Seems like Kerry’s career is bangin’ now that she’s got a hit TV show, a new role in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Django Unchained”, and an upcoming interview on “Oprah’s Next Chapter”. Inside the magazine, Kerry talks about playing Olivia Pope on ABC’s ‘Scandal’; “She’s phenomenally successful, able to control her world and makes things happen with clarity and force in her profession”. She says she wouldn’t have been able to play Broomhilda in Django Unchained if she didn’t have her day job; “I don’t know if I would have been able to play [her]. She has strength I knew nothing about. Tarantino is a director who’s not intimidated by blood and gore and violence and the darker side of the human soul”. When asked about roles Black women in Hollywood often get, Kerry says, “I can see how it’s not particularly feminist to play the princess in the tower, waiting to be saved. But as a black woman – we’ve never been afforded that luxury. There was no man coming to save you; it wasn’t part of the story. In some ways, this telling is a statement of empowerment.” Hit the flip for more spreads from her feature in ELLE and let us know what you think about Kerry’s new career moves. Do you think she’s moving in the right direction when it comes to the roles she chooses in hollywood?
Big guls need love too, and according to Adele she gets plenty… Adele Says She Wouldn’t Lose Weight Unless It Affected Her Health Or Sex Life Via HelloBeautiful British singer, Adele made waves the is side of the pond because of her incredibly honest music and her insanely soulful voice. However, her size, as in her weight, has come into play. Karl Lagerfeld has called her fat and there’s even a website dedicated to humiliating the “Rumor Has It” singer. I just found out that even Lady Gaga has referenced Adele’s weight in defending her own. Adele is penning a biography with writer, Chas Newkey-Burden and in the book, Adele exposes the issues she’s had with her own weight. Check out some of the standout excerpts below: “I read a comment [about me] on YouTube that I thought would upset me — ‘Test pilot for pies’ — but I’ve always been a size 14-16 and been fine with it. I would only lose weight if it affected my health or sex life, which it doesn’t.” “It was the biggest deal in my entire life to date. . . He made me totally hungry. . . He was older, he was successful in his own right, whereas my boyfriends before were my age and not really doing much. He got me interested in film and literature and food and wine and traveling and politics and history and those were things I was never, ever interested in.” Awwww, Adele found her a prince charming that doesn’t mind a lil extra cushion when pushin’. Image via Telegraph
Has RihRih’s style show hit the skids? It’s looking like at least some of the singers checks have indeed stopped coming in. According to UK Daily Mail reports : It was meant to be her big TV break, but Rihanna’s television debut has been axed following poor ratings – amid claims that the production was a ‘nightmare’. The singer, 24, was the star and executive producer on Sky Living Show Styled To Rock, where wannabe designers battled it out to make a festival outfit for their idol. However, she only made three appearances on the program – including the finale, where she picked up the winning outfit. But despite the fact that Rihanna called on friends including Cheryl Cole, Kanye West and Katy Perry to guest star, Styled to Rock has been scrapped after ratings fell to below 79,000. However, the show – presented by fashion designer Henry Holland and Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud – has been sold to the US Style Network without Rihanna on board. A TV source told MailOnline: ‘Scheduling all these pop stars with our filming schedule was a nightmare. Rihanna’s diary was manic, and to be honest, after it struggled for viewers it was always going to be difficult to get her to agree to do another series. During filming, Rihanna sparked concern for her health when she scrapped a 10-week trip to the UK for work – forcing a planned appearance on the program to be rescheduled. But she angrily dismissed claims that her health was affected by constant partying and said she was visiting her family. However, just weeks later she tweeted pictures of herself hooked up to an IV. Last November she cancelled a concert in Sweden when she was taken to hospital and put on a drip. Doctors put her weakness down to a bad case of flu. The Umbrella star’s then enraged Saturday Night Live bosses by missing a rehearsal due to illness and tiredness. A Sky Living spokeswoman said: ‘It is far too early to make a decision if the show would return for a second series. ‘After every big launch, we undertake extensive research with our customers, and will make a decision when we evaluate the results.’ Well now we see why she’s trying to rip people off make a little extra cash on deluxe editions of her new album ! SkyTV
Has RihRih’s style show hit the skids? It’s looking like at least some of the singers checks have indeed stopped coming in. According to UK Daily Mail reports : It was meant to be her big TV break, but Rihanna’s television debut has been axed following poor ratings – amid claims that the production was a ‘nightmare’. The singer, 24, was the star and executive producer on Sky Living Show Styled To Rock, where wannabe designers battled it out to make a festival outfit for their idol. However, she only made three appearances on the program – including the finale, where she picked up the winning outfit. But despite the fact that Rihanna called on friends including Cheryl Cole, Kanye West and Katy Perry to guest star, Styled to Rock has been scrapped after ratings fell to below 79,000. However, the show – presented by fashion designer Henry Holland and Nicola Roberts of Girls Aloud – has been sold to the US Style Network without Rihanna on board. A TV source told MailOnline: ‘Scheduling all these pop stars with our filming schedule was a nightmare. Rihanna’s diary was manic, and to be honest, after it struggled for viewers it was always going to be difficult to get her to agree to do another series. During filming, Rihanna sparked concern for her health when she scrapped a 10-week trip to the UK for work – forcing a planned appearance on the program to be rescheduled. But she angrily dismissed claims that her health was affected by constant partying and said she was visiting her family. However, just weeks later she tweeted pictures of herself hooked up to an IV. Last November she cancelled a concert in Sweden when she was taken to hospital and put on a drip. Doctors put her weakness down to a bad case of flu. The Umbrella star’s then enraged Saturday Night Live bosses by missing a rehearsal due to illness and tiredness. A Sky Living spokeswoman said: ‘It is far too early to make a decision if the show would return for a second series. ‘After every big launch, we undertake extensive research with our customers, and will make a decision when we evaluate the results.’ Well now we see why she’s trying to rip people off make a little extra cash on deluxe editions of her new album ! SkyTV
Health risks are rising as trash and vermin rise days after the storm! Many rats may have drowned but there are plenty of them left that are expected to resurface in staggering numbers once things have settled down after the wake of the storm. According to The Daily News : In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, fears were rife that the streets would be overrun with rats escaping the flooded tunnels and subways. But it now looks as if those fears may have been groundless as there have not, as yet, been any reports of rodents roaming the streets. Experts are saying the water likely rushed into tunnels so fast that the rats – despite being strong swimmers – had no time to escape and died. Sam Miller, a spokesman for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told Forbes the city has not seen an increase in rats above ground caused by Sandy, adding that while flooding normally does drive them to the streets, it ‘also drowns young rats in their burrows and can reduce the rat population’. Rodentologist Robert Corrigan, who works with the city on keeping populations under control, told LiveScience that baby rats will likely die unless they are carried to safety by their mothers. Another expert, Herwig Leirs, a rodentologist at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, confirmed that most would drown. ‘Rats will be carried away by the current and won’t be strong enough to swim to the surface and breathe, or they’ll be pushed to grates, they will get stuck there and they won’t be strong enough to swim against the current,’ he said. However, the rats that are able to survive the floodwaters will be treated to a surge of garbage and food to feast on once things have dried out. According to NBC, approximately 28 million rats live in the subway tunnels of New York. Whether they pose a health risk in the aftermath of the hurricane depends how quickly the water evaporates and how quickly subway crews can clean out the tunnels. Rick Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Milbrook, New York, earlier told The Huffington Post that if rats were forced out of their lairs, this could result in a rise in infectious diseases carried by urban rodents, including leptospirosis, hantavirus, typhus, salmonella, and even the plague. Keep you and yours close in the aftermath of this crazy storm! Images via twitter
Also in a round-up of news briefs Tuesday morning, the Academy is set to honor Stanley Kubrick ; the Austin Film Festival announces winners of its Audience Awards; And, a doc spotlighting Levon Helm heads to U.S. theaters. Academy to Honor Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick will be feted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Wednesday November 7th. Hosted by Malcolm McDowell at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the evening will feature film clips and personal remembrances by friends and collaborators including Paul Mazursky, Ryan O’Neal and Matthew Modine. The tribute is in association with the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA) which is hosting a retrospective. Silver Linings Playbook Wins Austin Film Festival Audience Award The romantic drama by David O. Russell won the Austin Film Festival’s “Marquee Feature Audience Award, while Junk by Kevin Hamedani took the Narrative Feature Audience Award. Joseph Levy’s Spinning Plates and T.C. Johnstone’s Rising From Ashes tied for the Documentary Feature Audience Award. The Muslims Are Coming! by Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah took the Comedy Vanguard Audience Award. Kino Lorber Picks Up Levon Helm Doc Ain’t In It For My Health The film is an in-depth and intimate look at music legend Levon Helm who died last April. The NYC-based distributor picked up the film on the heels of a recent “Love for Levon” tribute concert in New Jersey earlier this month where nearly 20,000 fans packed an arena to hear musicians including Roger Waters, Gregg Allman, Mavis Staples, Joe Walsh and Lucinda Williams celebrate his legacy. Kino Lorber is planning an early 2013 release followed by a VOD/home video release in early summer. Around the ‘net… Tom Cruise Teases a Mission: Impossible 5 A fifth installment appears to be in the preliminaries. “I started Mission: Impossible hoping I could make many of them. It’s a character that I can grow with…We’re already working on different images. Talking conceptually. I love traveling around promoting different movies because I’m always looking at different places, and I always walk around to see the city. I look at architecture, subways… coming up with different sequences,” Cruise told the U.K.’s Total Film. Hurricane Sandy Forces Broadway Theaters to Go Dark for Third Day; Region Slammed The shut-down is one day longer than the aftermath of 9/11. Power outages continue to plague Lower Manhattan and the subway is closed again as the city and region deal with the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, THR reports .
We’re pinching ourselves over here… the fact that Condé Nast has just hired yet another beautiful black woman to fill a coveted Editor position has us speechless. We broke the news when Condé Nast hired its first-ever African American editor-in-chief, Keija Minor at Brides and the now, Elaine Welteroth (the new Beauty and Health Director), is stepping up at Teen Vogue and it’s a huge stride for all of the other qualified women of color who’d like to work in the upper ranks of the fashion and beauty industry. According to Black Voices: “We live in a multi-cultural world, so embracing diversity is important in every industry,” Welteroth told Fashionista.com. “As it’s related to publishing, I think magazines really benefit from having a staff with a range of different perspectives and cultural references so that any reader can feel like there is someone on the masthead they can relate to, someone they can trust to speak up for them. It’s great to see that idea being embraced more and more.” Welteroth will officially settle into her new gig on October 15, after wrapping up her current role as Senior Beauty Editor at Glamour (where she landed just one year ago after serving as the Beauty and Style editor at EBONY). The torch is being passed to Welteroth by Eva Chen, who became a mini Teen Vogue celeb for the brand in the Beauty and Health director role. Chen’s popularity in the position is a credit to her 36,000+ Twitter followers and 24,000+ Instagram fans. Those are pretty high stilettos to fill, but we’re sure Welteroth will fit them well. Welteroth’s move from Glamour to Teen Vogue doesn’t require too much change in terms of job responsibilities–writing, editing, shooting, market work and covering all the social networks–however she will now be spouting advice to teens and dealing with the business side of publishing thanks to that “director” title. And how did the curly-top cutie land this plum position? “It’s all about preparation meeting the opportunity at the right time,” Welteroth said. “I had the chance to learn from some really talented people who have taught me a lot. So, this next step is sort of the culmination of a lot of work, great mentorship, and perfect timing.” We’re happy to see black women get their due respect in an industry that still has a lot of walls to break down. Images via twitter/WENN
Mitt Romney’s son Tagg signed a surrogacy agreement that gave the surrogate, Tagg and his wife the right to abort her recent pregnancy, according to TMZ. Tagg, the oldest of Mitt’s five sons, had twins this year through a surrogate, and Mitt Romney covered some of the expenses connected with the arrangement. The twin boys, David Mitt and William Ryder, were born on May 4, 2012. Tagg and his wife Jen, along with the surrogate and her husband, signed a Gestational Carrier Agreement dated July 28, 2011. Paragraph 13 of it reads: “If in the opinion of the [physician or obstetrician] there is potential physical harm to the surrogate, the decision to abort or not abort is to be made by the surrogate.” “In the event the child is determined to be physiologically, genetically or chromosomally abnormal, the decision is to be made by the intended parents.” “In such a case the surrogate agrees to abort, or not to abort, in accordance with the intended parents’ decision.” “Any decision to abort because of potential harm to the child, or to reduce the number of fetuses, is to be made by the intended parents.” In other words, Tagg and Jen Romney gave the surrogate the right to abort the fetuses even if her life wasn’t in danger. Only “potential physical harm” was needed. The Romneys had the right to abort the fetuses if they felt they would not be healthy. Mitt Romney was involved in the surrogate arrangement because he paid some of the expenses, but it is unclear if he read the contract or knew the terms. The Republican presidential candidate has said he is in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the mother. Otherwise, Romney says he’s against abortion, a position he didn’t always hold. Interestingly, Tagg used the same surrogate in 2009, and there was no Paragraph 13 providing for abortion at that time because Tagg and his wife didn’t want it. In 2011, when the second contract was being drafted, it was in there.
As thoughts turn to autumn and the coming of winter, this week’s new DVD releases range from a highbrow Norwegian film about a man considering his own mortality to a guilty-pleasure sequel about sexy American teens eluding a masked madman. Yes, it’s that kind of week. HIGH: Oslo August 31 st (Strand Releasing; $27.99 DVD) Who’s Responsible: Directed by Joachim Trier, who co-wrote the script with Eskil Vogt (“freely” based upon Pierre Drieu La Rochelle’s novel Le feu follet ); starring Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner. What It’s All About: Former party animal Anders (Danielsen Lie) is now 34, two weeks away from finishing rehab for drug and alcohol addiction, and at an utter loss in trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life. Following a failed suicide attempt, he gets a day pass to travel to Oslo for a job interview, but things don’t go well. His family won’t see him, his ex won’t return his calls, the job interview goes south when Anders says that “drug dealer” is what’s missing from his résumé, and his old friends have grown up without him. (They now seem miserable because they have children, or miserable because they don’t.) Why It’s Schmancy: Trier (director of the international hit Reprise , which also starred Andersen Lie) begins the film with contemporary and vintage footage of the Norwegian capital, as a various voices narrate their memories of growing up and living there. One of these unidentified inhabitants remembers a friend who “thought ‘melancholy’ was cooler than ‘nostalgia’” and that’s almost a shorthand of the heartbreaking storytelling that Trier gives us. He’s aided greatly by a powerful performance by Danielsen Lie (in real life, he’s a doctor who occasionally acts in his friend’s films), who never wallows in self-pity. Most American movies about drugs end with rehab as the great panacea, but here’s a story about someone who’s been through therapy and still sees nothing waiting for him on the other side. (Fun fact: The novel on which Oslo August 31 st is loosely based was also adapted by Louis Malle in 1963’s The Fire Within .) Why You Should Buy It: This DVD release is admittedly light on extras — just a trailer, in fact — but given that this Cannes Film Festival official selection got a mere fraction of Reprise ’s U.S. release, it’s quite likely that fans of up-and-coming director Trier don’t even know that this movie exists. LOW: Halloween II (Shout Factory; $24.97 DVD/$29.93 Blu-Ray) Who’s Responsible: Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill, directed by Rick Rosenthal; starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, Lance Guest, Leo Rossi What It’s All About: Picking up right where the classic Halloween (1978) left off, a traumatized Laurie (Curtis) is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital to recover from the horrifying events of October 31. But Michael Myers isn’t done with her yet. Impassive mask in place, he skulks his way through the shocking dark and empty corridors of the place — and this is pre-Obamacare! — until he can find his prey. Will Dr. Loomis (Pleasance) arrive in time? And what shocking secrets of Michael’s past will be uncovered in this sequel? Why It’s Fun: Is Halloween II the game-changing slasher epic that the John Carpenter original is? Of course not. Does it still deliver some scary fun while staying true to the franchise? Absolutely. Horror fans are justifiably leery of sequels, particularly those not directed by the original filmmaker, but Halloween II keeps the jolts coming and allows the tireless Curtis one more opportunity to scream for her life. (The film marks the end of her career’s first chapter. Curtis’ acclaimed turns in Love Letters and Trading Places two years later allowed her to expand her repertoire beyond young-ladies-in-danger.) If nothing else, this one’s a damn sight better than the wretched Rob Zombie movie of the same title from a few years ago. Why You Should Buy It (Again): This Collector’s Edition from Shout Factory’s new Scream Factory label is a full bag of candy with two commentary tracks, the TV cut with additional footage, interviews, a doc about the movie’s screening locations, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and lots more. (Both the DVD and the Blu-Ray come fully loaded.) And hey, if you’re one of the first 500 or so people to order from ShoutFactory.com, they’ll throw in a limited-edition Haddonfield Memorial nurse’s cap. Previously: Arthouse Freak-Out Beyond The Black Rainbow + Comedy Classic Airplane! Hit Home Video Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
In her new memoir My Mother Was Nuts , actress-comedienne-filmmaker Penny Marshall writes of her remarkable life: Growing up the youngest of three in The Bronx, she had a daughter followed brother Garry into showbiz, got famous as one-half of Laverne & Shirley , got married twice, got divorced twice, opened her home to friends like John Belushi, Carrie Fisher, Steven Spielberg, and Robert De Niro, and became the first female director to break the $100 million mark with 1988’s Big , also notching films like Awakenings , A League Of Their Own , Renaissance Man , and The Preacher’s Wife along the way. Ringing Movieline to discuss her baldly honest, often hilarious memoir — which also reveals darker times, recreational drug use, an abortion, an on-set miscarriage — Marshall explained why she set out to write her life story to begin with: “You want to set the record straight on certain things, because there are so many rumors.” Among them: Her dramatic backstage relationship with Laverne & Shirley co-star Cindy Williams and her recent lung cancer and brain tumor diagnosis. “The rags still say ‘She’s dying,'” she laughed, emphasizing that her health has improved and she’s ready for the next project. “But I dodged a major bullet.” You’ve really lived such a fantastic life. I’ve really been very lucky and fortunate. And I appreciate that! There comes a time when you give back, you know, so I do a lot of that stuff when I can. Why was now the right time to write your memoirs? Well, my brother just finished his second book, and so I figured well, since the rags have me dying every couple of months… [Laughs] That’s not helping me get work! Someone suggested it, and my friend Carrie Fisher’s a writer, so I went, well, I’ll try it. Did you take to it naturally? No. I did a lot of stream of consciousness, but I talked into a tape recorder — and it’s hard to understand me, I understand that. I do go off on tangents sometime. But I talked into a tape recorder then had it transcribed. I have a terrible memory when it comes to recalling my childhood, but you have such vivid memories of your experience growing up in The Bronx, in what seemed like a very special neighborhood that turned out so many talented people . It was a very working class neighborhood. Everyone worked; my mother was the only woman who worked. Mostly the dads worked, but my mother was a tap dancing teacher. It was a very colorful neighborhood, and it had a good work ethic for some reason — or maybe everyone wanted to get out of there! One or the other. There was so much of a sense of community, of family, throughout your life — family related by blood, a familial network of friends. It feels so special and rare, the group of people you surrounded yourself with. Well there’s more to life than show business, you know? Family and friends are part of your life, and sometimes life takes a priority over a job, or a business. And so those that you remain friends with, I think it’s important to fulfill your life. I don’t think just doing a movie fulfills your entire life — it’s important to have people around you that you like, you enjoy, you can do things with. Looking at your career, it’s so interesting to see how directing kind of just fell into your lap. You had such success in front of the camera, and all of a sudden comes a directing career. And you first learned from Spielberg, of all people! Well he was always encouraging. He’d come over to the house and see me doing jigsaw puzzles, which I had an addiction to, and he’d say, “That’s editing.” And then he’d see me talk to all these neurotic guys. He’d say [whispering] “That’s directing.” You have to hold their hand, and tell them what to do. I never said I wanted to direct; I had done a couple of Laverne & Shirley ’s but everyone did. Cindy [Williams] did! Michael McKean! The script girl! Anyone around! Who wants to direct this week? You bore witness to so many changes in the industry, on both sides of the camera, over your career. The way television works now compared to how it was made back in the Laverne & Shirley days… there was so much more freedom and looseness then. Well remember, there were only three channels! Now there are so many channels and so many reality shows that I don’t really watch, because they’re cheap. I don’t mind if there’s a game or a contest; I don’t mind American Idol . I don’t mind The Amazing Race . There’s a contest involved! But just people blabbing and fighting with each other… although Mob Wives did get me. They made me laugh. But that’s what they do. There are 20 people sitting watching monitors. Why don’t you watch the actors, they’re there! I watch the actors. I use a monitor to fill out a screen, but I’m watching the actor — and I have a strange memory. I’m in a wedding scene, I say “That lady was up here, she can’t be back there.” I have this strange memory, I remember what we shot. Before we hit the clacker, the slate, he said something — we could use it. But times have changed. The economy stinks, the whole world’s gone mad, so it’s a little difficult as far as it was simpler back then. I mean, the writers worked their butts off but any actors, you always wanted better, you know? And I don’t know what they do now. They all watch a monitor. You’re pretty honest about the role that nepotism played in your career, getting you in the door through your brother Garry. But you also talk about the idea of “giving someone a life” — paying it forward, giving someone new an opportunity to do with what they can. Do you feel like that sentiment still exists in Hollywood today? No. [Laughs] Everyone needs a life right now! But I think it’s important to give back, to give someone a life. I help take care of this kid, Germain, who’s in a wheelchair. He calls me Mommy Penny, because his mother was not so good. She moved while he was in the hospital because she wouldn’t take care of him. But he’s going to college. He got an apartment. I got him an air conditioner. May I ask how your health is these days? My health is fine, not good. I dodged a big bullet, even though the rags still say “She’s dying” and they have the wrong thing wrong with me. But I dodged a major bullet. And I’m the only one who gained 60 lbs. and got hard nails from it! You’re fortified! A strange constitution, I have. Maybe because I went through everything. [Laughs] You really have. And you’re so open in your book about them all: Marriages, divorces, abortion, miscarriage, illness. Yet your spirit seems to be so buoyant throughout. Whenever anything terrible happens, I stay very calm. I’m a Libra, what can I tell ya? [Laughs] It has to balance out. But if someone’s going crazy, I’m very calm. Or if I’m sick, I’m calm. Nothing hurt me [when first diagnosed with cancer]. I had no idea what they were talking about. So I ordered White Castle.
