TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012
lifestyle M U S I C
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Iron Man 3 to be partly filmed, produced in China
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ron Man 3 will be co-produced by a Chinese film company and partly filmed in China, the Walt Disney Co announced yesterday, as Hollywood seeks to tap into the Asian nation’s fast-growing movie market. Filming for the third movie in the billion-dollar franchise from Marvel Studios-a Disney subsidiary-is due to start in May in the United States. The cast includes Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle. The film will be co-produced by DMG Entertainment, a Chinese film company that will make an undisclosed investment in the movie, Walt Disney, Marvel and the Chinese firm announced yesterday. Parts of the film will also be shot in China beginning later this summer, they added. “Adding a local flavor, and working with our new local partner, will enhance the appeal and relevance of our characters in China’s fast-growing film marketplace,” Rob Steffens, General Manager of Operations and Finance for Marvel Studios, said in a statement. Dan Mintz, head of DMG Entertainment, added that the three-way collaboration marked a “milestone” in global entertainment. “This signifies the first multi-billion dollar franchise to be produced between Hollywood and China,” he said. China has become the holy grail for
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‘Matilda’ mops up 7 prizes at theater’s Oliviers M
US actor Robert Downey Jr poses with a life-size “Iron Man” as he presents himself during a press conference of his new film “Iron Man” in Tokyo.—AP
Cosby says black teen’s death about US gun culture
Cast members from Matilda the Musical, who each play Matilda on different nights, pose for photographers after each winning Best Actress in a Musical awards at the Olivier Awards in central London on April 15, 2012.—AFP
ischievous musical “Matilda” dominated British theater’s Olivier Awards on Sunday, winning seven prizes including a joint best-actress trophy for the four children who play the title role. Written by the playwright Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Australian comedian Tim Minchin, “Matilda” took more prizes than any show in the Oliviers’ 36-year history. Its trophies included best new musical and best actor for a cross-dressing Bertie Carvel as well as the prize for young performers Cleo Demetriou, Kerry Ingram, Sophia Kiely and Eleanor Worthington-Cox. The quartet, who each perform two shows a week, are all 12 or under. Worthington-Cox, at 10, is the youngest person to win an Olivier. “That’s pretty cool,” she said. “Scary. But I find that pretty amazing.” Carvel praised the youngsters’ performances as “beautifully unfinished ... and full of life.” Matthew Warchus, who took the best-director trophy for “Matilda,” said he was often asked which of the lead actresses was his favorite. “It’s a ridiculous question,” he said. “There’s four little miracles there.” The musical, based on Roald Dahl’s tale of an extraordinary little girl from an ordinary family, combines exuberance with Dahl’s characteristic touch of the macabre. It has become a big hit for
Hollywood film studios eager to cash in on a potentially hugely lucrative market that boasts the fastest growing movie box office in the world. Last year, cinemas in China raked in more than 13 billion yuan ($2 billion), a nearly 30 percent increase from 2010, the state Xinhua news agency has reported. But foreign studios and film distributors face a tough time in the Asian powerhouse, where authorities limit to 20 the number of foreign movies allowed to be screened in China every year. Despite this, Hollywood blockbusters are incredibly popular in China and foreign films took in just under half of box office earnings last year, Xinhua has said, quoting the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.—AP
the Royal Shakespeare Company, which has transferred it to the West End and plans to open it in New York early next year. Minchin praised the RSC for hiring two writers from outside the mainstream to create a family musical. “I think that’s a victory for risk,” he said. The Olivier awards honor achievements in London plays, musicals, dance and opera. Winners in most categories are chosen by a panel of stage professionals and theatergoers. The prize for best actor in a play went jointly to Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, who alternated the roles of a scientist and his monstrous creation in Danny Boyle’s National Theatre production of “Frankenstein.” Miller paid tribute to his director, saying the hit show had succeeded because of “Danny’s quest for honesty and truth.” Ruth Wilson was named best actress for playing a weathered woman of the world in “Anna Christie” at the Donmar Warehouse. The production of Eugene O’Neill’s maritime melodrama, which co-started Jude Law, was named best revival. Wilson, who is currently filming action movie “The Lone Ranger” with Johnny Depp, thanked “Anna Christie” director Rob Ashford, because “you always cast a harem of gorgeous men for me to act
with.” Sheridan Smith - last year’s best actress in a musical for “Legally Blonde” - was named best supporting performer in a play for her non-musical role in wartime drama “Flare Path.” Nigel Harman won the prize for best supporting role in a musical for his recently ended stint as Lord Farquaad in “Shrek.” The best new play award went to John Hodge’s “Collaborators,” a funny and chilling look at authoritarianism based on the relationship between Soviet leader Josef Stalin and writer Mikhail Bulgakov. The prizes were handed out during a ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House hosted by Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball, currently co-starring in “Sweeney Todd.” The show featured a live linkup to an Oliviers reception in New York, currently home to a glut of British theatrical talent. According to the Society of London Theatre, a quarter of the shows currently running on Broadway originated in London. The audience award for most popular play, chosen by public vote, went to long-running favorite “Les Miserables.” There were special achievement awards for Tim Rice, lyricist of “Evita” and “The Lion King,” and Monica Mason, outgoing director of the Royal Ballet.—AP
eteran US actor and comedian Bill Cosby spoke out Sunday about the fatal shooting in February of an unarmed black teen in Florida, blaming his death on the prevalence of guns in the United States. “We need to get rid of it on the streets. And if people have one, they should be checked out so thoroughly,” said Cosby, who is perhaps best known as the dad on the long-running 1980s TV sitcom “The Cosby Show.” “When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks that this thing is-it will win arguments and straighten people out,” the 74-yearold African-American actor told CNN. “In the wrong hands, in the wrong mind, it’s death. It’s wounding people, people who don’t have money to buy a decent meal for themselves, yet, someone will put an illegal gun in their hand,” he said, lamenting that firearms are “all around this United States.” Cosby was speaking to CNN about the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a case which has gripped the nation and sparked a fresh debate about race relations and the right to self-defense in the United States. Prosecutors in Florida last week filed second-degree murder charges against neighborhood watch guard George Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, over the shooting of Martin in a gated community of Sanford, Florida. Martin’s parents and supporters say the teen was a victim of racial profiling. Zimmerman’s backers say the
(From left) Vibraphonist Warren Wolf, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, trumpet player Christian Scott, and actor-comedian Bill Cosby joke about the height of a microphone as musical director George Duke looks on during the opening gala of the historic Howard Theater in Washington, DC on April 12, 2012.—AFP sion over time that he was better off watch volunteer fired in self-defense without the weapon. after Martin attacked him. Cosby has “I also believe that when you tell firsthand knowledge of the tragedy of me that you’re going to protect the gun violence, having lost a son 15 neighborhood that I live in, I don’t years ago who was fatally shot. He want you to have a gun,” he said. “I admitted he once owned a handgun, want you to be able to see something, for use in protecting his family, but that he had since decided to get rid of report it and get out of the way, because you happen to be a part of the firearm. “I used to have a gun,” he the neighborhood,” said Cosby. “I don’t said. “The policeman who okayed it want you to get hurt. And I don’t want said to me, ‘Mr Cosby, when you pull you to hurt anyone.”—AFP this trigger, you can’t call it back’,” he said, adding that he came to the deci-
‘Hunger Games’ again a winner in N America
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uggernaut hit film “The Hunger Games” topped the North American box office for a fourth weekend in a row, raking in $21.5 million in ticket sales, industry estimates showed Sunday. The movie blockbuster raised its total to $337.1 million, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said. Legions of fans have flocked to see the movie, based on a book by Suzanne Collins, in which a teenage girl played by Jennifer Lawrence fights to win a death match TV reality show featuring children in a post-apocalyptic world. The film edged “The Three Stooges,” a Farrelly brothers tribute
to the US comedy act which took in $17.1 million in its debut weekend. “The Cabin in the Woods,” the muchhyped horror flick written and produced by “Avengers” director Joss Whedon, came in third place in its opening weekend with $14.85 million in ticket sales, Exhibitor Relations said. The 3D-enhanced re-release of 1997’s “Titanic” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet-in theaters as the world marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ocean liner-finished in fourth place with $11.6 million. “American Reunion”-the sequel to the 1999 hit
“American Pie”-came in fifth place with $10.6 million, followed by Snow White rehash “Mirror Mirror” with $7 million. “Wrath of the Titans” came in seventh place, earning $6.9 million, followed by “21 Jump Street,” a reboot of the 1980s TV series, which took in $6.8 million for eighth place. Rounding out the top 10 were new space thriller “Lockout” starring Guy Pearce, in ninth place with $6.25 million, and the animated film “Dr Seuss’ The Lorax” with a $3 million weekend take. —AFP
Butler enjoys dance with a mystery brunette at the Coachella
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erard Butler enjoyed a dance with a mystery brunette at the Coachella Music Festival in Palm Springs. The Scottish hunk - who received treatment for prescription drug problems in February - partied with the beauty at the A/X Armani Exchange and T-Mobile Neon
Carnival on Saturday and seemingly did not mind he was being seen out and about. A source told the New York Post newspaper: “The two were grinding like they were at a middle school dance. He didn’t seem to care who was watching.”
Carrie Brownstein of Wild Flag performs during the band’s set.
It is believed Gerard stayed sober at the event. Gerard was not the only celebrity to enjoy the glamorous bash; Emma Roberts, Zoe Kravitz, Paris Hilton and Emile Hirsch were also in attendance. Soon after completing his threeweek rehab stint in February the ‘Coriolanus’ actor was
Dr Dre, left, and Snoop Dogg perform together.
seen partying at the Weinstein Company’s Soho House party in West Hollywood. According to those at the event he was seen chatting to a number of women telling one he was doing “pretty good” following his time out. —Bang Showbiz
Eminem performs onstage during Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg’s headlining performance on the first weekend of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Sunday, in Indio, Calif.—AP