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Category: Hollywood

  • Leonardo DiCaprio honoured for environmental work

    Leonardo DiCaprio honoured for environmental work

    MUMBAI: The Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio was awarded with the prestigious Clinton Global Citizen Award for his work to protect the environment.

     

    Serving as the kickoff for the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York, the 8th annual Citizen Awards, honoured outstanding individuals in civil society, philanthropy, public service and the private sector who exemplify global citizenship through their vision, leadership and impact in addressing global challenges.

     

    DiCaprio was presented his award by World Wildlife Fund CEO Carter Roberts, who said, “Now more than ever nature needs a voice. Leonardo DiCaprio is that voice.”

     

    Accepting the award, the Hollywood star said, “Climate change is compromising the very livability of our planet. DiCaprio also urged the audience of global leaders and philanthropists to put environmental issues at the forefront of the human agenda.

     

    The evening was hosted by ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers’ host, Seth Meyers, and included performances from The Roots, Aloe Blacc, Natalie Merchant and Jason Mraz.

     

    Earlier some 300,000 participants, including DiCaprio, alongside fellow environmental activists Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, Sting and Evangeline Lilly took to the streets in the largest march for climate change ever. DiCaprio will also be speaking at the UN Climate Summit this week.

     

    Eva Longoria, Seth Meyers, Randy Jackson and Chelsea Clinton also attended the award ceremony.

  • Relativity – B4U announce first Hollywood film – ‘The Best of Me’

    Relativity – B4U announce first Hollywood film – ‘The Best of Me’

    MUMBAI: The Bollywood network, B4U, has formed a new joint venture with Relativity Media for its first Hollywood film The Best of Me.

     

    An adaptation of ‘The Notebook’ writer Nicholas Sparks’s novel with the same name, the film will be directed by Michael Hoffman who has directed movies including One Fine Day and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The star cast features the Superman Returns actor James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan of Mission Impossible series fame.

     

    Relativity-B4U’s first Hollywood distribution film The Best of Me, is slated to hit the theaters on 31 October.

     

    The venture will leverage the combined expertise, relationships and resources of the companies to create and distribute highly-engaging long and short form entertainment and sports content in India that will span a variety of mediums including film, television and digital.

     

    They plan to create and distribute innovative entertainment and sports content in India across Film, Television and Digital Platforms which will strengthen ties between Hollywood and Bollywood.

  • Jack Hudson to play title role in ‘Ben Hur’

    Jack Hudson to play title role in ‘Ben Hur’

    NEW DELHI: Jack Hudson has landed the role of the Biblical character Judah in MGM and Paramount Pictures remake of the 1959 classic Ben Hur that had gone on to become a box office hit.

     

    Timur Bekmambetov, who earlier made Wanted is directing the classic. Scripted by the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave scribe John Ridley and Keith Clarke, the film is expected to be released on 26 February 2016.

     

    The film is based on Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel ‘Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ’, and follows a falsely accused nobleman who survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his best friend who betrayed him. It was also made in 1925 as a silent film.

     

    Huston is best known for his role in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire as Richard Harrow and recently signed on to co-star in the adaptation of Pride Prejudice and Zombies.

     

    Paramount Pictures has already seen success from this genre with the movie Noah, Darren Aronofsky’s take on the story of Noah’s Arc starring Russell Crowe. That film grossed $359 million worldwide, including more than $100 million domestically.

     

    Fox and Chernin have just wrapped production on their latest film Exodus: Gods and Kings about Moses, which is slated to release in December and stars Christian Bale. The studio is also developing a King David film produced by Ridley Scott. 

     

    The 1959 Ben-Hur was directed by William Wyler, produced by Sam Zimbalist for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Hugh Griffith and Haya Harareet.  It had the largest budget at $15.175 million and the largest sets built for any film produced at the time. This was followed by a $14.7 million marketing effort. It was the fastest-grossing as well as the highest grossing film of 1959, in the process becoming the second-highest grossing film in history at the time after Gone with the Wind. It won a record 11 Academy Awards.

  • 2014 BAFTA: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo among honourees

    2014 BAFTA: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo among honourees

    MUMBAI: Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Emma Watson, Judi Dench and director Mike Leigh were announced as this year’s honourees for the BAFTA Los Angeles Jaguar Britannia Awards.

     

    Hosted by Rob Brydon, the award ceremony will take place on 30 October and air on BBC America on 2 November.

     

    The recipients are chosen by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles board of directors.

     

    The Iron Man star is this year’s recipient of the ‘Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film’. Prior winners include Warren Beatty and Tom Hanks. His latest movie The Judge with Robert Duvall is slated to release on 10 October.

     

    The Emmy Nominee Mark Ruffalo, is being honored with the ‘Britannia Humanitarian Award’ for his work with Water Defense. Ruffalo co-founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping waterways and drinking water sources free from contamination and will be seen in November in Foxcatche. Prior winners include Idris Elba and Don Cheadle.

     

    British director Mike Leigh, whose latest film Mr. Turner opens in December, will receive the ‘John Schlesinger Award for British Artist of the Year’. This honour pays tribute to a British artist “whose outstanding performances in a year have demonstrated the high quality of their craftsmanship. “

     

    While the Harry Potter star Emma Watson is the recipient of the ‘Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year’. Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench will be honoured with the ‘Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution.’

     

    The Britannia Awards are BAFTA Los Angeles’ highest accolade, a celebration of achievements honoring individuals and companies that have dedicated their careers to advancing the entertainment arts.

  • Leonardo DiCaprio named UN Messenger of Peace

    Leonardo DiCaprio named UN Messenger of Peace

    MUMBAI: The Hollywood actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, has been appointed as a United Nations Messenger of Peace to raise awareness about climate change.

     

    On the new appointment, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said, “DiCaprio is a credible voice in the environmental movement, and has a considerable platform to amplify its message.

     

     “I am pleased he has chosen to add his voice to UN efforts to raise awareness of the urgency and benefits of acting now to combat climate change,” he added.

     

    DiCaprio will also address a UN summit meeting on climate change on 23 September, a day before the UN General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders begins. Leaders from the 193 member states of the United Nations are expected to attend the climate session.

     

    “I feel a moral obligation to speak out at this key moment in human history – it is a moment for action. How we respond to the climate crisis in the coming years will likely determine the fate of humanity and our planet,” the actor said in a statement.

     

    The Academy Award-nominated star of The Wolf of Wall Street and The Aviator joins other celebrities, from Audrey Hepburn to Angelina Jolie, who have represented various UN organisations.

     

    In 1998, the actor established the ‘Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’, whose mission is protecting Earth’s last wild places and building a more harmonious relationship between humanity and the natural world, the United Nations said in the statement.

     

    The organisation has contributed funds toward protecting tigers in Nepal, elephants in the wild, and marine animals, including sharks.

     

    In February, DiCaprio pledged a donation of $3 million to marine conservation and followed with an additional $7 million pledge several months later.

     

    On 21 September, two days before the UN Climate Summit in New York, the Clinton Foundation will honour the actor for his committed environmentalism during a Manhattan gala event featuring Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.

     

    There are currently 11 other messengers of peace and one goodwill ambassador, the United Nations said. Other Hollywood industry notables who have been given the Messenger of Peace title by the UN in recent years include Edward Norton, Michael Douglas, Charlize Theron, George Clooney and Stevie Wonder.

  • Tom Hanks to Produce ‘Factory Man’ on HBO

    Tom Hanks to Produce ‘Factory Man’ on HBO

    MUMBAI: Tom Hanks’ production company and HBO have bought the broadcasting rights for the bestselling book by journalist Beth Macy ‘Factory Man’ and is planning to develop the story into a miniseries.

     

    Actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman plan to co-produce the project through their production company, Playtone, with Steven Shareshian serving as co-executive producer and Peter McGuigan as co-producer. The cast of the miniseries have not been decided yet.

     

    The book follows and chronicles the story of the Basset family in Virginia, who have been running The Basset Furniture Company since the early 1900s and became the world’s largest wood furniture manufacturer. However, in the ’80s, Asian countries and businesses boomed, placing the long-running furniture company in competition with its Asian counterparts. In order to keep up to the times and the demand in furniture at that time, the family was forced to outsource its labour and production overseas which meant that a lot of local Virginians lost their jobs in the process. This changed when John Basset III decided to take a stand and bring back the factory’s production to Virginia. The company currently has more than 700 Virginians working for the Vaughn-Basset Furniture Co. and has sales that total more than $90 million.

     

    This news comes after Hanks’ review of the book on twitter on 24 July, “Great summer reading. I give it 42 stars. No, I give it 142 stars. Yeah, it’s THAT good. Hanx.”

     

    Playtone is currently producing a miniseries based on Elizabeth Strout’s bestselling book Olive Kitteridge, starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand. Playtone has also produced such Emmy-award winning hits like Band of Brothers, The Pacific and John Adams.

  • Manhattan Short 2014 to be held in India

    Manhattan Short 2014 to be held in India

    MUMBAI: Manhattan Short 2014, the international platform which showcases, celebrates and awards short films from across the world, is back for the fifth time in India.

     

    The three-day fest will be held in Mumbai from 3 -5 October. The festival will screen the 10 best short films that have been selected from USA, UK, Germany, France, Mexico, Australia, Netherlands, Norway, and England.

     

    The films deal with a range of subjects which includes romance to sci-fi, animation and a docu-short. These films have won multiple accolades at various festivals around the world and will be screened at Manhattan Short 2014.

     

    This film movement began in 1998 and has long established its global exposure by dedicating itself to the short film genre and witnessing hundreds of entries from across the world every year.

     

    This year Manhattan Short 2014 in India and its chief patron Vivanta by Taj conducted and named, ‘Vote for India’. This initiative saw filmmakers from across India send in their short film entries to vie for a spot in the global finalist list. The films were hosted on the India chapter’s website – www.manhattanshortindia.com where Indian audiences voted for three best movies. These three winners each have won a chance to create a short film for Vivanta by Taj.

     

    Manhattan Short 2014 in India will also present a few workshops for the youth and upcoming film makers by renowned artistes who will share their thoughtful insights with the audience.

     

    Commenting on the India chapter, India Festival director Anil Sadarangani said, “With Manhattan Short’s global reach, this is a dream come true for any filmmaker to be a part of. We hope to receive a great response from the city with the grand repertoires of short films presented at the festival.”

     

    Manhattan Short 2014 in India will kickstart with an interesting workshop on ‘The Short Film Industry: Boom!’ This session will have panelists like Shamiana Shorts Founder Cyrus Dastur, Pocket Films Managing Director Saameer Mody, renowned film maker Paromita Vohra and film-maker and Co-Curator of The FD Zone Avijit Mukul Kishore, who will share their insights on the growth of the short film industry in India.

     

    The festival  will also conduct various workshops with renowned industry veterans like- ‘Rainbow Stories – Queering Indian Shorts’ with Sridhar Rangayan from Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, ‘Joys of Film Editing’ workshop with Film Editors Dipika Kalra and Antara Lahiri, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ashvin Kumar will conduct one on making an Oscar-worthy short film at Manhattan Short 2014.

     

    The winner will be selected by the audience voting. Votes will be tallied at each participating cinema around the world and submitted to festival headquarters in New York City where the winner will be announced. Audiences can also catch the webcast live on www.vivantabytaj.com.

  • George Clooney to receive Cecil B DeMille award at Golden Globes

    George Clooney to receive Cecil B DeMille award at Golden Globes

    MUMBAI: Hollywood star George Clooney will be the recipient of the Cecil B DeMille Award at the 2015 Golden Globes, announced the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA).

     

    HFPA president Theo Kingma stated that the HFPA is honoured to bestow the Cecil B. DeMille Award to George Clooney to celebrate his outstanding contributions both in front of and behind the camera.

     

    The actor, producer, writer and director co-founded ‘Not On Our Watch’, an organisation that works to fight genocides around the world. In 2008, Clooney was designated as a UN Messenger of Peace and two years later, he with Joel Gallen and Tenth Planet Productions co-produced a telethon, ‘Hope for Haiti’, which raised $66 million for the Haiti earthquake relief.

     

    Clooney has already been nominated for Golden Globe awards 13 times and won three including ‘Best Actor in a Drama’ for The Descendants (2011), ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Syriana (2005) and ‘Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical’ for O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000).

     

    The 53-year-old has also won two Oscars – one for his supporting role in Syriana and the other as a producer of 2013’s best picture winner, Argo

     

    Clooney most recently appeared in Gravity and The Monuments Men, the latter of which he also directed, co-wrote and produced. He stars next in Brad Bird’s sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland for Disney and is also slated to direct a film about Britain’s phone-hacking scandal.

     

    Previous recipients of the Cecil B. DeMille award include Jodie Foster, Steven Spielberg, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Douglas and Martin Scorsese. Woody Allen received the honour last year.

     

    Clooney will receive his award when the Golden Globes air on NBC on 11 January 2015.

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger to share dais with Rajinikanth

    Arnold Schwarzenegger to share dais with Rajinikanth

    MUMBAI: Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived amidst tight security at the Chennai airport to attend the audio launch of Vikram-starrer romantic thriller titled ‘I‘.

     

    The audio launch will take place on 15 September evening at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, where the star of the Terminator film series will share the dais with Tamil movie superstar Rajinikanth. AR Rahman is also said to perform all the songs from the album live at the event and will be supported by dancers, who will perform wearing the actual costumes and make-up from the film.

     

    Filmed across eight countries and set to music by AR Rahman, I was directed by Shankar. The movie also stars Amy Jackson, Suresh Gopi and Upen Patel in lead roles and is expected to hit screens during Diwali. The film was produced and distributed by Venu Ravichandran under his production banner, Aascar Films.

     

    The 67-year star has a jam-packed schedule for the day. According to media reports, the actor is also scheduled to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa before the launch.

     

    “Arnold arrived with his entourage this morning. He is expected to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in the afternoon. His team had sent a special request for the meeting,” a source from the film’s unit told IANS.

     

    Born 30 July 1947, the Austrian-born American actor, former professional bodybuilder and the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011, Schwarzenegger won the Mr. Universe title at age 20. Schwarzenegger gained fame as a Hollywood action film icon in “The Terminator” – one of his best-known movie roles.

  • ‘The Imitation Game’ wins People’s Choice Award at TIFF

    ‘The Imitation Game’ wins People’s Choice Award at TIFF

    MUMBAI: Benedict Cumberbatch starrer The Imitation Game won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), marking the end of the 11-day movie marathon.

     

    Set for a 21 November release in US, the biopic portrays Cumberbatch as mathematician Alan Turing, who led the effort to break the Enigma code during World War II and was later persecuted by the government for his homosexuality. Directed by Morten Tyldum, the movie also stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance, Allen Leech and Matthew Beard.

     

    The film beat the first runner-up Learning to Drive — a dramedy about the unlikely friendship between Patricia Clarkson’s newly separated book editor and her driving instructor.

     

    Sponsored by Grolsch and decided by TIFF audiences, The People’s Choice Award for a feature film, is the most prestigious prize of the festival. Previous winners include 12 Years a Slave, Silver Linings Playbook, The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.

     

    Meanwhile, the people’s choice award in the genre-driven Midnight Madness section went to New Zealand comedy maestros Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement for their vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira took the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film and Jeffrey St. Jules won the prize for best first Canadian feature film for Bang Bang Baby.

     

    The People’s Choice Award for documentaries went to Hajooj Kuka’s Beats of the Antonov, a film that promotes peace, love and cultural expression amid the tribal wars that have afflicted Sudan for decades.