Entertaining Posts

Friday, June 10, 2011

Unseen pictures capture outbreak of Beatlemania

LONDON | Fri Jun 10, 2011 8:37am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - They have been gathering dust in a basement for more than 40 years, but now U.S. photographer Mike Mitchell has decided to auction a group of pictures which capture the moment the Beatles became a worldwide phenomenon.

Mitchell, now in his mid-60s, was given a press pass to the Fab Four's first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum in 1964, just two days after their breakthrough television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

He was back later that year to cover their concert in Baltimore, by which time their fame had grown considerably.

"I heard the music and I had to be there," said Mitchell, surrounded by a selection of the black-and-white images which had a spontaneity that many later photographs lacked.

He is selling the collection through Christie's auctioneers in New York on July 20, and is exhibiting them in London first to raise awareness among potential bidders.

"Things were much different back then," he told Reuters on Friday. "There was no big security presence, the press wasn't corralled and I was free to sort of embrace my own ambition."

Several of the pictures, valued at between around $1,000 to $6,000 each, are taken from unusual vantage points and focus on particular details.

The photograph chosen by Christie's to illustrate the collection shows the four Beatles from behind looking into the bright lights that would follow them wherever they went after the outbreak of "Beatlemania" in 1964.

Another was taken from the side of a table behind which the four musicians sat for a press conference, while others focus solely on Ringo Starr's hands or Paul McCartney's feet on a stage littered with sweets thrown by screaming fans.

"SQUEEZED" BY HOUSING CRISIS

Mitchell, who was 18 when he took the photographs, said that by the 1970s he knew he had been privileged to be a part of rock and roll history.

And when he was caught out by the recent U.S. housing crisis he decided it was time to dust off his archive and sell them. The collection is estimated to be worth around $100,000.

"You cannot forget 8,000 screaming girls," he said of his earliest memories of the Beatles. "It was like the birth of my generation."

He said that he tried to do what other photographers at the events were not doing, explaining the personal style of images.

Cathy Elkies, head of Iconic Sales at Christie's in the United States, said she knew she was on to "something extraordinary" the moment she saw the images via email.

"There's a lot of Beatles images out there, no question," she said. "(But) they are amazing, highly intimate, high-access kinds of images ... To find a treasure trove of art -- you just don't find that any more."

She said the surviving two Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison may well come to see the pictures before they go on sale.

Elkies added that the relatively modest prices meant buyers could range from serious pop collectors to private individuals wanting a piece of Beatles history.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Woody Allen wows critics, just don't call him soppy

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK | Thu Jun 9, 2011 2:39pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Life is noisy and complicated," so goes a line in the new romantic comedy, "Midnight in Paris," in classic, cynical Woody Allen banter.

But this isn't your usual comedy of errors from Allen. Critics are lauding his latest film as "pleasant," a "souffle," and in a compliment which may seem out of character to his longtime fans, "sweet natured."

So is the 75-year-old Allen, who often filled his old scripts with nervy tirades about everything from failed relationships and sex to mid-life crises, getting sentimental in his old age? Hardly, he says.

"No, it happens to be the idea that you get at the time," he told Reuters in an interview this week sitting in a soft chair in his dark, unpretentious Park Ave office filled with boxes, a smiling assistant and no sign of a shrink's couch.

"People think there is a design to it, but there is not. It is a desperate attempt to come up with a viable idea so that you can earn your salary that year," he said in typically droll fashion about his latest film effort.

Allen has always been beloved in Europe. But such gushing from American critics -- whose reviews have made "Midnight in Paris" currently the top-rated movie on critic aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes with 92 percent approval -- is unusual.

Ever the contrarian, Allen dismisses whether it means Americans are finally ready to forgive him for his past misdemeanors, notably the tabloid scandal over his relationship and marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of his former long-time partner, Mia Farrow.

"I fell in love with this girl, married her, we have been married for almost 15 years now, we have children. There was no scandal, there was a lot of tawdry press," Allen said.

"It will be a big part of my obituary and it will lend a little color. I will not be thought of simply as an illiterate lawyer, as a bland, nice Jewish boy, who worked hard and didn't get in any trouble. At least there was some trouble, some juicy scandal in my life," he joked.

NO CAREER REVIVAL

Europeans have always been more forgiving of his personal life and weaker movies. But he also discounts any talk of a career resurgence due to using Europe successfully as his muse in recent years with such hits as "Match Point," set in London and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" set in Spain.

"Meaningless, there is no revival," he said with a small smile.

Meanwhile, in his first real homage to the City of Light, "Midnight in Paris" opens with shots so cliched they could be taken by an American tourist, which, he says, is the point, with the searching protagonist, played by Owen Wilson, as the unlikely embodiment of Allen.

Wilson plays a successful Hollywood screenwriter, who while struggling to finish his first novel and searching for life's answers is transported to the 1920s and meets such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The film grapples with the question of nostalgia, leaving Allen to conclude that his eternally pessimistic, or realistic, self, would have been the same in any era.

"I would have been unhappy at any time," he said. "If you are an unhappy person for any reason, which is practically everybody, then a switch in geography or a switch in time is not going to do it for you."

Allen is so unsentimental that he never watches his films once they are finished and derides ceremonies honoring his past films as "living in the past in the gloomiest way."

"I have no pictures in my house of myself in the past, I don't save my clips, I don't save anything," he said.

Nor is he longing for his old stand-up jokes, which some call his best, saying if he is forced to watch old clips of appearances on shows like Ed Sullivan, he thinks, "How God awful I was, how terrible."

He doesn't have a favorite joke: "I have many that I hate. But no favorites."

Allen, who still writes on an old typewriter, sees some advantages to being a technophobe -- he is unlikely to get into the sort of modern day troubles which has made others tabloid fodder.

"I have never sexted anybody. I can't get that far. I cant even text. So I am not up to sext," he joked.

The man who once quipped that he was thrown out of university after cheating in a metaphysics exam for looking into the soul of the student next to him is still dwelling on one of his favorite comedic topics, mortality, but doesn't care about his legacy.

"I am not a big legacy person. When I die, I don't really care if I am remembered for two seconds by anybody; of course my daughters and my wife will remember me and I want them to remember me in a fond way."

And his current thoughts on mortality: "It has no meaning. I want to say you are unconscious, but you are not unconscious, you are nonexistent. Which is even worse than unconscious."

And yet, Allen says, it is really his inability to block out his fear of dying which allows bravery in his filmmaking and propels his prolific work rate of more than 40 feature films for the past 45 years.

"You can distract yourself (from death) with sports, with sex, with stamp collecting, any obsession at all...it is all so trivial," he said. "In my case, it is work, I distract myself by working a lot, practicing the clarinet and stuff that has no real meaning at all, but keeps me busy."

(Editing by Mark Egan)

Fired "Spider-Man" director Taymor claims royalties

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK | Fri Jun 10, 2011 2:33am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Julie Taymor, the ousted director of Broadway's troubled "Spider-Man" musical, is seeking an estimated $300,000 in unpaid royalties from producers, the union representing her said on Thursday.

The union filed an arbitration claim on behalf of Taymor, who was replaced on the $70 million show -- the most expensive in Broadway history -- in March while it was still in previews.

Her ouster followed repeated delays to the official opening, scathing reviews, and several accidents involving the show's high-wire stunts.

"Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark", with music by Bono and The Edge, closed for three weeks in April for a major revamp by a new director. Its official opening is now set for June 14.

Despite the bad publicity, the show is making more than $1 million at the box office every week and frequently places among the top three attractions on Broadway.

"Taymor has given nine years of her life to this project," Laura Penn, executive director of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, the union filing the claim, said in a statement.

"The producer has absolutely no right, legally and ethically, to withhold royalties that are due to her," the statement said.

Penn told Reuters that Taymor received only her original director's fee of $125,000 about five years ago, but has not received any of the royalties owed to her since preview tickets went on sale last November.

Taymor, the creative force behind the successful stage adaptation of Disney's "The Lion King," is still credited as the show's "original director," and should therefore continue to receive director royalties even after her exit from the production, the union said.

Producers declined comment on the claim.

The arbitration filing is restricted to Taymor's work as a director, Penn said. She also has a separate contract as an author of the show.

Taymor's spokeswoman, Mara Buxbaum, said Taymor was "certainly aware and cooperative with the claim,".

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Jill Serjeant)

Thursday, June 9, 2011

J.J. Abrams goes back to future in "Super 8"

By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES | Thu Jun 9, 2011 6:05am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - J.J. Abrams, the filmmaker behind the TV shows "Alias," "Lost" and the movies "Mission: Impossible III" and "Star Trek," returns to movie theaters on Friday with what he calls his most autobiographical work to date.

Abrams wrote, directed and produced "Super 8," a sci-fi mystery that also boasts the imprimatur of producer Steven Spielberg. The story revolves around a group of kids in a small town in the late '70s who are making a home movie. They witness a train crash and suddenly odd things start happening.

Abrams, 44, talked with Reuters about the strange title, his own childhood, and working with kids.

Q: How is this your most personal film to date?

A. "The original idea of the film was to set it in a time that was based on my own ridiculous experiences making really bad movies as a kid on Super 8. Obviously there is a lot of wild, hyper-real stuff and spectacle in this film that I certainly didn't go through as a kid."

Q: Which one of the kids in the film most represents you?

A: "I was definitely the chubby kid making movies ("Charles," played by Riley Griffiths) but I wasn't as confident and bullish as he is. I was more like the main kid, Joe (Joel Courtney), a little bit of an outsider. I love blowing things up on film, but I wasn't as obsessed about it as Cary (Ryan Lee), the kid in the film."

Q: Elle Fanning was cast as the lone girl in a group of boys. Did they all have crushes on her?

A: "Yes! When she was on set, there was a marked difference in the way they would behave. When she was around, they always knew where she was. It was definitely a chemical thing."

Q: Do you have a favorite scene in the film?

A: "What encapsulated the whole experience for me were really the scenes with all the kids together. There's a scene where they are all having lunch in the diner. It's six kids, it's messy, it's busy and they're talking over each other. There was something about that scene that was the movie."

Q: What was the biggest challenge about making "Super 8?"

A: "Finding the kids took forever. We needed real kids who looked the part and would go well together, as opposed to professional actors playing children. It was one of those things that took longer than I thought it would."

Q: The title sounds like it belongs right beside cassette tapes and rotary phones. Do you worry that your audience may be confused by the title since it's not about a superhero?

A: "The fact that the title is not a known thing is probably a sign that we're used to being pre-sold. I'm hoping that people see it, like it, and the title becomes what the title is. Certainly films like 'District 9' and 'Inception' had titles that didn't quite make sense but once they became known, people went, 'Oh yeah.'"

Q: Steven Spielberg produced this film with you. You've been a fan of his since you were a teenager. How did his early movies influence "Super 8?"

A: "I was profoundly influenced by the movies of that time. There was a love of those kids, the love of that era, certain elements like kids on BMX bikes in a small town and otherworldly elements."

Q: You've got a new series this fall on CBS, "Person of Interest." And next year on Fox you'll have "Alcatraz" starring "Lost" actor Jorge Garcia. Why re-team with him?

A: "I adore that guy and this was the first opportunity for me to work with him again. Jorge was the first person we cast on 'Lost' and he was the first person we cast on 'Alcatraz.' I tend to work with the same actors again and again. Michael Emerson from 'Lost' is on 'Person of Interest.'"

(Editing by Dean Goodman)

Sarah Ferguson films return from "emotional bankruptcy"

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES | Thu Jun 9, 2011 5:45am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A year after hitting rock bottom in a royal favors scandal, the disgraced former daughter-in-law of Britain's Queen Elizabeth says she is now debt-free and positive about the future.

But it was a grueling struggle back to emotional and financial health for Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, judging by a candid six-part documentary making its debut on U.S. television on Sunday.

"Finding Sarah", on Oprah Winfrey's cable channel OWN, follows the ex-wife of Prince Andrew in a search for her own self-esteem as she seeks to rebuild her life following repeated acts of what she calls "self-sabotage."

"Dear diary," Ferguson begins. "What have I done with my life? How did I get it so wrong?...After 25 years in public life, I have lost who I am and it torments me."

Ferguson, 51, embarked on the documentary after being caught in a British tabloid newspaper sting in May 2010 in which she offered to sell access to Prince Andrew for $40,000.

It was the ultimate fall from grace for the exuberant, flame-haired duchess. Hailed as a breath of fresh air when she married the Queen's second son in 1986, she was later dubbed the "Duchess of Pork" by British tabloids.

The answers to her latest quest come just as harshly in "Finding Sarah." American TV advice guru Dr. Phil McGraw tells a tearful Ferguson that she is "emotionally bankrupt," and diagnoses her as being addicted to the approval of others.

Financial self-help expert Suze Orman tells her she is "broken inside," and urges her to become financially independent from Prince Andrew. The couple divorced in 1996 but Andrew later provided Ferguson with a free home in England.

Ferguson also visits a horse whisperer, a shaman in the Arizona desert, U.S. life coach Martha Beck, and embarks on a

26-mile trek through Canada's Arctic region in a test of her physical and mental stamina.

"To have the ability to go and see Dr. Phil or Suze Orman or Martha Beck...was an extraordinary honor for me," Ferguson told Reuters in an interview this week.

"By filming it, I hope that people watching will maybe relate to the feelings that I have felt, and see how Dr. Phil and Suze Orman and others give you the tools to be able to change your life," she added.

EMBRACED BY OPRAH WINFREY

Daughters Princess Beatrice, 22, and Eugenie, 21, also appear briefly in the series, saying they hope viewers will see Ferguson's qualities as a loving mother.

"They are old enough to make their own decisions," Ferguson said of the decision to include them.

But the person who helped her the most in the past year was talk show host Winfrey herself.

"She is definitely the most incredible, iconic, fabulous lady...She has really opened my eyes and embraced me, and it has been extraordinary the way she and the OWN network have supported me," Ferguson said.

Ferguson says in the documentary that she was in desperate financial straits even before the May 2010 newspaper sting. Afterward, she lost most of her celebrity endorsements and business deals.

But she told Reuters she has eight new children's books coming out in the next year and continues to work on her charities. She has also written a memoir, "Finding Sarah," to be published at the end of June.

"My financial situation is under control now, and is being handled well, and we are looking forward to a very good future. And I'm debt free," she said.

Ferguson seems to have accepted that she will likely remain outside the bosom of the royal family -- she was not invited to the April wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

And she is resigned to the possibility of more barbs from the British media, saying "They have written lots of things in 22 years, and they will continue to write whatever they wish."

But she does appear to have found some inner peace.

"I think I am a work in progress. I think I have learned some very good tools, and I am very excited and positive and I look forward to practicing what they have taught me.

"I will continue to write my children's books and do my charity work and be a first rate mother to my beautiful children, and a great best friend to my ex-husband," she said.