar winner Robert De Niro cemented his place in acting history on Monday by placing his hands and feet in concrete in front of Hollywood's historic Chinese Theatre.
De Niro, 69, gave a short thank you speech with a few punchlines of his own.
'(Actor) Joe Pesci always said I'd end up with my feet in cement. I don't think this is what he had in mind,' said De Niro, referring to the many gangster movies he has filmed over his 40-year career.
'They say everyone in the film industry has three homes - the home where they live, the home where their first wife lives, and Hollywood. I love New York, and I'm proud to be a citizen of Hollywood. Thank you for this honor and thank you for making me feel at home here,' he said.
De Niro, who founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 in a bid to revive lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001, attacks, is in the running for a third Oscar this month for his supporting role in comedy 'Silver Linings Playbook.'
Billy Crystal, who played therapist to De Niro's insecure mob boss in the 1999 film 'Analyze This,' praised the New York actor for his ability to bridge comedies like 'Meet the Parents' and dramas such as 'GoodFellas' and 'Taxi Driver.'
'Even in his darkest performances, even in 'Raging Bull' ... he could make you laugh, and that he did in spades in 'Analyze This.' ... I'm not used to playing straight for anybody, but it was a thrill of a lifetime to be on the opposite side of that genius,' Crystal said.
'Silver Linings Playbook' director David O. Russell praised De Niro's sensitivity in taking on the role of the father of a bipolar son in the movie.
'When we first read the script together he cried because he has known people who struggled with PTSD or bipolar disorder. ... Many families are no stranger to these challenges and they have to find the magic and the love that Bob brought in his soul, and he did bring his soul to this movie,' Russell said.
De Niro won Oscars for his lead role in 'Raging Bull' and his supporting turn in 'The Godfather: Part II.'
His handprints and footprints in the courtyard of the Chinese Theatre are near those of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)
De Niro, 69, gave a short thank you speech with a few punchlines of his own.
'(Actor) Joe Pesci always said I'd end up with my feet in cement. I don't think this is what he had in mind,' said De Niro, referring to the many gangster movies he has filmed over his 40-year career.
'They say everyone in the film industry has three homes - the home where they live, the home where their first wife lives, and Hollywood. I love New York, and I'm proud to be a citizen of Hollywood. Thank you for this honor and thank you for making me feel at home here,' he said.
De Niro, who founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002 in a bid to revive lower Manhattan after the September 11, 2001, attacks, is in the running for a third Oscar this month for his supporting role in comedy 'Silver Linings Playbook.'
Billy Crystal, who played therapist to De Niro's insecure mob boss in the 1999 film 'Analyze This,' praised the New York actor for his ability to bridge comedies like 'Meet the Parents' and dramas such as 'GoodFellas' and 'Taxi Driver.'
'Even in his darkest performances, even in 'Raging Bull' ... he could make you laugh, and that he did in spades in 'Analyze This.' ... I'm not used to playing straight for anybody, but it was a thrill of a lifetime to be on the opposite side of that genius,' Crystal said.
'Silver Linings Playbook' director David O. Russell praised De Niro's sensitivity in taking on the role of the father of a bipolar son in the movie.
'When we first read the script together he cried because he has known people who struggled with PTSD or bipolar disorder. ... Many families are no stranger to these challenges and they have to find the magic and the love that Bob brought in his soul, and he did bring his soul to this movie,' Russell said.
De Niro won Oscars for his lead role in 'Raging Bull' and his supporting turn in 'The Godfather: Part II.'
His handprints and footprints in the courtyard of the Chinese Theatre are near those of Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Brad Pitt and George Clooney.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)
Monday, February 4, 2013
For "Life of Pi," the secret to its sound is in the silence
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi' was a famously difficult movie to pull off, a philosophical and spiritual journey featuring a young protagonist (don't work with kids) stranded on the open sea (don't work on water) with his only companion, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (don't work with animals).
Throw in a beloved bestselling book whose devoted fans would be comparing the adaptation to the novel, extensive special effects that included a menagerie of largely CG animals, and Lee's decision to shoot in 3D for the first time, and only the truest of true believers would have dared suggest that the movie would end up an international hit with grosses approaching $450 million, and a critical favorite with 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and both sound categories.
For Oscar nominated sound mixers Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett and Drew Kunin, 'Life of Pi' was both a technical challenge and a spiritual journey - as Hemphill termed it, 'one of the most beautiful mixing experiences I've ever had.' Hemphill and Bartlett spoke to TheWrap about sound, silence and the particular challenges of an impossible movie that turned out to be possible after all.
What was your basic approach to the sound mix on 'Life of Pi?'
Doug Hemphill: It was all based on the tacit understanding that the sound reflected Pi's inner life and the arc of the story. That was our roadmap, but since Ang is incredibly creative, we took chances here and there and went to different places. And the way I always work, I try to stay in the audience. It's not a technical job to me. It's a job of feeling emotions and participating in the film and the story, and responding with sound as if I was an audience member. Would I like to have quiet here? Would I like to have some sound that would help tell the story better? It's just a million choices that are sometimes based on your instincts.
You talked about the quiet, and a lot of the movie takes place in a setting that seems very quiet: the open sea, particularly when it's calm.
Hemphill: There are so many things going on in the film, and one of them is the Buddhist idea that you can't have anything until you lose everything. Ang said to me, 'Sometimes in film there's a desire to fill in the quiet spaces with something, and I don't want to do that.' He wanted to have that quiet, and let people think and absorb, as Pi was doing in the film. It takes confidence to be able to do that.
Ron Bartlett: There were moments in the film where we really went with a more sparse, isolated feel. Out in the middle of the ocean we purposely dialed some things back and didn't fill the track up with sounds for story reasons. Pi's abandoned, he's alone, he's totally isolated, and we didn't want to wrap a lot of sound around him.
Hemphill: That's a maxim that was used throughout 'Life of Pi' in the track. It's like a writer saying, 'Let the readers finish the sentence and bring themselves into the story.' Certainly with sound and music, when you hold back a little it can be just right for the story, because it doesn't crowd the audience.
I spoke to composer Mychael Danna, and he said at first he sometimes found himself trying to put too many ideas into the music. But he had to learn to dial it back, and simplify what he was doing.
Hemphill: The whole film is like that. It's not a literal movie about including the sounds of everything you see. It's about what is necessary to tell the story and leave breathing room. Mychael was definitely very conscious of that, and I think he wrote one of the most beautiful scores I've heard in a long time. I can't tell you the effect that score had on us when we were working on it.
Bartlett: The music was really the heart and soul of the film, and it was a dream gig to mix that kind of score. The challenge was to make it the best I could, because I had so much respect for it.
Let's talk about the sequence in the movie where Pi and Richard Parker find themselves on an island occupied by tens of thousands of meerkats, all of them chattering away.
Hemphill: We were just laughing about that last night. Ang said to Eugene Gearty, who did the sound design, 'OK, you've got 100,000 meerkats in the movie, Eugene. What are you going to do?' And Eugene knew it had better be good. He was out recording meerkats until he probably became the world's leading expert in meerkat vocalizations.
Bartlett: He used some great tricks with the sound design to make it feel like a crowd. And there are so many different emotions running through that sequence. Pi is elated, he wakes up with the sound of the water lapping, and now he's got land and water and food and everything's great. And then he find that something weird is going on. So many different emotions, all in one sequence.
Was it tricky to find just the right balance in a sequence like that?
Hemphill: Very. Volume changes, revealing things but leaving the audience enough room to dive into the story - all the little adjustments make such a big difference. I'll give you another example: One of our biggest challenges was when Pi and Richard Parker are in the lifeboat and they're dying, and the tiger's head is in his lap, and Pi says, 'Can you feel the rain?' We worked hard to get the flat, dead-sounding rain plops, and have that be very sparse and funereal. And with Richard Parker's vocals, we made a very conscious choice not to have any growls, just labored breathing and wheezing.
As Ang said, Richard Parker has his head on Pi's lap not because he's his friend, but because he's too weak to attack him.
Bartlett: Things were so exposed in the film that you had to have the exact right sound, the right level. Everything was magnified because of the sparseness at times. And then it would go the other direction, like the storm sequence or the shipwreck sequence, where you're flooded with sounds. It goes from the sparsest raindrops to the hugest storm.
The two storms, though, play very differently onscreen.
Hemphill: Yeah. I've worked on a lot of movies with storm sequences, like 'Master and Commander,' and the first storm sequence in 'Pi' wasn't a big action setpiece for me. It was about Pi being frightened and alone and separated from his family. So the storm had a real emotional content to me. It wasn't about, 'This is a Ferrari with the pedal to the metal.'
And for the second storm, we changed the paradigm. That storm was about Pi's epiphany. Even though visually there was a huge storm, sonically it was the music that was telling the story and conveying the emotion. I was tasked with having a certain amount of what you saw in the soundtrack, because you see the storm. But what I chose to do was use filters to take frequencies out that would leave the music room and freedom to play, but still give the audience the sense of a storm under the music.
Bartlett: To rack focus, but respective of sound.
Hemphill: That's what we do. To the layman I say, 'You know how a cameraman racks focus to determine what you'll be looking at? We do the same with sound.'
Throw in a beloved bestselling book whose devoted fans would be comparing the adaptation to the novel, extensive special effects that included a menagerie of largely CG animals, and Lee's decision to shoot in 3D for the first time, and only the truest of true believers would have dared suggest that the movie would end up an international hit with grosses approaching $450 million, and a critical favorite with 11 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and both sound categories.
For Oscar nominated sound mixers Doug Hemphill, Ron Bartlett and Drew Kunin, 'Life of Pi' was both a technical challenge and a spiritual journey - as Hemphill termed it, 'one of the most beautiful mixing experiences I've ever had.' Hemphill and Bartlett spoke to TheWrap about sound, silence and the particular challenges of an impossible movie that turned out to be possible after all.
What was your basic approach to the sound mix on 'Life of Pi?'
Doug Hemphill: It was all based on the tacit understanding that the sound reflected Pi's inner life and the arc of the story. That was our roadmap, but since Ang is incredibly creative, we took chances here and there and went to different places. And the way I always work, I try to stay in the audience. It's not a technical job to me. It's a job of feeling emotions and participating in the film and the story, and responding with sound as if I was an audience member. Would I like to have quiet here? Would I like to have some sound that would help tell the story better? It's just a million choices that are sometimes based on your instincts.
You talked about the quiet, and a lot of the movie takes place in a setting that seems very quiet: the open sea, particularly when it's calm.
Hemphill: There are so many things going on in the film, and one of them is the Buddhist idea that you can't have anything until you lose everything. Ang said to me, 'Sometimes in film there's a desire to fill in the quiet spaces with something, and I don't want to do that.' He wanted to have that quiet, and let people think and absorb, as Pi was doing in the film. It takes confidence to be able to do that.
Ron Bartlett: There were moments in the film where we really went with a more sparse, isolated feel. Out in the middle of the ocean we purposely dialed some things back and didn't fill the track up with sounds for story reasons. Pi's abandoned, he's alone, he's totally isolated, and we didn't want to wrap a lot of sound around him.
Hemphill: That's a maxim that was used throughout 'Life of Pi' in the track. It's like a writer saying, 'Let the readers finish the sentence and bring themselves into the story.' Certainly with sound and music, when you hold back a little it can be just right for the story, because it doesn't crowd the audience.
I spoke to composer Mychael Danna, and he said at first he sometimes found himself trying to put too many ideas into the music. But he had to learn to dial it back, and simplify what he was doing.
Hemphill: The whole film is like that. It's not a literal movie about including the sounds of everything you see. It's about what is necessary to tell the story and leave breathing room. Mychael was definitely very conscious of that, and I think he wrote one of the most beautiful scores I've heard in a long time. I can't tell you the effect that score had on us when we were working on it.
Bartlett: The music was really the heart and soul of the film, and it was a dream gig to mix that kind of score. The challenge was to make it the best I could, because I had so much respect for it.
Let's talk about the sequence in the movie where Pi and Richard Parker find themselves on an island occupied by tens of thousands of meerkats, all of them chattering away.
Hemphill: We were just laughing about that last night. Ang said to Eugene Gearty, who did the sound design, 'OK, you've got 100,000 meerkats in the movie, Eugene. What are you going to do?' And Eugene knew it had better be good. He was out recording meerkats until he probably became the world's leading expert in meerkat vocalizations.
Bartlett: He used some great tricks with the sound design to make it feel like a crowd. And there are so many different emotions running through that sequence. Pi is elated, he wakes up with the sound of the water lapping, and now he's got land and water and food and everything's great. And then he find that something weird is going on. So many different emotions, all in one sequence.
Was it tricky to find just the right balance in a sequence like that?
Hemphill: Very. Volume changes, revealing things but leaving the audience enough room to dive into the story - all the little adjustments make such a big difference. I'll give you another example: One of our biggest challenges was when Pi and Richard Parker are in the lifeboat and they're dying, and the tiger's head is in his lap, and Pi says, 'Can you feel the rain?' We worked hard to get the flat, dead-sounding rain plops, and have that be very sparse and funereal. And with Richard Parker's vocals, we made a very conscious choice not to have any growls, just labored breathing and wheezing.
As Ang said, Richard Parker has his head on Pi's lap not because he's his friend, but because he's too weak to attack him.
Bartlett: Things were so exposed in the film that you had to have the exact right sound, the right level. Everything was magnified because of the sparseness at times. And then it would go the other direction, like the storm sequence or the shipwreck sequence, where you're flooded with sounds. It goes from the sparsest raindrops to the hugest storm.
The two storms, though, play very differently onscreen.
Hemphill: Yeah. I've worked on a lot of movies with storm sequences, like 'Master and Commander,' and the first storm sequence in 'Pi' wasn't a big action setpiece for me. It was about Pi being frightened and alone and separated from his family. So the storm had a real emotional content to me. It wasn't about, 'This is a Ferrari with the pedal to the metal.'
And for the second storm, we changed the paradigm. That storm was about Pi's epiphany. Even though visually there was a huge storm, sonically it was the music that was telling the story and conveying the emotion. I was tasked with having a certain amount of what you saw in the soundtrack, because you see the storm. But what I chose to do was use filters to take frequencies out that would leave the music room and freedom to play, but still give the audience the sense of a storm under the music.
Bartlett: To rack focus, but respective of sound.
Hemphill: That's what we do. To the layman I say, 'You know how a cameraman racks focus to determine what you'll be looking at? We do the same with sound.'
"The Heiress" with Jessica Chastain recoups investment
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - 'The Heiress' will recoup its $3 million investment, the Broadway show's producers said Monday.
The revival of the play will move into the back during the final week of its performances. Starring Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn and 'Downton Abbey's' Dan Stevens, the play injected a bit of Hollywood glamour into Broadway this fall. It will have played 27 previews and 117 regular performances when it completes its limited run on February 9.
The announcement is impressive given that it has been a difficult fall for many plays on Broadway, with star-studded productions like 'Dead Accounts' with Katie Holmes folding early and critically adored revivals, such as the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's revival of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,' playing to half-empty houses.
Reviews of 'The Heiress' were mixed, with many critics complaining that Chastain was miscast as the dowdy heiress of the title.
'Wearing a mousy brown wig and hunching her shoulders, Ms. Chastain improbably manages to simulate homeliness,' Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times. 'And her face registers feelings sharply and legibly. But, curiously for an expert film actress, she is guilty here of oversignaling the thoughts within.'
However, the production likely benefited from its star's association with one of this winter's most buzzed about films - 'Zero Dark Thirty' - which scored a second Academy Award nomination for Chastain and raised her profile even higher.
Written by Ruth & Augustus Goetz and based on the novella by Henry James, the revival of 'The Heiress' was directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moisés Kaufman.
It was produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Luigi Caiola/Rose Caiola, Jim Herbert, Ted Liebowitz, Stacey Mindich, Jill Furman, Ricardo Hornos, Jon B. Platt, Eric Schmidt, Margo Lion/Rachel Weinstein and Jujamcyn Theaters.
The revival of the play will move into the back during the final week of its performances. Starring Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn and 'Downton Abbey's' Dan Stevens, the play injected a bit of Hollywood glamour into Broadway this fall. It will have played 27 previews and 117 regular performances when it completes its limited run on February 9.
The announcement is impressive given that it has been a difficult fall for many plays on Broadway, with star-studded productions like 'Dead Accounts' with Katie Holmes folding early and critically adored revivals, such as the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's revival of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf,' playing to half-empty houses.
Reviews of 'The Heiress' were mixed, with many critics complaining that Chastain was miscast as the dowdy heiress of the title.
'Wearing a mousy brown wig and hunching her shoulders, Ms. Chastain improbably manages to simulate homeliness,' Ben Brantley wrote in the New York Times. 'And her face registers feelings sharply and legibly. But, curiously for an expert film actress, she is guilty here of oversignaling the thoughts within.'
However, the production likely benefited from its star's association with one of this winter's most buzzed about films - 'Zero Dark Thirty' - which scored a second Academy Award nomination for Chastain and raised her profile even higher.
Written by Ruth & Augustus Goetz and based on the novella by Henry James, the revival of 'The Heiress' was directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moisés Kaufman.
It was produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Luigi Caiola/Rose Caiola, Jim Herbert, Ted Liebowitz, Stacey Mindich, Jill Furman, Ricardo Hornos, Jon B. Platt, Eric Schmidt, Margo Lion/Rachel Weinstein and Jujamcyn Theaters.
Bruce Greenwood joins Atom Egoyan's "Queen of the Night"
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Bruce Greenwood has joined the cast of Atom Egoyan's 'Queen of the Night,' which begins filming Monday in Ontario.
Greenwood is fresh off a role as Denzel Washington's supportive pilot's union representative in last year's 'Flight.' He is best known for playing John F. Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis drama 'Thirteen Days,' and has worked with Egoyan four previous times. Among other projects, the two collaborated for the Oscar-nominated 'The Sweet Hereafter' and on the recently completed crime drama 'Devil's Knot.'
Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson and Mireille Enos will co-star in 'Queen of the Night.'
In addition to Greenwood, the film's producers said that Kevin Durand ('Fruitvale') and Alexia Fast ('Jack Reacher') have also joined the cast.
Reynolds and Enos play the parents of an abducted child, who become convinced that their missing daughter is still alive. Greenwood plays a successful developer.
Greenwood is fresh off a role as Denzel Washington's supportive pilot's union representative in last year's 'Flight.' He is best known for playing John F. Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis drama 'Thirteen Days,' and has worked with Egoyan four previous times. Among other projects, the two collaborated for the Oscar-nominated 'The Sweet Hereafter' and on the recently completed crime drama 'Devil's Knot.'
Ryan Reynolds, Scott Speedman, Rosario Dawson and Mireille Enos will co-star in 'Queen of the Night.'
In addition to Greenwood, the film's producers said that Kevin Durand ('Fruitvale') and Alexia Fast ('Jack Reacher') have also joined the cast.
Reynolds and Enos play the parents of an abducted child, who become convinced that their missing daughter is still alive. Greenwood plays a successful developer.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Actress Kerry Washington wins big at NAACP Image Awards
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Kerry Washington was the big winner at the NAACP Image Awards on Friday, picking up awards for her roles in the slavery-era Western film 'Django Unchained' and television drama 'Scandal,' as well as a special honor for professional achievement and public service.
But on a night that celebrated the successes of artists of color, actor and activist Harry Belafonte struck a somber note when he admonished the black community for failing to speak out in favor of gun control, saying 'the group most devastated by America's obsession with the gun is African-Americans.'
Washington received the best supporting actress in a movie award for her role as a slave in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' and best actress in a television drama for 'Scandal,' in which she plays a crisis-management expert.
'This award does not belong to me. It belongs to our ancestors,' Washington said in accepting her award for 'Django Unchained,' which has received a mixed reaction from the black community for its portrayal of slavery and its violence.
Both Washington and 'Django' co-star Jamie Foxx, who received the entertainer of the year award, thanked Tarantino for making the film.
''Django' was an absolute blessing of a movie,' Foxx said. 'Thank you Quentin Tarantino for having the courage to do it.'
'Django' failed to pick up the image award for best movie, losing to 'Red Tails,' a film about African-American wartime pilots.
The NAACP also honored Washington with a special award for both her political activism, including her work on President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, and for being the first black woman in 40 years to star in a prime-time drama on network television.
'I stand here tonight on the shoulders of those who have blazed a path of art and activism,' Washington said, mentioning Belafonte specifically.
Belafonte took the stage later to accept his own special award for his decades of political activism. He used his speech to implore the black community to support gun control, an issue that has received heightened attention since a December shooting at a Connecticut school killed 20 children and six adults.
'In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children,' Belafonte said. 'Where is the raised voice of black America? Why are we mute?'
The night's other winners included Denzel Washington, who won the best actor in a movie award for his role as an alcoholic pilot in 'Flight,' and LL Cool J, who picked up best actor in a TV drama for 'NCIS: Los Angeles.'
The NAACP Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of film, television, music and literature, and also honor individuals or groups who promote social justice.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909, is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States.
(Reporting By Nichola Groom; Editing by Eric Beech)
But on a night that celebrated the successes of artists of color, actor and activist Harry Belafonte struck a somber note when he admonished the black community for failing to speak out in favor of gun control, saying 'the group most devastated by America's obsession with the gun is African-Americans.'
Washington received the best supporting actress in a movie award for her role as a slave in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' and best actress in a television drama for 'Scandal,' in which she plays a crisis-management expert.
'This award does not belong to me. It belongs to our ancestors,' Washington said in accepting her award for 'Django Unchained,' which has received a mixed reaction from the black community for its portrayal of slavery and its violence.
Both Washington and 'Django' co-star Jamie Foxx, who received the entertainer of the year award, thanked Tarantino for making the film.
''Django' was an absolute blessing of a movie,' Foxx said. 'Thank you Quentin Tarantino for having the courage to do it.'
'Django' failed to pick up the image award for best movie, losing to 'Red Tails,' a film about African-American wartime pilots.
The NAACP also honored Washington with a special award for both her political activism, including her work on President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, and for being the first black woman in 40 years to star in a prime-time drama on network television.
'I stand here tonight on the shoulders of those who have blazed a path of art and activism,' Washington said, mentioning Belafonte specifically.
Belafonte took the stage later to accept his own special award for his decades of political activism. He used his speech to implore the black community to support gun control, an issue that has received heightened attention since a December shooting at a Connecticut school killed 20 children and six adults.
'In the gun game, we are the most hunted. The river of blood that washes the streets of our nation flows mostly from the bodies of our black children,' Belafonte said. 'Where is the raised voice of black America? Why are we mute?'
The night's other winners included Denzel Washington, who won the best actor in a movie award for his role as an alcoholic pilot in 'Flight,' and LL Cool J, who picked up best actor in a TV drama for 'NCIS: Los Angeles.'
The NAACP Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of film, television, music and literature, and also honor individuals or groups who promote social justice.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909, is the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the United States.
(Reporting By Nichola Groom; Editing by Eric Beech)
Friday, February 1, 2013
Julia Stiles Joins Mary Pickford Biopic 'The First'
NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Julia Stiles has joined the cast of the Mary Pickford biopic 'The First' to play famed screenwriter Frances Marion, Poverty Row Entertainment announced Thursday.
Marion was the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, taking the prize in 1930 for 'The Big House.' She collaborated often with Pickford, writing the scripts for 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' and 'The Poor Little Rich Girl.'
'The First,' based on Eileen Whitfield's biography, 'Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood,' tells the story of one of Hollywood's first superstars.
'Julia is someone I could instantly envision in that era and within the world of Old Hollywood,' director Jennifer DeLia said in a statement. 'I've watched her work since I was a kid in the mid-90's when she was emerging as a very cool and very talented actress, and in my eyes, she has never wavered from being someone totally dedicated to what she does. '
Stiles last appeared in David O. Russell's Oscar-nominated 'Silver Linings Playbook' and the YouTube series 'Blue,' a show on Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia's WIGS channel. She recently finished shooting John Crowley's 'Closed Circuit' and will next appear in 'Aguar Rojas' for Jonathan King and Participant Media.
In 'The First,' she joins a cast that includes Lily Rabe as Pickford, Michael Pitt as Pickford's first husband Owen Moore and Ryan Simpkins as a young Pickford.
DeLia and producer Julie Pacino will be taking meetings at the Berlin Film Festival for the movie and must still cast roles such as Pickford's second husband and fellow star, Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks' great grandson Dominick Fairbanks is a producer on the project.
Marion was the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, taking the prize in 1930 for 'The Big House.' She collaborated often with Pickford, writing the scripts for 'Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm' and 'The Poor Little Rich Girl.'
'The First,' based on Eileen Whitfield's biography, 'Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood,' tells the story of one of Hollywood's first superstars.
'Julia is someone I could instantly envision in that era and within the world of Old Hollywood,' director Jennifer DeLia said in a statement. 'I've watched her work since I was a kid in the mid-90's when she was emerging as a very cool and very talented actress, and in my eyes, she has never wavered from being someone totally dedicated to what she does. '
Stiles last appeared in David O. Russell's Oscar-nominated 'Silver Linings Playbook' and the YouTube series 'Blue,' a show on Jon Avnet and Rodrigo Garcia's WIGS channel. She recently finished shooting John Crowley's 'Closed Circuit' and will next appear in 'Aguar Rojas' for Jonathan King and Participant Media.
In 'The First,' she joins a cast that includes Lily Rabe as Pickford, Michael Pitt as Pickford's first husband Owen Moore and Ryan Simpkins as a young Pickford.
DeLia and producer Julie Pacino will be taking meetings at the Berlin Film Festival for the movie and must still cast roles such as Pickford's second husband and fellow star, Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks' great grandson Dominick Fairbanks is a producer on the project.
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