Roger Moore defends new 007
TORONTO (CP) - It took an old Bond to come to the rescue of the new Bond.
Roger Moore, who played Agent 007 in seven of the James Bond movies, said Wednesday that critics of the film franchise's new star, Daniel Craig, should give him a chance. "He's a helluva good actor," said Moore, 78, noting that critics haven't even seen Craig in the role yet. "So why attack him?"
A group of James Bond fans has launched a website (www.craignotbond.com) to protest the hiring of Craig to replace Pierce Brosnan in Casino Royale, now shooting in Prague.
The blond Craig, whose film work includes Munich and The Jacket, has so offended the fans they say they'll boycott the film unless EON Productions and Sony Pictures admit they've made a big mistake.
Moore suggested the group was merely trying to attract people to their website, which says producers had refused to meet the price demanded for the role from Brosnan or other candidates like Hugh Jackman and Clive Owen.
Moore, meanwhile, will be in Quebec City this weekend to take part in a charity film festival called Vue sur Bond 007, organized by filmmaker Hilary Saltzman, daughter of Canadian-born Harry Saltzman. The senior Saltzman, who died in 1994, was, along with Albert Broccoli, the co-producer of most of the early Bond films.
In a recent interview, Hilary Saltzman was also eager to defend Craig, saying she's excited about seeing him in the role.
"When I saw Munich. . .every time Daniel Craig was onscreen that's who you're watching. And I thought 'my god, they've got something very interesting there'."
Also in attendance at Vue sur Bond will be several other celebrities known to 007 fans, including actors Richard (Jaws) Kiel and Britt Ekland, director Guy Hamilton and singer Shirley Bassey.
The festival has three purposes: to honour the senior Saltzman, to draw attention to his daughter's upcoming Festival of the Three Americas - which showcases little-known films from Latin America - and to make a donation to UNICEF (Moore is a goodwill ambassador and was in town Wednesday to attend the release of a report on child health).
Moore said he agreed to show up at the Bond festival because Saltzman asked him on behalf of both her father and UNICEF.
He also dismissed suggestions Wednesday that Bond is obsolete in a post-Cold War, post-9-11 world where real terrorists like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have trivialized such Bondian super-villains and organizations as Goldfinger, Blofeld and SMERSH.
"It's fantasy," counters Moore. "Bond is fantasy, there's no real substance to it. It's a figment of imagination. . .sort of crazy, you know, a spy who is recognized wherever he goes. Spies ain't like that."
Saltzman concurred.
"There's a threat to the world and there's one man out there that can save us. And actually I think right now people want to go to that fantasy world."
She also thought it was a "huge coup" on the part of the producers that they snagged Canadian screenwriter Paul Haggis - who is up for a couple of Oscars for his work on Crash - to work on the script.
Apatow adds Hathaway to "Knocked Up"
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Anne Hathaway, currently on screen as Jake Gyllenhaal's icy wife in "Brokeback Mountain," is joining the cast of Universal Pictures' "Knocked Up."
The actress is set to star opposite Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann in the Judd Apatow romantic comedy.
Apatow is writing, producing and directing the movie, which follows a twentysomething guy who finds out he impregnated his one-night stand. The picture will be similar in budget to his last film, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which grossed $109.5 million at the domestic box-office and garnered a Writers Guild of America nomination.
Shooting is slated to start in the early summer.
Hathaway, who made her feature debut in the 2001 Buena Vista/Walt Disney hit "The Princess Diaries," will next be seen in 20th Century Fox's "The Devil Wears Prada."
Two Naked Actresses Draw Magazine Buzz
NEW YORK - Pick up this month's Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair and you'll see two lovely young stars-of-the-moment, Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, posing alluringly in the altogether. Open the foldout, and you'll even see Johansson's bare buttocks.
What you won't see is a third, equally lovely young actress, Rachel McAdams of "Wedding Crashers" fame. It seems McAdams arrived at the photo shoot and decided she didn't want to take her clothes off.
And so, sitting between Johansson and Knightley is fashion designer Tom Ford, the issue's guest editor. He nuzzles Knightley's ear and, though he shows plenty of chest hair, is fully clothed. Presumably, no one thought of asking HIM to disrobe.
Is it arty and fun, or does it say something about sexual politics in Hollywood? In 2006, four decades after the launch of the feminist movement, does a serious actress still need to take her clothes off to get attention?
And where, oh where, are the naked men?
The reason female stars disrobe is simple, says Janice Min, editor of the much-read celebrity magazine US Weekly. "It's tried and true. You show some cleavage on an actress. You make her look sexy. You make her look hot." She NEEDS to be hot — because in Hollywood, "you have to be sexy to be a successful actress. You just have to be."
So where's the nude photo of Brad Pitt? Or George Clooney, who appears later in the issue, dressed, amid a bevy of women in flesh-toned bras and panties? Let's face it, Min says: Women do like to see sexy men — just not with all their clothes off.
"Men just aren't viewed as sex objects in the same way that women are," Min says. "Women don't think about men being naked in the same way that men think about women." In fact, she says, at her magazine's offices, when photos come in of a male star with no shirt on, "We say, 'Gross! Put some clothes on!'" (Imagine that being uttered about an attractive female.)
For one expert on the magazine industry, it's a little more complicated. "There's an inherent fear in this country of pictures of naked men," says Samir Husni, a journalism professor at the University of Mississippi. "We've been trained to look at pictures of naked women, but we haven't been trained yet to look at pictures of naked men."
A few male stars have blazed a trail. Burt Reynolds appeared nearly nude in Cosmopolitan in 1972. David Cassidy, in Rolling Stone, the same year. David Hasselhoff. And Ford, too. But it's a lonely group.
Husni calls the current VF cover the "Playboy" issue, because "you can call it art as much as you want — it's still naked women." Nonetheless, he says the magazine has scored huge buzz.
And buzz, in the cutthroat magazine industry, goes a long way. If a magazine sells more than 30 percent of its copies of a particular issue, it's a success. Every copy sold above that is money in the bank. And how do you sell those extras? By grabbing the first-time buyer at the newsstand. The industry rule of thumb is you have 2 1/2 seconds to grab that buyer. And you do it with the cover.
"The cover is your calling card," says Will Dana, managing editor of Rolling Stone magazine, which over the years has produced its share of memorable covers (including the iconic photo of a nude John Lennon wrapped around a clothed Yoko Ono — a rare exception to the rule.) "People are making a split-second decision. It's got to be compelling."
By that standard, the VF cover, shot by Annie Leibovitz, is a slam-dunk. Society columnist Liz Smith wrote about a dinner party where people were passing the issue around, declaring it "ridiculous ... egotistical ... absurd."
"So, I ask you, is editor Graydon Carter smart or what?" Smith wrote.
Carter, in an e-mail message to the AP, said "I chose Tom Ford with the intention of giving him a lot of creative freedom — which I did. And I was extremely pleased with the results."
The results include a 46-page photo spread in which actresses Sienna Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston and Joy Bryant also appear in various states of nudity. There's also an L.A. plastic surgeon (male and dressed) appearing on a golf course next to a giant female breast. And actor Jason Schwartzman, dressed in a suit and tie, posed next to a nude model — with her head cropped out of the photo.
Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said it's too early to say how the magazine is selling, but that it has scored about 3,000 new subscriptions and almost 5 million web site page views.
Some of that buzz has been negative. "The whole cover just seems faux-racy to me," says Siobhan Burns, a New Yorker in her mid-30's who reads the magazine in her office. "And why, in 2006, do women still have to take their clothes off and look pouty, rather than being heralded for their accomplishments?"
Writing in Salon.com, Rebecca Traister called the cover an "over-the-top orgy of self-love, misogyny and idiocy" by Ford. Of McAdams, who also starred in "Red Eye" and "The Family Stone" in 2005, she wrote: "There you have it, ladies, straight from Vanity Fair. We don't care if you star in three successful movies in one year; if you won't get naked for a 'threesome,' you can forget your spot in our pages!"
Vanity Fair says McAdams, 29, was well aware beforehand that the cover concept called for nudity. "At the last moment, she didn't feel comfortable with the idea," Kseniak says.
McAdams' manager did not respond to a request for comment. As for Johansson, 21, who's drawn attention for her recent performance in Woody Allen's "Match Point" as well as having her breasts groped by Isaac Mizrahi on the Golden Globes red carpet, her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said she was happy with the magazine.
No one has suggested that Johansson or Knightley, 20, the winsome, Oscar-nominated British star of "Pride & Prejudice," were forced into anything. Yet, Min says, it was a "huge honor" for a young actress to appear on VF's cover — especially the Hollywood issue: "A lot of people would think it's better to be naked and on the cover than NOT on the cover."
So buzz-worthy was the VF cover, Min says, that her magazine went out and asked people what they thought of it.
The answer? Most thought the actresses looked better with clothes on.
Emmy Overhauls Voting. Again.
Tired of seeing the same batch of housewives, presidential cabinet members and flamboyant buds and their platonic gal pals walking away with Emmys year in and year out?
So was the Academy.
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced plans for an overhaul of their nomination voting process Tuesday, designed to end the reign of terror of perennial nominees and give overlooked rookies a shot at Emmy gold.
The changes will affect the nomination process of six major categories: Best Actor, Actress and Series in both comedy and drama genres.
The nominees in each category will now be whittled down by both popular vote and a judging panel, rather than the old method which determined finalists through a simple Academy member vote. The result was a Nielsen rating-dominated crop of nominations chosen more for their popularity than by virtue of performances, and routinely ignored much-heralded yet low-rated shows.
Here's looking at you, Lauren Graham.
The new system will still hold an Academy vote, but asks members to list 15 possible nominees for acting and 10 for series, rather than the standard five. The finalists from that vote will then be asked to submit a sample TV episode to a top notch judging panel, which convenes in North Hollywood on June 24-25, and which will--get this--actually watch the nominated shows and performances before naming the five nominees.
The more democratic--and critic-pleasing--process is not a new one.
"We currently use the same process to determine the nominees for performers in a music variety show and guest actors in a series," Academy director John Leverence said. "Now we're extending it to the lead acting categories and best series. At this point we are not yet introducing it in the supporting actor races."
The new rules will also allow for 700 more voting members. The Academy is inviting a slew of directors and casting executives to cast their votes in the acting categories, which were previously decided on by 1,400 actors alone.
"This new voting initiative hits the issue of a narrow nomination's process head-on," Academy Chief Executive Dick Askin said. "It significantly increases the potential for the widest and most diverse selection of nominees as possible."
But only time will tell if the extra vetting process makes any real dents in the nominees or if, come this summer, it'll be more of the same old, same old.
It's the second time in as many years that Emmy officials have attempted to overhaul the staid program with some major changes, increasing the pool from which nominees were chosen in 2004 to allow new blood into the often predictable winners circle.
Needless to say, the enacted changes weren't exactly successful.
Bringing new nominees into the stale mix may also help boost Emmy's perpetually low-rated ceremonies. Critics have argued that the lack of suspense in honorees has driven away viewers, particularly younger ones who feel disenfranchised that their favorite shows are routinely shunned from the awards.
Here's looking at you, too, Kristen Bell.
Emmy nominees will be announced July 6, with the new and improved kudosfest airing Aug. 27.
Forget Lies--G N' R Leaks!
For Guns N' Roses fans still wondering when frontman Axl Rose will ever release the legendary rockers' forever-in-the-works Chinese Democracy album, your patience is finally paying off.
Three studio-quality tracks found their way onto the Internet this week, perhaps not so coincidentally just days after a reclusive Rose, 44, made a rare appearance Friday at a tour kick-off party hosted by Korn in Los Angeles and told RollingStone.com that "people will hear music this year."
The leaked tunes have generated big buzz since various Websites began posting them and prompted some radio stations, such as Boston's WAAF, to put them into heavy rotation until cease-and-desist orders arrived from Rose's lawyers.
Early response has so far generally been positive with fans describing the song "There Was a Time" (aka T.W.A.T.) as recalling such Use Your Illusion-era power ballads as "Estranged" while the other two, "I.R.S." and "Better," stick to the hard rock we're used to hearing from the Gunners with some modern emo and techno-infused touches such as loop tracks laid over Buckethead's intricate guitar work and Axl's trademark squeals.
On his morning show on Sirius Satellite Radio, even shock jock Howard Stern got in on the act, critiquing the opening to "I.R.S." after jokingly asking how Rose went "from so cool to being a douche."
"It seems like they are trying to put his voice all the way in the back in the mix," Stern said, noting that while the MP3 was pretty good the mix needed work.
Rose's manager, Merck Mercuriadis, could not be reached for comment but initial reports indicating he had ordered the websites to take down the tracks appear to be true as many of the links have since been removed.
However, the unexpected leaks are fueling speculation that after nine years spent working on Chinese Democracy, the flame-haired singer is finally close to putting the wraps on the magnum opus and has an appetite for touring again with his revamped Guns N' Roses lineup (original members Slash and Duff McKagan are suing Rose, claiming he cheated them out of royalties from the iconic group's song catalog)
2002's ill-fated Chinese Democracy trek, which was touted as the Gunners' comeback tour, was scrapped largely due to Rose's shenanigans, including his penchant for swaggering onstage hours late, the occasional riot, and sluggish ticket sales mainly due to the fact that they had no album to promote.
As if on cue, news broke Monday that G N' R has booked several performances across Europe in May and June, including a gig at Dublin's Arena on June 9 with fellow rockers Motley Crue as the opening act, plus appearances at the U.K.'s Download Festival, Austria's NovaRock Festival, with headliners Metallica and the Rock in Rio festival in Lisbon, Portugal.
While Rose has remained mum on the leaks, Lisa Reed, the wife of longtime Gunner keyboardist Dizzy Read, posted a message on her hubby's website saying "all signs point to [the release of Chinese Democracy] getting closer and closer" and pleaded with fans not to leak any more tracks.
"It's like shaking all your Christmas presents on the 23rd of December and figuring out what they are," she wrote. "No surprise and you ruined the fun for the giver. I just as much as anyone want this record to com out, but BE PATIENT!"
Guns N' Roses' last official studio set was 1993's underwhelming collection of covers, The Spaghetti Incident.