London released its plans for the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony on Tuesday, and the world felt all the breath leave its body as it suddenly realized that London has no idea how to throw a cool party.
Well, it's that most wonderful time of the year again. No, not Christmas, the war against which we are fully waging. We mean Oscar season! Some early awards have been given out, so it's time to start the prediction game.
Yesterday I saw 127 Hours, a movie supposedly about James Franco cutting off his arm. I wouldn't know, though, since I couldn't watch a second of the amputation action. What things are too nasty for you to see on screen?
• Filmmaker Danny Boyle is the new owner of an apartment in Chelsea. The Slumdog Millionaire director paid $1.7 million for a tri-level co-op at 334 West 19th Street, but he isn't planning to move in himself. Boyle reportedly purchased the apartment for his youngest daughter who is attending Parsons. [Real Deal]
• Hedge funder Charles Ray Langston and his wife Casey are believed to be the mystery couple who snagged a record-breaking $14 million for their 8,200-square-foot home in Sag Harbor, although there's still no word on the identity of the home's buyers. [NYP]
• Personal injury lawyer Eleanor P. Vale has dropped the price of her 1,800-square-foot penthouse at Hampshire House, nearly a year and a half after first listing it for $10.9 million. The two-bedroom pad, which Vale bought for just $1.515 million in 2005, is now listed for $9.9 million. [Cityfile, PDE]
Just like Murdoch to go and ruin everything for everyone. Just when the studios had a great excuse with this recession thing to slash salaries and fire everyone in sight, along comes Rupert singing "Happy Days are Here Again."
Snoop Dogg turns 38 today. The Office's John Krasinski is turning 30. Tom Petty is 59. Danny Boyle, the man who directed Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Slumdog Millionaire, is turning 53. Keith Hernandez, the former first baseman for the New York Mets and now a baseball commentator, is turning 56. Actor Viggo Mortensen is 51. Conservative columnist Michelle Malkin is turning 39. Dannii Minogue, the Australian singer/actress who's better known as the younger sister of Kylie, turns 38. And psychologist and advice columnist Dr. Joyce Brothers is turning 82. And Hilda Solis, the United States Secretary of Labor, is 52.
Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire depicts children dwelling in the utmost of impoverished hellscapes. The film used actual slum kids, but don't worry they weren't exploited! Cuz they're totally getting houses now! They'll be just fine.
Congrats — again — to Slumdog Millionaire director and Critics Choice Award winner Danny Boyle, just about the nicest guy you've ever wished would please take his Oscar and end awards season, already.
Add another "maybe" to our speculation about Joel Silver's future at Warner Bros.: Reports today indicate that the slumping superproducer is shopping around Guy Ritchie's Rocknrolla, a Dark Castle project scheduled for release by WB in October. Maybe. Now Lionsgate and Sony are supposedly in talks to pick up the action/crime thriller lest Warners overextend itself this fall with titles inherited from New Line (Pride and Glory), Picturehouse (The Women) and Warner Independent (Slumdog Millionaire, Towelhead). We think this falls into the "content is king" model evinced recently by Alan Horn, Barry Meyer and the higher-ups at Time Warner — as in, "This content is kind of terrible... Do we really have to release this?" At least that's the impression Horn apparently left with LAT BFF Patrick Goldstein:
