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Category: Hollywood

  • Voice cast announced for ‘Angry Birds’ movie

    Voice cast announced for ‘Angry Birds’ movie

    MUMBAI: Columbia pictures announced the cast for its upcoming animated film adaptation of popular game Angry Birds.

     

    The cast was revealed after fans of the game worked together to sling one billion birds over the past 48 hours.

     

    The film will center on a furious flock of three: Red, Chuck and Bomb.

     

    Horrible Bosses fame actor Jason Sudeikis will lead the cast as Red, a bird with a temper problem, accompanied with Jobs’ Josh Gad as speedy Chuck, and Danny McBride of Eastbound & Down as the volatile Bomb.

     

    Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage will bring the character of legendary Mighty Eagle alive on screen while Matilda, the white bird who lays egg bombs, will be voiced by Maya Rudolph of Bridesmaids fame.

     

    The movie will also will feature Bill Hader, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon, Tony Hale, Ike Barinholtz and Hannibal Buress.

     

    “I’m extremely proud of this cast. Not only do we have Jason, Josh, Danny, Bill, Maya and Peter bringing these characters to life, but they’re surrounded by an all-star ensemble of emerging comic talent — these are some of the funniest people out there today, and we’re thrilled to have them all on board,” said John Cohen, producer of the film, in a press release.

     

    The film is set for a 1 July 2016 release and will be directed by Fergal Reilly of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and Frozen famed Clay Kaytis while the screenplay will be written by Jon Vitti of The Simpsons. The movie is a partnership between Finnish Angry Birds creator Rovio and Hollywood studio Sony.

     

    The Angry Birds movie will mark game maker Rovio’s first leap into feature films, though they have been producing ‘Angry Birds Toons’ through their Toons TV online channel.

  • George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin honeymoon at new home

    George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin honeymoon at new home

    MUMBAI: Home is where the heart is. Indeed so for newlywed’s Hollywood actor George Clooney and his lawyer wife Amal Alamuddin who have opted to spend their honeymoon at their new home rather than at an exotic locale.

     

    While the celebrity couple’s marriage celebration culminated on 27 September they have decided to spend their honeymoon at their new home which was purchased two months ago. The new home lies in the Berkshire, England. They have decided to spend around two weeks in each other’s company as they wanted to spend a simple honeymoon without any disturbances.

     

    The house is said to be luxurious and well decorated and is set in the countryside. The couple is expected to resume their work duties in the coming weeks.

  • First trailer of Bradley Cooper starring ‘American Sniper’ Released

    First trailer of Bradley Cooper starring ‘American Sniper’ Released

    MUMBAI: Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper, the first trailer for the war drama American Sniper was released on 3 October.

     

    The actor stars as real-life Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in American Sniper, who served multiple tours of duty in Iraq and was heavily decorated for his service, has taken credit for 160 confirmed kills. The drama is based on the 2013 memoir of Chris Kyle, who was regarded as ‘the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.’

     

    Kyle, whose book was a best-seller, was shot and killed at a Texas gun range in February 2013. He was 38 years old.

     

    The official synopsis of the movie says, “From director Clint Eastwood comes “American Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history.  But there was much more to him than his skill as a sharpshooter.  U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle is sent to Iraq with only one mission: to protect his brothers-in-arms.  His pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and, as stories of his courageous exploits spread, he earns the nickname ‘Legend’.  However, his reputation is also growing behind enemy lines, putting a price on his head and making him a prime target of insurgents.  He is also facing a different kind of battle on the home front: striving to be a good husband and father from halfway around the world.  Despite the danger, as well as the toll on his family at home, Chris serves through four harrowing tours of duty in Iraq, personifying the SEAL creed to ‘leave no man behind’.  But upon returning to his wife, Taya Renae Kyle (Sienna Miller), and kids, Chris finds that it is the war he can’t leave behind.”

     

    Co-starring Sienna Miller, Jake McDorman, Luke Grimes, Navid Negahan and Keir O’Donnell, American Sniper opens in limited release on Christmas Day and goes wide on 16 January 2015. The movie has been produced by Cooper.

     

    The trailer highlights the precarious balance Kyle faces as he balances his military duties with his home life.

     

    Click here to watch the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRbAXWfthtA

     

    The movie is slated to release on Christmas this year.

     

    Cooper, who voiced Rocket Racoon in the summer blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy, has received past Academy Award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle.

  • Denzel Washington wins Lifetime Achievement Award

    Denzel Washington wins Lifetime Achievement Award

    NEW DELHI: Well-known actor Denzel Washington received the Donostia lifetime achievement award during the opening gala of the 62 San Sebastian Film Festival, which concluded on 30 September.

     

    Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer, starring  Washington was chosen to open the San Sebastian Festival.

     

    Sixty-year old Washington, is an actor, film director, and film producer. He has received much critical acclaim for his work in film since the 1990s, including for his portrayals of real-life figures such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone. Washington is a featured actor in the films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and was also a frequent collaborator of the late director Tony Scott.

     

    Washington has received two Golden Globe awards, a Tony Award and two Academy Awards for Best during a career which began in 1974 and in which he has so far starred in about fifty films. 

     

    Also, Richard Linklater’s 12-year project Boyhood was chosen the best film of the past year by the members of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESC).

     

    This is the first time a film by Richard Linklater receives FIPRESCI’s Grand Prix, which has already gone to Michael Haneke, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jafar Panahi, Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Luc Godard, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, among others, since its establishment in 1999.

  • India in focus in the ‘New World View’ at Zurich Film Festival

    India in focus in the ‘New World View’ at Zurich Film Festival

    NEW DELHI: A total of 12 Indian features and six shortfilms are being showcased in the ongoing Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) in which India is the focus in the ‘New World View’ section.

     

    The Festival is being held from 25 September to 5 October. Chaitanya Tamhane’s ‘Lion of the future’ winner Court and recent festival favourites Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus and Kanu Behl’s Titli are among the selected films.

     

    A package of shorts curated by Swiss Short Film Festival Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur will be on display as well. There are six shorts made by Anurag Goswami , Varun Chawla , Hossein Mozdgir Roozane , Rodd Rathjen , Payal Kapadia  and Gitanjali Rao.

     

    The other features include Fandry by Nagraj Manjule; Gulabi Gang by Nishtha Jain; I.D by Kamal K.M.; Katiyabaaz by Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa; Liar’s Dice by Geethu Mohandas (which is India’s selection for the Oscars); Lucia by Pawan Kumar; Monsoon Shootout by Amit Kumar; Soodhu Kavvum by Nalan Kumarasamy, and Sulemani Keeda by Amit Masurkar.

     

    Festival’s artistic director Karl Spoerri, one of the festival founders in October 2005, said, “The event will also include a Game Changer award for Mediakraft Networks president Christoph Krachten, honouring a visionary who breaks new ground while choosing to ignore convention and popular opinion”.

     

    ZFF will also introduce an out-of-competition strand to present television productions that have garnered international attention.

     

    The third International Film Music Competition will also be held during the festival and brings with it Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award and a concert of his most famous works.        

     

    ZFF’s partnership with San Sebastian Film Festival will continue, with each hosting a window dedicated to films from their respective countries rather than competing for titles.

     

  • Hugh Grant returns to romcom with ‘The Rewrite’

    Hugh Grant returns to romcom with ‘The Rewrite’

    MUMBAI: After a gap of five years, Hugh Grant is making a return to romantic comedies with The Rewrite.

     

    Written and directed by Marc Lawrence, the movie also stars Marisa Tomei, Allison Janney, JK Simmons and Chris Elliott.

     

    In the new comedy, the British actor plays a screenwriter whose Hollywood career peaked in late 80s. Now divorced and broke, he reluctantly accepts a teaching job at an American university.

     

    Marisa Tomei co-stars as one of his students (Holly), who isn’t impressed by the level of commitment that the professor is putting forth. Holly is a single mother who’s taking classes to earn her degree. Meanwhile, Keith gets himself caught in a web of lies involving Matt Damon and Ryan Gosling.

     

    This is Lawrence’s fourth collaboration with Grant after Did You Hear about the Morgans?, Music and Lyrics, and Two Weeks Notice.

     

    The Rewrite is Grant’s first romcom since 2009’s Did You Hear About the Morgans? In the meantime, Grant voiced The Pirate Captain in Aardman’s high-seas stop-motion adventure The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!, and also appeared in the film adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas in a variety of roles including a nuclear power plant boss, an elderly care home escapee, and a vicious futuristic cannibal tribesman.

     

    The movie is slated to hit theaters on 8 October in the UK, but no US release date has been announced yet.

  • Natalie Dormer to play zombie in ‘Patient Zero’

    Natalie Dormer to play zombie in ‘Patient Zero’

    MUMBAI: Natalie Dormer has been confirmed to star in the Stefan Ruzowitzky’s upcoming zombie movie Patient Zero.

     

    The movie is based around a mutated form of rabies that turns the infected predators into a new species, addicted to violence and with its own language and one man has ‘the unique ability to speak with the undead’ and sets out on a mission to find the cure and save his zombified wife.

     

    Scripted by Mike Le, Vincent Newman is set to produce the film through his company Vincent Newman Entertainment. The movie is yet to be given a release date.

     

    Meanwhile, Dormer will next be seen playing Cressida in ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 in November and then again in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 next year.

     

    The blonde beauty has a string of movies under her belt – including A Long Way From Home, Rush, and The Counselor – but is best known for playing Margaery Tyrell in HBO series Game of Thrones.

  • ‘Serena’ finally gets a release date

    ‘Serena’ finally gets a release date

    MUMBAI: Two years after finishing pre-production, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence starrer Serena is finally gearing up for an early 2015 release.

     

    According to media reports, Magnolia Pictures took US distribution rights to the film this week, more than two years after production wrapped up in the Czech Republic. The movie was produced by their sister company 2929 Entertainment.

     

    The movie was filmed back in 2012 before either of Lawrence and Cooper’s other collaborations, Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle, were released.

     

    Serena is a depression-era-set drama about newlyweds running a timber business. The pair will play married couple Serena and George Pemberton, who run a powerful timber empire in the North Carolina Mountains in the 1920s.

     

    The movie’s narrative revolves around the emotional turmoil resulting after Lawrence’s titular character discovers she is unable to bear children and takes her anger out on her husband’s illegitimate son.

     

    In US, the movie will first hit VOD on 26 February 2015 which will be followed by a theatrical release on 27 March 2015. But overseas, Serena will premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on 13 October2014. The movie will then be released on 24 October 2014 in UK and will begin rolling out internationally afterwards.

  • Al Pacino honoured with BFI fellowship

    Al Pacino honoured with BFI fellowship

    MUMBAI: The Godfather star Al Pacino was honoured with the British Film Institute (BFI) Fellowship for his extraordinary achievement in films. The prestigious award was given to him by BFI chairman Greg Dyke and CEO Amanda Nevill.

     

    The 74-year-old actor-director follows British industry legends including Sir Michael Caine and the late Richard Attenborough in being awarded BFI Fellowship, its highest accolade for outstanding contribution to film.

     

    Pacino received the honour in front of a star-studded audience including Richard E Grant, Terry Gilliam and John Hurt at the Corinthia Hotel in London.

     

    Pacino’s illustrious career includes the Godfather trilogy, Scarface and Dog Day Afternoon, while his latest appearances came in movies Manglehorn and The Humbling, which debuted last month in Venice. He also won an Oscar for best actor in 1993 for Scent Of A Woman.

     

    He had also had success behind the camera with 1996’s Looking For Richard and Salome in 2013 among others.

     

    Since its inception in 1983 the BFI Fellowship has been handed to 78 recipients, also including stars such as Dirk Bogarde, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier.

  • Angelina Jolie to direct Richard Leakey biopic on ivory poaching

    Angelina Jolie to direct Richard Leakey biopic on ivory poaching

    MUMBAI: Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie is all set to direct a new film, a biopic of Kenyan politician and conservationist Richard Leakey and his battle to save the elephants of Kenya from the illegal ivory trade.

     

    Titled Africa, the story has been penned by the Forest Gump screenwriter Eric Roth. It will focus on Leakey’s fight against ivory poachers in the 1980s when he was the head of the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS).

     

    Leakey, who is the son of the famous anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey, is the former head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, and is known for taking a hardline stance against the country’s poachers. Working with Kenya’s then-President, Daniel Arap Moi, Leakey spearheaded the creation of armed anti-poaching units. During his time as the KWS chairman he ordered rangers to shoot any poachers they found.

     

    He made international headlines in 1989, after a stockpile of 12 tonnes of ivory, worth an estimated three million dollars, was burned in Nairobi National Park.

     

    In recent years, Leakey has continued to campaign against the slaughter of African wildlife, founding the charitable organisation ‘WildlifeDirect’, which provides support to conservationists working in Africa.

     

    Africa will be produced by Jolie, Man of Steel‘s Jon Peters and Skydance Productions. The cinematographer for the movie is Roger Deakins, an eleven-time Oscar nominee known for the Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men.

     

    Africa would be Jolie’s fourth film as a director, following 2011’s In the Land of Blood and Honey, a romance set during the Bosnian War, Unbroken, the story of the Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, which is due in theaters on Christmas Day and her latest movie By the Sea. Jolie serves as writer-director and star alongside her husband, Brad Pitt in the movie which is slated for a 2015 release.