‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ star is attached to produce ‘The Sky is Everywhere.’ By Jocelyn Vena Selena Gomez Photo: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images As Selena Gomez maps out her post-“Wizards of Waverly Place” career , her projects continue to be more and more diverse. Gomez is attached to produce and most likely star in the big-screen adaptation of the Jandy Nelson novel “The Sky is Everywhere.” Gomez will not only play the part of producer but could potentially land the novel’s lead role of Lennie Walker, Deadline reports. Lennie is a 17-year-old nerd-type who loses her older, outgoing sister, Bailey. After Bailey dies, Lennie must step out of her sister’s shadow when she falls for two guys (one of whom was Bailey’s boyfriend). No word on who is attached to star in the other key parts of the movie. Before she hits the set for “The Sky is Everywhere,” Gomez already has some other films lined up. The actress/singer will shoot the darker “Spring Breakers” early this year and has been rumored to be attached to a film called “Hot Mess.” When Gomez spoke to MTV News late last year, she shared that she didn’t have any big expectations going into 2012. It seems that game plan is working for her. “I feel like this approach of this year, I wasn’t expecting any of the things that happened,” she said. “And so I just kind of want to go into the end of this year and the beginning of next year just excited and in a good place and not planning anything.” Are you looking for to the big-screen adaptation of “The Sky is Everywhere”? Leave your comment below! Related Videos Selena Gomez: 2011 In Review
We discuss just whom Marion Cotillard is playing in The Weekly Rising. By Kevin P. Sullivan Marion Cotillard Photo: Todd Williamson/ Getty Images The topic of this week’s column might be considered a spoiler. Admittedly, it’s probably the spoiler that most fans already know about, but if you wish to remain uninformed, I suggest you stop reading. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be discussing the two “Dark Knight Rises” characters that have stirred the most controversy, outside the hugely overblown debacle surrounding Bane’s voice. Almost as soon as Christopher Nolan cast Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt , fans called “B.S.” How could a series with such a storied history for casting great actors as classic characters put Cotillard and Gordon-Levitt in made-up roles like Miranda Tate and John Blake? The answer is, Nolan wouldn’t. Fans saw through the ruse immediately, pointed at Cotillard and cried “Talia al Ghul.” With so much talk swirling around “The Dark Knight Rises” in the early months of its development and confirmation that it would circle back to touch on some themes from “Batman Begins,” Talia seemed like a choice candidate for a secondary “Rises” villain. By the time Joey King confirmed that she would be playing young Talia al Ghula , Tate’s true identity was all but sealed. But now we find ourselves in a curious position. With everything but an official press release telling us that Marion Cotillard will play Talia — picking up where her dear old dad, Ra’s al Ghul, left off — how will that affect the overall arch of “Dark Knight Rises”? One of the most common complaints about “The Dark Knight” was Two-Face’s uneven role. It was the Joker’s movie, and many felt that adding such an iconic villain toward the end of the film didn’t do the character justice. Is Talia destined to become the next Two-Face? It all depends on when Miranda Tate’s true identity is revealed. Such a high-profile comic book adaptation like “Dark Knight Rises” has to contend with different hazards than a normal film. The Tate/Talia twist could work in a film that didn’t feature such well-known characters. Instead, fans have a whole universe of potential true identities to assign if they feel a character is lying, which they did with Tate. For the reveal to not fall absolutely flat, Nolan would have to introduce the truth in a way that’s less “A-ha! I got you!” and more a natural progression of the story line. A spoiler of this caliber does the least amount of damage when less of the plot depends on its shock value. Attempting to make the Talia reveal a big shocker would feel would be a fool’s errand at this juncture. How Talia will fit into “The Dark Knight Rises” also relies heavily on Bane’s final role in the film. The prologue strongly hinted at the presence of a renewed League of Shadows with Bane taking the lead. That still leaves a lot of room for a leader above him, the one giving the orders. This is where Talia is most likely to fit in. So much of what we’ve seen of the film so far focuses on Bane and his role, but many of the shots come from just a few scenes. The trailer only gave the illusion of showing us a lot. That leaves the majority of the film unseen, and plenty of screen time left for Talia. On that note, even if Cotillard does end up portraying Talia, it really doesn’t spoil all that much. A character’s identity will never be a focal point of a story. Nolan is too intelligent of a storyteller to waste his final act on a plot development that people guessed a year out. Nothing that this column or any spoiler sites have uncovered has been essential enough to lessen “The Dark Knight Rises” as a movie. Did knowing about Dent’s Two-Face transformation in “The Dark Knight” ruin that movie? No. Expect the same with Talia. What would you like to see from Marion Cotillard in “The Dark Knight Rises”? Let me know on Twitter via @KPSull, and check MTV Splash Page on Wednesday, when we’ll discussion your tweets. Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Knight Rises.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Trailer Decoded! ‘Dark Knight Rises’: The Year In Review Related Photos ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Trailer: 5 Key Scenes On The Set Of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Welcome to THG’s Week in Review! Below, our staff looks back at the stories, stars and scandals that made these past seven days the craziest ALL YEAR. If you don’t already, you can FOLLOW THG on Twitter and Facebook for 24/7/365 news. Every day, week and year, let us be your celebrity gossip source! Now, a rundown of the week that was at The Hollywood Gossip : Jenelle Evans got arrested . Again. See her mug shots from 1/16 AND 1/10! Seriously, she makes the rest of the Teen Mom cast look pulled together. Other crazy D-list arrests this week: Kate Major and our man Kasey Kahl . Mark Wahlberg’s 9-11 comments sparked outcry. He later apologized. Gene Hackman was hit by a car and hospitalized, but will be alright. As much as tabloids try to make Angelina Jolie pregnant , she’s not. Britney Spears’ Son Dancing Britney Spears’ son Sean may have inherited mom’s rhythm (above). Kim Kardashian may have staged her own proposal by Kris . Shock. Chris Brown and Rihanna may or may not be totally hooking up again. He and Karrueche Tran may or many not be dating. It’s all unclear. Paula Deen has diabetes . We’d be sadder, except she concealed it. Italian cruise captain Francesco Schettino ? Not popular right now. Lana Del Rey SNL Performance Lana Del Rey’s SNL performance (above) was polarizing to say the least. Vanessa Bryant is about to become very rich in her split from Kobe. Marianne Gingrich threw a wrench into Newt’s surging campaign. Mena Suvari and Simone Sestito are divorcing. Avril Lavigne and Brody Jenner broke up too. Are Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis next? Seth Rogen Massive Erection Joke Seth Rogen and Kate Beckinsale gave us this classic moment (above) … And many people we love were among the 2012 Golden Globe winners . Heather Locklear was hospitalized post-alleged fight with Jack Wagner . Travis Barker wants to stop you from seeing Travis Barker nude . Kelsey Grammer got Kayte Walsh pregnant with twins. Is Breaking Dawn not the end of Twilight ? Phillip Phillips American Idol Audition Phillip Phillips (above) emerged as a (very early) American Idol favorite. The Situation was sad on his birthday on this week’s Jersey Shore … … while The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills were just plain crazy. The Bachelor spoilers have held true so far. But will that continue? Emily Maynard has been named the star of The Bachelorette too! If your team loses this weekend, try to handle it better than this girl: Packers Fan Cries What was the highlight of the week for you? Did we leave anything out?
Here is a video featuring Artist wonder dog and awards-season gadabout Uggie telling viewers what movie made him cry and offering some insights on his Oscar chances. Some guy named George Clooney is in it, too. Did I mention that it’s Friday ? [ W Magazine via PeoplePets ]
It can be difficult to remember who we’re meant to be rooting for in the Underworld universe, with its unending werewolf/vampire feud, betrayals, hybrids, bloodlines, forbidden romances and immortal daddy issues. But that’s OK: Underworld: Awakening sloughs off much of the convoluted gothic backstory of the first three films in the series in favor of skipping forward a dozen years and landing vinyl-clad bloodsucking heroine Selene (Kate Beckinsale) in a near future in which the world has gone into martial law lockdown after the discovery of non-humans in their midst. An introductory news clip montage presents talk of infections, purges and a “mass cleansing,” showing Lycans and vampires being exterminated by soldiers wielding ultraviolet lights and silver bullets. This would, you’d think, make the enemies in this film the humans, an element in which the franchise has otherwise shown relatively little interest. Yet halfway through, it’s back to wolves fighting vamps with no end or sense in sight. Chalk it up to a hobby — what else is there to keep you busy when you live forever? Underworld: Awakening is directed by Swedish filmmakers Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, and it checks off all of the signature visual (fluttering trench coats) and thematic (must find the hybrid) tropes of the preceding films with even more narrative disjointedness than those earlier installments. Selene awakens in a lab in which she’s been kept in cryogenic stasis as “Subject 1,” her DNA used for experiments. She’s set free by Subject 2 (India Eisley), a young half-werewolf, half-vampire girl who turns out to be her daughter (the mechanics of this are not explained, nor does Selene seem at all curious about it or anything else in this crazy scenario). The film starts off at an awkward gallop and doesn’t slow down lest it tumble into one of the many giant plot holes — Selene’s escape from the lab is followed by the discovery of her connection to the girl, and soon the pair are running from werewolves and holing up with one of the few remaining vampire covens, where the leader (Charles Dance) clashes with his son David (Theo James) over whether to fight or hide and hope to simply survive. Underworld: Awakening ‘s world-building is so lackluster that a ridiculous mid-film revelation about the real motivations behind the experiments going on at the lab scarcely registers among the other larger questions about how all these badass immortal creatures were so easily hunted down in the first place and what the larger population actually thinks of them — the way the chief villainous scientist (Stephen Rea) refers to Selene’s daughter as “it” suggests the vampires deserve sympathy and have become victims instead of predators, but Selene also kills and/or snacks on a bunch of people right off the bat, which is pretty good reminder that humans have a point in this whole “extermination” thing. The story mechanics exist only to allow Selene to bounce off walls and strut in slow motion in her leather battle bustier with her hundred-bullet pistols, but even the action sequences have a rote familiarity to them, the Matrix -lite choreography paired with generic-looking monsters that appear to have been whipped up with a few CGI presets — “slimy,” “lumpy,” “clawed.” Aside from a moment or two of imaginative gore, the fighting has a sameness to it, Selene’s climactic tangle with a massive beast displaying as numbingly little tension as an early sequence in which she slices through a hallway full of guards. Most curious in Underworld: Awakening ‘s expedition into absurdity is the fact that while franchise alum Scott Speedman doesn’t really appear in the film aside from flashbacks in the introduction and a few glimpses of what looks to be stand-in digitally fudged to look like him, his character is referenced and searched for all the time. Rather than definitively kill his character Michael off, the filmmakers chose to hold on to the possibility of bringing him back while saving on talent salary costs by having the girl be his stand-in as the film’s MacGuffin and theoretical emotional element. The result is an odd Waiting for Godot quality in which everyone talks about Michael and waits for him to show up, and yet — he doesn’t. Wes Bentley does show up, jarringly, in a role that seems like it could be important, and then dies almost instantly. Michael Ealy plays a cop who comes to Selene’s aid for no reason other than that she’s run through her other potential allies. Murky and perpetually bluish in tinge, Underworld: Awakening does and gets little with the 3-D in which it’s being offered, and ends by shamelessly setting up a further and fatally unnecessary installment. The only interesting aspect to this film, other than its odd dance around its love interest in absentia, are its retro qualities — these days, all the other werewolves and vampires seem to be too busy trying to date teenagers to clash in tastefully grimy underground lairs with claws and double-fisted guns. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ scribe takes over ‘Catching Fire.’ By Kevin P. Sullivan Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth in “Hunger Games” Photo: Lions Gate Back in November, Deadline reported that Lionsgate already had a short list of writers they wanted to pen the sequel to “The Hunger Games.” According to the report, Simon Beaufoy, the writer behind the Academy Award-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” script, topped the list. Now the Los Angeles Times is reporting that not only has Beaufoy signed on to write “Catching Fire,” but that director Gary Ross will return as well. There had been no direct confirmation that Ross would return, and until “The Hunger Games” comes out, there probably won’t be, but as things stand, Ross will likely direct. Ross and author Suzanne Collins originally planned to reteam for the “Catching Fire” script, after having collaborated on the “Hunger Games” screenplay. Postproduction work on the first film and the looming proposed release date for the second didn’t allow Ross to begin work on the sequel. Beaufoy, whose other writing credits include “127 Hours” and “The Full Monty,” will adapt Collins’ book, with Ross overseeing. There are four films planned for the three-book series. The final book, “Mockingjay,” will likely be split into two flicks if the producers stick to their original plan. The first film of the series — starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth — is scheduled for release March 23. For now, “Catching Fire” is scheduled to hit theaters November 22, 2013. The stars of “The Hunger Games” are all expected to return, per sequel clauses in their contracts. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos The ‘Hunger Games’ Cast Answer Your Burning Twitter Questions ‘The Hunger Games’: 2011 In Review Reactions To The First ‘Hunger Games’ Trailer Related Photos The Hunger Games
———- Forwarded message ———- From: Satyen K. Bordoloi Date: Fri, Jan 13, 2012 at 9:46 AM Subject: Video:Arun Ferreira-Arrest & Torture; Review:Jai Bhim, Comrade To: Arun Ferreira, arrested for being a maoist and illegally rearrested even after the courts granted him bail, was released finally on the 4th of Jan. He attended a press conference yesterday where he talked about different things… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : palashbiswaslive Discovery Date : 12/01/2012 07:07 Number of articles : 3
If horror movies have taught us anything, it’s that you can lead teenagers to a big red sign that reads “DON’T GO IN THE WOODS,” but you can’t make them not go in the woods anyway. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio nods to this and other slasher clichés in Don’t Go in the Woods , his feature directing debut — that is, when he’s not nodding to clichés native to the musical and the old “star is born” storyline. All that nodding gives a new definition to the term “genre-friendly,” and if a film could get by on its cheap and cheerful vibe alone, this one certainly would. Unfortunately, outside of the proxy satisfaction it will give those who are dying to see the grim reaper let loose on the set of a very special episode of Glee , the pleasures of Don’t Go in the Woods can’t quite compensate for its straggly bits. Casting five unknown musicians to play the band at the center of the film was logical enough: Slasher actors are not known for their Juilliard pedigrees, so prioritizing their musical skill makes sense. The story has the band decamping into the woods to try and write that elusive hit record without the usual distractions (D’Onofrio’s pointed removal of one of them, the cell phone, seems to channel the modern horror director’s frustration with those little plot spoilers). And the songs they do come up with are tuneful in a strangled yet twinkly, Fleet Foxes kind of way. Musician and director Sam Bisbee (who took home a 2010 Oscar for The New Tenant , a short film he worked on with D’Onofrio) wrote all of the music, and the boys’ performances are high points, in part because if they’re singing it means no one on-screen is attempting to act. Well, no one but the psychotically focused group leader Nick (Matt Sbeglia). Nick has disproportionately big blue eyes and a hipster cloche of dark hair, and during his numbers he usually strays from the campfire to emote in private. Nick rides the rest of the guys — played by Casey Smith, Soomin Lee, Nick Thorpe and Jorgen Jorgensen — like they’re pack mules, and at least one reason why they might put up with it emerges. Their camping spot is the same one Nick used to visit with a now-deceased brother (actually, it was shot on D’Onofrio’s Woodstock, N.Y., property), though presumably the forest’s resident Sledgehammer Guy was not a problem back in those less gruesome times. Did I mention Sledgehammer Guy? Oh, he’s around. He just makes noises that everyone shrugs off for a while, but when the band’s groupie crew shows up to join the party (and make Nick popping mad, naturally), Sledgehammer Guy gets cracking. The kill sequences are quick and not very scary — more like pulling weeds than serial murder — and though some of the ladies get to warble out a few evocatively shot bars before they’re beaned to death, most of the jam sessions are directed like stand-alone videos. A story about the clash of creative and destructive drives set in the wilderness and starring a bunch of scruffy but ambitious kids has big themes and genre toys to play with. Though obviously aware of the potential and prepared to really go for it, D’Onofrio came up with something that feels unfinished — an interesting harmony that needs a better bridge. Follow Michelle Orange on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert scheduled to perform ‘America The Beautiful.’ By James Dinh Kelly Clarkson Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images Kelly Clarkson will trail the footsteps of a string of big-voiced divas before her when she kicks off Super Bowl XLVI belting out the national anthem, according to The Associated Press. The announcement was expected to be made later this month, but a source close to the AP broke the news on Wednesday night (January 11). Country couple Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton are also set to serve as entertainment when they perform “America The Beautiful” during the pre-game rounds. And, of course, Madonna will make her much-talked-about comeback when she rocks Lucas Oil Stadium as the championship game’s halftime show performer. The pop queen, who just announced the title of her 12th studio album, M.D.N.A. , will perform her new single “Gimme all Your Luvin” in a performance that will be “imagined” by Cirque du Soleil and her longtime creative director Jamie King. Clarkson is no stranger to national TV exposure. Just this past weekend, the pop songstress wrapped up another big gig as musical guest for “Saturday Night Live.” Marking her third appearance on the iconic sketch comedy show, the singer performed her new hits “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” and “Mr. Know It All.” MTV News caught up with the original “American Idol” champion, who gushed about the “SNL” cast. “It’s a fun environment. You don’t feel like you’re working,” she admitted. “This is like a family place. Everybody here is nice to people who aren’t famous. You know what I’m saying? They’re nice to my makeup artist, my hair guy … I hate people who are just nice to famous people. It bothers me. I want to kick ’em.” Are you excited to see Kelly perform the patriotic tune at this year’s Super Bowl? Tell us in the comments below. Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Kelly Clarkson Related Artists Kelly Clarkson
Singer gave a spirited performance of “Give Your Heart a Break” before accepting her award. By Jocelyn Vena Demi Lovato performs at the 2012 People’s Choice Awards Photo: Getty Images Demi Lovato certainly proved she was Unbroken when she took the stage at the 2012 People’s Choice Awards on Wednesday night (January 11). The former Disney princess dazzled the room with a spirited rendition of her song “Give Your Heart a Break.” In a bright red dress (with matching red hair), she took the stage and belted out her Unbroken track. Instead of going flashy and over the top, the singer let the song rule the performance and kept it simple, taking the stage with just her band. After her performance, she accepted the award for Favorite Pop Artist and had many kind words for the fans who helped her beat out the likes of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Beyonc
