FILM/ "TREE OF LIFE" TOPS CANNES FILM FESTIVAL: US director Terrence Malick's drama "The Tree of Life" has won the Palme d'Or prize for best picture at the 64th Cannes Film Festival today. The film, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, is about a family in Texas in the 1950s, but is also a meditation on the meaning of life. At 148 minutes it is an epic about what it is to be human, with some scenes depicting the beginnings of life on earth. The film had divided critics at the prestigious festival ,with some critics calling it pretentious, while others said it was profound. "The Tree of Life," which is only the 5th film made byMalick in almost 40 years, will be released in the US, and around the world, this summer. Best actor award went to French performer Jean Dujardin for the silent film "The Artist". Best actress was won by Kirsten Dunst for her role in the apocalyptic psychodrama "Melancholia," which was directed by Lars von Trier, who was barred from the festival for remarks made at a news conference in which he said he was a Nazi. He said he had spoken in jest. Full details on all of the awards can be found on the Cannes Festival website.
The Sherlock Holmes BBC drama "Sherlock"won 2 prizes at the BAFTA TV Awards ceremony in London, including best drama series. Martin Freeman, who plays Watson in the latest screen version of the stories, was named best supporting actor. But star Benedict Cumberbatch and "Doctor Who" star Matt Smith were beaten to best actor by Daniel Rigby for his portrayal of a young "Eric Morecambe". Vicky McClure was named best actress for her role in Shane Meadows drama "This Is England '86," while "Misfits" star Lauren Socha won best supporting actress. The audience award, chosen by the public, was won by the hugely popular ITV2 reality show "The Only Way Is Essex". The Danish import "The Killing," was named best international program. Host Graham Norton also became an award winner, taking best entertainment performance for his chat show, while "The Cube" won best entertainment program. Full details on all the winners can be found on the BAFTA website.
Adele has claimed another week at the top of the UK album chart, despite a close battle with veteran musician Kate Bush. Bush's release "Director's Cut," a reworking of songs from previous albums, had been in pole position in the midweek chart, but ended up at #2 today. Kate Bush, whose career has spanned more than 30 years, has now had 10 albums inside the top 10. Her last chart-topper was "The Whole Story" in 1986. On the singles chart, Rapper Pitbull topped the chart with "Give me Everything". Lady Gaga amassed 4 singles inside the top 20, the most for a female solo artist since Ruby Murray in 1955. "The Edge of Glory" stayed at #6, "Judas" moved up to #8, while "Hair" entered the chart at #13 and the title track to Gaga's new album, "Born This Way," out tomorrow, moved up 8 slots to #16. The other artists to have achieved 4 simultaneous top 20 singles are Frankie Laine and John Lennon. Only Michael Jackson has had more, when he had 5 fsingles in the top 20, which happened after his death in 2009.
"Lombardi," Eric Simonson's football drama about late Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, and his passion for the game, its players and his wife, ends its Broadway run today at Circle in the Square Theatre. Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail ("In the Heights") staged the play by Academy Award winner Simonson, which opened October 21, 2010. When it closes, with its original cast intact, Lombardi will have played 30 previews and 244 performances. Dan Lauria ("The Wonder Years") plays the late coach opposite Judith Light ("Who's the Boss," "Ugly Betty," Wit) as his wife, Mare. Light's performance was favored by critics and the Tony voters, who singled out her performance with a 2011 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play. It was the production's only Tony nomination. The work is inspired by the best-selling biography "When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi" by David Maraniss. The play is set over a week in 1965, 5 years before Lombardi's death from colon cancer at age 57. The play shifts back and forth in time.
Veteran Australian actor Bill Hunter has died in Melbourne at the age of 71. The actor passed away surrounded by family and friends at a Kew hospice last evening. The actor was admitted to the Caritas Christi hospice 6 days ago after refusing to go into hospital. Hunter appeared in more than 60 films, including a role in "The Shiralee" in 1957. He starred in several iconic Australian films including "Gallipoli," "Muriel's Wedding," "Strictly Ballroom" and "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" in a career that spanned decades and also included roles on stage, including the musical version of "Priscilla," pictured left. In 1978 he won an AFI award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his part as Len Maguire in the movie "Newsfront," which won 8 AFIs that year, including Best Film. He is survived by his family.
PEOPLE/ RICHARD STEINHEIMER DIES AT 81: Richard Steinheimer, a master of railroad photography whose poetic images documented a half-century of trains and the landscape of the American West, has died. He was 81. Steinheimer died May 4 at his Sacramento, California, home of Alzheimer's disease. From the early 1950s until he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2000, Steinheimer was regarded as a pre-eminent railroad photographer. "He's been called the Ansel Adams of the railroad photography world," said the director of the California State Railroad Museum. He recorded the tail end of railroad's transition from steam to diesel power and took "some of the most beautiful night photographs of railroads ever made," according to a New York gallery owner. Sometimes, Steinheimer would position himself precariously atop locomotives so that his camera could better capture the feeling of motion. A 1963 book of his photographs, "Backwoods Railroads of the West," eventually became one of the most collected railroad books of all time. He is survived by his family.
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