‘Toy Story’ Star Tim Allen Becomes Chevy PitchmanDETROIT (AP) – The star of “Home Improvement” and the “Toy Story” movies is becoming a pitchman for Chevrolet.
General Motors Co. says Tim Allen will be a spokesman for the brand and will star in a series of TV ads for the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze that begin airing on Tuesday.
Allen, 57, is best-known for playing a tool buff in the TV series “Home Improvement.” He was also the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the “Toy Story” trilogy.
The Cruze ads will feature voiceover from Allen and will offer comparisons of the Cruze with competitor models. The Cruze, a compact sedan, is a key vehicle for GM as it aims to compete in the small car segment. That segment is dominated by competitors like the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla.
Woo Awarded Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement
Colleen Barry
VENICE, Italy (AP) – John Woo built his reputation with stylish Hong Kong action thrillers, then moved to Hollywood where he directed such big-budget blockbusters as “Mission Impossible II.”
The director is now preparing for a third phase of his career.
“I would like to be a bridge between the good things of the West and the East, so we can further our mutual knowledge and build a strong friendship,” Woo said Friday.
Woo was awarded a Golden Lion award for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, which recognized the director “as an innovator of the contemporary language of cinema” and for renewing action films by introducing extreme stylization.
Woo, 64, has directed more than 26 films in nearly 30 years, beginning his career in Hong Kong in the 1970s before moving to Hollywood in the 1990s. His U.S. feature debut in 1993 was “Hard Target” starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and his first Hollywood hit was 1995’s “Broken Arrow,” with John Travolta and Christian Slater. “Mission Impossible II,” starring Tom Cruise, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.
Despite his filmmaking successes, Woo said he was shocked to be given a lifetime achievement award.
“I wouldn’t say that I have much contributed to film society, even though I made several good films,” Woo said.
Venice Film Festival director Marco Mueller, an Asian film expert, said Woo’s films are “a perfect union of the China tradition and avant-garde filmmaking.”
“I don’t think we are bestowing an honor. I think it was here waiting for him,” Mueller said.
Woo more recently has returned to Chinese filmmaking, directing the epic period war drama “Red Cliff,” based on a war that took place in China in the 3rd Century.
Woo said it was about time to bring everything he learned over 16 years working in Hollywood, back to China.
“Right now, I am very happy to be making movies in China for various reasons, because we have a very old history and also a popular folklore that is different from what is known in abroad. I would like to work on films in the future that are more Chinese in nature, but without leaving Hollywood behind,” Woo said.
Woo said he chose to make a historic drama like “Red Cliff” to try to help the world learn more about China.
“I have worked a lot abroad, and I find people in general don’t know much about our history. People only know Kung-fu films,” Woo said.
That’s not to say he has left action films behind. He was presenting in Venice a new epic martial arts thriller, “Reign of Assassins,” starring Michelle Yeoh, showing out of competition.
This was Woo’s fourth time in Venice. He was the “godfather” of a section on Asian film in 2004, directed “All Invisible Children,” which showed out of competition in 2006, and was the producer of “Blood Brothers,” which showed in 2007.
German Court Rules Against YouTube Over Copyright
BERLIN (AP) — A German court ruled Friday that Google Inc.’s subsidiary YouTube LLC must pay compensation after users uploaded several videos of performances by singer Sarah Brightman in violation of copyright laws.
The Hamburg state court said the standardized question to users about whether they have the necessary rights to publish material is not enough to relieve YouTube of the legal responsibility for the content, especially because the platform can be used anonymously.
Google is evaluating the 60-page ruling but will appeal the decision, company spokesman Henning Dorstewitz said.
YouTube must not publish those videos any more and provide information to settle the amount of compensation in at least three cases in which Brightman videos were uploaded, it said.
The plaintiff was not identified and a court spokesman could not be reached for comment. The court statement only said the plaintiff has claimed to be the copyright holder for several of Sarah Brightman’s performances.
Venice Film Festival Focuses On Film InnovationColleen Barry
VENICE, Italy (AP) – In film, recession may be the mother of innovation.
The Venice Film Festival opened Wednesday with its share of big-screen bound blockbuster potential, from Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” to Sofia Coppola’s highly anticipated “Somewhere” and Ben Affleck’s sophomore directorial effort, “The Town.”
But director Marco Mueller says that the economic downturn has forced even big name directors to come up with cheaper means of production, giving rise to innovation and an “in-between” budget category – bridging low-budget under a million dollars and mid-range of around ?6 million-?7 million ($7.5 million to $9 million).
“In between there was very little. And now several people rush to occupy that special space,” Mueller told The Associated Press in an interview. “Because it’s also the space where with some local, regional subsidy, some private money, and maybe with a few distributors interested in the project you can get your film off the ground.”
Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, limited after last year’s big-budget bonanza “Baaria,” turned to documentary making this year with a portrait of Italian cinematographer Goffredo Lombardo still in progress, to be shown out of competition.
Vincent Gallo will be at the Lido both as an actor, playing a terror suspect plotting his escape in Jerzy Skolimowski’s “Essential Killing,” and as the director of two films.
“Both films are entirely self-produced. He started with a short film, then he actually realized that using the same mode of production he could dare to look forward to a feature,” Mueller said. The result is “Promises Written in the Water,” which will compete for the Golden Lion.
The film tells a romantic story about a man – a professional assassin – and a woman confronting terminal illness. It was shot without preparation or a traditional script.
And U.S. director Monte Hellman, whose influence has been greater than his popular acclaim, will be showing his movie “Road to Nowhere” in competition. The film is described as a romantic thriller about a filmmaker who becomes involved in a criminal conspiracy.
“Monte made the film he has wanted to make for several years on a shoestring budget with an incredible cast using quite a few important names and all of a sudden we have a film with special effects. Without being a travelogue it does move to a number of countries and it cost less than $2 million,” Mueller said.
Second only to Cannes in terms of prestige, Venice has suffered since the economic downturn of 2008, with many Hollywood producers preferring the cheaper option of taking their movies to the Toronto Film Festival, which overlaps with Venice.
However, Mueller has continued to insist that his festival will accept primarily world premieres – 79 are showing at this year’s festival – and believes that events are moving back in Venice’s favor.
” A lot of people now are counting on a two-step operation where the visibility, the credibility of the film is built in Venice, Venice reveals the immediate aesthetical qualities of the film, or everything that makes this film very exciting. And Toronto reveals the market value of the film.”
The Venice festival opened with an unprecedented triple-header: Golden Lion-winner Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” and Hong Kong director Andrew Lau’s “The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen,” starring Donnie Yen, followed by a special midnight screening of Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete.”
“I can predict that at midnight the atmosphere will still be the atmosphere of a rock concert or a football match,” Mueller said.
Festivities got under way Tuesday evening with a tribute to one of Italy’s most famous cinematic and theatrical actors, Vittorio Gassman, with a free, open-air screening of the 1974 classic “Scent of a Woman” in a Venetian square attended by the Gassman family .
In addition, the Italian edition of Vanity Fair hosted a party in a palace on the Grand Canal for Quentin Tarantino, who heads the jury that will select the winner of the prestigious Golden Lion on Sept. 11. And the industry publication Variety is held a big party where it presented producer Aurelio De Laurentiis with an award.
“America considers the movie business the first business of the country, how to export their taste everywhere,” De Laurentiis said as he accepted the honor. “I’m sad (that) in Italy we have a lot of things but we never use movies to bring outside of our territory our values.”
Film Based on Japanese Novel Debuts in VeniceCollen Barry
VENICE, Italy (AP) – Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung crossed cultural and linguistic borders to direct his latest film, “Norwegian Wood,” based on the cult coming-of-age Japanese novel.
The Oscar-nominated director, who has taken home prizes from both Cannes and Venice, filmed the love story with an entirely Japanese cast.
Tran told reporters Thursday, the day his film is premiering at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, that he didn’t try to make a Japanese film – and in fact sought a set design that would not be completely familiar to Japanese audiences.
“I want the Japanese viewer to have a different take and see their own decor in a different way, that it is somewhat exotic and different in their eyes,” Tran said. He called in a set designer from previous movies who would understand his aims.
“Otherwise this staggered view would not have been possible with just a troupe that was completely Japanese .”
The film, like the book, is set in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Watanabe, played by Kenichi Matsuyama, is a young university student struggling to choose between two women, one the girlfriend of his best friend who committed suicide, and the other self-confident and independent, representing the future.
The novel by Haruki Murakami has won worldwide popularity, and many directors had approached the author to adapt it to film. More than 10 million copies of the book have been sold in Japan alone, with 2.6 million more sold in another 33 languages.
Tran said he didn’t know why he was chosen, but producer Shinji Ogawa said Murakami wanted an Asian director to project the region’s aesthetic.
“Obviously we did meet with Murakami. Not just once,” Tran said. Murakami made many notes on the first screen play, which Tran called “a fairly important document,” but said they were too numerous to elaborate.
“After this exchange of comments and notes, Murakami said, ‘Go with the film you have in your head. What you have to do is make the most beautiful film possible.'”
“Norwegian Wood” is among 22 films, plus a still-to-be announced surprise film, competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 11.
Tran won the Golden Lion in 1995 for “Cyclo,” which tells the hard-life tale of a young rickshaw driver, and his first film, “The Scent of Green Papaya,” took home the Camera d’Or from Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. “Norwegian Wood” is his fifth film.
Tarantino Calls Venice Lineup ‘Cool, Eclectic’VENICE, Italy (AP) – Quentin Tarantino says the Venice Film Festival lineup is “one of the most wildest, cool, eclectic lineups” he’s ever seen.
Tarantino heads the jury that will judge 22 films from 11 countries, plus one surprise film to be announced next week, for the coveted Golden Lion.
The director of “Inglourious Basterds” knows about festival lineups. This isn’t his first jury. In fact, the director confessed to hosting his own private festivals, lining up 15 DVDs and judging himself which was the best, a sort of unofficial Tarantino Film Fest.
He told reporters on Wednesday that he once he ran into director German filmmaker Tom Tykwer and told him: “‘I did a little film festival for myself, and you won. ‘Perfume’ won!'”
The Venice Film Festival opens Wednesday with Darron Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” and ends with the awarding of the Golden Lion Sept. 11.
UT Hits ‘Gone With the Wind’ Dress Donation Target
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Legions of “Gone With the Wind” fans have together donated tens of thousands of dollars to prove they, frankly, do give a you-know-what.
The University of Texas Harry Ransom Center says it has met its $30,000 fundraising goal to pay for restoring five of Scarlett O’Hara’s gowns from the multiple Oscar-winning Civil War drama.
Ransom Center officials announced Tuesday that contributions came from more than 600 people in 44 states and 13 countries.
The gowns worn by actress Vivien Leigh in the 1939 film include a green curtain dress.
The Ransom Center is planning an exhibit to mark the movie’s 75th anniversary in 2014. Once restored, the dresses may be loaned to other museums.
House of Blues Studio D moving to NashvilleMEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Memphis’ House of Blues Studio D, where artists including Isaac Hayes and Three 6 Mafia have recorded, is moving to Nashville.
The Studio D building was called Sounds of Memphis when it was built in the late 1960s by MGM and Memphis label owner Gene Lucchesi.
In 1986, Gary Belz bought the building and teamed with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh to expand it, attracting artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Matchbox 20 and Travis Tritt.
Later, Belz rebranded the studio under the House of Blues entertainment umbrella. Despite attracting high-profile music acts such as Justin Timberlake and Erykah Badu, Studio D has seen its business drop.
So Belz decided to move the entire structure to his Nashville House of Blues complex, where he needed more recording rooms.
Bollywood Comes to Holy Land for Film About JesusAisha Mohammed
JERUSALEM (AP) – The first Bollywood movie about the childhood of Jesus will be shot in the Holy Land in the coming months, Indian filmmakers said Tuesday.
Director Singeetham Srinivasa Rao said his production will be narrated in four languages and feature an all-Indian cast of child actors and seven devotional songs.
Producer Konda Krishnam Raju told a news conference that the film focuses on the childhood of Jesus, a contrast with other movies that depict the later years. “This is the first presentation of this type in Bollywood history,” he said.
While the movie has special significance for Christians, it is “intended for a global audience,” Rao said.
Christians in India number 24 million, or about 2.3 percent of the country’s population.
Religious Indian films have traditionally used child actors to highlight the “innocence, sanctity and divinity” of religious figures, the director said. Rao’s film will follow that tradition, using the child actors to depict adult characters as well as children.
American makeup artist Christien Tinsley will use special makeup effects to make the actors appear older. The filmmakers said they chose him because of his work with The Passion of the Christ, which earned him an Academy Award nomination.
That movie, directed by Mel Gibson, won critical acclaim but also evoked charges of anti-Jewish bias and legitimizing anti-Semitism.
At $30 million, the filmmakers say, the film about Jesus will be one of India’s highest budget movies. An average Indian movie costs about $500,000.
Aditya Productions plans to release the movie next year in English and three Indian languages – Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam. South Indian star Pawan Kalyan will narrate the Telugu and Malayalam versions, while other well known actors will narrate the English and Hindi versions, the filmmakers said.
Extra Critically Injured on ‘Transformers 3’ SetMAYWOOD, Ill. (AP) – Indiana State Police say a movie extra has been critically injured on the production set of “Transformers 3.”
Spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Wojas said Thursday that Gabriella Cedillo is in critical condition, according to a family member.
Authorities say the “Transformers 3” crew was filming a stunt late Wednesday in Hammond, Ind., when an object flew through the windshield of the vehicle that 24-year-old Cedillo was inside and hit her.
She was taken to Loyola Medical Center in the Chicago suburb of Maywood.
Police say Cedillo was an extra, not a stunt professional.
A hospital official says she has no information about Cedillo.
‘Crocodile Dundee’ Says He Can’t Afford Back Taxes
Tanalee Smith
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) – Paul Hogan, star of the “Crocodile Dundee” movie trilogy, said Tuesday he cannot afford to pay even 10 percent of what the Australian Tax Office says he owes in back taxes.
Hogan’s interview with the television program “A Current Affair” was his first public comment since the actor was barred earlier this month from leaving Australia until he settles a multimillion dollar tax bill.
Hogan told the news program the tax office was on a witch hunt for a high-profile case, and he should not be classed a flight risk.
“I actually came out here at the request of the Australian Crime Commission at my own time and expense to assist them with their inquires,” he said in the interview. “If I was a tax evader, which I’m not, I must be the dumbest one in the world, because they gave me five years notice that they have seized every piece of paper that my tax advisers and lawyers and accountants have ever had. I kept coming back h ere.”
Australian tax and crime investigators have fought Hogan in a five-year legal wrangle in Australian and U.S. courts to investigate evidence he used offshore bank accounts to conceal earnings since his low-budget “Crocodile Dundee” movie became an international hit in 1986.
Tax authorities last month claimed Hogan owed tax on 38 million Australian dollars ($34 million) in allegedly undisclosed income. The exact tax bill has not been disclosed.
Hogan has denied any wrongdoing and disputes the tax bill. He has never been charged with tax evasion.
He said in the interview he is not as rich as people believe. “I can’t pay 10 percent of what they’re asking,” he said.
Hogan said he could not disclose the exact bill for legal reasons.
“I know they’re absolutely desperate to nail some high-profile character with money to justify the expense to the taxpayer,” he said of the tax office.
The 70-year-old actor, who lives in Los Angeles and first gained a public profile in the United States with his cheerful offer to “slip an extra shrimp on the barbie” in Australian tourism TV ads in the mid 1980s, arrived in Sydney earlier this month to attend the funeral of his mother.
Hogan was served with an Australian Taxation Office order on Aug. 20 that prevents him from leaving Australia until he settles the tax bill, lawyer Andrew Robinson said.
