The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| ‘The Book of Mormon’ scoops Tony Awards Posted: 12 Jun 2011 07:01 PM PDT NEW YORK, June 13 — Irreverent musical "The Book of Mormon," an affectionate spoof about Mormons from the creators of the TV show, "South Park," scooped the major honours at the Tony Awards held yesterday, winning nine awards. The hit show about two young present-day Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda won some of the night's top awards including best musical, original score, best book, best direction and best actress in a featured role in a musical at the awards for Broadway's best musicals and plays. "We did this because we all secretly wanted to have a big, happy Mormon family and now we do," said co-creator Trey Parker on stage, before jokingly thanking their "co-writer," the late Joseph Smith Jr, who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, saying, "You did it Joseph, you got the Tony!"  Actor Hugh Jackman performs with Harris (right) during the 65th annual Tony Awards ceremony in New York on June 12, 2011. — Reuters pic Actress Frances McDormand won best actress in a leading role in a play for her turn as a tough single mother in the play, "Good People," and in accepting her first Tony predicted her current role would become "an American classic," before adding emphatically, "I love my job." Mark Rylance beat out Al Pacino to win the top acting award in a play for his turn in "Jerusalem," and rather than giving a traditional speech, recited an excerpt from an obscure Midwestern poet — as he did when he won a Tony in 2008. The awards were handed out at New York's Beacon Theatre in a live televised event hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris. Other major winners included best play revival winner, "The Normal Heart," a semi-autobiographical play that focuses on the AIDS crisis, which premiered in 1985. It won three awards, including for actors Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey. In accepting her Tony, Barkin, 57, said, "it's the proudest moment in my career. It has transformed me, not just as an actor but as a human being," while Hickey backstage called the revival "extraordinary" that "so many young, gay people and so many young, straight people are coming to see this play." Its playwright Larry Kramer said on stage, "I could not have written it had not so many of us so needlessly died." A revival of the musical, "Anything Goes," won three awards, led by best actress in a musical winner Sutton Foster, while John Larroquette won best featured role in a musical for "How to Success in Business Without Really Trying." But it was "The Book of Mormon" that dominated the night, winning nine of 14 nominations but falling short of beating the record of the Mel Brooks musical comedy, "The Producers," which won 12 Tony Awards after it opened in 2001. "The Book of Mormon" also won for best lighting, scenery and sound design and orchestrations. Nikki M. James, who won a Tony for her role as a member of an African village, said backstage, "I knew when I read the script this was going to get a lot of attention." The four Tony Awards won by Parker for "The Book of Mormon" — which he co-created with Matt Stone from "South Park" and composer Robert Lopez — tied the record for the most Tony awards in one night set by Joshua Logan for the original 1949 production of "South Pacific." "I want to thank the 'South Park' fans. If it weren't for you guys, we wouldn't be here," Parker said on stage in sharing the award for best direction with Casey Nicholaw. But the show's two lead actors lost the best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical to Norbert Leo Butz, who called his FBI agent role modelled on his own father in "Catch Me If You Can" his greatest role but "not easy." The short-lived musical "The Scottsboro Boys" was shut out of the awards after receiving 12 nominations, as was "The Merchant of Venice" which starred Pacino. The show featured sprinklings of jokes about the current beleaguered and injury-prone US$65 million (RM195 million) musical "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark," which was panned by critics in previews before being revamped with its official opening this week. It missed the deadline for this year's awards. Rock star Bono, who wrote the show's music along with his bandmate, The Edge, joked on stage: "We used to be famous for being in U2." — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| ‘Super 8’ defies sceptics with big box-office debut Posted: 12 Jun 2011 05:30 PM PDT LOS ANGELES, June 13 — To Hollywood's great surprise, moviegoers will show up en masse for the rare summer film that features real actors, an original story and some genuine thrills. The new sci-fi mystery "Super 8" easily claimed the top spot at the weekend box office in North America after selling about US$38 million (RM114 million) worth of tickets, despite concerns about a marketing campaign that kept some key elements under wraps. Its distributor, Paramount Pictures, said yesterday the tally includes a US$1 million contribution from a limited number of sneak-peak previews on Thursday, a day before the film opened in wide release across the United States and Canada.  Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw pose at the premiere of 'Super 8' in Los Angeles on June 8, 2011. — Reuters pic In a summer of familiar sequels and superheroes, "Super 8" is the first original, live-action non-sequel to take the No. 1 slot in almost three months. The thriller "Limitless" led the field during the weekend of March 18-20. Last weekend's champion, "X-Men: First Class," the fifth entry in the Marvel comic book series, slipped to No. 2 with US$25 million. It was followed by "The Hangover, Part II" with US$18.5 million in its third weekend. The "X-Men" sequel remained the top choice overseas with sales of US$42.2 million. The only other big new film in North America bombed. The kids movie "Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer" opened at No. 7 with just US$6.3 million, coming in at the low end of expectations in the US$6 million to US$10 million range. The advance buzz for "Super 8" was hardly deafening, even with the A-list imprimatur of J.J. Abrams as writer/director and Steven Spielberg as a producer. Abrams convinced sceptical Paramount executives to run a campaign that retained a sense of old-fashioned mystery, earning scorn from industry pundits as surveys showed little enthusiasm among prospective moviegoers. The plot centres on a group of kids in a small Ohio town who spend the summer of 1979 making a home movie using the 8mm film format that was popular back then and from which the film gets its title. They witness a train crash, which triggers a series of inexplicable events and disappearances. The trailer deliberately did not show the alien creature around which the film revolves. As industry pundits began to second-guess that strategy, Paramount last week announced the film would open a day ahead of schedule on Thursday in a sneak-preview promotion with Twitter. A glimpse of the creature was also sent online. The last-minute fix, along with overwhelmingly positive reviews, seemed to do the trick. The film cost a relatively modest US$50 million to make, according to Paramount. In an age where movie trailers routinely act like mini-synopses, Paramount walked "a fine line" between making the movie interesting, but not wanting to give away too much information, said Don Harris, executive vice-president of domestic distribution at the Viacom Inc unit. With a hefty 71 per cent of the audience aged over 25 — despite a cast of youngsters — Harris was confident the film would pull in younger viewers as the summer progresses. "Super 8" also earned US$6.7 million from nine foreign markets, led by US$2.7 million in Australia where it trailed the "Hangover" and "X-Men" sequels. Elsewhere, "Judy Moody" is the latest in a string of underperforming literary adaptations aimed at young girls, including last summer's Beverly Cleary adaptation "Ramona and Beezus" and a 2007 adaptation of the Nancy Drew books. It was financed for nearly US$20 million by Sarah Siegel-Magness and her husband Gary Magness, the couple who backed the Oscar-winning movie "Precious." Closely held studio Relativity Media distributed the movie for a fee. "X-Men: First Class" has earned US$99 million after two weekends, dropping a relatively slight 55 per cent from its opening round. Its foreign total stands at US$124 million from about 66 markets. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. "The Hangover: Part II" raced to US$217 million in North America and an additional US$216 million in 55 markets. The sequel was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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