Category: International

MUMBAI: Talk show .comedian Charlie Callas has passed away at the age of 83. Known for his fast-paced speech, Charlie was often incorporating a stutter into his routine.

Callas was a favourite guest of Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson as well as a regular on The Andy Williams Show and The ABC Comedy Hour.
He gave his zany antics a rest in 1975 starring in the crime show Switch.

“There were two things he could do that made his career,” Tony Belmont, executive director of the National Comedy Hall of Fame in St. Petersburg, Fla. had said in a recent interview. “He could think very fast on his feet and had an unbelievable number of sounds that he made with his voice,” Belmont added.

Johnny Carson had Charlie do his stand-up routines on the Tonight Show nearly 50 times, until 21 September, 1982, when the thick friends ended their relationship.

Charlie may have not appeared on the Tonight Show anymore but he was always welcome at big time celebrity gatherings and left crowds in stitches always.

MUMBAI: James Franco, nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal as Aron Ralston in 127 Hours will appear at the Boulder Theater on 19 February to take part in ‘A Conversation with James Franco‘ at the Boulder International Film Festival.

The star will be honoured with the Boulder festival‘s Vanguard Award. 

He is scheduled to co-host the Academy Awards with Anne Hathaway one week after attending BIFF, which runs Feb. 17-20.

Also, Oliver Stone will be honoured with a “Master of Cinema” award for his achievements in writing, producing, writing and directing.
 

MUMBAI: The American influence on Japan continues. While staying local, Japan‘s box office collections ballooned mainly on account of Hollywood 3D blockbusters that took the top three spots.

Japan‘s theatrical collections touched a new high, surpassing the previous record of 2004, as it rose 7.1 per cent to 220.7 billion yen ($2.7 billion) in 2010.

Though feeling the tremors, the local Japanese filmmakers ruled their den. According to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan data, local Japanese movies fared better than imported movies in overall market share for the third straight year. But their share of the total market slipped three percentage points from 57 per cent in 2009 to 54 per cent in 2010.

The rise in box office figures can be primarily due to the premiums charged for 3D viewing, which generally adds about 300 yen per ticket.

Significantly, the top three films at the 2010 box were all foreign and 3D movies. Twentieth Century Fox‘s sci-fi blockbuster Avatar was the year‘s top grossing film with 15.6 billion yen ($190 million), followed by Walt Disney Co‘s Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3, both smashing the 10 billion yen mega-hit mark.

The Borrower Arietty, the top Japanese film and No. 4 overall, raked in 9.25 billion yen. The animated movie was followed by 3D flick, Umizaru 3: The Last Message and cop action thriller Bayside Shakedown 3, which grossed $98 million and $88.9 million respectively.
 

MUMBAI: Media and entertainment company Relativity Media has appointed Steve Bertram as its COO and CFO.

Bertram will oversee the day-to-day company operations for Relativity, including the building and managing of the company‘s domestic and international distribution relationships.

In his position as COO, he will directly report to Relativity president Michael Joe and to Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh for his duties as CFO.

Bertram joins Relativity from Paramount Home Entertainment where he was president of business operations.

Prior to his position at Paramount, Bertram was CFO of Dreamworks and was involved in negotiating its sale to Viacom after the separation from DreamWorks Animation.

Says Kavanaugh, “We‘re thrilled to have a seasoned veteran like Steve join our team. He brings with him deep and extensive expertise at a time when our company has delivered on the promise of becoming a fully-functioning, full service studio. As our business ventures continue to grow, Steve‘s expertise will prove invaluable.”

Prior to joining Paramount, Bertram held a variety of senior positions in operations, marketing, distribution, strategic planning, and finance at DreamWorks LLC. He served as chief financial officer of the privately held DreamWorks subsequent to the public offering of the animation company in 2004, and was responsible for managing all finance, strategic planning and banking activities.

Adds Bertram, “Ryan has incredible vision and has built a strong and innovative company. I‘m very excited to join Relativity as it continues to rethink what‘s possible in the entertainment industry.”
 

MUMBAI: Twilight star Kristen Stewart is being cajoled to play Snow White in a latest film adaptation in which she will be pitted against Oscar-winner Charlize Theron, who is beung tipped to do the role of evil queen.

Stewart, who shot to fame playing Bella Swan in the vampire romance, is leading the list of actresses being considered for the title role in Universal‘s Snow White and the Huntsman.

Viggo Mortensen is in talks to play the Huntsman, The film is being directed by Rupert Sanders.

Other actresses who have been considered for the role of the fairytale character are Riley Keough, Felicity Jones and Alicia Vikander.

Stewart, who has focused on indie projects in between the vampire films, could well bag her first studio project since becoming famous through te adaptation.

MUMBAI: Seventy five year-old veteran Donald Sutherland has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The star‘s honour was unveiled next to the star of his son, Kiefer.

The Canadian-born actor, whose career has spanned five decades, has appeared in films like The Dirty Dozen, Klute, MASH and Space Cowboys.

Sutherland has starred nearly in 130 films in his 5-decde career.

He also appeared in Don‘t Look Now, JFK, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Ordinary People and Animal House.

Sutherland‘s latest film, The Mechanic, released this week, while another, Roman epic The Eagle, will open in the US next month and March in the UK.
 

MUMBAI: Anthony Hopkins is talking to production company Montecito to star in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Rebello‘‘s 1998 book, ‘Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho‘.

Hopkins will play Hitchcock in a new non-fiction film that will deal with the director‘‘s life and film career.

The book focuses on the story of Hitchcock‘‘s decision to make the now-famous horror movie and the struggle he had to finance and get support for the film.

Hopkins, who is famed for his work in psycho-horror films like The Silence of Lambs, is keen on playing the role.

Sacha Gervasi, who is in talks to direct the film, may concentrate more on Hitchcock‘‘s relationship with his wife, Alma Reville.

Hopkins has won an Academy Award for his role as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and reprised the character in a number of sequels. He‘‘s now appearing in the Satanic-horror The Rite that is set to release next week.

MUMBAI: LA Laker star Kobe Bryant will be the first and only athlete to feature in the Hollywood Walk of Fame along with Grauman’s Chinese Theater this year.

Bryant will be honoured on 19 February before the All Star games and during the All Star NBA game weekend. That weekend will also coincide with Bryant, launching his newest short film with Nike.

Bryant, who is one of the top players in his field, has has won five NBA championships with the LA Lakers. He is in the running to surpass records set for career scoring.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame has an estimated 200 Hollywood celebrity handprints, footprints, and autographs from as early as the 1920s.

Bryant will be the second non-Hollywood related person to have their prints immortalised after American showman and creator of Grauman’s Chinese Theater Sid Grauman‘s mother.
 

MUMBAI: Hectic activity can be seen for the creation of a single actors‘ union in Hollywood. The board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has given its approval to continue a series of meetings with the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on that account. 

The board has also set a 14 May deadline for a union committee to make a series of recommendations on a formal process for establishing a successor union that would represent actors and other performers.

Though nothing has been agreed upon, the concept of merging has the backing of both union presidents who have been holding a series of meetings with members around the country to discuss the topic.

While SAG represents 125,000 actors, AFTRA has a membership of 70,000 members that includes, besides actors, news broadcasters and recording artists. About 40,000 actors belong to both unions.
 

MUMBAI: Sanborn Studios, which officially launched its Lakewood Ranch facility recently, has added a few veteran Hollywood film executives to its team.

Chief financial officer Alan Bailey has joined founder and chief executive Ken Sanborn as the head of the television and film production company.

Bailey maximised state production incentives while working at Paramount Pictures for 35 years. Since retiring from one of the world’s oldest and most successful film studios as senior vice president and treasurer in 2009, he has headed Moving Star Media.

The Los Angeles-based company’s services include independent motion picture and television script development, finance, production and distribution services, as well as marketing.

Bailey will work in Lakewood Ranch and in Los Angeles, where he plans to open a Sanborn Studios satellite office in the Century City district, home to numerous law firms and agencies with ties to the film, television and music industries.

Sanborn Studios also has named Dan Forman as senior vice president of programme development. Forman directed live news coverage in New York City for 30 years and created non-news programming such as the original Howard Stern TV show, according to the studio website.