Sheryl Crow's Cancer Fight
Sheryl Crow says she is heading toward a full recovery from breast cancer surgery earlier this week.
News of Crow's cancer battle was broken Friday on her Website and confirmed by her publicist, Dave Tomberlin, who announced the 44-year-old singer-songwriter underwent successful surgery on Wednesday.
"Her doctors think her prognosis is excellent," Tomberlin said.
The nine-time Grammy winner, who described the procudure as "minimally invasive," will now begin precautionary radiation treatment, according to a statement on sherylcrow.com.
"I am joining the more than 200,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year," Crow says on the site, adding the cancer was detected early.
"I am inspired by the brave women who have faced this battle before me and grateful for the support of family and friends."
To allow time for rest and recuperation, Crow has scrapped her North American tour, which was scheduled to kick off next month and run through April in support of her recent album, the Grammy-nominated Wildflower. Crow says she hopes to make up the dates as soon as possible.
Everyday in February must seem like a winding road to Crow. The cancer announcement comes exactly three weeks after she made public her split from Lance Armstrong.
The couple had been engaged for four months and romantically linked since 2003.
Armstrong, 34, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996.
"Once again I'm reminded of just how pervasive this illness is, as it has now touched someone I love deeply," he said in a statement Friday. "
Crow can take solace in knowing that after surgery and treatment, Armstrong was declared cancer-free and rebounded to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles.
Will Eva Green escape the 'Bond curse'?
A little bit Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me) and a little bit Carole Bouquet (For Your Eyes Only), French actress Eva Green definitely has the decolletage to be a Bond girl.
But according to one school of thought, the relative unknown -- who was announced last week to play original Bond girl Vesper Lynd opposite newly crowned James Bond Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (which opens Nov. 17) -- is now doomed to stay a relative unknown.
Green's previous major exposure has been as Orlando Bloom's love interest in the big-budget Crusades bomb Kingdom Of Heaven. So careerwise, she is a blank slate.
But as blank as Lois Chiles, who played Holly Goodhead in Moonraker? Or Lana Wood who played Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever?
Whether there's a career-killing "Bond curse" or not (and there are enough post-Bond success stories to at least poke holes in the theory), the latter-day Bond era of big-name leading ladies appears to be over.
The part of Vesper, Bond's tragic one true love according to the Ian Fleming books, was reportedly turned down by the likes of Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Scarlett Johansson, Thandie Newton and Canadian girl Rachel McAdams.
Is it the bimbo factor? If so, it's an unfair rap if you consider Bond girls pre- and post- what I consider the null-point of Bond and his Girls -- The Living Daylights.
TLD, you may recall, was the film that introduced Timothy Dalton as a humourless Bond. Released at the height of the AIDS scare, it was the first film in which Bond became a one-woman man (girl next door Maryam D'Abo as the cello-playing Kara Milovy), and the first in which it's suggested he doesn't sleep with his leading lady or anybody else.
Listen, you don't want a guy with a licence to kill getting cranky.
James and Kara ride a Ferris wheel. They hug and hold hands. They might as well have cast Timothy Hutton.
Before? Well, there was a bit of Austin Powers in Bond lines like, "There's something I want you to get off your chest" (Diamonds Are Forever). And perhaps a touch of misogyny in how quickly he moves on after a bedmate is poisoned by his side (You Only Live Twice). But it was the times, and the role of Bond girl was that of sex kitten.
After? As often as not, Bond girls kicked more butt (Grace Slick, Famke Janssen, Michelle Yeoh), and toyed with Bond as much as he used to toy with the likes of Tiffany Case. So maybe Angelina et al are just paying heed to Halle Berry's inauspicious post-Bond career (Catwoman? Gothika?).
You don't want your last words, careerwise, to be: "Oh, James!"
Herewith, some of our fave Bond babes, and the "curse" analyzed:
MAUD ADAMS
as Andrea Anders (The Man With The
Golden Gun) and Octopussy (Octopussy)
Post Bond career highlights
Was rumoured to have actually had sex on screen with Bruce Dern in Tattoo. Returned to Bond in an uncredited role in A View To A Kill as "Woman In Fisherman's Wharf Crowd."
Cursed? Yes
URSULA ANDRESS
as Honey Rider (Dr. No)
Post Bond career highlights
Played Aphrodite in Clash Of The Titans. TV series appearances include The Love Boat, Manimal and Falcon Crest.
Cursed? Yes
CLAUDINE AUGER
as Domino Derval (Thunderball)
Post Bond career highlights
"Stays busy" working in TV and film in France, Italy and Spain.
No awards to speak of.
Cursed? Yes
BARBARA BACH
as Anya Amasova (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Post Bond career highlights
Married Ringo Starr, starred with him in Caveman (but lost him in the movie to Shelley Long).
Cursed? Yes
KIM BASINGER
as Domino Patacchi (Never Say Never Again)
Post Bond career highlights
Won an Oscar for L.A. Confidential.
Battling it out with Halle Berry for Worst Post-Oscar career -- and with Alec Baldwin for worst Hollywood marriage breakup.
Cursed? No
HONOR BLACKMAN
as Pussy Galore (Goldfinger)
Post Bond career highlights
Won acclaim in a '60s production of Wait Until Dark. Played Penny Husbands-Bosworth in Bridget Jones' Diary. Recently played recurring character Rula Romanoff on Coronation Street. Has a one-woman stage show Wayward Ladies.
Cursed? No
TERI HATCHER
as Paris Carver (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Post Bond career highlights
Sidra, the girl on Seinfeld whose breasts are "real ... and they're fabulous!" Currently stars as Susan Mayer in some show about housewives whose state of mind is usually, um, what's the word I'm looking for here? Oh yeah, Desperate!
Cursed? No
FAMKE JANSSEN
as Xenia Onatopp (GoldenEye)
Post Bond career highlights
Plays Dr. Jean Grey in the X-Men movies -- a character who apparently can't be killed (talk about job security).
Dated Ben Affleck. Survived that, too.
Cursed? No
GRACE JONES
as May Day (A View To A Kill)
Post Bond career highlights
Co-starred with Chris Makepeace
in the vampire movie Vamp. Played
Helen Strange opposite Eddie Murphy and Robin Givens in the laugh-a-minute chortlefest Boomerang.
Cursed? Yes
JANE SEYMOUR
as Solitaire (Live And Let Die)
Post Bond career highlights
Gave up tarot cards, got her medical degree and spent six seasons as Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman. Played villainess
Genevieve Teague in Smallville.
Cursed? No
JILL ST. JOHN
as Tiffany Case (Diamonds Are Forever)
Post Bond career highlights
Played Sylvia Maxwell on Hart To Hart.
Did a Love Boat AND a Fantasy Island.
Dated Henry Kissinger.
Married Robert Wagner.
Cursed? Yes
MICHELLE YEOH
as Wai Lin (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Post Bond career highlights
Been in one or two movies you might have heard of, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs Of A Geisha, and is the highest paid actress in Asia.
Cursed? No
Why 'Sex in the City' movie didn't happen
NEW YORK -- There will be no big-screen Sex in the City.
Sarah Jessica Parker, who played advice columnist Carrie Bradshaw on the hit cable TV series, says the time has passed.
"There was a time in 2004 and even last year when there was great momentum for a film.
"The production was all set and readied and the script was ready," reveals Parker.
"We had our stages up but those stages are gone now. The sets have been dismantled and sold. The wardrobe is gone. There are nothing but memories left."
She doesn't even pretend it wasn't Kim Cattrall who put the brakes on a feature film.
"It's true, everyone was on board for the film except Kim."
She's a little more cautious when asked why Cattrall, who played catty, vampy Samantha, refused to participate.
"I was led to believe there were a number of reasons. It wasn't just a case of money, but I'm not certain exactly what all those reasons were.
"You have to respect someone's choice to want to move on in their life."
Though Sex in the City gave Parker's career an enormous boost, she's not looking for another TV series any time soon.
"If I'd wanted to continue doing TV I'd have done more seasons of Sex in the City," she says.
"TV is too demanding and I want to spend more time with my son. He's almost three now and he needs me. Films are less of a commitment."
Nor does Parker see herself doing a Broadway show.
"That would take me away from my son every night for months. That's even worse than the daytime commitment of a TV series."
On March 10, Parker will be seen starring opposite Matthew McConaughey in the romantic comedy Failure to Launch.
She has already completed the race relations drama Spinning into Butter with Beau Bridges and Miranda Richardson.
Ang Lee may make Oscar history
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ang Lee seems poised to go where even Japanese film master Akira Kurosawa never went: The winner's circle for best director at the Academy Awards.
A win March 5 for front-runner Lee, director of the cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain, would make him the first Asian filmmaker to earn the directing prize.
Lee has dominated at earlier awards shows, taking the directing prize at the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America, the recipient of the latter almost always going on to win the Oscar.
His competition on Oscar night: Two-time best-director winner Steven Spielberg for the assassination thriller Munich; George Clooney for the Edward R. Murrow tale Good Night, and Good Luck; Paul Haggis for the ensemble drama Crash; and Bennett Miller for the Truman Capote saga Capote.
Though nominated for best director previously with his martial-arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Lee arrives as the Oscar favourite with a distinctly un-Asian film.
Brokeback Mountain is a modern twist on the Western, casting Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as sheepherding pals whose summer fling turns into a passionate romance they conceal from their wives.
"I like the unknown place," Lee said backstage after his win at the Golden Globes. "I think the American West, true west, not west in movies, it's very romantic. It's lighthearted. It's a place that I hardly know, and I like to explore that."
Born in Taiwan, Lee first came to Hollywood's notice with the romantic charmers The Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman, which earned back-to-back Oscar nominations for foreign-language film for 1993 and '94.
Since then, Lee has been a chameleon, directing the Jane Austen costume romance Sense and Sensibility, a best-picture nominee, the stark American drama The Ice Storm and the comic-book adaptation Hulk.
Crouching Tiger won the foreign-language honour for 2000 and earned a best-picture nomination.
Brokeback Mountain is a sweeping romantic melodrama with one foot rooted in the grand weepers of old Hollywood and the other kicking show business into modern times with its sensitive portrayal of a gay love affair.
Its subject matter aside, Brokeback Mountain stands as an estimable directing achievement for presenting an intimate character portrait against a backdrop of boundless Western vistas.
At 51, Lee already has eclipsed the Oscar track record of Kurosawa, whose film Rashomon received an honorary foreign-language film award and whose Dersu Uzala won the foreign-language Oscar. Kurosawa's films never broke into the best-picture category, though he was nominated for best director with Ran and received an honorary Oscar for 1989.
A look at the other directing nominees:
-Steven Spielberg, Munich: The film was a daring choice for Spielberg, who incurred the wrath of Jewish groups that felt he humanized Arab terrorists in his dramatization of the Israeli pursuit of Palestinians linked to the massacre of Israelis at the 1972 Olympics.
Starring Eric Bana as leader of an Israeli hit squad, Munich is a dazzling directing achievement that creates an authentic period feeling through design and camera techniques that emulate the look of 1970s political thrillers.
But with two directing Oscars already for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, it's unlikely Spielberg will win a third for a film that left audiences lukewarm.
-George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck: In 2005, Clooney graduated from superstar hunk who really wants to direct to serious filmmaker and actor.
Along with his directing honour, Clooney was nominated for co-writing the Good Night screenplay, and he earned a supporting-actor nomination for the oil-industry thriller Syriana.
If he's going home with an Oscar, it probably will be for his excellent performance in Syriana. That prize also would serve as a nice honourable mention for Clooney's directing accomplishment on a little black-white film about newsman Murrow (David Strathairn) that confounded expectations by becoming a commercial success as well as a critical hit.
-Paul Haggis, Crash: Haggis was the one key member of the Million Dollar Baby quartet who did not win an Oscar last time. Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman all won, but screenwriter Haggis came away empty-handed.
Oscar voters might remedy that this time by giving him the prize for the original screenplay of Crash, which he co-wrote. The film features a huge cast led by Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton in a crisis-mode 36-hour period in Los Angeles.
Haggis himself has said he expects Lee and Brokeback Mountain to triumph, but the seamless stitching he managed with so many characters and story lines in Crash makes him a serious longshot contender.
-Bennett Miller, Capote: Miller looks to be along for the ride with his searing portrait of author Capote, which is expected to make its Oscar splash in the best-actor category, where Philip Seymour Hoffman is favoured to win for the title role.
For Miller, making his dramatic film debut after directing a single documentary previously, Capote and the Oscar attention are signs of good things to come from a fresh talent.
Italy bids ciao to Games
Led by snow explorers with a white horse symbolizing victory, the Olympic closing ceremony began in grand style at Stadio Olimpico in Turin, Italy, Sunday.
Canada had a star turn in the ceremony, as the next Winter Games will be in British Columbia in 2010.
Canadian opera star Ben Heppner sang a stirring rendition of Canada's national anthem, which started the section of the program that signifies the countdown to Vancouver.
Heppner, an internationally renowned tenor, performed the anthem a cappella joined by a Royal Canadian Mounted Police honour guard. Heppner's performance led to the passing of the Olympic flag by Turin Mayor Sergio Chiamparino to Vanvouver mayor Sam Sullivan.
Canadian pop superstar Avril Lavigne rocked Stadio Olimpico in a special eight-minute celebration.
The theme of the closing ceremony is Carnivale Italiano, the Italian masked festival that included performances by some of Italy's most famous circuses. Popular Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli is the headline performer.
Following the Italian national anthem, the flag-bearers of each nation entered the stadium simultaneously.
Canadian speed skater Cindy Klassen had the honour of leading Canada into the closing festivities as its flag-bearer. The news came to no one's surprise as the 26-year-old Winnipeg native won a Canadian record five medals and is the nation's most decorated Olympian with six career medals.
In his final speech to the Italian people, IOC President Jacques Rogge closed the Torino Olympics by saying "these have been wonderful, fantastic Games." In grand tradition, he then called on the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Vancouver for the 21st Winter Olympics.
Some 2,000 performers took part in the ceremony. It's expected this closing ceremony was viewed by a television audience of 500 million people.
'Madea's Family Reunion' Tops Box-Office
LOS ANGELES - Tyler Perry fans reunited at theaters for another tale of mad black women. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion," a comic drama in which writer-director Perry also stars in three roles, debuted as the weekend's No. 1 movie with $30.25 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It was a second gold mine for Lionsgate Films, which also released Perry's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," the movie that opened as No. 1 with $21.9 million on the same weekend last year.
Lionsgate hopes to have a third Perry movie out over the same weekend next year, said Steve Rothenberg, the company's president of distribution.
"It's a time when we can really dominate the box office," Rothenberg said. "If we were out at Christmas, we'd be competing with the big holiday and Oscar films, but late February with Black History Month and less competition is a great time period for us."
This weekend's other new wide releases flopped. The Weinstein Co. animated tale "Doogal," a fairy-tale adventure with a voice cast that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Kylie Minogue and Jimmy Fallon, debuted at No. 8 with $3.6 million.
New Line's crime thriller "Running Scared," starring Paul Walker as a mobster scrambling to recover a gun used in the slaying of a cop, opened at No. 9 with $3.1 million.
Walker also stars in last weekend's No. 1 movie, Disney's dog tale "Eight Below," which slipped to second place with $15.7 million. "Eight Below" grossed $45.1 million in 10 days.
Though "Madea's Family Reunion" opened more strongly than "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," the overall weekend box office declined. The top 12 movies took in $99.8 million, down 4.4 percent from the same weekend last year.
Based on Perry's stage play, "Madea's Family Reunion" depicts a variety of domestic crises as a clan prepares for a reunion. Among the characters Perry plays is the heavyset, pistol-packing Grandma Madea, whom he also played in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman."
The film was shot for just $6 million.
Perry's stories about empowerment of women set among Madea's family have a built-in following among black audiences familiar with his plays and video versions of the tales. Black women 35 and older made up 52 percent of the movie's audience, according to Lionsgate.
"The themes Tyler Perry presents resonate very strongly with the black community," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It reminds me of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding.' It has elements of comedy and drama and community that just definitely works."
The South African film "Tsotsi," a nominee for best foreign-language film at the Academy Awards, opened strongly in limited release with $78,000 at six theaters, for a healthy $13,000 average.
By comparison, "Madea's Family Reunion" averaged $13,788 in 2,194 theaters, "Doogal" did $1,557 in 2,318 cinemas, and "Running Scared" averaged $1,909 in 1,611 theaters.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion," $30.25 million.
2. "Eight Below," $15.7 million.
3. "The Pink Panther," $11.3 million.
4. "Date Movie," $9.2 million.
5. "Curious George," $7 million.
6. "Firewall," $6.3 million.
7. "Final Destination 3," $5.35 million.
8. "Doogal," $3.6 million.
9. "Running Scared," $3.1 million.
10. "Freedomland," $2.9 million.
Don Knotts, TV's Barney Fife, Dies at 81
LOS ANGELES - Don Knotts, who won TV immortality and five Emmys for playing the bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" with self-deprecating humor, was remembered by his friend and co-star as a comedic genius who wrote some of the show's best scenes.
"Don was a small man ... but everything else about him was large: his mind, his expressions," Griffith told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Don was special. There's nobody like him."
Knotts, 81, died Friday of pulmonary and respiratory complications at the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center, said Sherwin Bash, his friend and manager.
His half-century career included more than 25 films and seven TV series, most notably playing the bug-eyed deputy who carried in his shirt pocket the one bullet he was allowed after shooting himself in the foot. The constant fumbling, a recurring sight gag, was typical of his self-deprecating humor.
The show ran from 1960-68, and was in the top 10 of the Nielsen ratings each season, including a No. 1 ranking its final year. It is one of only three series in TV history to bow out at the top: The others are "I Love Lucy" and "Seinfeld." The 249 episodes have appeared frequently in reruns and spawned a large, active network of fan clubs.
Knotts, whose shy, soft-spoken manner was unlike his high-strung characters, once said he was most proud of the Fife character and didn't mind being remembered that way.
He also played the would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company," which he joined in 1979, and was an original cast member of "The Steve Allen Show," the comedy-variety show that ran from 1956-61.
Knotts' G-rated films were family fun, not box-office blockbusters. In most, he ends up the hero and gets the girl — a girl who can see through his nervousness to the heart of gold.
In the part-animated 1964 film "The Incredible Mr. Limpet," Knotts played a meek clerk who turns into a fish after he is rejected by the Navy.
In 1998, he had a key role in the back-to-the-past movie "Pleasantville," playing a folksy television repairman whose supercharged remote control sends a teen boy and his sister into a TV sitcom past.
The West Virginia native began his show biz career even before he graduated from high school, performing as a ventriloquist at local clubs and churches. He majored in speech at West Virginia University, then took off for the big city.
"I went to New York cold. On a $100 bill. Bummed a ride," he recalled in a visit to his hometown of Morgantown, where city officials renamed a street for him in 1998.
Within six months, Knotts had taken a job on a radio Western called "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders," playing a wisecracking, know-it-all handyman. He stayed with it for five years before making his series TV debut on "The Steve Allen Show."
He married Kay Metz in 1948, the year he graduated from college. The couple had two children before divorcing in 1969. Knotts later married, then divorced Lara Lee Szuchna.
Knotts is survived by his wife of three years, Francey Yarborough, and two children, Karen and Thomas, from his first marriage.
Prolific Actor Darren McGavin Dies at 83
LOS ANGELES - Darren McGavin was painting a movie set in 1945 when he learned of an opening for a small role in the show, climbed off his ladder, and returned through Columbia's front gates to land the part.
The husky, tough-talking performer went on to become one of the busiest actors in television and film, starring in five TV series, including "Mike Hammer," and endearing holiday audiences with his role as the grouchy dad in the 1983 comedy classic "A Christmas Story."
McGavin, 83, died Saturday of natural causes at a Los Angeles-area hospital with his family at his side, said his son Bogart McGavin.
McGavin also had leading roles in TV's "Riverboat" and cult favorite "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." Among his memorable portrayals was Gen. George Patton in the 1979 TV biography "Ike."
Despite his busy career in television, McGavin was awarded only one Emmy: in 1990 for an appearance as Candice Bergen's opinionated father in an episode of "Murphy Brown."
He lacked the prominence in films he enjoyed in television, but he registered strongly in featured roles such as the young artist in Venice in "Summertime," David Lean's 1955 film with Katharine Hepburn and Rosanno Brazzi; Frank Sinatra's crafty drug supplier in "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955); Jerry Lewis's parole officer in "The Delicate Delinquent" (1957); and the gambler in 1984's "The Natural." He also starred alongside Don Knotts, who died Friday night, in the 1976 family comedy "No Deposit, No Return."
Throughout his television career, McGavin gained a reputation as a curmudgeon willing to bad-mouth his series and combat studio bosses.
McGavin starred in the private eye series "Mike Hammer" in the 1950s. In 1968 he told a reporter: "Hammer was a dummy. I made 72 of those shows, and I thought it was a comedy. In fact, I played it camp. He was the kind of guy who would've waved the flag for George Wallace."
Born in Spokane, Wash., McGavin was sketchy in interviews about his childhood. He told TV Guide in 1973 that he was a constant runaway at 10 and 11, and as a teen lived in warehouses in Tacoma, Wash., and dodged the police and welfare workers. His parents disappeared, he said.
He spent a year at College of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., taking part in dramatics, then landed in Los Angeles. He washed dishes and was hired to paint sets at Columbia studio. He was working on "A Song to Remember" when an agent told him of an opening for a small role.
"I climbed off a painter's ladder and washed up at a nearby gas station," McGavin said. "I returned through Columbia's front gate with the agent." The director, Charles Vidor, hired him. No one recognized him but the paint foreman, who said, "You're fired."
McGavin studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio and began working in live TV drama and on Broadway. He appeared with Charlton Heston in "Macbeth" on TV and played Happy in "Death of a Salesman" in New York and on the road.
He is survived by his four children — York, Megan, Bridget and Bogart — from a previous marriage to Melanie York McGavin, Bogart McGavin said. McGavin was separated from his second wife, Kathy Brown, he said. Services were set for March 5 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.