Awards shows are compelling because they're occasions for the rich, famous, and beautiful to go above and beyond to the apogee of glamor. The Golden Globes, however—mostly due to the mass quantities of alcohol and other substances in close proximity—are often the occasion for the glamorous to become beastlike in the blink of an eye. (Except Kate Winslet. She is never not absolutely fabulous.)
Diane von Furstenberg's spent the past week on the slopes in Aspen; today she'll celebrate her 63rd birthday. Other people turning a year older on New Year's Eve: Val Kilmer is turning 50. Bebe Neuwirth is 51. Anthony Hopkins turns 73. Ben Kingsley is turning 66. Donald Trump Jr. is 32. Famed attorney Joe Flom is 86. Real estate developer Ed Minskoff is 69. Author Nicholas Sparks turns 44. Donna Summers is 61. Gong Li is turning 44. And New Kids on the Block alum Joey McIntyre is 37 as of today. A bunch of people celebrating tomorrow below.
We may not have anything left of our environment or economy by 2010, but at least we'll have something to keep us interested in the cinema. And the marketing machine is already starting. Check out the coming attractions!
Diane von Furstenberg turns 62 today. Donald Trump Jr. is 31. Actress Bebe Neuwirth is 50. Anthony Hopkins is celebrating his 71st. Val Kilmer is 49. Legendary attorney Joe Flom is 85. Real estate mega-developer Ed Minskoff is turning 68. Donna Summers is 60. Author Nicholas Sparks is 43. Ben Kingsley is turning 65. Gong Li is 43. Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton is 57. And New Kids on the Block alum Joey McIntyre is turning 36.
The Wall Street Journal published an excellent piece today on the fall of Lehman Brothers, which is worth a read if you're into that sort of thing, you have access to the Journal site, and you have the patience to digest a 4,800-word article. This afternoon WSJ.com followed up with a few casting suggestions for the movie that will inevitably be made about the biggest bankruptcy in history, and while we can't say we're convinced about George Clooney playing John Thain, Ben Kingsley in the role of Dick Fuld strikes us as an unusual and yet oddly compelling choice. It's certainly better than what the Celebrity Match Up game came up with: The site's facial recognition software picked Andy Garcia as Fuld's ideal stand-in. [WSJ/Deal Journal]
Click to viewBoomp3.com Sir Ben Kingsley took a break from filming 2010's summer blockbuster Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to remind you that despite all the trauma and heartache you may have experienced this week, he still loves you. Kingsley said, "It doesn't hurt to know that somebody loves you. Now, I'm not going to loan some money to pay off your credit card, but I love you and if you want to have a pint or tea, it'll be my treat." [Photo Credit: Flynet] *A Call To The Bullpen is a work of fiction. Although the pictures we use are most certainly real, Defamer does not purport that any of the incidents or quotations you see in this piece actually happened. Lighten up, people ... it's a joke.
For all the talk about Sir Ben Kingsley's sex scenes with Penelope Cruz and Patricia Clarkson, the new film Elegy arguably features an even more up-front intimacy between the Oscar-winner and Dennis Hopper — Kingsley's sidekick in academia who counsels him through an intense romantic relationship with an ex-student (played by Cruz). We won't spoil it for you; let it suffice to say the role is Hopper's latest in a marathon of work that has seen three films released this year and finds the 72-year-old halfway through shooting Starz' adaptation of the Paul Haggis film Crash. We tracked Hopper down this week to run through Elegy, Crash and the 50-plus turbulent years that preceded them — all in five convenient questions (and a few surprisingly candid replies) after the jump.D: So did you actually call Sir Ben Kingsley "Sir Ben" on set? DH: I did. Absolutely. With pleasure. D: Yet the viewer gets the sense you have the mandate to continually bust his balls, even off-camera. You also share a fairly shocking moment near the end of the film. What was your relationship like? DH: It was all written, really. It was a wonderful relationship that seems very real and honest; you can tell the two men really loved each other and respected each other. I think that my character realized that as professors at the university, Sir Ben was probably a little smarter, a little brighter, a little more removed — but certainly not as worldly as my character, who is advising him on having an affair with a younger woman. My character has had many affairs. It's the one moment my character has an up on him. In my career I never had a part that was really seemed like a real person — the emotion, the give and take between Sir Ben and myself were very honest, I thought. D: Your career is endlessly fascinating: You acted alongside James Dean twice; obviously there's Easy Rider; you've appeared opposite three Oscar-winners in as many films this year alone. Do you ever take stock of how many Hollywood storylines your work intersects? DH: Yeah, sort of. But not really. I think of my career as a disappointment most of the time. After Easy Rider and The Last Movie, not directing anymore was a really devastating affair for me. And for the last 16 years, trying to direct movies and not getting financing has really been very hard on me. I really want to direct. I know that through the years I've been very fortunate to act; Blue Velvet was wonderful. Apocalypse Now. But if you still always think about directing movies, it's a chore. And I had to take a lot of bad movies at times. Out of 150 movies that I've been in, there are maybe 20 that are really good movies. D: You've also got TV behind you and in front of you, including an cable adaptation of Crash. It's obviously a pretty polarizing film; will the series follow that same vein? DH: Well, you'll remember that that was three different stories that sort of all come together in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is still the basis of where it's all happening, though we're shooting in Albuquerque. The writers are the same — Bobby Moresco and Paul Haggis — but the characters are all different. I play a Phil Spector-type music mogul whose always trying to look for the next big move. He's hired a 22-year-old driver from Watts who wants to be a rap star. Their relationship is totally bizarre. But it's wonderfully written and I'm having a good time. D: But does the world really need 13 more hours of Crash? DH: These are different characters. But why do they need it? Why does the world need entertainment at all? Do we need TV? We have it. And we do have series, and they're usually 13 in the first run. This is going to be a good 13. I love it because I've never seen such incredible language, and the things you can do on cable television now you can't even get away with in movies. We had an orgy the other day. For me it's a joy.
Mary-Kate Olsen is en fuego these days. First she proved that she's able to smile without looking like Renee Zellweger, then her Wackness co-star Ben Kingsley announced she is quite the siren when it comes to on-screen kissing skills, and now she's teamed up with David Letterman to slowly and swiftly decapitate Hills villain Spencer Pratt. On Dave's couch to plug her film, MKO's stoner voice waxed rhapsodically about her hippiefest of a birthday celebration at Bonaroo, and what it was like to, as Dave put it, "kiss a really old guy." But things turned far more interesting after Olsen slyly inserted the robotic nobody Pratt into the conversation. And Dave couldn't have been more pleased. Hear what MK had to reveal about going to high school with Pratt, and join us in applauding her ability to spark an insult-laden bout of commentary from Dave regarding the "wormy," "oily" Pratt.
1) The first New York benefit of the Young Patrons Circle of the Friends of the Louvre took place Tuesday night at Espace: Devoted socials like Olivia Chantecaille, Fabiola Beracasa, Alexandra Papanicalaou, Lisa Anastos, Annabel Vartanian, Melissa Berkelhammer, and Devorah Rose bid on photographer Candida Hofer's pictures of the Louvre's galleries. [Park Avenue Peerage/PMc]
Only a week after our careful study of the Olsen Twins’ trademark Prune faces, clever little Mary-Kate Olsen pulled a fast one on us at last night’s screening for her new film The Wackness: the minx bore actual teeth for photographers, pose after forced pose. And even though it looks like putting on a smile in public is taking every last bit of effort and strength MK's tiny body can muster, the acrobatically trained twin has admittedly perfect chompers. Why she’s been holding back on us remains a mystery, but what doesn’t is where Olsen would rank on yesterday’s roundup of celebrity make-out partners. Her 64-year old Wackness co-star Ben Kingsley clued interested parties in on the talents Mary-Kate’s de-pruned grin is capable of, after the jump.
· La Vie en Rose Oscar nominee Marion Cotillard tries to parlay some of her awards-season heat into a role alongside Christian Bale and Johnny Depp in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, playing gangster John Dillinger's "torch singer girlfriend." [Variety]
· Meanwhile, (rightly) Academy-ignored Charlie Wilson's War star Julia Roberts hunts for her next chance at awards glory, attaching herself to star in and produce an adaptation of soon-to-be published novel Hothouse Flowers, about a recently divorced NY ad exec who throws it all away to embark on a fabulous post-break-up adventure. [THR]
[After the jump: NBC sues Dick Wolf!; Oscar nominations translate to bigger weekend grosses; the fate of Mary-Kate and Ben Kingsley's Sundance film.]
Weirdly some of the best blogging of the circus maximus that is Sundance is coming from the New York Times style blog The Moment. Kelly Will of Blonde Rules a Miami native is writing it. Last night, Will was a table with Paris Hilton. "Hilton, who is in town to promote "The Hottie and the Nottie," ate every single bit of her eggplant soup, lamb stew and chocolate cake created by champion Iron Chef, Cat Cora. And, for the record, Paris also requested spaghetti and tequila shots." But that wasn't the most distasteful part of Sundance, even a little bit!
Ranking at the very top of a list we keep of Celebrity Pairs We Hope To Never See Making Out—and beating out such unholy couplings as Peter O'Toole/Nicole Richie and Elizabeth Taylor/Haley Joel Osment—has long been Sir Ben Kingsley and either of the Olsen Twins, the subjects of one our most troubling recurring dreams. (We will spare you the details, no matter how fiercely you beg us to share them. Just know that a messy chocolate souffle is involved. We've said too much!) But thanks to the upcoming indie film The Wackness, we'll soon have the opportunity to see the much-unclamored-for Kingsley/Mary-Kate osculation outside of our fragile, obviously very damaged subconscious. Worse still is the way in which Sir Ben describes his co-star to Access Hollywood:
