Entertaining Posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Claudia Schiffer aims to create lasting fashion brand

PARIS | Wed Jul 6, 2011 1:00pm EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - German supermodel Claudia Schiffer launched her first cashmere collection during Haute Couture fashion week in Paris with the hope of creating a lasting brand that she could pass on to her children.

The 40-year-old former Chanel muse said she has been thinking of getting into fashion design for years and had finally decided to start with the kinds of clothes she wore all the time as a working mom such as cashmere dresses and sweaters.

"I am always very busy, I have a family life... I want to wear the same outfit when I bring my children to school and then go to work with it and in the evening I want to be able to just change accessories," Schiffer told Reuters at the launch of the Claudia Schiffer clothing line in trendy Paris boutique Colette.

"Effortless chic. That is the idea of it," she added.

Schiffer's collection included long tube black and navy blue dresses, grey oversized cardigans and cable-knit sweaters costing from 250 to 500 euros ($360-$725).

Schiffer, who lives in Britain, is married to film producer Matthew Vaughn with whom she has three children.

While creating her brand was a "dream come true," the model acknowledged history was full of celebrities who had gone into fashion. For some, such as former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, the venture has been a success, while others have proved disastrous such as U.S. actress Lindsay Lohan at Emanuel Ungaro.

"I don't want this to be a celebrity line. It is meant to be a lasting business not a quick celebrity licensing line," Schiffer said.

Schiffer said she was on a steep learning curve and admitted she still had much to learn as a designer.

"I want the product to live without my name so that it does not really need me. As a company, I hope it builds up over time so that one day, hopefully, I can hand it over to my children."

The model created a joint-venture with the German maker of luxury cashmere sweaters Iris von Arnim. She invested her personal funds in the company of which she owns half.

Valentin von Arnim, managing director of Iris von Arnim, said the retail strategy of the Claudia Schiffer brand was to sell to retailers in given cities on an exclusivity basis.

For example, Colette in Paris, Harvey Nichols in Britain and Hong Kong, Boutique 1 in Dubai, Beirut, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, The Corner Berlin in Germany.

Arnim said the sweaters had been bought by about 50 stores worldwide and would also be on sale next week at online retailer net-a-porter, now controlled by luxury group Richemont.

Initially spotted for her resemblance to Brigitte Bardot, Claudia Schiffer began her career in the late 1980s and quickly joined the supermodel elite alongside Linda Evangelista, Elle Macpherson, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell.

Having appeared on the cover of more than 500 magazines, she is one of the world's most successful and most enduring of the supermodels with a fortune estimated at more than $50 million.

Having recently featured in Yves Saint Laurent, Salvatore Ferragamo ads, Schiffer is now in campaigns for L'Oreal make-up and Chanel sunglasses.

She said wished to pursue her modeling career for as long as she could: "I will continue modeling until they don't want me anymore basically because I do love it very much."

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker highest paid actresses

NEW YORK | Wed Jul 6, 2011 9:11am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker, with estimated annual earnings of $30 million each, are the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, according to the Forbes.com annual list.

Jolie topped the Forbes.com list thanks to the worldwide success of her action film "Salt," which brought in $300 million, and "The Tourist," which also featured Johnny Depp and earned $280 million at the worldwide box office.

Much of Parker's hefty earnings comes from reruns of the hit television show "Sex and the City", which she starred in and produced, and earnings from the second movie which generated $290 million at the global box office.

"People may be surprised to see Sarah Jessica Parker up there but they may not realize that in addition to acting, she earns big from her perfumes and endorsement deals," said writer Dorothy Pomerantz of Forbes.com. "Also she's coming off of 'Sex and the City 2' which turned a healthy profit."

Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon were not far behind in the rankings with each actress bringing home $28 million.

Aniston's film "Just Go With It" is her fourth highest earning film in the U.S.

The top 10 earning actress made a total of $218 million between May 2010 and May 2011, according to Forbes.com, which compiled the list by talking to producers, lawyers, agents and Hollywood insiders to estimate what each actress earned.

Last year's top earner, Sandra Bullock, took a 12-month break from making movies and dropped to No.9 with earning of $15 million.

The full list can be found at: here

A Minute With: Bill Pullman about "Torchwood"

By Iain Blair

LOS ANGELES | Wed Jul 6, 2011 10:23am EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Bill Pullman has played everything from an American president in "Independence Day" to a doctor in "Caspar, but in the new drama series "Torchwood: Miracle Day," he stars as Oswald Danes, a convicted child killer who's about to be executed.

But the execution, which premieres July 8, doesn't go quite as planned because the sci-fi series, based on the British cult favorite, opens with a provocative scenario -- what happens when people suddenly stop dying?

Pullman, 57, who co-stars with John Barrowman, Eve Myles and Mekhi Phifer, talked with Reuters about making the series, and why he can't smell anything.

Q: How would you describe this?

A: "It's a very gripping sci-fi story that deals with a catastrophic situation. At first you think, everyone's immortal! How great is that? But then the dark side of that becomes apparent -- no one dies, but we have only limited resources, and what does that do to people? Bring out their best or worst? Are the problems solvable? So it's a real roller-coaster ride and it deals with some quite profound themes."

Q: Were you a fan of the original BBC TV series?

A: "I'd never seen it but I loved this script and thought, what a great idea."

Q: The BBC series' creator and writer/producer Russell Davies, who's also producing the STARZ show, says it's not a reboot or new version. So what is it?

A: "I'd say it's a continuation of the original show, which even in its three years was always changing and growing. And now it's morphed into our show, and just because we're going global there's no disconnect with the old show and characters. I think fans of the old show will get it right away."

Q: You're best known for playing decent, upstanding members of society. So did you jump at the chance to play a child killer, or did they have to twist your arm?

A: "I jumped at it, though the quick description of him -- a pedophile murderer -- doesn't sound good. But that's not his essential condition. Yes, he begins there -- the most reviled person for doing the most heinous crime. But then either through coincidence or divine intervention, who knows, I become the pivot person who suddenly gets reborn. And then I set off on a journey to discover who I really am with this whole new life I've been given. How much baggage do I carry around from my past? What am I capable of? So he's a very rich character."

Q: So many British TV shows have become huge hits in America and around the world. What's the secret of their success?

A: "There's definitely a pattern of great British shows that get reinvented in America and do really well here, but I think 'Torchwood' is a bit different. It's more of a hybrid that doesn't exist as a reinvention. It's a global story, and it's interesting that it now comes to L.A. which is such a multicultural place."

Q: You split your time between L.A. and your ranch in Montana. Is ranching a good counter-balance to acting?

A: "It is. I co-own the ranch with my brother, and he and his wife are really the backbone of the operation. I come in and do stuff like fix irrigation systems, pasture maintenance and so on ... I find (that) I think better and more clearly when I'm doing ranch stuff. It gives me a good perspective on my acting career."

Q: Is it true that you lost your sense of smell when younger?

A: "I did. I was 21, and rehearsing a play, took a fall and was in a coma for a few days. And when I recovered, I'd lost my sense of smell completely."

Q: So acting's potentially a very dangerous profession?

A: "(laughs) Yes, and theater can kill you."

Q: So are there any advantages to having no sense of smell?

A: "Well, I can do certain jobs because smells don't bother me. But that means I'm usually the one at the ranch cleaning up all the manure."

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Patricia Reaney)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Charlie Sheen to get roasted on Comedy Central

LOS ANGELES | Tue Jul 5, 2011 1:17pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After a year in the headlines for his wayward behavior, Charlie Sheen is up for some more laughs at his own expense.

The fired "Two and A Half Men" actor will be the star of Comedy Central's next roast in September, the network announced on Tuesday.

"You could say I've been providing kindling for this Roast for a while," Sheen said in a statement. "It's time to light it up. It's going to be epic."

Kent Alterman, head of original programing at Comedy Central, said that "Charlie has assured us that nothing will be off limits in this Roast...which scares even us."

The cable network said the Charlie Sheen Roast will be recorded in Los Angeles on September 10 and broadcast on Comedy Central on September 19.

Sheen, 45, was replaced by Ashton Kutcher on the hit TV comedy "Two and A Half Men" after months of drug-fueled partying and after publicly insulting the show's co-creator and producer in a series of rants that made "Winning!" and "Tiger Blood" into short-lived popular catch-phrases.

The actor, and some of his live-in "goddess" porn star girlfriends, then embarked on a bizarre "Violent Torpedo of Truth" tour of the United States to mixed reviews.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, editing by Christine Kearney)

"Deathly Hallows" not the end for true Potter fans

By Alysha Love

BRUSSELS | Tue Jul 5, 2011 11:42am EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - From the Indian metropolis of Mumbai to the dusty plains of Texas, frenzied fans across the globe are barely a week away from the release of the eighth and final film in the Harry Potter series.

For those who have spent nearly 15 years with the books and movies, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2," which premieres in London July 7 and opens worldwide from July 13, is the end -- a final curtain falling on a narrative that has held them rapt for the bulk of their lives.

Since 1997, the fictional boy wizard has gathered a massive global following -- there are 28 million followers of the movies alone on Facebook -- often dubbed the "Harry Potter generation."

"Some of the most ardent fans feel that they grew up right alongside Harry; as he aged, so did they," said Edmund Kern, a professor who teaches a Potter course at Lawrence University in Wisconsin and the author of "The Wisdom of Harry Potter."

The seven books in the Potter series have sold nearly half a billion copies worldwide and the first seven movies have grossed $6.4 billion for Warner Bros. since the release of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (Sorcerer's) Stone" in 2001.

J.K. Rowling, the author of the books, has amassed more money than the queen of England and is heralded as a visionary for creating an alternative world to rival great works of fiction such as J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings."

For many fans, the release of the final book in 2007 was the end of Harry Potter, but others have clung to the movies as a way to keep Pottermania alive, and this Thursday's movie premiere will give loyalists a second chance to say goodbye.

"I'm just really excited to see the end of the series play out on the big screen and go out with the bang it deserves," said Paul Torres, 19, of Dallas, Texas, who said he had got chills seeing the trailer for Deathly Hallows.

"It's kind of cool to be able to look back and say that I remember each book being released, each movie coming out. It was without a doubt a large part of my childhood."

UNIVERSAL APPEAL

Martin Richardson, a professor at Durham University and one of the first in Britain to teach a Harry Potter college course, said it was unlikely that the series' sensational popularity would see an immediate drop-off after the final film.

Promises of a Harry Potter encyclopedia and interactive website, let alone Potter-themed events and a theme park in Florida, will sustain fans immersed in the wizard's world.

"'Pottermania' will not end in the foreseeable future: It is too deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of what has been dubbed 'The Harry Potter Generation'," Richardson said.

As an example of the book's influence, Richardson noted that about a quarter of the students on his course admitted that they were disappointed on their 11th birthdays when they didn't receive letters of acceptance to Hogwarts, the magical school of witchcraft and wizardry, as characters in the books do.

"What is understandably lost to adults is the most gloriously subversive concept at the heart of the Harry Potter series -- the notion that there might just be a magical world out there that we Muggles cannot see," he said.

For academics, the story's worldwide popularity -- the books have been translated into more than 60 languages, from Tibetan to Khmer -- stems from the universal themes woven into the plot.

"When reading or watching the characters in the Potterverse, we are also reading about and watching ourselves -- and in particular our relationships, our sense of duty and our identity," said Richardson.

"These timeless themes cross all cultural and national divides."

There is also a moral dimension, which gives the books the sense of offering guiding principles for young readers, simple messages anyone can identify with, said Kern, the professor at Lawrence University. These lessons aren't wasted on fans, who can point to the ways the story has altered their lives.

Andrea Lolita Cardenas, a 19-year-old from Los Angeles, chose her degree because of what she learnt from Potter.

"I'm a criminal justice administration major in part because of Harry Potter; the battle between 'good' and 'evil' plays out every day," she said.

WIZARDRY ON THE WEB

Rowling's novels and the subsequent movie hype triggered some of the first fan sites in the late '90s, and the online fan base has exploded since, encouraging fan-written fiction based on the characters, discussion forums and the news.

The websites have played a major role in keeping Pottermania alive, Kern said, noting that "never before have book fans had the opportunity to communicate with one another as quickly and extensively about matters related to their interests.

"The phenomenon we call Harry Potter grew out of this ability to communicate almost instantaneously through the Internet -- both among fans and between fans and author."

Rowling has unveiled a new website called Pottermore, which will develop characters and storylines from the books and allow readers to interact with and navigate her magical world.

There are around 18,000 words of new material in the form of background on characters' lives and the history of the houses at Hogwarts school, for example. The free site opens for registration on July 31, the fictional Harry Potter's birthday.

Despite Pottermore, traditional fan sites and fan activities will likely see a decline, but that doesn't mean Potter will disappear from the Web, said the webmaster for Potterish, the Brazilian fan site Rowling has named one of her favorites.

"The fact is that Potterish is like a son for our team and would be a huge loss of content if we shut it down," said Daniel Mahlmann, 24, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kern predicts that while music genre Wizard Wrock, themed parties and big releases will fade, the Internet will provide a forum for web-based subcultures, and the Harry Potter love will be passed on from one generation to the next.