Franco tells Letterman about his Oscar appearance: “I love her, but Anne Hathaway is so energetic. I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to her”
April 1, 2011 by Heather-Louise Ferris
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
James Franco was battered by critics after he co-hosted the Oscars with Anne Hathaway, with many of them saying he appeared to be stoned throughout the broadcast. Franco has insisted he was merely fatigued by to a hectic schedule.
Franco told David Letterman that his co-host was partly to blame. “I love her, but Anne Hathaway is so energetic. I think the Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway…She has a lot of energy,” the actor said.
Letterman agreed, describing Hathaway as,”very buoyant…very ebullient.”
Franco was nominated for an Oscar this year for his role in “127 Hours” and believes he is recognized more as a dramatic actor than for his comedic skills. He summed up his Oscar experience for Letterman. “I think I actually — I haven’t watched it back — maybe I had low energy. I honestly played those lines as well as I could.”
Having hosted the Oscars in 1995, to mixed reviews, Letterman appeared to sympathize with Franco, describing his own experience as, ”Horrible…I was so bad that they talked for a while about shutting down the motion picture industry.”
Franco’s Letterman appearance will air tonight.
via reuters.com
Alec Baldwin on co-hosting the Academy Awards: “It was very intimidating for me”
February 25, 2011 by Heather-Louise Ferris
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News, TV
This Sunday is Oscar night, so who better to ask about the responsibility of hosting the Academy Awards than Alec Baldwin, who shared the honor with Steve Martin last year?
“It was very intimidating for me,” said Baldwin. “The weight comes from the fact that you have two competing things: you want the show to be entertaining and fun and you’re honoring achievement in the motion picture business, which people take very seriously. To tether back and forth between those two can be difficult, at times.”
He adds, “the Oscars are different from other award shows in that some of these people are going to win this award and it’s going to shoot them into the stratosphere. It’s going to change their lives.”
To read more, go to: WSJ.com
Before The Oscars: Melissa Leo
February 25, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.
Nominated for “Best Actress In A Supporting Role”
Film: The Fighter
Role: Alice Ward, a selfish and controlling woman who is harming her son’s chance to become a successful fighter.
How she got started: Melissa Leo developed an affinity for acting while living in London when she was 9 years old. She moved back to the U.S. to attend the State University of New York at Purchase and left during her junior year to pursue acting. Her first role was in the soap opera “All My Children” and she received a Day Time Emmy for her performance. Leo was also a series regular on the television series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and appeared in feature films such as A Time of Destiny, 21 Grams, Confess and Frozen River, which earned her an Oscar nomination.
Other notable films: A Time of Destiny, Last Summer in the Hamptons, 21 Grams, Confess, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Frozen River (Academy Award Nomination)
The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.
Before The Oscars: Natalie Portman
February 23, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
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.
Before The Oscars: Colin Firth
February 22, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.
Colin Firth
Nominated for “Best Actor In A Leading Role”
Film: The King’s Speech
Role: King George VI, the British monarch who seeks help from a speech therapist for his severe stammer.
How he got started: Colin Firth developed an interest in acting when he was a teenager. When he was 18 years old, he began studying drama at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. After performing with the Drama Centre London, he was cast as the lead in a West End production of Julian Mitchell’s Another Country. He appeared in several mini-series and films before catching his big break in the perennially popular BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. His breakthrough performance as “Mr. Darcy” also led to him being cast in the romantic comedy Bridget Jones’s Diary.
Other notable films: The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Mamma Mia!, Love Actually, A Single Man (Academy Award nomination)
The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.
Before The Oscars: John Hawkes
February 18, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.
John Hawkes
Nominated for “Best Actor In A Supporting Role”
Film: Winter’s Bone
Role: Teardrop, the menacing uncle of a young girl who is searching desperately for her missing father.
How he got started: John Hawkes decided to pursue a career in acting after seeing Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at The Guthrie Theater when he was a sophomore in high school. While living in Austin, Texas, he started a successful theater company called Big State Productions with a few of his out-of-work actor friends. Hawkes moved to Los Angeles to further his acting career and appeared in numerous movies and TV shows before landing a starring role in the HBO series “Deadwood.” He also starred in the critically acclaimed indie film Me You and Everyone We Know, as well as Identity, American Gangster and The Perfect Storm.
Other notable films: A Slipping Down Life, The Perfect Storm, Identity, American Gangster, Miami Vice and Hardball.
The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.
Before The Oscars: Michelle Williams
February 15, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.
Michelle Williams
Nominated for “Best Actress In A Leading Role”
Film: Blue Valentine
Role: Cindy, a young wife and mother whose marriage to a man she once loved deeply is now failing.
How she got started: Michelle Williams fell in love with performing at a young age. When she was 9 years old, her family moved from Kalispell, Montana to San Diego. While attending Santa Fe Christian Schools in Solana Beach, she saw her first live theater performance and became infatuated with acting. At 14, she made her feature debut in the movie Lassie. She left school to pursue acting eventually landed a role on the WB show “Dawson’s Creek,” which launched her career to stardom.
Other notable films: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, Prozac Nation, Brokeback Mountain (Academy Award nomination), Deception, Shutter Island
The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.
“If it’s the worst Oscars Show ever, who cares?” says James Franco
February 11, 2011 by Heather-Louise Ferris
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
J
ames Franco says he isn’t feeling any pressure about co-hosting the upcoming Oscar ceremony.
“It’s like, it’s fine. It’s one night. It doesn’t matter. If I host the worst Oscar show in history of the Oscars, like, why do I care? I’ll try my best,” says Franco, who is sharing hosting duties with actress Anne Hathaway. “I don’t see any shame in that. Hosting the Oscars is like shooting a movie. It’s all in the collaboration. If a movie comes out horrible, it’s only partially my fault,” added Franco, “It’s the same thing with the Oscars.”
Franco is nominated for Best Actor for playing a hiker trapped in a remote canyon for five days in “127 Hours”.
The Academy Awards will be handed out on February 27 in a ceremony televised around the world.
Before The Oscars: Amy Adams
February 11, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film
How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting careers? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.
Amy Adams
Nominated for “Best Actress In A Supporting Role”
Film: The Fighter
Role: Charlene Fleming, the determined girlfriend of a boxer whose controlling family is harming his career.
How she got started: Amy Adams started her acting career doing dinner theater and waiting tables in Boulder, Colorado. Her first film was the 1999 comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous. A few years later, she landed a role in Catch Me If You Can, starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2005, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her breakthrough role in the indie film Junebug. Adams also received a Golden Globe nomination for starring in the Disney movie Enchanted and another Oscar nomination for playing Sister James in the film version of Doubt.
Other notable films: Catch Me If You Can, Junebug (Academy Award Nomination), Enchanted, Doubt (Academy Award Nomination), Sunshine Cleaning and Julie and Julia
The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.
Before The Oscars: Jesse Eisenberg
February 10, 2011 by Deanna Chew
Filed under Film, Performing Arts News
How did this year’s Academy Award nominees begin their acting career? Find out in The Daily Actor’s “Before The Oscars” special feature.
Jesse Eisenberg
Nominated for “Best Actor In A Leading Role”
Film: The Social Network
Role: Facebook developer Mark Zuckerberg a young man whose computer expertise far outweighs his social skills
How he got started: Jesse Eisenberg began acting at a community theater when he was 9 years old while attending a performing arts school in New York . He made his Broadway debut as an understudy in a revival of Summer and Smoke. In 1999, he landed a role in the TV series Get Real, which was canceled a year later. After that, he starred in a few independent films that opened to positive reviews (Roger Dodger, The Emperor’s Club). In 2005, he appeared in West Craven’s horror flick Cursed and the indie drama The Squid and The Whale, starring Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels.
Other notable films: Roger Dodger, The Squid And the Whale, Adventureland, Solitary Man and Zombieland.
The 83rd Academy Awards airs on February 27 at 8pm. For a list of nominees, click here.
