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Category: Hollywood

  • Clooney to direct a movie on UK phone hacking scandal

    Clooney to direct a movie on UK phone hacking scandal

    MUMBAI: Three years after Rupert Murdoch shut the News of the World, George Clooney is set to direct Hack Attack, an adaptation of the book by the same name by Guardian journalist Nick Davies, according to media reports. The book is an account of Davies’ investigation into the hacking scandal surrounding Rupert Murdoch’s news empire, which triggered the demise of its weekly News of the World.

     

    As per the reports, the 53-year old will also serve as co-producer for the movie, alongside Grant Heslov with whom he has worked on several previous films through their Smokehouse Pictures production company.

     

    Making a statement about his latest directorial venture, Clooney said, “This has all the elements – lying, corruption, blackmail – at the highest levels of government by the biggest newspaper in London. And the fact that it’s true is the best part. Nick is a brave and stubborn reporter and we consider it an honour to put his book to film.”

     

    The phone-hacking trial was one of the most expensive in English legal history, spotlighting the close ties between the Murdoch empire and politicians and the no-holds-barred methods of Britain’s tabloid press.

     

    Those affected included the then Kate Middleton, who is now married to Prince William, James Bond star Daniel Craig and actor Jude Law. Murdoch shut the News of the World in 2011 after it emerged that what was then Britain’s biggest selling paper had illegally accessed the voicemails of a murdered schoolgirl.

     

    Two-time Academy Award winner Clooney is most well known for roles ranging from Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels to last year’s Oscar-winning Gravity. But in the last decade the heartthrob actor has moved behind the camera to direct a number of movies including Good Night, and Good Luck, The Ides of March and The Monuments Men.

     

    Shooting on the new movie will begin next year but no release date has been set.

  • Disney to come up with a sequel to ‘Frozen’

    Disney to come up with a sequel to ‘Frozen’

    MUMBAI: Walt Disney Animation Studios is returning to the world of Frozen by featuring Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and the warmth-craving snowman Olaf in a new short film.

     

    Titled Frozen Fever, the film is due in spring 2015. “It’s Anna’s birthday and Elsa and Kristoff are determined to give her the best celebration ever, but Elsa’s icy powers may put more than just the party at risk,” reads a plot description for Frozen Fever provided by Disney.

     

    The short- film will reunite the key forces from the original film directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, as well as producer Peter Del Vecho. The film will also include a brand-new song from Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the Oscar-winning duo behind Let It Go.

     

    The original movie Frozen released in theaters on 22 November and went on to gross $1.274 billion worldwide. It is the 53rd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen, the film tells the story of a fearless princess who sets off on an epic journey alongside a rugged iceman, his loyal pet reindeer, and a hapless snowman to find her estranged sister, whose icy powers have inadvertently trapped the kingdom in eternal winter.

     

    Frozen won two Oscars at the Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (for Let It Go).

  • Frances McDormand honoured in Venice

    Frances McDormand honoured in Venice

    MUMBAI: Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand has been honoured with the visionary talent award at the Venice Film Festival, ahead of the premier of her new HBO mini-series, Olive Kitteridge which she called the culmination of her life’s work.

     

    McDormand, who is married to director Joel Coen and has starred in several Coen brothers films including Fargo and Burn After Reading, was presented with the Visionary Talent Award for a career that began on Broadway in 1984.

     

    Talking about her new project, McDormand said that she was gratified to be at a film festival with Olive Kitteridge.

     

    In Olive Kitteridge, McDormand plays a witty, acerbic maths teacher in a New England town in a story that spans 25 years, based on a Pulitzer prize-winning collection of short stories by Elizabeth Strout, and directed by Lisa Cholodenko. It is set to air in the US in November.

     

    The actress made her feature film debut 30 years ago in Coen’s Blood Simple. Talking about working in television she said, “Television has allowed all of us to reinvent on our own terms what we want our professional lives to be. For a female elder, action roles in films are limited, but television opens up new possibilities.”

     

    McDormand won the Best Actress Oscar for Fargo and has also been nominated three more times for Mississippi Burning (1988), Almost Famous (2000), and North Country (2005).

  • Taylor Swift joins ‘The Voice’ as adviser

    Taylor Swift joins ‘The Voice’ as adviser

    MUMBAI: Pop star Taylor Swift is all set to join the seventh season of NBC’s reality singing competition The Voice as a guest mentor, according to media reports.

     

    Swift, 24, is said to be taking part in an episode as an advisor to the contestants. She will be part of mentors that will include Stevie Nicks, Gavin Rossdale, country music vocal group Little Big Town, and Alicia Keys. She will serve in the same capacity that Coldplay singer Chris Martin aided the show in its sixth season, advising contestants across all four teams.

     

    This will not be the first time that the singer will be seen on the show. She was a guest performer in the fourth season and was featured in a segment of the episode.

     

    Swift will also be performing with The Voice coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and newcomers Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, according to the Huffington Post.

     

    She will also be working with veterans Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, as well as new coaches Gwen Stefani and Pharrell Williams, who were added to the lineup for the upcoming season.

     

    The seventh season of The Voice will premiere on 22 September. Swift’s appearance will coincide with the release of her fifth album, “1989,” which has been touted to be the singer’s first “official pop album.”

  • Brangelina’s secret wedding: Jolie’s father not invited

    Brangelina’s secret wedding: Jolie’s father not invited

    MUMBAI: After nine years of togetherness and six children later, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt finally tied the knot in an intimate ceremony on 23 August at Chateau Miraval, France.

     

    Keeping the whole thing under wraps, while everybody else was preoccupied with the VMA Awards and the Emmy Awards, Pitt and Jolie got their marriage licence in California, and got married in front of a very small group of friends and family.

     

    According to media reports, along with the rest of the world, Jolie’s father, the veteran actor Jon Voight was also unaware of this event. When asked about the wedding, the actor told TMZ that he first read about them via an online news site.

     

    Jolie and Voight have had a turbulent relationship in the past. Back in 2001, Voight announced that Jolie had been suffering from ‘serious mental problems’ and said that he had urged her to seek professional help. They eventually reconciled in 2011.

     

    Asked whether he was upset not to be invited, he responded by saying he was busy with the Emmy Awards anyway, having been nominated for a prize for his portrayal of the character Mickey Donovan in TV series Ray Donovan.

     

    According to the reports, talking about the wedding he also said, “I’m very happy that I can legitimately call him my son-in-law, this wonderful fellow who I love, you know what, they are very happy. The kids must have had a wonderful time at the wedding, they all had their things to do and it must have been very beautiful so I’m very happy for them.”

     

    Jolie reportedly walked down the aisle with her eldest sons Maddox, 13, and Pax, 10, on each arm while her daughters Zahara and Vivienne threw petals, and Shiloh and Knox served as ring bearers.

     

    The secret wedding seems to have been a quiet affair although Brad’s brother Doug Pitt, sister Julie Neal and their respective families are believed to have been there.

  • ‘The Mutant Ninja Turtles’: Fun for kids

    ‘The Mutant Ninja Turtles’: Fun for kids

    MUMBAI: By chance or by choice, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) has always been a reflection of its time. The new TMNT is also a time capsule, so to speak.

     

    Even though the 97 minute film is far from perfect, it is everything a turtle movie usually is – fun for kids.

     

    The movie has the elements of all the other Ninja Turtle movies like the Ninja Turtles who loves pizza (this time from Pizza Hut), the city of New York at risk and villains. The movie has nothing new to offer except for a flash back unlike the other installments

     

    The basic plot, the TMNT lore has changed very little over the years. Four turtles come in contact with a man-made mutagen, grow up in the New York City sewer system learning ninjutsu from their adoptive father Splinter, a mutated rat. As in all stories, there is an evil organisation led by a man known as The Shredder, who really likes the idea of eating ‘turtle soup’.

     

    The movie is based on a comic dreamed by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird 30 years ago intending to be a parody of comics at the time.

     

    The film opens with a sequence of the city of New York in the grip of a crime wave unmanageable by the police officials. A channel 6 news reporter April O’Neil (Megan Fox) goes after the trails a group Foot Clan, who she thinks is behind it. While searching for the group, he finds herself crossing paths with the last thing she ever thought to find: a quartet of 6-foot tall, crime-fighting turtles that – coincidentally – have a link to her past. When her colleague dismisses her discovery as a part of her overactive imagination, she seeks out the counsel of old family friend and billionaire scientist Eric Sacks (William Fichtner). As in all the movies, Sacks knows more than he’s letting on, and it isn’t long before O’Neil and her new turtle friends are thrust headfirst into a plot that threatens the entire city.

     

    As O’Neil, Megan Fox gives a decent performance. There are also a handful of other humans with speaking roles, all very one-dimensional: a snarky-and-lovelorn co-worker (Will Arnett), a take-no-bullshit boss (Whoopi Goldberg), and a duplicitous businessman working with the bad guys. Comedians Arnett and Goldberg are sadly wasted in minor roles in the movie, as is Abby Elliot, in a cameo as April’s roommate.

     

    Neither the narrative is strong, dialogues are too basic (even though they have tried to add a pinch of comedy) nor the music is extraordinary. Still the one thing the movie gets right is the individual personalities of the turtles. Even after the redesign, these are the turtles we love, adore and know: Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines, Raphael is cool (but rude) and Michelangelo, of course, is the party dude

     

    Curiously, the film takes no time to introduce the characters, much less their individual names, so if you’re going in without prior knowledge, you may find yourself lost for a stretch.

     

    If you are a fan or have a kid who is, the movie can take you to the ninja world. Don’t think and you might have a good time!

     

    Cast: Megan Fox, Alan Ritchson, Jeremy Howard, Pete Ploszek, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn, William Fichtner, Johnny Knoxville, Tony Shalhoub

     

    Producers: Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Bradley Fuller, Galen Walker, Scott Mednick, Ian Bryce

     

    Director: Jonathan Liebesman

  • Trinity International Film Festival showcases cinema from 14 countries

    Trinity International Film Festival showcases cinema from 14 countries

    New Delhi: At the eighth annual Trinity International Film Festival, Get A Job directed by Maui’s Brian Kohne took top honours for a full feature film while The Doorman  by director Serena Dykman took top accolades for a short film at the eighth annual Trinity International Film Festival held at the Carr Art Center in Detroit in the United States.  

     

    “The mission statement of the film festival is to provide a multicultural festival experience,” said festival co-director Gregory Taylor. He continued, “With the showing of all these culturally diverse independent films, I know we hit the mark.  If people are entertained we did our job.”

     

    Over 40 films from 14 countries were juried and showcased and over 100 entries were received. 

     

    Director Walter V. Marshall of Michigan got a special award as Best New Artist for the full feature, A Love That Hurts.    

     

    Raymond Rolak, one of the producers from Get A Job said, “The people of Hawaii were the real stars of the film. Also, Brian Kohne weaved the musical talents of Willie K and Eric Gilliom along with the other world class island entertainers masterfully. The film and music video were giant grand slam homeruns. The jokes, pratfalls and island humor in the screenplay are all added value to leaving viewers thoroughly entertained.”

     

    French born Serena Dykman said at the afterglow, “I am totally thrilled for my cast and crew. This award really validates all the hard work that went into the project.  Manhattan was the star of our project. As a writer I see so many more stories coming from New York City.  This award documents a team effort”

     

    Winners of this year’s best feature and short film categories received a professional prize pack from Sony that included more than $3,500 worth of Sony Vegas editing software and sound effects. 

     

    Marshalle Montgomery, festival co-director added, “We tried to expose a wide variety of feature and short films for people to enjoy, everything from action, drama, animation and comedy — we definitely have movies that captured attention.”

     

    Nate Hapke of Los Angeles got the special Emerging Talent Award for the short Alvie.  

     

    I Am Sami by Kae Bahar of the United Kingdom, Let Be by Matt Boatright-Simon (USA, Wisconsicn) and featuring actress Val Vega, along with Trapped: The Ultimate Sacrifice by Carlonese Powell (USA, Detroit) were all 15 minute shorts judged as exceptional and got festival choice awards.

  • A big night for ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory’ at 66th Emmy Awards

    A big night for ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory’ at 66th Emmy Awards

    MUMBAI: 66th Primetime Emmy Awards was a big night for Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family.

     

    The awards opened with Jim Parsons winning his fourth Emmy in the lead actor category for his work as Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom, The Big Bang Theory.  The 41-year-old actor plays the role of nerdy Caltech physicist Sheldon Cooper in the Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady-created series. Parsons beat William H Macy, Matt LeBlanc, Louis CK and Ricky Gervais in the category.

     

    Cult drama series Breaking Bad was the other big winner of the night bagging the Emmy for Best Drama Series, while Game of Thrones went home with none of the big prizes despite garnering the most nominations. The series saw a fourth Best Lead Actor win for Bryan Cranston as chemistry teacher-turned-meth drug lord, Walter White aka Heisenberg. His co-star Aaron Paul took home his third Emmy win for Best Supporting Actor and Anna Gunn became a two-time Emmy Award winner for Best Supporting Actress in the show. Moreover, the now-departed, much beloved AMC series also took another Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing as well as Best Drama. The show won six Emmys in total.

     

    Hit TV series Modern Family made Emmy history by winning the title of Best Comedy series for a record-tying fifth year in a row at television’s equivalent of the Oscars and has now tied the record set by NBC’s Frasier. Ty Burrell won the Best Supporting Actor for the comedy series, and the show also won a directing award.

     

    Other significant Emmy Award winners included Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman for BBC’s Sherlock: His Last Vow as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, as well as comedienne Sarah Silverman’s win for Variety Show Writing.

     

    The Emmy Awards also held its traditional memorial tribute to industry members who have died in the past year. The presentation concluded with Billy Crystal giving a moving tribute to longtime friend and fellow comedian Robin Williams, who tragically committed suicide just two weeks ago.

     

    Among the other notable winners, Julianna Margulies won the Best Drama Actress for The Good Wife, while Best Television Movie went to The Normal Heart about gay activist Larry Kramer’s work to raise HIV/AIDS awareness during the early 1980s.

     

    Julia Louis-Dreyfus received her third consecutive Best Comedy Actress Emmy for the political comedy Veep on HBO. Shows like Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black and House of Cards, Showtime’s Shameless, and HBO’s True Detective neither benefited from tactical category choices nor garnered any Emmy Awards this year, despite their popularity and stellar storytelling.

  • Richard Attenborough, director of ‘Gandhi,’ dies at 90

    Richard Attenborough, director of ‘Gandhi,’ dies at 90

    MUMBAI: Oscar-winning British filmmaker Richard Attenborough, renowned for his critically-acclaimed biopic on Mahatma Gandhi, died on 24 August 2014 after his long illness. The death of the 90 year old was confirmed by his son, according to BBC.

     

    Paying his tribute, British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “His acting in Brighton Rock was brilliant, his directing of Gandhi was stunning – Richard Attenborough was one of the greats of cinema.”

     

    In London, he was the original detective in Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap. On the British screen, he made an early mark as the sociopath Pinkie Brown in an adaptation of Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock (1947). His acting CV consisted movies like The Great Escape (1963), In Which We Serve (1942), Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) etc. To a later generation, he was well known as the scientist-entrepreneur who clones dinosaur DNA in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993).

     

    He won back-to-back Golden Globe Awards for best supporting actor, in The Sand Pebbles (1966), also starring McQueen, set during China’s civil war in the 1920s, and Doctor Dolittle (1967), playing Albert Blossom, a circus owner, alongside Rex Harrison as the veterinarian who talks to animals.

     

    But for most of Attenborough’s later career, his acting was sporadic while he devoted much of his time to directing. Gandhi (1982), an epic but intimate biographical film, was his greatest triumph. Gandhi was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won eight, including best picture, best director, best cinematography, best original screenplay and best actor. The film had 430 speaking parts and used over 300,000 extras for Gandhi’s funeral. No one expected it to recoup its $22 million cost, but it wound up earning 20 times that amount.

     

    Richard Samuel Attenborough was born in Cambridge on 29 August 1923, the eldest son of Frederick Attenborough, an Anglo-Saxon scholar who became the principal of University College, Leicester, and his wife, Mary, a writer who crusaded for women’s rights and took in Basque and German refugees.

     

    Leaving school at 16, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and eventually married a fellow student, Sheila Sim, who became a well-known actress herself before abandoning the theater to look after their three children and become a magistrate.

     

    Attenborough leaves behind his wife, son Michael and daughter Charlotte. His eldest daughter Jane was killed alongside her mother-in-law Jane and her daughter Lucy in the 2004 tsunami.

  • Fourteen films make it to co-production Forum of San Sebastian

    Fourteen films make it to co-production Forum of San Sebastian

    NEW DELHI: Fourteen projects from a total of 181 projects submitted from 22 countries are taking part in the third Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum as part of the 67th San Sebastian International Film Festival.

     

    The Forum will be held from 22 to 24 September. The selected films are largely from Latin American countries  including Argentina, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela.

     

    During the Forum, those responsible for the projects will work to a busy meeting agenda with industry professionals from across the world. The aim by attending the Forum is to make contact with potential co-producers, financial partners and sales agents in order to complete their funding and ensure their international production and distribution. 

     

    In addition, and as part of the festival’s collaboration with the Ibermedia Programme, a project selected in the workshop to develop film projects from Central America and the Caribbean will also participate in the Co-Production Forum.

     

    The Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum is fostered by the Basque Government Department of Economic Development and Competitiveness and the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism.

     

    As in previous editions, the final selection includes projects by directors and producers of recognised prestige alongside others by new directors and recently created production companies. Nine of the 17 projects presented in 2012 have been completed, while three of the 16 presented in 2013 have been filmed, and shooting is expected to start on another six in the coming months.

      
    For the second year running, the EGEDA Award for Best Project at the Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum 2014 will be presented. The Award comes with a cash prize of €10,000 and is sponsored by EGEDA, the Audiovisual Producer’s Rights Management Association.

     

    As a new feature this year, the Festival will also organise a Focus on Canada with Telefilm Canada. A delegation of 12 Canadian producers will come to San Sebastian to experience the Festival in person, make professional contacts and participate in the Co-production Forum and the other Industry Club activities.