Entertaining Posts: 09/12/11

Monday, September 12, 2011

Madonna to critics: review my movie, not me

TORONTO | Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:31pm EDT

TORONTO (Reuters) - Madonna on Monday said she said she doesn't mind any criticism of her filmmaking abilities, so long as it is directed at her movie and not at herself.

The pop star told reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival, where she is promoting her second film "W.E.", she had to earn her reputation as a musician and she expected to do the same as a film director.

"I had the same kind of pressure when I began my music career," Madonna told reporters. "I was nervous, and I didn't know what to expect, and people didn't know what to expect."

The film, which premiered at the Venice film festival and is screening at Toronto, has been characterized by critics as visually stunning, but lacking in focus and burdened by weak performances.

"I can tell when people are reviewing my film and when they're reviewing me personally," Madonna said when asked whether she cared about what critics thought. "So when they stick to the film, then I do care."

"W.E." stars Abbie Cornish as a young New Yorker in the 1990s who becomes infatuated with the 1930s marriage of King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson, played by Andrea Riseborough. It follows Madonna's first feature, 2008's "Filth and Wisdom," which performed poorly at the box office.

Britain's The Guardian newspaper was the harshest among the critics, giving the film just one star out five, while the Daily Telegraph gave a more positive three star review.

The budget of W.E. is estimated to be around $15 million, and it hits movie theaters in the United States in December, prompting one journalist to ask Madonna about her Oscar hopes for the film.

"My legs and my fingers are crossed," she quipped.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon, editing by Christine Kearney)

"Rampart" star Harrelson tries to avoid Oscar buzz

By Jeffrey Hodgson

TORONTO | Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:25pm EDT

TORONTO (Reuters) - Woody Harrelson is winning praise for an intense performance as dirty cop in "Rampart", but the former "Cheers" star is trying hard not to dwell on the prospect of a third Oscar nomination.

"It's always nice to get an invite to the party, but we can't count on those things," he told reporters at the Toronto Film Festival. "I can't really think about those things. On the other hand I can't think about anything else."

"Rampart", which had its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday, reteams Harrelson with "The Messenger" director Oren Moverman. Harrelson received an Oscar nomination for that movie, playing a U.S. soldier who notifies families when their loved ones are killed.

The pair's latest film moves into starkly different terrain. Co-written by Moverman and "L.A. Confidential" author James Ellroy, it tells the story of Los Angeles police officer Dave Brown.

Nicknamed "Date Rape" by his colleagues for killing a serial rapist years before, the hard-drinking Brown finds his life spinning out of control in the midst of a wider corruption scandal.

With a combination of violence, charm and self-destructiveness, Harrelson's character is reminiscent of the corrupt police officers played by Denzel Washington in "Training Day", Richard Gere in "Internal Affairs" and Harvey Keitel in "The Bad Lieutenant"

But the 50 year-old Harrelson, who was also nominated for an Oscar with his portrayal of porn king Larry Flynt in 1996 movie "The People vs. Larry Flynt", said he had to put those other actors out of his mind.

"I didn't really try to stack myself up against Harvey Keitel or any of these other performances. If I were to think that way, I'd shoot myself in the foot before I got out of the gate because those are amazing performances," he said.

"To me it was just about coming to believe that I could be a cop. That was my hardest thing."

To achieve this, Harrelson spent time in patrol cars with Los Angeles police officers. He also lost 29 lbs, giving his pill-popping character a lean and hungry look.

Harrelson credits Moverman with the buzz that "Rampart" is receiving, saying the director is consistently aiming high.

But co-star Ben Foster, who also worked with Harrelson in "The Messenger", said the former sitcom star is humble about his talent and the work he puts into bringing a character to life.

"He's one of the most thorough actors. He's a national treasure," Foster said of Harrelson.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)

Amy Winehouse likely died of seizure, dad says

LOS ANGELES | Mon Sep 12, 2011 2:48pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The father of British singer Amy Winehouse said he believed his daughter died of a seizure brought on by ending years of binge drinking.

In his first major TV interview since the death of Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse told U.S. journalist Anderson Cooper that illicit drugs had nothing to do with her sudden passing at her London home in July.

Mitch Winehouse said the only drug in her system was the prescription medication Librium, which is used to help people with the symptoms of alcohol detoxification.

"She'd been clean (of drugs) for around about three years....Her problem was alcohol, the last few years of her life...She was prescribed Librium, which is a normal drug, which is given to people who are detoxing and it kind of decreases the chances of having seizures. She was continuing to take one of those pills everyday.

"She had a series of seizures brought on by this binge drinking and then stopping to drink....I think it's what the doctor said, I think she had a seizure and this was the time when there was no one there to rescue her," Winehouse told Cooper in an interview broadcast on Monday.

Winehouse's addiction to drugs and drink was well chronicled in the media and in her own hit songs like "Rehab."

She was found dead in her bed at home, age 27, causing an outpouring of grief and sending her music back to the top of the record charts. Her final recording, a duet called "Body and Soul" with crooner Tony Bennett, will be released on Wednesday this week on what would have been her 28th birthday.

Mitch Winehouse and Amy's mother Janis said they had been comforted by the reaction of fans. "In the most tragic of times it was the most wonderful experience that I think I have ever had in my life," Mitch Winehouse told Cooper.

"When we stepped out of the house at one time, people came up to me and they thanked me for having Amy. That's when I knew, this is something else. To be thanked for giving birth to my child. That's wonderful," Janis Winehouse said.

Cooper conducted the interview on his new syndicated daytime TV chat show "Anderson".

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)