The new movie “Doubt,” starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams, premiered last night in New York City. In the big screen version John Patrick Shanley’s play, Doubt, Streep stars as Sister Aloysius, a nun running the church’s private school with a firm hand in the 1960s. She’s not a believer in the ‘boys will be boys’ way of thinking which puts her at odds with the more relaxed and friendly Father Brendan Flynn (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), and Amy Adams finds herself caught in the middle of these two conflicting forces. Photos below show Hoffman, Adams, and Streep at the New York premiere at the Paris Theater on December 7.
Hear more from the lead actors here, here, and here! And watch the trailer below:
Natalie Portman has been spotted filming her new movie, “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits” here in New York. Below is a photo of her and Charlie Tahan shooting a scene at Wollman Skating Rink in late November. The film is a “dramedy” (drama/comedy) about woman who must come to grips with the loss of her infant daughter while raising a five-year-old stepson and saving a failing marriage, based on the bestseller by Ayelet Waldman. Portman reportedly signed on for this project after the original lead, Jennifer Lopez, abruptly left the project. What a completely different movie that would’ve been…
Last week, the nominees for the 2009 Spirit Awards were announced. The Spirit Awards, meant to be the indie version of the Oscars, has caused a bit of an uproar with the recently changed rules of eligibility. Now, the qualifying criteria includes a budget below twenty million dollars. That is a surprisingly high budget, and more or less guarantees a lot of overlap with Oscar nominees. Such as: two of the five best-picture nominees are “Rachel Getting Married” and “The Wrestler”; “Synecdoche, New York” is a nominee for best first feature and best screenplay; “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Milk,” and “Rachel” were nominated for their screenplays, too; and among the nominated actors and actresses are Anne Hathaway, Javier Bardem, and Sean Penn.
Synecdoche, New York was nominated for a 2009 Spirit Award.
Meanwhile, worthy independent films such as “Frownland” and “Nights and Weekends” have been overlooked in favor of bigger budgeted films. The independent filmmaking spirit is not all about dollars, but the amount of overlap between the Oscars and the Spirit Awards raises the question–how do we define an independent film now?
The 2009 Spirit Awards will be presented February 21, 2009. Find out more about them here.
What’s next for the Twilight starlet? Besides the recently greenlit sequel, Stewart, has signed on for the upcoming film “The Runaways,” about the famous all-girl rock band. She is slated to play Joan Jett, but there is no word so far on who will play Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Sandy West, etc.
Just who were The Runaways?
At a time when many female acts were crooning folk ballads, the teenage Runaways’ unabashedly raunchy songs about sex, drinking and hanging out with the wrong type of guy (”You Drive Me Wild,” “Is It Day or Night,” “Thunder”) didn’t sit well with middle America but clearly made an impression on several later generations of singers.
Though the group fell apart within a few years, its pioneering spirit and us-against-the-world story is ripe for a big-screen biopic — especially one helmed and written by lauded video director Floria Sigismondi, who has worked on clips for everyone, including Marilyn Manson, Christina Aguilera, Sheryl Crow, Fiona Apple, and the White Stripes.
Netflix members can have thousands of movies and TV episodes instantly streamed to the TV via the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system when the New Xbox Experience premieres nationwide tomorrow. The Xbox 360 is the only game and entertainment console that lets users instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix to the TV. There is no additional monthly fee for Netflix members who are also Xbox LIVE Gold members.
Netflix members simply add movies and TV episodes from a growing library of more than 12,000 choices to their instant Queues at the Netflix Web site. Those choices are automatically displayed on the TV screen via the Xbox 360 and, once selected, will begin playing in as little as 30 seconds.
“This is an important and exciting moment for Netflix and Xbox,” said Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Kilgore. “We believe the New Xbox Experience — with thousands of choices available to be streamed instantly from Netflix as one of its key enhancements — offers consumers a great at-home entertainment option and provides terrific value as a holiday gift idea.”
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Netflix also said it is taking the first step in instantly streaming movies and TV episodes in high definition with the introduction of approximately 300 HD choices that will play with standard definition audio via the Xbox 360. The company said it intends to increase the number of HD choices available and will eventually add multi-channel audio. Classic, adventure, musical, foreign and comedy movies now available to watch instantly in high definition include “La Vie en Rose,” “Flawless” and “Heroes.”
All Netflix members can rent from over 100,000 titles on DVD. They can instantly watch movies and TV episodes from a growing library of choices on their PCs and Intel-based Macintosh computers, as well as on their TVs via one of the Internet connected Netflix ready devices sold by Netflix partners.
A documentary, more than two years in the making, about President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign is gathering significant interest from international distributors just days after being picked up in the United States by HBO. A team of directors and editors backed by the actor Edward Norton is furiously editing the untitled project.
Given the historic nature of Mr. Obama’s victory and worldwide interest in the presidential race, the film is drawing attention from the BBC and other foreign broadcasters. Since the HBO acquisition was announced, “we’ve had an enormous number of incoming calls from territories all over the world,” said Andrew Hurwitz, an entertainment lawyer who is representing the film along with the talent agency Endeavor.
Behind-the-scenes snapshots of campaigns have become a documentary staple, with “The War Room,” about President Bill Clinton’s 1992 run, and “Journeys With George,” about President Bush’s 2000 race, being two recent examples. The film about Mr. Obama’s 21-month campaign may prove to be an especially big draw overseas.
“Of course an Obama film interests us very much,” said Nick Fraser, editor for the BBC’s “Storyville” series of documentaries.
What’s next for the Twilight starlet? Besides the recently greenlit sequel, Stewart, has signed on for the upcoming film “The Runaways,” about the famous all-girl rock band. She is slated to play Joan Jett, but there is no word so far on who will play Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Sandy West, etc.
