August 12, 2011
Isabelle Huppert wins Stockholm film prize
STOCKHOLM (AP) – Stockholm Film Festival organizers say French actress Isabelle Huppert will be honored with its 2011 lifetime achievement award for a career in movie and television spanning almost four decades.
Huppert, 53-years old, made her screen debut in 1972 and has appeared in more than 90 productions, including “The Lacemaker,” ”Madame Bovary” and “Heaven’s Gate.”
She received the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her 2001 role in “The Piano Teacher.”
The festival’s jury on Friday described her as “one of the most diverse and intrepid film personalities ever.”
Huppert will receive the award at a ceremony in Stockholm during the Nov. 9-20 film festival.
Glenn Close to receive Spanish film award
MADRID (AP) – The organizing committee of Spain’s premiere film festival says Hollywood actress Glenn Close is to receive this year’s edition of its lifetime achievement award.
The actress will also introduce her latest work, “Albert Nobbs,” a movie directed by Rodrigo Garcia which depicts life in 19th century Ireland, at the San Sebastian Festival, it said in a statement Friday.
Previous recipients of the Donostia lifetime award have included American actors Richard Gere and Meryl Streep, Spanish actor Antonio Banderas and Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann.
The annual festival is due to culminate with a star-studded red carpet award ceremony on Sept. 18 in the northern seaside city of San Sebastian, known as Donostia in the local Basque language.
Bollywood film on caste stirs controversy in India
By Nirmala George
NEW DELHI (AP) – A star-filled Bollywood film on India’s caste system churned up passionate debate as it opened Friday, with angry lower caste groups trying to torpedo its release, saying it reinforces social prejudices against them.
The furor makes clear that caste – the millennia-old Hindu custom that divides people in a strict social hierarchy based on their family’s traditional livelihood and ethnicity – remains a deeply sensitive subject in modern India, despite government programs to erase such distinctions.
At least three big states have banned the film “Aarakshan” from opening on schedule Friday over fears it could stir up caste tensions. Its director, Prakash Jha, filed an urgent appeal to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the bans.
The film’s stars were given police bodyguards, and police also guarded theaters that did show the film, searching moviegoers and barring them from bringing bags inside, authorities said.
The movie’s title means “reservation,” a reference to affirmative action quotas for India’s untouchables, also known as dalits, in jobs and education.
Dalits, who form nearly a fourth of India’s billion-plus population, say the film belittles them and shows them in a negative light.
Jha disputed their interpretation of his movie, but he agreed to edit out parts they may find offensive. The edited version, however, was not available as it opened across the country over this lucrative Independence Day three-day weekend.
The film’s star, famed actor Amitabh Bachchan, sounded anguished on his Twitter account Friday, accusing people of condemning the film without even watching it.
“Have cried at our helplessness in not making people understand that this art needs to be seen not banned!” he tweeted.
On his blog, Bachchan quoted his character in the film, the principal of a college: “Two Indias reside in this country … and in truth, if we have to see any progress in our society, then the distance between these two Indias must be erased.”
Caste discrimination runs deep in India despite government efforts since independence in 1947 to use affirmative action to wipe it out. India’s economic boom has further sharpened the divide, with much of its dividends accruing to the upper castes.
Nevertheless, large sections of India’s upper castes are incensed over the quota policy, which ensures lower castes get spaces in the country’s highly sought-after medical and engineering schools, universities and jobs.
With dalit groups saying the film is biased against the quota system, the government of Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest state, banned the film Wednesday. A day later, the governments of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh followed suit.
The ban could cost the film more than 150 million rupees ($3.5 million) in earnings, as filmgoers were expected to crowd theaters over the long weekend, trade analysts said.
A government panel for the welfare of lower castes also has asked the country’s film authorities to review the clearance given to the film.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai film fraternity is closing ranks in support of the movie.
Case destroyed after agent refuses to read scriptBEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – A writer desperate to get a movie script read suffered the ultimate rejection Thursday when police blew up a briefcase he said contained the screenplay after an agent refused to read it, police said.
The bizarre story was set in Beverly Hills, where a man visited the office of a literary agent and left behind a briefcase that he said contained a computer, police Sgt. Brad Cornelius said.
The man left instructions for it to be delivered to someone at the business, who told another person in the office, “This guy’s been kind of pestering me to read his stuff” and said he neither asked for nor wanted the briefcase, Cornelius said.
A security guard took the case into an alley, and an LAPD police bomb squad was sent to investigate the suspicious package.
Officials sealed off one square block and evacuated dozens of people from a handful of businesses on nearby Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard before blowing open the briefcase, which contained no explosives.
Police detained the man suspected of leaving the briefcase and were questioning him, Cornelius said. His name and other details were not immediately released.
Congressman feuds with administration over movie
By Larry Margasak
WASHINGTON (AP) – A movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, expected in theaters just weeks before the 2012 presidential election, is already generating a partisan political feud.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, says he’s worried that the Obama administration will only be too happy to give sensitive details about the Navy SEAL mission to the Oscar-winning moviemakers behind the project.
White House spokesman Jay Carney suggests that King should have better things to do than complain about a movie.
King on Wednesday sought an investigation by the CIA and Pentagon inspectors general, wanting them to review the administration’s cooperation with director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, both Academy Award winners for the 2009 film “The Hurt Locker.” The bin Laden movie will be distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Among other things, King asked the inspectors general to determine what consultations occurred in the administration about providing Hollywood with access to covert military operators and clandestine CIA officers.
Carney said information provided about the raid was focused on President Barack Obama’s role and it’s the same information given to anybody writing about the topic.
In an interview, King said, “People in the CIA reached out to me saying they were opposed to this.” But he acknowledged that others in the spy agency were willing to cooperate.
King said he was not trying to take credit away from the president.
“I, as much as anyone after the killing of bin Laden, gave full credit to the president,” he said. “I knew this was an extremely tough decision. Top people in the administration were opposed to it. It was courageous, heroic and showed real leadership.”
Bigelow and Boal say their movie will be nonpartisan.
“Our upcoming film project about the decade-long pursuit of bin Laden has been in the works for many years and integrates the collective efforts of three administrations, including those of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, as well as the cooperative strategies and implementation by the Department of Defense and the CIA,” they said in a statement.
Marine Col. Dave Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters the film project is only in the script development phase.
“DoD is providing assistance with script research, which is something we commonly do for established filmmakers,” Lapan said. “Until there is a script to review, and a request for equipment or other DoD support, there is no formal agreement for DoD support.”
‘America’s Most Wanted’ host getting special Emmy
NEW YORK (AP) – “America’s Most Wanted” creator, John Walsh, is getting a special Emmy Award in tribute to his just-canceled weekly show.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences board voted this week to give Walsh its Governors Award at the Creative Arts Emmys on Sept. 10 in Los Angeles. The honor goes to a person or organization that makes a substantial impact or demonstrates an extraordinary use of television.
Walsh became a crime-fighting activist after his 6-year-old son, Adam, was kidnapped and killed in 1981. “America’s Most Wanted” publicized fugitives and has claimed responsibility for nearly 1,200 arrests since its 1988 premiere. Fox canceled the show this spring.
Television academy chairman and CEO John Shaffner says the show is an example of how TV can be used to convey an important message.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Depictions of explicit and graphic suicides in movies tripled from 1950 to 2006, according to an analysis of top-grossing films.
The report, by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, was published in the August issue of Archives of Suicide Research. It found no difference between PG-13- and R-rated films in the most explicit portrayals of suicide.
Lead author Patrick E. Jamieson said that although it’s impossible to establish a causal connection, the tripling of U.S. teen suicide since 1960 has coincided with the increase in movie suicide portrayals. The results, based on an analysis of 855 top-grossing films and released Tuesday, indicate the need for further study of the effects of movie suicides on adolescent audiences, the authors concluded.
“We know as well that exposure to movie-portrayed suicide correlates with thinking that one cannot get effective treatment for mental health problems,” Jamieson said. “There is something seriously wrong with a movie ratings system that attaches a PG-13 rating to a movie containing explicit, graphic modeling of suicide.”
A Motion Picture Association of America rating of PG-13 means special parental guidance is strongly suggested for children under 13 and some material may be inappropriate for young children. An R rating means viewing is restricted and anyone under age 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian.
The researchers looked at the top 30 movies in the U.S. each year from 1950 from 2006. From the 855 that had suicide references, they set up a suicide explicitness scale and weighed the portrayals in each movie based on how much or little of a suicide was merely suggested or was graphically shown.
From 1968 to 1984, movies rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America had five times more highly explicit suicide behavior portrayals than those rated G (general audiences) and PG (parental guidance suggested). The category PG-13 was instituted in 1985, but the report found PG-13 and R films became indistinguishable when it comes to depictions of suicides. Judge says trial needed to resolve Globes dispute
Anthony McCartney, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A trial is needed to determine whether the longtime producer of the Golden Globe Awards had the rights to negotiate a deal keeping the glitzy awards show on NBC through 2018, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank issued two rulings in a lawsuit over whether a 1993 agreement granted the show’s longtime producer, dick clark productions, the right to negotiate an extension with NBC last year. She refused to side with either dick clark productions or the show’s organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Fairbank’s rulings, released Tuesday, state there are issues a jury should decide in whether the agreement and the later actions by both sides meant the production company has rights to work on the show for as long as it airs on NBC.
The 2012 show, scheduled for Jan. 15, is not in jeopardy, although the ruling gives the association less time to try to negotiate a new broadcast deal – and possibly change networks – if a jury rules in its favor.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has argued it did not intend to give away its broadcast rights to the production company indefinitely, although attorneys for dick clark productions argue it was a reward for restoring the show to a major network after scandal knocked it from airwaves in the early 1980s.
The judge stated she found support for both sides’ interpretations of the contract and could not resolve the issue before a trial.
“The court finds that the disputed portion of the 1993 amendment is reasonable susceptible to the interpretations of both parties,” the ruling states.
Her ruling rejected a motion by the production company to dismiss the case because it the Hollywood Foreign Press Association had waited too long to bring its case.
“We look forward to proceeding to trial and vindicating our rights,” the group’s president, Aida Takla-O’Reilly, wrote in a statement. She has previously said that the timing of the trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 30, gives the association plenty of time to prepare for its show.
If jurors side with dick clark productions, the show will proceed as planned on NBC, although it remains to be seen how the relationship between the two groups will play out after months of court battles and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by sides on the litigation.
The association of foreign journalists sued dick clark productions, also known as dcp, in November claiming the company improperly negotiated a seven-year extension to air the show on NBC. The association contends its relationship with the producers ended after the 2011 show, but producers point to language in the 1993 document that they claim gives them rights to work on the show “in perpetuity” as long as it airs on NBC.
If the agreement is interpreted as the producers want, argued that it would lose crucial rights to its signature property – a glitzy awards gala that is worth millions of dollars each year.
“We would be at their mercy,” association attorney Daniel Petrocelli argued during a daylong hearing last week. “Forever.”
Brad Phillips, an attorney for dick clark productions, argued the 1993 agreement made sense because the production company “had accomplished essentially miracles for this show.”
The company is now owned by Red Zone Capital Partners. Dick clark productions has produced the show since 1983 and splits revenues from the broadcast 50-50 with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
VH1 explores hip-hop and cocaine in new docuNEW YORK (AP) – VH1 is exploring the connection between hip-hop and cocaine.
The network will air “Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation” next month. It explores the development of crack cocaine in the urban community and features rappers Snoop Dogg, Cyprus Hill’s B-Real and Wu-Tang Clan members RZA and Raekwon.
The two-hour special will air Sept. 18 at 10 p.m. Eastern. It was executive produced by rapper-actor Ice-T. He also narrates the documentary.
VH1 made the announcement Tuesday.
“Planet Rock” is the latest documentary by VH1 Rock Doc, which recently earned an Emmy nomination for the special, “Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America.”
Johnnie To’s new film rounds out Venice lineup
VENICE, Italy (AP) – The Venice Film Festival says Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To’s “Life Without Principle” joins the 22 films vying for the coveted Golden Lion.
But the festival tantalized film lovers with the promise of yet another surprise movie – to be announced at a later time.
The festival last month announced the titles of 21 films in competition, promising to announce the first surprise film within weeks.
Director Marco Mueller has made surprise films a feature of the festival since he took over in 2004. Often their announcement is delayed until after the festival opens due to political sensitivity or production schedules.
This year’s festival runs Aug. 31-Sept. 10.
Lionsgate announces ‘Dirty Dancing’ remakeLOS ANGELES (AP) – “Dirty Dancing” is coming back to the big screen.
Lionsgate says it is remaking the 1987 film that starred Jennifer Grey as a naive dance student and Patrick Swayze as her teacher and lover.
The studio said Monday that Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the original film, will direct the remake.
Ortega says he is eager to discover and cast “the next breakout triple-threats” to define dancing for a generation, the way Swayze did in the original “Dirty Dancing.”
Starz teams with BBC Worldwide Productions
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) – Starz Entertainment and BBC Worldwide Productions are joining forces to develop and air TV programming.
The new series will be one-hour dramas with global appeal, the companies said Monday in announcing the multiyear partnership. But the programming, potentially as much as 100 hours, will air exclusively in the United States on the Starz premium networks.
The companies said the titles of the programs will be announced later.
“Torchwood: Miracle Day” is the first scripted series produced by BBC Worldwide Productions. It is currently airing in its first season on Starz. The company also produces ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”