Just 24 hours after Selena Gomez’s disastrous dinner date with Justin Bieber, the singer-actress met up with pal Taylor Swift for dinner last night. Oh to be a fly on the wall at Osteria La Buca in Los Angeles. “The girls shared an Italian meal and seemed to have the best time,” an onlooker says. “There were a lot of giggles and laughter. They looked like great friends .” “You could tell they were also in deep conversation throughout the meal. Taylor was very protective of Selena and escorted her to and from the car.” The probably-single ladies certainly have plenty to discuss … Friday’s Justin Bieber-Selena Gomez date night fight came after they split two weeks ago, and Justin made numerous overtures toward reconciliation. Ones that apparently blew up in his “Baby” face. She stormed out of dinner for reasons unknown, then drove to her house where she refused to let the Bieb in … with the paparazzi watching every move. Taylor, for her part, has been linked to Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Cory Monteith, Toby Hemingway, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zac Efron and Garrett Hedlund. Girl knows a thing or two about drama with hot young guys. Swift’s two possible paramours as of this moment, of course, are Harry Styles of One Direction fame and Conor Kennedy of Kennedy family fame. Taylor Swift and Harry Styles were seen walking hand-in-hand at a rehearsal for The X Factor late last week; she broke up with Conor a few weeks ago. Some believe that was a fake breakup , however, to get his family to back off, or that they’re just on a break for now and will soon get back together. She bought a house next to the Kennedy Compound on Cape Cod, after all. You don’t do that unless you’re really serious about dating a guy for at least a month. Or you’re just looking for material for the next big genre-less pop-country smash. Selena and Justin’s drama would make for a good song, come to think of it. We want a cut of the royalties, T-Swizzle. [Photo: WENN.com]
The final results are in, and the results are anything but shocking: movie goers lined up in droves for Breaking Dawn Part 2 over the last couple days. The final installment of The Twilight Saga raked in $141.3 million since its release on Thursday night, a total that ranks as the eighth biggest opening weekend of all-time. The film has also grossed $200 million internationally and it has earned the highest CinemaScore – a grading of movies by audiences across the country – of any in the franchise. (Read our Breaking Dawn Part 2 review now.) Grade the sequel now and check out the top five box office hauls from Friday and Saturday: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 – $141.3 million Skyfall – $41.5 million Lincoln – $21.0 million Wreck-It Ralph – $18.3 million Flight – $8.6 million
If you weren’t one of the scores of moviegoers who contributed to Skyfall’ s $90 million box office take this past weekend and you’re still in spoiler-avoidance mode, then you should stop reading right here. If you did see the movie over the weekend, then you’re probably still thinking about the surprises that Skyfall holds for James Bond fans. Key among them is the reveal in the movie’s final scenes that Naomie Harris , who opens the movie by accidentally shooting Daniel Craig ‘s Bond, is the franchise’s sexy new Ms. Moneypenny. In an interview with Movieline , Harris talks about becoming the first black woman to join James Bond’s MI6 support team (Colin Salmon played Chief of Staff Charles Robinson in Tomorrow Never Dies , The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day ) and how, after playing a zombie-killing bad-ass in 28 Days Later and a secret agent in Skyfall , she’s well-equipped for the apocalypse. Movieline: When you took the role of Eve in Skyfall, were you aware that you were going to be revealed as Moneypenny and what that would entail? You are clearly going to be in other Bond movies as a result of this. Harris: Let’s see, who knows! But yes, when I took the role, I was told about the role fully. And that was part of the reason that it really excited me. I knew that my character was going on this amazing journey — and in a really modern way, which is fantastic. You are the first black woman to be cast as a member of the MI6 support team and, let’s presume, in a recurring role in the franchise. Have you thought much about the cultural significance of that? I was brought up in Britain, and I’m very proud of my Britishness and my culture. And Bond is a big part of that. So, I’m very aware of the significance of this role and being in a Bond movie. I don’t take it lightly at all. Barbara and Sam and Michael auditioned actors of all different ethnicities around the world, and there was no sense of, we just want a black person for this role. I love that kind of open casting. It’s really brilliant and speaks so highly of them. It’s fundamentally who they are. They’re so progressive. They were looking for the best person for the role. [Smiles] Exactly. Related Story: ‘Skyfall’ Producers On 007’s Post-9/11 Progressive Streak & Idris Elba Rumors: Could Bond Be Black, Gay, Or A Woman? Bérénice Marlohe told me that she found the concept of being a Bond girl very abstract. Is it different for you because James Bond is so firmly rooted in your culture? I don’t have a problem with the label. I don’t necessarily think it’s relevant anymore, but I don’t have a problem with it. If that’s what people want to refer to me as, then I’m more than happy. [Being a Bond girl] means glamor, sexiness, classiness and having an enigmatic quality. It means all good things really. But I do think they’re the building blocks for more. So, I would hate to be just that. That’s the starting point, basically. You’ve got to have so much more. You’ve also got to be extremely fit. I was surprised by all of the physical training you had to undergo for the role. Were you aware of this going in or did it surprise you? Sam did say to me, “It’s an action role, but you’ve done action stuff before. You’re used to that.” And in the audition, I was like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll do anything. I can ride. I can shoot.” So I kind of agreed to it, and then I didn’t realize how intense it was going to be. It was two months, five days a week, two hours a day working with a personal trainer who did running and circuit training and yoga. Then it was three days a week on the gun range: machine guns, Walther PPK’s, sniper rifes. Then it was two days a week doing stunt driving. And once a week with the stunt guys doing combat training as well. So, for a girl who does not exercise, that was a big physical change. And I have to say it was really tough in the beginning, but by the end of it, I got used to it. I loved it, actually. Do you own a gun? No! I certainly do not own a gun, although I went through my bag the other day and discovered that I had a dummy gun in there that we used while we were filming. Good thing you didn’t go to the airport with that. I know! I definitely would have gotten arrested. Between 28 Days Later and Skyfall , you are clearly prepared for the apocalypse. I am. I’m the woman to be with if there’s any crisis going down. What are you doing next in between your Bond films? I finished Bond and then two days later, I flew to South Africa to play Winnie Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom . I finished that a month ago. So, I’m going to do this tour for Skyfall , which is over a month long, and then I’m having a break. It’s a year of non-stop work. Have you talked to Danny Boyle about doing any more work with him? I haven’t, but I would always work with Danny because he’s an amazing director. I really credit him with giving me the career that I have. He’s the guy who — when I had just left drama school — took a risk on me and cast me in 28 Days Later , which changed my life and my career. And then 10 years later, he was the guy who cast me in Frankenstein on the Olivier stage when I hadn’t done theater for 10 years. And that’s how I got Bond, which has brought my career to a whole new level. So I would always work with Danny. Have you ever thought about directing? No. I think that if I was going to do anything it would be writing. That’s what my Mum does. [Editor’s Note; Harris’ mother is sitcom writer Lisselle Kayla.] That’s what I grew up around. But at the moment, I have no real interest in that. I always imagine myself retiring and writing somewhere in the countryside. Let’s see. Read more on Skyfall and celebrate Bond’s 50th anniversary with all things 007. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Class warfare never looked so chic. The new issue of Vogue magazine, which depicts Les Miserables star and recent Saturday Night Live host Anne Hathaway on the cover, features a lush Annie Leibovitz photo feature spotlighting the actress, Hugh Jackman , Amanda Seyfried , Sacha Baron Cohen , Russell Crowe and other cast members. Check them out after the jump. [Vogue]
Also in Monday’s early round-up of news briefs: Cloud Atlas may have had a slow start in North America, but it is possibly proving to be a big hit overseas; The Weinstein Company is grabbing a thriller starring Chris Evans , Jamie Bell and Octavia Spencer for theaters; And Chasing Ice tops out the Specialty Box Office over the weekend. The Weinstein Company Nabs Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer The thriller stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, Ed Harris, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Ewen Bremner and Alison Pill and set in the future. After a failed experiment to stop global warming, an Ice Age kills off all life on the planet except for the inhabitants of the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe and is powered by a sacred perpetual-motion engine. A class system evolves on the train but a revolution brews. TWC picked up rights in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Around the ‘net… Dorothy’s Oz Dress Goes for $480K Judy Garland wore the blue gingham when she was whisked away by a tornado landing her in Oz with her dog Toto. The wholesome frock was mismatched with a sparkling pair of ruby-red slippers which caught the eire of that wicked old witch. The dress sold for $480,000 at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills this weekend. Also selling, Steve McQueen’s racing jacket ($50K) and a prop watch worn by John Belushi in The Blues Brothers ($15K), Deadline reports . James McAvoy Eyes WikiLeaks Pic The Last King of Scotland director wil join Benedict Cumberbatch in the untitled project about the website that released classified information online. Cumberbatch will play WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange while McAvoy is in talks to play Daniel Domscheit-Berg, the German “technology activist” who was Assange’s associate at the site for three years, The Guardian reports . Specialty B.O.: Chasing Ice Sizzles; Royal Affair , The Comedy , Starlet So-So Chasing Ice froze out the specialty competition among newcomers on Skyfall . The documentary released by sales company Submarine’s distribution label grossed $21,000 in a single theater, NYC’s Cinema Village. Magnolia’s Royal Affair averaged $5,714 in 7 locations, while Music Box’s Starlet averaged $2,670 from 6. Kino Lorber’s Isabella Huppert-starrer In Another Country debuted in a single location with $3,500, and Tribeca Film’s The Comedy took in $6K at one cinema, Deadline reports . Cloud Atlas Poised for Int’l Comeback The drama by Lana and Andy Wachowski and German helmer Tom Tykwer grossed $9.7 million in Russia and Ukraine over the weekend, the first two territories on its international release. The two territories combined to out-perform Cloud Atlas ‘ release in North America, where the Warner Bros. title earned about $9.6 million on its opening weekend, THR reports .
The people behind The Hobbit are no fans of what they perceive as imitators. Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and MGM as well as Hobbit producer Saul Zaentz are taking backers of low-budget pic Age of the Hobbits for trademark infringement. The plaintiffs say that movie label The Asylum, which is behind a slate of “mock-busters” that spoof Hollywood movies, is “free-riding on the marketing campaign of Peter Jackson’s upcoming string of Hobbit pics, beginning next month with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey . Producers of the Jackson film called Age of the Hobbits an “international and willful attempt to trade on the popularity and goodwill” of the filmmaker’s The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, according to BBC. And producers are not looking for any compromise either. They are asking for all “infringing and ad materials and packaging for The Asylum’s Hobbit to be destroyed, claiming it may “divert customers and potential customers away from the Hobbit films.” The Zaentz Co which controls the trademark rights to the Tolkien book has also threatened legal action. Age of the Hobbits is due for a DVD and online release December 11th, just three days before the U.S. opening of Jackson’s Hobbit . “Age of the Hobbits is about the real-life human subspecies, Homo Floresiensis, discovered in 2003 in Indonesia, which have been uniformly referred to as ‘Hobbits’ in the scientific community,” noted Asylum in a statement, adding that it is therefore “protected under the legal doctrines of nominal and traditional fair use.” Aylum also said a Google search of ‘hobbits’ and archaeology would turn up a dozen of disparate articles. Asylum’s previous “mock-busters” include Transmorphers , based on Michael Bay’s big budget movie Transformers , and The Da Vinci Treasure , which took its name from The Da Vinci Code , directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. [Source: BBC ]
The people behind The Hobbit are no fans of what they perceive as imitators. Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and MGM as well as Hobbit producer Saul Zaentz are taking backers of low-budget pic Age of the Hobbits for trademark infringement. The plaintiffs say that movie label The Asylum, which is behind a slate of “mock-busters” that spoof Hollywood movies, is “free-riding on the marketing campaign of Peter Jackson’s upcoming string of Hobbit pics, beginning next month with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey . Producers of the Jackson film called Age of the Hobbits an “international and willful attempt to trade on the popularity and goodwill” of the filmmaker’s The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, according to BBC. And producers are not looking for any compromise either. They are asking for all “infringing and ad materials and packaging for The Asylum’s Hobbit to be destroyed, claiming it may “divert customers and potential customers away from the Hobbit films.” The Zaentz Co which controls the trademark rights to the Tolkien book has also threatened legal action. Age of the Hobbits is due for a DVD and online release December 11th, just three days before the U.S. opening of Jackson’s Hobbit . “Age of the Hobbits is about the real-life human subspecies, Homo Floresiensis, discovered in 2003 in Indonesia, which have been uniformly referred to as ‘Hobbits’ in the scientific community,” noted Asylum in a statement, adding that it is therefore “protected under the legal doctrines of nominal and traditional fair use.” Aylum also said a Google search of ‘hobbits’ and archaeology would turn up a dozen of disparate articles. Asylum’s previous “mock-busters” include Transmorphers , based on Michael Bay’s big budget movie Transformers , and The Da Vinci Treasure , which took its name from The Da Vinci Code , directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. [Source: BBC ]
A moving and emotional powerhouse, Canadian director Kim Nguyen’s War Witch packs a punch worthy of the best of conflict thrillers, though more shocking is that the events depicted in the feature, which is Canada’s contender for Best Foreign-language Oscar consideration, are happening every day. The story of a teen girl who is kidnapped by Congo rebels after she is forced to execute her parents left audiences aghast at AFI Fest where it screened this week. Hailing from Canada, Nguyen may seem an unlikely filmmaker to take on some of the most notorious human rights tragedies of modern times, but he became interested in child soldiers after meeting a former youth who became lead a pack of others in a violent uprising in Africa. “There was this kid named Johnny who was a child soldier who was nine years old and smoked cigars everyday. He said he woke up one day thinking he was a reincarnation of God,” Nguyen told ML. “He had a [group] of soldiers that he lead in a rebellion against the government. The sheer madness of it all struck me and it pushed me to pursue this story.” The French-language feature, which won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, stars non-pro Rachel Mwanza who plays a 14 year-old girl who becomes an important spiritual figure for a brutal leader of a band of violent rebels. The “Great Tiger” as he is known to his followers, believes she is a war witch who is capable of seeing government soldiers in the thick jungle. She is given preferential treatment, but she is also aware that if she fails in her job, she will likely be executed quickly. Another child soldier whom she calls “Magician” looks out for her and convinces her to run away with him. He tells her that three previous “war witches” were gunned down by the “Great Tiger” after they failed to warn him of the presence of government soldiers on previous occasions. The pair flee to one of Magician’s relatives and are “married” though the rebels eventually track them down. “Learning about child soldiers eventually lead me to Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Nguyen. “I learned that there are actually more women child soldiers than men, which was surprising. What’s tragic, of course, is that they’re used as sexual slaves.” Initially, Nguyen thought of casting actual former child soldiers, but decided against it after meeting them because the trauma of what they had been through was too much. “I had this idea of working with ex-child soldiers but they were just so broken. There was this stare and they were just so broken. So I had an idea to work with people who had similar tough backgrounds as many of the child soldiers, but hadn’t actually [faced warfare].” War Witch won Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival last Spring in addition to another Best Actress win for Mwanza. The festival’s distribution wing, Tribeca Film will release the feature in theaters in early 2013 in addition to Video On Demand and other digital platforms.
Also in a round-up of news briefs on this U.S. election day, Jared Leto is returning to acting with a Matthew McConaughey starrer; Jonathan Demme to be feted by Cinema Audio Society and Virginia Madsen starrer is headed to theaters. Long Time Gone Heads to Theaters The film by Sarah Siegel-Magness follows Augusta (Virginia Madsen), whose idyllic life in Connecticut is thrown into disarray when she discovers her husband’s extramarital affair. Augusta suffers a nervous breakdown after her husband leaves, and her good-hearted stoner son is determined to comfort her with the help of his estranged older brother (Zach Gilford) and live in girl-friend (Amanda Crew). Phase 4 Films picked up U.S. and Canadian rights to the feature and plans a Spring 2013 release. Around the ‘net… Nicolas Cage Expendables 3 Reports False, Says Sylvester Stallone Stallone said he has no knowledge of Cage joining Expendables 3 . Several news outlets reported yesterday that Stallone had confirmed Cage for the next Expendables 3 movie, citing either a Stallone fan Facebook page purporting to be the actor’s own or comments by Stallone that appeared in Spanish daily El Pais earlier this year, Deadline reports . Jared Leto Eyes Dallas Buyer’s Club He’ll join Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner in the AIDS drama by Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee. This will be his first time in front of the camera in three years, THR reports . Cinema Audio Society to Honor Jonathan Demme The filmmaker will receive the Cinema Audio Society Filmmaker Award at the 49th CAS Awards on February 16 at Millennium-Biltmore in Los Angeles. Demme’s career spans 40 years as a writer-director-producer, and his credits include The Silence Of The Lambs, Philadelphia, The Manchurian Candidate, Married To The Mob and Neil Young: Heart Of Gold , Deadline reports . Election Day Pick: For Spacious Sky And on this election night, check out short film For Spacious Sky on YouTube as you watch the returns. Inspired by actual events and set on Election Day 2008 against the sweeping landscape of rural America, For Spacious Sky is the inspiring story of three lost brothers finding their way back to each other – one from hate, one from addiction, and one from discrimination. Eli, an ex-con white supremacist struggling to start his life over, and Clay, a gay novelist, must set aside their differences for the day to bring their drug-addicted younger brother, Kevin, to rehab.
Cannes , Sundance , Toronto , Berlin , San Sebastian, Hong Kong, New York , Telluride – and Pyongyang? The end of Summer brought on the annual big tentpole festivals in Venice and Toronto as well as industry and celeb-heavy Telluride, ushering in the annual awards race and many of this year’s fall releases. But don’t expect North Korea’s international film festival, which opens Thursday to factor too deeply into Oscar. In fact, Americans are apparently banned. Held every two years, the Pyongyang International Film Festival is a chance for residents of the so-called Hermit Kingdom to view foreign films on the big screen. One romantic comedy, Comrade Kim Goes Flying actually had its world premiere at the recent Toronto International Film Festival. The joint North Korean and European production took almost seven years to make. The romantic comedy centers on a coal miner who dreams of becoming an acrobat. North Korean filmmaker Kim Gwang Hun shot the film in the country, which is considered one of the world’s most isolated, which is still considered in a “state of war” with its nearby democratic rival South Korea. “It’s not what you expect from North Korea, and it’s not something people have seen before,” British filmmaker Nicholas Bonner,” told A.P. about the film, which took three years to get the script both “entertaining and palatable” to authorities for viewing in North Korea. “In the end, you’re dealing with professionals. They do their job. You’re in the film world, and we’re all making a film.” The event’s first edition took place in 1987 under the country’s late founder – who holds the lofty title in the country as the “Eternal President” – Kim Il Sung. Then known as the Pyongyang Film Festival of the Non-aligned and Other Developing Countries, it came back in 1990 and is now a biennial event. Though in 2008 the event showed 110 films from 46 countries, the titles are often censored and emphasize themes of family values, loyalty and the vices of money. Its mantra reads: “For Independence, Peace and Friendship” and the event hosts a Feature, Documentary and Short film competition. Though tightly controlled, North Koreans are reportedly film-crazy. The late “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-Il was an avid film fan, reportedly owning a huge library of films in his private library, including American titles. When he was seven, he saw his first film, My Hometown , the first pic made by the government-run Korean Film Studio. It centers on a young man who returns to his village after it is liberated from Japan. The late leader wrote On the Art of the Cinema in 1973, which cites filmmaking as a method to “aid the people’s development into true communists,” according to A.P. Along with Comrade Kim Goes Flying , audiences in Pyongyang (which will also include some foreigners) will have the chance to see another North Korean production – made along with a Chinese studio – aptly titled, Meet in Pyongyang . Like their late leader, well-off North Koreans are film fans, paying as much as $5 at official exchange rates to see new releases from the Korean Film Studio as well as fare mostly from Russia and China. Television stations, however, have offered some past popular features that made big box office returns in the West, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Bend It Like Beckham . This year’s edition of the Pyongyang International Film Festival takes place September 20 – 27. [ Sources: A.P. , Wikipedia ]
