Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

The Hurt Locker Schools An Education, Avatar at Brit-Snubbing BAFTAs


Let's just say, the Avatar braintrust may be blue in more than appearance—while they spent this awards season as the kings of the world, they apparently couldn't hold a candle to the queen, as it was Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker which bested all comers, taking home a leading six BAFTA awards, including Best Film and Director.

"I would like to dedicate this to the cause of never abandoning the hunt to find a resolution for peace," an emotional Bigelow said.

James Cameron's epic adventure in motion capture ended up losing most, but not all, of its awards season momentum tonight, taking home just two technical prizes at the Orange British Academy Film Awards.

Neither, as per usual, went to the movie's stars. The leading and supporting acting honors instead went to A Single Man's Colin Firth (somewhere Jeff Daniels has broken into a sweat), An Education's Carey Mulligan, Inglourious Basterds' Christoph Waltz and Precious' Mo'Nique, respectively.

And at least three out of four of them seemed quite pleased.

"Supporting actor?" Waltz asked upon taking the podium. "Supported actor. No Quentin, no Inglourious Basterds. No Quentin, no Colonel Landa. No Quentin, no Christoph at the BAFTAs."

Or, incidentally, Oscars, for which Waltz is fast becoming the frontrunner and which take place just two Sundays from today.

Mo'Nique presumably felt similarly, though we'll never truly know, seeing as how she decided to skip tonight's ceremony. Precious' director Lee Daniels didn't, however, and accepted the award on her behalf.

Meanwhile, in its quest to effectively close the Pandora's box of Avatar's gold statue domination was The Hurt Locker, which took home the Best Original Screenplay award, among others. The nod is notable not only because it's one of the night's more prestigious prizes, but because none other than Robert Pattinson had the honor of handing out the award.

For those keeping track at home, and we assume that's plenty of you, it was quite the night for Twi-hards, as Kristen Stewart was also on hand to pick up her fan-determined Orange Rising Star Award. As if her competitiors stood a chance. And no, she didn't forget you.

"I have to thank all the fans of Twilight, for being the most devoted and attentive fans ever," she said.

Meanwhile, An Education, for all its homegrown talent—and tie with Avatar for receiving the most nominations heading into tonight—well, let's just say it played well with others, but failed to reach its true potential.

It missed out on the night's expected lock (other than the Special Visual Effects award, which for the purposes of this awards season may as well be renamed the James Cameron Prize), as Best British Film. Mulligan, it's ingénue turned venerable leading lady, ended up scoring the only award for the film, with her Leading Actress win.

As for other notable winners, the Outstanding Debut award went to Moon director Duncan Jones, a man not short on lineage: His father is David Jones, perhaps better known to pop culture enthusiasts by his stage name, David Bowie.

Here's the complete list of winners for the Orange British Academy Film Awards:

• Best Film: The Hurt Locker
• Leading Actor: Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Leading Actress: Carey Mulligan, An Education
• Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
• Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up In the Air
• Film Not in the English Language: A Prophet (France)
• Animated Film: Up
• Outstanding British Film: Fish Tank
• Outstanding Debut By a British Writer, Director or Producer: Duncan Jones, Moon (director)
• Music: Michael Giacchino, Up
• Cinematography: The Hurt Locker
• Editing: The Hurt Locker
• Production Design: Avatar
• Costume Design: The Young Victoria
• Sound: The Hurt Locker
• Special Visual Effects: Avatar
• Makeup & Hair: The Young Victoria
• Short Animation: Mother of Many
• The Orange Rising Star Award: Kristen Stewart
• Academy Fellowship: Vanessa Redgrave

SOURCE

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Renee Zellweger Pregnant with Bradley Cooper’s Child?



It is being said that she is pregnant with her boyfriend Bradley Cooper’s child. Renée Kathleen has been dating Bradley Cooper since 2009.

She was spotted at the Berlin Film Festival
and the pictures on the red carpet shows a “baby bump”.

Neither Renee Zellweger nor Bradley Cooper have confirmed the reports.

More Series 5 Doctor Who Spoilers and Pictures

This post contains SPOILERS for Episode 6 in the next series of Doctor Who. You have been warned!

Here is an excerpt from the script of Vampires of Venice, written by Toby Whithouse, featuring: The Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill).



Johnny Depp Makes Surprise Appearance At Alice In Wonderland Fan Event



The anticipation is building for the release of Tim Burton’s fantastical Alice in Wonderland and fans and of the movie and Radaronline.com were treated to a sneak preview of the film AND a special surprise appearance from Johnny Depp Friday night in Hollywood.

Looking dashing in his trademark tinted glasses and a scarf
, Johnny Depp was greeted by deafening screams as he stood on stage at the Alice in Wonderland Fan Event at the Hollywood and Highland complex.

Depp plays the Mad Hatter in the film and he was joined by director Tim Burton and fellow co-stars Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska, Crispin Glover, Michael Sheen, Matt Lucas and Anne Hathaway.

Sponsored by MySpace, the event featured performances from four featured artists who performed their songs from the soundtrack “Almost Alice.” Rocking out to a packed audience, 3OH!3, Metro Station, Kerli and Never Shout Never ramped up the anticipation for the appearance of the film’s stars.

The 3D fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland hits theaters on March 5.

SOURCE

Monday, February 15, 2010

Kristen Stew's movie has found a distributer



U.S. actress Kristen Stewart, best known as Bella in the hit "Twilight" franchise, ditches her image as a wholesome, reserved teenager to play a foul-mouthed, pot-smoking prostitute in "Welcome to the Rileys."

The movie, which is at the Berlin film festival without its two biggest stars -- Stewart and "The Sopranos" lead James Gandolfini -- has found a distributor for the key U.S. market and will hit cinemas in the autumn.

Director Jake Scott, son of Ridley, said he first considered Stewart for the part of Mallory when Sean Penn recommended her on the strength of her performance in his movie "Into the Wild."

Stewart, 19, has become a teen idol for her part in the two Twilight movies released so far, and her involvement in Welcome to the Rileys is likely to be a major boost for a low-budget, independently produced film.

"We shot this in 2008, so Twilight came out when we'd wrapped," Scott told reporters in Berlin on Monday. "I saw her in 'Into the Wild'. We got lucky."

Read the rest of the article at Abcnews.com

Nominees Told to Prep Two Speeches for Oscar Night


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Academy Award organizers have come up with a novel idea for avoiding those boring Oscar acceptance speeches filled with "thank yous." Their solution: have the winners give two speeches.

Contenders for the world's top film honors including George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges gathered on Monday for the annual Oscar nominees luncheon in Beverly Hills, and as is tradition, the show's producers offered tips on giving the 45-second acceptance speeches.

Typically, that advice is to keep them short and avoid a long list of "thank yous" to agents, directors, spouses and family. Oscar co-producer Bill Mechanic called those often teary-eyed thanks "the single most-hated thing on the show."

Instead, he and co-producer Adam Shankman will have winners give two speeches: one onstage telling audiences what winning an Oscar means to them, and a second backstage for a "Thank You Cam" where winners can say "Thanks" to whomever they want.

"Share your passion on what the Oscar means to you" with the audience, Shankman told nominees at the luncheon.

He said the backstage video would be posted on the Web and winners could use them however they liked -- e-mail them to their friends and even post them on their Facebook pages.

Of course, there were no guarantees the nominees would follow directions. So to illustrate their idea, the producers showed a videotape of past winners such as Renee Zellweger talking about what winning meant to them.

Organizers had one more surprise waiting. When Oscars are awarded, the statuettes given onstage do not have a nameplate because nobody knows the winners. After several weeks, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has nameplates engraved and fixed to the winners' statuettes.

This year, Oscar organizers will have the nameplates engraved at the gala Governor's Ball following the ceremony, so the winners can have their names put on after the show.

Doing so may keep the stars at the dinner longer before heading to one of the many post-Oscar parties in Hollywood.

Even if that fails, Shankman, director of movie musical "Hairspray," had one more clever idea. He said he and Bullock would be leading salsa lessons on the ballroom dance floor.

SOURCE

Leonardo Dicaprio talks about Avatar!


Q: Much is made of "Avatar" passing "Titanic" at the box office. I think this is silliness. Ticket prices and attendance records make such comparisons impossible. Are you tiring of the so-called box office race?

A: The truth of the matter is that "Avatar" has won financially, and I absolutely enjoyed my experience watching "Avatar." I don't think about those types of numbers until you know until it's actually over with.

So now, in reaction to it, Godspeed to them. I hope they keep going and going. Because James Cameron has been able to tap into something that audience want to see worldwide. And he's intrigued them in such a unique way that he may do it again with whatever his next move is. He is that type of film maker.

New Twilight Movie Breaks Box Office Records