Jada Pinkett Smith is speaking out against the horror of human trafficking, a noble cause brought to her attention by none other than her daughter, Willow. Jada started the organization Don’t Sell Bodies after Willow Smith, 11, approached her after watching Kony 2012 and being blown away by its story. Pinkett Smith thus teamed up with actress Salma Hayek to get the attention of the masses. Hayek directed the video below, in which Jada bares all: Wicked Evolution – Nada Se Compara No question Jada Pinkett Smith nude will get people to pay attention to anything. Might as well use it for an important cause. Kudos to her. Men in Black 3 star Will has been super supportive, she says: “He’s amazing because he wants to lend support in every way. In order to combat this, we need our men. We need our soldiers. Let me tell you, I love girl power, but ain’t nothin’ like having some muscle behind you! Will’s got some big ones!” Motivating and inspiring, to say the least. Follow the jump for a recent interview Jada did with CNN about the Don’t Sell Bodies campaign … Jada Pinkett Smith on Human Trafficking
Alec Baldwin got into a heated confrontation with another photographer this morning, berating him, grabbing his arm and ordering him to take a hike. It’s unclear what sparked the showdown, but ever since Alec Baldwin’s attack on a photographer two weeks ago, they’ve been hounding him even more. Marcus Santos , the alleged victim of the first incident, wants to see him prosecuted. No charges have been filed, but today’s war of words won’t help Alec. Less than an hour ago, Alec approached a photographer who was hanging out in front of his New York apartment building and lashed out at the guy. “I want you to shut the f**k up … leave my neighbor alone … get outta here,” the clearly pissed 30 Rock star said to the incredulous paparazzo. Alec, who grabbed the guy’s arm briefly, soon backed off, but not before getting right in his grill and saying in menacing tone, “You little girl!” Baldwin then walked back into his building, clutching a large pink stuffed animal for some reason. TMZ has the full video of the confrontation . The NYPD is still investigating the first incident. We feel for Baldwin, but maybe he should dial down the rage and use some pithy Jack Donaghy quotes instead.
If the world were ending imminently — say, in three weeks — would you throw off the shackles of social confines and indulge in every crazy impulse the moment inspired? Would you seek out your loved ones in order to spend your last days in their company? Would you just stay put and continue on as normal right up until the final moment? Seeking a Friend for the End of the World , the directorial debut of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist writer Lorene Scafaria, combines a deviously tragicomic take on the approaching annihilation of mankind with a irritatingly unconvincing and unnecessary love story. Until romance reluctantly but unavoidably creaks into the story (seeking a friend, my ass), the film starts off so well, exploring the most prosaic of upcoming apocalypses as seen through the eyes of Dodge ( Steve Carell ), a man whose life has been largely unexceptional and is now about to come to an end, along with most everyone else’s. (One of the film’s nice touches is an overheard radio broadcast about how the planet’s best and brightest are being gathered into some kind of ark — a standard issue global cataclysm plot point never touched on again, because the characters in this film aren’t exceptional enough to be plucked up.) At the outset beginning, he and his wife listen to a news announcement about how a last effort to stop a giant asteroid headed toward us has failed, and that impact was in an estimated 21 days. She looks at him, and then runs for the hills, never to be seen again. For a while, Dodge keeps going into work at his insurance company, where his boss notes that the few remaining employees are allowed to dress like it’s casual Friday every day, and wonders if anyone would like to take over as CFO. On the TV, there’s news that air travel has ended and cell phones are no longer working. At a dinner party being thrown by Dodge’s friends Warren (Rob Corddry) and Diane (Connie Britton), polite talk about what attendees plan to do with the rest of their time (one member suggests she’s going to finally take that pottery class she’s been meaning to) devolves into wild debauchery, getting the children drunk and someone arriving with hard drugs like you would a nice bottle of wine for the table. “I regret my entire life,” Dodge says, and seems ready to let that be the sentiment with which he waits out Armageddon, until he has a chance encounter with his neighbor Penny ( Keira Knightley ), a flaky, teary Brit who has just broken up with her boyfriend Owen (Adam Brody) and now mourns the fact that she has no way to make it back to England to see her family one last time. She also has a pile of his letters that were accidentally put in her box — three years worth — including one from his high school girlfriend saying he’s the love of her life. Penny has a car and Dodge knows someone who has a plane, and the two make a deal to help each other get where they need to go. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is primarily a meander through random encounters on the road toward Dodge’s old sweetheart, most of them wild-eyed but sweet — aside from a riot that springs up in Los-Angeles-barely-pretending-to-be-New-York, where the pair live, the film’s world is good-hearted even when faced with impending doom. Whether encountering survivalists or the dedicated, giddy employees of a chain restaurant, everyone quivers with a delirious what-the-hell vibe that’s melancholy and amusing. Our obsession with the apocalypse is stronger than ever — it practically merits its own movie subsection, if its too scattered to be a genre. There’s no reason why the end of the world shouldn’t get the romantic comedy treatment, but the connection that springs up between Dodge and Penny feels awkward and forced. It’s not just that Carell is 22 years older than Knightley, or that the process in which he falls in love with her consists of him staring puppy-dog like while she weeps on the phone to her family — it’s that the idea of two people finding an unexpected connection to one another and offering up kindness in desperate times is actually much more touching than the insistence that they’re last-minute soulmates. Carell and Knightley have no spark of romantic chemistry between them — in fact, they actually clash in more interesting ways, with Dodge being a morose wet blanket and Penny coming across as a disaster who tends to allow major mistake to happen and then cry about them. The things they stumble onto — dinner in an abandoned house, a line of people headed to the beach — have a warm, wistful tangibility to them, in the way that you’d think the conscious gathering of last experiences would. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World ‘s effusive declarations of love just seem like the stagey stuff of movies — they’ve got nothing on the moment in which Dodge lies on the carpet and listens the Walker Brothers’ “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine (Anymore)” on vinyl while he waits for the earth to be destroyed. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Bachelorette director Leslye Headland and Radius co-head Tom Quinn. Bachelorette was dubbed the “indie Bridesmaids ” at Sundance. OK, maybe there are some similarities. There are females and there’s a pending wedding and the proverbial “shit hits the fan,” but that’s about it. Based on a play of the same name by Leslye Headland who directed the screen version, the story is quite frankly not going to be a hit with everyone. But for the segment of the population that gets a thrill off of bad ass humor, Bachelorette offers up a load of laughs. John Waters appeared to enjoy himself at the screening of the film, which opened up the Provincetown International Film Festival this week, so that is a stamp of some sort of approval, right? “It was incredible to see it with that audience. There’s something about the [crowd] here that has the exact correct taste for this movie,” Leslye Headland said to ML with a big smile and laughs at the festival. “To have an audience that’s on the same page from the opening jokes right on through the final scenes was great. They accepted these characters. It wasn’t just affirmation with their laughter, but there was good will toward them too.” Starring a rabble rousing Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher and Lizzy Caplan, the trio hit New York to help their friend Becky (Rebel Wilson) prepare for her wedding. But these women are anything but prissy debutantes. Booze, drugs, blow jobs, foul mouths – it’s all there and it keeps coming for more. Becky is the only one who seems to have cleaned up her act, and the bad ass trio get into more trouble when they accidentally tear the wedding dress the night before the ceremony. “Kirsten, Isla and Lizzy never thought they should tone down their characters,” offered Headland. “They even improved stuff where where even I didn’t know if we could use some of the things they did. When you watch it, you can see that they’re having fun. I think they were excited to play women they had never met before.” Headland made the Black List for her script back in 2008, but had to go the independent route when studios shied away from the material Bachelorette had played off-Broadway and she was encouraged by a friend to make the screen version her way. “The idea was that could I make a romantic comedy that I would want to see. It’s not overly dire, but it’s dramatic and they’re acting like people. They’re making mistakes and they’re learning from them…” she said. “I wanted to make a film about women that treated them like people and not paper dolls that act all in the way we wish we acted.” The Weinstein Company’s new label Radius picked up the film after it debuted at Sundance. The film has since been re-edited and its pace is absolute killer. The earlier version was more melancholy and the moments of hilarity were buffered with some slow parts. But the version that is presumably the final one that will be released in theaters in early fall had the audience in stitches here in Provincetown. Still there are dissenters and Headland said she expects there to be people who won’t like it. “I’d be more worried if there was [indifferent] reaction to it,” she said. The women in this film are dealing with their inner-demons and resolution does not come in the course of one day as it might in other movies. Noted Headland: “People don’t change in one night, but one night can change people.”
With the world premiere of Woody Allen’s latest under its belt, the Los Angeles Film Festival is now ready to get truly underway with its lineup of premieres, parties, panels and more celebrity guests. Movieline is doing its part to get audiences in the mood, giving sneaks on many of the titles appearing in the festival’s Narrative and Documentary competitions with comments from the real stars at the ten day event – the filmmakers. Yesterday , ML published its first round of filmmaker interviews and trailers screening in the tests competition and several more are featured today. Call Me Kuchu , directed by Katherine Fairfax Wright, Malika Zouhali-Worrall [Documentary Competition] Synopsis: To be openly gay in Uganda is to risk imprisonment and death. The stirring and heartbreaking Call Me Kuchu exposes the horrors of a homophobic government — its hatred fueled by right wing American evangelicals — that terrorizes the LGBT community. Yet brave men and women like David Kato, the country’s first openly gay activist, have fought back at great risk. This intimate and impassioned documentary takes us inside this life and death struggle for human rights. Whether you are familiar with Katos’s story or hearing it for the first time, you will find this a shattering and inspiring testament. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Responses by Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall: Wright and Zouhali-Worrall’s take on the film: In Uganda, a proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill threatens to make homosexuality punishable by death. David Kato – Uganda’s first openly gay man – and his fellow activists work against the clock to defeat the legislation while combatting vicious persecution in their daily lives. But no one is prepared for the brutal murder that shakes their movement to its core and sends shock waves around the world. And why audiences should check out Call Me Kuchu at the LA Film Festival: Call Me Kuchu is an intimate portrait of a courageous man determined to bring an end to the discriminatory status quo in his country. In depicting the last year in his life, the film introduces the viewer to the David Kato we knew, and David Kato as he saw himself, before he was so suddenly and tragically murdered. The film also sheds light on the stark parallels between the situation for LGBT communities in both Uganda and the United States, illustrating not only the role of American evangelicals in the now notorious Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill, but also what can transpire in a democracy when fundamental human rights are left up to a popular vote. Realizing how the story came together… During our initial shoot, David mostly played the role of fixer, advising us on whom to contact and diligently introducing us to a multitude of his friends and colleagues in the LGBT, or “kuchu” community. It wasn’t until we got home from that first shoot, and began to really comb through the footage and story-lines, that we realized that the man known as the “grandfather of the kuchus” was indeed one of the most outspoken and inspired activists in East Africa, and hugely charismatic to boot. It soon became clear that he was the protagonist of Call Me Kuchu . …and comments on the trailer: Over recent years, the vast majority of the international news coverage about the LGBT community in Uganda has been based on a narrative of victimization. During our first shoot, we learned that this was only half the story–so we decided to make a film that goes further: a nuanced narrative that shows David and Kampala’s kuchus boldly working to change their fate, and that of other kuchus across Africa. — Sun Kissed , directed by Adi Lavy and Maya Stark [Documentary Competition] Synopsis: With remarkable strength of spirit, a husband and wife examine their lives as they search for answers as to why their children and others in their small Navajo reservation have been stricken with XP, an extremely rare pediatric disorder that turns sunlight into a deadly foe. Crafting a sensitive, intricate film that organically expands beyond the tragedy of one family to encompass the story of an entire community, directors Maya Stark and Adi Lavy unearth familial taboos, a disturbing history of forced migration and a cultural belief system of cosmic karma in this powerful documentary. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Responses by Adi Lavy and Maya Stark: And they give their take on Sun Kissed : Sun Kissed is a film about a life-changing journey of rediscovery. When a Navajo couple learns that their children have a disorder that makes exposure to sunlight fatal, they find out that their reservation is a hotbed for this rare genetic disease and they go on a journey to find out why. On that journey, they confront cultural taboos, tribal history and their own unconventional choices to learn the shocking truth: The consequences of the Navajos’ “Long Walk” — their forced relocation by the U.S. military in 1864 — are far from over. Ultimately their children’s rare genetic disorders sets them off on a journey that makes them redefine who they are as modern day Navajos. Why audiences should check out Sun Kissed at the LA Film Festival: There is nothing else like Sun Kissed at LAFF, because it is a story that has never been told before with rare access to the Navajo community that is otherwise very suspicious of outsiders. It combines verite scenes with a level of intimacy that only few docs have reached, and unravels like a classical mystery with one unsolved question – why are all these Navajo kids born with this mysterious genetic disorder. We believe that the film’s message is very important when the world is becoming less tolerant to minorities and to the “others.” Even though Sun Kissed is an all American story, this film serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when we try to colonize and assimilate another group of people. Few of us ever realize that 150 years later, people are still dealing with the effects of what we have done. In that sense, Dorey and Yolanda’s intimate tale embodies the larger story of their tribe. We hope that this important and compelling story will be as impactful for audiences as it has been for us. Some tales from making the film… After two years of filming the movie, when Dorey and Yolanda had finally met other XP families on the Reservation and discovered there might be a connection to the Long Walk, we found ourselves confronted by forces that didn’t want us to make this film. The taboo surrounding any discussion of the Long Walk was so great, that we were stonewalled by members of the community and almost gave up on the project. As outsiders to the Navajo community we wanted to be respectful of their culture. We realized that it wasn’t our place to move forward with the story and decided to pack up and go home, until Dorey and Yolanda asked us not to give up on their story. They realized how deeply they had internalized the Western narrative about the Long Walk, and wanted to finally understand what had happened there from their point of view. It was then that we realized how important this story is, and we found the strength and justification to push forward with Dorey and Yolanda as they went up against the silence and taboos. The very process of making the movie showed what they were up against in their quest for answers. As we continued shooting, several members of the Navajo community came forward and championed the cause, believing that these controversial issues should be talked about and dealt with. That’s what’s beginning to happen on the Reservation today. Some thoughts on the trailer: We tried to find the delicate balance between telling enough of the story of Sun Kissed and intriguing audiences but not revealing too much of Dorey and Yolanda’s journey. Because Sun Kissed is a journey of discovery, we did not want to create one big spoiler but we wanted to give enough information so that audiences will understand that there is more to this film than children with a rare genetic disorder. What the trailer tips off is that it’s a story that starts with a search for the origin of a single gene and quickly unravels to explore the larger narrative of a nation impacted – culturally, religiously and physically – by historical events. — Breakfast With Curtis , directed by Laura Colella [Narrative Competition] Synopsis: Over the course of a balmy east coast summer, an introverted, bespectacled teenager is brought into the strange and delightful world of his bohemian neighbors. What unfolds, against the backdrop of lush flowerbeds and overgrown vegetable patches, is a mirthful story of unlikely and rekindled friendships. But for all of its wine-soaked, pot-infused dreaminess, Breakfast is firmly rooted in reality. The rambling purple house where the action happens is writer/director/co-star Laura Colella’s, and her captivating cast is composed of her very own housemates and neighbors.Despite the homespun approach and unfettered narrative, Colella’s smartly written, tightly directed tale has a distinct vision and clear intention, one joyously devoted to the pleasure principle. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Responses by Laura Colella: Colella gives her take on the film: A troubled 14 year-old’s life is shifted in a new direction by his neighbor, a bookseller who has delusions of grandeur fueled by red wine. It’s about the experience of having a seminal summer that rocks your world, and also about letting go of old grudges. And why people should check Breakfast with Curtis out at the LA Film Festival: It’s very fun and unique. Many early viewers have said they want to keep spending time with the people in the movie, and come hang out where we filmed it (at my house)! Also, anyone who comes to our world premiere on 6/17 is invited to the after-party! Some quick anecdotes from the set: I made this film with my neighbors, who are all great actors (and characters). We would shoot for only a few hours a day, and the budget was so low that I didn’t provide any craft services, and people would just go home if they needed a drink or snack. — Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and The Farm Midwives , directed by Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore [Documentary Competition] Synopsis: In the early 1970s, Ina May Gaskin and the courageous Midwives of the Farm commune inspired the modern midwifery movement. Today, their efforts continue at the Farm Clinic and across the country, working against an ever-growing hospital culture of intervention and C-section births. Revealing the Midwives’ stories with intelligence and wit, directors Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore weave extensive archival footage, enlightening interviews and contemporary stories into a beguiling document of past and present. Through Ina May and the Midwives, Lamm and Wigmore portray childbirth in empowering and thrilling ways we’ve never seen before. The result is not just an illuminating documentary, but a joyful rallying call to see humanity through a new lens. [Courtesy of Los Angeles Film Festival] Responses by Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore: The directors give their take on Birth Story : Birth Story is about an incredible group of women who taught themselves how to deliver babies on a hippie commune in the 1970s. It’s sweet, funny, educational, and it honors women’s leadership and women’s bodies in a time when both are under political attack in our country. Plus, the film features original music by Fleet Foxes front man, Robin Pecknold. …And why audiences should check it out at the LA Film Festival: This film is about community, and about how much we can accomplish when we work together, so we expect the experience of seeing it in the shared space of a theater will be very special. Also, this movie may show the only breech birth in the history of cinema. (Note to film historians: is that true?) Watching that scene in the company of two hundred people will be something to remember forever. Tales from the shoot: Besides our own birth experiences, before making this film we had never seen a baby being born. And so, after a week of waiting around in Nashville for one of our subjects to go into labor, we were impressed with how much dedication it takes for midwives, doulas, and doctors to be on call all the time. And, just at the point where we thought we couldn’t take the suspense any longer, dear Heather went into labor. Once we were at her house, and the Christmas tree was on, and her mother was making cookies, we just couldn’t believe how beautiful and simple it all was. Then, when she pushed her baby out, we were blown away–she was calm and beautiful in labor (just like Ina May says women should be). What also struck us was the camaraderie between Ina May, the newest Farm Midwife Stacie Smith-Hunt, and Heather’s mother, who was a labor and delivery nurse for many years. A lightbulb went off for us–ah, its hard being on call, but wow birth is not only sacred, but when everything goes well, its also a lot of FUN. Afterwards, even though it was 2 in the morning, we had so much energy that we went to a bar and drank two beers. Some thoughts on the clip: In this clip, Ina May and the other Farm Midwives talk about the writing of their famous 1976 book, Spiritual Midwifery–it’s a collection of birth stories and an educational manual that’s had a huge impact on women all over the world. For nearly forty years now, women have passed it along to their newly pregnant friends who in turn give it to their newly pregnant friends. (In fact, friends passed the book on to us when we were each pregnant, and that’s how we became interested in making this movie.) We think the book has had such a long life because it’s one of the only things out there that encourages a reader to think of birth as a beautiful, positive, empowering experience. Read more of Movieline’s coverage of the LA Film Festival here.
The Bachelorette star Emily Maynard ‘s #1 priority is her 6-year-old daughter, Ricki. Kalon McMahon, a.k.a. the “villain” that ABC really wants you to hate (and a bunch of the guys probably do) this season, apparently feels otherwise. On tonight’s episode, he makes his feelings about fatherhood known. “I always had believed that my first child would be one of my own, so obviously embracing you and Ricki as a part of my life … it’s not the way I wrote it up in my journal as a kid,” he boldly admits to the Charlotte, N.C. single mom. Taken aback, Maynard asks the helicopter-riding douche to think of his own mother, who raised him as a single parent, but Kalon immediately cuts her off. “I love it when you talk, but I wish you’d let me finish,” he snaps. That comment will put Maynard even more on edge. “I love tall, skinny and funny, but I don’t love tall, skinny and condescending!” she snaps at him. Ouch. Another hopeful, Alessandro, reportedly tells her something similar tonight: “I don’t have a lot of experience with kids. You’ve got to teach me.” Not surprisingly, this doesn’t go over well with Em: “You see that as a compromise, not an honor? My daughter isn’t a compromise … anybody I spend the rest of my life with is going to see that as the biggest bonus ever.” Bam. Will either or both of these guys get roses tonight? Who will make it to the end this season? Follow this link for The Bachelorette spoilers we know so far.
Former Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon is now a married woman. The actress exchanged vows over the weekend with Christine Marinoni, the woman to whom she got engaged three years ago during a rally to support same-sex marriage in New York. A bill allowing for just that was passed in the summer of 2011. Confirms Nixon’s rep to People : “On May 27, 2012, Cynthia Nixon and her girlfriend, Christine Marinoni, were legally married in the state of New York. Nixon wore a custom dress by Carolina Herrera.” Nixon – who has two children from a previous relationship and one with Marinoni, an education activist – created a stir earlier this year when she said homosexuality is a choice . She then went on to amend the statement and explain she was only referring to her own experience. [Photo: WENN.com]
Flavor Flav needs to cough up $111,186 in child support payments to the mother of three of his seven kids or face jail time, news sources say. “It was declared a willful violation,” an official said of his failure to pay child support … which can’t be good. He faces up to 180 days behind bars. The rapper didn’t show up for a hearing last week, so an Albany, N.Y. magistrate recommended his driver’s license and passport be revoked. While Flav, 53, is required to pony up $837.72 a week to baby-mama Angie Parker for child support … he clearly hasn’t done so in some time. This isn’t the first time the outspoken, likely insane rapper has slipped up on child support payments. Parker sued Flav in 2010 for $63,458. Before his second career as a ridiculous VH1 reality show star, Flav was a member of Public Enemy. He served 90 days in jail in 1993 for shooting at his neighbor. The Flavor of Love star and House of Flavor restaurant owner is due back in court June 19 to answer the charges … we’ll see if he shows. [Photo: WENN.com]
Flavor Flav needs to cough up $111,186 in child support payments to the mother of three of his seven kids or face jail time, news sources say. “It was declared a willful violation,” an official said of his failure to pay child support … which can’t be good. He faces up to 180 days behind bars. The rapper didn’t show up for a hearing last week, so an Albany, N.Y. magistrate recommended his driver’s license and passport be revoked. While Flav, 53, is required to pony up $837.72 a week to baby-mama Angie Parker for child support … he clearly hasn’t done so in some time. This isn’t the first time the outspoken, likely insane rapper has slipped up on child support payments. Parker sued Flav in 2010 for $63,458. Before his second career as a ridiculous VH1 reality show star, Flav was a member of Public Enemy. He served 90 days in jail in 1993 for shooting at his neighbor. The Flavor of Love star and House of Flavor restaurant owner is due back in court June 19 to answer the charges … we’ll see if he shows. [Photo: WENN.com]
Flavor Flav needs to cough up $111,186 in child support payments to the mother of three of his seven kids or face jail time, news sources say. “It was declared a willful violation,” an official said of his failure to pay child support … which can’t be good. He faces up to 180 days behind bars. The rapper didn’t show up for a hearing last week, so an Albany, N.Y. magistrate recommended his driver’s license and passport be revoked. While Flav, 53, is required to pony up $837.72 a week to baby-mama Angie Parker for child support … he clearly hasn’t done so in some time. This isn’t the first time the outspoken, likely insane rapper has slipped up on child support payments. Parker sued Flav in 2010 for $63,458. Before his second career as a ridiculous VH1 reality show star, Flav was a member of Public Enemy. He served 90 days in jail in 1993 for shooting at his neighbor. The Flavor of Love star and House of Flavor restaurant owner is due back in court June 19 to answer the charges … we’ll see if he shows. [Photo: WENN.com]
