The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Oscar show promises music, megastars and James Bond Posted: 23 Feb 2013 06:02 AM PST  Jennifer Hudson will be among the performers on Oscars night. — Reuters pic Producers of the three-hour Oscar telecast at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre are promising a faster-paced show and more face time with first-time host Seth MacFarlane, while honoring the best films not just of 2012 but also of decades past. "We have more performances on that stage than we can ever remember there being in the past. And we are not trotting people out just to sing and dance. Every single thing you see on that stage will be related to movies," said Craig Zadan, who is producing the Oscar telecast for the first time with Neil Meron. "We have devised ways that we are hoping will make the pacing faster ... That doesn't mean we are not going to give as much weight to honoring the winners, but there has been a lot of dead space in the show (in the past)," Zadan told Reuters. Steven Spielberg's presidential movie "Lincoln" heads into Sunday's ceremony with a leading 12 nominations, followed by Ang Lee's shipwreck tale "Life of Pi" with 11, French Revolutionary musical "Les Miserables" and romantic comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" with eight apiece, and Iran hostage drama "Argo" with seven. All five are competing for Best Picture, the top prize, in a tight race that has narrowed in recent weeks to "Lincoln" or "Argo" and will be the last to be announced on Sunday night. James Bond and musicals Before then, Zadan and Meron have assembled an array of performers and presenters that almost outshine the actors, actresses, directors and screenwriters who have been waiting since early January to see if they will go home with a golden Oscar. They include A-listers Barbra Streisand, Jack Nicholson, Jane Fonda, John Travolta and Jennifer Aniston, along with younger stars Daniel Radcliffe, Kristen Stewart and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. But don't count on seeing all six surviving James Bond actors on stage for the planned special 50th anniversary tribute to the British secret agent's illustrious movie career. "We have a tribute to James Bond which is really exciting and thrilling, but it never included the concept of six guys coming out and standing there awkwardly on the stage," Zadan said, quashing speculation that Daniel Craig, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Sean Connery and George Lazenby would unite on Sunday. The nominations for "Les Miserables," where Anne Hathaway is tipped to win Best Supporting Actress, has opened the door to a celebration of the last decade of musicals. The tribute will feature Hathaway, her Oscar-nominated co-star Hugh Jackman, as well as "Dreamgirls" and "Chicago" Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Catherine Zeta-Jones. MacFarlane, the creator of provocative animated TV series "Family Guy," will also be showing off his vocal skills, and spending more time on stage than has been traditional for Oscar hosts. "What happens a lot in the past is that the host comes on, talks for a lot, and then disappears for half an hour. We are not doing that. We are having Seth be there a lot, out there introducing things, and that allows for more pacing and comedy," said Zadan. But there will be plenty of room for the unpredictable - and that's not even counting possible upsets when the winners' envelopes are unsealed. "We love the fact that people don't quite know what they're going to get with Seth as a host," said Meron. "We live for the moments that happen on stage. Those are some of the great Oscar moments of the past." The Oscar winners are chosen by some 5,800 movie industry professionals who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The Academy Awards ceremony, in its 85th year, will be broadcast live on ABC television in the United States, and to more than 225 other nations. — Reuters |
| ‘Amour’ triumphs at French Cesars Posted: 23 Feb 2013 01:46 AM PST  Austrian director Michael Haneke. — Reuters pic In addition to best film, "Amour" took best director and best script for Austrian Haneke and its French stars Jean-Louis Trintignant and 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva picked up best actor and actress. The drama won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year and a Golden Globe for best foreign language film in January. It has five nominations in Sunday's Oscars including best actress and best film. A two-time Oscar winner for the 1990 hit "Dances with Wolves", Costner, 58, meanwhile, was visibly moved by the standing ovation he received as he accepted his honorary Cesar. As well as "Dances with Wolves" for which he won best picture and best director Oscars, Costner has starred in a string of box office successes including "Field of Dreams", "The Untouchables" and "The Bodyguard" with the late Whitney Houston. "I love the process that goes into making films... they remind us of what it means to be a hero, that heroes don't always win," he told a star-studded audience at the ceremony in Paris. Best foreign film went to Ben Affleck's "Argo". Affleck, who directed and starred in the film, was not at the ceremony. Since it beat 21 other movies to claim the top prize at Cannes, Haneke's French language "Amour" has gone from strength to strength. Haneke, 70, has established himself in recent years as one of the most important film directors in Europe. His films include "The Piano Teacher", "Cache" and "Funny Games." "Amour" had been in competition at the Cesars with Noemie Lvovsky's "Camille Rewinds" ("Camille Redouble") about a woman who travels back in time to relive her 1980s schooldays. "Camille", the surprise hit of 2012 began with 13 nominations compared to 10 for "Amour" but finished the evening empty-handed. Despite its difficult subject, "Amour" has been both a critical and box office success. Over 680,000 people have been to see it in France, while the overseas audience figure stands at 1.7 million. It has been shown or is to be shown in some 50 countries worldwide. On Sunday it will hope to pick up more accolades with nominations in the five categories of best actress, best director, best script, best film and best foreign language film. Riva, who celebrates her 86th birthday on the same day, has already made history by becoming the oldest woman to be nominated in the best actress category. Other contenders at Friday's Cesars had included Benoit Jacquot's "Farewell, My Queen" ("Les Adieux a la Reine"), a fictional account of the last days of Marie Antoinette, with 10 nominations. Jacques Audiard's "Rust and Bone" also had nine nominations including best actress for Marion Cotillard. Other nominees in the best film category included the thriller "In the House" ("Dans la Maison") in which Francois Ozon explores the perils of a teacher getting too close to one of his students; the comedy "What's in a Name?" ("Prenom") by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere about a group of 40-something friends' dinner party disaster; and Leos Carax's fantasy drama "Holy Motors" about a man living parallel lives. — AFP-Relaxnews |
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