Category: Hollywood

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprise their classic roles in ‘Dumb and Dumber To’ trailer

MUMBAI: On Tuesday 10 June, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon premiered the exclusive trailer for Dumb and Dumber To starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels.

Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprise their signature roles as Lloyd and Harry in the sequel to the smash hit that took the physical comedy and rocked the box office: Dumb and Dumber To. The original film’s directors, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, take Lloyd and Harry on a road trip to find a child Harry never knew he had and the responsibility neither should ever, ever be given.

The Farrelly Brothers have been slowly building up steam for the film, and Jimmy Fallon’s show has been used as a great platform to make announcements about the project. After all, it was Jeff Daniels’ announcement on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last July that started us all down this rabbit hole. It would only seem fitting that the next step in the journey would take place where it all began. As Peter Farrelly explained on his Twitter page, “Jimmy’s our buddy so we’re giving him first crack at it.”

Along with Carrey and Daniels, Dumb and Dumber To also stars Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone, Prizzi’s Honor) and Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Lining’s Playbook, American Hustle). The Farrelly brothers produce Dumb and Dumber To alongside Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland of Red Granite Pictures. They are joined by fellow producers Charles Wessler and Bradley Thomas.

Click here to watch the trailer:

June 11, 2014
‘Breaking Bad’s’ Bryan Cranston and ‘HIMYM’s’ Neil Patrick Harris snag major Tonys’

MUMBAI: The 68th Annual Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, well known as the Tony Awards saw firsts for Bryan Crantson and Neil Patrick Harris and a record-breaking win for Audra McDonald. Broadway’s biggest night honoured A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder with Best Musical and All the Way for Best Play. Both productions scored four honours each.

The awards show got off to a hoppin’ start with Hollywood star Hugh Jackman (X-Men: Days of Future Past) on Sunday in New York. The evening’s host entered Radio City Music Hall hopping his way from the city streets, down the aisles and then backstage where he proceeded to meet the cast members from many of today’s biggest Broadway shows.

The first award of the night went to Rylance of Twelfth Night for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a play. This marked his third Tony after having previously won for Jerusalem and Boeing-Boeing.

Audra McDonald, known on the small screen for Private Practice, won best lead actress in a play for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, marking her sixth Tony and making her the biggest Tony winner of all time. She now tops five-time Tony winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris.

All the Way won best play — and its lead star, Bryan Cranston, who previously won the Golden Globe award and the EMMY award for his portrayal of a high school chemistry teacher with terminal lung cancer in Breaking Bad, snagged his first Tony, taking home best lead actor in a play for playing former President Lyndon B. Johnson in his Broadway debut. The former Breaking Bad star beat Samuel Barnett from Twelfth Night, Chris O’Dowd from Of Mice and Men, Mark Rylance of Richard III and Tony Shalhoub with Act One.

The lead actor in a musical honour went to Harris for his portrayal of a German transsexual in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Harris, well known as the womanizer Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother has won Primetime EMMY Awards, and now he has a Tony to his name. The actor edged out Ramin Karimloo of Les Miserables, Andy Karl from Rocky along with Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham, who both star in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Lena Hall of Hedwig and the Angry Inch took home the award for best feature performance by an actress in a musical.

Presenters included Hollywood big shots like Kevin Bacon, Matt Bomer, Wayne Brady, Zach Braff, Kenneth Branagh, Patricia Clarkson, Bradley Cooper, Fran Drescher, Clint Eastwood, Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, Vera Farmiga, Will Ferrell, Tony Goldwyn, Anna Gunn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ethan Hawke, Carole King, Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, Kate Mara, McDonald, Leighton Meester, Alessandro Nivola, Zachary Quinto, Emmy Rossum, Liev Schreiber, Orlando Bloom, Barrett Foa, Jonathan Groff, T.I., Samuel L. Jackson, Judith Light, Rosie O’Donnell and Patrick Wilson.

June 9, 2014
Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Exotic’ feat Pitbull hits the 41 million mark

NEW DELHI: Actor-singer Priyanka Chopra is on her way to creating history, as her second international single ‘Exotic’ feat Pitbull crossed the 40 million viewership mark on Youtube.

One of the most celebrated personalities on the global platform and the first Indian recording artiste in the United States with major mainstream appeal, Chopra has much reason to celebrate as the single recently hit 41 million views on the Vevo Channel on Youtube, speaking volumes of her growing popularity internationally.

Priyanka’s second record breaking single ‘Exotic’ which hit no 1 in India and featured on the Billboard’s top 20 list, was also featured throughout the 2013 Guinness International Champions Cup as the soccer tournament’s official theme song.

The dance number was the first major crossover of the two biggest media industries in the world, Hollywood and Bollywood, representing a combined 4.5 billion fans around the world. Chopra even launched her signature milkshake “The Exotic” at the Millions of Milkshakes Stores in West Hollywood, joining the likes of David Beckham, Katie Perry and Leonardo Di Caprio.

Reacting to the feat, Chopra said, “40 million views is an overwhelming number. Much love to my fans.”

June 7, 2014
CineMerit Award for ‘Udo Kier’ at Munich Film Festival

MUMBAI: The festival’s CineMerit Award is a tribute to the actor whose career spans Europe and Hollywood. “Udo Kier is an actor who leaves a lasting impression, no matter what the role”, says festival director Diana Iljine in a statement. “He is an actor who is not afraid to take chances. And many of them have paid off. Udo Kier himself is a work of art.”

Since 1997, Filmfest München has honored outstanding personalities in the international film community with the CineMerit Award for extraordinary contributions to motion pictures as an art form. Previous recipients include actors Julie Christie, John Malkovich and Michael Caine as well as the directors Michael Haneke, Barry Levinson and Milos Forman.

Udo Kier will be presented the 2014 CineMerit Award on 30 June in Munich at a gala ceremony which will also include the world premiere of his latest film “Arteholic“, in which director Hermann Vaske accompanies art-obsessed Udo Kier through some of Europe’s greatest museums. As part of its homage, the festival will be showing five additional films with Kier.

Udo Kier, born in Köln-Mülheim in 1944, is one of the few German actors to become well-known in Hollywood. In the course of his career, he has acted in over 160 feature films. He is particularly loved for his portrayal of diabolical characters and villains such as Baron Frankenstein, Count Dracula, Jack the Ripper, Dr. Jekyll and the devil. He was and is the muse of many artists and directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Andy Warhol, Christoph Schlingensief and Lars von Trier.

His international breakthrough came 1973/74 with two Andy Warhol productions, among them Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein. Rainer Werner Fassbinder worked with him on Lili Marleen, Lola and Berlin Alexanderplatz. Director Christoph Schlingensief cast Kier in many of his films.

Udo Kier made his first Hollywood film in 1991, in Gus van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho in which he acted alongside Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix. He has been working with Lars von Trier since 1987 and has been in nine of von Trier’s films, including Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Melancholia and most recently, Nymphomaniac.

Udo Kier has acted in Hollywood blockbusters such as Armageddon or End of Days, horror, vampire and trash movies as well as artistic ventures such as Werner Herzog’s My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. He has worked with Nicole Kidman, Isabella Rossellini, Catherine Deneuve, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Wesley Snipes, Michael Caine, to name just a few.

Kier still acts in stage productions and often works with artists in other fields. He has appeared in the music videos of artists such as U2 or Madonna, with whom he posed for photos in her book, Sex, and sang The Eagle for which he composed the lyrics, in My Own Private Idaho.

June 6, 2014
International actors expected to line-up at the Shanghai International Film Festival

MUMBAI: The organizing committee of the Shanghai International Film Festival has announced that Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Hayden Christensen, Rain, Song Seung Heon and Park Shin Hye will grace the red carpet at the opening ceremony on 14 June. The closing ceremony red carpet scheduled for 22 June will be equally as star-studded with Natalie Portman and Son Tae-Yeong, among others, on parade.

Shanghai International Film Festival’s (SIFF) opening night is renowned for attracting the strongest array of “red carpet” stars of any festival in Asia. In recent years it has hosted Halle Berry, Adrien Brody, John Paul Cusack, Sharon Stone, Clive Owen, and Susan Sarandon. The stand-out feature this year is the pair of Best Actress Oscar-winning stars, Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman, headlining SIFF’s grandest line-up of overseas film celebrities.

British heartthrob Hugh Grant will be making his debut visit to Shanghai to promote his new work The Rewrite and Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars, will attend to support his new film Outcast. The movie is a China-US co-production co-starring China’s Liu Yifei and Andy On.

The presence of many well-known Korean stars on the red carpet this year reflects the surging popularity of Korean TV series and films in Asia and around the world. Rain will attend with Liu Yifei to promote Difficult Love, a film by director Gao Xixi. Song Seung Heon will bring his new film Obsessed. Son Tae-yeong will hit the closing ceremony red carpet for her co-starring work in a Chinese film.

As the only A-accredited film festival in China, SIFF has gained a reputation over the years for its strong line-up of guest international celebrities on the red carpet and in other festival activities.

Since last year’s glittering festival appearances by Helen Mirren (The Queen), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), and Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) there has been strong interest in who will attend this year. Kidman’s latest movie, Grace of Monaco, will be screened at SIFF in the film premiere section, giving Shanghai audiences an opportunity to see it before general release in China.

The movie opened the Cannes Film Festival program in May and is relatively unknown by Chinese movie fans. Hollywood sweetheart Kidman will attend the Shanghai screening as part of her first visit to the city in a movie promotion role. The visiting stars will also participate in a range of other film industry activities during the festival.

China has rapidly grown into the second most important box office battlefield after the U.S in the increasingly competitive world cinema market. As one of the most important exchange platforms for Chinese and foreign films, SIFF has won increasing recognition and support at home and abroad for its integrated promotion, marketing and distribution activities.

American and European producers are highly aware of the promotion opportunities provided by SIFF. More and more Chinese and overseas film companies consider participation in the festival in June as an essential opportunity to premiere and promote films to be released during summer holidays.

SIFF provides an important promotion and marketing platform for those films. The festival opens the door for overseas filmmakers into the Chinese market and serves as an important stage for displaying the latest productions. At the same time, these key filmmakers draw worldwide attention to China.

With the world’s media feasting on the star-studded opening and closing ceremonies and, the festival’s strong program, SIFF and the Chinese industry’s unique style and elegant demeanour are prominently showcased.

June 5, 2014
New Umbrella Event for Asian Film and TV Content to launch in Singapore later this year

NEW DELHI: For the first time, a media festival on films and television will be held in Singapore in December for trade visitors and members of the public.

A Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore source said the annual Singapore Media Festival is set to become one of Asia’s leading international media events.

The Singapore Media Festival brings together four complementary film and TV events – a trade market for film and TV, conferences, awards and festival screenings under a single umbrella.

Thus, the Singapore International Film Festival will be from 4 to 14 December, with the Asian Television Awards on 11 December, the Asia TV Forum & Market from 9 to 12 December, and ScreenSingapore from 9 to 12 December.

The Singapore International Film Festival will bring quality films from around the world to the masses; recognising the best films in Singapore and Asia

Founded in 1987 and into its 25th edition this year, SGIFF is widely attended by international film critics, academics, industry practitioners, and general consumers. It is recognised worldwide for its focus on Asian filmmakers and promotion of Southeast Asian films, and is a one-stop location for film programmers and producers to discover filmmaking talent and trends.

SGIFF adds a public component to the Singapore Media Festival, bringing over 70 titles of top-notch international films to be screened across Singapore. It will also have an awards component to recognise film talents in Singapore and Asia with the Silver Screen awards.

“The Singapore International Film Festival being the longest-running and largest film festival in Singapore has always captured the hearts of filmmakers, creative professionals and film enthusiasts here. The co-location of the TV and film market with our Festival offers a new dimension for us which we hope will translate to benefits for the Singapore film industry,” said SGIFF executive director Yuni Hadi.

The Asian Television Awards (ATA) celebrating the best in Asian TV content and will have a new revised digital category, with webcasters competing.

The ATA is one of Asia’s premier awards event that recognises the achievements of talent in Asia’s TV industry. It has grown since its establishment in 1996, and has been consistently receiving more than 1,000 entries annually from across the region. This year, ATA will be introducing a new awards category in keeping with the digital trend, allowing webcasters to compete in the awards for the first time.

Contineo Media CEO and chairman of the ATA Raymond Wong expressed happiness that the Awards will be part of the Singapore Media Festival. “Every December, Singapore becomes a hotbed for the distribution of content and the exchange of ideas; and with both ScreenSingapore and SGIFF exhibiting quality films; it leaves ATA the distinct honor of celebrating the best of television in Asia. The ATA is a celebrated industry event that recognizes excellence in programming, production and performance, and received well over 1,200 entries from across 14 countries last year. This year, with our targeted second regional broadcast, we endeavor to unite Asia-Pacific to collectively witness the wins of each territory’s home-grown talent from the comfort of living rooms big and small,” said Wong.

On ATA’s new digital category this year, Wong said: “This will be the first time that original TV content premiering on online platforms can compete at the awards; this is a reflection of the burgeoning demand for digital content fuelled by the proliferation of OTT and VOD services across the region.”

The Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and ScreenSingapore is an integrated film and TV market to bring greater business and networking opportunities. The third and fourth components of the Singapore Media Festival are ATF and ScreenSingapore will bring a seamless international trade market for film and TV as well as conferences and master classes under the event.

ATF and ScreenSingapore were co-located in 2012 to bring greater synergies between film and TV content, and will return this year with even more opportunities for local and global media players to meet and exchange ideas.

Reed Exhibitions Singapore MD Michelle Lim said, “Asia Television Forum & Market and ScreenSingapore (ATF & SS) is honored to be part of the inaugural Singapore Media Festival. With the increased accessibility of entertainment content across different platforms, this integration of media and entertainment events under one umbrella will certainly bring more value and benefits for the trade industry. As a leading international entertainment content market in Asia, ATF & SS 2014 looks to provide industry players with a solid platform for networking and knowledge exchange, drawing in a myriad of entertainment content by international and regional sellers, while attracting buyers from the region.”

The Singapore Media Festival is hosted by the Media Development Authority of Singapore, and organised by Reed Exhibitions, Contineo Media and SGIFF Ltd.

MDA assistant chief executive (Industry) Angeline Poh said, “The Singapore Media Festival is set to be a seamless, must-attend media event where international participants gather to discover the latest trends, talents and content in Asia, making Singapore the choice destination for those in Asia’s media business. With this event, everyone from industry players to public audiences will have something to look forward to. The Singapore Media Festival, with its umbrella of four signature events, can only become bigger and better in the years to come.”

June 4, 2014
‘Begin Again’ trailer 2 features music by ‘Maroon 5’ Adam Levine

MUMBAI: The Weinstein Company recently released a new trailer for its upcoming musical romantic comedy, Begin Again. The second trailer features a new song by the film’s actor and music producer Adam Levine called “Lost Stars”.

The latest film from writer-director John Carney (Once), Begin Again is a soul-stirring comedy about what happens when lost souls meet and make beautiful music together. Gretta and her long-time boyfriend Dave are college sweethearts and song-writing partners who decamp for New York when he lands a deal with a major label. But the trappings of his new-found fame soon tempt Dave to stray, and a reeling, lovelorn Gretta is left to fend for herself. Her world takes a turn for the better when Dan, a disgraced record-label exec, stumbles upon her performing on an East Village stage and is immediately captivated by her raw talent. From this chance encounter emerges an enchanting portrait of a mutually transformative collaboration, set to the soundtrack of a summer in New York City.

Begin Again is written and directed by Academy Award winner John Carney (Once) and produced by Anthony Bregman, Tobin Armbrust and Judd Apatow. The film stars Golden Globe Award nominee Keira Knightly (Atonement) as Gretta, with Grammy Award winner Adam Levine (lead vocalist of Maroon 5) as Dave and Screen Actors’ Guild Award nominee Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are Alright) as Dan. Begin Again also stars Grammy Award winner Cee Lo Green, BAFTA Award winner James Corden (Gavin & Stacey), Golden Globe award nominee Mos Def (Something the Lord Made), Academy Award nominee Hailey Steinfeld (True Grit) and Academy Award nominee Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich).

With the soundtrack of Begin Again scheduled to release on 1 July, Adam Levine’s own record label, 222 Records will debut its first soundtrack compilation.

Watch the musical trailer below:

June 3, 2014
Jane Fonda grounds Tina Fey, Jason Bateman in the first This is Where I Leave You trailer

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. recently released the first trailer of its upcoming ensemble family drama, This is Where I Leave You starring Academy Award winner Jane Fonda (Coming Home) and Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Tina Fey (30 Rock).

This Is Where I Leave You is directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb) and is based on the book of the same name by Jonathan Tropper, who also wrote the film’s screenplay.

The film revolves around the death of Judd Foxman’s father which marks the first time that the entire Foxman family-including Judd’s mother, brothers, and sister-have been together in years. Conspicuously absent is Judd’s wife, Jen, whose fourteen-month affair with Judd’s radio-shock-jock boss has recently become painfully public.

Simultaneously mourning the death of his father and the demise of his marriage, Judd joins the rest of the Foxmans as they reluctantly submit to their patriarch’s dying request: to spend the seven days following the funeral together; in the same house; like a family.

As the week quickly spins out of control, longstanding grudges resurface, secrets are revealed, and old passions reawakened. For Judd, it’s a weeklong attempt to make sense of the mess his life has become while trying in vain not to get sucked into the regressive battles of his madly dysfunctional family. All of which would be hard enough without the bomb Jen dropped the day Judd’s father died: She’s pregnant.

This Is Where I Leave You is considered to be Jonathan Tropper’s most accomplished work to date, a riotously funny and an emotionally raw novel about love, marriage, divorce, family, and the ties that bind them, whether they like it or not.

The film also stars Golden Globe award winner Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) as Judd Foxman, Emmy Award nominees Adam Driver (Girls) and Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Golden Globe Award nominees Corey Stoll (House of Cards), Connie Britton (Nashville) and Rose Bryne (Damages). Ben Schwartz (House of Lies) and Dax Shephard (Parenthood) round up the ensemble cast.

This is Where I Leave You releases in India on 26 September, 2014.

You can watch the trailer below:

June 2, 2014
PVR Pictures acquires ‘Fox Catcher’

NEW DELHI: Acclaimed film Fox Catcher which won the best director award for Bennett Miller has been acquired for India by PVR Pictures, the distribution arm of the largest cinema exhibition company in India, at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Director Bennett Miller, whose previous film Moneyball starring Brad Pitt was nominated for six Academy Awards, has based Fox Catcher on the real-life murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz.

In addition to the Fox Catcher PVR Pictures acquired Alone in Berlin, Our Kind of Traitor, Equals, Untitled Lance Armstrong Biopic, Legend, Civilian, Inversion, American Express, Hologram for the King, London Fields and Visions among others.

PVR joint managing director Sanjeev Kumar said, “PVR believes in not only providing a world class standard of cinema watching experience to the audiences but it equally emphasises on quality content that is acknowledged globally for its viewers. Indian patrons are opening up to recognise global cinema with quality subject matter. This is a very good time for the industry and the Indian audience has a lot to look forward to in the coming months.”

PVR Pictures had earlier brought films like American Hustle, The Wolf of the Wall Street, 12 years a Slave, Her, Nebraska, Lone Survivor, Dallas Buyers Club to name a few; which were major nominations at the Oscars, being testament to, bringing to the new class of cine goers, content driven films.

PVR has a decade long association with international film festivals like Oscars and now it is becoming a leading exhibitor of French Riviera through Cannes.

May 31, 2014
Angie-ficent!

MUMBAI: “Let us tell an old story anew,” Janet McTeer’s voice echoes as a revision to the old fable opens. Given the rather stodgy characters in the 1959 Walt Disney classic Sleeping Beauty, the character of Maleficent is by far, the most interesting; which makes her perfect fodder for a revisit.

The concept of retelling the classic Sleeping Beauty from the antagonist’s point of view is intriguing but the film itself is a visual feast.

All’s well for the young and beautiful fairy Maleficent till a boy Stefan stumbles into the forest where she lives and wins her heart. However, ambition takes its toll and Stefan leaves Maleficent only to return for worse – cutting off her wings. Having lost her wings and her faith in love, a shattered Maleficent resolves to seek revenge at any cost and destroy Stefan and his newly minted empire.

Comparisons with Disney’s 1959 film are inevitable, especially in the first half which includes scenes reminiscent of the old film, making the storyline and development of Maleficent’s character rather anomalous. However, as malevolence tries to redeem itself through maternity, right from the expose of Aurora to the curiosity of first love to Maleficent exposing her most vulnerable side in the final climactic event, Linda Woolverton’s screenplay shines through in the second half.

Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted) is mesmerising as Maleficent; malevolent but motherly when required. Elle Fanning brings her own vivacity to Aurora while Sharlto Copley as Stefan makes the Queen of Evil look sunnier in comparison. After reprising a Dolores Umbridge whom fans love to hate in the Harry Potter franchise, Imelda Stanton’s turn as pixie is the surprise package.

After winning many a golden statuette for production design, Academy Award winner Robert Stromberg makes a stellar directorial debut with Maleficent, coupled with a gripping score by Emmy Award winner James Newton Howard.

It’s possible you’ll continue to hum Lana Del Rey’s rendition of Once upon a Dream long after leaving the movie theatre!

May 30, 2014