With the political statement made by Mo’Nique at the Oscars during her acceptance speech, the story below about Gabourey Sidibe is not a huge surprise to me. We’re not saying the two ladies are the same, we’re saying there seems to be an attitude attached to certain stars of the film ‘Precious’.

Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart Article is below. Read on…(and thank you for writing it)

‘Precious’ little time — or grace — for fans

It’s always a let-down when folks you’ve admired or respected from afar turn out to be jerks in person. Case in point: Gabourey Sidibe, the Oscar-nominated actress in the title role of “Precious.”

Y’all know how much I loved the powerful film from director Lee Daniels about an obese New York City teenager enduring unspeakable abuse at the hands of her parents. After Oscar night, I wrote, “I was rooting for Gabourey Sidibe for best actress. But the moment edgy comedienne Mo’Nique won the Oscar for supporting actress, I knew that the divine Sidibe was toast.” But after meeting Sidibe at the White House Correspondents dinner and hearing about others’ negative encounters with her, I’m putting down my pompoms.

I was thrilled to spot her at a table laughing uproariously with the man sitting to her right. “I know you’re having a good time and I’m sorry to interrupt,” I began. My next sentence didn’t come out because Sidibe shouted over the din, “Yeah, come back in five minutes!” Thinking she was joking, I laughed and pretended to walk away. When I noticed that the look in her eyes meant she was serious, I walked back to her and said, “I just wanted to congratulate you on your nomination. I thought your performance was spectacular. I even wrote a column about it.” After wishing her good luck, I rejoined my friends.

Back at the table, I sheepishly related the incident to my colleague Jo-Ann Armao. “Oh! She’s horrible,” Armao said in her wonderfully blunt way. She told me that she saw Sidibe at the pre-cocktails and told her that she’d seen “Precious” three times (an amazing emotional feat that only adds to my awe of Armao) and that she thought Sidibe’s performance was “incandescent.” What was Sidibe’s response? “I guess I should say, ‘Thank you.’”

At the MSNBC after party, the partner of a “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” producer said to me, “Look! There’s Gabby Sidibe. I’m going to ask her to take a picture with me.” I warned him, “She’s mean.” To which he said, “I don’t care. I just want a picture.” I didn’t see what went down, but the dejected fan came back and said incredulously, “She said no.” No doubt the constant interruptions and jostling are bothersome. Her ever-shrinking zone of privacy must be irksome, too. And there’s no law that says Sidibe has to show grace to her fans or appreciation for their kind words. But a true star would.

At a dinner for the BET Honors back in January here in Washington, I had the pleasure of sitting next to Oscar-nominated actress and singer Queen Latifah. To be honest, I expected to get the Sidibe treatment. Instead, Latifah was as interesting as she was interested. She greeted fans who came over with a smile and warmth that made people happy they worked up the courage just to say hello. Latifah knows that without fans she has no career. Sidibe’s behavior shows she has yet to learn that.

Much to the delight of every female from 15-105, Johnny Depp will indeed star in the 4th installment of ‘Pirates’, this time titled ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.‘

“I had a very good conversation with Dick Cook who is someone I admire greatly and that helped,” Depp said. “And also we’re going to come at it with a different angle at it. And director, Rob Marshall has a completely different take on it.”

In September 2009, Dick Cook, Chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment, resigned after working for Disney for over 38 years. Cook was one of the few that accepted Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow on the first Pirates movie.

On October 7, 2009, author Tim Powers confirmed that Disney bought the rights of his novel On Stranger Tides. As detailed in The Art of the Pirates of the Caribbean, the proposed story for the fourth film is for Jack Sparrow and Barbossa to meet up in the newly founded New Orleans, before they sail to find the Fountain of Youth together.

According to Gregory Ellwood of HitFlix.com

He may be the “Mad Hatter” in the upcoming blockbuster “Alice in Wonderland,” but this summer Johnny Depp will be heading to Hawaii to shoot the fourth installment in the popular “Pirates” franchise. For awhile, Depp openly questioned whether a fourth installment would ever occur.

After Depp’s longtime friend Dick Cook was essentially fired as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios early last Fall, the superstar raised some doubt over whether he still wanted to return for another go around as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp revealed today that it was actually the dismissed Cook who helped convince him to still do the picture

What that “take” is remains to be seen, but so far changes include the addition of Penelope Cruz in a mysterious, but prominent role.

However, “Stranger Tides” is a long way off for Depp at this point. He’ll soon head to London for the Royal World Premiere of “Alice” and still has endless questions ahead of him about his seventh, yes, seventh collaboration with director Tim Burton. The biggest surprise? It turns out Burton didn’t have to approach his old friend with a hard sell to make the movie.

“To be honest he could have said Alice and I would have said [yes],” Depp tries to get out as the assembled press irrupt in laughter. “I would have done whatever character Tim wanted. Certainly the fact it was the Mad Hatter was a bonus and a great challenge. And to try and find this guy and not just to be a rubber ball that you heave into an empty room and bounce all over the place, But also to bring a little bit more of history or gravity to the guy.”

Depp embraced the role by doing research not just into Lewis Carroll’s books, but where the origin of the term “mad as a hatter.” It turns out the glue hat makers used to use had high levels of mercury in them which had severely adverse side effects.

“So, [I looked at him] as damaged goods — physically damaged and a little obtuse — instead of this hyper nutty guy,” Depp recalls. “He could go from one second high fluting and a lot of levity and then into some dangerous, potential rage and some tragedy.”

Burton adds, however, “Being that it was a Disney movie, we tried to not focus so much on the Mercury poisoning aspect. ”

One of Depp’s other major concerns was the fact he’s used an English accent a number of times already in films such as “Finding Neverland,” “Chocolat” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Depp notes,

“You’ve got to really pay attention to where you have been. That’s the great challenge. You may get it wrong. There is a very good possibility you could fall flat on your face. I think that’s a healthy thing for an actor.”

With Burton by his side, Depp was asked if his kids had a favorite movie in the now growing Burton/Depp library. Without a beat Depp says “Edward Scissorhands.”

“They connect with the character and I think they see their dad feeling that isolation — that loneliness and he’s a tragic character,” Depp says. “They ball everytime they see it.”

Starting on Tuesday Johnny Depp will be starring opposite Angelina Jolie in the new thriller “The Tourist.” As the session ended, Depp was asked to comment on what should turn out to be one of his increasingly rare contemporary roles.

“I think it will be swell. I like the French film I liked it a lot and my friend played the part in that and I liked it and I thought it might be interesting to explore this character,” Depp says. “You never know what’s going to happen. I suspect there might be a few paparazzi in Venice.”

Continuing with award season, four-time Actor® Nominee John Slattery (Mad Men) will open the 16th Annual SAG Awards® with a ‘Red Carpet Toast’ courtesy of their sponsor Taittinger Champagne. The SAG Awards will broadcast tonight, Saturday January 22, on TBT and TNT at 8PM, EST.

Two randomly selected panels-one for television and one for film-each comprised of 2,100 Guild members from across the United States, chose this year’s Actor and Stunt ensemble honors nominees. Integrity Voting Systems, the Awards’ official teller, mailed the nominations secret ballots November 25, 2009 and Voting was completed by 5:00 PM, Monday, December 14, 2009.

Two categories with heated nominations toward the road to Oscar include:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
MERYL STREEP for “Julie & Julia” (7 previous category noms)
SANDRA BULLOCK for “The Blind Side” (1st category nom) *Already Won Golden Globe
HELEN MIRREN for “The Last Station” (2 previous category noms)
CAREY MULLIGAN for An Education” (1st category nom)
GABOUREY SIDIBE / “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (1st category nom)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
JEFF BRIDGES for “Crazy Heart” (2 previous category noms)
GEORGE CLOONEY / “Up in the Air” (4 previous category noms)
COLIN FIRTH / “A Single Man” (3 previous category noms)
MORGAN FREEMAN for “Invictus” (4 previous category noms)
JEREMY RENNER / “The Hurt Locker” (1st category nom)

For a complete downloadable and long list of the nominees, please click here.

Normally I don’t talk about Entrants submitting their films or screenplays to ReelHeART, but today I will.

We’ve had amazing entries all season long and especially over the last 10 days because we’re coming close to our final deadline. Famous A-listers through to D-listers and beyond. As well, we welcome back a few Alumni.

Filmmakers either find us through word-of-mouth, our advertising, on-line communities and through extensive research that starts in July after the end of ReelHeART.

Since 2004, I’ve done exhaustive research for films and documentaries to premiere at ReelHeART that we think might match our mission statement or if the filmmaker has never approached us we let them know what we’re all about.

I’d say I either see or read about 1500 indie films a year. Of those, there’s a select group that if they haven’t entered, we send them an “Invite To Submit” their film.

Not a waiver mind you, but a greatly discounted rate off our partner’s entry fee.

Every season, we get 300-500 requests to waive fees. It’s not just our film festival, but all film festivals.

As a non profit film festival we can’t afford to waive fees. As a non profit film festival your funding bodies want real facts and figures about your marketing. That includes email marketing. That includes our “Invite to Submit” which is a marketing tool. Think of it that for every effort where we can show tangible proof we sent a letter or an email or ran a press release as part of our marketing efforts, we get a quarter from our funding bodies. Yep. It works out to 25 cents.  In this economy, that quarter is now a nickle.

But we don’t do it for the 25 cents we might make from our funding bodies. We market because we’re in a city that has 75 other film festivals. And you have to make your voice heard.

We don’t have the horsepower of the other 2 huge film festivals in this city. We have our great year-round volunteers, a skeleton staff and since our inception in 2004 … me.

We market to bring one-of-kind films to premiere at ReelHeART before they screen at one of the 74 other film festivals. We market to offer indie film fare that’s affordable to the audiences we want to reach. Audiences that see everything from quirky underground and experimental films to thought provoking documentaries to polished productions with budgets of a few million.

Our “Invite to Submit” contains links, information and clarifies that our email is not a waiver, but an invite to check us out and see if we’re a good fit for their film.

While 2-3 filmmakers we’ve encountered this season (who’ve made 1 or 2 short films) can’t appreciate that as a non-profit film festival we DON’T give waivers they feel compelled to trash us on the Internet. Yet, they fail to realize that we do give specific waivers to inner-city film groups for youths under 18 and to disabled filmmakers of any age.

Today, we’ve come across an entry from a charming, eloquent 13 year old, disabled filmmaker who did not receive an “Invite to Submit”. They found us on their own. They sent a comprehensive and engaging cover letter, 4 screening DVDs to go around and had just an amazing and pleasant attitude.

This filmmaker is eligible for a waiver because of their disability. But may have decided that it would be against their ideas about “pity based fund raising”. They never asked for the waiver they are entitled to, instead paying the rather hefty late deadline fee at our partners website.

What this young person could teach the ‘bashing filmmakers’ who didn’t get a waiver about building bridges in this industry instead of burning them. This young person could also teach those bashing filmmakers how to write an email or a letter that compliments rather than condescends.

The professionalism and HeART of this 13 year old who is “passionate about harnessing the power of film to open people’s minds” is my new Hero…

I specifically went to the office late today, because the first of the major TV and film awards for 2010 announced its nominees this morning, the Golden Globes.

I mentioned on Facebook how I felt about Sandra Bullock’s performance in ‘The Blind Side’ and she has received a nomination for it as well as for her turn in “The Proposal”. The critics talked about her on-screen chemistry in “The Proposal” with Ryan Reynolds, but they raved about her acting in ‘The Blind Side’.

Meryl Streep has received two nominations in the same category as Bullock – Best Leading Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her roles in ‘Julie and Julia’ and ‘It’s Complicated’.  Streep will win for ‘Julie and Julia’. Hands down or I go to cooking school…

Below is the list of all nominees for the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

Winners will be announced on Sunday, January 17, 2010 on CBS, 8PM, EST.

Script Tip of the Week – “Call Those Companies”

Word is that some TV production companies around LA that supply unscripted reality shows, are seeking unsolicited show ideas. This says they are desperate for material to sell, possibly due the economic market and networks being more selective than ever. It’s possible film production companies are in the same boat.

Suggestion: Pick up the latest edition of the Hollywood Creative Directory and go into overdrive making calls.

Don’t call the ‘Weinstein’s . Try the assistant to the assistant of XYZ Company and only call LA and NY-based companies. If no luck at any of the production companies, try managers and agents. Make sure you have your thirty second pitch down because that’s all they give you on the phone if you connect. Make sure your script is ready and is commercial.

Good Luck!