Jolie hopes fans will "hold judgment" on Bosnia film

LOS ANGELES | Thu Oct 14, 2010 6:56pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie on Thursday told critics of a film she is directing in eastern Europe that she hopes they will withhold any complaints, for now, because it has different storylines that might quell their concerns.

"There are many twists in the plot that address the sensitive nature of the relationship between the main characters and that will be revealed once the film is released," the Oscar-winning actress said in a statement.

"My hope is that people will hold judgment until they have seen the film," she said.

The movie, which has yet to have a title, portrays a love story between a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman on the eve of the 1992 Bosnian war that killed 100,000 people.

Bakira Hasecic, president of the Women Victims of War association in Bosnia, told the Oslobodjenje newspaper that the female character "is really falling in love with her torturer," and she urged officials to ban the film's production.

On Wednesday, a government minister canceled a permit for the film shoot, and some headlines trumpeted that the movie's production had been halted. A representative for Jolie told Reuters those headlines were incorrect and, in fact, the crew is currently shooting in Budapest before moving on to Bosnia.

Edin Sarkic, an executive with the movie's Sarajevo-based producer Scout Film, told Reuters the company had submitted a final script to the proper authorities and the production company said it would reapply for the filming permit.

By Thursday, the producers characterized the permit cancellation as "a purely technical matter."

Jolie further sought to allay concerns of the Bosnian women's group by saying in her statement that, "obviously, any dramatic interpretation will always fail those who have had a real experience."

(Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Hilary Swank film draws ire of victim's family

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES | Thu Oct 14, 2010 4:42pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Family members of a murder victim portrayed in the new movie "Conviction" lashed out on Thursday at star Hilary Swank and the film's producers, questioning their morals for not consulting the family on the movie's depiction of their dead mother.

The complaint comes only one day before "Conviction" makes its debut in U.S. movie theaters, telling the story of how working mom Betty Anne Waters (played by Swank) put herself through law school, then utilized DNA testing to get her brother, Kenneth Waters, freed from jail.

The tale is based on the real-life story of Waters and her brother, who was convicted of the 1980 murder of Katharina Brow. The mother of two had been found in her mobile home with more than 30 stab wounds. Kenneth Waters was convicted of her murder in 1983 and released 18 years later.

Through their attorney Gloria Allred, Melrose Brow and Charlie Brow, the real-life daughter and son of Katharina Brow, said Swank and the film's producers had a moral duty to meet them before or during the film's production.

"Our family is being forced to relive the memory of a heinous crime," Melrose Brow told reporters at a press conference in Allred's Los Angeles office.

Brow said she and her brother wanted to know whether their mom would be presented as the loving mother and grandmother she was, and if a reenactment of the murder would be shown on screen to millions of moviegoers.

"The film's producers, including Ms. Swank, have never bothered to contact" the family, Allred said. "We believe a proper respect for Ms. Brow's family could've been shown."

"Do they have a legal duty to do it? We can argue about that. Do they have a moral duty? We say yes," Allred added.

The Brows said they had not seen the film, and Allred requested a "private screening" for the family.

"Conviction" does not show a reenactment of the murder and focuses mostly on Swank's efforts to become a qualified lawyer, her devotion to her brother, and her work with the Innocence Project that aims to free wrongly convicted prisoners.

At a screening in New York on Wednesday, Betty Anne Waters spoke to an audience along with director Tony Goldwyn and producers and said there was nothing inconsistent with real-life events.

Goldwyn said the film's makers consulted with Waters extensively but he made no mention of the Brow family, who are not featured in the film.

There was no immediate reaction from Swank's representatives, the film production company Pantheon Entertainment or its distributor, Fox Searchlight, a division of film studio 20th Century Fox.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kearney; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

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Furor over Ground Zero mosque prompts "View" walkout

LOS ANGELES | Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:45pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the set of TV's "The View" on Thursday after a shouting match with conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly about the planned mosque near the site of the September 11 attacks in New York.

Tempers flared on the daily talk show when a finger-jabbing Fox News host O'Reilly asserted that the planned Muslim cultural center and mosque near the old World Trade Center site was inappropriate because "Muslims killed us on 9/11."

In a noisy exchange, Goldberg uttered an expletive that was covered by a bleep, and Behar said "I don't want to sit here. I am outraged by that statement". The two women walked out, but returned a few moments later.

"The View" co-host, veteran broadcaster Barbara Walters, apologized to the studio audience, saying "we should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage."

But Walters insisted that O'Reilly apologize, telling him,

"It was extremists. You cannot take a whole religion and demean them."

O'Reilly grudgingly responded; "If anybody felt I was demeaning all Muslims, I apologize."

Producers of the "The View" -- one of the most popular daytime talk shows on U.S. television -- declined to comment further saying "the show speaks for itself."

Plans for the so-called Ground Zero mosque have split Americans, prompted heated public demonstrations, and become a campaign issue the current round of congressional elections.

Critics say the proposal is insensitive to the families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. About 60 of those who died were Muslims.

According to a poll in late September by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute some 80 percent of New Yorkers believe the Muslim group had a right to build the center near the 9/11 site, but 57 percent thought the location was inappropriate.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Singer Christina Aguilera files for divorce

LOS ANGELES | Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:06pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Christina Aguilera on Thursday filed divorce papers seeking to end her five-year marriage to music executive Jordan Bratman.

Citing irreconcilable differences, Aguilera, 29, filed papers in Los Angeles Superior Court just two days after confirming that she and Bratman had separated earlier this year.

The couple have a two year-old son, Max, and are asking for joint custody, according to the court documents posted on celebrity website TMZ.com.

Us Weekly magazine reported on Tuesday that the "Beautiful" U.S. singer and her husband had split up a few months ago but had not made a decision on divorce.

The website quoted an unidentified source as saying that the pair had become "more like friends than husband and wife."

Aguilera's divorce papers said she and Bratman separated in early September.

Aguilera, who had a huge early hit with "Genie in a Bottle", and Bratman married in November 2005. They met in 2002 while Jordan was working for Aguilera's music management company.

A former Disney teen performer, Aguilera is due to star in her first feature film -- the upcoming musical "Burlesque".

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Christine Kearney)

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Lady Gaga buys back unreleased music from auction

NEW YORK | Thu Oct 14, 2010 1:10pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fans eager to purchase unreleased Lady Gaga songs due to be auctioned online this month will be disappointed because singer bought them back.

For an undisclosed amount Lady Gaga purchased six CDs and a DVD that her first manager, Bob Leone, was selling in the auction of nearly 860 celebrity items.

Some of the items were autographed and featured unreleased songs dating back to a 2002 demo recording when Lady Gaga was the shy teenager Stefani Germanotta. Minimum bids for each were $1,000.

"She wanted to purchase them. We sent her an offer on behalf of Bob Leone. She countered and we made a deal," said Peter Siegel, co-founder of GOTTA HAVE IT! Collectibles, Inc., which is running the auction.

He added that Leone had never attempted to copy them and make them public.

Although there had been bidding interest in the Lady Gaga songs that were pulled, Siegel said he did not expect them to be one of the top sellers in the auction.

The Lady Gaga songs were not the only items that were pulled from the auction at www.gottahaverockandroll.com from October 6-15. Last week the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized a set of John Lennon's fingerprints.

The FBI said the fingerprinted application card for Lennon's permanent U.S. residence, consigned to the auction house by a promoter to be sold for at least $100,000, appeared to be a missing government document.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler; Editing by Patricia Reaney)

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