Matt Damon tackles "fracking" issue in the "Promised Land"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hot-button topic of "fracking" has finally made its way to Hollywood in the new movie "Promised Land," out in U.S. theaters on Friday, with actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski teaming up to further the debate on the energy drilling technique.

The film explores the social impact of hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, or "fracking," which has sparked nation-wide environmental and political battles over its impact on drinking water, U.S. energy use, seismic activity and other areas.

"Promised Land" will see Damon, 42, reunite with director Gus Van Sant for the third time, following their success with 1997 film "Good Will Hunting and 2002's "Gerry."

In their latest film, Damon plays a corporate salesman who goes to a rural U.S. town to buy or lease land on behalf of a gas company looking to drill for oil. He soon faces opposition from a slick environmentalist, played by Krasinski.

In real life, Damon hasn't shied away from getting involved in political and social issues, working with charities and organizations to eradicate AIDS in developing countries, bringing attention to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, providing safe drinking water and stopping trees from being chopped and used for junk mail.

Yet "Promised Land," which Damon also co-wrote and produced, doesn't take a noticeable stance on "fracking." The actor would not publicly state his own views, telling Reuters that he didn't think his opinion had "any bearing" on the film.

"The point is that the movie should start a conversation. It's certainly not a pro-fracking movie, but we didn't want to tell people what to think," Damon said.

The actor said he and Krasinski never set out to make a socially conscious film, and "fracking" was added in later, as a backdrop to the story.

"It wasn't that we said we wanted to make a movie about 'fracking' as much as we wanted to make a movie about American identity, about real people. We wanted to make a movie about the country today, where we came from, where we are and where we are headed," Damon said.

"'Fracking' was perfect because the stakes are so incredibly high and people are so divided. It asks all the questions about short-term thinking versus long-term thinking."

Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping water laced with chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock formations to break them up and unleash hydrocarbons. Critics worry that "fracking" fluids or hydrocarbons can still leak into water tables from wells, or above ground.

FROM 'ADJUSTMENT BUREAU' TO 'PROMISED LAND'

At first glance, the pairing of Damon with Krasinski may not come across as the perfect fit, as Damon has primarily been associated with longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, both of whom won Oscars for writing "Good Will Hunting."

Damon later become a colleague and friend to a number of key Hollywood players, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise.

Krasinski, 33, is best known for playing sardonic Jim Halpert on NBC's long-running television series, "The Office," and has had occasional supporting roles in films such as 2008's "Leatherheads."

Damon and Krasinski came together after meeting through Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Damon in the 2011 film "The Adjustment Bureau." Damon said he and his wife started double-dating with Krasinski and Blunt, through which their collaboration on "Promised Land" came about.

The duo's busy work schedules forced them to moonlight on weekends to make "Promised Land."

"John showed up at my house every Saturday at breakfast and we would write all day until dinner," Damon said. "Then we'd do it again on Sunday. I have four kids so he would come to me."

But Damon's determination to make the film his feature directorial debut fell through when his acting schedule changed, making it impossible to direct "Promised Land," so he turned to Van Sant.

"My first inclination was to send the script to somebody I'd worked with before," he said. "Gus seemed like the most obvious choice and I realized later that I'd never written anything that anyone else had directed, except Gus. I have a real comfort level with him."

Damon said he has not given up on his dream of directing movies and has his eye on a project at movie studio Warner Bros., which has a deal with Damon and Affleck's joint production company, Pearl Street Films.

With Affleck's third directorial effort "Argo" becoming an awards contender, Damon joked that the film's success can only be a good thing for his own budding directing career.

"I now happen to be partnered with the hottest director in Hollywood!" he said, laughing.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-Times editor Rees-Mogg, who supported Mick Jagger, dies

LONDON (Reuters) - William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of Britain's Times newspaper who famously backed Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stones singer was jailed for a drug offence, has died at the age of 84.

On its website, the Times said Rees-Mogg, a former chairman of the Arts Council and vice-chairman of the BBC, had been suffering from oesophageal cancer.

Rees-Mogg became editor of the paper in 1967 and, despite establishment credentials built up at independent school and Balliol College, Oxford, soon showed a rebellious streak.

In July of that year, he published a celebrated leading article criticizing the jailing of Jagger for a minor drugs offence, headlined: "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?"

Later Rees-Mogg, in an article in the Times after he had stepped down as editor, described John Major, Conservative prime minister for most of the 1990s as "over-promoted, unfit to govern and lacking self-confidence".

"His ideal level of political competence would be deputy chief whip or something of that standing," he added, in a contemptuous reference to Britain's behind-the-scenes political party managers.

However Rees-Mogg stubbornly defended former U.S. President Richard Nixon against all the Watergate evidence filed by the Times' Washington staff as the scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974 unfolded.

The Times was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in January 1981, at which point Rees-Mogg, who had backed the Murdoch purchase, resigned to make way for one of Britain's most celebrated editors, Harold Evans, who became Reuters editor-at-large in 2011.

The paper's website carried a tribute from Murdoch on Saturday.

"William Rees Mogg was a distinguished editor of the Times for 14 years, during which time he modernized the paper, reaching out to a younger readership with expanded coverage of news, sport and features," Murdoch wrote.

"It is to his great credit that he retained the intellectual integrity of the paper while attracting a broader based and markedly more female readership for the paper.

"He gave me invaluable support when I acquired Times Newspapers in 1981, and remained someone on whom I could always count for impartial counsel."

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Alison Williams)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Matt Damon tackles "fracking" issue in the "Promised Land"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hot-button topic of "fracking" has finally made its way to Hollywood in the new movie "Promised Land," out in U.S. theaters on Friday, with actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski teaming up to further the debate on the energy drilling technique.

The film explores the social impact of hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, or "fracking," which has sparked nation-wide environmental and political battles over its impact on drinking water, U.S. energy use, seismic activity and other areas.

"Promised Land" will see Damon, 42, reunite with director Gus Van Sant for the third time, following their success with 1997 film "Good Will Hunting and 2002's "Gerry."

In their latest film, Damon plays a corporate salesman who goes to a rural U.S. town to buy or lease land on behalf of a gas company looking to drill for oil. He soon faces opposition from a slick environmentalist, played by Krasinski.

In real life, Damon hasn't shied away from getting involved in political and social issues, working with charities and organizations to eradicate AIDS in developing countries, bringing attention to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, providing safe drinking water and stopping trees from being chopped and used for junk mail.

Yet "Promised Land," which Damon also co-wrote and produced, doesn't take a noticeable stance on "fracking." The actor would not publicly state his own views, telling Reuters that he didn't think his opinion had "any bearing" on the film.

"The point is that the movie should start a conversation. It's certainly not a pro-fracking movie, but we didn't want to tell people what to think," Damon said.

The actor said he and Krasinski never set out to make a socially conscious film, and "fracking" was added in later, as a backdrop to the story.

"It wasn't that we said we wanted to make a movie about 'fracking' as much as we wanted to make a movie about American identity, about real people. We wanted to make a movie about the country today, where we came from, where we are and where we are headed," Damon said.

"'Fracking' was perfect because the stakes are so incredibly high and people are so divided. It asks all the questions about short-term thinking versus long-term thinking."

Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping water laced with chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock formations to break them up and unleash hydrocarbons. Critics worry that "fracking" fluids or hydrocarbons can still leak into water tables from wells, or above ground.

FROM 'ADJUSTMENT BUREAU' TO 'PROMISED LAND'

At first glance, the pairing of Damon with Krasinski may not come across as the perfect fit, as Damon has primarily been associated with longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, both of whom won Oscars for writing "Good Will Hunting."

Damon later become a colleague and friend to a number of key Hollywood players, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise.

Krasinski, 33, is best known for playing sardonic Jim Halpert on NBC's long-running television series, "The Office," and has had occasional supporting roles in films such as 2008's "Leatherheads."

Damon and Krasinski came together after meeting through Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Damon in the 2011 film "The Adjustment Bureau." Damon said he and his wife started double-dating with Krasinski and Blunt, through which their collaboration on "Promised Land" came about.

The duo's busy work schedules forced them to moonlight on weekends to make "Promised Land."

"John showed up at my house every Saturday at breakfast and we would write all day until dinner," Damon said. "Then we'd do it again on Sunday. I have four kids so he would come to me."

But Damon's determination to make the film his feature directorial debut fell through when his acting schedule changed, making it impossible to direct "Promised Land," so he turned to Van Sant.

"My first inclination was to send the script to somebody I'd worked with before," he said. "Gus seemed like the most obvious choice and I realized later that I'd never written anything that anyone else had directed, except Gus. I have a real comfort level with him."

Damon said he has not given up on his dream of directing movies and has his eye on a project at movie studio Warner Bros., which has a deal with Damon and Affleck's joint production company, Pearl Street Films.

With Affleck's third directorial effort "Argo" becoming an awards contender, Damon joked that the film's success can only be a good thing for his own budding directing career.

"I now happen to be partnered with the hottest director in Hollywood!" he said, laughing.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-Times editor Rees-Mogg, who supported Mick Jagger, dies

LONDON (Reuters) - William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of Britain's Times newspaper who famously backed Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stones singer was jailed for a drug offence, has died at the age of 84.

On its website, the Times said Rees-Mogg, a former chairman of the Arts Council and vice-chairman of the BBC, had been suffering from oesophageal cancer.

Rees-Mogg became editor of the paper in 1967 and, despite establishment credentials built up at independent school and Balliol College, Oxford, soon showed a rebellious streak.

In July of that year, he published a celebrated leading article criticizing the jailing of Jagger for a minor drugs offence, headlined: "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?"

Later Rees-Mogg, in an article in the Times after he had stepped down as editor, described John Major, Conservative prime minister for most of the 1990s as "over-promoted, unfit to govern and lacking self-confidence".

"His ideal level of political competence would be deputy chief whip or something of that standing," he added, in a contemptuous reference to Britain's behind-the-scenes political party managers.

However Rees-Mogg stubbornly defended former U.S. President Richard Nixon against all the Watergate evidence filed by the Times' Washington staff as the scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974 unfolded.

The Times was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in January 1981, at which point Rees-Mogg, who had backed the Murdoch purchase, resigned to make way for one of Britain's most celebrated editors, Harold Evans, who became Reuters editor-at-large in 2011.

The paper's website carried a tribute from Murdoch on Saturday.

"William Rees Mogg was a distinguished editor of the Times for 14 years, during which time he modernized the paper, reaching out to a younger readership with expanded coverage of news, sport and features," Murdoch wrote.

"It is to his great credit that he retained the intellectual integrity of the paper while attracting a broader based and markedly more female readership for the paper.

"He gave me invaluable support when I acquired Times Newspapers in 1981, and remained someone on whom I could always count for impartial counsel."

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Alison Williams)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Matt Damon tackles "fracking" issue in the "Promised Land"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hot-button topic of "fracking" has finally made its way to Hollywood in the new movie "Promised Land," out in U.S. theaters on Friday, with actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski teaming up to further the debate on the energy drilling technique.

The film explores the social impact of hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, or "fracking," which has sparked nation-wide environmental and political battles over its impact on drinking water, U.S. energy use, seismic activity and other areas.

"Promised Land" will see Damon, 42, reunite with director Gus Van Sant for the third time, following their success with 1997 film "Good Will Hunting and 2002's "Gerry."

In their latest film, Damon plays a corporate salesman who goes to a rural U.S. town to buy or lease land on behalf of a gas company looking to drill for oil. He soon faces opposition from a slick environmentalist, played by Krasinski.

In real life, Damon hasn't shied away from getting involved in political and social issues, working with charities and organizations to eradicate AIDS in developing countries, bringing attention to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, providing safe drinking water and stopping trees from being chopped and used for junk mail.

Yet "Promised Land," which Damon also co-wrote and produced, doesn't take a noticeable stance on "fracking." The actor would not publicly state his own views, telling Reuters that he didn't think his opinion had "any bearing" on the film.

"The point is that the movie should start a conversation. It's certainly not a pro-fracking movie, but we didn't want to tell people what to think," Damon said.

The actor said he and Krasinski never set out to make a socially conscious film, and "fracking" was added in later, as a backdrop to the story.

"It wasn't that we said we wanted to make a movie about 'fracking' as much as we wanted to make a movie about American identity, about real people. We wanted to make a movie about the country today, where we came from, where we are and where we are headed," Damon said.

"'Fracking' was perfect because the stakes are so incredibly high and people are so divided. It asks all the questions about short-term thinking versus long-term thinking."

Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping water laced with chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock formations to break them up and unleash hydrocarbons. Critics worry that "fracking" fluids or hydrocarbons can still leak into water tables from wells, or above ground.

FROM 'ADJUSTMENT BUREAU' TO 'PROMISED LAND'

At first glance, the pairing of Damon with Krasinski may not come across as the perfect fit, as Damon has primarily been associated with longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, both of whom won Oscars for writing "Good Will Hunting."

Damon later become a colleague and friend to a number of key Hollywood players, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise.

Krasinski, 33, is best known for playing sardonic Jim Halpert on NBC's long-running television series, "The Office," and has had occasional supporting roles in films such as 2008's "Leatherheads."

Damon and Krasinski came together after meeting through Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Damon in the 2011 film "The Adjustment Bureau." Damon said he and his wife started double-dating with Krasinski and Blunt, through which their collaboration on "Promised Land" came about.

The duo's busy work schedules forced them to moonlight on weekends to make "Promised Land."

"John showed up at my house every Saturday at breakfast and we would write all day until dinner," Damon said. "Then we'd do it again on Sunday. I have four kids so he would come to me."

But Damon's determination to make the film his feature directorial debut fell through when his acting schedule changed, making it impossible to direct "Promised Land," so he turned to Van Sant.

"My first inclination was to send the script to somebody I'd worked with before," he said. "Gus seemed like the most obvious choice and I realized later that I'd never written anything that anyone else had directed, except Gus. I have a real comfort level with him."

Damon said he has not given up on his dream of directing movies and has his eye on a project at movie studio Warner Bros., which has a deal with Damon and Affleck's joint production company, Pearl Street Films.

With Affleck's third directorial effort "Argo" becoming an awards contender, Damon joked that the film's success can only be a good thing for his own budding directing career.

"I now happen to be partnered with the hottest director in Hollywood!" he said, laughing.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-Times editor Rees-Mogg, who supported Mick Jagger, dies

LONDON (Reuters) - William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of Britain's Times newspaper who famously backed Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stones singer was jailed for a drug offence, has died at the age of 84.

On its website, the Times said Rees-Mogg, a former chairman of the Arts Council and vice-chairman of the BBC, had been suffering from oesophageal cancer.

Rees-Mogg became editor of the paper in 1967 and, despite establishment credentials built up at independent school and Balliol College, Oxford, soon showed a rebellious streak.

In July of that year, he published a celebrated leading article criticizing the jailing of Jagger for a minor drugs offence, headlined: "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?"

Later Rees-Mogg, in an article in the Times after he had stepped down as editor, described John Major, Conservative prime minister for most of the 1990s as "over-promoted, unfit to govern and lacking self-confidence".

"His ideal level of political competence would be deputy chief whip or something of that standing," he added, in a contemptuous reference to Britain's behind-the-scenes political party managers.

However Rees-Mogg stubbornly defended former U.S. President Richard Nixon against all the Watergate evidence filed by the Times' Washington staff as the scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974 unfolded.

The Times was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in January 1981, at which point Rees-Mogg, who had backed the Murdoch purchase, resigned to make way for one of Britain's most celebrated editors, Harold Evans, who became Reuters editor-at-large in 2011.

The paper's website carried a tribute from Murdoch on Saturday.

"William Rees Mogg was a distinguished editor of the Times for 14 years, during which time he modernized the paper, reaching out to a younger readership with expanded coverage of news, sport and features," Murdoch wrote.

"It is to his great credit that he retained the intellectual integrity of the paper while attracting a broader based and markedly more female readership for the paper.

"He gave me invaluable support when I acquired Times Newspapers in 1981, and remained someone on whom I could always count for impartial counsel."

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Alison Williams)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Matt Damon tackles "fracking" issue in the "Promised Land"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hot-button topic of "fracking" has finally made its way to Hollywood in the new movie "Promised Land," out in U.S. theaters on Friday, with actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski teaming up to further the debate on the energy drilling technique.

The film explores the social impact of hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, or "fracking," which has sparked nation-wide environmental and political battles over its impact on drinking water, U.S. energy use, seismic activity and other areas.

"Promised Land" will see Damon, 42, reunite with director Gus Van Sant for the third time, following their success with 1997 film "Good Will Hunting and 2002's "Gerry."

In their latest film, Damon plays a corporate salesman who goes to a rural U.S. town to buy or lease land on behalf of a gas company looking to drill for oil. He soon faces opposition from a slick environmentalist, played by Krasinski.

In real life, Damon hasn't shied away from getting involved in political and social issues, working with charities and organizations to eradicate AIDS in developing countries, bringing attention to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, providing safe drinking water and stopping trees from being chopped and used for junk mail.

Yet "Promised Land," which Damon also co-wrote and produced, doesn't take a noticeable stance on "fracking." The actor would not publicly state his own views, telling Reuters that he didn't think his opinion had "any bearing" on the film.

"The point is that the movie should start a conversation. It's certainly not a pro-fracking movie, but we didn't want to tell people what to think," Damon said.

The actor said he and Krasinski never set out to make a socially conscious film, and "fracking" was added in later, as a backdrop to the story.

"It wasn't that we said we wanted to make a movie about 'fracking' as much as we wanted to make a movie about American identity, about real people. We wanted to make a movie about the country today, where we came from, where we are and where we are headed," Damon said.

"'Fracking' was perfect because the stakes are so incredibly high and people are so divided. It asks all the questions about short-term thinking versus long-term thinking."

Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping water laced with chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock formations to break them up and unleash hydrocarbons. Critics worry that "fracking" fluids or hydrocarbons can still leak into water tables from wells, or above ground.

FROM 'ADJUSTMENT BUREAU' TO 'PROMISED LAND'

At first glance, the pairing of Damon with Krasinski may not come across as the perfect fit, as Damon has primarily been associated with longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, both of whom won Oscars for writing "Good Will Hunting."

Damon later become a colleague and friend to a number of key Hollywood players, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise.

Krasinski, 33, is best known for playing sardonic Jim Halpert on NBC's long-running television series, "The Office," and has had occasional supporting roles in films such as 2008's "Leatherheads."

Damon and Krasinski came together after meeting through Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Damon in the 2011 film "The Adjustment Bureau." Damon said he and his wife started double-dating with Krasinski and Blunt, through which their collaboration on "Promised Land" came about.

The duo's busy work schedules forced them to moonlight on weekends to make "Promised Land."

"John showed up at my house every Saturday at breakfast and we would write all day until dinner," Damon said. "Then we'd do it again on Sunday. I have four kids so he would come to me."

But Damon's determination to make the film his feature directorial debut fell through when his acting schedule changed, making it impossible to direct "Promised Land," so he turned to Van Sant.

"My first inclination was to send the script to somebody I'd worked with before," he said. "Gus seemed like the most obvious choice and I realized later that I'd never written anything that anyone else had directed, except Gus. I have a real comfort level with him."

Damon said he has not given up on his dream of directing movies and has his eye on a project at movie studio Warner Bros., which has a deal with Damon and Affleck's joint production company, Pearl Street Films.

With Affleck's third directorial effort "Argo" becoming an awards contender, Damon joked that the film's success can only be a good thing for his own budding directing career.

"I now happen to be partnered with the hottest director in Hollywood!" he said, laughing.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-Times editor Rees-Mogg, who supported Mick Jagger, dies

LONDON (Reuters) - William Rees-Mogg, a former editor of Britain's Times newspaper who famously backed Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stones singer was jailed for a drug offence, has died at the age of 84.

On its website, the Times said Rees-Mogg, a former chairman of the Arts Council and vice-chairman of the BBC, had been suffering from oesophageal cancer.

Rees-Mogg became editor of the paper in 1967 and, despite establishment credentials built up at independent school and Balliol College, Oxford, soon showed a rebellious streak.

In July of that year, he published a celebrated leading article criticizing the jailing of Jagger for a minor drugs offence, headlined: "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?"

Later Rees-Mogg, in an article in the Times after he had stepped down as editor, described John Major, Conservative prime minister for most of the 1990s as "over-promoted, unfit to govern and lacking self-confidence".

"His ideal level of political competence would be deputy chief whip or something of that standing," he added, in a contemptuous reference to Britain's behind-the-scenes political party managers.

However Rees-Mogg stubbornly defended former U.S. President Richard Nixon against all the Watergate evidence filed by the Times' Washington staff as the scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974 unfolded.

The Times was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in January 1981, at which point Rees-Mogg, who had backed the Murdoch purchase, resigned to make way for one of Britain's most celebrated editors, Harold Evans, who became Reuters editor-at-large in 2011.

The paper's website carried a tribute from Murdoch on Saturday.

"William Rees Mogg was a distinguished editor of the Times for 14 years, during which time he modernized the paper, reaching out to a younger readership with expanded coverage of news, sport and features," Murdoch wrote.

"It is to his great credit that he retained the intellectual integrity of the paper while attracting a broader based and markedly more female readership for the paper.

"He gave me invaluable support when I acquired Times Newspapers in 1981, and remained someone on whom I could always count for impartial counsel."

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Alison Williams)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Billy Crystal channels real-life role in "Parental Guidance"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After a decade away from the big screen, funnyman Billy Crystal has mined his real-life experiences as a grandfather and is back in the holiday season movie "Parental Guidance."

The film, which opened in U.S. theaters on Christmas, stars Crystal as a recently fired baseball announcer, who agrees to watch his three grandchildren with his wife (Bette Midler), while his daughter and her husband go on a business trip.

Crystal, 64, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film, being a grandparent and why he won't host the Oscars ceremony anymore.

Q: You have not been on the big screen in a starring role since 2002's "Analyze That." Did you miss making movies?

A: "I spent over four years doing my one-man Broadway show, '700 Sundays' and didn't care about doing movies. I just so love being in front of live audiences. The play is more satisfying than anything. I'm not interrupted by planes flying overhead, waiting for them to light and all those gruesome slow things on a movie. But really, the last five years were spent getting this movie made."

Q: How did "Parental Guidance" become your return to film?

A: "When I wrote the first story for this movie, my wife Janice and I babysat for our daughter Jenny while she went away with her husband. We had six days with their girls, all alone. It was an eye-opener. When you're not used to that energy, it's tough. On the 7th day I rested and came in to the office and said, 'Here's the idea for the movie.'"

Q: What was eye-opening about those six days?

A: "The eye-opener was the bible that we were given before they left town about what to say (to the kids), what to do, all the rules, don't do this, don't do that, this child has to be taken here. They have my respect of how they programmed their days and weeks. It's insane what they have to do nowadays for schooling and parenting. It's wild."

Q: Quite a difference between your childhood and the grandkids' childhood, right?

A: "When I was a kid growing up, it was basically 'Go outside and play and I'll see you at dinner.' There was no thought that there were bad people out there. There was such a carefree wonderful trust which forced you to use your imagination, which also bonded you with the best of you, and your friends. We didn't have that 'inside' thing like videogames. My only 'inside' thing was watching the Yankees. Otherwise everything was outside."

Q: Speaking of the Yankees, your well-documented lifelong love of baseball is incorporated in to the film with your character being a ball-game announcer. That must have been fun to do.

A: "I love the game and I thought it was a really interesting occupation we hadn't seen before. And a good one for me to play because I love it. I wanted my character to have something he loved doing where I didn't have to fake it."

Q: In being absent from the silver screen for a while, did you find that the movie-making business has changed much?

A: "The studios are so concerned with quadrants (capturing four major demographic groups of moviegoers - men, woman and those over and under 25). I'd never heard of these things when I was in my early years of making movies. You just did them. There was no interference. Now it's a whole different ball game. They're so worried: 'Who's going to come?' Well, there's 77 million American who are babyboomers. That's a huge audience who wants to laugh and have a story told to them that doesn't have bombs and spies and killing."

Q: Does "Parental Guidance" reflect where are you now at this stage of your life?

A: "I was fortunate to be in a great romantic comedy about falling in love (1989's 'When Harry Met Sally'). I wrote the original story for my turning 40, 'City Slickers' (in 1991), which became a huge hit and a very liked movie. And now 'Parental Guidance' happened at this point in my life. I relate to it as a parent and a grandparent."

Q: You will be a grandfather for the fourth time in March. What do you like best about that role?

A: "It's so hard to understand how you can love someone so much that's not yours, but extensions of you. I'm always so moved seeing my girls pregnant, and seeing them move on in their lives. I'm going to turn 65 on March 14. My wife's birthday is the 16th. The baby's due the 18th. So we've got maybe a straight flush happening here. That would be the greatest present of all - a healthy new baby."

Q: Last year you hosted the Oscar ceremony for the ninth time, making you the second most-used host after the late Bob Hope. Are you gunning for his title?

A: "I'm not even close. I've done 9, he's done 19 and neither one of us are doing it again. It's hard to say, 'Can't wait to do it again,' but I can wait."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Matt Damon tackles "fracking" issue in the "Promised Land"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hot-button topic of "fracking" has finally made its way to Hollywood in the new movie "Promised Land," out in U.S. theaters on Friday, with actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski teaming up to further the debate on the energy drilling technique.

The film explores the social impact of hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, or "fracking," which has sparked nation-wide environmental and political battles over its impact on drinking water, U.S. energy use, seismic activity and other areas.

"Promised Land" will see Damon, 42, reunite with director Gus Van Sant for the third time, following their success with 1997 film "Good Will Hunting and 2002's "Gerry."

In their latest film, Damon plays a corporate salesman who goes to a rural U.S. town to buy or lease land on behalf of a gas company looking to drill for oil. He soon faces opposition from a slick environmentalist, played by Krasinski.

In real life, Damon hasn't shied away from getting involved in political and social issues, working with charities and organizations to eradicate AIDS in developing countries, bringing attention to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, providing safe drinking water and stopping trees from being chopped and used for junk mail.

Yet "Promised Land," which Damon also co-wrote and produced, doesn't take a noticeable stance on "fracking." The actor would not publicly state his own views, telling Reuters that he didn't think his opinion had "any bearing" on the film.

"The point is that the movie should start a conversation. It's certainly not a pro-fracking movie, but we didn't want to tell people what to think," Damon said.

The actor said he and Krasinski never set out to make a socially conscious film, and "fracking" was added in later, as a backdrop to the story.

"It wasn't that we said we wanted to make a movie about 'fracking' as much as we wanted to make a movie about American identity, about real people. We wanted to make a movie about the country today, where we came from, where we are and where we are headed," Damon said.

"'Fracking' was perfect because the stakes are so incredibly high and people are so divided. It asks all the questions about short-term thinking versus long-term thinking."

Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping water laced with chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock formations to break them up and unleash hydrocarbons. Critics worry that "fracking" fluids or hydrocarbons can still leak into water tables from wells, or above ground.

FROM 'ADJUSTMENT BUREAU' TO 'PROMISED LAND'

At first glance, the pairing of Damon with Krasinski may not come across as the perfect fit, as Damon has primarily been associated with longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, both of whom won Oscars for writing "Good Will Hunting."

Damon later become a colleague and friend to a number of key Hollywood players, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise.

Krasinski, 33, is best known for playing sardonic Jim Halpert on NBC's long-running television series, "The Office," and has had occasional supporting roles in films such as 2008's "Leatherheads."

Damon and Krasinski came together after meeting through Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Damon in the 2011 film "The Adjustment Bureau." Damon said he and his wife started double-dating with Krasinski and Blunt, through which their collaboration on "Promised Land" came about.

The duo's busy work schedules forced them to moonlight on weekends to make "Promised Land."

"John showed up at my house every Saturday at breakfast and we would write all day until dinner," Damon said. "Then we'd do it again on Sunday. I have four kids so he would come to me."

But Damon's determination to make the film his feature directorial debut fell through when his acting schedule changed, making it impossible to direct "Promised Land," so he turned to Van Sant.

"My first inclination was to send the script to somebody I'd worked with before," he said. "Gus seemed like the most obvious choice and I realized later that I'd never written anything that anyone else had directed, except Gus. I have a real comfort level with him."

Damon said he has not given up on his dream of directing movies and has his eye on a project at movie studio Warner Bros., which has a deal with Damon and Affleck's joint production company, Pearl Street Films.

With Affleck's third directorial effort "Argo" becoming an awards contender, Damon joked that the film's success can only be a good thing for his own budding directing career.

"I now happen to be partnered with the hottest director in Hollywood!" he said, laughing.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Billy Crystal channels real-life role in "Parental Guidance"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After a decade away from the big screen, funnyman Billy Crystal has mined his real-life experiences as a grandfather and is back in the holiday season movie "Parental Guidance."

The film, which opened in U.S. theaters on Christmas, stars Crystal as a recently fired baseball announcer, who agrees to watch his three grandchildren with his wife (Bette Midler), while his daughter and her husband go on a business trip.

Crystal, 64, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film, being a grandparent and why he won't host the Oscars ceremony anymore.

Q: You have not been on the big screen in a starring role since 2002's "Analyze That." Did you miss making movies?

A: "I spent over four years doing my one-man Broadway show, '700 Sundays' and didn't care about doing movies. I just so love being in front of live audiences. The play is more satisfying than anything. I'm not interrupted by planes flying overhead, waiting for them to light and all those gruesome slow things on a movie. But really, the last five years were spent getting this movie made."

Q: How did "Parental Guidance" become your return to film?

A: "When I wrote the first story for this movie, my wife Janice and I babysat for our daughter Jenny while she went away with her husband. We had six days with their girls, all alone. It was an eye-opener. When you're not used to that energy, it's tough. On the 7th day I rested and came in to the office and said, 'Here's the idea for the movie.'"

Q: What was eye-opening about those six days?

A: "The eye-opener was the bible that we were given before they left town about what to say (to the kids), what to do, all the rules, don't do this, don't do that, this child has to be taken here. They have my respect of how they programmed their days and weeks. It's insane what they have to do nowadays for schooling and parenting. It's wild."

Q: Quite a difference between your childhood and the grandkids' childhood, right?

A: "When I was a kid growing up, it was basically 'Go outside and play and I'll see you at dinner.' There was no thought that there were bad people out there. There was such a carefree wonderful trust which forced you to use your imagination, which also bonded you with the best of you, and your friends. We didn't have that 'inside' thing like videogames. My only 'inside' thing was watching the Yankees. Otherwise everything was outside."

Q: Speaking of the Yankees, your well-documented lifelong love of baseball is incorporated in to the film with your character being a ball-game announcer. That must have been fun to do.

A: "I love the game and I thought it was a really interesting occupation we hadn't seen before. And a good one for me to play because I love it. I wanted my character to have something he loved doing where I didn't have to fake it."

Q: In being absent from the silver screen for a while, did you find that the movie-making business has changed much?

A: "The studios are so concerned with quadrants (capturing four major demographic groups of moviegoers - men, woman and those over and under 25). I'd never heard of these things when I was in my early years of making movies. You just did them. There was no interference. Now it's a whole different ball game. They're so worried: 'Who's going to come?' Well, there's 77 million American who are babyboomers. That's a huge audience who wants to laugh and have a story told to them that doesn't have bombs and spies and killing."

Q: Does "Parental Guidance" reflect where are you now at this stage of your life?

A: "I was fortunate to be in a great romantic comedy about falling in love (1989's 'When Harry Met Sally'). I wrote the original story for my turning 40, 'City Slickers' (in 1991), which became a huge hit and a very liked movie. And now 'Parental Guidance' happened at this point in my life. I relate to it as a parent and a grandparent."

Q: You will be a grandfather for the fourth time in March. What do you like best about that role?

A: "It's so hard to understand how you can love someone so much that's not yours, but extensions of you. I'm always so moved seeing my girls pregnant, and seeing them move on in their lives. I'm going to turn 65 on March 14. My wife's birthday is the 16th. The baby's due the 18th. So we've got maybe a straight flush happening here. That would be the greatest present of all - a healthy new baby."

Q: Last year you hosted the Oscar ceremony for the ninth time, making you the second most-used host after the late Bob Hope. Are you gunning for his title?

A: "I'm not even close. I've done 9, he's done 19 and neither one of us are doing it again. It's hard to say, 'Can't wait to do it again,' but I can wait."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Matt Damon tackles "fracking" issue in the "Promised Land"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The hot-button topic of "fracking" has finally made its way to Hollywood in the new movie "Promised Land," out in U.S. theaters on Friday, with actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski teaming up to further the debate on the energy drilling technique.

The film explores the social impact of hydraulic fracturing drilling technique, or "fracking," which has sparked nation-wide environmental and political battles over its impact on drinking water, U.S. energy use, seismic activity and other areas.

"Promised Land" will see Damon, 42, reunite with director Gus Van Sant for the third time, following their success with 1997 film "Good Will Hunting and 2002's "Gerry."

In their latest film, Damon plays a corporate salesman who goes to a rural U.S. town to buy or lease land on behalf of a gas company looking to drill for oil. He soon faces opposition from a slick environmentalist, played by Krasinski.

In real life, Damon hasn't shied away from getting involved in political and social issues, working with charities and organizations to eradicate AIDS in developing countries, bringing attention to atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region, providing safe drinking water and stopping trees from being chopped and used for junk mail.

Yet "Promised Land," which Damon also co-wrote and produced, doesn't take a noticeable stance on "fracking." The actor would not publicly state his own views, telling Reuters that he didn't think his opinion had "any bearing" on the film.

"The point is that the movie should start a conversation. It's certainly not a pro-fracking movie, but we didn't want to tell people what to think," Damon said.

The actor said he and Krasinski never set out to make a socially conscious film, and "fracking" was added in later, as a backdrop to the story.

"It wasn't that we said we wanted to make a movie about 'fracking' as much as we wanted to make a movie about American identity, about real people. We wanted to make a movie about the country today, where we came from, where we are and where we are headed," Damon said.

"'Fracking' was perfect because the stakes are so incredibly high and people are so divided. It asks all the questions about short-term thinking versus long-term thinking."

Hydraulic fracturing entails pumping water laced with chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock formations to break them up and unleash hydrocarbons. Critics worry that "fracking" fluids or hydrocarbons can still leak into water tables from wells, or above ground.

FROM 'ADJUSTMENT BUREAU' TO 'PROMISED LAND'

At first glance, the pairing of Damon with Krasinski may not come across as the perfect fit, as Damon has primarily been associated with longtime friend and collaborator Ben Affleck, both of whom won Oscars for writing "Good Will Hunting."

Damon later become a colleague and friend to a number of key Hollywood players, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt, with whom he co-starred in the "Ocean's Eleven" franchise.

Krasinski, 33, is best known for playing sardonic Jim Halpert on NBC's long-running television series, "The Office," and has had occasional supporting roles in films such as 2008's "Leatherheads."

Damon and Krasinski came together after meeting through Krasinski's wife, Emily Blunt, who co-starred with Damon in the 2011 film "The Adjustment Bureau." Damon said he and his wife started double-dating with Krasinski and Blunt, through which their collaboration on "Promised Land" came about.

The duo's busy work schedules forced them to moonlight on weekends to make "Promised Land."

"John showed up at my house every Saturday at breakfast and we would write all day until dinner," Damon said. "Then we'd do it again on Sunday. I have four kids so he would come to me."

But Damon's determination to make the film his feature directorial debut fell through when his acting schedule changed, making it impossible to direct "Promised Land," so he turned to Van Sant.

"My first inclination was to send the script to somebody I'd worked with before," he said. "Gus seemed like the most obvious choice and I realized later that I'd never written anything that anyone else had directed, except Gus. I have a real comfort level with him."

Damon said he has not given up on his dream of directing movies and has his eye on a project at movie studio Warner Bros., which has a deal with Damon and Affleck's joint production company, Pearl Street Films.

With Affleck's third directorial effort "Argo" becoming an awards contender, Damon joked that the film's success can only be a good thing for his own budding directing career.

"I now happen to be partnered with the hottest director in Hollywood!" he said, laughing.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Paul Simao)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Billy Crystal channels real-life role in "Parental Guidance"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After a decade away from the big screen, funnyman Billy Crystal has mined his real-life experiences as a grandfather and is back in the holiday season movie "Parental Guidance."

The film, which opened in U.S. theaters on Christmas, stars Crystal as a recently fired baseball announcer, who agrees to watch his three grandchildren with his wife (Bette Midler), while his daughter and her husband go on a business trip.

Crystal, 64, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film, being a grandparent and why he won't host the Oscars ceremony anymore.

Q: You have not been on the big screen in a starring role since 2002's "Analyze That." Did you miss making movies?

A: "I spent over four years doing my one-man Broadway show, '700 Sundays' and didn't care about doing movies. I just so love being in front of live audiences. The play is more satisfying than anything. I'm not interrupted by planes flying overhead, waiting for them to light and all those gruesome slow things on a movie. But really, the last five years were spent getting this movie made."

Q: How did "Parental Guidance" become your return to film?

A: "When I wrote the first story for this movie, my wife Janice and I babysat for our daughter Jenny while she went away with her husband. We had six days with their girls, all alone. It was an eye-opener. When you're not used to that energy, it's tough. On the 7th day I rested and came in to the office and said, 'Here's the idea for the movie.'"

Q: What was eye-opening about those six days?

A: "The eye-opener was the bible that we were given before they left town about what to say (to the kids), what to do, all the rules, don't do this, don't do that, this child has to be taken here. They have my respect of how they programmed their days and weeks. It's insane what they have to do nowadays for schooling and parenting. It's wild."

Q: Quite a difference between your childhood and the grandkids' childhood, right?

A: "When I was a kid growing up, it was basically 'Go outside and play and I'll see you at dinner.' There was no thought that there were bad people out there. There was such a carefree wonderful trust which forced you to use your imagination, which also bonded you with the best of you, and your friends. We didn't have that 'inside' thing like videogames. My only 'inside' thing was watching the Yankees. Otherwise everything was outside."

Q: Speaking of the Yankees, your well-documented lifelong love of baseball is incorporated in to the film with your character being a ball-game announcer. That must have been fun to do.

A: "I love the game and I thought it was a really interesting occupation we hadn't seen before. And a good one for me to play because I love it. I wanted my character to have something he loved doing where I didn't have to fake it."

Q: In being absent from the silver screen for a while, did you find that the movie-making business has changed much?

A: "The studios are so concerned with quadrants (capturing four major demographic groups of moviegoers - men, woman and those over and under 25). I'd never heard of these things when I was in my early years of making movies. You just did them. There was no interference. Now it's a whole different ball game. They're so worried: 'Who's going to come?' Well, there's 77 million American who are babyboomers. That's a huge audience who wants to laugh and have a story told to them that doesn't have bombs and spies and killing."

Q: Does "Parental Guidance" reflect where are you now at this stage of your life?

A: "I was fortunate to be in a great romantic comedy about falling in love (1989's 'When Harry Met Sally'). I wrote the original story for my turning 40, 'City Slickers' (in 1991), which became a huge hit and a very liked movie. And now 'Parental Guidance' happened at this point in my life. I relate to it as a parent and a grandparent."

Q: You will be a grandfather for the fourth time in March. What do you like best about that role?

A: "It's so hard to understand how you can love someone so much that's not yours, but extensions of you. I'm always so moved seeing my girls pregnant, and seeing them move on in their lives. I'm going to turn 65 on March 14. My wife's birthday is the 16th. The baby's due the 18th. So we've got maybe a straight flush happening here. That would be the greatest present of all - a healthy new baby."

Q: Last year you hosted the Oscar ceremony for the ninth time, making you the second most-used host after the late Bob Hope. Are you gunning for his title?

A: "I'm not even close. I've done 9, he's done 19 and neither one of us are doing it again. It's hard to say, 'Can't wait to do it again,' but I can wait."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Billy Crystal channels real-life role in "Parental Guidance"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After a decade away from the big screen, funnyman Billy Crystal has mined his real-life experiences as a grandfather and is back in the holiday season movie "Parental Guidance."

The film, which opened in U.S. theaters on Christmas, stars Crystal as a recently fired baseball announcer, who agrees to watch his three grandchildren with his wife (Bette Midler), while his daughter and her husband go on a business trip.

Crystal, 64, sat down with Reuters to talk about the film, being a grandparent and why he won't host the Oscars ceremony anymore.

Q: You have not been on the big screen in a starring role since 2002's "Analyze That." Did you miss making movies?

A: "I spent over four years doing my one-man Broadway show, '700 Sundays' and didn't care about doing movies. I just so love being in front of live audiences. The play is more satisfying than anything. I'm not interrupted by planes flying overhead, waiting for them to light and all those gruesome slow things on a movie. But really, the last five years were spent getting this movie made."

Q: How did "Parental Guidance" become your return to film?

A: "When I wrote the first story for this movie, my wife Janice and I babysat for our daughter Jenny while she went away with her husband. We had six days with their girls, all alone. It was an eye-opener. When you're not used to that energy, it's tough. On the 7th day I rested and came in to the office and said, 'Here's the idea for the movie.'"

Q: What was eye-opening about those six days?

A: "The eye-opener was the bible that we were given before they left town about what to say (to the kids), what to do, all the rules, don't do this, don't do that, this child has to be taken here. They have my respect of how they programmed their days and weeks. It's insane what they have to do nowadays for schooling and parenting. It's wild."

Q: Quite a difference between your childhood and the grandkids' childhood, right?

A: "When I was a kid growing up, it was basically 'Go outside and play and I'll see you at dinner.' There was no thought that there were bad people out there. There was such a carefree wonderful trust which forced you to use your imagination, which also bonded you with the best of you, and your friends. We didn't have that 'inside' thing like videogames. My only 'inside' thing was watching the Yankees. Otherwise everything was outside."

Q: Speaking of the Yankees, your well-documented lifelong love of baseball is incorporated in to the film with your character being a ball-game announcer. That must have been fun to do.

A: "I love the game and I thought it was a really interesting occupation we hadn't seen before. And a good one for me to play because I love it. I wanted my character to have something he loved doing where I didn't have to fake it."

Q: In being absent from the silver screen for a while, did you find that the movie-making business has changed much?

A: "The studios are so concerned with quadrants (capturing four major demographic groups of moviegoers - men, woman and those over and under 25). I'd never heard of these things when I was in my early years of making movies. You just did them. There was no interference. Now it's a whole different ball game. They're so worried: 'Who's going to come?' Well, there's 77 million American who are babyboomers. That's a huge audience who wants to laugh and have a story told to them that doesn't have bombs and spies and killing."

Q: Does "Parental Guidance" reflect where are you now at this stage of your life?

A: "I was fortunate to be in a great romantic comedy about falling in love (1989's 'When Harry Met Sally'). I wrote the original story for my turning 40, 'City Slickers' (in 1991), which became a huge hit and a very liked movie. And now 'Parental Guidance' happened at this point in my life. I relate to it as a parent and a grandparent."

Q: You will be a grandfather for the fourth time in March. What do you like best about that role?

A: "It's so hard to understand how you can love someone so much that's not yours, but extensions of you. I'm always so moved seeing my girls pregnant, and seeing them move on in their lives. I'm going to turn 65 on March 14. My wife's birthday is the 16th. The baby's due the 18th. So we've got maybe a straight flush happening here. That would be the greatest present of all - a healthy new baby."

Q: Last year you hosted the Oscar ceremony for the ninth time, making you the second most-used host after the late Bob Hope. Are you gunning for his title?

A: "I'm not even close. I've done 9, he's done 19 and neither one of us are doing it again. It's hard to say, 'Can't wait to do it again,' but I can wait."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Elvis Presley, The Beatles top list of most-forged autographs

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Elvis Presley and The Beatles top the list of most-forged celebrity signatures in 2012, with less than half of their autographs for sale certified as genuine, memorabilia authenticators PSA/DNA said on Thursday.

The King and The Fab Four British rockers, who topped the list two years ago when it was last released, joined notable figures such as former U.S. President John F. Kennedy and late pop star Michael Jackson on the list of most-forged celebrity signatures.

Late American astronaut Neil Armstrong landed at No. 3 on the list, after fake Armstrong signatures rose significantly after his death in July.

One reason forgeries of Armstrong's autograph soared was that he rarely signed for fans during his life, Joe Orlando, president of Newport Beach-based PSA/DNA, told Reuters.

"Armstrong is someone who is very conscious of the value of his own autograph," Orlando said. "Even before he passed away he was very tough to get...It really heightens the level of his market."

Secretaries and assistants responding to huge volumes of fan mail are one reason for fake signatures floating through the marketplace, said Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment and music memorabilia at Heritage Auctions in Los Angeles.

"Back in the day, the kids would write to the movie studios," Barrett said.

"There was absolutely no financial gain 50 years ago and secretaries and assistants just wanted to make them happy. A lot of times people stumble upon an old box of signed photographs in grandma's attic and don't know they're forged."

Barrett, whose specialty is late Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe's autographs, said that official documents such as contracts and checks are reliable sources to verify whether or not a signature is forged.

"A good rule of thumb is to compare it a signed contract," she said. "Sometimes (celebrities) would have secretaries or other sign photos and letters but they couldn't have a contract signed by a proxy."

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart most bankable Hollywood stars

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actresses Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart are Hollywood's most bankable stars and provide studios with the highest average returns for their films, according to Forbes.com.

Academy award winner Portman topped the list of best actors for the buck, providing about $42.70 for every dollar she earns.

"Black Swan," for which she won her best actress Oscar, was produced for an estimated $13 million and earned $329 million in global box office sales.

"We estimate that for every dollar Portman is paid by the studios, she returns $42.70. Compare that to Eddie Murphy, our most overpaid star, who returns $2.30 for every dollar he gets paid," Forbes.com said.

"Twilight" star Stewart was not far behind, bringing in $40.60. She also topped the Forbes list of highest-earning actresses with an estimated $34.5 million in salary in 2012.

"Stewart was able to earn a ton over the last three years and offer a healthy return thanks to 'Twilight,'" according to Forbes.com. "Even though she was paid $25 million to star in the last two films, she was clearly worth the money."

Forbes.com analyzed salaries, estimated box office grosses from the actor's last three films over the previous three years to calculate the studio's return on investment. The most bankable stars tended to be featured in the most profitable films.

Stewart's two co-stars in the "Twilight" films were also good investments for the studio. Robert Pattinson came in fourth with a return of $31.70 and Taylor Lautner was No. 6, making $29.50 for the studio for every dollar he was paid.

(This story was refiled to correct spelling of Kristen)

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-U.S. President George H.W. Bush in intensive care

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital and is in "guarded condition," family spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday.

"The president is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family," McGrath said in a statement.

"Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition," McGrath said. "Doctors at Methodist continue to be cautiously optimistic about the current course of treatment."

The 88-year-old was admitted to the hospital November 23 for bronchitis.

A hospital spokesman said in mid-December that the former president was expected to be home from the hospital in time for Christmas, but that spokesman later said doctors felt that the former president should build up his energy before going home.

Bush has lower body parkinsonism, which causes a loss of balance, and has used wheelchairs for more than a year, McGrath said in an email on Wednesday.

Bush, the 41st U.S. president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also served as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Phil Berlowitz)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Natalie Portman, Kristen Stewart most bankable Hollywood stars

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actresses Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart are Hollywood's most bankable stars and provide studios with the highest average returns for their films, according to Forbes.com.

Academy award winner Portman topped the list of best actors for the buck, providing about $42.70 for every dollar she earns.

"Black Swan," for which she won her best actress Oscar, was produced for an estimated $13 million and earned $329 million in global box office sales.

"We estimate that for every dollar Portman is paid by the studios, she returns $42.70. Compare that to Eddie Murphy, our most overpaid star, who returns $2.30 for every dollar he gets paid," Forbes.com said.

"Twilight" star Stewart was not far behind, bringing in $40.60. She also topped the Forbes list of highest-earning actresses with an estimated $34.5 million in salary in 2012.

"Stewart was able to earn a ton over the last three years and offer a healthy return thanks to 'Twilight,'" according to Forbes.com. "Even though she was paid $25 million to star in the last two films, she was clearly worth the money."

Forbes.com analyzed salaries, estimated box office grosses from the actor's last three films over the previous three years to calculate the studio's return on investment. The most bankable stars tended to be featured in the most profitable films.

Stewart's two co-stars in the "Twilight" films were also good investments for the studio. Robert Pattinson came in fourth with a return of $31.70 and Taylor Lautner was No. 6, making $29.50 for the studio for every dollar he was paid.

(This story was refiled to correct spelling of Kristen)

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ex-U.S. President George H.W. Bush in intensive care

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush is in the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital and is in "guarded condition," family spokesman Jim McGrath said Wednesday.

"The president is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family," McGrath said in a statement.

"Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition," McGrath said. "Doctors at Methodist continue to be cautiously optimistic about the current course of treatment."

The 88-year-old was admitted to the hospital November 23 for bronchitis.

A hospital spokesman said in mid-December that the former president was expected to be home from the hospital in time for Christmas, but that spokesman later said doctors felt that the former president should build up his energy before going home.

Bush has lower body parkinsonism, which causes a loss of balance, and has used wheelchairs for more than a year, McGrath said in an email on Wednesday.

Bush, the 41st U.S. president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also served as a congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, envoy to China, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Phil Berlowitz)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

"His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Quentin Tarantino unchains America's tormented past in "Django"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film "Reservoir Dogs," the director has turned his eye to America's slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for "Django Unchained."

Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in "Inglourious Basterds" and mobsters in "Pulp Fiction."

In "Django Unchained," to be released in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.

Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced "a lot of trepidation" about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the "N-word" - a racial slur directed at blacks.

The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.

But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a "father figure," changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not "be afraid" of his film.

"This movie is a deep, deep, deep American story, and it needed to be made by an American, and it needed to star Americans. ... Lots of the movies dealing with this issue have usually had Brits playing Southerners and it creates this arm's-distance quality," Tarantino said.

Much of the film's more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.

"We were shooting on hallowed ground. This was the ground of our ancestors. ... Their blood was in the grass, there's still bits of flesh embedded in the bark," Tarantino said.

The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations in January to its five Golden Globe nods.

With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.

"It seemed sacred to us, and we couldn't help but channel those emotions, everybody on the crew and on the set. ... Those were very moving days," Tarantino said.

'DESPICABLE' CHARACTERS

Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in "Inglourious Basterds," and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as "the most despicable black (character)" in movie history.

"Stephen might be frankly the most fascinating character in the whole piece, and it was important to deal with that whole upstairs-downstairs aspect of the Antebellum South," he said.

The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio's first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner - a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob "Titanic" days and roles as eccentric Americans in "The Aviator" and "J. Edgar."

Asked how he felt to be the first director to make DiCaprio a villain, Tarantino laughed, saying he felt "pretty darn good about it." He commended DiCaprio for turning into a "Southern-fried Caligula," referring to the tyrannical ancient Roman emperor.

"I saw him as a petulant boy emperor. ... He has nothing but hedonistic hobbies and vices to indulge him, and it's almost as if he's rotting from the inside," Tarantino said.

The film's female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and Diane Kruger in "Inglourious Basterds."

Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the "princess in exile." He said he was "annoyed" when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman's "Kill Bill" character. The film, he said, is "Django's story."

"It invokes ... that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales," Tarantino said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Will Dunham)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

"His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Quentin Tarantino unchains America's tormented past in "Django"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film "Reservoir Dogs," the director has turned his eye to America's slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for "Django Unchained."

Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in "Inglourious Basterds" and mobsters in "Pulp Fiction."

In "Django Unchained," to be released in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.

Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced "a lot of trepidation" about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the "N-word" - a racial slur directed at blacks.

The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.

But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a "father figure," changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not "be afraid" of his film.

"This movie is a deep, deep, deep American story, and it needed to be made by an American, and it needed to star Americans. ... Lots of the movies dealing with this issue have usually had Brits playing Southerners and it creates this arm's-distance quality," Tarantino said.

Much of the film's more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.

"We were shooting on hallowed ground. This was the ground of our ancestors. ... Their blood was in the grass, there's still bits of flesh embedded in the bark," Tarantino said.

The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations in January to its five Golden Globe nods.

With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.

"It seemed sacred to us, and we couldn't help but channel those emotions, everybody on the crew and on the set. ... Those were very moving days," Tarantino said.

'DESPICABLE' CHARACTERS

Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in "Inglourious Basterds," and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as "the most despicable black (character)" in movie history.

"Stephen might be frankly the most fascinating character in the whole piece, and it was important to deal with that whole upstairs-downstairs aspect of the Antebellum South," he said.

The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio's first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner - a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob "Titanic" days and roles as eccentric Americans in "The Aviator" and "J. Edgar."

Asked how he felt to be the first director to make DiCaprio a villain, Tarantino laughed, saying he felt "pretty darn good about it." He commended DiCaprio for turning into a "Southern-fried Caligula," referring to the tyrannical ancient Roman emperor.

"I saw him as a petulant boy emperor. ... He has nothing but hedonistic hobbies and vices to indulge him, and it's almost as if he's rotting from the inside," Tarantino said.

The film's female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and Diane Kruger in "Inglourious Basterds."

Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the "princess in exile." He said he was "annoyed" when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman's "Kill Bill" character. The film, he said, is "Django's story."

"It invokes ... that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales," Tarantino said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Will Dunham)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

"His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Quentin Tarantino unchains America's tormented past in "Django"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film "Reservoir Dogs," the director has turned his eye to America's slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for "Django Unchained."

Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in "Inglourious Basterds" and mobsters in "Pulp Fiction."

In "Django Unchained," to be released in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.

Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced "a lot of trepidation" about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the "N-word" - a racial slur directed at blacks.

The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.

But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a "father figure," changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not "be afraid" of his film.

"This movie is a deep, deep, deep American story, and it needed to be made by an American, and it needed to star Americans. ... Lots of the movies dealing with this issue have usually had Brits playing Southerners and it creates this arm's-distance quality," Tarantino said.

Much of the film's more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.

"We were shooting on hallowed ground. This was the ground of our ancestors. ... Their blood was in the grass, there's still bits of flesh embedded in the bark," Tarantino said.

The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations in January to its five Golden Globe nods.

With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.

"It seemed sacred to us, and we couldn't help but channel those emotions, everybody on the crew and on the set. ... Those were very moving days," Tarantino said.

'DESPICABLE' CHARACTERS

Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in "Inglourious Basterds," and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as "the most despicable black (character)" in movie history.

"Stephen might be frankly the most fascinating character in the whole piece, and it was important to deal with that whole upstairs-downstairs aspect of the Antebellum South," he said.

The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio's first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner - a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob "Titanic" days and roles as eccentric Americans in "The Aviator" and "J. Edgar."

Asked how he felt to be the first director to make DiCaprio a villain, Tarantino laughed, saying he felt "pretty darn good about it." He commended DiCaprio for turning into a "Southern-fried Caligula," referring to the tyrannical ancient Roman emperor.

"I saw him as a petulant boy emperor. ... He has nothing but hedonistic hobbies and vices to indulge him, and it's almost as if he's rotting from the inside," Tarantino said.

The film's female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and Diane Kruger in "Inglourious Basterds."

Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the "princess in exile." He said he was "annoyed" when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman's "Kill Bill" character. The film, he said, is "Django's story."

"It invokes ... that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales," Tarantino said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Will Dunham)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

"His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Quentin Tarantino unchains America's tormented past in "Django"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Twenty years after Quentin Tarantino unveiled his first film "Reservoir Dogs," the director has turned his eye to America's slavery history, spinning a blood-filled retribution tale in his trademark style for "Django Unchained."

Tarantino, 49, has become synonymous with violence and dark humor, taking on the Nazis in "Inglourious Basterds" and mobsters in "Pulp Fiction."

In "Django Unchained," to be released in U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, he fuses a spaghetti Western cowboy action adventure with a racially charged revenge tale set in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery in the United States.

Jamie Foxx stars as a slave whose freedom is bought by a former dentist, played by Christoph Waltz. The two set off as bounty hunters, rounding up robbers and cattle rustlers before turning their attention to brutal plantation owners in America's Deep South.

Tarantino is well-versed in delivering violence. But the director said he faced "a lot of trepidation" about filming the slavery scenes. He has already come under fire from some critics for the frequent use in the film of the "N-word" - a racial slur directed at blacks.

The director said he was initially hesitant to ask black actors to play slaves who are shackled and whipped, and even considered filming outside of the United States.

But a dinner with veteran Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, whom Tarantino called a "father figure," changed his mind after Poitier urged him to not "be afraid" of his film.

"This movie is a deep, deep, deep American story, and it needed to be made by an American, and it needed to star Americans. ... Lots of the movies dealing with this issue have usually had Brits playing Southerners and it creates this arm's-distance quality," Tarantino said.

Much of the film's more graphic slavery scenes, such as gladiator-style fights to the death and being encased naked in a metal hot box in the heat of the Southern sun, are drawn from real accounts.

"We were shooting on hallowed ground. This was the ground of our ancestors. ... Their blood was in the grass, there's still bits of flesh embedded in the bark," Tarantino said.

The film has received good reviews from critics and is expected to add Oscar nominations in January to its five Golden Globe nods.

With the exception of Waltz, who plays eccentric German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, the majority of the main players are not only American but from the South.

"It seemed sacred to us, and we couldn't help but channel those emotions, everybody on the crew and on the set. ... Those were very moving days," Tarantino said.

'DESPICABLE' CHARACTERS

Tarantino reunited with Waltz, who won an Oscar in 2010 for his role as a menacing Nazi officer in "Inglourious Basterds," and long-time collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, who plays slave housekeeper Stephen, a character who Tarantino described as "the most despicable black (character)" in movie history.

"Stephen might be frankly the most fascinating character in the whole piece, and it was important to deal with that whole upstairs-downstairs aspect of the Antebellum South," he said.

The role that has people talking is Leonardo DiCaprio's first villainous turn as a racist plantation owner - a stark contrast from his Hollywood heartthrob "Titanic" days and roles as eccentric Americans in "The Aviator" and "J. Edgar."

Asked how he felt to be the first director to make DiCaprio a villain, Tarantino laughed, saying he felt "pretty darn good about it." He commended DiCaprio for turning into a "Southern-fried Caligula," referring to the tyrannical ancient Roman emperor.

"I saw him as a petulant boy emperor. ... He has nothing but hedonistic hobbies and vices to indulge him, and it's almost as if he's rotting from the inside," Tarantino said.

The film's female lead, Django's wife Broomhilda played by Kerry Washington, moves away from Tarantino's fierce screen women such as Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill" and Diane Kruger in "Inglourious Basterds."

Tarantino said Broomhilda was meant to be the "princess in exile." He said he was "annoyed" when he was asked by a friend why Broomhilda did not exact revenge on her abusers in the same way as Thurman's "Kill Bill" character. The film, he said, is "Django's story."

"It invokes ... that odyssey that Django goes on and gives the black slave narrative the romantic dimensions of great opera or great folklore tales," Tarantino said.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Will Dunham)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

"His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and husband to separate

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and her husband Jason Hoppy are separating, Frankel announced on Sunday.

"It brings me great sadness to say that Jason and I are separating. This was an extremely difficult decision that, as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family," Frankel said in a statement confirmed by her representative.

"We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority. This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us."

Frankel, 42, and Hoppy married in March of 2010. They have a daughter, Bryn, who was born in May of 2010.

On Sunday, Frankel tweeted, "I am heartbroken. I am sad. We will work through this as a family."

Frankel first attracted attention in 2008 on the reality show "The Real Housewives of New York City," which chronicles the exploits of wealthy New York women. She went on to star in two other reality TV shows, "Bethenny Getting Married?" and "Bethenny Ever After...," both of which centered on the couple's marriage and child-rearing.

Frankel also founded the Skinnygirl line of cocktails, and has written several diet and self-help books. In 2012 she launched a talk show, "Bethenny," which is set to air nationally in 2013.

(Reporting By Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

12.42 | 0 komentar | Read More

Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized

(Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for a month undergoing treatment for bronchitis, may not be released from a Houston hospital in time to celebrate Christmas at home as doctors had hoped.

Bush, 88, remained in stable condition and doctors were optimistic he would make a full recovery, George Kovacik, a spokesman at Methodist Hospital, said in an emailed statement on Sunday.

But doctors were being "extra cautious" with his care and no discharge date had been set, the statement said. Earlier this month, Kovacik said doctors expected Bush would be able to spend Christmas at home with his family.

"His doctors feel he should build up his energy before going home," the statement said.

Bush, the 41st president and a Republican, took office in 1989 and served one term in the White House. The father of former President George W. Bush, he also is a former congressman, U.N. ambassador, CIA director and vice president for two terms under Ronald Reagan.

(Reporting by Kevin Gray; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Vicki Allen)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and husband to separate

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and her husband Jason Hoppy are separating, Frankel announced on Sunday.

"It brings me great sadness to say that Jason and I are separating. This was an extremely difficult decision that, as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family," Frankel said in a statement confirmed by her representative.

"We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority. This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us."

Frankel, 42, and Hoppy married in March of 2010. They have a daughter, Bryn, who was born in May of 2010.

On Sunday, Frankel tweeted, "I am heartbroken. I am sad. We will work through this as a family."

Frankel first attracted attention in 2008 on the reality show "The Real Housewives of New York City," which chronicles the exploits of wealthy New York women. She went on to star in two other reality TV shows, "Bethenny Getting Married?" and "Bethenny Ever After...," both of which centered on the couple's marriage and child-rearing.

Frankel also founded the Skinnygirl line of cocktails, and has written several diet and self-help books. In 2012 she launched a talk show, "Bethenny," which is set to air nationally in 2013.

(Reporting By Andrea Burzynski; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

12.23 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pope visits jailed butler to grant pre-Christmas pardon

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict made a surprise pre-Christmas visit to the jail holding his former butler on Saturday and pardoned him for stealing and leaking documents that alleged corruption in the Vatican.

The pope and Paolo Gabriele spent about 15 minutes together before Gabriele was freed and allowed to return to his wife and children in their Vatican apartment, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.

"What they said to each other will remain a secret between them ... he knows he made a mistake," Gabriele's lawyer Cristiana Arru, who was in the apartment when he returned home, told Reuters.

Gabriele was convicted of aggravated theft on October 6 in a case that shone unwelcome publicity on the Vatican. He had been serving an 18-month sentence in a jail cell in the city state's police headquarters.

Lombardi called the pope's action "a paternal gesture towards a person with whom the pope shared his daily life for several years ... this is a happy ending in this Christmas season to this sad and painful episode."

Both Lombardi and Arru described the encounter as "intense" because it was the first time the two had seen each other since last May, when Gabriele was arrested after Vatican police found many documents in his possession that had been stolen from the pope's office.

The pope also pardoned a Vatican computer expert who had received a suspended sentence in a separate trial.

VATILEAKS SAGA

In a saga that became known as "Vatileaks", Gabriele leaked documents showing what appeared to be a power struggle at the highest ranks of the Church, and internal conflict about how transparent the Vatican's scandal-plagued bank should be with outside financial authorities.

He told investigators he had acted because he saw "evil and corruption everywhere in the Church" and that information was being hidden from the pope.

The Vatican said Gabriele would no longer be able to work there but would be helped to find a job and start a new life outside its walls together with his family.

"When he came home, the kids jumped up and hung from his neck. It was a very tough time for them. I don't think the whole episode has sunk in for them yet," lawyer Arru said.

Gabriele, 46, said at his trial - one of the most sensational in the recent history of the Holy See - that he did not consider himself a thief and that he was motivated by "visceral" love for the Church.

The butler, who served the pope his meals and helped him dress, photocopied sensitive documents under the nose of his immediate superiors in a small office adjacent to the papal living quarters in the Apostolic Palace.

He then hid more than 1,000 copies and original documents, including some the pope had marked "to be destroyed", among many thousands of other papers and old newspaper clippings in a huge armoire in the family apartment inside the Vatican walls.

A former member of the small, select group known as "the papal family", Gabriele was one of fewer than 10 people who had a key to an elevator leading directly to the pope's apartments.

He said at the trial that from his perch as papal butler he was able to see how easily a powerful man could be manipulated by aides and kept in the dark about things he should have known.

The leaked papers revealed inner workings of an institution long renowned for its secrecy, and triggered one of the biggest crises of Pope Benedict's papacy when they emerged in a muckraking expose by an Italian journalist earlier this year.

The case was all the more embarrassing at a time when the Church was trying to limit the fallout from a series of scandals involving sexual abuse of minors by clerics around the world, as well as from mismanagement at its bank.

However, many people believe the butler could not have acted alone and was a fall-guy for others in the Vatican. Gabriele said during the trial that while he may have been influenced by others, he had no direct accomplices.

The Vatican said the pope had also decided to pardon a second Vatican employee and friend of Gabriele's, Claudio Sciarpelletti, who was convicted separately of giving police conflicting testimony and given a two-month suspended sentence.

Sciarpelletti, a computer expert, will be able to keep his job in the Vatican.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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