plus 3, Anne Hathaway - Unworthy Of Success? - Post Chronicle

Anne Hathaway - Unworthy Of Success? - Post Chronicle
Los Angeles businessman agrees to remove huge movie ad from building ... - Chicago Tribune
'Hurt Locker' producer's actions could hurt film's Oscar chances - Fayetteville Observer
Earthquake kills scores in Chile - The Province

Anne Hathaway - Unworthy Of Success? - Post Chronicle

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 07:15 AM PST

Anne Hathaway doesn't think she deserves her success.

The 27-year-old actress believes she has been fortunate to land so many big roles, but admits she has often found herself out of her depth when working with big Hollywood names.

She said: "I owe so much of my career to luck. My mother always told me that luck is preparation meets opportunity and I've been given extraordinary opportunities to work with filmmakers long before I was talented enough and deserved to work with them. I've learned a lot from them. I just keep getting hired. I consider myself lucky and I don't know who is responsible for it."

Anne's latest role is as the White Queen in Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland' and she admits 'living' in the fantastical world appealed to her.

She said: "I'd be happy to live in a world with no rules and where people are curious."

While she is one of the world's highest-grossing actresses, Anne recently admitted she doesn't have much confidence when it comes to "full-on movie kissing".

She said: "You have to understand. There's a technique for pretty movie kissing. There's also full-on movie kissing - a totally different experience. But really, you have to be like Angelina Jolie to pull that off and still look good.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm no Angie." (c) BANG

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Los Angeles businessman agrees to remove huge movie ad from building ... - Chicago Tribune

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 05:30 PM PST

A large "How to Train Your Dragon" movie advertisement is seen on a Los Angeles building, right, on Monday, March 1, 2010 near the site of the upcoming Oscar awards. Kayvan Setareh, who was arrested after installing the advertisement, has agreed to remove the sign. City attorney's officials say Setareh posted the unpermitted "supergraphic" despite warnings. He was arrested Friday and is charged with three misdemeanor city code violations. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) (Nick Ut, AP / February 26, 2010)

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

'Hurt Locker' producer's actions could hurt film's Oscar chances - Fayetteville Observer

Posted: 01 Mar 2010 02:31 PM PST

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is considering action against a producer of "The Hurt Locker" who sent out multiple e-mails urging academy members to vote for his movie in the Oscar best-picture category and "not a $500 million film," an obvious reference to close-competitor "Avatar."

The e-mails by Nicolas Chartier, one of four nominated producers for "The Hurt Locker" and who put up the financing to make the front-running film, violated the academy's rule against sending mailings that "attempt to promote any film or achievement by casting a negative light on a competing film or achievement," according to academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger.

The initial e-mail was sent Feb. 19 and obtained by The Associated Press. Subsequent e-mails, posted by the Los Angeles Times, showed Chartier giving more specific instructions, asking Oscar voters to rank "The Hurt Locker" at No. 1 and "Avatar" at No. 10 on this year's preferential ballot for the newly expanded best-picture category.

"Hurt Locker" distributor Summit Pictures said in a statement it was "completely unaware of any e-mails that were sent until we were alerted by the academy earlier this week."

Chartier, after being confronted by Summit executives, worked with the studio and the academy to craft an apology for his actions, said Summit spokesman Paul Pflug.

"My naivete, ignorance of the rules and plain stupidity as a first-time nominee is not an excuse for this behavior and I strongly regret it," Chartier wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press. "Being nominated for an academy Award is the ultimate honor and I should have taken the time to read the rules."

"Avatar's" distributor, 20th Century Fox, declined comment on the e-mails, as did director James Cameron or anyone connected with the 3-D sci-fi sensation - Hollywood's biggest modern blockbuster.

The motion picture academy itself will hold off on announcing how exactly it plans to discipline Chartier until Oscar voting closes at 5 p.m. PST on Tuesday. The academy's Unger refused to speculate on what action might be taken.

Possible measures include public censure, taking away Chartier's Oscar tickets, and the unlikely option of removing "The Hurt Locker" - about a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq and the season's top award-winner so far - from best picture consideration, according to several academy members familiar with the situation. The members spoke on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to comment about the matter.

It's also possible that if "The Hurt Locker" wins, the academy won't extend membership to Chartier, like it does to most newly minted Oscar winners, the members said.

With Oscar ballots due Tuesday, the controversy surrounding Chartier's actions may have little effect on the March 7 Academy Awards because most voters have already mailed in their ballots, said one of the academy members.

But that hasn't stopped Hollywood insiders from bandying about heated opinions referring to Chartier's e-mails as everything from harmless enthusiasm to egregious politicking that should result in the film's disqualification.

As one academy voter put it, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject: "If 'The Hurt Locker' doesn't win best picture, I wouldn't want to be that guy. They'll be pointing at him."

In addition to Chartier's e-mails, "The Hurt Locker" is also facing complaints - just now surfacing, though the movie was released last June - from veterans and active soldiers over the accuracy of its combat scenes.

Late-in-the-game controversies surrounding Oscar front-runners is nothing new. When Roman Polanski's "The Pianist" was up for several Oscars in 2003, a transcript from the grand jury testimony of Polanski's 1977 sexual assault case was published on a Web site. Polanski still won the Oscar for best director.

A year earlier, rumors circulated that schizophrenic mathematician John Nash, the subject of Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind," harbored anti-Semitic beliefs. The movie ended up winning four Oscars, including awards for picture, director and adapted screenplay.

And, similar to this year's e-mail controversy, DreamWorks ran ads in 2004 quoting critics touting Shohreh Aghdashloo's supporting actress performance in "House of Sand and Fog" over that of Renee Zellweger in "Cold Mountain." That campaign backfired, too, with Zellweger winning the Oscar.

"I suppose I'm just naive, but I've always chosen to believe that academy members vote solely on the basis of merit," says film historian Leonard Maltin. "I do know some academy members, and they are very conscientious about their vote. They distance themselves from any jockeying of position and name-calling."

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Earthquake kills scores in Chile - The Province

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 12:31 PM PST

One of the most powerful earthquakes in decades battered Chile on Saturday, killing more than 200 people, knocking down buildings and triggering a tsunami that rolled menacingly across the Pacific.

Buildings caught fire, major highway bridges collapsed and debris lay in the streets across large swaths of central Chile, affecting millions.

A 15-storey building collapsed in Concepcion, the closest major city to the epicentre, and overturned cars lay scattered below a fallen overpass in the capital Santiago. Telephone and power lines went down, making it difficult to assess the full extent of the damage and loss of life.

Chilean president-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 200 had died in the 8.8-magnitude quake, which struck at 3:34 a.m., sending many people rushing from their beds and onto the streets in fear.

"It came in waves and lasted so long. Three minutes is an eternity. We kept worrying that it was getting stronger, like a terrifying Hollywood movie," said housewife Dolores Cuevas.

"My house is completely destroyed. Everything fell over," said one elderly man in central Santiago. "It has been destroyed. Me and my wife huddled in a corner and after hours they rescued us."

U.S. authorities reported more than 50 aftershocks continued to shake Santiago after the earthquake, with magnitudes ranging between 4.9 and 6.9.

Hundreds of people remained on the streets later in the day, with residents fearing to return to their homes because of the risk of further shocks.

Following the quake, tsunami warnings were posted around the Pacific, including in Japan, Russia and coastal British Columbia.

The warning for Hawaii was cancelled Saturday afternoon, after surges subsided without causing significant damage.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon extended sympathies to those affected by the Chilean earthquake on behalf of the Canadian government.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people and the government of Chile as it responds to the emerging natural disaster," he said.

There were no reports of Canadians missing or injured in the South American country, but about 1,100 Canadians are currently registered as visitors to Chile.

Cannon said the federal government stands ready to provide "any necessary assistance" to the country's government, but he said there had been no request for international aid.

Although one emergency official said Chile's death toll was unlikely to increase dramatically, the quake was one of the 10 biggest quakes recorded since 1900.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicentre of the earthquake struck 110 kilometres northeast of Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city, at a depth of 35 km.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.