ReelHeART Blogs

By Shannonn Kelly

Heath Ledger’s hauting portrayal of “The Joker” in the new summer blockbuster has every one talking.

“Heath was an incredible actor and he brought a very, very scary Joker to life. Heath shocked us as the Joker and his death shocked all of us.”, says actor Christian Bale who reprises his role as Batman in the The Dark Knight being released in July 2008.

Sadly, Ledger was discovered dead in his New York apartment on January 22 after an accidental overdose of where numerous drugs in his system.

The Dark Knight is the last feature film he completed before his death. He was filming Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus days before he died but wasn’t able to finish the film.

During filming, Ledger said the darkness of the role had troubled him. “He’s just out of control - no empathy, he’s a sociopath, a psychotic, mass-murdering clown,” said Ledger in his interview with New York Times writer Sarah Lyall

“Jack (Nicholson) was like a really scary old, nasty uncle with a funny face. Heath’s like the most murderous psychopath you’ve ever seen on the screen.” says Michael Caine who also stars in the film along with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman and Bale who reprises his turn as Batman.

Chilling promotional images of Ledger portraying the Joker from the upcoming The Dark Knight, have been released - nearly three months after the Perth-born actor was found dead in New York.

In one scene, Ledger is dressed in a white nurse’s uniform, wielding a gun and wearing a surgical mask. In another, his face painted with the Joker’s trademark evil grin in red, he points a gun directly at the camera.

These are just two of the many images film company Warner Brothers Releasing is using to promote The Dark Knight, to be released in Australia, Heath’s home soil on July 17, 2008

From the movie’s promotional material to the trailer, Ledger appears to be the main attraction, with Christian Bale, who plays Batman, taking a back seat. One poster for The Dark Knight features Ledger as the Joker, creepily peering through a frosted window with the catchphrase: “Why so serious?” written in blood.

To view the trailer for the upcoming The Dark Knight click here

written by RHIFF \\ tags: Actor, Heath Ledger, Joker, Shannonn Kelly, The Dark Knight

By Shannonn Kelly

Ashley Pearson, a writer for the Daily Mail UK has built a great article on what Hollywood stars (mostly female) go through before appearing on the Academy Awards red carpet.

Tomorrow morning, the conversations will be about the Oscars, the wins, the wardrobe and the glamour. Beneath the glamour, writes Pearson, is where things really get interesting. Continue reading »

written by RHIFF

By Shannonn Kelly

As a big Jon Stewart fan, we here at ReelHeART, really enjoyed Stewart’s performance as emcee of the 2006 Academy Awards. Of course our favorite parts of that evening besides some great wins were Stewart’s jokes.

To prep you for his upcoming Oscar appearance, next Sunday February 24, 2008, here are a few choice bits from 2006-

Continue reading »

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

Writers Guild of America members voted 93 percent in favor of ending the walkout that began 14 weeks ago, Patric Verrone, president of the union’s western unit, said Tuesday night at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills, California. Continue reading »

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

As the Writers Guild of America has moved to end its three-month-old strike, Hollywood writers could be back behind their desks as early as Wednesday. Patric Verrone, president of the guild’s West Coast branch said membership meetings will be held Tuesday in New York and Los Angeles.

Since Sunday WGA membership maintained that there will be no picketing Monday or Tuesday, suspending all picketing until the WGA membership votes to either end or continue the strike. There will be lots of news this week about shows, deals and more. Click on the links below for more articles about the effects and chatter on the 3-month long Writers Guild of America strike.

• Read the Cynthia Littleton article on how it breaks down the WGA deal, analyzing things like “imputed value” and revenue formulas. For WGA voters - and SAG-AFTRA members - only
• WGA settlement will make an actors strike less likely
• Read the Brian Stelter article about Union leaders give up demands on animation and reality television
• Read about which shows might come back and which ones might not

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

Too late for the Grammy’s but just in time for the Academy Awards, the WGA Writers Strike may end today.

According to Ireland On Line (IOL), a deal has been reached between the major media companies and the Writer’s Guild of America - whose members have been staging walkouts since November 2007 in an ongoing dispute over royalties. Continue reading »

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly 

The 80th Annual Academy Award® nominations were announced this morning, Tuesday January 22,  around 6:00 AM in Los Angeles.

The complete list of  nominees are listed below.  For a printable Academy Nominee Ballot for your Oscar® Party click here.

Click on the Category links to get bios and Oscar history tidbits. And now—the Nomineees…
 

1. Best Picture: “No Country for Old Men”, “Atonement”, “Juno”, “Michael Clayton”, “There Will Be Blood.”
 

2. Best Actor: George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”; Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”; Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”
 

3. Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”; Julie Christie, “Away From Her”; Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”; Laura Linney, “The Savages”; Ellen Page, “Juno.”
 

4. Best Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”; Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”; Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”
 

5. Best Supporting Actress: Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”; Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”; Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”; Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”
 

6. Best Director: Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Jason Reitman, “Juno”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”
 

7. Best Foreign Film: “Beaufort,” Israel; “The Counterfeiters,” Austria; “Katyn,” Poland; “Mongol,” Kazakhstan; “12,” Russia
 

8. Best Adapted Screenplay: Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”; Sarah Polley, “Away from Her”;  Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”

9. Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, “Juno”; Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, “Ratatouille”; Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages”

10. Best Animated Feature Film: “Persepolis”; “Ratatouille”; “Surf’s Up”
 

11. Best Art Direction: “American Gangster,” “Atonement,” “The Golden Compass,” “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “There Will Be Blood”

12. Best Cinematography: “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Atonement,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood”

13. Best Sound Mixing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Ratatouille,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Transformers”

14. Best Sound Editing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Ratatouille,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Transformers”

15. Best Original Score:  ”Ratatouille,” Michael Giacchino; “Atonement,” Dario Marianelli; “The Kite Runner,” Alberto Iglesias; “Michael Clayton,” James Newton Howard;”3:10 to Yuma,” Marco Beltrami

16. Best Original Song:  ”Happy Working Song” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; “Falling Slowly” from “Once,” Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova;”Raise It Up” from “August Rush,” Nominees to be determined; “So Close” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; “That’s How You Know” from “Enchanted,” Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz

17. Best Costume: “Across the Universe,” “Atonement,” “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “La Vie en Rose,” “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
 

18. Best Documentary Feature: “No End in Sight,” “Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience,” “Sicko,” “Taxi to the Dark Side,” “War/Dance”
 

19. Best Documentary Short: “Freeheld,” “La Corona (The Crown),” “Salim Baba,” “Sari’s Mother”
 

20. Best Film Editing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Into the Wild,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood”
 

21. Best Makeup: “La Vie en Rose,” “Norbit,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”
 

22. Best Animated Short Film: “I Met the Walrus,” “Madame Tutli-Putli,” “Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven),” “My Love (Moya Lyubov),” “Peter & the Wolf”

23. Best Live Action Short Film: “Il Supplente (The Substitute),” “At Night,” “Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets),” “Tanghi Argentini,” “The Tonto Woman”
 

24. Best Visual Effects: “The Golden Compass,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Transformers.”
 

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The HONORARY OSCAR AWARD will be given to Production Designer Robert Boyle who designed for legendary director Alfred Hitchcock among others.
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Beloved comedian, political satirist and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart makes a return visit to host the 80th Annual Academy Awards LIVE from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC at 8PM EST on Sunday, February 24, 2008.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly 

One our our favorite smokey-voiced actresses is dead. Suzanne Pleshette died Saturday in her Los Angles home of respiratory failure. She was 70.

Pleshette is best remembered as Emily Hartley the hot, smart school teacher and wife to stuttering, laid-back Chicago psychologist Robert Hartley, played by Bob Newhart on the Bob Newhart Show, from 1972-1978.

Married to former Bob Newhart Show co-star Tom Poston in 2001, who also died from respiratory failure in Los Angeles on April 30, 2007.

I only realized the parallel recently that she played yet another smart school teacher in “The Birds” directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Seeing the film last month, I was struck by Pleshette’s complex rendering of Annie Hayworth, the pining dalliance that over-stayed her welcome after being dumped by Mitch (played by Rod Taylor) in Bodega Bay. She probably out-acted Tippi Hendren in many fans eyes.

Sadly, Pleshette was scheduled to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 31, 2008, which would have been her 71st birthday

To read the New York Times article on Ms. Pleshette, click here.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly 

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) –

Every year there are several book-club favorites that turn up at the multiplex. Perusing the list of Academy Award best-picture winners can feel like a trip to Barnes & Noble, from “Gone With the Wind” and “The Godfather” to “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The English Patient.”

But during this tumultuous, strike-hobbled awards season, at least a dozen movies with literary roots have real shots at winning the biggest prizes. Some of those novels, like Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner,” are beloved and readers feel proprietary about them.

Others, like Ian McEwan’s “Atonement,” which won best drama and musical score at the Golden Globes on Sunday night, and Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” which won the directing prize for Julian Schnabel and the foreign-language film honor, seemed impossible to adapt because they were too complicated, too internal.

The adaptations themselves range from the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men,” which maintained much of Cormac McCarthy’s rich Texas vernacular, to Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood,” in which the writer-director merely used Upton Sinclair’s “Oil!” as a leaping-off point. Still others come from novellas (”Lust, Caution“), graphic novels (”Persepolis“), or are based on non-fiction works such as (”Charlie Wilson’s War,” “Into the Wild,” “A Mighty Heart”).

To read about screenwriter David Benioff and his experience while working on an adaptation of “The Kite Runner”, click Here.

written by RHIFF

by Shannonn Kelly

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Four major studios: Warner Bros. Television, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox Television and CBS Paramount Network Television have canceled dozens of writers’ contracts in a possible concession that the current television season cannot be saved, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier today.

Studios typically pay $500,000 to $2 million a year per writer for them and their staffs to develop new show concepts.

With this latest development the studios save a lot of money, lose their new television season and writers, possibly, lose their homes, because really, this is a ploy for the studio executives to get rid of writers they no longer want. Really, this is all about cleaning house…

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written by RHIFF