After the announcement of nominations on January 15, 2013, and until the final polls close (February 19, 2013), Academy members may be invited to up to four screenings of a nominated film that are preceded or followed by filmmaker Q&As or other such participation. A fifth such event in the United Kingdom will be permitted. All participants must be nominated or have been eligible for nomination. No screening event may include a reception or otherwise offer complimentary food or beverages. These limitations do not apply to screenings held by the Academy, guilds or similar organizations.
The regulations also now stipulate that members may receive the film both on DVD and as a digital download.
Additionally, each week, members may be sent only one piece of mail and one email per film company. The rules maintain the prohibition on sending members links to websites that promote a film using audio, video, or other multimedia elements, but may include links to the videos in the “Academy Conversations” series on Oscars.org.
The Academy has augmented its existing ban on film companies using third parties to distribute materials that they would be prohibited from sending directly. The regulation now specifies that film companies may not have a publication use its subscriber lists to send stand alone materials to members, except in connection with the distribution of the publication itself. This amendment does not affect a company’s ability to place their usual promotional materials in trade publications.
Similarly, while guilds and other awards organizations may hold non-screening events after the nominations announcement, this rule now specifies that film companies may not use such occasions as opportunities to sponsor promotional events that would otherwise violate Academy regulations.
Source: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
However, despite Osbourne’s announcement on Twitter, NBC hasn’t yet confirmed that she’s leaving the show. NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt appeared surprised by Osbourne’s actions and at NBC’s Television Critics Association panel, said, “This is coming out of context and sort of spontaneously, and we don’t even know what’s going on. And it’s probably much ado about nothing,” according to the AP.
Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana in 'The Words' - CBS FilmsTake a look behind the scenes at the characters who make up The Words as the actors and the writer/directors discuss the film. Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Ben Barnes, Olivia Wilde, Jeremy Irons, and Dennis Quaid talk about their characters and the appeal of this particular story.
The Plot:
Young writer Rory Jansen finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There’s only one catch – he didn’t write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man’s work, and for placing ambition and success above life’s most fundamental three words.
Magnolia Pictures is offering up a first-look at Jack and Diane, the horror romance starring Riley Keough (Elvis Presley’s granddaughter) and Juno Temple. Described as the teen werewolf in love movie, Jack and Diane is coming to theaters on November 2, 2012.
The Plot:
Jack and Diane, two teenage girls, meet in New York City and spend the night kissing ferociously. Diane’s charming innocence quickly begins to open Jack’s tough skinned heart. But when Jack discovers that Diane is moving she pushes her away. Unable to grasp her new feelings, Diane’s emotions begin to cause unexplainable violent changes to her body. Through these awkward and insecure feelings, the two girls must struggle to turn their first love into an enduring one.
Katharine McPhee and Dave Annable in 'You May Not Kiss the Bride' - Photo Courtesy of Freestyle Digital MediaSmash star Katharine McPhee, Dave Annable, Rob Schneider, Mena Suvari, and Kathy Bates star in the tropical adventure-comedy-romance You May Not Kiss the Bride, which Freestyle Digital Media (FDM) along with Hawaii Film Partners will premiere on August 31st. Following the film’s debut in Hawaii, FDM will launch the movie in US mainland theaters beginning September 21st.
Rob Hedden (Clockstoppers) wrote and directed the comedy which was shot in Honolulu, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
The supporting cast includes Tia Carrere, Kevin Dunn, Vinnie Jones, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Ken Davitian.
The Plot:
You May Not Kiss the Bride is a tale of adventurous high jinx and budding romance involving an unassuming pet photographer (Annable) who is thrown head first into a series of unforeseeable events when he’s forced to marry a Croatian mobster’s daughter (McPhee) and spend his honeymoon at a secluded Tahitian resort where the bride is kidnapped.
ATO Pictures has revealed a new trailer for the comedy/drama The Oranges starring House‘s Hugh Laurie. Set for an October 5, 2012 release, The Oranges was directed by Julian Farino and features Leighton Meester, Catherine Keener, Adam Brody, Oliver Platt, Allison Janney, and Alia Shawkat.
The Plot:
The Ostroff and Walling families of West Orange, NJ, couldn’t be closer – that is, until Walling patriarch David (Laurie) falls for Ostroff daughter Nina (Leighton Meester), making life just a bit awkward for both himself and the families.
Spartacus: Vengeance will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 11, 2012 and Starz has given us a tease of what’s to come with a behind the scenes featurette from the popular series. The bonus feature provides a look at how director Michael Hurst stages fight scenes and how he handles working with different speeds.
Spartacus: Vengeance – The Complete Second Season Blu-ray and DVD Set Info:
Bonus Features:
• Starz Studios: Spartacus: Vengeance
• The Making of Spartacus: Vengeance
• Behind the Camera: Directing the Rebellion
• On Set with Liam McIntyre
• The Legend of Spartacus
• Famous Last Words
• Bloopers
• BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVE — 9 Extended Episodes and Audio Commentaries
Spartacus: Vengeance – The Complete Second Season begins on the heels of the violent escape from the House of Batiatus that concluded Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The gladiator rebellion continues and begins to strike fear into the heart of the Roman Republic. Gaius Claudius Glaber and his Roman troops are sent to Capua to crush the growing band of freed slaves that Spartacus leads before it can inflict further damage.
Spartacus is presented with the choice of satisfying his personal need for vengeance against the man who condemned his wife to slavery and eventual death or making the larger sacrifices necessary to keep his budding army from breaking apart. Containing all of the blood-soaked action, exotic sexuality, and villainy and heroism that has come to distinguish the series, the tale of Spartacus resumes in larger-than-life fashion.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers - Photo By Matt Doyle/Contour by Getty ImagesLove this bit of casting news…
NBC and Sky Living HD have announced Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) will star in the new dramatic series Dracula based on the classic Bram Stoker novel. Rhys Meyers will play Dracula in the 10-episode series, with additional casting news and production updates expected soon.
Co-executive producer Cole Haddon wrote the script, and filming will begin later this year.
Announcing the series, Michael Edelstein, President, NBCUniversal International Television Production, said: “We are delighted that Jonathan Rhys Meyers has chosen this project to return to television and have built an amazing team of producers behind the camera to deliver this extraordinary show. Since 1897, the story of Dracula has captivated readers and viewers alike and this sexy, updated twist on the classic also promises not to disappoint.”
Mensah, Sky’s Head of Drama, added: “I am so pleased to be announcing our first-ever co-production with NBC Universal and we are delighted to be bringing an actor as exciting as Jonathan Rhys Meyers to Sky. Dracula combines the biggest and best talent both in front of and behind the camera and will keep our customers intrigued and enthralled. With its dark, twisted and intelligent script, it absolutely sets the scale, tone and ambition for future dramas on Sky Living.”
The Plot: The 10-episode series introduces Dracula as he arrives in London, posing as an American entrepreneur who maintains that he wants to bring modern science to Victorian society. In reality, he hopes to wreak revenge on the people who ruined his life centuries earlier. There’s only one circumstance that can potentially thwart his plan: Dracula falls hopelessly in love with a woman who seems to be a reincarnation of his dead wife.
Christian Bale meets with Swedish staff members at the Medical Center of Aurora - Photo Credit: Swedish Medical Center Staff MemberThe Dark Knight Rises star Christian Bale visited victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooting in area hospitals this afternoon. Bale, who did not want the media alerted and wasn’t there representing Warner Bros Pictures, reportedly met with patients, doctors and first responders during his trip to Colorado.
The Denver Post spoke to the Medical Center of Aurora’s interim president Bill Voloch who confirmed that the Oscar-winning actor spent 2 1/2 hours at the hospital. “They are obviously big fans of his movies. They wanted to see Batman and were really pleased to see Bale,” said Voloch in an interview with The Denver Post.
Following the horrible events of last Friday, Bale had issued this statement:
Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.”
Kitty Wells - Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Country Music has weathered seismic changes since May 1949, when Kitty Wells stepped up from her gig as “girl singer” with Johnnie & Jack and their group and stood alone behind a microphone at Owen Bradley’s Castle Studios. She had agreed to record a song written by J.D. Miller and pitched by Troy Martin. It didn’t thrill Wells or her husband, Johnnie Wright of Johnnie & Jack, but she agreed to cut it mainly for the $125 session fee.
That song, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” exploded when released that summer, rocketing to No. 1, staying there for six weeks and selling well over a million copies. It pushed Wells from the background in her husband’s group and square into the center of the Country Music spotlight. It also caused controversy by daring to rebut Hank Thompson’s hit, “Wild Side of Life,” which dismissed a wife gone bad as a “honky tonk angel” for abandoning marriage and succumbing to the temptation of saloons “where the wine and liquor flow, where you want to be anybody’s baby.”
Country Music had seen gifted female performers before the advent of Kitty Wells, but none had challenged slatternly stereotypes as boldly as she did on this single. The moral onus, she sang, lay not on fallen women but on those who exploited them because “too many times married men think they’re still single. That has caused many a good girl to go wrong.”
This shift in perspective stirred controversy. Wells was even briefly banned from singing it during broadcast segments of “The Grand Ole Opry.” But this initial resistance washed quickly away as Country Music reacted to the implications of its success – namely, that there was more than one point of view for songs that address the realities of life and that women could assume equal importance to men as singers and, ultimately, in every other aspect of the business. That door would have opened inevitably, but it was Wells who made it happen.
In a career distinguished by 35 Top 10 singles, election to CMA’s Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and universal acknowledgment as “the Queen of Country Music” well before her last tour in 2007, she revisited the themes of betrayal, heartbreak, treachery in love and the saloon’s fatal lure.
In the worlds she conjured, the “lights were dim and low” (“Honky Tonk Waltz”), her sister steals away her suitor (“I Gave My Wedding Dress Away”), the true love of her life is forever out of reach (“Makin’ Believe”) or a heartless hypocrite who stands too close (“Poison in Your Heart”), and when she does marry the man of her dreams, he turns out to either do “too many parties and too much drinkin’, too many sweethearts and too little thinkin’” (“The Pace That Kills”) or suspect her of doing the same (“Jealousy”).
The irony is that the life Wells lived was the antithesis of those suffered by the broken, forlorn protagonists in her music. Her union with Wright was deep and enduring. It was he who named her; she had been born Ellen Muriel Deason but he thought the name Kitty Wells, borrowed from an old folk ballad, was more suited to the stage. They worked together for decades, adding their son and two daughters to the act as the Kitty Wells-Johnnie Wright Family Show. Wright passed away in 2011, just a few days short of their 74th anniversary.
In purely musical terms, Wells’ sound has faded from contemporary Country. Backed by acoustic guitars, bass, one or more fiddles and steel guitar, she was a strict traditionalist, never indulging in dramatic crescendos, soaring leaps or melodic embellishment. Almost invariably, she stayed within an octave range, articulating the lyric squarely on each beat, singing either without any vibrato or with a tight, quick warble on long notes. Yet her singing communicated powerfully, conveying sadness and even searing pain through her unadorned delivery.
Listen to her recording of “Release Me.” Her version was released in 1954, more or less simultaneously with Ray Price’s rendition. He sings it with a wide-open throat, his voice catching now and then to underscore emotional turns in the words and melody. Wells holds back more. Aside from a quiet downward glissando at the end of a few long notes, she sings almost conversationally. She keeps her feelings in check, but this keeps listeners riveted. Even now, she has few if any peers in her ability to get to the heart of a song with no pretense or apparent effort.
“Country Music would not be what it is today without Kitty Wells,” said CMA CEO Steve Moore. “The honesty of the songs she sang, her courage in claiming a role for women as a powerful voice in Country Music and her great dignity onstage and in her life have benefited us all beyond measure. Now and forever, she is the Queen of Country Music.”
Kitty Wells, 92, passed away July 16 in Nashville, her lifelong hometown, from complications as a result of a stroke.
