Armie Hammer, Ed Helms, Regina King, Julianna Margulies, Natalie Portman to Present at the SAG Awards

The SAG Awards have just announced that Ed Helms, Julianna Margulies and Natalie Portman will join Actor nominee Armie Hammer, SAG Awards® social network ambassador Regina King and SAG President Ken Howard as presenters at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®.

The SAG Awards® will be Simulcast Live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 at 8 p.m. (ET) / 5 p.m. (PT)
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Watch: Natalie Portman’s ‘The Professional’ Audition

The Huffington Post recently dug up Natalie Portman‘s audition for her first feature film role in The Professional (1994).

The voice over of the video is annoying but it’s fun to watch. She’s all big cheek’s and eyes.

There’s also a second video that show’s her interview. It’s with David Letterman and the two talk about how she was cast in the film. According to Portman, at the first audition she was asked to leave because they thought she was too young. For whatever reason they eventually decided to call her back. Three call backs later, she finally received the part.

Check it out below.

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More controversy over Natalie Portman’s dancing in “Black Swan”

Sarah Lane is upset over the controversy surrounding her, Natalie Portman and “Black Swan“, because she feels many people view her as greedy and angry over the misrepresentation of her contribution to the film, especially the request made by the film’s producer that she not give any interviews prior to the Academy Awards.

“It was all my fault really because I didn’t have a manager. When I was going to sign my contract it said on screen credit is up to the producer’s discretion. I asked some people, I said I don’t know about this. I feel like I should have it specified in my contract how I want to be credited and everyone was like you know you’re a double so you’re already getting paid more than a principal contract. So I signed the contract and I left it. I thought they would kind of take care of me because they were really encouraging and really sweet and always saying how amazing I was. They were kind of rooting me on when I would have to do shots that were really hard and almost impossible even for a professional ballet dancer.”

Lane says things erupted when Dance Magazine editor in chief Wendy Perron began blogging about a cover-up after an online video showing Lane dancing with Portman’s face digitally imposed on her body was removed from the Internet. “ I don’t want people to think that I’m here to trash Natalie and get fame for myself. I do want people to know that you cannot absolutely become a professional ballet dancer in a year and a half no matter how hard you work. I’ve been doing this for 22 years.”

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Academy Awards: Press Room Cams

Here’s a batch of press room interviews from the Academy Awards featuring Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Aaron Sorkin.

Some questions they are asked are rather odd but the way they handle it is entertaining.

Check them out!

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The Actors: Oscar Acceptance Speeches From Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Colin Firth and Melissa Leo

There were no real surprises in the acting categories this year but all the winners were, I thought, deserving. There’s no way you can dispute any of their performances.

Here are the acceptance speeches of Colin Firth (Best Actor), Natalie Portman (Best Actress), Christian Bale (Best Supporting Actor) and Melissa Leo (Best Supporting Actress).

Also, check out the interview I did with Melissa last year (click here). I was in the tank for her and I’m incredibly happy she won. She totally deserved it!

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2011 Independent Spirit Awards Winners

Here’s the winners of last nights Independent Spirit Awards. There were no real surprises – Winters Bone took both supporting actor nod which was nice to see.

Also, check out the 3 videos of host Joel McHale!

BEST FEATURE
Black Swan

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

BEST SCREENPLAY
Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

BEST MALE LEAD
James Franco, 127 Hours

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Exit Through the Gift Shop

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The King’s Speech

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Before The Oscars: Natalie Portman

How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.

Natalie Portman

Nominated for “Best Actress In A Leading Role”

Film: Black Swan

Role: Nina Sayers, a young ballerina whose precarious mental state begins to disintegrate when she is cast in the role of the Swan Queen.

How she got started: Born in Jerusalem, Natalie Portman started taking dancing classes when she was four years old. When she turned 10, she auditioned for the Off Broadway show Ruthless and was cast as an understudy with future pop star Britney Spears. In 1993, she made her feature film debut in Luc Besson’s film Léon. In the mid ’90s, Portman became a sci-fi icon after starring in Star Wars prequel, the Phantom Menace. She also had roles in Beautiful Girls, Where The Heart Is, Garden State and Closer, which earned her an Academy Award nomination.

Other notable films: Beautiful Girls, V for Vendetta, Where The Heart Is, Garden State, The Other Boleyn Girl and Closer (Academy Award Nomination)

The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.

Trailer: “Hesher” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson

Hescer: In the wake of his mother’s recent death, thirteen year old TJ (Devin Brochu) finds the bumpy road to emotional recovery made a bit easier to travel thanks to his friendship with Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a greasy-haired anarchist who lives in a van, sports homemade tattoos, and has a soft spot for explosions.

Director: Spencer Susser

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson, Devin Brochu

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3 ‘Black Swan’ featurettes with great behind the scenes footage!

Here are 3 great featurettes from the Academy Award Nominated film, Black Swan.

Featuring Natalie Portman, Darren Aronofsky and the rest of the cast, the featurettes show us Portman talking about her training, Aronofsky on directing the film and a behind the scenes video.

Check them out!

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Oscar 2011 Reactions: Colin Firth, James Franco, Natalie Portman

The Oscar nominations came out this morning and the actors are out giving their thoughts. Here’s some of the better videos and quotes of the bunch.

If you were only to watch 2, I recommend watching the Colin Firth video followed by James Franco. Franco chides Meredith Vieira for almost telling Colin Firth that he was going to win Best Actor. Pretty funny!

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