Entertaining Posts

Friday, May 13, 2011

Comedian Colbert pursues possible Super PAC

WASHINGTON | Fri May 13, 2011 5:48pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Political satirist Steven Colbert filed initial documents on Friday that could be a step on the way to setting up a political action committee.

Colbert appeared at the Federal Election Commission with his lawyer shortly after 4:00 p.m. local time while as many as 300 of his supporters waited for him outside, according to an FEC spokeswoman.

The document submitted, an advisory opinion request, is a formal request for legal guidance on whether or not a particular course of action would violate laws regarding elections.

Within 60 days, the Commission should get back to the applicant with an answer.

If given the green light, Colbert could develop a PAC and raise money to be what he called on his show a political player in 2012.

Colbert's television efforts make pointed jabs at the structure of campaign financing, as well as directing satire at large media groups, prominent political pundits, and political interest organizations.

In October Colbert and fellow satirist Jon Stewart drew tens of thousands of people to a weekend event in Washington that was part variety show, part Halloween celebration and part political rally to call for common sense before the November congressional elections.

(Reporting by Wendell Marsh; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Cannes Q&A: "Pirates" director Rob Marshall

By Gregg Kilday

Fri May 13, 2011 3:58pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Having established his directing bona fides with screen adaptations of the musicals "Chicago" and "Nine," Rob Marshall steps into the action arena for the first time with Disney's big-budget summer sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides." He spoke to THR about the film prior to its Cannes premiere on Saturday.

The Hollywood Reporter: What was your first reaction when you got the call to directed the latest installment of "Pirates?"

Rob Marshall: I was thrilled, because I'd always wanted to work with Johnny. We had mutual friends in common, and people had said to me, you'd be a wonderful team together, you'd really enjoy each other. Secretively, I've always been interested in adventure, action, something for the family. As a director, you want to constantly change it up, you want to have variety in your career and not do the same thing over and over again. So I was excited about the idea of doing a different kind of genre.

THR: "Pirates" is an established franchise. Did you have any concerns about how much creative input you'd be able to have?

Marshall: The most important thing for me was to take a look at the script. I saw how I could have my entrance into this world, because the script was a completely new story with so many new characters that I felt it was the beginning of a whole new storyline and a whole new beginning for pirates. That gave me a great deal of relief that I could find my way into the material.

THR: Both Johnny and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are strong personalities. How did you all negotiate your roles?

Marshall: They were incredibly welcoming, and that was another reason why I was excited to do it as well. They weren't looking to replicate what they had done before. They were looking for new blood, a sort of new take on things. They were excited to hear what I had to say. I never ever heard the words, 'Well, we've done it this way.' Ever.

THR: You were responsible for bringing Penelope Cruz on board?

Marshall: I did, although the moment I mentioned her name to Johnny and Jerry, they said absolutely. Johnny loved working with her on a movie called "Blow" years ago. It was pretty clear this character needed to be formidable. We needed to find an actress who could not only go toe to toe with Johnny and match him, but also needed to be all the things that Jack Sparrow is in a way. She needed to be funny and clever and smart and crafty and beautiful. It was an enormous bill to fill. It was really clear that it was Penelope. She's looking for variety in her career, too, and she'd never done anything like this before on this scale, so she was very excited to do it.

THR: How did you prepare for handling such a big production?

Marshall: The focus for me all through pre-production was all about story and character. I really wanted to make sure that that was the center of it all, because you can get lost in a picture like this, with all the other things.

THR: Coming from a background in choreography, did that help you mount the action pieces?

Marshall: I felt very at home doing action. Choreography and action are very similar. Through physicalization, through something active, you're trying to tell a story and also develop character. In addition to handling all sorts of things like movement and large numbers of people, the action sequences felt like big production numbers.

THR: Johnny himself almost dances his way through the role in the previous movies.

Marshall: I always say, 'Johnny, you're a major dancer, like Fred Astaire,' and he says 'You're crazy.' But I mean it, he's one of the greatest dancers I have ever worked with.

THR: How'd you find working in 3D?

Marshall: I did a little class over at Sony. I needed to distill it down to something simple for myself. It's complicated, but I grasped the basic elements and, of course, you learn as you go. I'm from the school where I don't feel every movie should be 3D, but I think there are certain movies that lend themselves to it and this did, because you are on an adventure and with the 3D experience you are inside that adventure. We were pioneers in a sense. We were the first live-action film to bring these delicate cameras, all these rigs and things, into these remote locations. Normally, 3D films of this scale are shot on stage or shot in 2D and then converted. But we brought the 3D equipment into jungles and caves and waterfalls. I still can't decide if we were insane or pioneers. But we did it and I'm proud of that fact, because you feel it, it feels like real 3D It's not cheesy 3D.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

Marlee Matlin selling home after being hit with tax bill

LOS ANGELES | Fri May 13, 2011 9:33am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Marlee Matlin says she is selling her Los Angeles-area house and taking her four children out of private school to ease a cash crunch that has left her owing $50,000 in back taxes.

Matlin, 45, told People magazine that she was working out a payment schedule with the Internal Revenue Service to settle her tax bill from the 2009 fiscal year.

She said she and her husband, a police officer in the Los Angeles municipality of Burbank, "have always made ends meet in the past -- and we will in this circumstance as well." Her spokeswoman confirmed the details of the news report.

In this case, the couple are seeking $899,000 for their modest, five-bedroom, 2,600-square-feet (243-square-meter) home in the suburb of Pasadena, according to a Reuters search of public records.

Matlin told People that the family planned to move to a suburb with a good public school. As a middle-class working actor without a steady paycheck, Matlin said she and her family do not live an extravagant lifestyle.

Nor did her tax woes mean she was "a bad person," she told People. "It's reality. It's the reality that a lot of people in America are facing."

Matlin, perhaps the best known deaf actress in Hollywood, is a contestant in the current season of "Celebrity Apprentice."

She won an Academy Award in 1987 for her lead role in "Children of a Lesser God," and made Emmy-nominated guest appearances in episodes of "Seinfeld," "Picket Fences" and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

Diana death documentary maker under fire in Cannes

By Mike Collett-White

CANNES, France | Fri May 13, 2011 10:33am EDT

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Director Keith Allen on Friday defended his film about Princess Diana's death, amid accusations that it was a one-sided attack on what he called the British "establishment" and entirely funded by Mohamed al-Fayed.

The businessman, whose son Dodi died with Diana in a 1997 Paris car crash, has long maintained that the couple was killed on the orders of Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, believing the royal family did not want Diana marrying a Muslim.

At a sometimes heated press conference in Cannes, where Allen is launching "Unlawful Killing" outside the official film festival, he described the documentary as "forensic," a description some attendees questioned.

The film focuses partly on the 2007/8 inquest into Diana's death and argues the British press failed to properly reflect its findings due to indirect pressure from the royal family. "I thought it was important that the public got to understand in a forensic manner what was happening in this inquest," Allen, best known as a British television actor, told reporters in Cannes.

"I didn't want to make a sensationalist film, I don't think it is a sensationalist film. I think it is a very forensic analysis of a British legal process and I think it reveals certain things that ... don't add up.

"I believe that they should be questioned. That's why I made the film. I hope it shows people that nothing is at it seems."

Allen was directly criticized by one journalist for failing to make clear that the film was entirely funded by Fayed to the tune of 2.5 million pounds ($4.1 million), a figure provided by a man claiming to be Fayed's representative.

Fayed was not in Cannes to present the film.

"He put money in because nobody else would," Allen said. "If I could have got it somewhere else I would have got it somewhere else. But I didn't, I got it off him."

Investigations by French and British police have concluded the deaths of Diana and Dodi were a tragic accident caused by a speeding chauffeur, who was found to be drunk. They have both rejected Fayed's theories.

NOT MUCH NEW

Asked what was new in Unlawful Killing, Allen added: "I don't believe that there is too much that is new.

"There's an old saying in our country which is the best kept secrets are on the bookshelves of the British Library. They're all there if you care to go and look for them.

"This is not an attack on the monarchy. It's actually questioning the role of the establishment and in so doing it will make it clear that there are connections between the royal House of Windsor and the establishment."

The documentary includes a photograph of Diana dying after the car crash, an element which the British press focused on in recent days, although Allen played it down.

"As I said when I presented the film, there won't be a sharp intake of breath when you see the photograph of Princess Di. It's nowhere near as sensational or revealing as people made it out to be."

Allen was still not sure whether the documentary would be shown in Britain due to legal issues.

"When you want to screen a film in England, you have to have insurance, and the only way that you can get insurance is if it's lawyer-approved. I could get lawyer approval if I'd made 87 cuts which I wasn't prepared to make."

One early review was damning. "Princess Diana film Unlawful Killing is just unlawfully dull," wrote Baz Bamigboye, albeit in the Daily Mail, deemed an "establishment" newspaper.

(Editing by Steve Addison)

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Woody Allen film charms Cannes, Lady Gaga surprises

By Mike Collett-White and Nick Vinocur

CANNES, France | Thu May 12, 2011 5:41am EDT

CANNES, France (Reuters) - Woody Allen delighted the crowds at the start of the Cannes film festival on Wednesday with "Midnight In Paris," in which Owen Wilson travels back in time and meets the likes of Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso.

There was laughter and applause from famously fussy Cannes critics at the press screening, which opened 11 days of red carpets, media interviews, lounging on luxury yachts and late night partying in the glamorous Riviera resort.

In a testament to the festival's pulling power, Hollywood stars Robert De Niro, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas twirled and smiled for a legion of tuxedo-wearing photographers on the red carpet leading to the festival palace.

Hayek, in town to promote her film "Puss in Boots," held their attention for the longest with a cream-colored floor-length dress and sideswept hairdo.

Gleaming yachts packed the harbor around the giant cinema complex, the rich and famous filled the five-star hotels and organizers hoped the 2011 festival lives up to this year's unusually high expectations.

Blockbusters "Kung Fu Panda 2" starring Angelina Jolie and "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" with Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz both launch in Cannes, as studios return en masse after avoiding the notoriously costly trip to France due to the financial crisis over the past couple of years.

And De Niro is in town as head of this year's jury. "For me to see 20 movies in this amount of time is unusual and it's kind of a bit of a vacation, because I can focus on the films, (and) don't have any distractions that I normally would have in my everyday life, so this is a terrific thing for me," he said.

Adding to the star power, pop diva Lady Gaga gave a "surprise" concert on the palm-lined waterfront wearing a two-toned hairstyle, matador-like bodice and spotted tights as fans screamed from behind the barricades.

PAST BEATS PRESENT?

In "Midnight in Paris," Allen, a Cannes favorite, explores the notion that bygone ages are better than the present, so Wilson's character Gil pines for 1920s Paris while painter Paul Gauguin wants to return to the Renaissance.

The 75-year-old Oscar-winning director played for laughs by transporting Wilson into a Paris populated by Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dali and other artistic greats.

Meanwhile, in his 21st century existence, his fiancee played by Rachel McAdams becomes exasperated by his increasingly idiosyncratic behavior and has an affair.

"You know it's a big trap that thinking living in another time would be better," Allen told reporters.

French First Lady Carla Bruni has a cameo role as a present-day museum guide in three scenes, although she canceled her planned appearance in Cannes because of "personal reasons," feeding rumors in the French press that she may be pregnant.

Allen said he met Bruni when he was invited to have breakfast with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and asked her on the spot to join his cast in a minor role.

"She said I would like to be in one of your movies because I would like to tell my grandchildren some day that I was in the movie," Allen said.

The darlings of Europe's festival circuit -- Pedro Almodovar, Nanni Moretti, Aki Kaurismaki, Lars Von Trier and brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne -- are all vying for the coveted Palme d'Or prize for best picture.

So is U.S. veteran Terrence Malick, back in the limelight with only his fifth feature, the eagerly anticipated "The Tree of Life" in which Brad Pitt and Sean Penn star in a family saga set in the American Midwest during the 1950s.

Female directors feature more prominently in the main competition than in the past, although they still account for only four of 20 entries.

Belgium's Dardenne brothers have a chance to become the first directors to scoop the Palme d'Or three times with "The Kid With A Bike" and festival favorite Almodovar will aim to lift his first Golden Palm with "The Skin I Live In."

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Peter Graff)