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George Clooney, one of the most stylish & sexiest actor in Hollywood, currently directed and acted in a film called Leatherheads.
The film is mainly about a professional football team in 1920s...and it could be categorized as a comedy+romance+sports.
What's more interesting or rather surprising is that Clooney chose his very own hometown Maysville, Kentucky for the premier of this film.
The co-actor, Renee Zellweger, also accompanied him there.
A bit of his birth biography? He wasn't actually born in Maysville, but he was born in Lexington & he grew up in Augusta_25km west of Maysville.
No wonder Maysville has quite an influence on him.
Imagine yourself growing up in a suburb near New York City or Paris, you'll see what I mean here.
The movie was shown at the Washington Opera Theatre, Maysville last week. But unfortunately, it could only hold 300 seats.
"It was a huge part of my life, this town. I'm just like them. I just happen to be a little more famous," he told the Louisville Courier-Journal, the local paper.
"Leatherheads" was released officially on 4th April...in the US.
Beijing Jeboo Interactive Science & Technology, a Chinese online movie firm, sued 5 Hollywood studios (including Disney, Columbia and Universal) and the Motion Picture Association America for falsely accusing it of piracy.
"Services like Jeboo have profited from copyright infringement," said Frank Rittman, vice president of MPAA.
Jeboo was accused of pirating 20 popular films including "Pirates of the Carribean2" & "Hitch".
However, the oriental firm Jeboo denies this accuse, by explaining that pirated movies did not originate from it.
Furthermore, it claims itself to be China's largest distributor of non-pirated videos.
Bollywood's mega star Sanjay Dutt has quite an influence in South Africa, which is a usual spot for Bollywood movies to be shot.
Well.... for those not in touch with Bollywood....Sanjay Dutt doesn't have a clean criminal record.
He spent about 3 months behind bars in 2007 for possessing illegal weapons.
Despite this fact, President of Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry Themba Ngcobo said during his visit to India "He (Sanjay) is bigger than any icon there. He has girls swooning over him and his fan following is bigger than any Hollywood megastar. South Africans just love him. In fact, I am one of his fans myself and I have never missed any of his films, even though I usually see it with subtitles."
Meanwhile, Vancouver is also becoming an ideal spot for Bollywood & Chinese stars to recreate.
According to Vancouver's Online Source, Chinese actors are there because they can avoid media pressure while coming "to Vancouver to eat, rest, get fresh air, and visit relatives".
Former Miss World Aiswarya Rai & Hrithik Roshan (both starred in blockbuster Jodha Akbar), "enjoyed the North American dishes and views on offer at Bridges on Granville Island and Milestone’s at English Bay."
King Khan, Shahrukh Khan enjoys shopping there.
John Abraham & 3 Deol siblings also break loose at times at Plush at the Plaza of Nations.
A cool place to make your pockets flat :)
On April 27th 2007, an Indian court issued arrest warrants for Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on Thursday, saying their kiss at a public function "transgressed all limits of vulgarity."
That caused quite a riot in India.... demonstrators burned the posters of the actors and some even demanded death sentence.
Gere left Indian straightaway then....but now, the table has turned. The threat is now removed and he's now free to carry out his philanthropic efforts for Tibet and AIDS.
According to Robin Hicks, a cultural anthropologist interviewed by The New York Times last year: “Frankly, I was shocked at his behavior. He’s been to India so many times. He should have known better.”
Quite a hard-learned lesson huh.
People might think that Hollywood is just meant to entertain people. But I'd say it's a little (much) more than that.
I hope I could bring some light on this topic during current events of the US presidential election and the US oncoming economic recession.
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Midst the race to White House, Hollywood's stars Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner are giving full political support to Barack Obama. While Obama's pastor & mentor Jeremiah Wright criticized the States on the grounds of AIDS & 9/11, when Affleck was interviewed he avoided the topic by saying "I haven’t seen them, so I cannot comment."
The video can be watched here(God damn America). But warn you, the language is a bit nasty & harsh.
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Studies have shown that the US economic depression or recessions are the golden time for Hollywood movies.
Though it's still debatable whether the US is currently in the stage of recession, movie industry is hoping for some large cash.
"We don't want to wish recession on anyone or hard times on anyone, but we certainly have done very well during recessions," said John Fithian, president of the Theater Owners group, in a speech at ShoWest's opening.
Hollywood is currently with revenues running 4 percent ahead of last year's, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.... despite the fact that the economics is taking a dip.
Well.... everything happens for a reason. So, this trend also has some of its own reasons:
1- According to film historian Leonard Maltin "it seems they can always pull together the money to go to the movies" compared to buying a 50" plasma.
2- Going to movies (cinemas) is much more ideal & cheaper than other activities like sporting matches, concerts, and even bowling.
3- Movie's a great escape from everything.... lousy bosses, annoying neighbors, and most importantly fear of job insecurity because of the diving economy.
4- Online ticketing has made going to cinemas even more popular since you don't have to turn up for sold-out shows. All you have to do is log on to Yahoo! Movies or Movies.com and book for a ticket out of hell ;)
After all, shareholders' nightmare turns out to be Hollywood's heaven!
Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe received credible and serious death threats last week.
The bosses at Warner Bros were really concerned and assigned 4 body guards, all of 'em have past army experience.
Dan's regular driver was also replaced with a security guard and to tighten the security, he's been asked to switch 3 cars in a day.
According to The Sun newspaper: "There is a real concern for Daniel's welfare. No one has said what has been going on. It's all hush-hush - but security has been massively ramped up. Daniel has the four guards with him at all times."
Meanwhile, there's another news about Harry Potter which only those who've read the Deathly Hallows (the last sequel of the series) could understand!
The final Harry Potter movie is gonna be split into two "to celebrate what this franchise has been and do justice to all the words and ideas that Jo [Rowling] has put in the amazing story" according to Alan Horn from Warner Bros.
Those keen readers following up with Rowling's sequels could sympathize this statement but cynics say that it's just commercial purpose.
However, the star himself seems quite unsatisfied: "There have been compartmentalised subplots in the other books that have made them easier to cut," Daniel Radcliffe, told the Los Angeles Times. "The seventh book doesn't really have any subplots. It's one driving, pounding story from the word go."
The budget for this film is estimated around 4.5 billion.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:Part I will come out in November 2010, and Part II will appear the following May.
