61st Cannes Film Festival: The Winners List
May 25, 2008
The 61st Cannes Film Festival has come to a close and the jury, headed by Sean Penn, has announced their decisions.
The much-coveted Palme d’Or went to the French film The Class, directed by Laurent Cantet. It was the first time France has won the biggest prize since Maurice Pialat’s Under the Sun of Satan won in 1987.
The list of the big winners at Cannes is as follows:
Palme d’Or: “The Class,” Laurent Cantet (France).
Grand Prize: “Gomorrah,” Matteo Garrone (Italy).
Jury Prize: “Il Divo,” Paolo Sorrentino (Italy).
Special 61st Anniversary Prizes: Catherine Deneuve (France) and Clint Eastwood (United States).
Best Director: “Three Monkeys,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey).
Best Actor: Benicio Del Toro, “Che” (United States).
Best Actress: Sandra Corveloni, “Linha de Passe” (Brazil).
Best Screenplay: “Lorna’s Silence,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium).
Golden Camera (first-time director): “Hunger,” Steve McQueen (Britain).
Best short film: “Megatron,” Marian Crisan (Romania).
Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron Dish High School Musical 3
May 20, 2008
While the first two High School Musical movies were both huge successes for Disney, neither film was screened theatrically.
That’s all going to change when Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu, and the rest of the gang hit the big screen in High School Musical 3: Senior Year this October.
It looks like in HSM3, the characters will mature and have to face some harder decisions than in the previous ones.
“You see the characters grow up a lot more so than ever before,” explained Vanessa Hudgens in an interview with ABC News. ”You know, you have college, you have your relationships, and just trying to figure out which path to take is tough.”
“Troy usually has a pretty big decision to make in every film. And in this movie, you see Troy struggling with these decisions … whether to, you know, pursue basketball or pursue theater. And it’s a pretty big one for him. It’s pretty cool,” said co-star Zac Efron.
Efron admitted that he arrived at rehearsals late and had to pay for it the hard way.
“It was tough catching up with everybody,” he admitted. “Vanessa’s tough to keep up with, man!”
”I’m still hurting. We’re all kind of limping around,” Hudgens added.
Hilary Duff Is Willing To Lose Some Fans In Order To Expand
May 17, 2008
Hilary Duff has had to go through the same ordeal that many starlets have had to go through before her, the tough transitioning from squeaky clean kid to all grown up.
So she put a scorpion down her pants onscreen — not exactly the traditional way to go.
But she says took the uncharacteristic role as a crass sexpot in War, Inc. to help people see her as grown up.
“I’m growing up, and my fans are going to grow up with me. I think there will be a mixed emotion about it. But if I lose fans, well, I don’t want to limit myself in my career,” she said in a recent interview with Newsday at TriBeCa.
Duff explained that casting directors still saw her as a kid, and that ”put me in a box, and people didn’t want to take a chance on me.” So she went for the new role and “it was great just getting to play a character that was so out there and crazy.”
What War Inc. has not gotten, however, is critical acclaim. The flick currently has a mere 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.