Man who inspired hit movie skips opening

Maybe it was home-state spirit. The man whose rags-to-riches story is told in the movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” spent its opening night speaking at a company party in Wisconsin.

Michael Riggs, the CEO of JHT Holdings Inc., in Kenosha, said he arranged through a talent agency for Chris Gardner to be the inspirational speaker at the company’s Christmas party on Dec. 15. Read more

Will Smith ,happy on top of Box office

Will Smith’s new film is No. 1 with weekend moviegoers, if not with English teachers.

His rags-to-riches tale “The Pursuit of Happyness,” a rare foray into fact-based drama for the rapper-turned-comedian, sold about $27 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release across North America, distributor Columbia Pictures said on Sunday.

Hayden Panettiere at Smashbox Cosmetics Holiday 2006,on Dec 14,2006

Hayden Panettiere at Smashbox Cosmetics Holiday 2006,on Dec 14,2006

‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ dad Peter Boyle dies in NYC

‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ dad Peter Boyle dies in NYC

Peter Boyle, the actor who transformed from an angry workingman in “Joe” to a tap-dancing monster in “Young Frankenstein” and finally the comically grouchy father on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” has died. He was 71.
Boyle died Tuesday evening at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease, said his publicist, Jennifer Plante.

“It’s like losing a spouse,” Doris Roberts, who played his wife on “Raymond,” said in a statement. “I’m going to miss my dear friend, so unlike the character he played on television. He’s a brilliant actor, a gentleman, incredibly intelligent, wonderfully well read and a loving friend.”

A member of the Christian Brothers religious order who turned to acting, the tall, prematurely balding Boyle gained notice in the title role of the 1970 sleeper hit “Joe,” playing an angry, murderous bigot at odds with the emerging hippie youth culture.

Briefly typecast in tough, irascible roles, Boyle began to escape the image as Robert Redford’s campaign manager in “The Candidate” and left it behind entirely after “Young Frankenstein,” Mel Brooks’ 1974 send-up of horror films. The latter movie’s defining moment came when Gene Wilder, as scientist Frederick Frankenstein, introduced his creation to an upscale audience. Boyle, decked out in tails, performed a song-and-dance routine to the Irving Berlin classic “Puttin’ On the Ritz.”

It showed another side of Boyle, one that would be best exploited in the sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” in which he played curmudgeonly paterfamilias Frank Barone for 10 years.

“He’s just obnoxious in a nice way, just for laughs,” Boyle said of the character in a 2001 interview. “It’s a very sweet experience having this (success) happen at a time when you basically go back over your life and see every mistake you ever made.”

When Boyle tried out for the role opposite series star Ray Romano’s Ray Barone, however, he was kept waiting for his audition — and he was not happy.

“He came in all hot and angry,” recalled the show’s creator, Phil Rosenthal, “and I hired him because I was afraid of him.” But Rosenthal also noted: “I knew right away that he had a comic presence.”

Patricia Heaton, who played Boyle’s daughter-in-law on “Raymond,” said in a statement, “Peter was an incredible man who made all of us who had the privilege of working with him aspire to be better actors. … he was loved by everyone that knew him and loved by his many fans who cherished his talent.” Read more

America Ferrera’Ugly Betty’ actress loves looking dowdy

`Ugly Betty’ actress loves looking dowdy

Actresses often relish roles that allow them to look glamorous. America Ferrera, who plays dowdy assistant Betty Suarez in ABC’s “Ugly Betty,” isn’t one of them.
“It takes me an hour to become Betty. But I love that she’s so different from me,” Ferrera, 22, tells TV Guide in its Dec. 18-24 issue. “I can (keep) a bit of myself private.”

But, she adds, “Betty wears a lot of tights, parkas, all these shirts buttoned up to her neck. That drives me insane. I don’t like to feel restricted.”

Ferrera’s character, who also wears braces and eyeglasses, works at a high-fashion magazine called Mode.

“Sometimes letters come addressed to Betty,” Ferrera tells TV Guide. “They’re like, `Dear Betty, I hope things at Mode are OK.’ It’s a little creepy. These are from people who are, like, 32! I’m serious.”

Ferrera doesn’t have room to talk, though. She’s a fan of Rosie O’Donnell, whom she met during a visit to ABC’s “The View.” Read more

Tom Cruise is the most talked about celeb of 2006

Washington, Dec 13: Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise has displaced TV talk show queen Oprah Winfrey as Entertainment Tonight’s biggest TV news celebrity headline grabber of 2006.

The actor has been making the headlines throughout the year, be it his wedding to girlfriend Katie Holmes, his support of Scientology, his related criticism of psychiatry, or his rift with Paramount pictures.

Cruise has been trying his best to change his image, but most Americans still consider him too strange and also recently voted him the least favourite star in a poll. Read more

DiCaprio vs. DiCaprio at Critics Choice Awards Nominations

Leonardo DiCaprio will face off against Leonardo DiCaprio at the 12th annual Critics Choice Awards, which will be handed out January 12.

The hard-working DiCaprio has received best actor nominations for his work as a smuggler in “Blood Diamond” and an undercover cop in “The Departed” from the Broadcast Film Critics Assn., which will announce its year-end film nominations Tuesday.

DiCaprio’s competition includes Ryan Gosling for “Half Nelson,” Peter O’Toole for “Venus,” Will Smith for “The Pursuit of Happyness” and Forest Whitaker for “The Last King of Scotland.”

Representing 200 television, radio and online critics, the BFCA bills itself as the largest film critics’ organization in the U.S. and Canada, and given its broad base, its choices often foreshadow the Oscar nominations of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

That bodes well for “Departed,” “Babel,” “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Dreamgirls,” which received seven nominations each Monday. However, DiCaprio’s double-header — the first such dual nomination in the awards’ history — is impossible under the Academy’s rules, which allow a performer to be represented by only one performance per acting category.

Read more

Nicolas Cage to slow down on acting

Scottish actor Sir Sean Connery, left, and U.S. colleague Nicolas Cage pose for photographers upon their arrival to the third annual Bahamas International Film Festival at Atlantis Paradise Island, in Nassau, Friday, Dec. 8, 2006. Connery presented a Career Achievement Tribute to fellow Bahamas resident Nicolas Cage.
Nicolas Cage plans to cut back on acting

“I’m thinking about taking more time in between movies,”

“I feel I’ve made a lot of movies already and I want to start exploring other opportunities that I can apply myself to, whether it’s writing or other interests that I may develop,” he said.

Vin Diesel Clears rumors about being dropped from “Hitman”

Rumors circulated yesterday that actor Timothy Olyphant had taken Vin’s place after he was dumped from the film. While it’s true that Olyphant will star in the film (based on a popular videogame), Diesel was off the project long before Olyphant got the part.

TMZ has learned that Vin jetted off to Prague today to star in the big budget, Mathieu Kassovitz directed FOX feature, “Babylon A.D.,” based on the best-selling French novel “Babylon Babies.” The film is set to be a major 2007 holiday release for the studio.

Diesel was last seen in the movie “Find Me Guilty,” for which he received rave reviews, and also starred in the mega-hit, “The Pacifier,” which grossed over $200 million worldwide.”

Who is lying ,who’s telling the truth?

Gwyneth Paltrow denies rumors that she hates Americans

Reuter reported :”In a statement issued through People magazine’s Web site, Paltrow said she was “deeply upset” by remarks attributed to her by the Portuguese newspaper Diario de Noticias, which quoted the actress as saying: “The British are much more intelligent and civilized than the Americans.”

“I never, ever would have said that,” said Paltrow, 34, who is married to British rock star
Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, and resides part time with him and their two children in London.

“I feel so lucky to be American,” she said. “I feel so proud to be American.”

Paltrow denies giving an interview to the Portuguese daily, though she did speak at a news conference in Spanish, according to People.

“This is what I said,” Paltrow explained. “I said that Europe is a much older culture, and there’s a difference. I always say in America, people live to work, and in Europe, people work to live. There are positives in both.”

She added: “Obviously, I need to go back to seventh-grade Spanish.”

Maybe she planning a sequel for “lost in translation”.

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