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Seth MacFarlane's Oscars Opening: Half 'Family Guy,' Half Showstopper, All Solid
February 24, 2013 9:41pm ESTOn paper, no entertainer working today fit the Oscar host bill quite like Seth MacFarlane: He's the mastermind behind Family Guy, the animated sitcom that's hooked millions of young audience members; he's successfully ventured into films with his mega-hit, R-rated comedy Ted; and he's a performer at heart — one who can rattle off-topic, risqué jokes while paying homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood. (Did we mention he cut a big band crooner album in 2011?) MacFarlane is a natural born showman who has never been given a stage. RELATED: Oscars 2013: See the Winners! So it makes sense that producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron would hand over Oscar duties to a Renaissance man like MacFarlane. Going into the 84th Academy Awards, it was clear that the Broadway-inclined Zadan and Meron wanted a show that felt like a show. There were dance numbers planned, hints of a musical extravaganzas, and the promise of a full-fledged song-and-dance man in the leading role. The duo knew that by hiring MacFarlane, they would have a host who would pull out all the stops. Even if you don't enjoy his humor, MacFarlane isn't the type to phone it in. But was "pulling out all the stops" what the Oscars needed? Well, it certainly helped. MacFarlane took the stage like hosts of years past, ready to lay down one-liners and roast the Oscars' nominees. He started off with just enough inside baseball to land a joke that played to the in-house audience and the one billion people watching at home. "Quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh begins now." And he succeeded! The cranky Lincoln costar cracked a smile and got a huge laugh from the theatre. A good star for MacFarlane. MacFarlane's zinger-filled intro only got better. From a jab at the Academy for snubbing Ben Affleck to a "remember that guy?" nod to 2012's Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin, MacFarlane kept the jokes coming and straight down the middle — fears of racy humor quickly dissipated. MacFarlane's biggest issue was contending with the assault of humor flooding the web via Twitter. His Daniel Day-Lewis/method acting joke about cell phones felt... old. Blame it on the comedians who can react in real time on everyone's favorite social media tool. But MacFarlane was always ready to shake any flops away — name-dropping Rihanna and Chris Brown quickly sent the room into a fit of laughter. Mission accomplished. A few minutes into MacFarlane's bit, the most MacFarlane-y moment occurred: William Shatner interrupted the monologue in character as Captain Kirk, with a message from the future. Apparently, MacFarlane's planned opening flops with the critics. So everything he's about to do, he has to scrap. Kirk has taped evidence. The show cuts to MacFarlane in an extravagant musical number. "We Saw Your Boobs" runs down all the actresses in the audience who have revealed it all on camera. This is the MacFarlane R-rated humor we were all anticipating. RELATED: William Shatner Makes History at Oscars It ends up working quite well. With a pre-recorded segment, MacFarlane worked the women of the Oscars into his bit — Jennifer Lawrence cheering when MacFarlane announces that she's never bared her breasts in a movie might be the high point of the evening — and integrated his signature style. The "time travel" element may have been incredibly geeky (and really, MacFarlane needed a way to inject a dose of nostalgic pop culture into the mix), but it gave him the ability to jump between raunchy comedy and pure classy musical numbers. Tapping into his love for the old school, MacFarlane balanced his ridiculous song and dance with a number of Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron ballroom dancing and a trio musical number between MacFarlane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Daniel Radcliffe. Everyone won with this year's opening. Hollywood fans saw major stars strut their stuff under MacFarlane's swinging vocals, and fans of Family Guy saw their patron work his magic in bits like the sock puppet remake of Flight or the random Sally Field/Flying Nun backstage sketch. The funniest opening in Oscar history? Far from it, but MacFarlane clearly has an understanding of what an Oscar host needs to accomplish in an intro and a respect for the art of pulling it off. His act wasn't terribly far off from Academy Award go to Bob Hope — it was a straight down the middle performance that simultaneously mocked Hollywood and embraced it. MacFarlane has the musician's edge too. The producers didn't have to force him into a dance number. He wrote them in himself. MacFarlane may take heat for not playing it as risky as he could. But it only works out for him in the end: on Oscar night, he delivered the kind of opening that gets a host invited back. <a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/6919137/">What Did You Think of Seth MacFarlane's Oscar Opening?</a> [Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images] Follow Matt Patches on Twitter @misterpatches From Our Partners:40 Most Revealing See-Through Red Carpet Looks (Vh1)33 Child Stars: Where Are They Now? (Celebuzz) Oscars 2013 Special Coverage Oscars 2013 Red Carpet Arrivals: PICS! • Anne Hathaway: Oscar’s Worst Dressed?• 15 Oscar-Winning Nude Scenes• The Worst Best Picture Winner Ever• Oscar's Problem With Pretty Boys• Why Stars Should Fear Seth MacFarlane• Oscars 2013: The Full Winners List• The Winner, According to You
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Too Pretty for Oscar Gold: Is There a Male Double-Standard in Hollywood?
February 21, 2013 12:04pm ESTIt's really easy to talk about the issues that plague women in Hollywood. Why? Because there are so many steps that need to be taken before women and men have equal footing in the industry (or pretty much, you know, anywhere in life). But there may be instances in which Hollywood's obsession with female beauty benefits them: The Oscars. It's no industry secret that if a woman (especially a beautiful one) drastically changes her image for a dramatic role, she's almost assured to be in the running for Best Actress. What happens, though, when men held in similar esteem downgrade their looks for a leading role? Crickets, mostly. In fact, men who are often considered beautiful by society (read: women and gay men) have a mighty hard time getting their names on the winner's envelope when the Best Actor announcement comes around. So the question begs: does the Academy have a double standard on its hands? It sure seems that way. Or perhaps it goes back to the perception of women. "Women are supposed to be admired for what they look like," Linda Mizejewski, a professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Ohio State University, says. "But if a man is admired for what he looks like, it's suspicious." Does this mean, then, that a looks-based value system creates such a double standard? Gasp! Impossible! Only it's completely logical when you break it down: our society places an incredibly high value on female beauty, but peg a veritable smörgåsbord of "weak" traits as distinctly feminine. As Mizejewski says, we can value women for their looks, but a man is "feminized" as soon as we consider his beauty a valuable asset. In the less-than-immortal-but-still-terribly-apt words of "What It Feels Like For A Girl" by Madonna, "Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short / Wear shirts and boots / 'Cause it's okay to be a boy / But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading / 'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading." If you look at the past 10 years, the Best Actress category is rife with women who have altered (sometimes quite drastically) their sexy image in the name of nailing the character: Charlize Theron in Monster. Nicole Kidman in The Hours. Kate Winslet in The Reader. Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose. Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby AND Boys Don't Cry. Heck even Meryl Streep did it for The Iron Lady. And that doesn't even include the bevy of women that underwent major transformations who were simply nominated (Hello, Albert Nobbs). RELATED: Why 2012 Was Not The Year of The Woman While it is safe to say that the majority of these performances were worthy of their accolades and awards, the fact that these women undermined traditional beauty on the big screen is no doubt a large reason why they get so much acclaim. "For women in movies, their main job is to look good. That's the standard expectation." says Mizejewski. The professor suggests that when these women go against the grain and are willing to drop the glamor, "we pay a lot more attention to that as 'serious acting.'" But how many men have been given the same treatment in the Best Actor category? Look at those leading men who haven't won a Best Actor Oscar but are widely considered to be incredibly nice to look at in their face and body regions: Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, and Ryan Gosling. Similarly to the women mentioned above, every single one of these men have gone to extensive lengths to either downplay or cover-up their pretty boy looks in the name of methodical acting. Yet they've all been left out of the nomination pool when the big dance comes to town. The men listed are not just attractive — many of them are straight-up locker fodder. They're not just handsome (like recent Oscar winners Colin Firth and Jean Dujardin), they're beautiful. They're pretty boys who have been pinned onto the walls of screaming and hysterical fans (often of the teen girl variety) for at least part of their careers. With that level of fandom fueling your career, it's often difficult to be considered a contender. "People always tend to take you less seriously if you're really, really good looking," says Professor Will Akers, film department chair at Belmont University and author of Your Screenplay Sucks: 100 Ways To Make It Great. Especially in a world as superficial as Hollywood, "because people will assume you got your success just because you're handsome." The stigma lies between whether or not the audience considers these men "actors’ actors" or "movie stars," a differentiation that seems quite defined by looks itself. "Being a 'movie star' means being handsome and interesting on screen," Akers says. An actors’ actor, on the other hand, is someone who provides less box office bang, and more artful storytelling unconcerned with the masses' bucks. It's a problem that plagued Pitt following his Oscar-nominated turn in 12 Monkeys. A perma-topper on many a person's Sexiest Man Ever list, Pitt has always been better suited for character work rather than the mushy leading man territory he frequently falls into. Many laud Pitt's performance in 12 Monkeys as one of his best, and felt he was snubbed in his loss to Kevin Spacey that year. But it seems as though the stigma attached to Pitt's pretty boy good looks is almost subconsciously ingrained. "As soon as you say Brad Pitt, you think 'well he’s just the most handsome man on the planet. He's definitely a movie star [as opposed to an actors' actor],'" says Akers. "But that's a stupid thing to say, because he's such a gifted actor." It's important to look at his body of work rather than, say, his body. RELATED: 10 Actors Who Won Oscars For The Wrong Movies But perhaps the most snubbed actor of all is DiCaprio, who has tried in vain to scrub away his image as teen dream pretty boy. He's the Susan Lucci of the Oscars. Thanks to Titanic, we'll probably never let go (to make up for the fact that Rose did) of 90s-era DiCaprio. And maybe Oscar voters can't either. DiCaprio is widely regarded as one of the best actors in the industry. His work in The Aviator and Blood Diamond earned him nominations, but he was shut out of a nod on The Departed (perhaps the most shocking snub of all), Revolutionary Road, Gangs Of New York, and Catch Me If You Can. Losses all around. No wonder he packed on the play-doh for J. Edgar. It's almost as if the way in which women (and some men, too) objectified him sexually as he came up in the business has left a permanent mark on his back. Look at Albert Finney or Cary Grant — even a Peter O'Toole — all widely-regarded actors who never took home the gold, despite their attempts. And when you look at someone like Jeff Bridges — a veritable force in the industry over the past 40 years — it seems absurd that it took him until 2010 to nab an Oscar of his very own. It wasn't until his face caught up to the slightly grizzled characters he was born to play that the Academy finally took notice. It's as if shiny pretty things blind them, and they can only see the talent after the glow has dulled. For men, it's get old and prosper (compared to women, where the goal is to stay young forever). When examining the Best Actor winners from the past 10 years — Adrien Brody, Sean Penn, Jamie Foxx, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn (again!), Jeff Bridges, Firth, and Dujardin — all are certainly handsome in their own right, but are hardly pretty boy heartthrobs (even if Firth will always be Mr. Darcy to us). Some have described their looks as classic, Romanesque, hard-worn, or even ugly. Nary a pretty boy in the bunch. But what makes a pretty boy? "Someone with somewhat effeminate features: hairless [body] but with good hair, dimples but with chiseled cheekbones, nice eyes with full eyelashes, and slender but with strapping shoulders," says James Ramey, director of the Fusion Fashion Show competition in New York City. And there's the buzz word, folks: effeminate. The word is widely characterized as a being derogatory in nature (just check any dictionary), which is not only offensive to women (what's wrong with being like a lady?), but also gives the Sean Penns and Jeff Bridges and Forest Whitakers of the world a bit of an advantage — at least in perception. "It’s OK for [a woman] to just have value for her looks, but for a man to have value for his looks, it sounds like he's feminized ... and to be pretty is to be feminine, which is a lower status," says Mizejewski. And if the past Best Actor and Best Actress winners prove anything, it's that the Oscars love a face with character and distinct qualities that carry emotional weight differently than their pretty counterparts. RELATED: Leonardo DiCaprio To Take 'Long, Long Break' From Acting It is probably safe to say that Ben Affleck wasn’t snubbed in the Oscar’s Best Director category because of his six-pack abs — no matter how much Fox News might try to tell you otherwise. But it's interesting to think that an industry so integral in fostering society’s obsession with beauty and perfection — and one that all but demands idolatry from its fans — would then shun those that possess both talent and looks. Sure it’s easy to demand a separation of the two in the name of awarding the most worthy, but is it possible? Especially when there's so much stacked up against those that fall on the other side of the 'attractive' line. It’s a superficial problem that befalls incredibly successful, attractive men for a seemingly superficial thing (awards). So should anyone care? Well, if we're not constantly trying to hold ourselves to a higher and fairer standard in all aspects of life, how are we supposed to find fairness across the board? Maybe when we stop associating 'pretty' with 'femininity' and in turn that with 'weakness,' society will have made a step in the right direction overall. More equality is never a bad thing. Do you think there's a double standard? Let us know in the comments. [Photo Credit: Hunting Lane Films; Miramax; Warner Bros] Follow Alicia On Twitter @Alicialutes From Our Partners:40 Most Revealing See-Through Red Carpet Looks (Vh1)33 Child Stars: Where Are They Now? (Celebuzz) Oscars 2013 Special Coverage Oscars 2013 Red Carpet Arrivals: PICS! • We Predict the Winners: Do You Agree?• 15 Oscar-Winning Nude Scenes• The Worst Best Picture Winner Ever• Oscar's Problem With Pretty Boys• Why Stars Should Fear Seth MacFarlane• Oscars 2013: The Full Winners List• The Winner, According to You
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Golden Globes: Who's Joining Megan Fox and Nathan Fillion as Presenters?
January 11, 2013 8:28am ESTThis Sunday, the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton is going to be packed with some serious starpower when the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards are handed out. And the wattage is only cranking up as more and more celebrities are joining the roster of presenters. Hollywood.com has confirmed that the following will be presenting Globes to the lucky winners on Sunday night: Megan Fox and Jessica Alba: The two of them got up early to announce the Golden Globe nominations on the morning of Dec. 13. Though late additions to the confirmed lineup of presenters, expect the two of them to be paired again when they take the stage Sunday night. George Clooney: Last year’s winner for Best Actor in a Drama for his topsider-wearing role in The Descendants will likely follow tradition and present this year’s award for Best Actress in a Drama. Possible winners Jessica Chastain or Naomi Watts will receive a bonus prize in addition to their globular trophy: a kiss from Clooney. Meryl Streep: Since she won Best Actress in a Drama last year for The Iron Lady, she’s probably a lock to present Best Actor in a Drama. Ever wanted to see Streep work opposite Daniel Day-Lewis? This Sunday will probably be your only chance! Robert Pattinson: Last year’s Best Actor and Actress winners in the Musical and Comedy Categories, Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn) are not presenting this year, so he could be announcing one of those categories. As could… Jennifer Garner: It seems the four-time Globe nominee and one-time winner (for Alias in 2002) will present a movie category. Debra Messing: You didn’t think NBC was going to host the globes without including a little Smash synergy, did you? Jennifer Lopez and Jason Statham: This unlikely duo will undoubtedly be paired up since they both star in Taylor Hackford’s upcoming crime thriller, Parker. Jeremy Renner and Will Ferrell: This even more unlikely duo actually makes a lot of sense. Ferrell’s producing Jeremy Renner’s upcoming action-comedy Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, so expect some stylishly stilted banter between them. Kerry Washington: Despite her work in Django Unchained, the Scandal star is almost assured to be presenting a TV category. Nathan Fillion: Same goes for Fillion, who we can only dream will be partnered with… Kristen Wiig: Guaranteed to be handing out one or more of the TV Comedy prizes. Also taking the stage as presenters will be Amanda Seyfried, Dennis Quaid, Lucy Liu, and Rosario Dawson. And, though she’s not expected to take the stage, Adele is planning on making her first awards show appearance see giving birth in October. She’ll be competing against fellow confirmed-attendee Taylor Swift in the Best Original Song Category for the title song from Skyfall and “Safe & Sound” from The Hunger Games, respectively. Excited for Sunday night? Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt [PHOTO CREDIT: FREDERIC J. BROWN/Getty Images] More: Golden Globes Fashions That Trumped Oscar Fashion Golden Globes 2013: Why You Can’t Compare ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ to ‘Homeland’ Fantasy Golden Globes: If ‘Mean Girls’ Determined the Seating Chart--INFOGRAPHIC From Our Partners: Megan Fox’s 12 Hottest Moments (Moviefone) Ryan Gosling’s ‘Airbrushed’ Abs: Plus 19 More Reasons We Love the Actor (Moviefone)
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What Happened to All the First Time Oscar Nominees?
January 10, 2013 9:32am ESTDoesn't it seem like, more and more, the Oscars are only handed out to a select few that Hollywood has deemed worthy? It's like anything that Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, or Amy Adams does gets a nomination more as a reflex than as an actual consideration. If Meryl had actually faked an orgasm in Hope Springs you could expect to see her name up there on the official nominees list. This year the nominations seem to spell a trend away from nominating people for the first time. It's hard to find a virgin to sacrifice this year. RELATED: 2013 Oscar Nominations: See the Full List of Nominees Here! There are only six people nominated for Best Director or in all four of the acting categories who haven't been nominated before. Of those six people two – Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper – are already giant Hollywood stars, one – QIWillNeverLearnHowToSpellThis Wallace – is only 9 years old and hasn't had time to act in anything else, and one – director Michael Haneke – we shouldn't even count because his 2009 movie The White Ribbon won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Who does that leave us with? Emmanuelle Riva, who is a French actress and, well, Americans really hate subtitles, don't they? Yes, they do. The only one who really leaves us with is Benh Zeitlin, the director of Beasts of the Southern Wild. That is an acceptable first-time nominee. Aside from Ben(Don't Forget The)h, it's almost as if these newbies don't even count. Meanwhile, for the first time ever, the Best Supporting Actor category is full of men who have each won at least one Oscar. Yes, these people are going to be getting the gold for the second time and meanwhile John Hawkes, who gave the performance of the year in The Sessions, didn't get any love at all. Or what about Jack Black totally changing gears in Bernie? But no, let's dip back into the well-worn Oscar well. In fact, of the 25 nominees, there are 19 Oscars already awarded, and that goes up to 21 if you count Spielberg's two trophies he didn't win for Best Director. This is a recent trend because back in 2010, 14 of the 25 nominations were first timers and four of the five winners (Kathryn Bigelow, Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz, and Mo'Nique) had never seen the Nominees Luncheon before. In 2011 that was down to 11 nominees and 2 wins (Tom Hoopper and Christian Bale) and that number shrunk again last year with 10 nominees and 3 wins (Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, and Octavia Spencer) with two of those winners making their American film debut. This year we can have a max of three new winners, but it will probably be more like zero (and not of the dark thirty variety). None of these people, right now, are frontrunners. RELATED: The Year's Biggest Oscar Snubs So, why are we just recycling old material when it comes to the Oscars? It might be because the voters are older and nominate and then vote for people they already know. It's easier to write down Naomi Watts than try to figure out how to spell the young Ms. Wallace's first name. And when it comes to campaigning, so much of it has to do with past snubs and oversights that the Oscar often goes to someone as sort of a lifetime tribute rather than for that one specific role. (Heck, Melissa McCarthy even won an Emmy because she lost an Oscar.) RELATED: 2013 Oscars Nominate Only 9 for Best Picture: Who Should be No. 10? It's also harder to get a movie made these days, especially if there isn't a known quality. Getting someone to plop down a bunch of coin for anything by Spielberg or for a giant movie musical based on one of the most popular stage shows of all time (Les Mis, of course) than some experimental allegory about giant beasts and post-Katrina New Orleans. But when they do put that money down, it can really pay off. The Oscars shouldn't just be about glad-handing the usual suspects (except, when Kevin Spacey won) but also about discovering and rewarding new talent so that the luster of the ceremony can rub off on the most deserving so that they can go on to bigger and better projects. A nomination is not only a chance to win, but a launching pad, something that has given us some of our best and brightest stars. We wouldn't have Amy Adams 100th consecutive nomination if she didn't get plucked from obscurity and nominated for Junebug. Sure, sometimes it doesn't work out (I haven't seen Mo'Nique's apostrophe in quite some time) but we're always grateful when it does. While Daniel Day-Lewis may be deserving of his third (third!) statuette, maybe it would behoove the Academy to start making the next generation of celebrities before this one goes entirely extinct. Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan [Photo Credit: The Weinstein Company, Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight, Universal Pictures] From Our Partners:40 Most Revealing See-Through Red Carpet Looks (Vh1)33 Child Stars: Where Are They Now? (Celebuzz) Oscars 2013 Special Coverage 15 Most Iconic Red Carpet Dresses • We Predict the Winners: Do You Agree?• 15 Oscar-Winning Nude Scenes• The Worst Best Picture Winner Ever• Oscar's Problem With Pretty Boys• Why Stars Should Fear Seth MacFarlane• 10 TV Stars You Never Knew Won Oscars• The Winner, According to You
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George Clooney Reunites with Matt Damon in 'The Monuments Men'
December 05, 2012 9:00am ESTGeorge Clooney is getting the band back together -- the actor/director/screenwriter has reportedly asked his former Ocean's 11 costar Matt Damon to join the cast of his new World War II period drama The Monuments Men. According to Deadline, Damon would join a star-studded lineup that already includes Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban. The Monuments Men will begin shooting in Europe in January 2013. The film, which Clooney co-wrote with his partner Grant Heslov, follows the end of Hitler's Nazi regime and the destruction of German culture and history that went along with it as a group of museum curators and art historians team up to recover priceless works of art before the Nazis destroy them. Damon and Clooney worked together on the Ocean's films and Syriana. The Monuments Men will use the same crew as the Clooney-produced Argo, and will be scored by the 2012 Oscar contender's composer, Alexandre Desplat. Follow Jean on Twitter @hijean [PHOTO CREDIT: Wenn] MORE: George Clooney Casts Daniel Craig and More A-Listers in New Film George Clooney to Write, Direct and Star in Nazi film Enough Already! Overplayed Movie Trends of 2012 From Our Partners: 25 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Aladdin’ Best Hit Men Movies Ever
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George Clooney's 'Monuments Men' Casts Daniel Craig, Bill Murray and Other A-Listers
October 29, 2012 8:40am ESTIf Hollywood is just like high school (which, as we can hypothesis, it is), then the developing movie The Monuments Men is that lunch table at which you always really wished you could sit. At the head of the booth is George Clooney, star and director of the in-the-works historical drama about the final legs of Germany’s reign over Europe in the middle of the 20th Century. Deadline reports that prom king Clooney has assembled the ultimate clique to make up what should turn into one of the most anticipated pictures of the coming years. Clooney’s cast in a formidably impressive one, for sure: there’s the star quarterback Daniel Craig, homecoming queen Cate Blanchett, class clown Bill Murray, that debonair foreign exchange student Jean Dujardin, student body president Hugh Bonneville, well-rounded social butterfly John Goodman, and the token nerdy cool Bob Balaban. This enviable bunch will embody a team of art historians who take on the mission of recovering priceless pieces of cultural art that have been apprehended by the Nazis in the interest of preserving them. Clooney and his drama club best pal Grant Heslov co-wrote the script. [Photo Credit: Brian To/WENN] More: George Clooney to Write, Direct and Star in Nazi Film 'The Monuments Men' 'Flight' Star Melissa Leo on Denzel Washington: 'He Was Deep In His Whip Whitaker' 'Quartet': Dumbledore and McGonagall Take on Opera — TRAILER From Our Partners: Exclusive New ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn’ Trailer! (Moviefone) Most Ridiculous Horror Movies Ever(Moviefone)
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Ezra Miller leads Hollywood Film Awards' rising stars list
October 17, 2012 10:15am ESTThe We Need To Talk About Kevin actor has been named among the recipients of the Hollywood Spotlight Awards, which are given to the most promising actors of the year as part of the Hollywood Film Festival. Actress Samantha Barks, who shot to fame on British reality TV show I'd Do Anything in 2008 before winning a part in the new Les Miserables movie, will also be honoured, along with 16-year-old Brit Tom Holland. Former Neighbours star Bella Heathcote, who launched her career with the help of a Heath Ledger Scholarship in 2010, is included along with John Magaro and Kelly Reilly. Hollywood Film Festival founder and executive director Carlos de Abreu tells The Hollywood Reporter, "We are very excited that we will be able to recognise these great acting talents while they are still on the road to discovery and stardom." The Hollywood Spotlight Awards will be handed out at a gala ceremony in Los Angeles on 22 October (12). Previous recipients include Mila Kunis, Noomi Rapace, Anton Yelchin, Shailene Woodley and Oscar winner Jean Dujardin.
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Imogen Poots and Domhnall Gleeson named Breakthrough Performers of 2012
October 09, 2012 7:15am ESTBosses of the Hamptons Film Festival in New York teamed up with industry publication Variety to produce a list of the most promising Breakthrough Performers of 2012, and 28 Weeks Later star Poots made the cut, along with Irish actor Gleeson, best known for playing Bill Weasley in the final two Potter films. Other young stars to be featured on the list include Gleeson's Anna Karenina co-star Alicia Vikander, Red Tails actor Nate Parker, model-turned-actor Boyd Holbrook, Girls star Adam Driver, and Dree Hemingway, the great-granddaughter of famed author Ernest Hemingway. The actors were feted at the festival on Saturday (06Oct12), with other honourees including German actress Elyas M'Barek and Scoot McNairy. Other stars to have previously been included on Variety's 10 Actors to Watch: Breakthrough Performers list include The Amazing Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, Ryan Gosling, and Oscar winner Jean Dujardin.
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Martin Scorsese Sued For Not Making a Movie
August 23, 2012 7:35am ESTTread lightly, creative types. Not only can you be sued for making something that steps on another creative property's toes, but you can also be sued for not making something. Okay, you probably have to be as in-demand as Martin Scorsese is before that happens, but it's a possibility. Just ask Marty, who's being sued for not making Silence, a film project backed by the Cecchi Gori production company. The production company claims to have put forth $750,000 for Scorsese to make a film based on the Japanese novel Silence, which follows missionaries sent to Japan in 1638 to investigate reports of apostasy (leaving the church) committed by a tortured missionary. It's based on the historical tale of Portuguese missionary Cristóvão Ferreira, and in many ways sounds like a project Scorsese would thrive on. Scorsese, however, has yet to begin production on any such project though the deal was reportedly made in 1990 and stipulated that the director would work on Silence after 1997's Kundun. He's since made Gangs of New York, The Departed, The Aviator, Shutter Island, and Hugo, but has not started on Cecchi Gori's Silence. The suit, which was obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, also states that Scorsese did make official deals to postpone Silence so that he could make The Departed, Shutter Island, and Hugo, but that there were million dollar fees as well as a 20 percent commission on Scorsese's backend compensation associated with each postponement — Cecchi Gori claims Scorsese never paid these fees. Now that Scorsese has signed on to do yet another movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, Wolf of Wall Street for Paramount, Cecchi Gori is taking the opportunity to seek retribution for the undelivered film. Hollywood.com has reached out to Scorsese's rep as well as reps for Cecchi Gori, but did not obtain a response at the time of publication. [Photo Credit: DailyCeleb] More:Martin Scorsese's 'Sinatra' Scripted By 'Hunger Games' WriterMatthew McConaughey Continues The Greatest Comeback Ever With Martin Scorsese's 'Wolf of Wall Street'Jean DuJardin in Talks for 'Wolf of Wall Street'
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Martin Scorsese's 'Sinatra' Scripted by 'Hunger Games' Writer
August 13, 2012 1:10pm ESTSinatra seems like it could be Martin Scorsese's post-millennium masterpiece. An icon of rags-to-riches, high society life in the golden age of showbiz, and the Italian-American identity, Frank Sinatra is the perfect subject — perhaps the only worthy subject — for a gallant Scorsese biopic. But all parties involved must be up to snuff. Sinatra demands a capable star (most assumptions have attached Leonardo DiCaprio to the role), a bounty of well-traveled supporting cast members (characters should include Rat Pack members, as well as Sinatra's ex-wives Ava Gardner and Mia Farrow), and of course, a talented writer: Deadline reports that Billy Ray has been hired to fill this slot. Ray is nothing if not versatile. His most recent claim to fame is the script to The Hunger Games, and he has been attached to Tom Hanks' Somali pirates picture Captain Phillips. Throughout his career, dating back to the early 1990s, Ray has written the scripts for the hit action flick Volcano, the WWII drama Hart's War, the psychological thriller Flightplan, and the crime drama State of Play. Ray also wrote and directed the 2003 drama Shattered Glass. It goes without saying that Ray's storytelling abilities span multiple genres. But while he has managed a slew of good movies of varying types, Ray has yet to really strike gold with any of them. It is interesting that the sort of jack-of-all-trades figure that he is has been tasked with what will likely be a meaty, highly introspective examination of a universal icon's life — for Scorsese's Sinatra biopic, you'd expect more of a penetrating creative force with perhaps less of a genre range and more of a reputation for really sinking into a piece of work. That isn't to say that Ray won't be able to handle the project, he's just not exactly the prototypical figure one might have expected Universal to give the job to. But maybe what we're looking at, then, is a more stylistic, unique approach to the story of Sinatra's life and career than what we might have expected? Scorsese exhibited his own desire to expand his horizons with 2011's Hugo, so perhaps Sinatra will take his filmmaking further still. In any event, it's a project worth looking forward to. What we already know is promising; the surprises at bay make for even greater excitement. [Photo Credit: David Edwards/Daily Celeb] More: Matthew McConaughey Continues Greatest Comeback Ever, Joins 'Wolf of Wall Street' Jean Dujardin in Talks to Join Scorsese's 'Wolf of Wall Street' Jonah Hill Joins Leo DiCaprio in 'Wolf of Wall Street': Is He Ready for a Scorsese Movie?
