Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore hugged it out on the red carpet at last night’s L.A. premiere of Whip It at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The film is Drew’s directorial debut, and fittingly, her godfather, legendary director Steven Spielberg, was also on hand for her big night.
Posts Tagged ‘Steven Spielberg’
Angelina More Powerful than Oprah?
June 4th, 2009
Do you get the feeling that somewhere inside Oprah Winfrey’s home, she’s throwing darts at a portrait of Angelina Jolie? Somehow, the superstar actress has managed to bump the one-woman media empire from the top of Forbes magazine’s list of most powerful celebs.
Despite the fact that Angie earned only a tenth of Oprah’s estimated $275 million last year, she was still somehow able to make the jump from #3 to #1 on the annual Celebrity 100 list, which also considers media exposure (does Lady O’s daily talk show — or magazine, or radio network — not count?) in determining its rankings.
"These lists are really meaningless," one Hollywood insider tells OK!. "They’re fun for water-cooler chit-chat, but do you really think Angelina is any more ‘powerful’ than any of the others near the top of that list? And financially speaking, Oprah is really the only one who has the cash to play with the real power brokers that keep the world turning."
Oprah is still sitting pretty at #2, just above Madonna, Beyoncé, Tiger Woods, Bruce Springsteen and Steven Spielberg. Interestingly enough — Angie’s baby-daddy Brad Pitt (#9) was beat out by his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, who landed in the #8 spot.
Steven Spielberg Gives $100K
September 23rd, 2008
Adding their names to the list of generous stars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Steven Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw have also given $100,000 to fight California’s Proposition 8, the Nov. 8 ballot iniative trying to banning gay marriages in the state.
”By writing discrimination into our state constitution, Proposition 8 seeks to eliminate the right of each and every citizen in our state to marry regardless of sexual orientation,” says a statement from Steven and Kate. ”Such discrimination has NO place in California’s constitution, or any other.”
If the initiative passes in November, it would overturn the Califnoria Supreme Court deicsion to legalize same-sex marriages, which is only the second in the country.
Movie Legends Get Nasty In Race Row
June 9th, 2008
It doesn’t take much to make two of Hollywood’s most respected, heavyweight directors to turn into a pair of squabbling school kids.
Charged with racism by Spike Lee, the legendary Clint Eastwood told the maker of such powerful works of cinema as Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X to "shut his face."
Now Spike has hit back by calling Clint an "angry old man" and suggesting that he is acting like a slave boss!
At the Cannes Film Festival in May, Lee complained that the war movie, Flags of Our Fathers, directed by the Dirty Harry star, doesn’t show how important a role black soldiers played in the World War Two battle at Iwo Jima.
But the Western hero, 78, said last Friday that he doubts Lee, 51, knows the history of the battle and that he’s not about to make a movie historically inaccurate just so it’s politically correct.
Clint, who has now made two features about the 1945 conflict on the Japanese island , acknowledged to Britain’s the Guardian newspaper that there were some black troops at Iwo Jima.
But he said they weren’t part of the story he had set out to tell in the Steven Spielberg-produced picture.
"The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they [the black troops] didn’t do that," he told the paper.
"If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people’d go, ‘This guy’s lost his mind.’ I mean, it’s not accurate."
And Clint had some advice for Spike, the man widely thought of as the most influential black director in America: "A guy like him should shut his face."
But hours after his remarks were printed, Spike, who has just premiered his own WWII movie, Miracle at St. Anna, about an all-black unit fighting in Italy, struck back.
Responding to Clint’s trash talk via ABCnews.com, he said, "First of all, the man is not my father and we’re not on a plantation either.
"He’s a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn’t personally attack him. And a comment like ‘a guy like that should shut his face’ — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there."
Cate Blanchett Likes Playing Evil
May 19th, 2008
Cate Blanchett wanted to be Indiana Jones when she was younger. Sadly, that never came true for her, but she did get a great consolation prize.
The Oscar winner co-stars in the latest installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as Irina Spalko, a Russian villain with a haircut so hideous it could rival Javier Bardem’s in No Country for Old Men.
"I’ve got the ugliest hairstyle I’ve ever seen,” Cate tells Parade.com. “If that doesn’t send signals that she’s the villain then there’s no point. Once I got into it, I actually found it quite liberating playing a really bad girl because you can sort of do anything you want."
Not that the actress was ever going to decline a role – whatever it was – in an Indy flick in the first place.
"I’ve always wanted to do something with lots of action in it. So when Steven Spielberg said, ‘Come be a part of Indiana Jones’, I could hardly say ‘no,’” Cate says. “I grew up with the Indy films; they’re part of cinematic landscape."
The 39-year-old holds her own against Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf in the heart-pounding, action-packed scenes (she wields a “pretty mean sword” against Shia), giving her a good workout on set. In real life, Cate’s fitness routine is looking after her sons with husband Andrew Upton, Dashiell, 6, Roman, 4, and newborn Ignatius.
"Chasing the kids is my fitness routine," she says. "I don’t really exercise that much although I wish I did. The best weight loss program I ever had was playing playing Elizabeth the Queen. The costumes were very heavy, the hours were long and you’re under a lot of pressure. I dropped more than a few pounds both times I played her."
Harrison Ford: “I Don’t Read Reviews”
May 19th, 2008
Say what you want about the new Indiana Jones installment, film critics. Harrison Ford won’t be reading any of it!
The again action star, who will reprise his whip-wielding archeological icon in next week’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, is shunning all reviews of the movie because it’s the public’s opinion that matters to him.
"It’s the people who pay to get in, and whether they are getting satisfaction for their dollars spent," Harrison says. "I suppose it would be interesting, but I don’t read reviews."
The fact that the Steven Spielberg-directed vehicle – the fourth in the series – has garnered a mostly positive response since the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last week doesn’t change the 65-year-old’s stance.
"I don’t want to believe the bad stuff and I don’t want to believe the good stuff,” he says. “It doesn’t really matter."
Knowing how nitpicky Cannes critics can be, Harrison says he doesn’t have much to complain about since “they can kick your butt here if they’re not happy.” Therefore, the favorable response is "pretty good."
While Harrison pays no attention to the reviews, one person who definitely was waiting on pins and needles for them was Steven himself, though, co-star Cate Blanchett says.
"Steven was wanting to throw up before he went into the press conference he was so nervous about the response," she says. "And I think it’s because he cares."
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens May 22.
Happy Birthday Brad, Katie… & More!
December 18th, 2007 / Author: cwillett
Happy birthday Brad and Katie!
And Christina Aguilera, DMX, Steven Spielberg and Ray Liotta and more!
Yes, Dec. 18 is a popular birthday among the stars. Some of the biggest and brightest Sagittarians are born this day, but none more bigger and brighter than the one and only Brad Pitt, who turns 44 today, and Katie Holmes, who nears 30 at 29 years.
So how are they celebrating their big days?
OK! has exclusively learned the birthday boy will get a birthday bike from his lady. Indulging in his bike obsession, Angelina Jolie will gift her man a brand spankin’ new motorcycle.
But who needs materialistic possessions when you can have the greatest gift of all — time with the kids?!
The actor has retreated to his New Orleans home to spend the day with his children, Maddox, 6, Pax, 4, Zahara, 2, and Shiloh, 19 months.
"His family is the best birthday gift Brad could ever have," a source tells OK!.
He’ll get some extra stuff too — the kids have been busy fashioning birthday cards while daddy’s been off on his humanitarian missions.
"Zahara loves coloring and said she wanted to make a card for daddy," the source says, adding that her brothers soon joined in on the fun. "Zahara went a little crazy with the glitter, and it ended up all over the house!"
CLICK HERE TO TAKE OK!’S BRAD PITT QUIZ!!
While Brad will be immersed in glitter, birthday girl Katie will be draped in diamonds! Hubby Tom Cruise has picked out some bling bling for his wife of 13 months — a step up from the cupcakes at FAO Schwartz two years ago.
The Mad Money star will unwrap her custom-made jewelry at the couple’s spacious Telluride, Colo. home with Suri, 20 months, and Tom’s children Connor, 12, and Isabella, who turns 15 on Saturday.
"All the kids will be there, and several of Katie’s family are planning to fly in," a source tells OK!. "Tom’s ranch is such a great place for a big family get-together — and it’s so beautiful at this time of year that they will likely be staying right through New Year’s."
CLICK HERE TO TAKE OK!’S KATIE HOLMES QUIZ!!
But for today, it’s all birthday all day!
So who else is cutting cake?
Christina Aguilera, who turns 27; DMX, 37; Rachel Griffiths, 39; Stone Cold Steve Austin, 43; Ray Liotta, 52; and Tom’s frequent collaborator Steven Spielberg, who blows out 61 candles.
