February 4, 2011
Filmmaker Soderbergh hit with paternity suit in NY
NEW YORK (AP) – An Australian woman says Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh fathered her baby daughter, and she’s suing in New York for child support.
Soderbergh’s lawyer declined to comment Thursday on the lawsuit, and his manager didn’t immediately return a telephone call.
Frances Lawrencina Anderson’s paternity lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Manhattan. It says the “Traffic” and “Ocean’s Eleven” director helped pay medical expenses during Anderson’s pregnancy, and a DNA test showed he was the father of the girl she had in August.
Anderson lives in Sydney. Soderbergh directed his play “Tot Mom” at a Sydney theater, where the play ran from December 2009 to February 2010.
He married TV personality and novelist Jules Asner in 2003.
Hulu Plus Set to Hit 1 Mln Subscribers
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Hulu Plus, the video subscription plan that charges $8 a month to watch a range of TV shows online, will have 1 million paying customers this year and post annual revenue of more than $200 million.
That’s the forecast given by its chief executive, Jason Kilar, in a blog post late Wednesday.
The blog came on the heels of the announcement of a new content distribution deal with Viacom Inc. to replay hit shows like “Jersey Shore.” The shows will be available to subscribers 21 days after they first run on MTV and after Viacom has a chance to show reruns on its websites.
The deal, which also brings “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” back to the free version of Hulu online, runs into mid-2012.
Some High-flying Fans Can Watch The Super BowlScott Mayerowitz, Airlines Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Flying during the Super Bowl no longer means waiting for the pilot to announce the latest score.
But if you’re hoping to watch the Packers-Steelers matchup up in the air next Sunday, plan carefully: Not every airline with TV will be showing the game and not all digital alternatives work once regular-season football ends.
JetBlue Airways pioneered satellite TV on commercial airplanes in 2000 and four other U.S. airlines now have it. On airlines without TV, a Wi-Fi Internet connection is the next best thing because it allows you to watch shows live on laptops, iPhones and other devices.
“Today, pilots are more likely to walk into the cabin and see if they can find somebody who has the score,” says Rick Seaney, CEO of airfare search site FareCompare.com.
Here’s everything you need to know if you’re flying next Sunday and don’t want to miss Super Bowl XLV:
— JetBlue, Frontier and most Continental planes will carry the game on DirecTV. JetBlue’s service is free; Continental and Frontier charge $6.
— Virgin America and Delta Air Lines have free TV. But they carry the DISH Network, which, on planes, doesn’t have Fox — the channel broadcasting the game.
— On planes with Wi-Fi, there’s Slingbox, a $180 piece of hardware that connects to a home TV and allows users to watch programing on their laptop, iPad and some smartphones.
Fliers can watch regular-season football via Wi-Fi using DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket To-Go, which streams games to laptops and some smartphones. But the playoffs and the Super Bowl aren’t part of the package.
Airlines that have Wi-Fi include: American, Delta, Southwest, United, US Airways and Virgin. Prices range from $4.95 to $12.95, depending on the length of the flight. Only Delta, US Airways, United and Virgin tell passengers whether Wi-Fi is available on specific flights before booking.
Last Tango in Paris’ Star Maria Schneider Dies
By Jenny Barchfield
PARIS (AP) – Maria Schneider, the French actress who was Marlon Brando’s young co-star in the steamy 1972 film “Last Tango in Paris,” has died, her talent agency said. She was 58.
Schneider died in Paris on Thursday “following a long illness,” a representative of the Act 1 agency said, but declined to provide details.
Schneider was 19 when she starred opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci’s racy “Last Tango in Paris.” In it, she played a young Parisian woman who takes up with a middle-aged American businessman, played by Brando.
Throughout her career, Schneider appeared in more than two dozen films, most of them French. The last movie she appeared in, “The Key,” by director Guillaume Nicloux, came out in 2007.
Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame to Honor Female ArtistsCLEVELAND (AP) – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum says it will open the world’s first exhibit devoted to rock’s most influential female artists.
The show opening May 13 at the museum in Cleveland will feature women ranging from Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin to Melissa Etheridge and Lady Gaga.
“Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” will spotlight more than 50 female artists and fill two floors of the hall with artifacts and video telling the story of how women have shaped the history of popular music. Throughout the year, the museum will offer educational programming on the role women have played in rock and roll.
A benefit concert is planned for May 14. Performers will include Cyndi Lauper and Wanda Jackson.
‘Harry Potter’ series to get British film honor
LONDON (AP) – Britain’s film academy is honoring the “Harry Potter” franchise for working its magic on the country’s movie industry.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is giving the series an award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.
The films based on J.K. Rowling’s books about a boy wizard are a global hit, with the first six installments earning more than $5.4 billion around the world.
The eighth and final episode, “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2,” is due for release this year.
Daniel Radcliffe, who played the young wizard, says the award is a testament to the “incredible work” of the films’ crew and craftspeople.
The academy said Thursday that Rowling and producer David Heyman will accept the award at a ceremony on Feb. 13.
‘Lord of the Rings’ director released by hospitalWELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – “The Lord of the Rings” director Sir Peter Jackson has left a New Zealand hospital after surgery for a perforated ulcer.
Publicist Melissa Booth says Jackson was discharged from Wellington Hospital on Thursday and would continue his recuperation at home. He had surgery after being admitted Jan. 26 with acute stomach pain.
Booth said a delay on filming of the two-part film “The Hobbit” is expected to be minimal. Jackson is set to start filming the prequel to his “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy next month.
She said Jackson thanked hospital staff and fans who had wished him a speedy recovery.
Religious film producer Charles Sellier dies at 67COEUR D’ ALENE, Idaho (AP) – Charles Sellier (sel-ee-AY’), producer of Christian films and creator of the book and television series “The Life and Time of Grizzly Adams,” has died. He was 67.
Darryl Howard, director of sales and marketing for Sellier’s production company, says Sellier died unexpectedly in his home near Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, on Monday. Howard declined to specify the cause of death.
Sellier produced dozens of family-friendly films and television shows, many of them with religious themes. They include “In Search of Noah’s Ark” and “Mark Twain’s America.”
But he was perhaps best known for creating Grizzly Adams, a fictional book and television character who flees bounty hunters and recues a bear cub that grows into a companion.
Woody Allen film to open Cannes Film FestivalPARIS (AP) – Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” which features France’s first lady in a minor role, will be the opening night movie at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
“Midnight in Paris” marks the acting debut of former supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
The romantic comedy stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates and Adrien Brody.
Allen’s film will screen at Cannes and throughout France on May 11.
The 75-year-old New Yorker is a regular at Cannes, and in 2002 the festival gave him a special achievement award.
‘Hurt Locker’ makers move to dismiss vet’s lawsuit
By Anthony McCartney, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The makers of “The Hurt Locker” are asking a federal judge to take part in a belated Oscar screening of sorts – to watch a DVD of the film and then dismiss an Iraq war veteran’s claims it is based on him.
The makers of the Academy Award-winning movie asked the judge on Tuesday to dismiss Master Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver’s lawsuit, saying the film is a fictional work. The filings, accompanied by the DVD, contend many of Sarver’s claims of similarity are contradicted by watching the movie.
The filings by attorneys for producer Nicolas Chartier and several film companies also maintain “The Hurt Locker” does not violate Sarver’s likeness rights because he is not portrayed or named in the film. Summit Entertainment, which acquired the film’s rights and released it in June 2009, is supporting the motion.
The motion comes nearly a year after Sarver sued the filmmakers, its screenwriter and director, in March 2010. Days later, “The Hurt Locker” went on to win six Oscars, including for best picture, director and screenplay.
Arguments on the case are scheduled to be heard March 7 – the one-year anniversary of the film’s Oscar wins.
Sarver deployed to Iraq in 2004 as an explosive ordnance disposal technician tasked with identifying and disposing unexploded munitions and improvised explosive devices, according to his lawsuit. Screenwriter Mark Boal was embedded with Sarver’s company in late 2004 and wrote an article, “The Man in the Bomb Suit,” for Playboy that revealed numerous details of Sarver’s personal life.
The Army bomb expert’s lawsuit claims the film’s main character, Will James, played in the movie by Jeremy Renner, is really Sarver, who never granted permission for the movie.
Sarver also claims he was source for the phrase “hurt locker,” which screenwriter Mark Boal heard Sarver use several times.
Boal has disputed Sarver’s allegations and has said the film is a work of fiction.
Tuesday’s filings make the same argument and claim the case should be dismissed because it violates California law that seeks to protect people from being sued for free speech, especially on topics of public interest.
“The war in Iraq is, without question, a matter of public interest and a public issue,” the filing states.
The motion also claims any characteristics that are shared between Sarver and the film’s hero are likely to be found in most other bomb disposal technicians deployed in Iraq.
The case was originally filed in New Jersey but was transferred to California, where “The Hurt Locker” was produced.
Want TV ratings? Hire Betty White, CBS finds
NEW YORK (AP) – All hail Betty White!
She starred in the most-watched Hallmark Hall of Fame movie in four years on Sunday.
The Nielsen Co. said that “The Lost Valentine” featuring the 89-year-old actress with Jennifer Love Hewitt was seen by just under 15 million people.
CBS aired the movie around the same time White was winning a Screen Actors Guild award for her work in TV Land’s “Hot in Cleveland.”
Meanwhile, Fox had some encouraging signs that its “American Idol” audience is loyal, despite the shakeup in its judges’ lineup. Last Wednesday’s show had more than 25 million viewers – a dropoff of less than a million from the previous week’s season debut.
Berlin festival combines big names, global flavorBERLIN (AP) – This year’s Berlin International Film Festival is showcasing actor Ralph Fiennes’ debut as director and a 3D dance movie from Wim Wenders as well as offering a gesture of solidarity to a jailed Iranian filmmaker.
Organizers on Tuesday presented the 22-movie program for this year’s festival, which runs Feb. 10-20.
Sixteen of the films are competing for the top Golden Bear award at the event, the first of the year’s major European film festivals.
There is one debut from a well-known name: Fiennes, directing a version of the Shakespeare tragedy “Coriolanus.”
This year’s festival also features two 3D films for the first time: French director Michel Ocelot’s “Tales of the Night” and Wenders’ “Pina” – a tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch.
9/11 conspiracy film producer in NY drug arrest
ONEONTA, N.Y. (AP) – A producer of a documentary alleging conspiracy theories behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has been arrested on drug charges in upstate New York.
Oneonta police tell the Daily Star of Oneonta that 27-year-old Korey Rowe and a 19-year-old Bronx man were arrested after selling packets of heroin to an undercover officer.
Rowe was arraigned Friday on a felony count of criminal sale of a controlled substance. Authorities say the Oneonta resident was released from Otsego County Jail after posting $10,000 cash bail.
It couldn’t be determined if he had a lawyer. Rowe’s phone number was unlisted.
An Army veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Rowe was a producer of “Loose Change,” a 2006 film that challenged the official explanation of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
5-time Oscar-winner composer John Barry dies at 77
By Robert Barr
LONDON (AP) – Five-time Oscar-winning composer John Barry, who wrote music for a dozen James Bond films, including “You Only Live Twice” and “Goldfinger” but couldn’t persuade a jury that he composed the suave spy’s theme music, has died. He was 77.
Barry died in New York, where he had lived for some time, on Sunday, his family said. The family did not release the cause of death.
Though his work on the Bond films is among his most famous, the English-born composer wrote a long list of scores, including for “Midnight Cowboy,” ”Dances with Wolves” and “Body Heat.” He was proud of writing both for big action blockbusters and smaller films.
He won two Oscars for “Born Free” in 1966, for best score and best song. He also earned statuettes for the scores to “The Lion in Winter” (1968), “Out of Africa” (1985) and “Dances with Wolves” (1990).
His association with Agent 007 began with “Dr. No” in 1962, although his contribution to that film wa s not credited and is in dispute.
Monty Norman, who was credited as the composer for “Dr. No,” sued The Sunday Times in 2001 for reporting that Barry had composed the theme, working from scraps of Norman’s work. Norman won the case, collecting 30,000 pounds ($48,000).
Barry testified that he was paid 250 pounds to work on the theme music, developing the guitar line from part of Norman’s song “Bad Sign, Good Sign,” but agreed that Norman would get the credit. He was asked whether Norman wrote the theme and responded “absolutely not.”
In later years, Barry limited his comment on the case to saying, “If I didn’t write it, why did they ask me to do the other ones?”
He subsequently wrote music for “Goldfinger,” ”From Russia with Love,” ”Thunderball,” ”You Only Live Twice,” ”On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” ”Diamonds are Forever,” ”The Man with the Golden Gun,” ”Moonraker,” ”Octopussy,” ”A View to a Kill” and “The Living Daylights.”
Born John Barry Prendergast, he recalled growing up “exposed to the fantasy life of Hollywood” at the eight theaters his father owned in Northern England.
“Rather than talkie-talkie movies, I liked films with excitement and adventure, because they were the ones that had the music,” Barry said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper in 1999.
“It was nice to have the very commercial Bondian thing … and then at the same time have these smaller movies which were artistically more interesting to do,” he said.
Other films included “Robin and Marian,” ”Somewhere in Time,” ”The Cotton Club,” ”Peggy Sue Got Married” and “Howard the Duck.” He was also nominated for Oscars for his scores of “Mary, Queen of Scots” in 1971 and “Chaplin” in 1992.
Barry trained as a pianist, studied counterpoint with York cathedral organist Francis Jackson, and later took up the trumpet. He founded a jazz group, the John Barry Seven, in 1957.
The group teamed with singer Adam Faith, scoring hits with “What Do You Want?” and “Poor Me,” and Barry moved into film work when Faith was tapped to star in “Beat Girl” (titled “Living for Kicks” in the United States).
“The James Bond movies came because we were successful in the pop music world, with a couple of big instrumental hits. They thought I knew how to write instrumental hit music,” Barry said in an interview in 1991.
In an interview in 2008 with The Irish Times, Barry said his success “was not that difficult.”
“If you hit the right formula, if you have an instinct for music, if you apply it, if you have the good fortune to meet with certain people who teach you well … I didn’t find it all that difficult,” he said.
Barry was divorced three times. He is survived by his wife Laurie, his four children and five grandchildren. A private funeral was planned, the family said.
Trophies optional at SAG Awards after party
By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – After winning big at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the stars of “Modern Family” and “The King’s Speech” celebrated in the parking lot next to the Shrine Auditorium.
That’s where the show’s official after party was held, a tent transforming it into a cozy lavender lounge, with pale purple carpets underfoot and drapes overhead. Situated just outside the ceremony, the annual after party sponsored by People magazine and the Entertainment Industry Foundation is typically the first post-show stop for SAG Awards winners and nominees.
“The King’s Speech” cast, including Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, popped by briefly after their best ensemble win. Each carried an Actor trophy, and Firth had two (he also won best actor for his role as the stuttering King George IV in the film). Meanwhile, the cast of TV’s “Modern Family” commanded a corner of the party, where they celebrated their comedy-ensemble victory.
“It’s a validation,” said Eric Stonestreet, who plays Cameron Tucker on the show. “It’s voted on by actors for actors.”
The cast had a night of partying planned, he said, as he and co-star Sofia Vergara headed off to another celebration. But show patriarch Ed O’Neill stuck around, chatting with colleagues and posing for photos with well-wishers.
Annette Bening and husband Warren Beatty greeted friends nearby.
The kids of “Glee” partied with the principal as the show’s cast celebrated their best-ensemble nomination together. Kevin McHale, who plays wheelchair-bound Artie, danced for co-stars Amber Riley and Heather Morris. Matthew Morrison blew kisses to Jane Lynch, whose lavender gown matched the party’s decor.
Guests danced to a DJ and live band and munched on macaroni and cheese, veggies and mini-desserts.
Julianna Margulies, who won best actress in a drama for her role on TV’s “The Good Wife,” took on the party without her 12-pound trophy.
“I gave it to Patrick Stewart,” she joked as she breezed by holding her husband’s hand.
