James Cameron easily tops Hollywood rich list
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Director James Cameron cashed in on the worldwide box office success of “Avatar” to become the top Hollywood movie earner of 2010, easily outdistancing actor Johnny Depp in second place.
Cameron earned an estimated $257 million last year for writing, producing and directing his 3-D hit “Avatar,” based on its worldwide 2010 box-office gross of $1.95 billion, as well as his share of DVD and pay-television sales, according to a Vanity Fair survey released on Wednesday of the top 40 Hollywood earners in 2010.
The 56-year-old director easily beat actor Johnny Depp, who scored the No. 2 spot earning $100 million after collecting paychecks from several 2010 films including “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Tourist,” as well as up front payments for the next “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” which is due for release in May.
The Vanity Fair list only included creative professionals — producers, writers, actors, etc. — and the money they earn from film. It did not include earnings from non-movie related projects, such advertisements or television show earnings.
Steven Spielberg earned $80 million for Universal theme-park royalties, as well as consulting fees and for directing and producing the upcoming “War Horse,” edging out “Inception” director Christopher Nolan who brought in $71.5 million.
“Inception” star Leonardo DiCaprio earned $62 million to take the No. 5 spot.
In sixth place was “Alice in Wonderland” director Tim Burton, who earned $53 million, $3 million more than actor Adam Sandler, who brought in most of his revenue in the past year for up-front fees for producing and starring in future movies “Jack and Jill” and “Just Go With It.”
Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Park City, Utah
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters Life!) – Park City ski resort in Utah is the access spot for some of America’s best skiing with three major ski resorts all alongside each other — Deer Valley, Park City and The Canyons.
The mountain town of Park City, just a 45 minute drive from the Salt Lake City airport, has ample hotels and lodges, family-friendly skiing and snowboarding and a variety of restaurants, bars and shops.
And if you should happen to be here during the Sundance Film Festival, the town’s other big attraction that takes place once a year, the slopes will be less crowded as the Hollywood set mostly stays off the mountain and in the cinema.
FRIDAY
5 p.m. – Before dinner head over to Empire Canyon Lodge and take a horse-drawn sleigh ride or an adventurous trek on snowshoes.
7 p.m. – Dine at Fireside Dining in the heart of Deer Valley to enjoy Swiss raclette cheese served with cured Italian and dessert fondues.
Lauryn Hill battles unruly VIPs at Sundance
Often called America’s best ever female rapper, Lauryn Hill got no respect from a group of self-important VIP’s at a concert on the sidelines of the Sundance Film Festival Wednesday night. So Hill, who is known for not mincing her words, asked her security to remove the people and their roped-off, Very Important Person section that was set-up just meters from the stage.
As she performed the latest concert on a current small tour — a comeback of sorts after a hiatus from the music scene — she had to contend with the VIPs, whoever they were, as they mostly ignored her set, often with their backs to the stage while swilling champagne and at times blocking the view of and distracting ticket-paying concertgoers.
For the record, Hill’s show was not affiliated with the festival itself, but was just one of many performances set up by party and corporate promoters that Sundance has long battled. For years, the sort of circus atmosphere created by the marketers has irked Sundance’s backers, including Robert Redford.
While there is little Sundance can do about private enterprise at work, there was plenty that Ms. Hill (as she apparently likes to be called) could do about the rowdy crew in the velvet-rope section. In fact, she asked her security “to move the crowd, you understand me?”. Bravely she carried on despite the strange set-up, playing new versions of her songs from the Grammy-winning “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and finishing with the Fugees’ “Ready or Not,” “Killing Me Softly,” and “Doo Wop (That Thing)
We note that many other music events taking place outside the festival, such as Cee-Lo Green performing at the Bing Bar, were tastefully done, albeit invitation only.
And in a struggling music industry where singers must find new ways to make money, many singers in recent years all over the country – from Jewel to Rufus Wainwright — now perform private sponsored events to rude crowds who turn out for the sponsors, free booze and party. (Another note: earlier in her career, Ms. Hill often complained about the corporate demands of the music industry and the compromises they placed on artistic integrity). But when a ticket-paying public and even performers on stage have to contend with roped off sections of rowdy VIPs who got in free, we wonder what is the future of live concerts?
Sundance films expose secretive lives in Iraq, Iran
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – A fictional account of the egomaniacal son of Saddam Hussein and a film about two Iranian teenage girls experimenting with sexuality are among the many foreign films winning over audiences at Sundance.
The Sundance Film Festival is still largely known for U.S. dramatic features and documentaries but has steadily increased its emphasis on foreign films, even starting a world cinema contest six years ago to raise overseas filmmakers’ profile.
Officials with the Sundance Institute, which backs the festival, say 30 percent of its work year-round is dedicated to international outreach, and the festival’s programmers have increased their globetrotting to find top-notch films either made overseas or dealing with subjects in foreign lands.
“Sundance is so American at its core that it has been a continual challenge” to expand globally, festival director John Cooper told Reuters. “(But) it’s added a lot to the festival.”
This year’s foreign films, as well as those with U.S.-born directors who set their film in foreign lands, have hailed from countries including Spain, France, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Belgium and many others. But two films — one about Iraq and the other set in Iran — especially are winning raves.
DEVIL IN IRAQ
“The Devil’s Double,” a riveting gangster action drama that is a fictional imagining of an Iraqi army lieutenant’s true tale of becoming the body double for Saddam Hussein’s notorious eldest son, Uday Hussein, has drawn critical acclaim.
Sundance documentaries offer broad view of the world
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – Violence inflicted on Iranian protesters, big business infiltrating the U.S. justice system and an inspiring portrait of race car driver Ayrton Senna are all subjects of documentaries that are winning fans at Sundance 2011.
More than two dozen nonfiction films are being showcased at the Sundance Film Festival this week in Park City, Utah. Some are competing for prizes and aiming to score distribution deals, others are seeking media hype to gain traction with audiences, and still more simply want to entertain and inform.
Sundance backer, actor and activist Robert Redford, is an avid supporter of the movies, helping make the festival a key venue for documentary filmmakers worldwide.
Four of this week’s Oscar-nominated docs — “Gasland,” “Restrepo,” “Waste Land” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop” — premiered at Sundance 2010. And when Oprah Winfrey chose to unveil her new documentary club for her OWN TV network, she chose this year’s festival as the venue.
With such powerful influence, when a doc screens at Sundance, people notice.
Some of the non-fiction films here have been propelled by their subject’s fame, such as “Troubadours,” which follows the time of singers Carole King and James Taylor. “Becoming Chaz” tell of singer Cher’s daughter undergoing a sex change, and “Reagan” examines the former U.S. President’s contradictions just ahead of what would have been his 100th birthday, February 6.
Others, such as Morgan Spurlock’s “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” and Oscar-winner James Marsh’s “Project Nim,” attracted audiences due to the director’s notoriety. And then there were some that gained fans the old-fashioned doc way — stirring hearts and minds and exposing injustice.
Who said actors can’t direct ?
Many an actor has fallen by the wayside taking a shot at directing and with reviews still coming in, Vera Farmiga’s fate with her directing debut at the Sundance Film Festival is still unclear, yet promising.
The 37-year-old gained fans all around the world in movies such as “Up In The Air” and “The Departed” thinks acting can only be a plus when it comes to getting behind the camera for first feature “Higher Ground.”
“I don’t think it hindered. I haven’t gone to school for directing, but I did study theater and literature so I do know plot points and what makes a story move forward and I think it’s collaboration. You are not only thinking about your character, but you are thinking about everyone else’s character and how to push that plot along,” she told Reuters Television on the red carpet line for her premiere.
She is also clear about another thing. Her inspirations include classic directors she just happens to have worked with.
“I think all the brilliant genius directors I worked with — Martin Scorsese, Debra Granik is a mentor of mine — I think they have all rubbed off on me in some special way. I know those collaborations were intense and all the collaborations, especially on this stage, where I have stood, they are the most dear and most cherished. I think they are the most meaningful collaborations. Actors rub off on you as well.”
So far her debut looks good with Variety calling the film a “startlingly bold directing debut” while “playing a woman embracing, questioning and eventually abandoning her faith.” And The Hollywood Reporter noted her “meticulous craftsmanship” in directing matched her acting.
The next Scorsese? We’ll see. For now it looks promising for art house success.
Morgan Spurlock’s new film takes swipe at advertising
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – Director Morgan Spurlock readily admits the idea for his new documentary was a stroke of genius.
The “Super Size Me” director convinced 15 companies to pay $1.5 million to fund his latest non-fiction film that examines corporate marketing, product placement and brand integration.
The 40-year-old director’s latest swipe at business shows Spurlock hilariously pitching companies to fund his film that exposes sponsorship and advertising in movies, TV shows and just about everywhere people turn — knowingly and unknowingly.
With surprising results, some marketers eventually join him in return for some often comic product placement in the film that gives companies mostly good exposure while Spurlock also makes his point. He even changed the title to add a product, “POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,” in a nod to juice maker, POM.
“I am incredibly convincing,” Spurlock said, laughing about his idea. “But it took a lot of wooing to get them on board, there was a lot of contractual negotiations.”
The idea for the film first struck Spurlock when he and producer Jeremy Chilnick watched the TV show “Heroes” and one character became very excited about a certain brand of car.
“I was like ‘Wow,’ that’s really where we are right now with television, such a blatant in-your-face commercial in the show,” he said. “So we said, ‘Let’s make a film that looks at product placement, completely paid for by product placement.’”
Tale of chimp “Nim” gains strong buzz at Sundance
PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – Steering clear of labeling it an animal rights film, “Man on Wire” director James Marsh has returned to the documentary world by examining a chimpanzee famed in the 1970s for being raised like a human.
“Project Nim,” the British director’s first documentary since his Oscar-winning “Man on Wire,” premiered at the opening night of the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday to strong audience buzz and solid reviews.
Marsh, who finished editing the film three days ago, told Reuters on Friday that “Project Nim” offered as many lessons about how humans see themselves as it does about chimps.
“It’s not an animal rights movie; it’s not an activist kind of film,” he said. “It’s an animal life story but in fact, within that there is this great, interesting interaction with human beings and we are learning a bit about ourselves too.”
Comic and touching, ‘Project Nim’ follows the 1970s research project that made headlines for experimenting with a chimp named “Nim,” seized as a baby and placed with a human mother in New York City who tried to raise him like her own children.
The film uses extensive video footage that follows Nim as he is raised in nappies, taught sign language and tragically passed through various caretakers. He grows from being an affectionate, mischievous baby to a stronger, cunning adult who eventually meets other chimpanzees with curious results.
“He doesn’t know anything about what he is, he just sees human beings and so the film and indeed, the experiment, becomes about nature and nurture. If you nurture a sentient animal, what and how can you influence him? And the answer is in the film,” Marsh said. “We discover quite quickly that he has his own unique chimpanzee nature.”
“Jersey Shore” star Snooki turns novelist
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Reality television personality Snooki doesn’t read books much, nor magazines or newspapers for that matter — unless she is in them.
But the popular 23 year-old castmate from hit MTV reality show “Jersey Shore” has written a book, and it’s not just the now ubiquitous memoir from B-list celebrities that are often successful these days. Snooki is taking a risk, releasing this week a novel, “A Shore Thing,” inspired by her exploits along New Jersey’s famed boardwalk in the U.S. summer.
“I didn’t want to do what everybody expected me to do, like an autobiography, or how to be a guidette,” she told Reuters, referring to one of the TV show’s signature slang words for a female Italian American.
“I wanted to surprise everybody, so I did a novel,” she told Reuters.
“Jersey Shore” landed on the U.S. pop culture map with a bang about one year ago, and its cast members in their 20s are now stars. The show puts the men and women in a house — the first one in Seaside Heights, New Jersey town and for season two, in Miami — and turns the cameras on as the group parties all night and looks to hook up with the opposite sex.
Their antics have made audiences laugh, applaud and, occasionally, drop their jaws in sheer wonderment. Season No. 3, in which the cast returned to Seaside Heights, debuted on MTV last week to the biggest audience ever for a series telecast on the youth-oriented network, 8.45 million viewers.
Snooki, whose real name is Nicole Polizzi, is a ringleader as a TV personality. As an author, she is equally adept at promoting her novel unlike some of her fiction-writing contemporaries. During a TV interview, she smiled and expertly showed off the cover that features her signature voluminous “poof” hairstyle she has worn from age 16.
U.S. homeless man finds success with “golden voice”
NEW YORK (Reuters) – He’s not quite Susan Boyle.
But one of America’s first viral videos of 2011 has propelled a homeless man, who was filmed begging for money with a baritone-rich radio voice, to national attention and job offers.
Ted Williams, a 53 year-old former radio announcer who became homeless after battling drugs and alcohol, attracted millions of YouTube hits after The Columbus Dispatch newspaper posted a video on Monday of Williams begging on the side of a road in Columbus, Ohio, using his radio emcee imitations.
By Thursday, Williams appeared on morning news programs including “The Today Show” to talk about new voice-over job offers with the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and foodmaker Kraft and his stunning instant rise from begging on the streets.
“I feel like Susan Boyle,” Williams, 53, said in The Columbus Dispatch, “Or Justin Bieber.”
Boyle, of course, is the British woman whose strong voice was discovered on a TV talent show, and Canadian Bieber has become one of North America’s biggest pop stars after getting his start by posting his own videos on YouTube.
On Thursday, Williams told ‘Today’ he was astounded by the attention. “Outrageous, it’s just phenomenal. There is no way in the world that I could ever have imagined … all of this,” he said.
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