The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
- Alyssa Milano and husband welcome a baby boy
- Aronofsky praises 'exciting' Venice lineup
- George Clooney rules out political bid in US
| Alyssa Milano and husband welcome a baby boy Posted: 31 Aug 2011 09:15 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alyssa Milano is a mom. A publicist for the 38-year-old actress says Milano gave birth to a baby boy Wednesday morning: Milo Thomas Bugliari. This is the first child for Milano and her husband, David Bugliari, who wed in August 2009. Milano wrote on her Twitter page Wednesday that her heart "has tripled in size" and that she loves her new son "more than all the leaves on all the trees." Milano starred in TV's "Who's the Boss?" and "Charmed" and can next be seen on screen in the ensemble comedy "New Year's Eve." Bugliari is an agent with Creative Artists Agency. |
| Aronofsky praises 'exciting' Venice lineup Posted: 31 Aug 2011 05:10 PM PDT VENICE, Italy (AP): Darren Aronofsky knows the joy of winning the Venice film festival's top prize - and this year it will be his job to help award it. The director heads the jury at the 68th Venice Film Festival, which opened Wednesday. He said he doesn't remember ever seeing such an "exciting" lineup. Nearly half of the competitors are high-powered English-language films, a sign of of Venice's growing prestige. Aronofsky says Venice had been both beautiful and cruel to him. "Black Swan" opened last year's festival, and he won the Golden Lion in 2008 for "The Wrestler." "The Fountain" was less warmly received in 2006. Twenty-three films are vying for the Golden Lion, to be awarded Sept. 10. Aronofsky says he'll be looking for the films that affect him most "emotionally and intelectually." |
| George Clooney rules out political bid in US Posted: 31 Aug 2011 05:07 PM PDT VENICE, Italy (AP): Idealism loses out to cynicism in George Clooney's political drama "The Ides of March," which opens the Venice Film Festival. Clooney directs and acts in the political drama that features Ryan Gosling as a gung-ho press secretary swept into a sex scandal in the final days of a Democratic presidential primary in Ohio. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are rival campaign managers who use loyalty as a weapon in their epic battle for victory. Marisa Tomei plays a Times reporter angling for scoops on the campaign trail. And Evan Rachel Wood, a pretty campaign volunteer eager to play in the big leagues, is yet another figure giving female political interns a bad rap. Clooney's idealistic presidential candidate, Pennsylvania Gov. Mike Morris, has a straightforward platform: He's nonreligious but defends the freedom of religion. He also opposes the death penalty and wants to phase out internal combustion engines to reduce American dependence on foreign oil. Clooney plays the presidential candidate, but told reporters at the festival Wednesday he is not looking to be one in real life. "As for running for president, look, there's a guy in office right now who is smarter than almost anyone you know, who's nicer and who has more compassion than almost anyone you know. And he's having an almost impossible time governing. Why would anybody volunteer for that job?" Clooney told a news conference. "I have a really good job. I get to hang out with very seductive people. So I have no interest," Clooney said. For Clooney, the film wasn't so much a political movie as a morality tale, exploring the question of whether the ends justify the means. The political arena "raised the stakes," a relaxed and jocular Clooney said, but the questions the film poses reside in many areas of life. "You could literally put this in Wall Street, or you could put it pretty much anywhere. It's all the same sort of issues. It's issues of morality. It's issues of whether or not you are willing to trade your soul for an outcome," Clooney said. In the film, many characters use seduction to get what they want: to get closer to power, to undermine the other campaign, to win political backing. Giamatti called his character "an unabashedly seductive guy." His play to recruit Gosling's character to the rival campaign opens the film's exploration of loyalty and friendship in politics. "My character is all about seduction ... the whole game of politics is a kind of sexy game in America, and I think (the movie) portrays it really well," Giamatti said. And while Clooney and his fellow actors are willing to concede that Washington and Hollywood may share seduction and power as common currency, that doesn't mean the stakes are the same. Hollywood, they suggested, commands a disproportionate amount of popular attention. "I do think there is a huge difference between Hollywood and Washington, you know, and what we are responsible for and what influence we wield. I think sometimes it gets forgotten, that the people who are governing us have a much more important position," Hoffman said. The film's title - "The Ides of March" - highlights its undercurrent of betrayal. In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, a soothsayer warns the leader of imminent betrayal with the line "beware the ides of March." "We thought that some of these themes seemed to be somewhat Shakespearean," Clooney said. "We will leave it up to people to decide who is Cassius and who's Brutus and who's Julius Caesar. Everyone has different points of view." It is hard to shake off the film's ultimate cynicism, which seems to reflect the current mood and gridlock in U.S. politics. But perhaps such a movie requires a cynical moment. Clooney said he shelved the movie in the face of brimming optimism following the 2008 election of President Barack Obama. "It took about a year, and that was over," he said, with irony. Still, he expressed hope that this, too, will pass. "Cynicism seems to be winning over idealism right now. I think it will change. I hope it will change. Soon," Clooney said. Clooney, who has a villa in northern Italy on Lake Como, is a familiar face at the Lido. He's directed or acted in six films that have been shown in Venice since 2003, including "Good Night and Good Luck," "Burn After Reading" and "Michael Clayton." "The Ides of March" is Clooney's first directorial effort to headline the festival. It is vying for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 10. |
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