Entertaining Posts

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Sofia Coppolas film on celebrity wins in Venice

VENICE | Sat Sep 11, 2010 2:32pm EDT

VENICE Reuters - Sofia Coppolas "Somewhere," an insiders look at the life of a Hollywood actor who becomes numb to life through drink, drugs and a string of one-night stands, won the top prize at the Venice film festival on Saturday.

The choice of the U.S. directors movie for the Golden Lion award will come as a surprise on the Lido waterfront, where reaction to the Los Angeles-based drama was mixed.

Coppola tells a story of Johnny Marco, an up-and-coming star whose days are divided between five-stars hotels, Ferraris and blonde pin-ups, but also loneliness, tiresome media attention and boredom.

Marco, played by Stephen Dorff, is finally faced with the question of where a life so enviable on the surface is ultimately heading when his 11-year old daughter unexpectedly comes to stay with him.

The daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola and an Oscar winner for her screenplay of "Lost in Translation" partly based the film on her own experiences as a young girl traveling with her father from one hotel to another.

"Thanks to my Dad for teaching me," she said at the awards ceremony.

The best director award went to Spaniard Alex de la Iglesia for "Balada Triste de Trompeta" The Last Circus, a horror movie that doubles as a metaphor for fascist Spain.

Vincent Gallo won the best actor prize for his performance in "Essential Killing," where he plays a suspected Taliban fighter on the run from U.S. forces in Afghanistan and later in Europe.

Gallo, who does not utter a single word throughout the film and has spent his time in Venice escaping the paparazzi, did not take the stage to accept the award.

"Vincent, come on, are you here?" Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski said as he took the prize in Gallos name.

Ariane Labed won the best actress prize for Greek film "Attenberg," while Monte Hellman scooped a special career award with "Road to Nowhere."

Editing by Michael Roddy

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Rapper Petey Pablo arrested at NC airport AP

RALEIGH, N.C. Officials say rapper Petey Pablo has been arrested at a North Carolina airport on gun charges.

Raleigh-Durham International Airport spokeswoman Mindy Hamlin says 37-year-old Petey Pablo ï¿½ whose real name is Moses Barrett III ï¿½ was arrested Saturday morning. He is charged with being a felon with a gun and carrying a concealed, stolen weapon.

Hamlin says Transportation Security Administration agents found a gun in the rappers carry-on luggage.

Petey Pablo was released on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court Monday. A phone listing could not be found for his residence in nearby Knightdale.

Petey Pablo is best known for the songs "Raise Up" and "Freek-a-Leek."

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De Niro and Norton down for acting rematch in "Stone"

By Cameron French

TORONTO | Sat Sep 11, 2010 12:11pm EDT

TORONTO Reuters - "Stone," an ambiguous and dark drama premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, may not be an easy story for some audiences , but the nuanced tale was a draw for acting heavyweights Robert De Niro and Edward Norton.

"I always liked the script," De Niro said of "Stone," which deals with hypocrisy and guilt, and is set in the rapidly decaying environs of post-recession Detroit.

"I thought the whole thing had an interesting tone and feel about it," the Oscar winner told Reuters in an interview.

De Niro plays Jack Mabry, a prison parole officer just days from retirement who has to deal with the manipulative Gerald "Stone" Creeson as one of his final assignments.

Played menacingly by Norton with cornrows and a hard stare, Stone is not above using his sexy wife Lucetta -- model-actor Milla Jovovich in a shift from her "Resident Evil" action films -- as the bait to force Jack to recommend an early release.

However, the line between criminal and upstanding citizen blur as Stone undergoes a spiritual transformation, while Jacks encounters with Lucetta pressure his already decaying marriage and force him to compromise his own principles.

None of the characters are easy to sympathize with, and the films ending could best be described as ambiguous.

"I think that most of the films that Ive really been affected by in my life have been the ones that really left me with a lot of questions in my head, a lot to think about," Norton told Reuters.

DE NIRO-NORTON REMATCH

The pairing of De Niro and Norton, considered among the greats of their respective acting generations, reunites the co-stars of the 2001 heist flick "The Score."

But Norton said it took some convincing to get him to sign on. "At first the script was a little bit elusive for me. I didnt really get it," until director John Curran won him over, he said.

"But I definitely thought it was great to work with somebody a second time. De Niro has a very particular way of working."

De Niro -- known for immersing himself completely in roles, such as when he gained 60 pounds to play boxer Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull" -- will often go off script in the middle of a scene to get a more authentic response from his co-stars.

"He really makes you earn scenes. He can be very resistant to doing things that just are following scripts. If you dont earn the response, he kind of wont give it to you," Norton said. "Its very bracing, actually.

While the scenes with Norton and De Niro might be a delight for film buffs who enjoy a good old acting showdown, the film, which hits theaters October 8 has earned mixed initial reviews.

Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter calls it an "unconvincing melodrama that few viewers are willing to buy.", while Erik Childress of Cinematical says the film is "thrilling for what were left to ponder afterwards more than any suspense inherit in the interaction during it."

Norton admitted that moviegoers looking for the characters to redeem themselves at the end of the film may come away disappointed, but he said the films strength lies in its ambiguity and unanswered questions.

"I see a lot of really crappy movies that are making sure you understand that redemption took place and they just put me to sleep," he said.

"Everything doesnt get redeemed in life, and I dont think thats the only thing that makes a movie have an impact."

Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Paul Simao

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Helen Mirren stars in film of "Tempest" with twist

By Mike Collett-White

VENICE | Sat Sep 11, 2010 10:45am EDT

VENICE Reuters - Helen Mirren stars in a new movie version of Shakespeares "The Tempest," but it comes with a twist as the Oscar-winning British actress takes on the male role of Prospero and becomes Prospera instead.

The reinterpretation of the play, which celebrates its 400th anniversary this year, was devised by director Julie Taymor, who shot it on the islands of Hawaii.

Some rewriting was necessary to make the character of Prospera work, particularly her back story according to which she becomes the widow and heir to the deceased Duke of Milan.

Like Prospero, she studied the alchemical arts, although as a woman she was forced to do so in secret. When she inherits the dukedom, her treacherous brother Antonio forces her aside by accusing her of witchcraft.

For Mirren, the gender switch changes the relationship between Prospero/Prospera and daughter Miranda, and adds a political dimension to the play with her banishment the direct result of being a woman in a male-dominated court.

"Women have been punished for being in power, for being powerful for many centuries and I thought that was the remarkable thing about making Prospero into Prospera," Mirren told reporters in Venice, where The Tempest closes the film festival on Saturday.

"You can bring in that history of female struggle, and certainly in Shakespeares day and for many centuries before and after women of knowledge were punished for that knowledge," the 65-year-old added.

"We can see now in the extreme fundamentalist states, whatever religion they are, that they want to exclude women from education ... because an educated woman is a dangerous thing."

"ALWAYS ROOM FOR ANOTHER TEMPEST"

For Taymor, the fact that The Tempest has been adapted for the big screen before, notably by Derek Jarman in 1979, did not deter her from trying.

"His plays are so rich that they allow for each director and the actors involved to personally interpret them for all times, and it didnt feel like it had been done," she said.

"There is always room for another Tempest, especially because Shakespeares last play is his most visual."

Mirren said playing a Shakespearean role on screen demanded even greater command of the language than on stage.

"I knew that if I wasnt utterly prepared, knowing it inside out, backwards, forwards, every which way, I was lost, because without that you cant think as you act," she said.

"Youre just thinking about what the next line is and that had to be coming automatically, especially on film because the great advantage of film ... is that viewers can see the expression on your face and that really helps them understand what youre saying.

"That was incredibly important -- that my face didnt express panic over not remembering my lines. So I learned it and it was the first time in my life Ive ever done that. I didnt think I was capable of it, but I did."

The star-studded cast includes Alfred Molina as Stephano, Russell Brand as Trinculo, Djimon Hounsou as Caliban, David Strathairn as Alonso and Ben Whishaw as Ariel.

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Bieber rocks downtown L.A. as he preps for VMAs AP

LOS ANGELES Visitors to Staples Center and the adjacent L.A. Live plaza were treated to an unannounced free concert Friday when Justin Bieber took to an outdoor stage to rehearse his performance for Sundays MTV Video Music Awards.

A crowd slowly gathered as the teen sensation and his team of dancers and musicians rehearsed for about two hours Friday afternoon. MTV representatives said they hadnt announced Biebers outdoor rehearsal to avoid drawing the swarms of fans who have crowded the 16-year-old pop stars public appearances around the world.

Wearing a red varsity jacket with a sparkly "B" on the front, Bieber practiced his arrival to the outdoor stage in a cherry red 1957 Chevy Bel Air, chased by a pack of precast girls. Then, backed by a team of dancers and musicians, Bieber moonwalked and made a heart shape with his hands as he belted out his hit "Baby."

Passers-by wielded camera phones from behind barricades, and teenage admirers erupted in shrill screams anytime Bieber was within earshot. He smiled at them and flashed a peace sign with his fingers.

Though barely bigger than the troupe of pint-sized hip-hop dancers age 9 through 13 who joined him on stage, Bieber acted like a seasoned pro.

"Whats wrong with my drums? Like, I dont hear anything and it should be loud," he said after practicing a drum solo. "This has to be, like, an epic moment. Its ending the song."

Later, he complained that "the vocals are too loud in my ear and I cant hear the groove."

And when his wireless microphone pack fell to the floor, he casually gathered up the batteries and put the pack back in his pocket without missing a single lyric.

Bieber is set to perform on the same stage Sunday just outside the Nokia Theatre, where the Video Music Awards will be presented. Other performers include Drake, Kanye West and Eminem.