ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

FILM/ "HURT LOCKER" SCORES AT GOTHAM: "The Hurt Locker" emerged as the big winner at last night's Gotham Independent Film Awards at New York's Cipriani Wall Street. Though it didn't sweep the Gothams, Summit's film picked up prizes for feature, the night's top prize, as well as for ensemble cast. Feature prize went to producer-director Kathryn Bigelow, producer-writer Mark Boal, and producers Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro. Cast trophy went to Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, Guy Pearce, David Morse and Evangeline Lilly. "Locker" missed out on its 3rd nom, the breakthrough actor kudo, which went to Catalina Saavedra for Chilean-set "The Maid." That film, directed by Sebastian Silva, bowed in Sundance's World Cinema section in January and has been gaining critical buzz. Renner was also nommed in the category. Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc.," Magnolia Pictures' nonfiction hit, took the documentary prize.  The breakthrough director kudo went to Robert Siegel for his debut "Big Fan." Siegel also penned 2008's "The Wrestler." Ry Russo-Young's "You Won't Miss Me" took the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You award, which comes with a $5,000 cash prize. In addition career tributes were presented to actors Natalie Portman and Stanley Tucci, Bigelow and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.

FILM/ "APOCALYPSE" TOPS CRITICS POLL: War epic "Apocalypse Now" has been named the best movie of the last 30 years by the London Film Critics' Circle. Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 drama about the Vietnam war topped a survey based on previous recipients of the best film prizes the Circle hands out each year. "Schindler's List" came 2nd in the poll, with Oscar-winning German drama "The Lives of Others" coming 3rd. "Unforgiven" was at #4, while "Brokeback Mountain" took the 5th spot. The poll was held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the London Film Critics Awards, held every February. Coppola's film was voted the best previous winner in a poll that took in all the recipients of the circle's best film, best British film and best foreign language film awards. The next London Film Critics Awards will be held on February 18, 2010. The London Critics' Circle has more than 100 members who write for newspapers, magazines and websites all over the United Kingdom.

 

 

TV/ PGA NOMS ANNOUNCED: NBC's "30 Rock" and AMC's "Mad Men" are in contention to repeat as TV series winners of Producers Guild Awards. The PGA, which announced the TV noms yesterday, tapped "30 Rock" to go up against a pair of Showtime shows, "Californication" and "Weeds," along with HBO's "Entourage" and NBC's "The Office." "30 Rock" has won the trophy for two straight years. Showtime led the network pack with 4 noms. "Mad Men" has been selected in drama category along with AMC's "Breaking Bad," Showtime's "Dexter," ABC's "Lost" and HBO's "True Blood."  The PGA also announced nominees for nonfiction: CBS' "60 Minutes," Discovery's "The Deadliest Catch," A&E's "Intervention," Bravo's "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List" and Showtime's "This American Life." "60 Minutes" won in 2008. In the live entertainment-competition category, bids went to CBS' "The Amazing Race," Fox's "American Idol," Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," Lifetime's "Project Runway" and Bravo's "Top Chef." "Colbert Report" is the reigning champ in the category. Winners will be announced January 24 at the 21st annual PGA Awards at the Hollywood Palladium. Full details on the noms can be found on the PGA website.

 

BOOKS/ SHAW'S "TRUTHS" IS HOT: Aiden Shaw's new memoir, "Sordid Truths" reached the #1 spot yesterday on Amazon's list of hot new gay biographies. The book, a prequel to Shaw's previous memoir, "My Undoing," takes us from his London days as an art student and fledgling rent boy to his entrée into the porn worlds of L.A. and San Francisco. It's a fun, sexy, and uplifting tale of a young man selling his innocence for a taste of stardom, all of which is told in captivating detail. "I used to keep an obsessively detailed diary," he explains of his ability to vividly recall events from two decades prior, "including names, prices, lists of sex acts, even Polaroids when I got the opportunity." When asked how he felt about the book's success, Shaw said, "Great. I'm reading it again to see why it's being so popular, and I have to say I'm loving it. It's funny, sexy, insightful, and so bloody well written. I'm dreading trying to follow it up."

THEATRE/ GRAMMER "LA CAGE" OFFICIAL: Kelsey Grammer has locked in his stint in the upcoming Broadway revival of tuner "La Cage aux Folles," soon after word leaked out last week about the casting. Grammer last appeared on Broadway in a short-lived 2000 revival of "Macbeth." More recently, he earned favorable buzz for his turn in the New York Philharmonic's 2007 concert staging of "My Fair Lady." Grammer will appear in "La Cage" opposite Douglas Hodge, the Brit actor who starred in the production at London's Menier Chocolate Factory, where the revival originated in 2007 before it went on to a West End run that is still playing. Grammer plays St. Tropez nightclub owner Georges in the musical, with Hodge reprising his role as Albin, the drag performer who is Georges' lover. Hodge scored a 2009 Olivier for his performance. Revival of the 1983 musical by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein is directed by Terry Johnson. "La Cage" kicks off previews April 6 and opens April 18 at the Longacre Theater.

MUSIC/ DOHERTY BOOED IN GERMANY: Singer Pete Doherty has apologized after being asked to leave a stage in Germany for performing a verse of the national anthem with Nazi connotations.  Doherty, 30, was booed after singing "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" at a concert in Munich on Saturday that was broadcast live on Bavarian radio. A spokesperson for the singer said he was "unaware of the controversy" about the anthem's rarely used first verse. The 1st verse of Germany's national anthem - which translates as "Germany, Germany above everything" - has been ignored since the fall of the Third Reich. The 3rd verse - which begins "Unity and justice and liberty for the German fatherland" - has been used since East and West Germany unified in 1990. Public radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk stopped broadcasting from the on3 music festival when Doherty began his version of the anthem. Video footage of the incident shows him incorporating the song with an eccentric rendition of 'Hit the Road Jack'. Onlookers can be heard reacting angrily to the refrain, which was dropped after World War II.