Cirque du Soleil Jackson show to debut October 2011

LOS ANGELES | Wed Nov 3, 2010 3:32pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The new Michael Jackson-themed Cirque du Soleil show will make its debut in Montreal in October 2011, and tour 26 U.S. and Canadian cities for the next eight months, the Canadian acrobatic company said on Wednesday.

Tickets for "The Immortal World Tour" -- described as a "riveting fusion of visuals, dance, music and fantasy that...literally turns his signature moves upside down" -- went on pre-sale on Wednesday for MichaelJackson.com subscribers and Cirque Club members.

The show is one of a handful of commercial ventures backed by the estate of the late "Thriller" singer. A dance videogame called "Michael Jackson: The Experience" goes on sale in North America on November 23, a DVD set of 40 music videos covering his solo artist career is released on November 22, and an album of previously unreleased Jackson songs is in the pipeline.

Cirque du Soleil said the "Immortal" show will feature 60 performers and will take place in a "fantastical realm where we discover Michael's inspirational Giving Tree -- the wellspring of his creativity.

"The secrets of Michael's inner world are unlocked -- his love of music and dance, fairy tale and magic, and the fragile beauty of nature," the circus company said in a statement.

The show will be written and directed by pop music choreographer and director Jamie King, who worked for 12 years as Madonna's creative director. King was also the mastermind behind the Britney Spears 2009 "Circus" world tour and has worked with Celine Dion, Rihanna, and Mariah Carey.

The "Immortal" show will kick off in Montreal on Oct 2, travel to several Canadian cities before making a week long stay in Las Vegas, and then move on to major U.S. cities in 2012.

Profits will be split 50:50 with the Michael Jackson estate, which protects the singer's name and intellectual property and manages Jackson-related business.

Cirque du Soleil is currently performing shows in Las Vegas inspired by the music of Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

Jackson, 50, died suddenly in Los Angeles in June 2009. His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, editing by Christine Kearney)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

"The Hobbit" gets two new stars

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Director says European actors "ugly"

By Scott Roxborough

Wed Nov 3, 2010 11:09pm EDT

COLOGNE (Hollywood Reporter) - In her films, Danish director Susanne Bier specializes in taking good, decent people and putting them through hell.

"In a Better World," Denmark's candidate for the 2011 foreign-language Oscar, is no exception. The film moves between a Sudanese refugee camp, where Danish doctor Anton tries to keep the peace, and Anton's home in Denmark, where his marriage is on the rocks and his son is being bullied at school.

It marks her follow-up to the 2007 box office disappointment "Things We Lost in the Fire," which was viewed as an Oscar magnet for Halle Berry.

YOU WENT TO THE U.S. TO MAKE YOUR ENGLISH-LANGUAGE DEBUT "THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE." WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE MAKING A FILM IN THE U.S.? HOW DID IT COMPARE TO THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM?

It was a wonderful experience. But I think what I'm doing as a filmmaker is the same in U.S. or Europe. As a director you aim to create a scene that is alive. The director channels all the elements into one vision and it's irrelevant where you are. And there are a few issues I have with the European tradition. The European auteur tradition has great advantages but distinct disadvantages as well. Look at the amount of European films made that are really boring. You have to ask if never questioning the director's autonomy is all that healthy.

Another issue I have is why actors in European films have to look so ugly. Why is it a virtue that they should be unattractive? There is a tradition in Europe of indulging in misery and I'm not particularly fond of that.

"IN A BETTER WORLD" HAS SIMILARITIES WITH (HER 2006 FILM) "AFTER THE WEDDING." AGAIN YOU ARE CONTRASTING LIFE IN THE THIRD WORLD WITH RICH WESTERN SOCIETY. WHAT INTERESTS YOU ABOUT THIS CONTRAST?

First of all I think I have an interest in showing that we are not all that different which is I think is important. And I have an interest in making it clear that the Third World is part of our world. We don't live in a privileged secluded island. I'm not interested in making a topical, political movie but I am interested in making a film that engages people. In so many European films, the political topic is the main interest and I've always hated that. I don't like topical films. I don't like films that have all the answers ready. I personally like to be entertained and engaged and them make up my own mind.

VIOLENCE IS A MAJOR THEME IN THE FILM AND THE MAIN LINK BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS IN DENMARK AND AFRICA. WAS THAT THERE FROM THE START?

It's not just violence. Forgiveness and revenge are themes that link the two stories. In Danish the movie is called "Revenge" (Haevnen). Revenge is something we are all thinking about a lot at the moment or at least doing more openly than we have in a long time. It's extremely timely, extremely relevant and extremely frightening. We are all brought up to think revenge is a bad thing but it is something that is very understandable. We all have an instinctive desire to restore justice. The film could also be called Forgiveness but that's a pretty boring title.

THE FILM HAS GONE THROUGH A COUPLE OF ENGLISH TITLES -- "CIVILIZATION" AND NOW "IN A BETTER WORLD."

Yes and I like both of them. "Civilization" was the original Danish title of the film but it's a hard word to pronounce in Danish so we decided to change the name. "In A Better World" is also a relevant title because the film is also about how extremely difficult it is in the modern world to be a decent human being. That's something most of us struggle with to a lesser or greater degree.

ANTON, THE DOCTOR, IS A PROTOTYPE 'DECENT HUMAN BEING.' BUT IN THE WAR ZONE IN SUDAN OR EVEN AT HOME, HIS PACIFISM DOESN'T SEEM TO HELP.

It does help. I just think it's not that simple. I actually think he's right. His marriage isn't going all that great -- because he has made a mistake. He's a real human creature. He has flaws. I think a real idealist struggling in the real world is interesting.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Jackson children to appear in rare TV interview

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 2, 2010 2:46pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's three children are scheduled to make a rare TV appearance next week as part of an interview between talk show host Oprah Winfrey and the singer's mother Katherine.

Winfrey's production company Harpo said on Tuesday that Prince Michael, 13, Paris, 12, and Prince Michael II, 8, (also known as Blanket), joined Oprah, Katherine Jackson, and husband Joe when the TV talk show host visited the family at their home near Los Angeles.

Producers released a picture showing the three relaxing happily in the garden with Winfrey and their grandparents.

Katherine Jackson, the legal guardian of the three children, talks to Winfrey about her son's legacy, his childhood and his children in the interview to be broadcast on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Monday.

Katherine Jackson has given few interviews since the sudden, June 2009 death of the "Thriller" singer.

As very young children, Michael Jackson kept his kids secluded and often had them wear veils in public, but those veils have come off since his death and Prince Michael and Paris started attending school for the first time in September. Blanket continues to be home-schooled.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Bruce Springsteen turns reflective at Rome film fest

By Philip Pullella

ROME | Tue Nov 2, 2010 1:58pm EDT

ROME (Reuters) - Bruce Springsteen usually rocks from a stage but "The Boss" was in a quiet, cerebral and reflective mood at the Rome film festival for the screening of a new documentary on the making of one of his greatest albums.

"Sometimes you look for the story but it finds you," he said in hushed tones after a screening of "The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town," by director Thom Zimmy.

On Monday night, Springsteen, Zimmy and manager Jon Landau spoke on the stage as fans who normally shake, rattle and roll sat at times in awe-struck silence as The Boss took on an almost professorial role despite his black leather jacket.

The film, which is in competition in the festival's extra section, shifts back and forth between now and the period between 1976 and 1978 when Springsteen and his E Street Band created, rehearsed and recorded the landmark rock album.

Zimmy took hours of sometimes grainy black-and-white footage made more than 30 years ago and spliced it with interviews with Springsteen and band members now to bring the creative process to life in two time zones: yesterday and today.

Springsteen was only 26 then. He had already become an overnight superstar with the hard-driving "Born to Run." But he wanted his next album to be different.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the documentary is Springsteen's many notebooks. He wrote as many as 70 songs during the process but only 10 of them made it on to the album.

An indefatigable re-writer, phrase honer and riff perfectionist, the documentary shows Springsteen anguishing over the search for the right word or phrase and sometimes swapping phrases from one song to the other.

"I hear it differently in my head," he tells sometimes exasperated band members several times.

The documentary includes footage of the Springsteen family while Bruce was growing up in New Jersey. In one scene, the now 61-year-old Springsteen describes how his father was the inspiration for one of the album's most famous songs: Factory.

Springsteen's father worked in a plastics plant and lost some of his hearing because workers wore no protection back then.

He describes how he once brought his father a bag lunch to the factory but his father did not even know his son was right behind him because of the high decibel level.

Zimmy splices footage of E Street Band members more than 30 years ago and cuts quick to the same person, now grey, heavier and wrinkled, today.

The effect is a message that time passes for everyone, even rock stars, but the flame that once produced one of the rock's greatest albums is still there.

Apart from recollections by Springsteen, Landau and members of the band, the documentary includes modern interviews with Springsteen's wife Patti Scialfa and Patti Smith, a singer/songwriter and artist who was a major influence on the New York City Punk rock movement.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Pop star Demi Lovato enters rehab for abuse issues

LOS ANGELES | Tue Nov 2, 2010 4:59am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Teen singer/actress Demi Lovato, an independent-minded Disney starlet who has battled eating disorders and self-mutilation, has pulled out of a tour to enter a rehab facility, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Lovato, 18, is getting "medical treatment for emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

"Demi has a long history of battling these issues. She was bullied in school, has fought through eating disorders, and has struggled with cutting."

Lovato had been on a Latin American tour with fellow Disney pop heroes the Jonas Brothers before canceling her remaining commitments during the weekend. She dated middle sibling Joe Jonas earlier this year.

The Texan native got her big break as the star of the 2008 Disney Channel TV movie "Camp Rock," playing a working-class girl who falls for Joe Jonas' arrogant rock-star character. A sequel came out two months ago.

She released her debut album later in 2008 -- "Don't Forget" peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. pop chart -- and her own Disney Channel series, "Sonny with a Chance," premiered in early 2009.

Her follow-up album, "Here We Go Again," topped the chart in July 2009. Lovato co-wrote a song about her estranged father, "For the Love of the Daughter," but it was dropped from the album at the last minute. She collaborated on two other tracks with singer/guitarist John Mayer.

Despite her business links with the Disney starmaking machine, whose other creations include Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Hilary Duff, Lovato has tried to distance herself from the frenzied, bubblegum pop purveyed by her peers and beloved by her fans.

She told Reuters last year that she refuses to lip-synch, even if it makes her sound bad. "I've had really bad shows, but at least people know that I'm not lip-synching. And that's more important to me ... It's definitely not gonna be a Britney Spears-type show."

But what she really wanted to do was ditch the obligatory razzle-dazzle and sharpen her skills as a serious singer-songwriter.

"I want to get to the point where one day I don't have to have anything but a rug and a microphone stand on stage and still be able to sell out places like Madison Square Garden, like Bruce Springsteen does," she said.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Julianne Moore speaks out in favor of gay parents

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME | Tue Nov 2, 2010 12:41pm EDT

ROME (Reuters) - Actress Julianne Moore spoke out in favor of same-sex parents as she presented "The Kids Are All Right," a film where she and Annette Bening play a long-term lesbian couple raising their teenaged children.

The movie was screened at the Rome film festival, where Moore will receive a life-time acting award later on Tuesday.

Moore told reporters that studies had shown children of same-sex couples were "healthy and happy and everything you'd want them to be."

"What children need is two loving parents. It doesn't matter if they are two mums, or two dads, or a mum and a dad," she said.

"Parenting is about the time you put in and the investment you make in ushering this little child and turning it into an adult," the mother of two said. "Whether you are a woman or a man, that is what your job is."

The film by director Lisa Cholodenko, which premiered in Berlin earlier this year, portrays the lesbian pair as an ordinary, modern couple trying to be good parents.

Their life is turned upside down when their children contact their biological father and Jules, played by Moore, begins to fall for him.

Moore, an active supporter of gay marriage, said the film was more a reflection on what it means to be a family and showed that simply being the biological father does not make someone a better parent.

Asked to comment on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's remark on Tuesday that it was "better to like beautiful girls than to be gay," Moore said: "I think it's unfortunate, archaic and idiotic."

"To hint or to say that there is something wrong with homosexuality ... it's unfortunate and it's embarrassing when people continue to perpetrate these untruths," she said.

Moore, 49, made her debut as a feature film actress relatively late for Hollywood standards, when she was in her early 30s, and went on to gradually win more powerful roles particularly in independent cinema.

She has garnered four Oscar nominations for her performance in "Boogie Nights" (1997), "The End of the Affair" (1999), "The Hours" (2002) and "Far From Heaven" (2002).

She said people in youth-obsessed Hollywood kept asking her when her career would be over, given it had started late.

"Well, I don't know about that. The age question comes up again and again. But I think that by continuing to hammer on the age issue in the media we make it look worse than it is," she said.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Harry Potter star Watson "felt sick" when told of riches

LONDON | Tue Nov 2, 2010 5:17am EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - "Harry Potter" actress Emma Watson said that for years she had no idea how much money she was earning from her role as Hermione Granger in the hit movie franchise, and that she felt sick when she finally realized.

Watson, 20, told the British edition of Vogue magazine's December issue that she was 17 or 18 years old when she had a "money conversation" with her father.

"By the third or fourth film, the money was starting to get ... serious. I had no idea. I felt sick, very emotional. It was a real shock," the actress told Vogue in the interview.

Until then, she had been living on an allowance of about 50 pounds ($80) a week. She took a money management course and she now has an estimated fortune of about 20 million pounds.

Watson, who is currently a student at Brown university in the United States, is pictured on the front cover of British Vogue sporting her new pixie-style short haircut. The magazine hits news stands in Britain on Thursday.

She said she cut her hair after she finished shooting the final two movies in the "Harry Potter" series.

"For the nine years I was on 'Harry Potter' I was contractually obliged not to cut my hair, not to tan," she said. "All the normal things girls do, I couldn't. So when I got the chance to change my appearance, this is what I did."

The seventh film, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" opens in Britain, the United States and much of the world on November 19. The final movie will be released in July 2011.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

British singer Lily Allen loses baby

Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Judd singers get OWN show on Oprah TV network

LOS ANGELES | Mon Nov 1, 2010 3:33pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country music stars Naomi and Wynonna Judd, and father-daughter actors Ryan and Tatum O'Neal, are both getting their own reality TV shows on the upcoming Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) cable channel next year.

OWN announced the two shows on Monday as the cable TV venture jointly owned by the TV talk show host readies for its January 1 launch with an array of original series, advice and lifestyle shows -- and lots more of Winfrey herself.

The launch weekend on Jan 1-2, will give viewers a sneak peek of the new network's range of programing, including a program that looks behind-the-scenes of Winfrey's 25th and final season of the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on ABC.

OWN viewers will also get a glimpse of a four-part special bringing together health, wealth and relationship experts Dr.Phil McGraw, Suze Orman and Dr.Mehmet Oz for "Ask Oprah's All-Stars" before a live studio audience.

Network chief executive Christina Norman said the launch weekend would give audiences "sneak peeks at the kinds of shows we believe really fulfill our mission to be entertaining and inspiring."

OWN, a much-delayed joint venture between Winfrey's company Harpo Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc, will be available in 80 million homes on what is currently the Discovery Health Channel.

Discovery earlier this year agreed to almost double its funding commitment to $189 million after Winfrey pledged to increase her on-air appearances. Top-rated "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on ABC will end in May 2011.

The popular talk show queen will appear later in 2011 in an OWN travel series called "Oprah's Next Chapter", and will have an on-screen role in a reality competition series "Your OWN Show" that looks for a next, new television producer.

"The Judds" follows mother and daughter Wynonna and Naomi Judd as they prepare for their first tour in 10 years. "Ryan and Tatum: The O'Neals" will trace the attempts by the father and daughter actors to reconcile after a 25-year estrangement.

Former "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" fashion guru Carson Kressley is getting a show called "Carson-Nation" in which he travels to small U.S. towns giving viewers make-overs.

Other OWN programs previously announced include a daytime talk show from Rosie O'Donnell due later in 2011, a series featuring Britain's Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, and documentaries on social issues presented and executive produced by actresses Julia Roberts and Goldie Hawn.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds

Smokey Robinson goes "Go-Go" with Cracker Barrel

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES | Mon Nov 1, 2010 3:13pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Forty-five years after Smokey Robinson found himself "Going to a Go-Go," he is now headed into Cracker Barrel restaurants -- a sign of change not just in music but for the roadside diners, too.

The former lead singer of Motown sensations The Miracles released on Monday his latest album not through record outlets, but via a program offered by the chain of nearly 600 diners known for home-style cooking and selling folksy merchandise.

The album, called "Smokey Robinson Now & Then," mixes live performances of six classic Miracles' hits such as "Going to a Go-Go," "The Tears of a Clown" and "The Tracks of My Tears," with six studio-recorded tunes from Robinson's recent CD, "Time Flies When You Are Having Fun."

Robinson, 70, told Reuters the new songs, including "Time Flies" and "No Place Like That Place," were recorded about two years ago when, for fun, he rented a studio for himself, brought in some old friends and recorded the music that he had been writing for years but never formally put down on music tracks.

"I write all the time, and those are songs that I thought fit me," Robinson said. "We just had a ball (in the studio) and most all the material is original," except a version of Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why."

The old Motown tunes, of course, are standards that are well-loved and songs Cracker Barrel Olde Country Stores wanted for what is their first music release outside the country and bluegrass genres.

"With their patrons, they said the vintage songs would be great on the CD, and those are the songs I picked," Robinson said.

The distribution deal points to a shift at the stores and in the music industry where piracy and digital downloads of singles on PCs and iPods has sharply reduced CD sales. Singers and musicians now see much of their revenue via live performances and specialty programs like Cracker Barrel's.

Concerning Cracker Barrel, which was founded in Tennessee and prides itself in its country brand and image, it has been forced in recent years to defend itself against racial discrimination lawsuits and claims by former employees.

As part of his agreement, Robinson recently toured the company's headquarters and several of its restaurants, talking not only to management but to staff, as well.

"I am the first black guy they have done a deal with," Robinson said. "They've been known as discriminatory, but they are doing their best to change their image."

For its part, Cracker Barrel noted that while country and bluegrass music will remain a key part of their sales, the chain wanted to expand the program and Robinson's music appeals "across generations of music lovers."

In fact, Robinson said that at his live shows, it's not just parents and their kids who turn up. It is grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren. "My audiences are multi-racial and multi-age," Robinson said.

(Editing by Christine Kearney)

Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds