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Movies News Headlines - Yahoo! News
Get the latest Movies news headlines from Yahoo! News. Find breaking Movies news, including analysis and opinion on top Movies stories, photos and more. |
| Lindsay Lohan pleases judge on "home stretch" of probation
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Lindsay Lohan got high marks from a Los Angeles judge at her penultimate progress hearing on Wednesday, as she entered the "home stretch" of her probation after being convicted for theft last year. "The probation officer is pleased with your progress. You seem to be getting your life back on track and that's what we all hoped for," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner told Lohan. "It was never our goal to just put people in jail, we like to see...change, and I think we've all seen that," she said. ...
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| Jai Courtney to play Jack McClane in new "Die Hard" film
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - Jai Courtney, an Australian television star, will play Jack McClane in "A Good Day to Die Hard," Fox said Wednesday. Jack McClane is the son of Bruce Willis's character, John McClane. "A Good Day to Die Hard" -- the fifth in the "Die Hard" franchise -- introduces John McClane's estranged son, Jack. The two, in Moscow, have to work together to keep each other alive. Courtney starred as Varro in "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." He also starred opposite Tom Cruise in "One Shot. ... |
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| Oscars 2012: A year of comfort
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When the curtain rises on the Oscars this Sunday, nervous anticipation will, as usual, fill the theater at the world's top film awards, but this year movie fans can relax. After years of trying to jazz up the Academy Awards with flashy, hip hosts, emcee Billy Crystal is returning for a ninth time in 2012, bringing what Oscar watchers say is a level of predictability and comfort to the show. ...
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| "Hunger Games" onslaught begins with advance ticket sales
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 LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Hunger Games" won't hit theaters for more than a month, but already Lionsgate is making a multi-front push to maximize interest in the film weeks ahead of its March 23 release. Tickets for the film, based on Suzanne Collins' young-adult novels, go on sale Wednesday, a full four weeks before the film draws screaming teenagers into the multiplexes nationwide. Fans of the Collins books -- and anyone who might just be interested in checking out what could become the next "Twilight"-like movie craze -- can purchase their seats via MovieTickets.com and Fandango.com. ...
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| Short films fill tall order as Oscar nominees
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar week kicked off Tuesday night at a celebration of this year's nominees for live action and short films, who are among the least-known of the 2012 Academy Award contenders but no less important to the movie industry. Brad Bird, two-time Oscar winner for "The Incredibles" and "Ratatouille," hosted the event in front of a packed house at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ...
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| Paramount extends J.J. Abrams' deal through 2015
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 LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - Paramount Pictures has extended its first-look deal with in-house hit-maker J.J. Abrams. The new pact pushes the agreement with Abrams' Bad Robot Productions through December 2015. "J.J. is a unique talent and a captivating storyteller," Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, said in a statement. "J.J., Bryan Burk and the whole Bad Robot team are an integral part of Paramount and we're proud to continue our collaboration. ...
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| Wrestling scion joins Disney in the ring in China
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 (Reuters) - Shane McMahon, the son of pro-wrestling impresario Vince McMahon, will team up with Walt Disney Co to distribute video-on-demand Disney movies in China. The 42-year-old chief executive officer of YOU On Demand Holdings - a joint venture with China Home Cinema - had previously obtained the rights to distribute movies from Warner Brothers, a unit of Time Warner, and from Hollywood studio Lionsgate. ...
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| Kodak is out of the picture at Oscars
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co is having its named yanked from Sunday's telecast of the Oscars, the president of the group that gives out the awards said on Wednesday. "It will be live from the Hollywood and Highland Center in Hollywood, California. That's what the landlord has asked us to do and we're going to do it," said Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, in an interview with a Los Angeles television station. ...
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| "Wizard of Oz" ruby slippers find home at film academy
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| LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Judy Garland's ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" have found their way home. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday it had acquired one of the four known surviving pairs of the iconic shoes made for the 1939 movie, with the help of Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg. The shoes, regarded as one of the world's best-known film props, are believed to have been worn by Garland's character Dorothy when she clicked her heels three times to return to Kansas from the fantasy land of Oz near the end of the movie. ... |
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| Edgar Wright to direct Johnny Depp in "Night Stalker"
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 LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - "Shaun of the Dead" and "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" director Edgar Wright has signed on to direct Johnny Depp in Disney's "The Night Stalker," TheWrap has confirmed. The movie is based on the television series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," that ran on ABC in 1974. The show, remade in 2005, was about an investigative reporter, Carl Kolchak, who investigates strange murders, often involving the paranormal, believing they are somehow linked to his wife's killing. Depp will play Kolchak. ...
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| Actor's Equity endorses SAG-AFTRA merger
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| LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Actors' Equity Association on Tuesday gave its blessing to the proposed merger between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The Actors Equity Association is the labor union that represents live theater actors and stage managers, many of whom work on Broadway and Off-Broadway. According to a statement on the AEA website, the union's council unanimously voted to endorse the merger Tuesday. "AEA strongly supports SAG and AFTRA in their proposal to merge their Unions," the AEA said. ... |
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| Wrestling scion joins Disney in the ring in China
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(Reuters) - Shane McMahon, the son of pro-wrestling impresario Vince McMahon, will team up with Walt Disney Co to distribute video-on-demand Disney movies in China. The 42-year-old chief executive officer of YOU On Demand Holdings - a joint venture with government-run network CCTV - had previously obtained the rights to distribute movies from Warner Brothers, a unit of Time Warner, and from Hollywood studio Lionsgate. ...
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| Costume designers honor "W.E.," "Harry Potter," "Glee"
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 LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "W.E." and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" have won the top awards from the Costume Designers Guild, which handed out this awards season's last set of guild awards on Tuesday night. "Dragon Tattoo" was honored as the best costume design in a contemporary film, while "W.E." won the award for period film and "Harry Potter" topped the fantasy film category. "W.E.." which alternates scenes set in the 1920s and '30s with contemporary sequences, is the only one of the winners to also have an Oscar nomination. ...
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| "The Help": Bold, black and bidding for Oscar glory
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Viola Davis knew she had big shoes to fill when she agreed to play the role of a lowly black maid to a rich white family in 1960s Mississippi in "The Help". They included those of her mother, her late grandmother and thousands of African-American women who were maids themselves, many of whom would rather forget those years. Although Davis is now neck-and-neck with Meryl Streep for the best actress Oscar, she says her mother has yet to see "The Help." "It's painful. You have a whole generation of women who don't want to be reminded of the past," Davis, 46, said. ...
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| David Cross on using cocaine near Obama
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - David Cross opened up to Playboy about his cocaine use at a White House Correspondents' Dinner, telling the magazine that he only snorted a small amount of the drug -- and did it more for the principle than the high. "It wasn't even that much cocaine," the actor/comedian recalled of the 2009 incident, which has been, um, buzzed about in the rumor mill over the past few years. Cross estimates that he was some 65 feet away from Obama when he hoovered up the go-go powder. "It was literally the size of, I don't know, a tick. ... |
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| Lose at Oscars? 15 "used" statuettes up for auction
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| LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fifteen Oscar statuettes are to be auctioned off next week in what organizers said on Tuesday is the largest collection of Academy Awards ever to go under the hammer. Los Angeles auctioneers Nate D. Sanders said the Oscars that will go up for grabs two days after the 2012 Academy Awards ceremony include the one given to writer Herman Mankiewicz for his "Citizen Kane" screenplay with Orson Welles. Welles' own best screenplay Oscar for the 1941 movie -- regarded as one of the best films ever made -- fetched $861,542 at a Nate D. Sanders auction in December. ... |
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| Weinstein Co. to appeal "R" rating for "Bully"
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| LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Weinstein Co. won't be cowed into accepting an R rating for its upcoming documentary "Bully." Weinstein Co. co-chairman Harvey Weinstein will appeal the Motion Picture Association of America's decision to assign an R rating to the Lee Hirsch film, which takes "an urgent and intimate look at America's bullying crisis." The R rating, which was granted on the basis of "some language," means that "Bully" couldn't be viewed in theaters by children under 17 unless they were accompanied by a parent or guardian. ... |
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| Film studio sues to prevent more "Godfather" books
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| NEW YORK (Reuters) - The movie studio that controls the rights to "The Godfather" has sued the estate of its creator Mario Puzo, accusing his heirs of wrongfully authorizing new book sequels to the fictional mafia family's story. Paramount Pictures studio, in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court on February 17, accused the estate of Puzo, who wrote 1969 bestseller "The Godfather," of approving sequels to the Oscar-winning movies without the studio's permission and in violation of copyright agreements. ... |
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| Universal, Paul Walker sign two-year first-look deal
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 21 (TheWrap.com) - Paul Walker, the star of Universal's wildly successful "Fast and Furious" films, has signed a two-year first-look deal to house his Laguna Ridge Pictures at the studio, Universal said Tuesday. The first project under the pact will be "Skyscraper," an action thriller that Walker will star in and executive produce. Neal H. Moritz -- who produced the "Fast Furious" movies -- will produce. ... |
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| Sundance Selects acquires rights to Weiwei documentary
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 21 (TheWrap.com) - Sundance Selects has acquired North American rights to the documentary "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry," the company said Tuesday. Alison Klayman directed the Sundance documentary about Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei. The company plans to distribute it this summer, to coincide with Weiwei's first trip outside China since that country's government locked him up. Ai uses art and social media to express himelf and organize others. Chinese authorities responded by shutting down his blog, beating him, bulldozing his studio and holding him in secret detention. ... |
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| TheWrap's Oscar picks: "The Artist" will win, but should it?
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| LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "The Artist" will win six Oscars, "Hugo" will take home four, and "The Help" will land two of the four acting awards. And the film I picked to win it all back in early September, "The Descendants," will have to settle for a single win for its screenplay. With Oscar ballots due back at PricewaterhouseCoopers by the end of the day on Tuesday, those are my best guesses as to what Academy voters will do. It's a year where lots of big categories seem all but locked up, but also a year with confounding races in a number of categories. ... |
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| "Descendants," "Midnight in Paris" win Writers Guild Awards
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. film and television writers gave their top two movie awards on Sunday to romance "Midnight in Paris" and drama "The Descendants" in the final Hollywood guild awards show before next week's Oscars. Writer-director Woody Allen won the Writers Guild of America award for best original screenplay with "Midnight in Paris," his tale of a young writer in Paris who faces questions of love. ...
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| Michael Douglas added to list of Oscar presenters
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| LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Two-time Oscar-winner Michael Douglas is the latest presenter announced for the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. Producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer made the announcement Monday. Douglas won an Oscar for his lead performance in "Wall Street" (1987) and a Best Picture award as a producer of "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975). His film credits include "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," "Solitary Man," "You, Me and Dupree," "Traffic," "Wonder Boys," "Falling Down," "Fatal Attraction" and "The China Syndrome. ... |
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| Oscar front-runner "The Artist" expanding theaters
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| LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With less than a week until the Oscars, The Weinstein Company is planning to expand the box-office reach of Best Picture front-runner "The Artist." Erik Lomis, The Weinstein Company's head of distribution, told TheWrap that he intends to add at least 200 locations -- and maybe as many as 400 -- on Friday. "We're pushing every button we can," he said. If this past weekend's box office is an indicator, going wider with "The Artist" should pay off. ... |
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| Rules, schmules! Oscar hopefuls work around new guidelines
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The January 31 photo opportunity for the film "The Artist" came courtesy of Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who presented the cast and crew of the film with the inaugural "Made in Hollywood" award. But the photo op wasn't just a feel-good ceremony to celebrate the movie. It also served as a clever marketing opportunity for Harvey Weinstein, the movie impresario who has made a history of tweaking rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to restrict Oscar campaigning. ...
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| Denzel Washington's "Safe House" grabs box office crown
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The weekend box office title landed securely in Denzel Washington's hands as his thriller, "Safe House," beat love story "The Vow" over a long U.S. holiday weekend. "Safe House" took in $28.4 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters from Friday through Monday, according to studio estimates compiled by Reuters. That lifted the movie to No. 1 from its second-place finish when it opened a week earlier. "The Vow," last weekend's winner, slipped to second place with $26.6 million over the four days. ...
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| Why Hollywood should make a movie about John Fairfax
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 19 (TheWrap.com) - From "The King's Speech" to "The Blind Side," Hollywood loves an incredible true story. In John Fairfax, the movie business has a doozy. The adventurer died this month, his exploits largely forgotten and overshadowed by a glut of balloon boys and "Survivor" spin-offs. That should change with a range of appreciations in papers like the New York Times and the Washington Post that read like pitches for a rollicking and uplifting version of "127 Hours. ... |
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| Sundance Selects acquires Romanian film "Beyond the Hills"
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 19 (TheWrap.com) - Sundance Selects has acquired North American rights to "Beyond the Hills," Cristian Mungiu's newest movie, the company said Saturday. The Romanian director's 2007 feature "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" won the Palme d'Or and Fipresci International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Mungiu wrote, directed and, with Pascal Cauchteaux and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, produced "Beyond the Hills." The film is about Alina and Voichita, two young women who grew up together in an orphanage and reunite in an isolated convent in Romania. ... |
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| Italian prison drama wins best film in Berlin
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 BERLIN (Reuters) - "Caesar Must Die," a docu-drama in which murderers and mafiosi act out a Shakespearean tragedy in a high-security Italian jail, won the Golden Bear award for best picture at the Berlin film festival on Saturday. The black-and-white movie, called "Cesare deve morire" in Italian and directed by veteran brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, was among the favorites to scoop the coveted honor. The Tavianis - Paolo is 80 and Vittorio 82 - followed a group of convicts in the Rebibbia jail on the outskirts of Rome as they rehearse "Julius Caesar" for a prison production. ...
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| "Undefeated" on the gridiron of life. At Oscars, too?
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It can't be easy making Sean "Diddy" Combs cry, but Oscar-nominated documentary film "Undefeated" did -- four times. "I cried like a baby in my house," the rap mogul, fashion impresario, actor and show business entrepreneur told Reuters. On its surface, which in this case is the football field, "Undefeated" is a tale of athletes who mature during their high school football season. But scratch that surface and the movie bleeds the stuff of human drama -- overcoming hardship, sacrifice, personal growth, human bonding, love. ...
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| AP critics pick 'The Artist' for top Oscar wins
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 Associated Press movie writers David Germain and Christy Lemire are boringly in lockstep on their picks for this season's top Academy Awards categories, depriving them of their usual snide debate over who's going to win.
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| Actor who had role on "Seinfeld" shoots self
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| CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Character actor Daniel von Bargen, who has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows including "Seinfeld" and "Malcolm in the Middle," was hospitalized after shooting himself in the head at his Cincinnati-area condominium, authorities said Wednesday. Von Bargen, 61, told a Cincinnati-area emergency dispatcher on Monday that he had shot himself in the temple with a .38-caliber pistol at his home and could not open his left eye. ... |
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| Leonardo DiCaprio Helps Academy Acquire 'Wizard Of Oz' Ruby Slippers
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Leonardo DiCaprio is helping turn the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences into the Land of Oz. The actor and activist recently helped the Academy Foundation acquire a pair of Dorothy's ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz," it was revealed on Wednesday.
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| Sacha Baron Cohen's Oscar tickets in jeopardy
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| LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Contrary to reports, the Academy has not yet pulled Sacha Baron Cohen's Oscar tickets over his plan to appear on the red carpet in character for his next movie -- but that could still happen. According to an executive with the Academy who did not wish to be identified, AMPAS officials have been in touch with representatives for Baron Cohen since they learned of his plan to attend the Oscars in costume as the title character in "The Dictator." Their message to British comic was clear: "Our red carpet is not for stunting. ... |
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| Jennifer Aniston puts name in star on Walk of Fame
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 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Jennifer Aniston was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Wednesday, the first of the "Friends" actors to receive the emblem of celebrity that she described as "surreal." "I was born in Sherman Oaks, California. I am a California girl through and through, and I'm sure this is always just sort of been in the back of my mind," said Aniston at the ceremony. "It probably wasn't even a dream, it was one of my wildest dreams. I don't think that I ever even thought that this would be here, this day. ...
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| Oscars: Sacha Baron Cohen Not Banned From Academy Awards
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Sacha Baron Cohen isn't banned from Sunday's Oscars, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has reached out to his camp, following a report the actor planned to show up to the event as "The Dictator."
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| "Wizard of Oz" ruby slippers find home at film academy
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| LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Judy Garland's ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" have found their way home. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said on Wednesday it had acquired one of the four known surviving pairs of the iconic shoes made for the 1939 movie, with the help of Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg. The shoes, regarded as one of the world's best-known film props, are believed to have been worn by Garland's character Dorothy when she clicked her heels three times to return to Kansas from the fantasy land of Oz near the end of the movie. ... |
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| Jai Courtney to play Jack McClane in new "Die Hard" film
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - Jai Courtney, an Australian television star, will play Jack McClane in "A Good Day to Die Hard," Fox said Wednesday. Jack McClane is the son of Bruce Willis's character, John McClane. "A Good Day to Die Hard" -- the fifth in the "Die Hard" franchise -- introduces John McClane's estranged son, Jack. The two, in Moscow, have to work together to keep each other alive. Courtney starred as Varro in "Spartacus: Blood and Sand." He also starred opposite Tom Cruise in "One Shot. ... |
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| SAG union calls opponents' lawsuit a "stunt"
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| LOS ANGELES, Feb 22 (TheWrap.com) - The Screen Actors Guild called a lawsuit filed by a group that opposes a SAG merger with AFTRA a "publicity stunt" and its claims "preposterous" on Wednesday -- the same day the lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles. "We are confident that our actions are appropriate and consistent with the law and our own rules of procedure," the union said in a written statement. The lawsuit claims SAG has been dishonest about the effects of the proposed merger and is withholding information. ... |
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| Jackson Rathbone 'Excited' To Become A Father: It's The 'Greatest Thing' That's Ever Happened To Me
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Jackson Rathbone is about to take on the most import role of his life - that of a father. "I'm going to be a dad!" the actor told Access Hollywood at the premiere of the new Amanda Seyfried thriller, "Gone," in Los Angeles on Tuesday. "It's kind of the greatest, most exciting thing that's ever happened to me in my life, so I'm very excited."
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