News for 2/28/2005
Oscar's Golden Foxx
'Million Dollar Baby' Rules the Night, But 'Ray' Provides the Academy's King
By William Booth
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sporting a shaved head and wide smile, Jamie Foxx accepted the Oscar for Best Actor on Sunday night for his portrayal of the beloved musician Ray Charles in the movie "Ray."
Like the "good southern gentleman" he said his grandmother raised him to be, Foxx thanked his longtime managers and said, "Let's live this African American dream."
Foxx became the ninth African American to win an Academy Award for acting in its 77-year history, and only the third to win Best Actor, following in the footsteps of Denzel Washington and Sidney Poitier.
This year, a record four black actors were nominated for five acting roles, including Foxx twice, for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. The latter category went to another African American, Morgan Freeman for his work in "Million Dollar Baby." The boxing movie that came on strong late in the evening, winning Best Picture, Best Director, for Clint Eastwood, and Best Actress, for Hilary Swank.
Foxx portrayed Charles's journey through American music, and showed the singer and piano player's struggles with his blindness in the rural Jim Crow South, with heroin addiction, his mistresses and marriage, and with fame.
Foxx said that his grandmother Esther Marie Talley was dead and gone, but she was the one who had taught him to be a man. "When I act like a fool, she beat me. She whupped me. . . . ," Foxx said. "Now she talks to me in my dreams. I can't wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you."
It was one of the few emotional highlights in Sunday's 3-hour, 10 minute telecast, which lacked much in the way of fireworks. Foxx seemed to be the only one at the podium who shed some tears.
Of course, the producers of "The Aviator" were probably not overjoyed. Though "The Aviator" won five Oscars -- the most of any film this year -- they were mostly technical awards.
Instead, it was the feisty Eastwood project "Million Dollar Baby" that won Best Picture. Eastwood also bested Martin Scorsese for Best Director. Scorsese was favored by many Oscar handicappers because it was the veteran auteur's fifth nomination for directing, and he had not won for such modern classics as "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull" and "GoodFellas."
But the Oscar is not intended to make up for past mistakes, though some years it appears that way.
Eastwood thanked his "crack geriatric machine" of veteran filmmakers for helping him shoot his movie in 37 days. He tipped his hat to director Sidney Lumet, who earlier in the evening had received an honorary Oscar, and the 74-year-old Eastwood said, "I saw Sidney out there, and he's 80, and I'm still a kid."
After the ceremony, with an Oscar in each hand, Eastwood said: "I was disappointed when they started building a competition between myself and Marty," referring to Scorsese. "I'm just happy that a humble picture, budget-wise in today's world, won this acceptance." He added that he was glad his movie did not get "hobbitized" by the juggernaut of "The Lord of the Rings," as did his "Mystic River" last year.
Swank won for her portrayal of Maggie, a waitress from a trailer park family from hell, in "Million Dollar Baby." Maggie persuades Eastwood's character to train her to box professionally, which he does, until something bad happens.
At the podium, Swank, who won a previous Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry" in 1999, said, "I'm just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream."
The 30-year-old Swank thanked cast and crew, plus her trainers ("up to that last pound, that last ounce") and her sparring partners.
When the music began to cut her off, she said, "Wait, wait. I haven't gotten to Clint. Clint Eastwood, thank you for allowing me to go on this journey with you."
Freeman won for his role as Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, a beaten-down boxer sleeping on a cot in the Hit Pit gym run by the Eastwood character. Dupris is also the narrator, and the moral center of the film.
Freeman's acceptance speech was as understated as his character. "I want to thank everybody and anybody who had anything to do with this picture," he said. "It was a labor of love."
In his 30-year career, Freeman has played a pimp ("Street Smart"), a chauffeur ("Driving Miss Daisy") and a convict ("The Shawshank Redemption"), but he also has been cast as God and the president of the United States.
Backstage, he was asked what it meant for him, as a black actor, to win. "It means Hollywood is continuing to make history," the 67-year-old said. "We're evolving with the rest of the world." He described the Oscar as a symbol of "total acceptance."
Cate Blanchett, radiating a cool Hollywood glamour, won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal in "The Aviator" of Katharine Hepburn, who for a time was the lover of Howard Hughes -- aviation innovator, filmmaker, germ freak.
"From you, from the academy who know Katharine Hepburn so well, this is an indescribable surprise," she said, poised and collected. Blanchett was singled out for re-creating Hepburn's singular tight-jawed Connecticut Yankee accent, her erect, jaunty athleticism and her vulnerability.
"Thank you, of course, to Miss Hepburn," Blanchett said, in a slight Australian accent, "the longevity of her career is inspiring." Then she acknowledged her director, Scorsese, and said she hoped that her young son would marry his young daughter, Francesca.
What did she think when her name was announced? "Nothing," Blanchett said. "I went really blank. I think I'm still in shock." She said she was thinking "Just don't trip" as she climbed to the stage in her yellow Valentino gown dressed with red belt.
In tux and white tie, host Chris Rock began the show by telling the audience to "sit your asses down," but that was as bawdy as his language got.
Rock did a bit about how there are "only four real stars. The rest are popular people. Clint Eastwood is a star," he said. "Tobey Maguire is just a boy in tights." Then: "Who is Jude Law, and why is he in every movie I've seen over the last four years?"
Rock made a joke about "The Passion of the Christ." "I saw it," he said. "It's not that funny, really."
He also took a poke at Michael Moore, wondering why Moore, whose "Fahrenheit 9/11" won no nominations, did not instead make the nominated documentary "Super Size Me" about the ravages of a McDonald's diet. "He'd done the research," Rock said.
There was also a fast diss of Bush. Rock wondered if an average employee of the Gap would get fired if he had somehow lost several trillion dollars out of the till and started a war with Banana Republic over allegations that they dealt in toxic tank tops, only to find that the rival outlet didn't sell tank tops at all.
"Your average person would get in trouble for that," Rock said.
Maybe you had to be there.
The Oscar telecast producer, Gil Cates, picked Rock to boost the show's appeal to a younger MTV-ish audience, and to bring more male viewers back to the show -- demographics that had steadily eroded over the years. (Rock had earlier said the show was watched mostly by women and gay men.)
Rock would bring, or so the academy hoped, more of that elusive edge and attitude to the host's role, following the older, more showbiz types like former hosts Billy Crystal and Steve Martin, both Hollywood insiders.
Before the Sunday night show, Cates called ABC's five-second delay "a danger to society," but in the post-Janet Jackson world of flopping tops, ABC insisted on having control of the pause button.
The thinking was that Rock might incorporate a couple of dirty words in his bits, just to get bleeped. That didn't happen. Nor did any gowns malfunction. And nobody had to be yanked off the stage.
There was a warm and fuzzy tribute to past host Johnny Carson, who died earlier this year. Carson's jokes, from decades-old Oscar telecasts, were still funny.
"The Incredibles" picked up Oscars for Best Animated Feature Film, beating out "Shark Tale" and "Shrek 2," and Sound Editing. The movie was praised by critics for its smart script, with a plot and (inside) jokes that appealed to both adults and children. One of the film's points was that society should not take the extraordinary and beat them into the ordinary -- in this case, a family of superheroes. "The heart of the film is story and character," said director Brad Bird.
Best Adapted Screenplay went to Alexander Payne and his writing partner Jim Taylor (they've worked together for 15 years) for "Sideways," the off-center road trip movie of Miles and Jack, two middle-aged losers who go on a wine bender in the vineyards of Southern California.
Payne, who also directed the movie, thanked Rex Pickett, whose novel they based the film upon (the book wasn't published until after the movie was made).
Asked backstage why the little film, with no big stars, generated so much buzz among critics, Payne replied, "It's honest. It's truthful. "It's a throwback to a type of American film that used to be made in the '70s, very human films, within our comic stylings." Or at least that's what the critics say, Payne joked. What was he gonna drink to celebrate his victory? "Tequila," agreed Taylor and Payne. "It's more efficient."
Many Oscar handicappers had predicted that the Best Documentary Feature would go to Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," but the award went instead to "Born Into Brothels," by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, which followed the chaotic but sometimes joyful lives of street kids in India.
"We thank the kids," Briski said. "They're watching in Calcutta."
Backstage, Kauffman mentioned that "we haven't made a dime yet. But I hope we will." The two filmmakers said they were planning on building a school for the children of Calcutta prostitutes later this year.
Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," which had three nominations, was shut out -- though the film made more than $370 million at the domestic box office.
Best Foreign Language Film went to "The Sea Inside," directed by Alejandro Amenabar. For the first time, the Best Song went to one sung in Spanish, "Al Otro Lado del Rio" from "The Motorcycle Diaries," the film about the young revolutionary Che Guevara.
Charlie Kaufman won his first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Taking the stage, he looked at the 30-second clock timing speeches and started saying, "29, 28. Wow, that's really intimidating." He paused. Then after thanking some people, he said, "No, I don't want to take my time. I want to get offstage."
And the Oscars went to:
Best Picture: "Million Dollar Baby."
Director: Clint Eastwood, "Million Dollar Baby."
Actor: Jamie Foxx, "Ray."
Actress: Hilary Swank, "Million Dollar Baby."
Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby."
Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "The Aviator."
Original Screenplay: Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."
Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, "Sideways."
Foreign Film: "The Sea Inside," Alejandro Amenabar, director.
Animated Feature Film: "The Incredibles."
Animated Short Film: "Ryan," Chris Landreth, director.
Live Action Short Film: "Wasp," Andrea Arnold, director.
Documentary: "Born Into Brothels," Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski, co-directors.
Documentary Short Subject: "Mighty Times: The Children's March," Bobby Houston, director.
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti (art direction) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decoration), "The Aviator."
Cinematography: Robert Richardson, "The Aviator."
Film Editing: Thelma Schoonmaker, "The Aviator."
Costume Design: Sandy Powell, "The Aviator."
Makeup: Valli O'Reilly and Bill Corso, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events."
Original Song: "Al Otro Lado Del Rio," from "The Motorcycle Diaries," written by Jorge Drexler.
Original Score: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, "Finding Neverland."
Sound Editing: Michael Silvers and Randy Thom, "The Incredibles."
Sound Mixing: Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa, "Ray."
Visual Effects: John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier, "Spider-Man 2."
Winners previously announced:
Honorary Academy Award: Sidney Lumet.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Roger Mayer.
Gordon E. Sawyer Award (technical accomplishment): Takuo Miyagishima.
Academy Awards of Merit (scientific and technical merit): Horst Burbulla, Jean-Marie Lavalou, Alain Masseron and David Samuelson.
Award of Commendation (scientific and technical lifetime achievement): Arthur Widmer.
News for 2/27/2005
Weekend Boxoffice
'Black Woman' Tops 'Hitch' at Box Office
By PAUL CHAVEZ
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" got its revenge against mixed critics' reviews by earning $22.7 million and taking first place at the weekend box office.
The drama-comedy is based on a script by Tyler Perry from his play of the same name and also features him cross-dressed as a gun-toting grandmother and in two other supporting roles. The film's strong debut pushed Will Smith's romantic comedy "Hitch" to the second spot with a weekend haul of $21 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Films contending for top honors at the Academy Awards also continued to draw healthy audiences with best picture nominees "Million Dollar Baby," "The Aviator" and "Sideways" ranked among the top 11 films.
Final figures were to be released Monday.
"Diary of a Mad Black Woman" follows Kimberly Elise's character, Helen, who is kicked out of her house by her husband on their 18th wedding anniversary so his longtime mistress can move in. Helen recovers from heartbreak by reconnecting with her cantankerous grandmother Madea, played by Perry, and by relying on her faith.
The film received some poor reviews, with The Associated Press giving it a single star in its four-star rating system and National Public Radio describing it as "half inspired and half really, really terrible."
Showing in 1,483 theaters, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" averaged a healthy $15,307 a cinema.
Perry, who has gained a strong following among blacks with his plays, should be given credit for the film's success, said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films Releasing.
"The performance of the film is really a testament to Tyler Perry," Ortenberg said. "He's a cultural phenomenon that is taking America by storm. In the next few weeks, those unfamiliar with Tyler will become familiar with Tyler."
Audiences in exit polls gave the film an A-plus rating and the vast majority said they would recommend the PG-13 rated film to others, Ortenberg said.
"Every once in a while there is a film that comes out of nowhere and grabs the No. 1 spot and certainly 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman' has done that," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It shows the power that the urban audience wields at the box office."
"Hitch," another PG-13 rated film, played widely in 3,571 theaters and its $122 million over three weeks made it the first film in 2005 to crack the $100 million mark.
"Million Dollar Baby," which stars best-actress nominee Hilary Swank as a bullheaded boxer, ranked sixth with an estimated $7.2 million. Fellow best-picture nominees "The Aviator," a biopic about Howard Hughes, finished in ninth with $3.9 million, while the drinking road-trip movie "Sideways" ranked 11th with $3.5 million.
The latest Wes Craven horror film, "Cursed," debuted in fourth place with $9.6 million, while the weekend's other new film, the action-comedy "Man of the House" starring Tommy Lee Jones, opened in fifth place with $9 million.
Revenues from the top 12 movies were estimated at $105.4 million, down 24.6 percent from the same weekend last year. The comparison was skewed because Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" debuted last year with $83.8 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
1. "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," $22.7 million.
2. "Hitch," $21 million.
3. "Constantine," $11.8 million.
4. "Cursed," $9.6 million.
5. "Man of the House," $9 million.
6. "Million Dollar Baby," $7.2 million.
7. "Because of Winn-Dixie," $6.8 million.
8. "Are We There Yet?", $4 million.
9. "The Aviator," $3.9 million.
10. "Son of the Mask," $3.8 million.
News for 2/23/2005
Weekend Boxoffice
'Hitch' Hangs on to Top Box-Office Spot
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Will Smith's date flick "Hitch" remained the top movie over the long President's Day weekend, taking in $36.7 million.
"Hitch" fended off Keanu Reeves' demonic thriller "Constantine," which debuted in second place with $33.6 million.
The top 20 movies at North American theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. and Nielsen EDI Inc.:
1. "Hitch," Sony, $36,731,246, 3,575 locations, $10,274 average, $95,046,465, two weeks.
2. "Constantine," Warner Bros., $33,624,407, 3,006 locations, $11,186 average, $33,624,407, one week.
3. "Because of Winn-Dixie," Fox, $13,218,723, 3,188 locations, $4,146 average, $13,218,723, one week.
4. "Son of the Mask," New Line, $9,100,115, 2,966 locations, $3,068 average, $9,100,115, one week.
5. "Million Dollar Baby," Warner Bros., $8,142,158, 2,105 locations, $3,868 average, $55,645,680, 10 weeks.
6. "Are We There Yet?", Sony, $8,051,495, 2,519 locations, $3,196 average, $71,058,688, five weeks.
7. "Boogeyman," Sony Screen Gems, $6,077,063, 2,572 locations, $2,363 average, $41,725,573, three weeks.
8. "Pooh's Heffalump Movie," Disney, $5,323,877, 2,529 locations, $2,105 average, $12,578,011, two weeks.
9. "The Aviator," Miramax, $4,924,449, 1,710 locations, $2,880 average, $88,876,786, 10 weeks.
10. "The Wedding Date," Universal, $4,510,085, 1,566 locations, $2,880 average, $25,924,990, three weeks.
11. "Sideways," Fox Searchlight, $4,473,622, 1,300 locations, $3,441 average, $58,695,137, 18 weeks.
12. "Hide and Seek," Fox, $3,006,967, 1,779 locations, $1,690 average, $48,294,631, four weeks.
13. "Meet the Fockers," Universal, $2,345,765, 1,289 locations, $1,820 average, $273,488,020, nine weeks.
14. "Finding Neverland," Miramax, $2,301,205, 860 locations, $2,676 average, $45,691,722, 15 weeks.
15. "Hotel Rwanda," MGM-United Artists, $2,115,360, 630 locations, $3,358 average, $17,085,998, nine weeks.
16. "Racing Stripes," Warner Bros., $1,911,013, 1,420 locations, $1,346 average, $46,318,788, six weeks.
17. "Coach Carter," Paramount, $1,384,402, 965 locations, $1,435 average, $65,054,762, six weeks.
18. "Andrew Lloyd Webber's the Phantom of the Opera," Warner Bros., $1,322,142, 902 locations, $1,466 average, $47,718,438, nine weeks.
19. "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior," Magnolia, $852,717, 361 locations, $2,362 average, $2,814,161, two weeks.
20. "In Good Company," Universal, $759,240, 513 locations, $1,480 average, $44,663,907, eight weeks.
News for 2/21/2005
Casting News
According to Zap2It.com D.B. Woodside, formerly of "24" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," will join Ivan Sergei in UPN's drama pilot "Triangle." Woodside will play a cop who helps Sergei's character search for his missing wife in the Caribbean. Rockmond Dunbar who starred in "Soul Food" has joined the cast of FOX's "Crazy Lawyers" pilot, playing a psychiatrist.
Carter, Fox Going to the Chapel
By Nellie Andreeva
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hot off the success of "Coach Carter," director Thomas Carter is going to direct and executive produce Fox's untitled wedding chapel drama pilot.
The wedding chapel project, from Spelling TV, revolves around a brother-and-sister team who manage a one-stop-shopping Vegas wedding emporium, their complicated romantic relationships and the outrageous entanglements of their employees and clients. Jeffrey Lieber is the project's writer.
Carter's feature credits also include the teen hit "Save the Last Dance." On the TV series side, he most recently directed the pilot for CBS' drama "Hack."
News for 2/17/2005
Rwanda Films Give Contrasting Takes on '94 Genocide
By Mike Collett-White
BERLIN (Reuters) - Two feature films about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda use radically different techniques to portray savagery still barely imaginable to the outside world.
While "Hotel Rwanda," which has grabbed the limelight with three Oscar nominations, focuses on a hotel in Kigali where the brave manager creates an oasis of safety amid chaos, "Sometimes in April" is a more graphic representation of the violence.
But even in the case of "Sometimes in April," which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday, the director said he could have made the scenes even more explicit.
In April, 1994, the assassination of the Rwandan president triggered a frenzy of killing in which Hutu extremists slaughtered an estimated 800,000 people in just 100 days, most of the victims ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
"For me, I didn't think that was the right approach," said "Sometimes in April" director Raoul Peck, referring to "Hotel Rwanda." "It has to be full, heavy, multi-layered and complex.
"I didn't want to show atrocities just to show atrocities. I need the audience to go through this film and go through this horror."
Some journalists were visibly upset after watching the film, which was shot in Rwanda and used many Rwandan actors. "Hotel Rwanda" was filmed mostly in South Africa.
"Sometimes in April" features the execution of one of the leading characters, shot in the back just as a friend, himself held at gunpoint by extremists, prepares to hack at him with a machete.
Soldiers open fire on a room full of schoolgirls at a school where they thought they would be safe. A teacher and a girl who survive have to climb from under a pile of bloodied bodies.
The wife of central character Augustin, played by Idris Elba, blows up herself and several soldiers with a hand grenade to avoid being raped.
"All the stories in the film are true," Peck said.
OUTSIDE WORLD WAS BLIND
Peck said some Rwandan extras were happy to play Hutu extremists carrying out atrocities, but others were not. A few had to be changed when they broke down during filming.
Six psychologists were on location to help people deal with the memory of the real events of 1994.
Peck explained that his portrayal of the atrocities could have been more realistic still.
Decomposing bodies line the streets and fill marshes outside Kigali, but the number of executions depicted is not high.
The single image of a machete killing is shot from a distance and is based on the only news footage of its kind to have made it out of Rwanda in 1994.
"This genocide happened without cameras," he added.
Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero of "Hotel Rwanda" played by Oscar-nominated "Ocean's Twelve" star Don Cheadle, has defended director Terry George's decision to focus on events in the hotel more than those on the streets outside.
The film does contain images of bodies strewn along a road, but is far less shocking than Peck's vision.
"Noone would like to go and sit in the theater and watch that for two hours because it was so horrible," Rusesabagina told Reuters in a recent interview in Brussels, where he lives.
Peck said he did not feel in competition with "Hotel Rwanda," and welcomed any attention brought to the genocide.
"Any information about what happened in Rwanda is good information," he said.
"Sometimes in April" is one of 22 films competing for the main prize at the annual Berlin Film Festival.
Will Smith Comes Tonight
Source: Variety
Columbia Pictures is negotiating to finance Tonight, He Comes as a vehicle for the studio's Hitch star Will Smith, reports Variety.
Jonathan Mostow will direct the story of a superhero who crash-lands in Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., and causes chaos as he romances a local housewife in an attempt to revitalize himself.
Written six years ago by Vincent Ngo, Tonight, He Comes has long been considered one of the better unmade scripts in town, says the trade. Michael Mann, who at one time was signed to direct, will produce the film with Akiva Goldsman.
Vince Gilligan (The X-Files) has already done a rewrite and will script another draft under Mostow's supervision once the Columbia deal is finalized. A holiday 2006 release is being eyed.
Mostow is developing several projects, including an untitled Paramount thriller he wrote, as well as Terminator 4.
News for 2/14/2005
A Shout-Out to Ray
The Late R&B Singer Tops the Grammys With Eight Awards; Alicia Keys Takes Four
By Sean Daly
Washington Post Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13--A late, great genius trumped the reigning pups of pop at the 47th annual Grammy Awards Sunday, as beloved American icon Ray Charles and his album "Genius Loves Company" scored the most shiny gold trophies on music's biggest night -- eight, including album of the year.
"How many millions of people has he made smile through his records?" said jazz-pop chanteuse Norah Jones, fighting back tears while accepting the award for record of the year for "Here We Go Again," her duet with the man they called Brother Ray.
Charles, who died last June of liver disease at the age of 73, would surely have enjoyed many of his young competitors -- especially overnight phenom Kanye West, the rapper-producer who was nominated for a whopping 10 awards. The Chicagoan didn't win 'em all -- he won three, actually -- but West had the performance of the night, an incendiary version of his gospel-infused hip-hop march "Jesus Walks," and an acceptance speech that had the crowd in L.A.'s Staples Center standing and cheering.
"If you have this opportunity to play the game of life, you need to appreciate every moment," the 27-year-old West said, referring to a car accident that almost killed him in 2002 and clutching his trophy for best rap album for his debut, "The College Dropout." "A lot of people don't appreciate their moment until it's past."
Then, switching from solemn to sly: "Everybody wanted to know what I'd do if I didn't win." West lifted his trophy in the air and struck a cool pose, enjoying the suspense. "I guess we'll never know!"
In one of the most moving performances of the night, piano-playing R&B diva Alicia Keys wailed out her big ballad "If I Ain't Got You," which earlier had won for best female R&B vocal performance. She was then joined by Jamie Foxx, the comedian and actor (and pianist) who is nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Charles in "Ray," for a duet on Charles's "Georgia on My Mind." Keys soon went on to win a total of four Grammys, including best R&B album for "The Diary of Alicia Keys" and best R&B performance by a duo or group for "My Boo," her chart-topping duet with neo-soul stud Usher.
Speaking of Usher: His album "Confessions" was the largest-selling album of 2004, and although it didn't do as well at the Grammys as his fans probably hoped, he did win for best contemporary R&B album, one of his three awards on the night. In an inspired pairing, he was joined onstage by James Brown for a silly "Sex Machine."
That kind of unlikely mix-and-match performance made this Grammy event one of the most entertaining in recent memory. The show commenced with a scramble of hyperactivity. Five young, pretty acts on four stages took turns playing their hits: hip-hop collective the Black Eyed Peas pogoed through "Let's Get It Started"; rapper Eve helped Gwen Stefani -- dressed like a high-priced, uh, pirate -- with "Rich Girl"; the Garza brothers of Tex-Mex trio Los Lonely Boys bluesed up their "Heaven," then gave way to fellow best-new-artist nominee Maroon 5 and that pop-rock band's "This Love"; and finally, Glaswegian glam-rockers Franz Ferdinand finished things off with "Take Me Out." An exhausting bit of popmanship, but earnest and likable nonetheless.
After some bad shtick from show host Queen Latifah, Los Lonely Boys won for best pop performance by a duo or group for "Heaven." Ah yes, the ol' perform-and-win routine, a favorite of most awards shows -- and definitely these Grammys.
A couple of standout sequences:
A gospel medley teamed Mavis Staples, singing the Staple Singers' classic "I'll Take You There"; West's "Jesus Walks," which featured a full choir and a pretty expensive-looking set; and a graceful "I'll Fly Away" by the Blind Boys of Alabama. Later, young British blues singer Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge (whose bald head showed the effects of her chemotherapy for breast cancer) knocked out a couple of Janis Joplin classics with aplomb. Especially Etheridge.
L.A.'s own Maroon 5 scored the biggest upset of the night when it beat out the assumed favorite West to win best new artist. CBS, proving that it has a wicked sense of humor, flashed to a shot of West, who looked like he was about to twitch right out of his white suit. Note that the boys in Maroon 5 thanked West first.
Loretta Lynn, the 69-year-old coal miner's daughter whose album "Van Lear Rose" made many a critic's Top 10 list, won best country album, and also scored best country collaboration with vocals for the song "Portland Oregon," a duet with pale-faced White Stripes goon Jack White, who produced the album. They were very cute together onstage -- like Dracula and Maude.
"This is for my father, Bob," Bono said before veteran Dublin rockers U2 -- who had earlier won best rock song and best rock performance by a duo or group for the hit "Vertigo" -- played the big, tingly weeper "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own." "I wish I got to know him better."
Bono would later join in an all-star jam on the Beatles' "Across the Universe." Stevie Wonder, Norah Jones, Keys, and the hairy dudes from Velvet Revolver, among many others, also took part in for the clunky but well-meaning singalong, which will be sold on the iTunes digital download site. Proceeds will go to a tsunami relief fund.
Not so poignant was a comically cheeseball duet between newlyweds Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony, who performed "Escapemonos" while lounging -- and brushing her hair? -- on a bedroom set that looked borrowed from a Spanish TV soap opera.
Despite that bit of unintended hilarity, however, the Grammy Awards had a bit of edge.
"Rock-and-roll can be dangerous and fun at the same time," Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong said when the Berkeley, Calif., punk-rock trio won best hard rock performance for the concept album "American Idiot," about disgruntled suburban youth. Later, the group would play the title track -- an edited one, but no less fierce in its attack on the political powers-that-be.
With the Academy Awards just two weeks away, L.A. is already in wiggy Oscar mode. Streetlamps are draped with flowing banners hyping the Feb. 27 Hollywood back-pat-athon, and local news stations are plugging the event with shiny, happy segments. Buzzwise, the Grammy Awards have been little more than a diversion until it's time to see if Foxx can keep the Ray Charles winning streak going. Still, the mood here was celebratory. The music industry is celebrating a substantial comeback year for album sales, which had been down the previous four years. And the growing success of such legal Internet download services as iTunes has artists and label heads alike pumped up for a profitable future.
Last year's Grammy telecast was all about singing skinsation Janet Jackson, who had flashed the globe at the Super Bowl just a week before. Lame "wardrobe malfunction" jokes were the theme of that show, and it's now hard to remember who won what. This year's story lines were generated mainly by the assembled stars, especially West, the breakout sensation whose "College Dropout" had been considered the betting man's pick. West really is a college dropout -- he attended Columbia College in Chicago for a short time before being discovered by super-producer Jermaine Dupri -- but that didn't stop him from all-world fame and grabbing 10 Grammy nominations his first time out. West's heaping total was just two off the all-time record: Michael Jackson (1984) and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds (1997) scored 12 nominations apiece. Had he swept, West would have had the all-time record for a single Grammy ceremony; Jackson and Santana (2000) are tied with eight. (Ray Charles does not join them in the all-time winner's circle because his "Genius Loves Company" won one of its awards for engineering.) At the pre-telecast ceremony held in the adjoining Los Angeles Convention Center, all but a dozen or so of the 107 total awards were given out. (And to think there were only 28 categories in the 1959 inaugural Grammy to-do.) "Genius Loves Company" would have had an even bigger bounty, but that purple rapscallion Prince scored an upset win for best traditional R&B vocal performance for the title track off his return-to-form album "Musicology." In another surprise, Jay-Z's "99 Problems" trumped West's "Through the Wire" for best rap solo performance. It was a nice going-away present for Jay-Z, who has "retired" (yeah, we'll see . . .) from performing and is now the president and CEO of Def Jam Recordings.
So hot was West that almost every journalist penned up in a media room refused to leave after the show was over, in hopes that he'd finally show up. And he did, looking absolutely GQ in an all-white suit and white silk tie. He fielded questions about losing to Maroon 5: "We're all winners. Maroon 5 -- they're just too good. . . . It's a tough year."
And when asked about losing to Jay-Z's "99 Problems" for best rap solo performance and beating Jay- Z's "99 Problems" for best rap song, you very much got the feeling that his answer referred to the night's big winner: "It's hard to beat someone's last [performance]. It's not like it's their best. It's their last."
Country newcomer Gretchen Wilson's double-wide anthem "Redneck Woman," just about the most fun to be had on a radio last year, won for best female country vocal performance.
Providing some much-needed swagger, Steve Earle, whose album "The Revolution Starts . . . Now" is a scathing indictment of the Bush administration, won for best contemporary folk album. He was relatively somber onstage, but he loosened up a bit later. "If I'm not [angering] the New York Post and Fox News, I'm not doing my job," Earle said, adding that he hoped his victory was a sign that another left-leaning diatribe would prove victorious:
"If Green Day doesn't win," he barked, "something's wrong."
As far as local pride is concerned, Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink's "cELLAbration! A Tribute to Ella Jenkins" won for best musical album for children; in a poignant twist, the duo, nominated for the 10th time, beat out the woman they were honoring: Children's-music pioneer Ella Jenkins, now 80 years old, and her "Sharing Cultures With Ella Jenkins."
"We figure that either way she's a winner," Fink said about being torn over trumping their hero.
D.C. legend Richard Smallwood's "The Praise & Worship Songs" lost out to Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama's "There Will be Light" for best traditional soul gospel album. In a sweet moment, all of the Blind Boys, looking splendid in bright red suits, were helped onstage to accept their award.
List of Grammy Award winners.
Foxx, Farrell Take on 'Miami Vice' Duty
LOS ANGELES - Add Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell to the roster of stars resurrecting TV shows for the big screen. Foxx and Farrell will star in a movie version of the cop series "Miami Vice," which will be written and directed by Michael Mann, an executive producer on the show that ran on NBC from 1984-89.
Shooting is scheduled to begin this spring, with the movie tentatively due in theaters July 28, 2006.
Other upcoming movie updates of TV shows include Cedric the Entertainer's "The Honeymooners," Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell's "Bewitched" and "The Dukes of Hazzard," with Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson and Burt Reynolds.
Foxx, who co-starred with Tom Cruise in Mann's hitman thriller "Collateral" last summer, will play Detective Ricardo Tubbs, a role originated for TV by Philip Michael Thomas. Farrell is playing Detective Sonny Crockett, the part created by Don Johnson.
Universal Studios, which is releasing the movie, recently released a DVD set with the first season of "Miami Vice."
Coming off a breakout year, Foxx is the favorite to win the best-actor prize at the Academy Awards on Feb. 27 for his spot-on emulation of Ray Charles in "Ray." He also earned a supporting-actor Oscar nomination for "Collateral."
Foxx's next film is "Jarhead," a Persian Gulf War drama due out this fall from director Sam Mendes ("American Beauty").
Farrell is coming off the epic flop "Alexander." He next stars in another historical saga, "The New World," a tale of John Smith, Pocahontas and the conflict between Indians and 17th century settlers. Terrence Malick ("The Thin Red Line") is directing the film, due out in fall.
'Ray' Video Business Outpaces Box Office Total
By Brett Sporich
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The Oscar-nominated drama "Ray" grossed nearly $80 million in its first week on home video, surpassing the biopic's $74 million haul at the domestic box office, industry sources said.
Nielsen VideoScan ranked "Ray" the nation's No. 1 best-selling DVD in the week ended Feb. 6, with the film's limited-edition DVD coming in at No. 11. All told, it sold more than 4 million combined DVD and VHS units
Of the $80 million haul, about $6.5 million was derived from rentals, according to Home Media Retailing magazine.
"Ray," which has received six Oscar nominations, including best picture, best director for Taylor Hackford and best actor for Jamie Foxx, generated more than $40 million in total consumer spending during its first day on video last Tuesday.
The debut of "The Grudge," starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, was the nation's No. 1 rental title for the week ending Feb. 6, generating about $9.24 million. Sony's horror flick was the nation's No. 2 best-selling DVD.
"Shall We Dance?" starring Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere was the No. 3 best-selling DVD during its debut week in release on home video and was the No. 6 best-rental title.
Weekend Boxoffice
Smith's 'Hitch' Blows Away Box Office
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Will Smith usually brings audiences in at gunpoint. This time, he did it with hugs and kisses. Starring in his first romantic comedy, the action hero scored a No. 1 debut with "Hitch," which took in $45.3 million over Valentine's Day weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Clearly, Will Smith is the man," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "He can open any kind of movie. He has multi-genre appeal."
The previous weekend's top movie, the horror tale "Boogeyman," fell to second place with $10.8 million, lifting its 10-day total to $33.3 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, the animated family tale "Pooh's Heffalump Movie," opened at No. 5 with $6 million.
Sony Pictures had the weekend's top three movies with "Hitch," "Boogeyman" and "Are We There Yet?", which was No. 3 at $8.5 million.
"Hitch" stars Smith as a Manhattan "date doctor" who helps hopeless men win the hearts of their dream women but has romantic troubles when he meets his own soul mate (Eva Mendes).
It was the fifth-straight No. 1 debut for Smith, following "Shark Tale," "I, Robot," "Bad Boys II" and "Men in Black II." Those movies all opened in the $46 million to $52 million range.
"Will Smith certainly delivers, doesn't he?" said Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution. "He's one of those rare stars that just appeals to everyone, men, women and children. There's no doubt he's somewhat of a king of action, but he is every bit as good in comedy."
The $6 million debut for "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" was on par with distributor Disney's last Winnie the Pooh cartoon, 2003's "Piglet's Big Movie," which opened with $6.1 million, though below the debut of the Pooh adventure "The Tigger Movie," which premiered with $9.4 million in 2000.
Disney spokesman Dennis Rice said the Pooh flicks are made cheaply enough that it will turn a solid profit once television and home-video revenues roll in.
Three key contenders for the Feb. 27 Academy Awards remained in the top 10. The boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby" was No. 4 with $7.6 million, raising its total domestic gross to $45.1 million.
The buddy tale "Sideways" took in $4.75 million to finish in eighth place, lifting its total to $53.1 million. The Howard Hughes epic was ninth with $4.6 million, pushing its domestic haul to $82.3 million.
Two movies opened solidly in limited release. "Bride & Prejudice," a romance that updates Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" to a modern-day Bollywood musical in India, took in $388,076 in 32 theaters. The film is directed by Gurinder Chadha ("Bend It Like Beckham").
The documentary "Inside Deep Throat" debuted solidly with $91,000 in 12 theaters. Produced by Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind"), the NC-17-rated film examines the cultural impact of the 1972 porn blockbuster "Deep Throat."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Hitch," $45.3 million.
2. "Boogeyman," $10.8 million.
3. "Are We There Yet?", $8.5 million.
4. "Million Dollar Baby," $7.6 million.
5. "Pooh's Heffalump Movie," $6 million.
6. "The Wedding Date," $5.6 million.
7. "Hide and Seek," $5.55 million.
8. "Sideways," $4.75 million.
9. "The Aviator," $4.6 million.
10. "Meet the Fockers," $3.4 million.
News for 2/13/2005
James Earl Jones Sent to 'Room' for Hallmark
By Kimberly Speight
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - James Earl Jones is reteaming with his "Roots: The Next Generations" director Georg Stanford Brown for the Hallmark Channel movie "The Reading Room."
Jones would play a widower who opens a reading room -- a library of sorts where he teaches low-income people how to read -- to honor his wife's dying request. But he encounters problems when the room becomes a target for street thugs, who later burn it down.
"Room" co-stars Keith Robinson ("Fat Albert"), Joanna Cassidy (HBO's "Six Feet Under"), Lynne Moody (ABC's "General Hospital"), Douglas Spain (HBO's "Band of Brothers") and Gabby Soleil ("Johnson Family Vacation").
In addition to directing, Brown will also play a minister. The movie is targeted to premiere during Thanksgiving. He directed Part 5 of ABC's miniseries "Roots: The Next Generations," in which Jones portrayed Alex Haley, the writer upon whose family the project was based. Their other collaborations include the 1972 film "The Man" and CBS' short-lived late-1970s series "Paris."
Three More for Four Brothers
From ComingSoon.net
Terrence Dashon Howard (Hustle & Flow), Taraji P. Henson, and Sofia Vergara have joined director John Singleton's Four Brothers at Paramount, reports BlackFilm.com.
Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund star in the thriller about four brothers who band together to avenge the death of their mother.
The studio is eyeing a summer release date for the film.
