ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

FILM/ BAFTA NOM LONGLIST ANNOUNCED: The longlist for the Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2010, and nominations for the Film Not in the English Language Category, have been announced today in the UK. Over 6000 members of the Academy vote in three rounds to decide the winners of the Orange British Academy Film Awards and the Long List is the result of Round One of voting. With 220 films entered this year, this 1st round reduces the entered films down to 15 in each category. Round Two voting will reduce these 15 contenders down to the 5 nominations in each category. The full list of nominations will be announced on January 21, with the BAFTA awards presented on February 21. The 15 films nominated on the longlist for best picture are: Avatar, District 9, An Education, Gran Torino, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Invictus, Moon, Precious, The Road, A Serious Man, A Single Man, Star Trek, Up and Up In The Air. The 5 nominations for Film Not in the English Language are: Broken Embraces, Coco Before Chanel, Let The Right One In, A Prophet and The White Ribbon. The full longlist, including all acting nominations, can be found on the BAFTA website.

 

FILM/ DGA ANNOUNCES NOMINATIONS: The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for the year 2009. The nominees are: Kathryn Bigelow "The Hurt Locker," James Cameron "Avatar," Lee Daniels "Precious," Jason Reitman "Up In The Air" and Quentin Tarantino "Inglorious Basterds". The winner will be named at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on January 30 in Los Angeles. More often than not, the winner of the DGA award goes on to win the Best Director Oscar.

 

THEATRE/ "CHICAGO" TO SOON SET RECORD: On January 12, when the Tony-winning revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's "Chicago" plays its 5,462nd performance, the musical will become the 6th longest-running production in Broadway history. Only 5 other shows have run longer: "Oh Calcutta" is at #5, "A Chorus Line" at #4, "Les Miserables" at #3, Cats at #2 and "The Phantom of the Opera" at #1. It would take a little less than 500 more shows for "Chicago" to move into the #5 slot. "Chicago" won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical in 1997 as well as awards for actors Bebe Neuwirth and James Naughton. It currently stars Ashlee Simpson-Wentz as Roxie Hart, Deidre Goodwin as Velma Kelly, Brent Barrett as Billy Flynn, Raymond Bokhour as Amos Hart and Roz Ryan as Matron "Mama" Morton.

 

TV/ JONATHON ROSS TO EXIT BBC: Jonathan Ross has announced he is leaving the BBC, after 13 years working for the corporation. Ross, 49, who is the BBC's highest paid star, said in a statement he had decided not to renegotiate his contract when it ends in July. The presenter added his decision to leave was not "financially motivated". In 2008, the controversial host was suspended for making a series of phone calls to actor Andrew Sachs on Russell Brand's Radio 2 show. One of the biggest names at the BBC, Ross currently hosts his own Friday night chat show, Radio 2 show and a film review program. The announcement comes a day after it was revealed that Graham Norton had signed a 2 year deal with the corporation prompting newspaper speculation that he would take over Ross's Friday night slot on BBC One. But the BBC said it was "too premature" to make such decisions.

MEDIA/ SPORTS STAR IN HOT WATER: Argentine soccer player Jesus Datolo could be sanctioned by the leadership of his football club, Naples, Italy–based Napoli, after posing in his underwear for the gay magazine Romeo Mag. Local media reported that Aurelio DeLaurentis, president of Napoli, did not hide his displeasure for Datolo’s photos and calls for him to make his defense. De Laurentis is not bothered by the photos but because "the image of Napoli rights have been violated". Italian sports blogs have long speculated that Datolo may be gay.