Michelle Williams still asks why Heath Ledger died

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 23, 2010 2:03pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Michelle Williams says she still can't find the meaning behind Heath Ledger's death three years ago, in a rare interview talking about the late father of her child who died of a prescription overdose.

Williams, who since the actor's death in New York in January 2008, has remained mostly quiet in interviews about her former partner, told ABC news show "Nightline" this week she could understand why the public was curious about her grief, but still could not understand why Ledger died.

"I've found meanings around the circumstance but the actual event itself still doesn't have a ... I can't find a meaning for it," she said with tears in her eyes.

The 30 year-old actress, whose romance with Ledger blossomed on the set of "Brokeback Mountain" in roles for which they both received Oscar nominations (he won supporting actor), said she had found "meaning in things and people and relationships that have sprung up and friendships that have strengthened.

"I can find a lot of meaning in that, but not in why," she said.

Williams had split with Ledger when he died but was still sharing duties raising their daughter. To deal with her grief, she said she read "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion, the Pulitzer-Prize winning account of Didion's year following the death of her husband.

"In a strange way, I miss that year, because all those possibilities that existed then are gone," Williams told ABC. "It didn't seem unlikely to me that he could walk through a door or could appear from behind a bush. It was a year of very magical thinking, and in some ways I'm sad to be moving further and further away from it."

She said that for a time, she pondered the notion that one's life can change in an instant.

"I got kind of obsessed with that for a while, before and after," she said. "A lot of things died. There is a line from a book that gave me so much comfort and it said, "When you have truly lost everything, then at least you can become rich in loss'."

Williams, who is widely tipped to be nominated for a best actress Oscar this year for her new film, "Blue Valentine," said she aimed for a normal upbringing for Ledger's toddler daughter, Matilda.

"It is of more importance to me than anything else in my life," she said.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home Jobs

A Minute With: Nicole Kidman working on "Rabbit Hole"

By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES | Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:07pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar winning actress Nicole Kidman has scored positive reviews, and a Golden Globe nomination, for her role as a mother dealing with the death of her child in the independent film "Rabbit Hole."

The film was released last week in major U.S. theaters and expands around the country starting on Christmas day.

"Rabbit Hole" is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning play by David Lindsay-Abaire. Kidman stars alongside Aaron Eckhart as grieving couple Becca and Howie. Kidman also produced the film, marking it the inaugural project from her company, Blossom Films.

Kidman, who lives in Nashville with her country star husband Keith Urban and their daughter Sunday Rose, spoke Reuters about the film, her family and being a mother.

Q: How did you come across the play?

A: "I read the review of 'Rabbit Hole' in the New York Times. Living in Nashville, I get the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. That's my contact with the city because that's where I used to live and I'm a theater buff. When I read the review, I thought, 'Gosh, that sounds like rich material.'"

Q: As a mother, you felt for Becca's pain?

A: "When we first optioned the play, I wasn't pregnant. This has been years in the making, so there wasn't a thought of being pregnant. I thought I'd never get pregnant. But I get what she goes through. I get her relationship with her mother, her sister, God. I get the way in which she is so angry."

Q: How did you prepare to play a woman who goes through something no parent should ever have to face?

A: "I read stuff. I tried to go to a grief group but I was told 'No, you're not allowed. You can only step into these rooms if you lost a child.' I totally get it, yet for whatever reason, that rawness was available to me. Maybe it was from giving birth (to daughter Sunday Rose) 11 months prior."

Q: The subject must have made for a difficult shoot.

A: "It was more like there was a big thrust to honor the people who are going through this right now. There's almost something lifting you up, going 'Come on, if someone can actually be living this, I can be living this.'"

Q: How has motherhood impacted your career?

A: "Time is the most precious thing. I'm very particular about how I spend it. I'm more reluctant to leave my family. Keith and I are very tight, and we're never separated. If we are, it's no more than three days."

Q: How is motherhood today different than it was when you were raising Connor and Isabella (with ex-husband Tom Cruise)?

Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home Jobs

Taylor Swift returns to No. 1 on U.S. album chart

By Keith Caulfield

Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:46pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Taylor Swift returned to the No. 1 slot on the U.S. pop album chart on Wednesday, knocking reigning champ Susan Boyle to No. 2, and holding Michael Jackson's new album to a No. 3 debut.

Swift's "Speak Now" sold 259,000 copies during the week ended December 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan -- enough to give it a third nonconsecutive week at No. 1. With sales of 2.6 million after just eight weeks, "Speak Now" is the year's third-best selling set, behind Eminem's "Recovery" (3.2 million) and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" (3 million).

Boyle's "The Gift" followed close behind with 254,000 copies, and a six week-total of 1.6 million. It spent four nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1.

Jackson's much buzzed-about "Michael" sold 228,000 copies, a little higher than initial industry prognostications last week. The late pop star topped the chart a year ago when his "This Is It" soundtrack opened to 373,000 copies.

Jackie Evancho's "O Holy Night" rose one to No. 4 with 191,000, and the "Glee" Christmas album fell two to No 5 with 158,000.

R. Kelly's "Love Letter" debuted at No. 6 with 154,000, an improvement on the 114,000-unit, No. 4 start for "Untitled" a year ago.

Diddy-Dirty Money's "Last Train To Paris" rolled in at No. 7 with 101,000 -- a number rather larger than initial forecasts. Diddy was last on the tally with his "Press Play" set in 2006, when it started at No. 1 with 170,000.

Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday" fell two to No. 8 with 97,000 copies. Kid Rock's "Born Free" soared six to No. 9 (94,000), in the wake of sale advertising at major retailers last week. The "Glee, the Music: Season Two: Volume 4" album dropped two to No. 10 (87,000).

This year's "American Idol" runner-up Crystal Bowersox came in at No. 28 with "Farmer's Daughter" (58,000). That sales figure beats the start of winner Lee DeWyze's "Live It Up" (39,000, No. 19) a few weeks ago.

Overall album sales totaled 12.50 million units, up 23% compared to the previous week, but down 17% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009. Year to date album sales stand at 303.94 million, down 13% compared to the same total at this point last year.

Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home Jobs

Officials order new safety measures for "Spider-Man"

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK | Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:19pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The beleaguered "Spider-Man" musical canceled its performance on Wednesday in order to put in place new safety measures for its complicated stage maneuvers, the show's publicists said.

The show was stopped after New York state safety inspectors and producer and director Julie Taymor agreed on Wednesday to additional safety measures after a leading stuntman was rushed to hospital when he fell from a high platform during a performance earlier this week.

It was the fourth injury to an actor in the $65 million musical, causing the inspectors to force new rules on the production that require a second stagehand and stage manager to back up all of the show's 38 stunts involving harnesses and ropes.

Much of the ambitious production's cost has been devoted to its hi-tech effects, unprecedented on Broadway, with actors flying through the air and at times over the audience.

"All of these accidents are a result of safety and health systems failures," Maureen Cox, Director of Safety and Health for the New York State Department of Labor, told reporters.

A spokesman for the show, whose full title is "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" and which has music written by U2's Bono and The Edge, said the actors and crew were currently practicing the new measures. New performances were due to resume on Thursday and all ticket-holders for the canceled performance would receive refunds.

The cancellation of Wednesday's show was the latest setback for the musical whose official opening date has been delayed several times with a latest date of February 7. Early in development, the show was plagued by financial and technical issues, before finally making it into previews. Ticket sales nevertheless have been strong, so far.

The incident involving the stuntman, Christopher Tierney, occurred when the aerialist was performing as a stunt double for the masked "Spider-Man" character. He plunged off the platform during a tense moment in one of the final scenes seven minutes before the end of Monday night's performance.

Audience members said they heard a thud while a fellow actress on stage appeared to scream and the audience went quiet while the stage was blacked out.

Cox said the investigation into why Tierney fell and whether the production had broken any safety codes was continuing, but the show and inspectors agreed in the meantime to the broader safety measures.

"At this point, we are satisfied that they have put in the appropriate controls," said Cox. "If they are not comfortable and haven't got everything in place, we have agreed that they wouldn't go, and so apparently that is the position that they are in right now."

(editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home Jobs

Christian Bale to star in Chinese massacre film

By Jonathan Landreth

Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:10pm EST

BEIJING (Hollywood Reporter) - Christian Bale, currently winning raves for his supporting role in "The Fighter," will star in "Nanjing Heroes," a Chinese film about the Nanjing Massacre, its director said on Wednesday.

Director Zhang Yimou's $90 million budget is roughly equal to that of John Woo's two-part period epic "Red Cliff," which was billed as the most expensive ever Asian-financed movie.

The Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese troops killed thousands of Chinese citizens in what was then the nation's capital in 1937, has been the subject of several recent Chinese and co-produced films. Bale will play an American priest called John who helps a great number of Chinese escape certain death.

"I met Christian in America and was impressed with his serious book research for the role," Zhang said after playing a five-minute video mash up of clips from Bale's Hollywood films, few of which have ever played theatrically in China.

The film will be shot about 40% in English and the rest in Mandarin Chinese, sources close to the project told The Hollywood Reporter. Zhang made no other cast or crew announcements.

Previously, Sony Pictures Classics distributed Zhang's films in the United States, but Sony does not appear to be involved at this time.

Zhang's highest-grossing film ever was 2002 period war film "Hero" starring Jet Li, which took in almost $54 million in the U.S. His new film comes at a time when China's movie business is booming at home and dominant in parts of Asia, but receives little attention elsewhere.

Asked if casting Bale was a move to raise Chinese cinema's profile in the U.S. market -- still 10 times bigger than China's box office -- Zhang said "It's the overall strategy for Chinese cinema to approach the world and broaden its influence but casting Bale was a coincidence because the script happened to have an English-speaking part in the lead."

Zhang will begin shooting the film on January 10 in a Republican Era (1911-1949) replica church built near Nanjing.

Powered by WizardRSS | Work At Home Jobs