Doc Ock Talk
Steve Johnson, the prosthetic and animatronic effects artist for the upcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man, told SCI FI Wire that director Sam Raimi wanted a real costume for the new villain, Doctor Octopus. "Sam's a fan [of animatronics], and he feels like the fans would prefer to see the real thing," rather than a computer-generated image, Johnson said in an interview. "It's a lot harder when you have a puppet, and you've got 18 performers on the set. It takes a lot longer to shoot than if you do it digitally."
In the comics, Doctor Octopus wears a rig that gives him mechanical arms. Johnson said that Doc Ock actor Alfred Molina has been a trouper in working with the elaborate costume. "He's strapped into a giant torture device, and he obeys our every command," Johnson said.
The costume will undergo some changes, as the makeup team adjusts to Molina's weight loss. "We're having to re-cast him, [because] he's lost so much weight since our initial molding of his body."
The Amazing Spider-Man opens May 7, 2004.
Wang Cooks With Sandler
Wayne Wang has agreed to direct New Line's GOOD COOK, LIKES MUSIC, starring Adam Sandler and Zhang Ziyi. In the film, Sandler plays a "lovable loser" that lives in a trailer park with his mother. One night, in a drunken stupor, he orders a mail order bride (Zhang) that is, in reality, a musical prodigy. The two change each other's lives.
Writer Frank Darabont talks a bit about the villains for the upcoming INDIANA JONES sequel.
Frank Darabont, screenwriter of the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, told SCI FI Wire that the sequel's 1950s setting requires different villains from those in previous installments, which were set in the 1930s. "Those pesky Nazis seem to have departed, which is a shame, because I like those pesky Nazis, because you can just squash them all over the place," Darabont said, with tongue in cheek.
Darabont would not say who the new villains were, but assured that the tone of adventure would be consistent with previous Indy movies. "From the standpoint of the fun of it and the adventure of it, [there will be] no [change]," he said.
Darabont added that he has nearly completed a first draft of the script and that director Steven Spielberg is happy with his progress. "The reaction has been quite good," he said. But the writer added that he is approaching the script one day at a time. "Right now, every day is like one foot in front of the other," he said. "It's 'How do I solve this next scene? How do I get this next three pages in its best form?'" The new Indiana Jones movie is still aiming for a July 1, 2005, release.
'Chicago' wins big at Oscars
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "Chicago" led the Academy Awards with six trophies, including best picture, at a ceremony Sunday that allowed Hollywood to exalt itself while muting the Oscar pageantry because of the U.S.-led war on Iraq.
The razzle-dazzle satire "Chicago" became the first musical since 1968's "Oliver!" to win the top Oscar. Its other awards were supporting actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones, and four technical honors including costume design and art direction.
Adrien Brody won the best-actor award for the Holocaust saga "The Pianist," Nicole Kidman took best actress for the somber drama "The Hours" and Chris Cooper was picked as supporting actor for the twisted Hollywood tale "Adaptation."
The best-director Oscar went to Roman Polanski for "The Pianist." Polanski has been an exile from the United States since fleeing 25 years ago to avoid sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
"The Pianist" also won the adapted-screenplay award for Ronald Harwood," giving it a total of three, while Pedro Almodovar earned the original-screenplay prize for "Talk to Her."
'Bringing Down House' Leads Box Office
LOS ANGELES - "Bringing Down the House" led the box office for the third straight weekend, but the overall numbers dropped significantly during the first weekend of the war in Iraq.
The top 12 films grossed an estimated $83.9 million — a 29 percent drop from the same weekend a year ago.
"I think the war has impacted people's desire to go out to the movies. I think people were at home with their families, they were watching the news and not a lot of movies did a lot of business," said Rick Sands, chief operating officer of Miramax, which released "View from the Top," a slapstick airline comedy starring Gwyneth Paltrow that debuted at No. 4.
But Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, said the weekend's drop-off from a year ago may have more to do with the films that were out than with the war. A year ago, "Blade 2" had a $32.5 million debut and "Ice Age" was in its second weekend.
"We can only guess, but I just think that this weekend turned out pretty much like we expected and any impact the war had is negligible," Dergarabedian said.
"Bringing Down the House," a comedy starring Steve Martin as an uptight lawyer and Queen Latifah as an escaped convict, topped the box office with $16.2 million, pushing its total take to $83.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Stephen King adaptation "Dreamcatcher" opened in second place with $15.3 million. "Agent Cody Banks," Frankie Muniz's teen-spy flick, dropped from second to third place in its second weekend out with $9.3 million. "View from the Top" was in fourth place with $7.6 million.
The G-rated "Piglet's Big Movie" opened in seventh place with $6.1 million while the Cuba Gooding Jr. comedy "Boat Trip" debuted a distance 10th with $3.7 million.
"There's no question we all have things on our mind, and being able to get inside a theater and kick back and have someone really entertain you with belly laughter, it's definitely a good thing," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, whose Touchstone Pictures released "Bringing Down the House."
Benefiting from strong word of mouth, "Bringing Down the House" became the first film this year to stay No. 1 three weekends in a row and is on track to cross $100 million within weeks. It presented tough competition for the weekend's new films, Dergarabedian said.
"It's doing incredibly well," he said. "The two newcomers that were comedies really got hurt."
The film also likely pulled audiences from "Dreamcatcher," which tells the story of four longtime friends (Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Timothy Olyphant and Damian Lewis) who communicate telepathically.
Sunday's Oscars ceremony should boost sales for the winning films, and three big new openings could mean strong box office next weekend. The comedy "Head of State," starring Chris Rock and Bernie Mac, opens against the sci-fi thriller "The Core" and "Basic," John Travolta's military thriller.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Bringing Down the House," $16.2 million.
2. "Dreamcatcher," $15.3 million.
3. "Agent Cody Banks," $9.3 million.
4. "View from the Top," $7.6 million.
5. "The Hunted," $6.6 million.
6. "Chicago," $6.2 million.
7. "Piglet's Big Movie," $6.1 million.
8. "Tears of the Sun," $4.5 million.
9. "Old School," $4 million.
10. "Boat Trip," $3.7 million.
Musical 'Chicago' Wins Best-Picture Oscar
LOS ANGELES - The razzle-dazzle musical satire "Chicago" won the Academy Award as best picture Sunday, while top acting honors struck a more somber note: Adrien Brody as a Holocaust survivor in "The Pianist" and Nicole Kidman as suicidal novelist Virginia Woolf in "The Hours."
In a ceremony overshadowed by the U.S.-led war in Iraq, "Chicago" became the first musical since 1968's "Oliver!" to win the top Oscar and also took home the most trophies, six. Its other awards were supporting actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones, and four technical honors including costume design and art direction.
Veteran character actor Chris Cooper won as best supporting actor for his role as scraggly- haired, toothless horticultural poacher in "Adaptation."
Brody's victory was something of a surprise, as was the awarding of the best-director Oscar went to Roman Polanski, also for "The Pianist." Polanski has been an exile from the United States since fleeing 25 years ago to avoid sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
"The Pianist" also won the adapted-screenplay award for Ronald Harwood," giving it a total of three, while Pedro Almodovar earned the original-screenplay prize for "Talk to Her."
World events sparked several emotional highlights, including Brody's tearful speech and an attack on President Bush by filmmaker Michael Moore, winner of the best-documentary Oscar for "Bowling for Columbine."
"Chicago" came in with a leading 13 nominations, followed by the crime epic "Gangs of New York" with 10, but "Gangs" was shut out in every category.
"Chicago" was adapted from the Bob Fosse stage hit about two Jazz Age murderesses using their jailhouse celebrity to further their singing careers.
Once a Hollywood staple, musicals hit a critical peak 40 years ago with best-picture Oscar winners that included "West Side Story," "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound of Music." Musicals gradually fell out of favor since the late 1960s as moviegoers grew more sophisticated and studios became convinced that audiences would no longer abide characters who burst into song.
"Moulin Rouge," a best-picture nominee a year ago, whetted the public's appetite for musicals, and "Chicago" has packed theaters, with its domestic haul at $134 million and climbing.
Zeta-Jones was the first performer to win an acting Oscar for a musical since Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey for 1972's "Cabaret." In "Chicago," Zeta-Jones played a jailed vaudeville scamp scheming for celebrity after slaying her husband and sister.
Due to deliver her second child with husband and Oscar winner Michael Douglas in a few weeks, Zeta-Jones joined co-star and fellow supporting-actress nominee Queen Latifah in the Oscar performance of "I Move On," the best-song nominee from "Chicago."
"My hormones are too way out of control to be dealing with this," Zeta-Jones said.
Brody played the title character in "The Pianist," based on the real-life story of musician Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew who lived through World War II by hiding from the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto.
"This film would not be possible without the blueprint provided by Wladyslaw Szpilman," Brody said. "This film is a tribute to his survival."
"My experience making this film made me very aware of the sadness and the dehumanization of people in times of war, and the repercussions of war. And whether you believe in God or Allah, may he watch over you, and let's pray for a peaceful and swift resolution," Brody said, fighting back tears and drawing a standing ovation.
Documentary winner "Bowling for Columbine" is Moore's alternately hilarious and horrifying examination of gun violence in America.
Moore, a harsh critic of the Bush administration, received a standing ovation. He invited his fellow documentary nominees on stage, saying they were there in "solidarity with me, because we like non-fiction, and we are living in fictitious times. ... We live in a time where we have a man who's sending us to war for fictitious reasons.
"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you," Moore said, amid a mix of boos and applause from the crowd.
Her Oscar win was a Hollywood ending for Kidman after a turbulent couple of years. She had a miscarriage in 2001 and broke up with husband Tom Cruise, in whose shadow she had lingered throughout their 11-year relationship.
Kidman emerged as a big star in her own right later that year with "Moulin Rouge," which earned her a best-actress Oscar nomination, and the horror hit "The Others." In "The Hours," Kidman played suicidal author Virginia Woolf, wearing a fake nose to capture the writer's plain features.
"Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil," Kidman said. "Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honor that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."
Cooper, a veteran character actor whose credits include "American Beauty" and "Lone Star," played a man on a mission to preserve rare orchids in the film loosely based on author Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief."
"In light of all the troubles in this world, I wish us all peace," Cooper said as he received his award.
"Lose Yourself," from the film "8 Mile" starring Eminem, won the best-song Oscar for the rap star and his co-writers, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto.
"I think he's going to feel great about the Oscar," Resto said backstage, after accepting the award for the absent Eminem. "He's very proud about the song."
The Oscar for foreign-language film went to the German drama "Nowhere in Africa," about a family of Jews who leave Germany before World War II and settle on a farm in Kenya.
The Japanese fantasy "Spirited Away" won the award for animated feature film. The movie, which had a limited U.S. release last fall and grossed a modest $5.5 million, was a surprise winner against a field of nominees that included $100 million Hollywood hits "Ice Age" and "Lilo & Stitch."
ABC News twice offered a brief war update, then switched back to the Oscars.
Earlier, demonstrators on both sides of the war issue gathered near the Kodak Theatre, site of the Oscars.
Anti-war protesters held signs such as "Bush Betrays USA," "Bush: Dumb and Dangerous" and "Oscar for Peace." Half a block from the area where stars arrived, supporters of U.S. troops in Iraq chanted "USA, USA," and held a banner reading "God Bless America."
Planners scrapped the glitzy red-carpet arrival festivities. And some celebrities opposed to the war wore peace pins. A few, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins among them, showed up in fuel-efficient gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles instead of limousines as a statement against U.S. dependence on overseas oil.
"Well, I'm glad they cut back on the glitz," host Steve Martin quipped at the show's start. "You probably noticed there was no fancy red carpet tonight. That'll send them a message."
After a few initial references to the war and its effects on the Oscars, Martin's opening monologue stuck to mocking nominees, other celebrities and Hollywood at large.
The 75th annual Academy Awards were announced on Sunday, March 24. The winners are:
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Chris Cooper, Adaptation
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
BEST ACTRESS:
Nicole Kidman, The Hours
BEST ACTOR:
Adrien Brody, The Pianist
BEST DIRECTOR:
Roman Polanski, The Pianist
BEST PICTURE:
Chicago
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:
Spirited Away
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
Colleen Atwood, Chicago
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Frida, Elliot Goldenthal
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
The ChubbChubbs!
BEST ART DIRECTION:
Chicago, John Myhre, art direction; Gordon Sim, set direction
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Nowhere in Africa, Germany
BEST SOUND:
Chicago, Michael Minkler, Dominick Tavella and David Lee
BEST SOUND EDITING:
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Ethan Van der Ryn and Michael Hopkins
BEST MAKEUP:
Frida, John Jackson and Beatrice De Alba
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT:
This Charming Man
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Bowling for Columbine
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Road to Perdition, Conrad L. Hall
BEST FILM EDITING:
Chicago, Martin Walsh
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:
Twin Towers
ORIGINAL SONG:
"Lose Yourself," music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto
SCREENPLAY ORIGINAL:
Talk to Her, Pedro Almodovar
SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION:
The Pianist, Ronald Harwood
THE NEIGHBORHOOD SAYS GOODBYE
The producers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood announcing a May 3 public memorial for the late Fred Rogers, who died February 27 of stomach cancer at age 74. The service will be held in his home town of Pittsburgh.
Liz's "Phair" Due in June
Liz Phair's first album in almost five years has been pushed back to a June 24th release, and undergone a title transformation -- from "Happy Tragic Thing" to Liz Phair. The album is the follow-up to Phair's less-efficiently titled 1998 release Whitechocolatespaceegg.
The fourteen-track record features Phair in a variety of settings with different collaborators. Singer-songwriter Michael Penn produced five of the songs, while four tracks enjoy the Midas touch of pop production hit machine the Matrix (Avril Lavigne). R. Walt Vincent (Pete Yorn) worked on the album's other five cuts. According to Phair, who pulled the album from a pool of more than thirty songs, those that made the cut were the louder songs. "The songs that made it onto the album are the ones that rock," she said. "I wanna sell some records, goddammit."
Phair, who prior to 2003 hadn't performed in nearly three years, showcased some of the new material during a nine-song-set at the Sundance Film Festival.
Phair also said that the album finds her more comfortable in front of the microphone than on previous efforts. "My voice is so much better because I'm not as self-conscious as I used to be," she told Rolling Stone. "Somewhere along the way I got rid of a lot of my fear about singing, and I've really been working hard on developing my voice."
The first single, "Why Can't I," is due in late-April.
Stars Shun Politics, Except for Michael Moore
Most of the stars shunned politics at this Oscar ceremony but the personal was truly political for filmmaker Michael Moore, who finally received some long-deserved recognition from the Academy when he won the best documentary feature award for "Bowling for Columbine". Moore not only brought his wife and the film's producers on stage, he led all the other documentary nominees onto the platform as well.
After thanking the film's producers, Moore launched into a blistering attack on both the war and President Bush, calling him a " fictitious president" who won with "fictitious election results."
"I've invited my fellow documentary nominees on the stage with us," began Moore. "They are here in solidarity with me because we like non-fiction. We like non-fiction and we live in fictitious times."
"We live in a time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons."
His speech was met with a fair amount of booing and hissing but undaunted, Moore continued, "Whether it’s the fiction of duct tape or the fiction of orange alerts, we are against this war Mr. Bush. Shame on you! Shame on you! And any time you've got the pulpit…"
At this point, his time at the podium was brought to a close by the rising strains of the orchestra thought he tried to get in a few last words.
During his speech, the cameras cut to Adrien Brody, Martin Scorsese and Lou Gosset Jr., all of whose reaction was inscrutable. This was followed by a shot of a row with a smiling Harrison Ford and his grim-looking date, Calista Flockhart. A few seats down, Denzel Washington looked serious but his reaction to Moore's speech was difficult to discern.
Following Moore's speech, presenter Steve Martin joked, "The teamsters are helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo."
Moore was followed on stage by Jack Valenti, president of entertainment industry mouthpiece, MPAA. Coincidentally the increasing control of more media outlets by fewer corporations, and the degree of editorial unanimity to which it leads, was one of the issues touched on by Moore in "Columbine."
Other well-known Hollywood liberals such as Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, did not use their time on the stage to rail against the war though they made roundabout comments about freedom of expression and the positive impact of art.
It was foreigners, Spanish-speakers to be precise, who made the most explicit anti-war statements, but even those, weren't particularly strident. After thanking his collaborators on the film, Spanish director Pedro Almodovar dedicated his award to "all the people that are raising their voices in favor of peace, respect of human rights, democracy and international legality, all of which are essential qualities to live."
The only other explicit statement containing an opinion about the war, whether pro or con, came from Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal. He introduced performer Caetano Veloso, who sang a song from the film "Frida" by saying, "If Frida was alive, she would be on our side, against war."
Surprise best actor winner Adrien Brody was the only American on the podium, aside from Moore, who spoke at length on the war. After thanking all the appropriate parties and almost being cut off by the orchestra, Brody insisted on more time and began the "political" portion of what was a comparatively long speech.
"It fills me with great joy but I am also filled with a lot of sadness tonight," Brody said, "because I am accepting an award at such a sad time. My experiences in making this film made me very aware of the sadness and dehumanization of people in times of war and the repercussions of war."
"Whatever you believe in, whether it's God or Allah, let's pray for a peaceful and swift resolution and may he watch over you."
Brody started tearing up at this point, as did fellow nominee Diane Lane, but he received a standing ovation and closed his speech by giving a shout-out to a friend of his from Queens, who is soldier in Kuwait.
He echoed the earlier statement of his colleague Chris Cooper, who in accepting his best supporting actor nomination for "Adaptation" said, "In light of all the troubles in this world. I wish us all peace."
It was a sentiment echoed and felt by many.
Michael Moore Criticizes Bush During Oscar Acceptance Speech
HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - Winning the award for best documentary film for "Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore gave what will most likely be the most controversial acceptance speech of the night, criticizing President George W. Bush and the war on Iraq.
"We like nonfiction," Moore said while standing onstage with the other documentary film makers for the films "Spellbound," "Prisoner of Paradise," "Daughter from Danang" and "Winged Migration," "and we live in fictitious times. We live in a time where we have fictitious elections, which elects a fictitious President. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons."
"We are against the war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush, shame on you," he got out before the music chimed in signaling the end of his time on the stage.
The reaction from the audience almost drowned out Moore's comments, with half the crowd booing and the other half clapping. The camera panned to the stunned reaction of several attendees, including best actor nominee Adrien Brody (with a very stunned looking Chad Lowe in the background), a smiling Lou Gossett Jr. and Martin Scorsese, who looked as if he were on the brink of clapping. Harrison Ford was seen smiling, while Denzel Washington looked less enthused as he thoughtfully pulled at his beard.
Host Steve Martin made light of the speech later by telling the crowd that "teamsters are helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his limo."
CBS Keeps Kicking It 'Old School' for Letterman Fill-Ins
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Following in the footsteps of Will Farrell and Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson will host "The Late Show" on Wednesday, March 26, the latest in a series of guest hosts.
Wilson will be the third star of the comedy hit "Old School" to spell Letterman since the popular host was diagnosed with shingles and began missing shows on February 26. In addition to his current frat house comedy, Wilson has co-starred in "Charlie's Angels" and "Legally Blonde" and did a multi-episode stint on "That '70s Show."
Before Wilson can take over the desk, the next week of replacements will begin with a host who arrives all the way from the other side of the Ed Sullivan theater. "Late Show" Musical Director Paul Shaffer will do double-duty on Monday, March 24. He'll be followed by comedian and television legendary Bill Cosby, whose one night stand begins on Tuesday (March 25).
Earlier Letterman guest hosts included Bruce Willis, John McEnroe and Regis Philbin.
"The Late Show" will have its second straight night of rebroadcasts on Friday (March 21) due to CBS' coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.