Plans for ABBA Museum Unveiled in Sweden
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- An ABBA museum dedicated to the music, clothing and history of the legendary Swedish pop group and its four members will open in Stockholm in 2008, organizers said Tuesday.
The interactive museum will feature original outfits and instruments used by the group, handwritten song lyrics, a display of different awards, and "all other things we can think of and find," said Ulf Westman, an event consultant who is spearheading the project with his wife Ewa Wigenheim-Westman.
The museum will also feature a studio where visitors can record their own ABBA songs, and an interactive experience that "will recreate the feeling of being at Wembley stadium and seeing ABBA live with 50,000 others," Westman said.
Organizers are still searching for a suitable location for the museum, but said it will open somewhere in central Stockholm during 2008.
Wigenheim-Westman said the idea was inspired by the Beatles museum in London, but that it took nearly two years to convince the former ABBA members -- Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad -- that it was a good idea.
"It is nice that someone feels compelled to take on our musical history," the four members said in a joint statement. "We think this will be a fun and swinging museum to visit."
The band members will donate the material for the exhibits, but will otherwise not be involved in the project, which will be funded by company sponsors, Westman said.
Stockholm's mayor Kristina Axen Olin said the museum -- which is expected to draw 500,000 visitors a year -- will make the Swedish capital a more popular tourist attraction for the millions of ABBA fans around the world.
"As a Stockholmer, this is what you have been missing," Axen Ohlin said at a news conference to unveil the plan. "We are convinced that this is important both for Stockholm citizens and for marketing the city."
ABBA is one of the most successful bands in history, having sold more than 370 million albums. While the group has not performed together since 1982, it continues to sell nearly 3 million records a year and the musical "Mamma Mia!" -- written by Andersson and Ulvaeus and based on the group's hits -- has been seen by more than 27 million people around the world.
'Sunshine,' 'Nelson' lead indie field
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The road-trip romp Little Miss Sunshine and the gritty classroom drama Half Nelson led contenders Tuesday for the Spirit Awards honoring independent films, each earning five nominations, including best picture.
Other best-picture nominees were American Gun, a drama about the proliferation of firearms in America; The Dead Girl, a thriller centered on a serial killer's female victims; and Pan's Labyrinth, a Spanish-language tale about a girl's dark fantasy life in Fascist Spain.
Maverick filmmaker Robert Altman, who died last week, earned a best-director nomination for his final film, A Prairie Home Companion. The new James Bond, Daniel Craig, received a supporting-male actor nomination for the Truman Capote drama Infamous, in which he plays a death-row inmate.
The Spirit Awards, formerly known as the Independent Spirit Awards, honor films produced on comparatively small budgets of less than $20 million. The awards will be presented Feb. 24, the day before the Academy Awards.
Little Miss Sunshine, the summer mini-hit about a dysfunctional family's comic trek to a child's beauty pageant, also earned two supporting-actor nominations, for Alan Arkin and Paul Dano. Stars Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette and Steve Carell were shut out in the lead-acting categories.
The film also was nominated for best director (husband and wife Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris) and best first screenplay (Michael Arndt).
Half Nelson earned lead-acting nominations for Ryan Gosling, who plays an inspiring inner-city teacher with a drug problem, and Shareeka Epps, who plays a promising student who becomes both his pupil and counselor.
Ryan Fleck earned two nominations for Half Nelson, for best director and first screenplay, co-written with Anna Boden.
Other nominees for best female lead were Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration ; Elizabeth Reaser, Sweet Land ; Michelle Williams, Land of Plenty ; and Robin Wright Penn, Sorry, Haters.
Joining Gosling in the best male lead category were Aaron Eckhart, Thank You for Smoking ; Edward Norton, The Painted Veil ; Ahmad Razvi, Man Push Cart ; and Forest Whitaker, American Gun.
Supporting-actress nominees: Melonie Diaz, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints ; Marcia Gay Harden, American Gun ; Mary Beth Hurt, The Dead Girl ; Frances McDormand, Friends with Money ; and Amber Tamblyn, Stephanie Daley.
Along with Arkin, Craig and Dano, supporting-actor nominees were Raymond J. Barry, Steel City, and Channing Tatum, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.
The Spirit Award nominations mark the beginning of a flurry of key awards announcements leading up to Jan. 23's Oscar nominations. December brings Golden Globe nominations, best-of-the-year picks from major critics groups and other film honors.
Since they honor independent and sometimes obscure films, the Spirit Awards often do not reflect the overall field that will compete for the Oscars and other high-profile Hollywood awards. Last year, though, many key Spirit and Oscar nominees overlapped, including Capote,Brokeback Mountain and Good Night, and Good Luck.
Nominees were chosen by members of the non-profit cinema groups Film Independent and the Independent Film Project.