The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
| Posted: 03 May 2013 01:29 AM PDT Vehicle 19 Paul Walker gets behind the wheel of a rental car in this film, set and filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa. He plays an ex-convict who violates his parole by travelling to this faraway city to find his girlfriend, only to be caught in a middle of a kidnapping. Naima McLean co-stars. Hummingbird Another guy on the run; this time it's a damaged ex-Special Forces soldier who escapes a military court martial. To make sure he doesn't go back there, Joey Jones (Jason Statham) heads into London's criminal underworld and assumes another man's identity. |
| 'Gossip Girl' actor Penn Badgley wows in role as singer Posted: 03 May 2013 01:18 AM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Penn Badgley, best known for his role as a hip young New Yorker on television series Gossip Girl, is now claiming a place in the spotlight by headlining a feature film for the first time and showing off his previously hidden singing talents. Badgley, 26, stars as late U.S. musician Jeff Buckley in the indie film Greetings From Tim Buckley, opening in limited release in U.S. movie theaters on Friday. The film chronicles Buckley in the days leading up to his first public performance at age 25: a 1991 tribute concert at New York's St. Ann's Church for his late father, experimental rock great Tim Buckley. In theory, a TV star with a big following of teenage fans may have seemed an unlikely choice to play the brooding musician who died of an accidental drowning at the age of 30. The film's director Daniel Algrant told Reuters even his own producers had those same reservations - casting a "kid from a teeny-bopper show" to play the soulful, reserved Buckley. But luckily, Algrant had never heard of Gossip Girl and cast Badgley (pic) based on his audition tape. "I wanted someone who was willing to take risks and on this tape, he took so many risks," the director said. Among them is a scene that takes place in a record store where Buckley sings several different songs as he tries to impress a young girl. Out of the 100-plus tapes Algrant watched of potential Buckleys, Badgley was the only actor who tackled the challenging record store scene effectively. "It was so riveting," recalled Algrant. "It was 10 minutes long; he'd interrupt himself and say, 'I made a mistake let's do it again.' But it was so real and so true. And he could sing." Algrant's gut instinct proved right. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Badgley's portrayal of Buckley is a "vibrant break-out performance" while Variety said the actor "does a thrilling job" on vocals. The Playlist observed that Badgley's performance reveals "that the Gossip Girl star has quite a few more talents than he's thus far been given credit for." PAYING HIS DUES Badgley appreciates the recognition, but harbors no resentment towards those who may have doubted him at first. "You pay your dues," Badgley told Reuters matter-of-factly. "I wouldn't expect anyone to expect that I could do something like this, so it's nice to have people respond so positively." He said his biggest fear in taking on the role was "not wanting to misrepresent" a singer whom so many hold dear. "The greatest Jeff Buckley fan should rest assured that I was the last person on Earth who wanted to screw it up," said Badgley. "I never intended to not give it everything I had." To prepare for the role, Badgley studied the singer's life, his interviews, spoke to people who knew him, and practiced his vocal skills in front of a crowd at St. Ann's church, the same place Buckley performed 22 years earlier. Both Badgley and Buckley struggled in Los Angeles before finding success in New York. "Jeff was a depressed out-of-work session guitarist in L.A.," Badgley said. "Then he came to New York and the whole world opened up for him. "I know what that's like to be despondent and broke and out of work, and then coming to New York and this whole world of success kind of greeting you, falling in love, and all sorts of things like that." Badgley began his career making guest appearances on TV shows like Will & Grace and playing supporting roles in movies. But three network series he signed onto from 2002 to 2006 never made it past their first season. All that changed in 2007 when the actor was cast as the soulful poet Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl, which ended its run after six seasons last December. The show had a huge fan following among teen girls and put the public and personal lives of stars Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and Chace Crawford on magazine covers. Badgley's one-time off-screen romance with on-screen on-and-off girlfriend Lively also fueled attention. With Greetings From Tim Buckley, New York became once again a blessing, providing Badgley with an opportunity to showcase his acting and musical chops in a new way. "I'm really grateful for this film to have come along, and for me to be challenged like this," he said. "And to have risen to the occasion and not fallen on my face." |
| Posted: 02 May 2013 09:43 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan appeared to have skipped out on a court-ordered rehab program on Thursday, before doing a disappearing act and possibly violating her probation again. Although her lawyer assured a Los Angeles judge on Thursday that she had checked in to start a 90-day stint imposed for a June 2012 reckless driving case, Lohan was photographed about the same time shopping in a Southern California electronics superstore. Santa Monica city prosecutor Terry White told the Los Angeles Times hours later that he had learned that Lohan, 26, spent only a few minutes at the rehabilitation facility in Newport Beach before leaving. "Ms. Lohan is in violation of her probation. That much is clear," White told the newspaper. Lohan is still on probation for a 2011 jewelry theft. Any violation could make her liable to arrest and being ordered to jail. Celebrity news outlet E!, quoting unidentified sources, said Lohan never got out of her car at the Morningside Recovery Center and that she may be headed back to New York. Calls to Lohan's lawyer and publicist were not returned on Thursday and celebrity news websites reported no further sightings of the troubled Mean Girls actress. Lohan, 26, was sentenced to 90 days in a locked rehab center as part of a March plea deal. She avoided jail by pleading no contest to charges that she lied to police when she said she was not behind the wheel of a car that smashed into a truck in the beach city of Santa Monica in June 2012. Lohan had until Thursday to start her treatment and had initially agreed to go to a rehab center in New York. Her last-minute switch, reportedly because she could not smoke in the New York facility, left White fuming on Thursday because he said he had not had time to vet the Morningside Recovery Center. Officials at the Department of Alcohol and Drug programs said the center was not licensed to provide the kind of 24-hour residential alcohol or drug detox program that Lohan was ordered to attend. The center said in a statement that it operated sober living homes and certified outpatient services at a clinic and had "successfully treated thousands of patients through our program." Its website shows pictures of sunsets on the beach, and offers clients group trips to Disneyland, sailing and kayaking. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Dabney gave prosecutors a week to investigate the Morningside Recovery center. Lohan has spent at least five stints in rehab in the past six years for unspecified issues. |
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