Oscar Speech and Backstage Interview: Ben Affleck for Best Picture (video)

Ben Affleck, Best Picture winner for Argo

This speech by Affleck was by far the best of the night for me. “You have to work harder than you think you possibly can. You can’t hold grudges. It’s hard but you can’t hold grudges.  And it doesn’t matter how you get knocked down in life because that’s going to happen. All that matters is you gotta get up.” Love that and love him.

Oscar speech: “I want to acknowledge Steven Spielberg, who I feel is a genius and a towering talent among us. I want to acknowledge the other 8 films, there are 8 great films, who have as much a right to be up here as we do. I want to acknowledge them for what they did and thank them and many of them who didn’t even get nominated this year. I want to thank Jack McNiece, Jerry Speck, Marty Brest and my brother and my mom and dad and Patrick Whitesell and Tony Mendez, who let us do his story. Thank you. I thank you everyone in the movie, on the movie, worked on the movie, did anything with this movie gets thanked. I want to thank Canada. I want to thank our friends in Iran living in terrible circumstances right now. I want to thank my wife who I don’t usually associate with Iran. I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It’s good. It is work but it’s the best kind of work and there’s no one I’d rather work. And I’d just like to say, I was here 15 years ago or something and I had no idea what I was doing. I stood out here in front of you all and really just a kid. I went out and I never thought I would be back here. And I am, because of so many of you who are here tonight, because of this Academy, because of so many wonderful people who extended themselves to me when they had nothing to benefit from it in Hollywood. You know what I mean, I couldn’t get them a job. I want to thank them and I want to thank what they taught me, which is that you have to work harder than you think you possibly can. You can’t hold grudges. It’s hard but you can’t hold grudges.  And it doesn’t matter how you get knocked down in life because that’s going to happen. All that matters is you gotta get up. Violet, Sam and Sera, this is for you.” Read more

Watch: Dustin Lance Blacks’ ’8′ starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Matthew Morrison, John C. Reilly

If, like me, you missed the live stream of the one-night only performance of Dustin Lance Black‘s “8″ at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in LA, we’re in luck because we can watch it below.  

The play featured an all-star cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon, Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown, Chris Colfer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Vanessa Garcia, Cleve Jones, Christine Lahti, Matthew Morrison, Rory O’Malley, James Pickens, Jr., John C. Reilly, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith and George Takei.
Read more

Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Making the Movie: The Making of Movie: The Movie’ featuring George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Don Cheadle & Bryan Cranston

If you saw (and liked) Jimmy Kimmel‘s Movie: The Movie on Oscar night, then you’re going to like this as well.

Actually, you’ll probably like it even more.

Here is the Making the Movie: The Making of  Movie: The Movie featuring backstage ‘interviews’ with some of the cast.

George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Don Cheadle and Bryan Cranston talk about their craft and why they chose to participate in the star studded ‘film’.

I’ll give you a sampling from Bryan Cranston: “Anytime someone calls and says, “Do you wanna work with wieners,:  I’m in. Because I’m a big fan of the wiener.” Read more

Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Movie: The Movie’ starring Every Actor in Hollywood

Jimmy Kimmel‘s annual Oscar night show is always a lot of fun to watch because it takes your mind off of how much of a let-down the Award’s show was. At least for me it does. 

Every year, he does some huge and funny spoof and this year was no different. Movie: The Movie stars everyone from George Clooney, Matt Damon, Gary Oldman, Cameron Diaz, Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Christoph Waltz and plenty more.

It’s been getting razzed on Twitter – “it sucked!’ – is pretty much what I’ve been hearing but I liked it. I think they probably just hate Kimmel and won’t give him any props no matter what.

Check it out for yourself.  Read more

‘The Descendants’ Shailene Woodley Talks Getting Direction From Alexander Payne and Working at American Apparel on Her Hiatus

From the small screen, as the lead star of The Secret Life of The American Teenager,  to the big screen with George Clooney in The Descendants, twenty-year-old actress Shailene Woodley has come off the heels of what she calls a “mind blowing” awards season, she told Collider.

Prior to booking The Descendants, Woodley was working for an apparel store when she found out she was cast in her role.  “I had moved to New York over hiatus to do something different. I’m from Simi Valley. And, I was working at American Apparel, just to do something different, when I booked The Descendants, and I was terrified to have to quit my job. I hate having to go in and put in your two weeks notice. That’s terrifying!  I had only been working there for two months, so I thought that she would be pissed that I took a job for two months then was quitting. But, she was very gracious and kind and considerate.”

Shailene also shared what it was like to work under the direction of Alexander Payne.  “Every actor wants to work with him for a reason, and it’s because he gives you the time that you need to get to an emotional state and he’s always by the camera, talking you through the scene and helping you in times of difficulty,” she said. “He’s never stuck behind a monitor or yelling from across the stage, like most directors. He’s really present and available for you.”  Read more

George Clooney to Appear on ‘Inside the Actors Studio’

Bravo’s Inside the Actors Studio returns for its 18th season with George Clooney. 

In the two-hour season premiere, Clooney discusses his life from his early days as Dr. Doug Ross on ER to his recently acclaimed role as Matt King in The Descendants, for which he has just received an Oscar® nomination.

When talking about The Descendants, he said to host James Lipton that, “I enjoyed the fact that I was allowed to dip my toe into an area that I am very uncomfortable with.”

He also talks about  Batman Returns – “Coming off of [Batman Returns] I suddenly realized I was going to have to pick better projects” – and committing adultery…. in second grade. “I thought it meant acting like an adult, I didn’t know what the hell it meant,” he said.

The show airs on Tuesday, January 31 at 7pm et/pt.

Check out the preview below!  Read more

Watch: George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Viola Davis, Christopher Plummer and Tilda Swinton in Newsweek’s Awards Roundtable

Well, Newsweek got 3 out of 6 right.

In anticipation of today’s Academy Award nominations, the magazine gathered George Clooney, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Viola Davis, Christopher Plummer and Tilda Swinton- all possible contenders – together for a frank and at times hilarious conversation.

As you know, Clooney, Davis and Plummer got the good news today but that doesn’t take away from the performances Fassbender, Theron and Swinton did this year.

There are 4 videos and they’re all worth watching. You can see Fassbender do his Quentin Tarantino impression, Theron do a South African accent and Clooney will make you laugh.

Best line is from Viola Davis though: “Acting is about problem solving. I don’t have a method. I don’t have a way of working. It changes with every project.”

Check it out below!  Read more

George Clooney Doesn’t Care Much About Awards

George Clooney might be one of the most praised actors in Hollywood — he’s been nominated for three acting Oscars (winning one for Syriana) and was also nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Goodnight and Good Luck.  But despite being nominated for four Golden Globes this year for The Descendants and The Ides of March, and a likely nominee for an Oscar or two, Clooney claims he’s so over the whole awards scene. 

So over it that he’s talking all about it, of course.

On the NBC news program Rock Center, Clooney explained to Brian Williams, “I am a fan of movies. And so my job is to try to make films that last longer than an opening weekend.  And then if someone’s nice to you at the end of the year– and they’ve been nice and they’ve been mean — my job is to try to make films that I think are entertaining.”

Those words echo the even harsher sentiments he expressed in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly.  When asked about campaigning for awards, Clooney answered, “You use the word ‘campaign.’ I’ve actually done it where it was like a campaign, like kissing babies.  You can justify it by saying, ‘I’m helping the movie,’ but you cross a line where it feels like you’re only helping yourself. And it starts to feel unclean. So I haven’t done that version of it since then. I didn’t do it for Up in the Air or Michael Clayton. So the word ‘campaigning’ isn’t part of it anymore.”  Read more

George Clooney, Matt Damon and Daniel Craig featured in February’s Issue of ‘Vanity Fair’

Next month’s issue of Vanity Fair will feature George Clooney, Matt Damon and Daniel Craig as they take the  Proust Questionnaire.

From VF:

“If George Clooney could choose what to come back as, it would be his dog—as the actor states, “he lives better.” The Descendants lead also admits to being displeased with his posture and considers patience the most overrated virtue. Daniel Craig values patience in his friends above all, but doesn’t like his knees, and you’ll never guess what he considers his most treasured possession—but then, we can’t really be sure. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo star admits that he lies when answering questionnaires. Matt Damon, who played a widower twice this year, in Contagion and We Bought a Zoo, is focused on family off the camera—he says that he was happiest in bed making his four children and in the hospital watching them being born. He says that his greatest achievement is his marriage, that his real-life heroes are his parents, and that his favorite names are those of his wife and children. He and Clooney both wish they could play instruments, while the more practical Craig only wishes he had opposable toes.”

Forbes Lists ‘The Hardest Working Actors in Show Business’

Forbes Magazine always likes to put together all kinds of “most successful” lists.  Of course, Forbes’ latest list, which is supposed to list the Hardest Working Actors in Show Business, has interesting criteria.  “To come up with our list we looked at all movies that earned more than $20 million since 2007″ and picked the actors who have appeared in the most $20 million+ grossing films since (not counting animated films). 

Some of the choices are the usual suspects, but there are also some surprises.

Read more

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