As technology becomes ever more incorporated into our daily lives, are we becoming ever more solitary -- and lonely?
In the Creator's Project documentary "Her: Love in the Modern Age," Lance Bangs, friend and collaborator of Spike Jonze, documented the personal and emotional reactions of various musicians, writers, directors and artists who had recently seen the film "Her," starring Joaquin Phoenix.
Bangs asked them the complex question, "What does love look like in the modern world?" Their responses are genuine and relatable, as they explore topics of "real" emotion, love, relationships, breakups and dealing with change in others and ourselves.
"We fall in love with one version of someone, and we expect them to stay that way, but they never do ... I suppose we're supposed to learn to really embrace the unknown, to embrace evolution, to really flow with it like a living organism," says actress Olivia Wilde.
Of technology and its effects on human interaction, author of "Kasher in the Rye," Moshe Kasher says, "I remember when it was exciting to sit around in a chatroom, and chat with a stranger, and meet her at a Denny's in the suburbs and not f--k her, you know, and that would be like the most exciting thing of all time -- a mind-boggling concept. And so you go meet a stranger, and then that was unfulfilling ultimately. And now you have Tinder, you know, where sex has become so profoundly technologically transactional."
What do you think the future holds for love and relationships? Let us know in the comments below.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Lyric Opera of Chicago announced it will stage Richard Wagner's famed "Ring" cycle.
The opera said Friday that its new production of the four operas will be presented one opera at a time for four consecutive seasons. It will start during the 2016-2017 season. The opera will perform all four operas three times in April 2020. "Der Ring des Nibelungen" will be conducted by Lyric Opera music director Andrew Davis. Soprano Christine Goerke will play the leading role of Brunnhilde. She also is playing the role in "Ring" cycles at the Houston Grand Opera and Metropolitan Opera.
"You have to look in the mirror too," Weinstein told Morgan when the host brought up violent films that TWC has released, including Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django Unchained." "I have to choose movies that aren't violent, or as violent as they used to be. For me, personally, I can't continue to do that. The change starts here."
Weinstein went on to say that he "can't make one movie and say this is what I want for my kids, and then go out and be a hypocrite." He cited "Lone Survivor" as an example of a violent movie that he would produce, however, noting that it was "a tribute to the United States Special Forces."
"I'm not going to make some crazy action movie just to blow up people and exploit people and make some crazy action movie," he said.
Tarantino likely has several months left to hammer out the shooting script so nothing gets finalized until then. At that point, Harvey Weinstein gets involved in funding it, most likely with a partner for foreign territories.
"I think it's disrespectful to their memory, actually ... to talk about movies,” Tarantino said to NPR host Terry Gross during an interview in January of 2013 when asked about the connection between gun violence and movies. “Obviously, the issue is gun control and mental health. [...] I've been asked this question for 20 years -- about the effects of violence in movies related to violence in real life. My answer is the same 20 years ago. It hasn't changed one iota. Obviously, I don't think one has to do with the other."
Live music is a staple of New Orleans, on dimly lit street corners, in world-renowned jazz clubs and pretty much anywhere and everywhere in between. But lawmakers on the city council are now seeking to tone down the tradition with a new noise ordinance that critics have claimed would threaten both the rich musical culture of the city, as well as the livelihoods of its thousands of musicians and the venues that host them.
On Friday, a large group of the measure's opponents, including scores of musicians armed with their instruments, headed to city hall to make themselves heard, loud and clear. While the controversial noise ordinance had been been tabled the night before and the issue had been removed from the day's agenda, the Music and Culture Coalition of New Orleans -- a group of musicians, local live music venue owners and their advocates -- gathered at a plaza outside city hall, before entering the building with the help of a councilwoman.
An updated version of the sound ordinance is currently in the works, and is expected to be debated later this month. For more on the issue, read The New Orleans Advocate's story.
Ellen DeGeneres had 7-year-old Elias Phoenix on her show Friday, and the exchange between them is an absolute overload of cuteness and hilarity.
Watch the video above for a priceless conversation between Elias and Ellen, followed by his stunning piano performance. We honestly can't decide which part we love more.
And it seems like Ellen is just as enamored as we are. After taping the episode, she tweeted:
Just finished taping 1 of the most memorable interviews I've ever done, with a 7-yr-old. Airs tomorrow. You have to see it to believe it.
Warner Bros. chose the Friday before a holiday weekend to announce that Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" sequel will not come out on July 17, 2015 as had been previously planned. Instead, the Superman versus Batman film, which stars Henry Cavill as the Man of Steel and Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader, will now arrive in theaters on May 6, 2016. The new date puts the DC Comics adaptation in direct competition with an untitled Marvel film that Disney had already slotted in for that calendar position.
"We share the fans' excitement to see DC Comics’ most popular figures, Superman and Batman, together on the big screen for the first time, which will now be arriving in theaters in May 2016," Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution said in a press release.
The sentiment was echoed by Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of international distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures.
"We know that there is already great anticipation building for the next Super Hero [sic] film from Zack Snyder, and we are equally eager to see what he has in store for Superman and Batman as they share the big screen for the first time ever," she said in the statement.
As THR writer Borys Kit noted on Twitter, the first weekend in May has traditionally been a Marvel stronghold. Indeed every "Iron Man" film, "Marvel's The Avengers" and Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" all opened during that frame. (This year, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" is set for May 2.) In addition to the untitled Marvel film currently slotted for May 6, 2016, Marvel also has "X-Men: Apocalypse" set for May 27, 2016. (The "X-Men" films, of course, are released by Twentieth Century Fox, while the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, which includes the untitled feature, are Disney properties.)
By shifting the Batman vs. Superman film off its July 17, 2015 date, Warner Bros. keeps Snyder's project away from "Marvel's The Avengers: Age of Ultron," which is set for release on May 1, 2015.
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Associated Press reporters at the Sundance Film Festival share what's in their notebooks:
ANOTHER SOMALIAN PIRATE DRAMA: Filmmakers behind "Fishing Without Nets" say there's room for another Somali pirate movie in the wake of Oscar-nominated "Captain Phillips" — this time told from the perspective of the pirates. Shot in Kenya using Somali actors speaking their native language, the subtitled drama premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday night. It tracks a fisherman who resorts to piracy in order to feed his family and finds himself — at least initially — successful in hijacking a French oil tanker and taking hostages.
Director Cutter Hodierne said he became fascinated with the subject reading news articles when modern piracy was at its peak in 2008 and 2009.
"There's so many angles to this but what I care about is ... why would they do that," Hodierne told the premiere audience.
He traveled to Kenya to meet with Somalis and developed a short film by the same title that won the top jury prize at Sundance two years ago — when the Tom Hanks-starring "Phillips" was already in development at Sony.
Media company VICE financed his feature, which expanded on the short's storyline with the lead pirate bonding with one of the hostages. Hodierne set up individual scenes for his actors, but then let them come up with dialogue. He said he didn't know what was actually said until he had translators view his footage back in New York.
And as for "Captain Phillips," mentioned in the first two questions from audience members after the premiere: "The fact that there's several films that tackle different angles I think is just a sign of how meaty the material is. You could probably make six or seven films about (modern piracy)," Hodierne said.
— Ryan Pearson, AP Entertainment Writer (Twitter: @ryanwrd)
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FITNESS NEVER STOPS: Devotees of the spin phenomenon Soul Cycle are known to be particularly obsessive about the classes. So it's no surprise that despite a packed schedule of movies and other events, Soul Cycle had a near packed house as it set up shop at the Sundance Film Festival.
Soul Cycle, with locations in New York City and Los Angeles, shipped its signature bikes to Park City for its first pop-up studio. There were just a few empty seats at its first class on Friday, as people shed parkas for spandex as they participated in one of the intense workout sessions.
"It's a signature 45 minute classes . Cycling, hills, the distance, weights on a bike," Vicki Land, Soul Cycle's rep, said at the first class offered on Friday.
Land said Soul Cycle decided to offer classes during the busy festival because they kept hearing that there was "nothing to do" in terms of exercise (though there is plenty of skiing or snowboarding for winter sports enthusiasts).
Land admits one drawback: At the pop-up studio, there are no showers to get clean again after such an intense workout. But, she had a ready solution for other reasons not to go that some may offer: They provide workout clothes, sneakers, and a bag to put dirty clothes in. Healthy veggie and fruit juices were being served afterward, courtesy of the kitchen appliance maker Bella.
"There's no excuse," Land said.
Soul Cycle's studio will be running classes throughout the weekend.
— Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP Entertainment Writer (Twitter: @nekesamumbi)
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DIRECT FRM SIN CITY: Mr. Las Vegas has arrived at the Sundance Film Festival .
Wayne Newton hit the Sundance strip on Friday. It was the entertainer's first time at the film festival, though Las Vegas is just a car ride away from Park City.
"In all the years I've been so close, but I was never able to get here because I was always working.," he said as he made the rounds at the Eddie Bauer Adventure House, which offered rock climbing as well as clothes for celebs.
Newton said he came to the festival to see Rory Kennedy's documentary "Last Days of Vietnam," but as of that afternoon, hadn't seen anything — at least not on film.
"I've been watching people put on their skis and then get in a gurney and head to the hospital," he joked.
— Nekesa Mumbi Moody, AP Entertainment Writer (Twitter: @nekesamumbi)
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BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT: The red carpets at the Sundance Film Festival are surprisingly quick compared to premieres in New York and Los Angeles. The talent arrives, poses quickly for photos and then moves down the interview line to talk to the press. The whole thing is done in usually half the time that it takes in the entertainment capitals. One reason for the speed and efficiency is because of the packed schedule with screenings after screenings at each location, there's quick turnover.
June Calypso is a London-based photographer with a knack for self-portraiture and exploring the constraints of feminine beauty. You might know her better as her alter ego, Joyce, a character she takes on in her series "Joyce I & II." Dressed in stereotypically womanly costumes -- while adopting the roles of receptionist, housewife and cake topper -- Joyce shows the dark side of female perfection.
Calypso's project is both beautifully bizarre and outright terrifying, as the various "Joyce" personalities stare blankly into the camera, breaking down our perceptions of beauty standards without so much as a blink. Joyce mans a front desk, hocks age-defying products and wears an electronic mask, all while demanding the full attention of the viewer. Joyce appears mere moments away from rejecting each role, a combination of defiance, exhaustion, indifference and disappointment piercing through her gaze.
Think Cindy Sherman with a bit more of Barbara Kruger's direct, in-your-face sentiment (sans the text of course).
"I draw upon personal experience to perform critical studies into modern rituals of beauty and seduction," Calypso writes on her website. "We find Joyce alone, consumed by artifice –- trapped inside pastel-colored encounters with beauty masks, cream cakes and polyester negligee -- her glazed appearance acting as a mirror to the exhaustion felt whilst bearing the dead weight of constructed femininity."
An artist based in Long Island, N.Y., Rosenthal has become something of an online sensation, thanks to his jaw-dropping wood sculptures depicting objects one typically associates with being flimsy: newspapers, baseball cards and, perhaps most famously of all, money.
This week, a sculpture created by Rosenthal in 2011 of a cardboard box chock-full of cash has goneviral. "I had to pick my jaw up from the floor after I saw what this woodworker did," one stunned Twitter user wrote after seeing photographs of Rosenthal's incredible creation.
Scroll down to see it the evolution of the sculpture -- from a block of wood to a finished product so real we want to reach out and grab it.
Nothing quite compares to the power of a photograph to communicate the goings on in the world, captured in the thick of things. Ranging from the serious to the silly, these photos offer peeks into various events around the world this week.
1. A male peacock displays its feathers at the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka on January 15, 2014.
Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images
2. Lightning flashes over Rio's Christ the Redeemer statue on January 14, 2014.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
3. In Ukraine, an Orthodox priest holds a cross in front of riot policemen standing guard in front of the parliament's building in Kiev on January 14, 2014.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images
4. A Palestinian high school student jumps through a fiery hoop during a graduation ceremony in Gaza City, demonstrating skills learned in a Hamas-run military training program on January 14, 2014.
AP Photo/Hatem Moussa
5. Afghan shepherd children walk with their sheep past a canal on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Nangarhar province on January 15, 2014.
Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images
6. In Poland, rider Kuba Przygonski powers his KTM during the Stage 11 of the Dakar 2014 between Antofagasta and El Salvador on January 16, 2014.
Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)
7. Children in Malaysia compete for a prize by climbing a greasy pole, called Panjat Pinang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur on January 14, 2014.
Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images
8.Turkish shepherds enjoy bathing in the healing 35°C water in the Budakli village of Bitlis on January 16, 2014.
Sener Toktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
9. The tower of New York's World Trade Center rises through a blanket of fog on January 15, 2014. New Jersey is visible at top right.
AP Photo/Girish Tewani
10. In Indonesia, people walk during an ash fall following the eruption of Mount Sinabung on January 15, 2014.
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Director Lynn Shelton has a great idea for how to market her new film, "Laggies": put video of Keira Knightley dancing as a sign-spinner on YouTube.
Knightley demonstrates some sweet moves and deft sign-spinning skills in one of the opening scenes of the film, which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival. The actress plays Megan, a 28-year-old who feels directionless despite her graduate degree and stable, 12-year relationship. While her friends pursue careers, marriages and babies, Megan stands in front of her dad's tax office, dancing around with a sign that says "tax advice" in an attempt to drum up business.
"It makes me happy every time I see it," Shelton said, adding that she's sure video of Knightley's routine would "go viral" online.
When Megan's boyfriend proposes, she panics. She befriends a teenage girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) and hides out at her house, where she's intrigued by the girl's single dad (Sam Rockwell).
Shelton, who has had three previous films at Sundance, said the cast was a dream. She said she called the best possible people for the role, and when they all said yes, it was "freaking awesome."
Knightley joked that the three stars had no chemistry.
"We all hated each other," she said. "So it was really, really good acting."
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at www.twitter.com/APSandy .
Not counting last Sunday's Golden Globe Awards, the last time we saw Aaron Paul he drove off into who knows where as Jesse Pinkman on the last episode of "Breaking Bad." Now, for Paul, comes the difficult part: still embracing the character that made him famous, but moving on as an actor to something different.
"Hellion" -- which premiered here at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday afternoon -- is certainly different for those who know Paul best as Pinkman. Paul plays Hollis, a widower alcoholic who loves his two young sons, but doesn't have the wherewithal nor time to monitor their every move. That leads his oldest son, Jacob (Josh Wiggins), into many run-ins with the law -- which threatens to tear what's left of this family apart.
When you meet Aaron Paul in person, he's pretty much exactly what you'd hope him to be: very enthusiastic and very blunt, but still in a charming, boyish way. We met off Park City's Main Street to discuss life after Jesse Pinkman -- Paul has a plethora of upcoming projects -- and his now-famous appearance on "The Price is Right."
I was just looking at your IMDb page and realized you were on both "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place," and you played different characters.
Yeah, you know, that was when my career, I thought, was taking off. And then I didn't work for like six months. But, yeah, the original "90210."
It's a classic.
It is a classic. Luke Perry directed my episode!
I didn't realize that.
Yeah.
"Hellion" is not false advertising. Jacob is a hellion.
Yes! He is absolutely a hellion. Quite the opposite as just a day-to-day person -- Josh is incredible.
Hollis has had a tough time. It probably doesn't help that he wears that Astros hat and that's such a sad team to root for right now.
I know ...
It just adds to his woes.
[Laughs] But, you know, he's a diehard fan. He believes in them.
You don't jump off the bandwagon.
You've got to believe in your team, man! Through the highs and lows!
It was nice watching you play someone who is so different than Jesse Pinkman. Was that important to you?
Absolutely. For me, it's always about doing something that I've never done before. And that's just exciting to me. You know, mix it up. I've always considered myself a character actor.
Still?
Yeah, I think so. I would hope so.
You just played one of the most popular characters in television history.
But that was a character, though!
So you could say that about any actor.
Right. Absolutely. But there are actors who play the same role in every single thing. Do you know what I mean?
Okay, I see what you're saying.
They play the same tone in everything. I don't talk like Jesse Pinkman.
You tweet like him.
During the show, yeah. I absolutely embodied Jesse Pinkman. You know, I'm just giving what the fans want, man! But yeah, they like it. The love it whenever I say "bitch."
You said it during a Golden Globes speech.
Yeah.
Did you know that was coming?
Vince Gilligan said, "Listen, I really don't see this happening, but, if it does end up going our way, I'll say something and I'll just send it to you and have you just end it." So, I had a feeling -- I knew what he was asking me to do.
It seemed like a crowd-pleaser.
"Yeah, bitch!" So, yeah, that's that.
Hollis seems like an older guy that we're used to seeing you play. Was that intentional?
He's just lived a different life. And Jesse definitely went through his struggles, but Hollis is going through his own set of struggles ... he's different. He's not Jesse Pinkman.
Post-"Breaking Bad," are you happy with the roles you're being offered? A nice swath of different things?
Yeah, it's great.
But with a character as popular as Jesse, there's always a danger people would want you to keep doing that.
That's why I just say no -- and I do things like "Hellion."
Have you gotten offers that are too similar?
Yeah. A lot of people want me to play -- I mean, great scripts! -- but people that are dealing with drug problems or that sort of thing. It's just kind of like the obvious choice. But, I'm just, for right now -- I'm not saying I'm never going to go down that path 10, 15, 30 years from now -- but I'm saying right now, for me, it would just be idiotic for me to jump onto another Jesse Pinkman-esque type role. And so that's why I try and do something different like "Hellion" or like "Exodus"...
Directed by Ridley Scott...
Ridley Scott, yeah. And it's biblical, so that's a little different than Jesse as well.
I assume "Need For Speed" is not biblical.
"Need For Speed" is not biblical, no. But "Need for Speed" is not Jesse Pinkman, either.
What should we expect from that character?
Well, Tobey Marshall is a guy who runs an auto body shop. He is obsessed with racing -- he lives and breaths it. It's in his blood. His father started this auto body shop -- and his father dies and now he's left with trying to keep his business afloat. He's got his shit together -- not a drug addict. He doesn't do meth; he doesn't kill people. Different.
When you were on "The Price is Right," did you have any idea you were going to be called down to contestants' row?
No.
So it's a complete surprise?
Yeah, yeah. But it's not like they're pulling a name out of a hat at random.
They want someone who is going to be excited.
Yeah, they bring in 10 people at a time and you kind of do an interview process. And that's that. They want people that are excited. And I went there -- you saw -- in a crazy outfit...
We've all seen now.
I was wearing a crazy outfit and I drank a bunch of Red Bull. I had the most energy of any human being! And they called my name and I think the combination of them calling my name and the combination of the six cans of Red Bull -- I was just teetering on the line of having a heart attack. But, yeah, it was great.
Were you surprised when that video became an Internet sensation?
No, I was not surprised it became an Internet sensation. That video is crazy. I was surprised that it took that long to surface. Jay Leno -- [sarcastically] bless him -- he's the one that made that happen. When I was a guest on his show, he brought up that video.
Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
To all the performers on next week's Grammy Awards lineup: Sit down, the queens are in the house.
Madonna and Beyonce are set to perform at the Grammys on Jan. 26, according to a Los Angeles Times report that cites "two sources with knowledge of the plans." The Huffington Post reached out to representatives from both singers' camps and will update this post upon receiving confirmation of the news.
Madonna is expected to contribute guest vocals to a performance from one of the night's nominees. Previously scheduled performers who Madonna could cozy up with onstage include Lorde, Taylor Swift, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and Kendrick Lamar with Imagine Dragons.
Beyonce will offer her first televised performance since releasing her surprise self-titled album on Dec. 13. The momentum for the unexpected release hasn't dwindled yet, as the album still sits at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart and could receive an additional boost from the singer's Grammy appearance.
“Let’s put it this way … we have a really great history that goes back to the early days of Destiny’s Child,” Grammy show producer Ken Ehrlich told the Los Angeles Times, despite being unable to confirm or deny the two singers' involvement. “I love working with [Beyonce]. She’s incredible. She is so into what it is that she does and making sure that everybody who sees her walks away saying ‘wow.’"
Beyonce is up for one Grammy this year, as a featured artist on Jay Z's "Magna Carta...Holy Grail" track "Part II (On The Run)." She and Madonna have a long history with the awards. Thanks to both her solo work and her Destiny's Child material, Beyonce is one of the most-honored female artists in Grammy history, behind Alison Krauss and Aretha Franklin. Madonna has seven Grammy trophies, three of which came for her acclaimed 1998 album "Ray of Light." Her 2006 performance with Gorillaz and De La Soul is commonly credited as one of the best Grammy acts in recent years.
If the news comes to fruition, Madonna and Beyonce will join an all-star roster of performers that also includes a Beatles reunion featuring Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Daft Punk taking the stage alongside Nile Rodgers, Pharrell Williams and Stevie Wonder, and Metallica being joined by noted concert pianist Lang Lang.
Oscar tea-leaf reading doesn't get any better than at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
When the 20th annual SAG Awards get underway Saturday night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles (broadcast live on TNT and TBS beginning at 8 p.m. EST), the guild's choices will be heavily scrutinized for their predictive powers about the Academy Awards. Actors make up the largest branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, so SAG members have perhaps more sway in determining Academy Awards winners than any other group.
This year, the five nominees for SAG's top honor, outstanding performance by a movie cast, are: "12 Years a Slave," ''American Hustle," ''Dallas Buyers Club," ''August: Osage County" and "Lee Daniels' The Butler."
Obviously, SAG and the academy don't always agree: Neither "August: Osage County" nor "The Butler" were nominated for best picture, and "The Butler" was snubbed entirely. The effects-heavy, sparsely peopled "Gravity" was predictably overlooked by SAG (except for a best actress nomination to Sandra Bullock), while it garnered 10 Oscar nods.
But the SAG Awards will give a window into support for Oscar favorites "12 Years a Slave" and "American Hustle." In individual honors, SAG favored "12 Years," nominating Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong'o. Jennifer Lawrence, for supporting actress, is the lone "American Hustle" nominee.
The SAG outstanding cast awards have lined up with Oscar best-picture winners, including "Argo," ''The King's Speech," ''Slumdog Millionaire" and "No Country for Old Men." But SAG diverged in the past with picks like "The Help," ''Inglourious Basterds" and "Little Miss Sunshine." The actors did foretell one of the biggest Oscar upsets in 2005, choosing "Crash" over "Brokeback Mountain."
But the SAG Awards also represent one of the more collegiate atmospheres of awards season, with winners almost uniformly expressing gratitude for an honor chosen by their peers. The speeches are often good, too, and can help stoke Oscar support.
Among the nominees Saturday night are Cate Blanchett ("Blue Jasmine"), Matthew McConaughey ("Dallas Buyers Club"), Forest Whitaker ("Lee Daniels' The Butler"), Meryl Streep ("August: Osage County"), Tom Hanks ("Captain Phillips"), Emma Thompson ("Saving Mr. Banks") and Bruce Dern ("Nebraska"). James Gandolfini was nominated posthumously for his supporting performance in "Enough Said."
Among SAG's TV drama ensemble contenders are HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" and "Game of Thrones," AMC's "Breaking Bad," PBS's "Downton Abbey" and Showtime's "Homeland." Comedy series ensemble nominees include NBC's "30 Rock," Netflix's "Arrested Development," CBS's "The Big Bang Theory," ABC's "Modern Family" and HBO's "Veep."
SAG's lifetime achievement award will be given Rita Moreno, the 81-year-old "West Side Story" actress whose career has spanned Broadway, television and music.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle
Kristen Stewart is earning praise for her turn as a newly hired guard at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp's U.S. prison in the Sundance movie "Camp X-Ray," but it turns out the part was originally intended to be a male role.
During a Q&A session after the movie's premiere on Friday (Jan. 17), writer/director Peter Sattler -- whose past work includes art-department credits on "Walk the Line" and "Star Trek" -- revealed that he rewrote the part to be a female character after his wife became pregnant with a girl, Vanity Fair reports. He began to contemplate gender roles and was inspired to explore a story of female growth through the lens of Guantanamo Bay.
It looks like Sattler's switcheroo paid off. Following Friday's premiere, Stewart has garnered acclaim for her performance, which the festival's attendees note is a marked departure from fare like "Snow White and the Huntsman" and the "Twilight" series. HuffPost Entertainment senior writer Mike Ryan was at the premiere and called Stewart's role a "good career choice," while The Hollywood Reporter's David Ronney labeled her performance "perhaps her best screen work to date."
The film centers largely on Stewart's character's developing friendship with a detainee played by "A Separation" actor Payman Maadi. Stewart revealed during the Q&A that the cast prepared by watching "multiple documentaries" and spending time with a Marine.
Controversial director Oliver Stone has been circling a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic for months, but he took to Twitter on Friday -- just three days before MLK Day -- to announce that his involvement with the project has come to an end.
Sad news. My MLK project involvement has ended. I did an extensive rewrite of the script, but the producers won’t go with it.
Jamie Foxx was reportedly attached to the role of King before DreamWorks and Warner Bros. rejected Stone's latest script.
The news marks another wrinkle in the King estate's tight grip on the civil-rights leader's namesake. The studios were working in tandem with the family, who granted the right to use King's copyrighted speeches, but now seems to have raised eyebrows at Stone's approach. The family could damage the credibility and success of the movie if they express disdain.
Stone has been criticized for taking factual liberties in his previous historical features, namely 1991's "JFK," which implied that Lyndon B. Johnson staged a coup d'etat prior to President John F. Kennedy's assassination. Still, regardless of what could be seen as the director's iffy credibility, it's clear that the King estate is unwilling to back a biopic that shines any sort of negative light on MLK.
Director Paul Greengrass ("United 93," "Captain Phillips") faced a similar predicament in 2011 with "Memphis," another biopic that mentioned King's alleged extramarital affairs. Universal nixed "Memphis" after the estate reportedly told the studio it would condemn the movie if it enters production. (Greengrass has since said the film will "definitely" still be made.) Lee Daniels ("Precious," "The Butler") received the same pressure a few years ago regarding his script for voting-rights docudrama "Selma," which also contained references to sordid details about King's life. "Middle of Nowhere" director Ava DuVernay has taken over that project.
Deadline.com spoke with one of King's closest confidants, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, in 2011, after he contacted Universal to refute the claims made in Greengrass' script. When asked why he and the estate refused to submit to the standard warts-and-all approach that is often better received than biopics containing only sycophantic depictions of their subjects, Young said:
"My only concern here is honoring the message of Martin Luther King’s life, and how you can change the world without killing anybody. ... It’s not wrong if the warts are there. But we had the most powerful and understanding wives in history: Coretta, my wife Jean, and Ralph Abernathy’s wife Juanita. These women were more dedicated and enthusiastic in pushing us into these struggles than anybody, and the inference Coretta might have been upset about Martin being gone so much or them having marital troubles, it’s just not true. Maybe I’m piqued because nobody read my book, and I tried to be honest, and I was there. We were struggling with history that we didn’t even understand, but somehow by the grace of God it came out right. We were trying to change the world -- not by any means necessary, but by being dedicated to loving our enemies and praying for those who persecuted us."
What do you think of Stone exiting the project? Use the comments section below to weigh in.
The following is an excerpt from "We Animals," a photojournalistic book that documents the lives of animals in captivity, by Jo-Anne McArthur.
In the course of a decade and a half as a photojournalist, I’ve met hundreds of thousands of animals. Some were only in passing and others I’ve gotten to know over many years. I’ve encountered animals who endure and have endured unimaginable pain and suffering, and others fortunate enough to be cared for by loving and dedicated human companions. I’ve been into the heart of industrial farming facilities and medical testing labs that have been constructed to wring as much profit for as little expenditure—of effort, tenderness or money—from the animals whose lives begin and end there. But I’ve also found refuge with people and organizations who bring devotion, affection and resources to nurture and heal those who were broken and discarded. I’ve seen complete indifference and heartrending compassion, misguided ignorance and deliberate torture. I’ve found myself in a world of bars and metal and stench and despair, and a world of space and earth and fresh air and hope.
We Animals and the project of the same name that birthed it are my attempts to honour the remarkable individuals, both human and nonhuman, whom I’ve met along the way. This book, a sampling of a hundred photographs from the thousands I’ve taken for the project, is my addition to the library of works that educate people about the extent and intensity of the ongoing war human beings are waging against our animal kin. It endeavours to break down the mental and physical barriers we’ve built that allow us to treat our fellow creatures as objects and not as sentient beings.
What you see on these pages may surprise or disturb you. My aim is not to turn you away but to draw you in, bring you closer, make you a participant. I want my photographs to be beautiful and evocative as well as truthful and compelling. I hope you’ll take the time not just not just to look but to see — if only as a mark of respect for the billions of animals whose lives and deaths we don’t notice. To look at this book is to bear witness with me, which means also that we confront cruelty and our complicity in it. As a species we have to learn new behaviours and attitudes and unlearn the old ones.
I’ve always loved animals. When I was a child, my parents allowed me to keep budgerigars. I couldn’t stand them being in a cage, so when I was at home I was allowed to let them fly around the bathroom and I’d sit on the counter and watch. To this day, my rescued budgies fly wherever they want in my home office. When I was eight or nine years old, I used to walk the neighbours’ dog, a Shepherd/Rottweiler mix named Duke who lived in their backyard; ten years later I became a volunteer dog walker at the Ottawa Humane Society. As I grew older, I began to notice that what was amusing or entertaining to most people—animals being taught to beg and perform tricks, for instance—seemed merely sad to me, a poor reflection on us and our inability to see these creatures as autonomous beings. Yet I continued to eat meat, visit zoos, and use animals in the ways that most of us do.
My passion for animals was matched by an intense interest in photographs. My father owned a Minolta camera with a fifty-millimetre lens, with which he took the majority of our family photographs. I’d pore over and memorize our albums of summer holidays and Christmastime, and when I entered my teens, I “borrowed” his Minolta. This fascination with photographs became a passion for photography. As an undergraduate at the University of Ottawa, I had the opportunity to take Photography 101 as an elective. The moment I saw my black-and white images emerge from the pool of chemicals under the red lights of the dark room, I knew that I wanted to make this kind of magic for the rest of my life. I finished my degree (in English and Geography), but did all I could to pursue my interest in photography. I found mentors, took on internships, assisted other photographers, and spent every available minute I could in the dark room.
The first weekend of Sundance is kind of like starting a new job over and over again every year. You can figure out where to be and what to wear, but you don't know any of the details. At Sundance, we don't know which films will live up to the pre-festival hype, which will quickly deflate and which might sneak under the radar and explode like confetti in the sky after the first screening. As the years stack, you learn to keep an open mind and a fluid schedule so that you can jump on the next "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" or "Fruitvale Station" as soon as possible.
Here are three films from the opening weekend of Sundance that caught our eye -- not only for the filmmaking, but for the dazzling movie stars in them:
"Laggies"
It takes a hell of a lot to get someone excited for an 8:30 a.m. screening on a Saturday morning, but Sundance queen, filmmaker Lynn Shelton ("Humpday," "Your Sister's Sister"), did exactly that. Billed as a coming-of-age story starring Keira Knightley, Chloë Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell, I figured the coming-into-age would center on Moretz, 16. Instead, it's a quarter-life-crisis kind of movie that leaves our hearts pounding for Keira Knightley in a way that we haven't quite experienced since "Bend It Like Beckham." The late-20s drifter she plays is lost, certainly, but is also full of grace, kindness and love. After becoming engaged to her high school boyfriend, she puts off eloping and instead takes a week on her own (after lying about going to a conference) and spends it with unlikely new friends: a teenage girl and her lawyer father -- played by a compelling and understated Sam Rockwell.
Accompanying the teenage Moretz to visit her estranged mother (played by a spot-on Gretchen Mol), Knightley inspires the most compelling line of the film. Mol, in speaking about herself as a mother, says, "You treat somebody bad enough, you just assume they'll be happy to let you go." Director Lynn Shelton's finesse with dialogue, body language and her character's ranges is a staple of why she dominates Sundance.
"Locke"
Sitting quietly inside a movie theater in an exercise in human patience. The performances, action, cinematography and score can inspire movie patrons to laugh, cry, sit on the edge of a seat or sometimes, even fall asleep. Sitting inside a quiet movie theater can feel claustrophobic, especially if the film focuses on themes of isolation -- either physical or emotional, or both.
Filmmaker Steven Knight, who previously wrote 2007's thriller "Eastern Promises," takes on a challenging attempt at isolation filmmaking. "Locke" is 85 minutes of a man driving through the outskirts of London. That is it. This man, Ivan Locke, played by the ever-intense English actor Tom Hardy ("The Dark Knight Rises," "Inception") is our sole focus; our everything. While driving, Locke makes a series of phone calls (in a soothing, lullaby-ish Welsh accent) to characters we grow to know more about. Slowly, we begin to piece together where Locke is driving, what he is leaving, and how his actions threaten the very fibers of his identity as a man.
I'll never forget someone telling me that the 2010 thriller "Buried" was 95 minutes of Ryan Reynolds in a box. Mystified that people were loving the film, I went to see 95 minutes of Ryan Reynolds in a box -- and it was incredible. More recently, Sandra Bullock shot off into space and spent 91 minutes (a little less if you count George Clooney's scenes) alone in the deep, dark, black theater of the universe.
Isolating a character for the entirety of a film in a single object ("Buried": a box, "Gravity": a space shuttle, "Locke": a BMW) truly tests he power of a film's narrative. Locke becomes increasingly distressed the longer he drives, and his internal dialogue, much like Reynolds' and Bullock's, gets turned inside out as we get to witness an emotionally compelling and surprisingly suspenseful journey.
"Frank"
At a sold-out premiere of "Frank" Friday night at the biggest theater in Sundance, we were told that never has the festival tracked, followed and waited for a project to come to fruition like they have for "Frank." Starring Michael Fassbender (wearing a giant fake head), Maggie Gyllenhaal and the likable newcomer Domhnall Gleeson ("About Time"), this film is one of the strangest to screen at Sundance.
Gleeson plays a questionably talented keyboardist who fatefully crosses paths with the questionably insane Frank (Fassbender) and the questionably violent Clara (Gyllenhaal) -- two members of an eccentric pop band about to record an album. After locking themselves away in a remote cabin, the band attempts to make art and instead spends most of their time building bizarre instruments and trashing rooms in violent, short-bursted fits. The biggest enigma of the film is Frank. Why does he wear the fake head, what does he look like underneath, and why -- why -- would someone cast the handsome Michael Fassbender in a film and then cover his face the whole time? These questions and others arise in the off-beat but strangely endearing film that had audiences laughing in true Sundance fashion. A quick turn to darker beats grounded the film's ending in a cloudy question about mental illness and the masks we all wear.
Sasha Bronner is the Los Angeles editor at The Huffington Post. You can contact her directly on Twitter.
For thoughts on "Whiplash," "Camp X-Ray" and "Hellion," click over to Mike Ryan's review here.
The Screen Actors Guild handed out its 2014 awards on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
"American Hustle" won Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture, the SAG Awards' equivalent of Best Picture. David O. Russell's film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, defeated "12 Years A Slave," "Dallas Buyers Club," "August: Osage County" and "Lee Daniels' The Butler" for the top honor.
Matthew McConaughey won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for "Dallas Buyers Club." McConaughey is favored to win the Best Actor Oscar at the 86th annual Academy Awards on March 2, but it should be noted that he didn't compete against Leonardo DiCaprio at the Screen Actors Guild Awards; DiCaprio's "Wolf of Wall Street" performance was not among the Male Actor in a Leading Role nominees.
Cate Blanchett was awarded Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for "Blue Jasmine." Blanchett is heavily favored to win the Oscar in her category as well. Early film winners included Lupita Nyong'o, who won Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for "12 Years A Slave," and Jared Leto, who took home Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for "Dallas Buyers Club." As with Blanchett, both stars are expected to win corresponding awards at the 86th annual Academy Awards on March 2.
Bryan Cranston took home the award for Outstanding Male Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Walter White on "Breaking Bad." The show was also named Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series. Dame Maggie Smith won the Outstanding Female Actor in a Drama Series for "Downton Abbey."
Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Veep") and Ty Burrell ("Modern Family") won awards for, respectively, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series. Burrell's series, "Modern Family," won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
The SAG Awards, which turned 20 this year, announced its nominations in early December of last year. "12 Years A Slave" led all films with four nods, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the SAG Awards' equivalent of Best Picture. ("Dallas Buyers Club" and "August: Osage County" followed "12 Years A Slave" with three nominations each.) On the television side, "Breaking Bad" earned four nominations, including Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, to pace all series.
Last year, Ben Affleck's "Argo" won Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, one of three top guild honors the film earned in its lead up to winning Best Picture at the 2013 Oscars. ("Argo" also earned wins at the Producers Guild Awards and Directors Guild Awards.)
Other 2014 SAG Awards winners included the stunt ensembles from "Lone Survivor" and "Game of Thrones." An updating list of the SAG Awards winners is below.
FILM
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
"American Hustle"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years A Slave"
OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY STUNT ENSEMBLE MOTION PICTURE
"Lone Survivor"
TELEVISION
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES
"Breaking Bad"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES
"Modern Family"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Michael Douglas, "Behind the Candelabra"
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Helen Mirren, "Phil Spector"
OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Zoe Saldana is an international movie star, having played lead roles in "Avatar," the "Star Trek" reboot and countless other films. But it's her role as a mother struggling with two young daughters and a bipolar husband, played by the fantastic Mark Ruffalo, that perhaps reflects the most emotion from Saldana's heart. Having lost her father at a young age, she connects deeply to the material in first-time filmmaker Maya Forbes' "Infinitely Polar Bear." The title of the film, by the way, is taken from a line from the youngest daughter in the movie. She says "dad is a polar bear," and her older sister corrects her stating, "he's bipolar."
The Huffington Post sat down with Saldana at a lodge in Park City at the Sundance Film Festival to hear about why this film is so incredibly close to her heart.
Highlights from our conversation below (warning: spoilers about "Infinitely Polar Bear" are sprinkled throughout):
How did you become involved in this film? What was the casting process like?
Mark Ruffalo’s manager, who was my manager at the time, went to school with [writer/director] Maya Forbes. It was all very incestuous, conveniently. But it was so beautiful that we were all just three degrees of separation from each other. So that’s how I read the script. There’s something about fathers and daughters that really lives in a very special and sacred place for me. I was deeply moved by the script.
What was it like playing the role of a mother?
It was great. The girls are beautiful and so wonderful. Everything felt effortless. Maya is a very good director. We had had so many conversations throughout the years before making this movie and I had met Peggy, her mom, and saw pictures and videos. So I almost felt by the time we got to set, that I had grown up right next door to them. I was very familiar with their story, and who wouldn’t be moved by it? I had a lot of compassion for how they grew up, but so much admiration that they never lost their resilience.
Mark Ruffalo’s character is bipolar and/or manic-depressive and we are so drawn to him. He has such love for his daughters. What do you think this film adds to the larger conversation about mental illness?
There’s one scene that always choked me up and it’s when he calls my character in the middle of the night. He’s obviously restless and hasn’t slept and hasn’t taken his medication. But he calls his wife when he’s sewing the skirt for his daughter. In that moment, everything that takes place between these two individuals, you understand both sides. You understand her being a little scared because this is a repetitive cycle of his; they’ve been there before. It’s not the first breakdown he’s had. It always starts like that -- he becomes restless, doesn’t sleep, drinks a lot, and then ends up having a breakdown and is hospitalized. How do you remove yourself from that emotionally and still get what you need done without harming the person and still take care of your children? But at the same time, you put yourself in his shoes and you go he’s trying the best he can with the resources that god has given him.
In that scene, Mark’s character says to you, “How many fathers are up right now at 5 a.m. sewing a skirt for his daughter?” And he’s right.
In society we are very hard on men when it comes to fatherhood. It’s either you’re in or you’re out. And he was there. That’s the message that resonated most with me when I met Maya. They lived as hoarders and their outfits weren’t always all sewn together, but they were loved.
That last scene with the daughters walking away and looking back at their father was so emotional and beautiful.
Are you kidding me? I couldn’t go up on stage today right when the film ended. I saw it for the first time two months ago. My sister and my assistant and some family members were with me and we went afterwards to dinner and everybody’s lower lip was just trembling because we were so moved. Especially for my sisters and me, because we lost our father when we were very young. It hits home. You feel that you were wronged.
Do you remember your father?
Oh my god, absolutely. I was 9. Now that I’m 35, throughout the years, I’ve probably embellished the only nine years that I had with him. I fantasize -- is that the right word? Fantasía -- I go directly to Spanish! Now he’s this big, larger than life character. His laugh was louder, his smell was sweeter. But I get to live vicariously through someone else’s experience and kind of imagine what it could have been like. It allows you to feel. We’re always so tense about feeling. It’s like “Oh! We shouldn’t, we have makeup on.” But for me, it’s like –- fucking cry. Feel. Be in her shoes. And yes, if it’s a good movie, applaud it and embrace it.
