Tag Archives: director

Cross Pollinating Ideas- NYC Hires New Sustainability Director from Portland

Posted on August 15, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

David Bragdon is headed to NYC photo: Daily Journal of Commerce Last week, Mayor Bloomberg announced that David Bragdon will take over as NYC’s new Director of the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability, the office responsible for the creation and implementation of PlaNYC , the City’s twenty year vision for a more sustainable, more populated New York City. Bragdon was most recently the president of the

Originally posted here:
Cross Pollinating Ideas- NYC Hires New Sustainability Director from Portland

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Gossip, Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Eminem’s ‘Lie’ Video Shoot Was Like An Acting Workshop, Director Says

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Joseph Kahn says Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan didn’t have an easy job on ‘Love the Way You Lie’ set. By James Montgomery Joseph Kahn Photo: MTV News Given that he’s one of the biggest names in music videos and his latest project featured both Eminem and Rihanna, Joseph Kahn should have had no problem casting the two leads for the “Love the Way You Lie” video . And yet, he considers himself “incredibly lucky” to have landed both Dominic Monaghan and Megan Fox for the clip. “Megan is one of those choices, like, whenever you write a music video, you go, ‘I want a girl like Megan Fox,’ ” Kahn told MTV News. “I guarantee, like, 95 percent of music videos, they write, ‘I would like a girl like Megan Fox.'” Kahn said Fox is so popular, he didn’t initially consider her participation a possibility. “We were actually looking around for some other actresses, and then, midway through, I just thought, ‘Why don’t I just try this?’ ” he said. “I mean, I have the biggest artist in the world, with the hottest song on the planet, with the hottest female artist … and it’s a meaty role. It’s not like you’re just slipping in there and looking pretty.” Fortunately for Kahn, Fox is an Eminem fan, and she loved the song and the role. “So, she said ‘yes,’ ” he said. “I was blown away.” On the other hand, the director said he considered courting Monaghan right away. “I wanted him because he’s an actor who can bury himself [in his roles],” Kahn said. “You can do anything with him, and essentially, he’s a villain through all of [the video], and I think he did a great job.” So, with two big-name actors on set, and only two days to shoot the entire video, Kahn had his work cut out for him. Monaghan and Fox were going to need to channel conflicting emotions — anger one second, passion the next — and do it quickly. As the director, it was up to Kahn to help them harness all of that — often at a moment’s notice. Luckily for him, he had two of the best to work with. “I just told them: This is not like a normal film. We have two days on set, and we have to think of it as an acting workshop, because you’re going to have to ramp up into emotions in two seconds, you’re not going to know what the story is, and you’re going to have to trust one another,” he explained. “I’m asking them to go from zero to 100 in two seconds, so they were using all their techniques as actors. Dom would be calling her names, she’d be calling him names … to see them turn it on like that, it was really a fascinating acting study.” Related Artists Eminem Rihanna

Read more here:
Eminem’s ‘Lie’ Video Shoot Was Like An Acting Workshop, Director Says

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘The Expendables’: The Reviews Are In!

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Critics have mixed reactions to Sylvester Stallone’s homage to ’80s action movies. By Eric Ditzian Sylvester Stallone in “The Expendables” Photo: Lionsgate Three high-profile flicks debut this weekend, and they couldn’t be more different from one another — few people would confuse the globe-trotting vision quest of “Eat Pray Love” with the comic-influenced landscape of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” or the shoot-first-ask-questions-never action of “The Expendables.” Nor should anyone be confused about which of these films will end up winning the weekend box office. “The Expendables,” Sylvester Stallone’s fireball-enveloped ode to ’80s action flicks, is poised to blast away the competition despite decidedly mixed reviews. Some critics have lamented the film’s soggy storyline and over-the-top dialogue, while others have celebrated the full-tilt action sequences and the spectacle that results from Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger sharing the screen. A sampling of reactions is below. The Story “In the rousingly explosive ’80s-pulp climax of ‘The Expendables,’ Sylvester Stallone’s old-tin-soldiers-of-action mercenary thriller, the director-star and his right-hand lug, Jason Statham, lead a band of commandos in an assault on the island fortress of a corrupt general. The funny thing is, they don’t really have a plan. The ‘plan’ is this: They show up and attack the general’s men with fists, knives, and very big guns. The way that Stallone directs, though, every machete thrust and relentless round of bullet spray is staged with a certain undeniable … conviction.” — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly The Performances “What makes ‘The Expendables’ bearable and even enjoyable is that Stallone and most of the cast maintain exactly the right attitude toward this nonsense. There’s a certain lumbering grace to the movie that comes with age and experience and the urge to not take oneself too seriously. There’s also an awareness of when he-man posturing crosses the line into genuine moral ugliness on the part of the villains.” — Ty Burr, Boston Globe The Action “Stallone has an eye for spectacle and stages some truly insane set pieces — a dock explosion and Statham shooting bullets from the top of a seaplane comes about 30 minutes in, and it’s fantastic — but not only does none of it fit into a coherent story, but you’ve got no reason beyond nostalgia to care about this group of self-satisfied roughnecks and their desire to track down a criminal, even one as sleazy as Eric Roberts (who is probably the film’s acting MVP, though that doesn’t say much).” — Katey Rich, CinemaBlend The Effects “Featuring pyrotechnic displays over-the-top enough to alter the planet’s orbit, the aesthetic here is very much in keeping with the ’80s action pics that established Stallone’s career, save for the use of digital blood in lieu of old-school squibs. When the Expendables shoot anonymous evil henchmen, they don’t just die, they erupt, sending a shower of virtual viscera across the screen — a distractingly artificial way of rendering violence presumably intended to appear more realistic (for those who’ve wondered what a knife to the throat or a mini-cannon to the head might look like).” — Peter Debruge, Variety The Final Word “The movie is a good-humored affair, and it delivers exactly what the action audience wants (or once wanted, anyway): maximum damage. In the production notes, the star emphasizes his avoidance of CGI in rendering the fiery mayhem, and he claims the actors did their own stunts (although in one furious beat-down scene in which he takes part, you have to wonder). This dedication to a faded action-flick ideal is rather touching, and you wonder how long Stallone, now 64, can keep carrying the old-school flag. When he pops up unexpectedly in the midst of one of the film’s many conflagrations, the general’s daughter turns to him and says, ‘How are you here?’ Says Sly: ‘I just am.’ Welcome back, champ.” — Kurt Loder, MTV News

Go here to read the rest:
‘The Expendables’: The Reviews Are In!

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’: Big Fun, By Kurt Loder

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Michael Cera crushes the competition in Edgar Wright’s fantasy epic. Michael Cera in “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” Photo: Universal Pictures “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” is the first movie to bring us, among many other things, on-screen battle-scoring, a visit from the Vegetarian Police, and a really cute kickass girl named Knives. For most of its modest run-time (112 minutes), Edgar Wright’s new comedy lays persuasive claim to being the year’s most blazingly imaginative film. Well, okay, along with “Inception.” But Wright’s movie is also blazingly funny, something no one has yet attempted to assert about the Christopher Nolan blockbuster. The picture is a dizzying creative leap for Wright, the giddy parodist behind “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.” Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim comics began appearing in 2004, and the director latched onto them almost immediately. One understands why it has taken him so long to bring O’Malley’s fantastical stories to the screen — the cast, which is deep in talented young actors, must have been difficult to align. Michael Cera plays Scott Pilgrim, mild-mannered bass player in a Toronto punk band called the Sex Bob-Omb. Ellen Wong is Knives Chau, his underage girlfriend, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Ramona, the mysterious Amazon delivery girl for whom he truly yearns. Then there’s Anna Kendrick as Scott’s sister, Stacey, who can’t believe her 22-year-old brother is dating a high-school girl (“Scandal!”); and Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay roommate, Wallace, whose specialty is stealing Stacey’s boyfriends; and Alison Pill as Kim, the monumentally hostile drummer in Scott’s band. The plot, unlike the movie itself, is simple: In order to win the elusive Ramona, Scott must first do battle with her seven former lovers — the Evil Exes. The picture is constructed like a vintage video-arcade game, and these contests have a wild, psychedelic propulsion. One of the Exes, Lucas Lee (Chris Evans in a winningly self-deprecating performance), is a movie star of explosive non-cinematic skills (he flings Scott through the air with such force that the skinny suitor lands on a faraway tower). Another, Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh in a blindingly blond wig), is the vegan bass player in a rival band, the Clash at Demonhead, and he engages Scott in a withering battle-of-the-basses. The bisexual Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman) is a kickboxing tornado; the Katanayagi twins (Keita Saitou and Shota Saito) are star DJs armed with wall-shaking amplification; and Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha) is a heavily-mascara’d fop who comes flying into a concert to perform a quick dance number with a crew of demon backup chicks and then give Scott a very hard martial-artsy time. Scott dispatches these characters with some ace moves of his own (“I kicked him so hard that he saw the curvature of the Earth!”). But waiting at the end of this line of antagonists is snaky club-owner Gideon Gordon Graves (a preening Jason Schwartzman), the most formidable Ex of all. Much of the movie’s whacked-out humor is the work of the director. Wright’s facility with eccentric ornamentation — bursts of canned laugh-track laughter, proudly cartoonish graphics, dreamscape enchantments and sudden split-screenery — is irresistibly endearing; and his whiz-bang editing is a marvel throughout. (He’s always one step ahead of the viewer, suddenly taking us places we didn’t realize we were ready to go to yet.) And the script, which he co-wrote, is a feast of deadpan throwaways. (“I’ve dabbled with being a bitch,” says Ramona. “My brother is permanently enfeebled,” notes Stacey.) It’s a bit of a letdown, then, that the movie loses its witty focus toward the end and descends into familiar CGI uproar (the concluding faceoff with Gideon goes on much too long). But any movie that can sell us Michael Cera as a hard-hitting hero has already accomplished something remarkable (as has Cera himself, of course). And the entrancingly bizarre world into which Scott’s adventures have been set summons that rarest of responses: It feels like something new. Check out everything we’ve got on “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’

Read more here:
‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’: Big Fun, By Kurt Loder

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Federal Employee Union Buys Radio Ads to…Counter Limbaugh’s Criticism of Federal Worker Pay?

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

“The nation’s largest federal worker union is taking to the airwaves to defend rank and file federal workers against growing anti-government sentiments,” the Washington Post’s “ Federal Eye” blogger Ed O’Keefe reported Tuesday , the same day Rush Limbaugh picked up on a USA Today story , “Federal pay tops private workers: Compensation gap doubled in decade.” O’Keefe explained: “The American Federation of Government Employees plans to spend about $200,000 to air a 60-second radio ad in more than 30 markets, including Washington and several Southern cities, according to a spokeswoman. The ad stars AFGE President John Gage and workers from the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration, telling listeners to ‘trust me’ as they carry out their work.” ( AFGE’s press release ) In a Wednesday afternoon post, headlined “Gov’t Employees Union to Spend $200K to Counter Rush,” DCRTV’s Dave Hughes interpreted it as an effort to counter Limbaugh: Yesterday, titanic righty talker Rush Limbaugh, heard in DC on WMAL (630 AM), slammed federal workers as being highly paid and unproductive. He said they’re pencil pushers and don’t “produce” anything real or substantial. Limbaugh pointed out that three of the nation’s richest counties are in the DC area, and it’s all because of the federal workers living there. O’Keefe’s post has a list of the 30 cities where the ad will air, “primarily on news/talk, country and sports talk radio stations in the South.” MP3 audio of the 60 second ad. The audio clip is also posted with AFGE’s press release and in O’Keefe’s post.

Read more:
Federal Employee Union Buys Radio Ads to…Counter Limbaugh’s Criticism of Federal Worker Pay?

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Taxpayers Fund Study Establishing ‘Web-Based Sex Diaries’ for Gay Males as Young as 16

Posted on August 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded $126,000 over the past two years to a University of Washington study that established “web-based sex diaries” for gay males as young as 16. By the time the grants end in 2011, taxpayers will have spent more than $250,000 for the study. “The study’s second aim is to assess the feasibility of using web-based sex diaries to collect sexual behavior data and to identify the appropriate diary schedule. MSM [men who have sex with men] will be randomly assigned diary schedules and we will compare the frequency of reported behaviors across diary schedules and against the retrospective questionnaire data,” the grant abstract states. The study, titled “The Importance of Early Sexual Experiences Among Men Who Have Sex with Men,” seeks to find out if the circumstances under which young homosexuals first engage in homosexual acts impacts their future sexual behavior. Researchers will attempt to follow 100 gay men ages 16-20 who have had fewer than three gay sex partners or are “within three years of their same-sex debut,” meaning that they had their first gay sexual experience within the past three years. The 100 gay men will be asked to fill out an online questionnaire about their early gay experiences, take regular HIV tests, and fill out the sex diaries detailing the gay sex acts they engage in. “Men who have sex with men (MSM) experience rates of HIV and bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STI) that are many times those experienced by heterosexuals in the U.S.,” the abstract states. “We propose to conduct a cohort study of 100 MSM who are: 1) age 16-20 with 1-3 lifetime male sex partners, or 2) age 16-30 within 3 years of their same-sex sexual debut. This cohort will be followed for 1 year during which participants will complete a baseline computer administered self-interview (CASI) regarding early homosexual experiences and sexual behavior; retrospective online follow-up questionnaires every 3 months; web-based sex diaries; and HIV/STI testing at baseline, 6, and 12 months.” The study, which has been awarded funding until completion in 2011, seeks to determine whether homosexual men who engage in same-sex relations at an early age are more likely to engage in further risky sexual behavior and, if so, what types of risky sexual behavior they engage in. Investigators will try to find patterns common to the sexual behaviors of young gay men, including condom use, HIV status disclosure, and their sexual repertoire. “[I]nvestigators will conduct exploratory analyses to define patterns of sexual behaviors such as condom use, HIV status disclosure, and sexual role and repertoire. The principal investigator for the project is Dr. Matthew R. Golden of the University of Washington in Seattle. Golden is the director of the university’s HIV/STD research program. According to NIAID, another $63,000 will be awarded for this project in fiscal 2010 and another $63,000 in fiscal 2011–giving the project a total of $252,000 in taxpayer funding through June of 2011. CNSNews.com asked both Golden and NIAID the following question: “The Census Bureau says the median household income in the United States is $52,000. How would you explain to the average American mom and dad–who make $52,000 per year–that taxing them to pay for this grant was justified? Golden did not respond to the question. But the National Institutes of Health responded by e-mail. “One of the primary research goals of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is to develop effective HIV/AIDS prevention strategies to control and ultimately end the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has killed 25 million people worldwide,” an NIH spokeswoman said. “The goal of this study is to augment efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men who have sex with men in the United States, a population that is disproportionately affected by HIV and STIs. “Although only a small percentage of American men report having sex with other men, this group accounts for nearly half of all people in the United States living with HIV and more than half of all new HIV infections in this country each year. It is noteworthy that some men who have sex with men also have sex with women, meaning an HIV-infected man in this population could also spread the virus to a heterosexual woman. “This small pilot study by Matthew Golden is focused on determining the feasibility of a larger study to learn how young men who have sex with men form patterns of sexual behavior, what factors predict these patterns, and how these behavioral patterns change over a lifetime. “This information will help scientists design more effective HIV and STI prevention programs for men who have sex with men in the United States, especially for those at highest risk for infection. With the lifetime cost of HIV/AIDS treatment in the United States estimated to range from $470,600 to $665,500 per person in 2004 dollars (which is $550,000 to $779,000 per person in 2010 dollars), it is more cost-effective to prevent HIV infection than to treat it.” Crossposted at NB sister site CNS News  

View post:
Taxpayers Fund Study Establishing ‘Web-Based Sex Diaries’ for Gay Males as Young as 16

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , ,

‘Glee’ Stars Are All For A Possible Michael Jackson Episode

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The stars talk about working songs like ‘Bad’ into an MJ-themed show on the Teen Choice Awards red carpet. By Mawuse Ziegbe, with reporting by Kara Warner Matthew Morrison Photo: MTV News They’ve done Lady Gaga . They’ve covered Madonna . A Britney Spears episode is in the works. One pop star at a time, “Glee” has been putting its cheery spin on the repertoires of some of music’s biggest names. However, many fans are waiting for the “Glee” crew to represent the legacy of one hitmaking luminary in particular: Michael Jackson. Rumors have been swirling that an MJ-themed episode could be headed to TV screens, and several castmembers told MTV News at the Teen Choice Awards on Sunday night (August 8) that they would love to take a crack at the King of Pop’s legendary jams. “That would be pretty cool,” Matthew Morrison mused on the red carpet. “He is probably the best and most iconic performer in the history of music,” Morrison declared. Jenna Ushkowitz said taking on Jackson’s music would be a daunting but nonetheless incredible challenge. “That’s a scary, scary episode to do,” the actress said. “[But] that would be absolutely amazing.” “So You Think You Can Dance” judge Adam Shankman has been confirmed to helm an episode of “Glee,” and some reports have suggested that he might be dreaming up choreography for a Jackson tribute. Ushkowitz added that regardless of which episode he takes charge of, the cast is amped to have the director in the fold. “We’re so excited to have Adam Shankman,” she said. “He’s incredible.” With Shankman at the wheel, a dance-heavy Jackson show could be in order. But while Amber Riley said “she would love to do a Michael Jackson episode,” the actress prefers the entertainer’s smoother fare. “My favorite song by him is ‘Human Nature,’ ” Riley said. Harry Shum Jr., who wows “Glee” audiences with his footwork, seemed really excited by the prospect of an episode dedicated to the Gloved One. “That’s so awesome,” Shum said. “You’re part of a show that is paying homage to all these great artists and to be able see your childhood dreams … like, ‘Oh I would love to do that’ [not] just onstage but [also on] this awesome show that gets to showcase these things is great.” Heather Morris said she would love to see how the show flips Jackson’s ultimate tough-guy anthem. “I think it would be super cool to [do] the ‘Bad’ montage,” she said. “Maybe not even in the sense that it’s like the ‘Bad’ video. I’m excited to see what [‘Glee’ creator] Ryan Murphy could do with ‘Bad.’ Whatever they’re gonna do it’s gonna be hysterical.” What would you like to see in a Michael Jackson “Glee” episode? Sound off in the comments below! Related Videos Nicki Minaj, Lil Twist, More On The 2010 Teen Choice Red Carpet Related Photos Surf’s Up! Teen Choice Awards 2010 2010 Teen Choice Awards Red Carpet

View post:
‘Glee’ Stars Are All For A Possible Michael Jackson Episode

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bozell Column: Britain Trims Artistic Waste

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Great Britain has a new coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, and what a mess it is as they face is the largest budget deficit in Europe. Where, oh where, will they cut the budget? Horror of horrors, one obvious target is funding for the arts “in the land of Shakespeare.” When the the Empire is so broke National Health Service is refusing people hip replacements, it’s probably not a good idea to suggest it’s more important to fund the ballet. Especially when the government-bankrolled ballet is “The Spirit of Diaghilev.” Anthony Faiola of The Washington Post reports the usual line we hear in America about arts funding, that taxpayer monies provide artists with “independence,” and all that blather. But then he quite seriously maintains that government is a “beacon for controversial pieces, such as one staged last year at Sadlers Wells in which” – are you ready for this? – “the pope sexually abuses an altar boy through an interpretive dance.” That’s putting it mildly. As the Daily Mail more accurately reported last November, “The BBC has dropped plans to air a controversial ballet after discovering that it features a deformed Pope who sexually abuses altar boys and rapes pregnant women. ‘The Spirit of Diaghilev’ prompted boos and a walkout from some of the audience last month when it premiered at Sadlers Wells in London.” The BBC had already announced it would televise the production without learning the whole sordid story. The piece was commissioned by the government and planned for airing on BBC before “the finer details were established.” The “Spirit” piece contains four different dance programs, and the hateful one was “Eternal Damnation To Sancho And Sanchez” by Javier de Frutos. Would Faiola and Co. be so enthusiastic if the storyline featured an imam abusing little boys and raping pregnant women? Amazingly enough, this sexually graphic exercise in anti-Christian bigotry was given a family-hour spot on BBC4, according to a spokesman, “because ballet at this time of year is a family thing. You sit down together and watch.” For his part, de Frutos was angry at how naïve the BBC was to assume it was family-friendly “just because it was ballet. People just simply assumed, and you should never assume in art.” The BBC acknowledged they decided not to air the program because it was the Advent season and “was essentially part of our Christmas schedule.” Millions of taxpayers sent in their pounds to see their faith pounded by filthy “artistic” bullies. But at least it wasn’t waved in the faces of their children. The Washington Post tried to make the case for Britain’s arts bureaucrats, making a list of all the glowing talents that the government helped along. We’re told Grammy-winning singer Amy Winehouse began her musical career at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. After one wildly popular album, Winehouse is now best known as a raging tabloid cartoon of chemical dependency. Is she really the best poster child for keeping a ballooning deficit? When a country’s financial ship is sinking, is it really important that the government might not foster the next Sam Mendes, the director who won an Oscar for the morally appalling film “American Beauty”? That’s more of an argument against than for subsidies. Arts lobbyists seriously believe that a ballet is just as important as a hip replacement. They refuse to submit to the notion that the arts can be seen as less essential in the grand scheme of government than anything else. But it’s easy to argue that it’s less essential than everything else. The Post story acknowledged that the new government in Britain is saying the budget cuts aren’t temporary and they are calling for a permanent shift toward the American model of mostly private philanthropy for the arts. Ed Vaizey, the government’s new culture minister, insisted the best works would find a private sponsor — even if the works savage the private sector. He noted the case of “Enron,” a British play that started in government-funded theater before finding private backers despite the “anti-capitalist themes.” London’s arts advocates shouldn’t be gloomy. Anyone who’s followed Hollywood knows that large entertainment conglomerates instinctively genuflect in their support for perverted “artistic” themes and have no trouble supporting anti-capitalist diatribes (see the entire career of Michael Moore). In fact, they’ll probably learn to whisper into the ears of Bill Maher and get their Pope-bashing ballet to air in prime time on HBO

Read the rest here:
Bozell Column: Britain Trims Artistic Waste

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Vanessa Hudgens Grows Up In ‘Rent’ At The Hollywood Bowl

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Director Neil Patrick Harris says it’s great to watch the actress ‘allow herself to be so exposed to these people.’ By Mawuse Ziegbe, with reporting by Matt Elias Vanessa Hudgens Photo: MTV News “High School Musical” alum Vanessa Hudgens is taking her song-and-dance skills to a brand-new stage. The actress appears this weekend in a Hollywood Bowl production of “Rent,” helmed by Neil Patrick Harris, alongside stars such as Wayne Brady and Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. The award-winning Broadway smash, which explores the complicated lives of a cast of downtown New Yorkers, is a far cry from the cheery story lines of the “High School Musical” franchise. However, Hudgens said she’s up for mounting the challenging play, which demanded that the cast prepare with only a single punishing week of rehearsals. “It’s been insanity,” Hudgens told MTV News about the grueling schedule. “[The] first two days was [everyone gathering] around the piano and the rest of them [were] just trying to figure out where you are. It’s kind of like, you do it [and then] it’s like, ‘You did it! Great, moving on.’ You’re like … ‘OK, it’s OK, I’ll just figure it out on my own time.’ ” Like “HSM,” “Rent” (which was brought to the big screen in 2005) has a die-hard following. Hudgens, who plays a drug-addicted dancer, has her own take on the play. “For me I think the strongest thing is how my character Mimi finds strength within love,” Hudgens said. “I’m a hopeless romantic, so it gets me every time.” The similarities pretty much end there, as Hudgens acknowledged. “It’s 100 percent different than ‘High School Musical’ because the characters [have] so much more to deal with and [my character goes] through such a massive journey. Each song really shows a different side of the character,” Hudgens said. The actress also credited her director for helping her get back into the musical mind-set. “It’s exciting. Getting back into it has been kind of like a leap of faith, but I know I’m in good hands with Neil.” Harris said witnessing Hudgens’ vulnerability in the play is compelling to watch. “As people get to be older and older, they start disassociating themselves from different types of people. And this ‘Rent’ world sort of does the opposite: It encourages all of that. The diversity that these 25 people have … just fills your heart,” Harris said. “To watch someone like Vanessa open up and allow herself to be so exposed to these people is really great for me as a director to see.” What do you think of Vanessa Hudgens starring in “Rent”? Sound off in the comments below!

Excerpt from:
Vanessa Hudgens Grows Up In ‘Rent’ At The Hollywood Bowl

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Captain America’ Director’s ‘Entire Career’ Got Him Job, Marvel Boss Says

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Joe Johnston’s groundbreaking design work on ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ helped land him ‘Captain’ chair, Kevin Feige says. By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Captain America Photo: Marvel Comics Summer 2011 is going to be a big one for comic book movies — specifically because of two features from Marvel Studios: “Captain America” and “Thor.” And while there’s still almost a full year to go until those films are released, ever since the casts of the two flicks made appearances at San Diego Comic-Con last month, the Internets have been buzzing with anticipation for the star-spangled hero and the God of Thunder. When Marvel’s head honcho Kevin Feige stopped by our live stream during the Con, we peppered him with questions about all of their upcoming projects, including how they decided on putting Joe Johnston and Kenneth Branagh in the director’s chairs . With Branagh, who’ll helm “Thor,” Feige said, in a nutshell, he “chased it.” In Johnston’s case, however, the reasons had more to do with Johnston’s already well-established filmmaking cred. “I think Joe’s entire career has been leading up to this,” Feige told MTV News. “When you look at the design work he did on the original ‘Star Wars,’ I saw a bunch of people dressed as Boba Fett already lined-up for his signing,” Feige recalled fondly. “The work he did with [Steven] Spielberg on Raiders [of the Lost Ark], the two films he directed, of course ‘The Rocketeer.’ I think his whole career has been leading up to this movie.” Johnston is certainly no stranger to genre/fantasy filmmaking. In addition to having served as art director on some of the most visually intense and celebrated movies of all time — the first two original “Star Wars” films and the aforementioned “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — he also directed “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” “Hidalgo” and “The Wolfman.” As for Johnston’s take on “Captain America,” his star, Chris Evans , told us that the film will be highly stylized, but not too “glossy” and not too dark. “I definitely asked Joe, what kind of gloss are we going for here? Is this going to have the kind of ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Fantastic Four’ shine?” Evans recalled. “He said it’s not going to be that glossy, not that colorful, but we’re not going as dark as something like ‘Batman.’ ” Check out everything we’ve got on “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” . For breaking comic book movie news, columns and more — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com .

Read more from the original source:
‘Captain America’ Director’s ‘Entire Career’ Got Him Job, Marvel Boss Says

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Celebrities, Gossip, Hollywood, Music

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,