ITV

Category: International

  • Beyonce Knowles to direct documentary on her own life

    Beyonce Knowles to direct documentary on her own life

    MUMBAI: Following in the footsteps of Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and The Jonas Brothers, songstress Beyonce Knowles is in plans to direct, produce and star in a feature film documentary on her life and career. 

    The singer and her representatives have been pitching the idea to Hollywood studios of a non-fiction film about the celebrity‘s life and career.

    The star has already released a mini documentary entitled 4, which showed the making of her successful album and gave a rare glimpse into an otherwise very private life.

  • Christopher Eccleston to play lead villain in Thor 2

    Christopher Eccleston to play lead villain in Thor 2

    MUMBAI: Christopher Eccleston, best known in Nerdville for playing the ninth incarnation of the Doctor on Doctor Who, has been signed on to play the lead villain role in Thor 2: The Dark World.
    The casting is said to be bigger than Zachary Quinto playing Spock and even bigger than David Tennant playing up a role in a Harry Potter film.
    The news comes a few weeks after Mads Mikkelson backed out of the then-unnamed villain role, citing scheduling conflicts with his work on NBC‘s Hannibal series.
    With news of Eccleston‘s casting, “we finally have a name that he would be playing. He will play Malekith, ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, a foe of Thor.
    Eccleston, a seasoned British actor whose career includes a twisted role in Danny Boyle‘s Shallow Grave, has played his fair share of villains, such as Major Henry West in 28 Days Later and Destro in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. And when he played the Doctor in the first series of the new Doctor Who, he was happy-go-lucky while also war-torn and scarred.

  • MJ estate bars members of his extended family to enter home of his kin

    MJ estate bars members of his extended family to enter home of his kin

    MUMBAI: Taking in to account the ongoing family feud, the estate of Michael Jackson has barred some members of the extended family from the home shared by the crooner‘s three children and mother Katherine.
    The estate has drawn up a list of approved guests, requested by an attorney for the son of Tito Jackson (TJ), who was appointed temporary guardian of the children last week, it is understood. Jackson‘s children Prince, Paris and Blanket live with their grandmother Katherine in a gated community in suburban Calabasas.
    Last week, while Katherine was away resting in Arizona, Michael‘s siblings Randy, Janet and Jermaine apparently burst into the home demanding that the children come with them. Soon after the police was called after which the two male adults became violent, police sources said.
    “Given the circumstances of the last two weeks, and in order to protect the children and Mrs Jackson, the Executors believe that it would not be appropriate to allow the following individuals to enter the residence or its grounds,” said an e-mail sent by estate lawyer Howard Weitzman to the lawyer for TJ.
    Randy, Janet, Jermaine and Rebbie along with their children and anyone involved in the recent events that led to Katherine‘s separation from Michael‘s children have been barred from entering their home.

  • Hitchcock’s Vertigo ranked no 1 in list of 10 greatest films

    Hitchcock’s Vertigo ranked no 1 in list of 10 greatest films

    Mumbai: Alfred Hitchcock has finally upstaged Orson Welles. Hitchcock‘s Vertigo has taken the top spot in the 10 greatest-movies-ever list compiled by Sight and Sound ending the 50-year-long run of Welles‘ Citizen Kane.
    Citizen Kane slid to the second spot, making way for Hitchcock‘s 1958 psychological drama starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.
    Yasujiro Ozu‘s Tokyo Story has been ranked third followed by Jean Renoir‘s Rules of the Game, F.W. Murnau‘s Sunrise, Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey and John Ford‘s The Searchers. Carl Dreyer‘s The Passion of Joan of Arc ranks ninth followed by Federico Fellini‘s 8 1/2.
    The list also includes a new addition: Dziga Vertov‘s documentary Man With a Movie Camera that comes in at eighth place.
    Interestingly, Satyajit Ray‘s 1955 classic Pather Panchali has been featured in the 50 greatest films of all time list. The film was made on a shoestring budget of Rs 150,000 and featured mostly amateur actors but it is Ray‘s most famous film.
    With 31 votes, the Ray film came at the 42 place in the Sight & Sound poll.
    Some 846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors voted the best 50 films from the world cinema in the poll, which takes place once in a decade.
    The magazine, published by the British Film Institute, surveys international film critics every decade.

  • Hawk Koch is president of the Academy

    Hawk Koch is president of the Academy

    MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ board of governors have elected film producer Hawk Koch as its new president yesterday. He succeeds Tom Sherak, who has held the honorary position since 2009.
    After assuming the Academy post, Koch follows in the footsteps of his father, the late producer Howard W. Koch, who served as Academy president from 1977 to 1979.
    Koch has been a member of the Academy‘s producer‘s branch since 2004. He has served a three-year term as treasurer, served another one-year term as vice president, and was first vice president of the Academy during the past year.
    The veteran film producer‘s credits range from 1978‘s Heaven Can Wait to 1992‘s Wayne‘s World and its 1993 sequel to 2002‘s Collateral Damage. He recently served as executive producer of Source Code and is exec producer on the upcoming Very Good Girls. Hawk also currently serves, along with Mark Gordon, as one of the two presidents of the Producers Guild of America.
    The board also elected public relations branch governor Cheryl Boone Isaacs as the board‘s first vice president. While producer Kathleen Kennedy was elected as one vp post, writers branch governor Phil Robinson was elected as the second. Public relations branch governer Rob Friedman, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment, was elected treasurer. Finally, executives branch governor Robert Rehme, who was a past Academy president, was elected secretary.
    The Academy president is elected from among the board of governors. While the Academy president can serve as many as four consecutive one-year terms, Koch‘s tenure will be limited to one year, since members of the board of governors may serve a maximum of three consecutive three-year terms, and he is currently beginning his last year as a member of the board.
    The board also elected public relations branch governor Cheryl Boone Isaacs as the board‘s first vice president. While producer Kathleen Kennedy was elected as one vp post, writers branch governor Phil Robinson was elected as the second. Public relations branch governer Rob Friedman, co-chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment, was elected treasurer. Finally, executives branch governor Robert Rehme, who was a past Academy president, was elected secretary.

  • French filmmaker Chris Marker expires at 91

    French filmmaker Chris Marker expires at 91

    MUMBAI: French film director and writer Chris Marker expired on Monday. He was 91.
    Born on July 29, 1921, Maker joined the French Resistance during the Second World War and further to that he became a journalist.
    He stepped onto the French cultural scene as a writer and then became a filmmaker. From the 1950s onwards, he travelled the world directing documentaries, including one about the Helsinki Olympics (Olympia 52) and another about African art (Statues Also Die with Alain Resnais).
    In 1962, he made the The Pier, for which he won the Prix Jean Vigo, and in 1963 he and Pierre Lhomme together directed Joli Mai, a documentary featuring Yves Montand‘s voice about Paris after the Evian Agreements. In 1967, he contributed to the ensemble film Far from Vietnam with Jean-Luc Godard, Agn?s Varda, and Joris Ivens. In the wake of May 1968, he focused on militant film collective I.S.K.R.A., before returning to his own personal creations. In 1977, he made Grin Without a Cat, and in 1982 he directed the emblematic Sunless, which took the filmmaker from Guinea Bissau to Japan, and from Ile-de-France to Iceland.

  • Finding Nemo to release in India on 24 august in 3D

    Finding Nemo to release in India on 24 august in 3D

    Mumbai: Academy Award-winning best animated feature Finding Nemo returns to the big screen for the first time ever in thrilling Disney Digital 3D. It will release in India on 24 August, three weeks prior to its US release.
    This stunning underwater adventure, with memorable characters, humor and heartfelt emotion, Finding Nemo follows the comedic and momentous journey of an overly protective clownfish named Marlin (voice by Albert Brooks) and his son Nemo (voice by Alexander Gould) who separate in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from his ocean home and dumped into a fish tank in a dentist‘s office.
    Buoyed by the companionship of Dory (voice by Ellen DeGeneres), a friendly-but-forgetful Pacific regal blue tang, Marlin embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself as the unlikely hero of an epic effort to rescue his son who hatches a few daring plans of his own to return safely home.
    It will be interesting to note that Finding Nemo won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The film won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy. At the time of its release, the film was the highest grossing G-rated movie of all time. In 2008, the American Film Institute named Finding Nemo among the top 10 greatest animated films ever made.

  • Cameron Crowe to direct film with Emma Stone in female lead

    Cameron Crowe to direct film with Emma Stone in female lead

    Mumbai: Cameron Crowe, who made his last film We Bought a Zoo for 20th Century Fox, has settled on his next film – a yet-to-be titled romantic drama that will star Emma Stone.
    Representatives of Crowe have confirmed that Sony has picked up the project based on the director‘s original script. The film would be produced by Scott Rudin with Crowe hoping to go on the floors this fall.
    Crowe‘s family entry We Bought a Zoo, that released last Christmas grossed $120 million worldwide.
    Stone (The Help) is no stranger to Sony; she stars in the studio‘s latest The Amazing Spider-Man. She‘ll next be seen in theatres in January in The Gangster Squad.
    The hunt is now on for the leading man.

  • Release of Avatar 2 deferred to 2015

    Release of Avatar 2 deferred to 2015

    MUMBAI: The release of the sequel to Avatar titled Avatar 2 has been deferred to 2015. Director James Cameron is set to release the follow up to the 2009 fantasy film one year later than Fox executives had originally planned, it is understood.

    Avatar 2 is set to be filmed in Peter Jackson‘s production studio in New Zealand. Cameron is said to have purchased 2,500 acres of farmland near Pounui, a 15-mintue helicopter ride from Peter‘s Wellington production studio, where he plans to shoot both Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 with motion-capture effects set to be done on a stage in California.
    The filmmaker is expected to live in New Zealand for 18 months while he shoots the two follow up movies.
    The sequel to Avatar is expected to see Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana reprise their roles in the movie.

  • Olympics and shootout effect dwindle audience in theatres

    Olympics and shootout effect dwindle audience in theatres

    MUMBAI: The combination of the Olympics and the Colorado theatre massacre has had a sizeable impact on weekend box office sales that could end 30 per ccent down from last year.
    Twentieth Century Fox‘s high-profile summer comedy The Watch starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade opened to a sluggish star with $4.5 million on Friday, well behind the $19 million earned by The Dark Knight Rises on its second Friday. The R-rated film earned a dismal C+ CinemaScore.
    The weekend‘s other new entry is Summit Entertainment‘s 3D dance film Step Up Revolution that grossed $4.9 million to beat The Watch. Step Up 4 earned a B+ CinemaScore.
    Most box office observers predict that The Watch will pull ahead of Step Up 4 and gross in the vicinity between $13 to $15 million range for the weekend, in comparison to $11 to $12 million for the Summit film.
    Heading into the weekend, research firm NRG warned Hollywood studios that 20 to 25 per cent of the movie-going audience were hesitant to see a film this weekend because of the Colorado shooting and the Olympics.
    Though by any measure, Dark Knight Rises continues to do good business, but there is no doubt that the film is leaving business on the table because of the shooting during a midnight screening of the film.
    Comparing Friday over Friday collection, Dark Knight Rises fell 76 per cent, in line with other films that had sizeable midnight earnings on opening day.