FILM/ SCORSESE SET FOR TAYLOR & BURTON BIO-PIC: Director Martin Scorsese is set to direct a film based on the tempestuous relationship between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The couple married and divorced twice over a 13 year period, after meeting on the set of "Cleopatra" in 1963. Paramount Pictures are said to be in negotiation with Scorsese, after buying the rights to the book "Furious Love". Released in 2010, the book received little interest from studios until Taylor's death earlier this year. The Hollywood couple, both British, appeared in 11 films together, including the 1966 film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," for which Taylor won the 2nd of 2 best actress Oscars. "Furious Love" authors Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger were given access to love letters between the pair by Taylor, before her death. Actress Natalie Portman was among those said to be interested in the book rights, ahead of the Paramount deal. Taylor died in March at the age of 79. Burton died in 1984.
Jennifer Hudson is headed for the nunnery in 20th Century Fox’s "The Three Stooges," the new film from the Farrelly brothers. She’ll play one of the nuns in the orphanage where the Stooges spend time. Hudson joins a cast led by Chris Diamontopoulos, Sean Hayes and Will Sasso as the 3 main leads. Larry David, Stephen Collins and Jane Lynch, who plays the Mother Superior, also star. The Farrellys are producing "Three Stooges," which is currently in production. Hudson’s most recent film project is Winnie Mandela biopic "Winnie," which is in post production.
Convinced that it has the makings of a hit franchise, Lionsgate is planning to spin the 3 books in
Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" trilogy into 4 feature films, ust as producers did with the "Twilight" series. "The Hunger Games", the 1st film in the series, which is set in a post-apocalyptic world where teams of teens compete for their lives in an annual TV event, started production last week in North Carolina and is slated for release March 23, 2012. The film has attracted a high-profile cast, which includes Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Banks as well as established stars like Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson.
FILM/ HARRY REDMOND JR DIES AT 101: Harry Redmond Jr., a special effects artist and producer whose career reached back more than 80 years to the dawn of talking pictures, died May 23 in the Hollywood Hills home that he and his wife had designed and built more than 6 decades ago. He was 101. Starting in the prop department at First National Pictures, Redmond moved to RKO Radio Pictures, where he transitioned into the special effects field and worked on many of RKO’s fabled films of the late 1920s and ’30s, including "King Kong" (1933), "The Last Days of Pompeii" (1935), She (1935) and "Top Hat" (1935). After a 4 year stint at RKO, Redmond went independent and created effects for a such classics as Frank Capra’s "Lost Horizon" (1937), Howard Hawks’ "Only Angels Have Wings" (1939), Howard Hughes’ "The Outlaw" (1943), Fritz Lang’s "The Woman in the Window" (1944) and Orson Welles’ "The Stranger" (1946). While working on "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937) for David O. Selznick, Redmond met Dorothea Holt, a pioneering production illustrator who was designing the interiors for "Gone With the Wind" (1939) and "Rebecca" (1940). They were married in 1940. After WWII, he resumed his effects career in Hollywood with such films as the Marx Brothers’ "A Night in Casablanca" (1946), "Angel on My Shoulder" (1946), "The Bishop’s Wife" (1947), "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (1947) and "A Song Is Born" (1948). In the early 1950s, Redmond’s work on "Storm Over Tibet" (1952) began what would become a long association with writer-producer Ivan Tors, spanning not only Tors’ early science-fiction features such as "The Magnetic Monster" (1953) and "Gog" (1954) but also his succession of popular TV shows like "Sea Hunt" and "Daktari". He also assumed the role of Tors’ associate producer for the films "Flipper" (1963), "Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion" (1965) and "Zebra in the Kitchen" (1965), Redmond retired from films in the late 1960s. Redmond was never nominated for an Oscar or an Emmy, not did he receive any industry awards. His wife preceded him in death and he is survived by his children.
TV/ ANTI-GAY TALK SHOW BEGINS TO FEEL THE HEAT: AT&T has pulled advertising from the raunchy talk show "Jose Luis Sin Censura" amid a campaign launched earlier this year by the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. In addition, WSVN-TV in Miami and KCTU-TV in Wichita, Kansas, have pulled the afternoon show from their schedules. "Jose Luis Sin Censura," which is carried by Liberman Broadcasting's Estrella TV on such stations as Los Angeles' KRCA-TV, has been described as a Spanish-language equivalent of "The Jerry Springer Show". GLAAD and NHMC have referred to the show as "pornography" and highlighted its anti-gay slurs and shouting matches, adding that only some of the language is bleeped. They 1st filed a complaint with the FCC earlier this year in which they pointed to words including "Pinche," (fucking in English) and "culero" ("assfucker"), anti-gay language including "puñal" ("faggot") and anti-Latino slurs like "mojado" ("wetback"). They also complained about "blatant nudity," female guests being part of "violent fights" and audience members being encouraged to take part in "verbal and even physical attacks." Complaints against the show have also been filed with the FCC.
Rihanna and BET have sparked controversy over the singer's latest video, for her single "Man Down". The clip, pictured left, which premiered on BET's "106 & Park" on Tuesday, shows Rihanna killing a man who has sexually assaulted her. Before it aired, Rihanna, who was beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown on the night of the Grammy Awards in 2009, tweeted that the video has "very strong underlying message 4 girls like me". The Parents Television Council, Industry Ears and the Enough Is Enough Campaign have teamed up to "condemn" the video because of its violent imagery. They are urging BET parent company Viacom to yank it from the air. BET has not responded to the groups request to pull the video.
(SK COMMENT: Every week, the right wing Parents Television Council comes up with something new they want banned. If anything, their actions only increases exposure for what they consider offensive).
MUSIC/ AMY WINEHOUSE EXITS REHAB AGAIN: Singer Amy Winehouse has checked out of the Priory clinic in south-west London to carry on with tour commitments later in June. The 27 year old was admitted for treatment last week ahead of performing in eastern Europe. She will continue to be seen as an outpatient at the clinic, her spokesman said. The singer has battled with drink and drug use in the past. The singer's spokesman said: "Amy Winehouse has completed her assessment at the Priory clinic in London and will continue as an outpatient. She is now looking forward to playing shows around Europe this summer and is raring to go. She would like to send a huge thanks to all her fans for the messages of support she has received over the last week and can't wait to see them". Last October, the singer said she had been drug-free for 3 years. She is due to play Belgrade on June 18.
THEATRE/ "MAMMA MIA" SETS BROADWAY RECORD: The hit Benny Andersson-Björn Ulvaeus musical "Mamma Mia!" celebrated its 4000th performance at the Winter Garden Theatre on May 31, pictured above. The acting company treated the entire Winter Garden Theatre audience to custom made Magnolia Bakery cupcakes as a sweet toast to mark the occasion. The musical is now the 11th longest-running show in Broadway history, having surpassed the record-breaking original runs of "Fiddler on the Roof;" "Hello, Dolly!;" "Annie;" "My Fair Lady;" "42nd Street;" and "Cabaret".
THEATRE/ RAVES FOR "TALES" IN SAN FRANCISCO: The new musical "Tales of the City," based on the popular series by Armistead Maupin, opened last night at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco to generally excellent reviews. The book, adapted from the 1st 2 "Tales" novels, is by Jeff Whitty and the score by the Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and John Garden. Variety said: "ACT's track record with musicals has been sparse and uninspired. So it's a particular pleasure to see "Tales of the City," an extremely rare venture into a full-blown, potentially Broadway-bound, world-premiere musical, turn out very nicely indeed. Lesser results would probably still have given the company a home-turf hit given lingering affection for local scribe Armistead Maupin's beloved San Francisco-set books. But as is, prospects for a commercial future are promising, especially if the ingratiating show finds a way to maintain buoyancy through a second act that lays on melodrama and sentimentality a bit thick". The San Franciso Chronicle said: "Judy Kaye is a delightfully down-to-earth Anna Madrigal, spicing her anything-goes bohemianism with tantalizing twinges of a troublesome secret. Betsy Wolfe is a bright Mary Anne Singleton, Wesley Taylor a beguiling Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, Mary Birdsong a vibrant Mona Ramsey, and that just scratches the surface of the many deftly sketched characters onstage". They went on to say: "Whitty and his collaborators have adopted enough of the serial's interconnected plots and people to fill two musicals. Or more. That's too much of a good thing at times, not enough at others and just right at many points in the almost three-hour show. ACT's world premiere is a blithe, comic and pleasantly tuneful celebration of sex, drugs and all kinds of coming out in freewheeling, pre-AIDS San Francisco circa 1976". And the San Jose Mercury said: "The iconic tale of '70s San Francisco as an anything-goes Shangri-La of disco balls, bathhouses and polyester-clad divas has been reborn as a yummy musical with a tartly buoyant libretto by Jeff Whitty ("Avenue Q") and an instantly addictive retro-chic score by Jake Shears and John Garden of the glam-pop band Scissor Sisters". "Tales of the City" runs 2 hours and 55 minutes and is scheduled to run thru July 10. Producers hope to take the show to Broadway.
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