Abigail Breslin

Abigail Breslin, the teenage actress will be playing the role of Helen Keller in her debut on Broadway next year. Breslin was nominated for n Oscar for her role in the movie comedy “Little Miss Sunshine”.

Breslin will be seen as Keller in the William Gibson play, “The Miracle Worker”. David Richenthal, the producer of the play, announced on Wednesday the production of would start on February 12 next year at the Circle in the Square Theater with the opening set for March 3. Alison Pill will be playing the role of Keller’s teacher Annie Sullivan. Pill was earlier seen in the movie “Milk” as well as a list of Broadway shows.

The story of “The Miracle Worker” is set in the South in the 1880s. It speaks about the real life story of Medal of Freedom winner Helen Keller. Keller was born as deaf and blind. But with the help of his remarkable supportive teacher, Annie Sullivan, she learnt to communicate with the world. The play was earlier produced on Broadway 50 years ago starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.

Breslin, who is 13 years old now, appeared first on screen when she was 5. She appeared in M. Night Shyamalan’s 2002 film “Signs”. The teen star also received an Oscar nomination in the best supporting actress category for playing the title role in the comedy film “Little Miss Sunshine”. The various other popular films she worked in are “Raising Helen,” “No Reservations,” “Definitely Maybe,” “Nim’s Island,” “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” “My Sister’s Keeper” and the recent release, “Zombieland”.

Heath Ledger in his final film - 'Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus'

Heath Ledger’s final film, ‘Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus’, has been trailered and it has already started ruling the box office. Speculations are growing on whether it would be the late actor’s best film beating the box office records of “Dark Knight”, for which the actor won a posthumous Oscar.

After receiving huge applauds for playing the role of Joker in Dark Knight, it is expected that the final film of Ledger will do well in box office and will be loved by all his fans. Ledger fans have liked the trailer of his last film and have considered it to be amazing. The trailer of “The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus” puts light on the past life of Dr. Parnassus. Ledger plays the role of a mysterious man whose job is to save the doc from a deal with the devil. The film also stars Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell as alternate versions of Ledger within the doctor’s Imaginarium.

Directed by Terry Gilliam, the audience can expect to catch a lot of Heath Ledger in the film. Before the filming of Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus was over Ledger had an unexpected death. This uncanny incident brought in four other Hollywood stars to fill in his place. Gilliam promises to take his audience through various emotional spectrum like he did earlier through his films like Year and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys. It would be a journey from gloom to glee and darkness to light.

The Oscar winning actor had an accidental death due to overdose of prescribed drugs in 2008.

Robert Pattinson and Rupert Grint to play Prince Harry

The Twilight heartthrob, Robert Pattinson and the Harry Potter star Rupert Grint may play the role of Prince Harry in a new film. The two stars are rumored to be contenders for the role.

The film, named as “The Spare”, will follow the highs and lows of the Prince William’s life including his time serving in Afghanistan. It will also showcase the unexpected death of his mother, Lady Diana – the Princess of Wales.

The casting of the film is expected to begin in 2010. Right now the project is at its very early stage. It is expected that the screenplay will be ready by the end of this year. However, rumors of who will portray the role of the 25 year old charming prince on screen was on high sway on the internet for the past two weeks. Is there a thrid one in the line? We haven’t received any news yet.

Several websites have already polled for the 21 year old red-haired Grint to be the most likely candidate for the role. Grint, who is more popular for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter might fit in the Prince’s shoes well. But time can only tell if it will be Grint or the 23 year old most charming vampire on-screen who would be more suitable for the role. Ever since the news broke fans have already started praying for the biggest heartthrob of the world Robert Pattinson, who became famous after playing Edward Cullen in Twilight.

Peter Kosminsky, who would be directing the film, was quoted in an interview as saying that he decided to take up this project out of his “sense of compassion” for the Prince. Kosminsky was also marked as saying that he has not yet decided upon selection of casts.

“My personal approach as a director is that I read the script, and people start to pop into my head”, the director said to Daily Mail.

Kosminsky also added that while choosing the casts for his film he will not leave a single stone unturned. In spite of increasing rumours of the two British actors being short listed to play the Prince, the director will still consider American actors for the same.

While questioned about the problem with British accent by the American Actors, Kosminsky sited the example of Renee Zellweger, who mastered the English accent for her role as Bridget Jones.

“I think it’s reasonable that we don’t want to rule out Americans, although there’s a very strong cadre of British actors, too”, he added.

“His parents break up in the most spectacularly public way, his mother dies in the most tragic and, again, public way and everything is picked over. He’s a man born to no role, the heir and the spare”, said Kosminsky while he described the Prince’s life.

While talking about the Afghanistan tour of the Prince he added, “Suddenly, he finds himself alongside ordinary guys. He’s immersed, in the most acute circumstances, in the real world and absolutely finds his métier – and for the first time in his life he doesn’t feel like a spare part”.

Stephanie Pratt

Lauren Conrad’s career after “Hills” has taken off quite well. It was announced on Wednesday, that is on September 30th that the producers of “Twilight” have shown interest to turn her novel, “L.A. Candy”, into a movie.

“L.A. Candy” is not based on Lauren Conrad’s life but it definitely showcases some of the characters  based on her friends from “The Hills”.

Stephanie Pratt, a former co-worker of Lauren Conrad, is eagerly waiting for her friend’s novel to come to life. Pratt has also come up with ideas like who should play her on-screen in the fictionalized version of her life.

In an interview with MTV News in last August Pratt was quoted as saying, “I would probably say Queen Latifah. I love her. I really love her. Someone more in my age … does that mean Christina Applegate is too old to play me too? OK, Ashley Tisdale”.

“L.A. Candy” is the first novel of the series, which leaves it with a great opportunity for a movie franchise to come up with ideas of its sequel if everything works out well. “[The film] needs to have a sequel! She’s writing, like, three books and it was, like, on the bestseller [list] — crazy!” said Pratt with an amusement.

Pratt also said that she believes Conrad deserves the credit of all the success coming her way. “You know what? I think she’s, like, the most deserving person because if you actually meet her, like, she’s so down to Earth. And she’s the only one that has not changed [a bit]. It’s really, like, so nice. It’s all so deserving”, she said in support of her statement.

Mad Men's Matthew Weiner delivering his winning speech in the Emmy Awards 2009

Teary Winners and Funny Speeches

In the part 2 of the Emmy Coverage we bring you all the winners of the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards 2009.

The winning started with the Best Supporting Actress, Comedy which was given to Kristin Chenoweth, for the ABC cancelled show “Pushing Daisies”, who came on stage and gave the winning speech howling away. She thanked Emmy for giving this award to a show that is over. She also made it clear that she was unemployed and wanted to work in shows like “Mad Men”, “30 Rock” and “The Office”.

The next award went to Two and half Men supporting actor Jon Cryer who was overjoyed with the win. Emotionally he declared that before winning the award he thought that award ceremonies were “shallow tokens of momentary popularity” but now he believed that “they are the only true measure of a person’s worth as a human being”. Personal comment: Talk about every person who didn’t win! Feeling sorry for Harris actually!

Toni Collete (”United States of Tara”) and Alec Baldwin (”30 Rock”) were adjudged the Best Leading Actress and Actor for a Comedy show. Rob Lowe who was on stage to give away the award to the Best Leading Man got to play the supporting role in Alex Baldwin’s gag – “I’d trade this (award) to look like him (Lowe)”!

“The Office” won the Best Directing, Comedy (Jeffrey Blitz). The Best Guest Stars, Comedy were taken away by Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake for Saturday Night Live. Best Writing award went to the episode “Reunion” of “30 Rock” (Matt Hubbarb). 30 Rock also won the award for the Outstanding Comedy Series.

In the Reality category, the Best Reality Show host was given to Jeff Probst for “Survivor”. He gave a little speech which ended with a nice moral – “The adventure you are ready for is the one you get. You only live once, go for it!”. The Best Reality Competition Show went to “The Amazing Race” which was it’s 7th consecutive time.

In the Miniseries category, Little Dorritt swept away maximum awards – Best Miniseries, Director (Dearbhal Walsh) and Writer (Andrew Davis). The Best TV movie was won by Grey Gardens, that also got their hands on the Best Lead Actress (Jessica Lange), Supporting Actor (Ken Howard). In her speech Jessica Lange thanked quite a few people among which included co-star Drew Barrymore who laughed and cried and applauded for her down from her seat in the audience. Brendan Gleeson won the Best Actor in this category for his role of Winston Churchill in “Into the Storm” and the Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashil took away the award for the Best Supporting Actress for “House of Saddam”.

Finally coming to the Drama catergory, the Best Leading Actress, Drama was won by Glenn Close (again!!) for the show “Damages”. Close was close to tears accepting the award and says that this character (of a hard-hitting lawyer) is “the character of my lifetime”.

Bryan Cranston won the Best Actor award for his role in “Breaking Bad” on AMC.

The show’s last award for the Best Drama Series was given to 2 times winner “Mad Men” of the private channel AMC. Accepting the award, creator Matthew Weiner stated that he must be the “only person in the room with complete creative freedom”.

Screenshot of the movie "The Informant!"

Warner Bros have launched the trailer of the upcoming movie “The Informant!”. The stars of this movie will be Matt Damon, Melanie Lynskey and Clancy Brown.

The movie is based on Kurt Eichenwald’s book, “The Informant – A True Story” written in the year 2000. The story is about a guy, Mark Whitacre, working in a company called ADM (Archer Daniels Midland), who becomes the first vice-president of a company to turn whistleblower; actually the “highest ranked executive to ever turn whistleblower in US history”. The movie has shades of Hollywood greats like “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Insider” (www.patriotledger.com). It is a dark suspense-comedy revolving around the principle character who happens to be a PhD from the Ivy Leagues. He reveals several years of fraud happening in his company for the FBI through audio tapes and videos.

The movie is directed by Steven Soderbergh, of the much-famed Ocean’s series, and the screenplay has been written by Scott Z. Burns, who had written the screenplay for “The Bourne Ultimatum” movie. Ocean’s series co-star George Clooney is producing this film.

Damon’s character is complex as he suffers from a “bipolar disorder”. Wow, gotta know what this means!

The Bourne Series star’s last hit was “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Ocean’s Thirteen” two years ago. Seems like he took a break from Hollywood for a year. Meantime he has been doing international projects like “Ponyo”, the Japanese animated movie about a Goldfish and a 5 year old boy, and “Che:Part 2″ a Spanish/French war drama.

Coming back to the new movie in news, Matt is wearing a moustache and spectacles and he’s put on weight. Lots and lots of weight! But still, he’s looking sexy!!

Check out the youtube link -

The Informant starring Matt Damon

ENjoy

Amy Winehouse

According to latest reports, the Rehab singer, Amy Winehouse, wants to settle in St Lucia. She wants to call the Caribbean her new home after having spend much time in the sunny shores of the picturesque island.

The singer, whose life has been close to a roller coaster ride, has reportedly spent  a 71 day Christmas holiday simply taking rest with no work in the Caribbean. Winehouse has to return to United Kingdom for a short time to settle the final deal of a  nasty divorce from her husband Blake Fielder-Civil. But the singer was more keen to get back to  St Lucia again and  swapped London for the island for yet another prolonged vacation.

“Amy is fed up with all the stress and trauma that comes with being in London. She has made so many friends in St Lucia and says it feels like home. When she returned to the UK in March she felt like a total outsider”, a source close to Winehouse said to The Sun.

in every probability it seems that the singer intends to live a peaceful life away from the limelight in a lavish new home situated on the beautiful Caribbean shores.

The source  also added, “She has her heart set on one house in particular. It is massive, right on the beach and has its own big garden, too”.

'The Hills' girls

“The Hills” is to continue without original star Lauren Conrad. MTV has decided to extend its hit series by adding extra episodes, even if it is without the 23-year-old designer building a new story line around newlyweds (and Conrad antagonists) Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag. That said, it has been confirmed that Audrina Patridge and the rest of “The Hills” cast will be back this fall with additional episodes of its current season.

“MTV viewers will find out life in Los Angeles only gets more complicated as friendships, relationships and loyalties are tested like never before as ‘The Hills’ returns this fall with more episodes of Season 5,” MTV said. Though the network has not yet given a green signal to another season of “The Hills,” it has announced that the new episodes will have fresh faces along with the series’ regulars Audrina Patridge,  Heidi Montag,  Spencer Pratt,  Stephanie Pratt,  Lo Bosworth, Justin Bobby and Brody Jenne.

In their statement, MTV said “Spencer and Heidi will be newlyweds, so the stakes are higher than ever before for the two to make things work. Viewers will find out life in Los Angeles only gets more complicated as friendships, relationships and loyalties are tested like never before.”

The absence of Conrad in “The Hills” return this fall will definitely be felt, but the rest of the cast are not too worried about the success of the show without her. The question is how much of its fame will “The Hills” after losing its original actress.

Channing Tatum

Twilight’s sexy vampire Robert Pattinson is to face serious competition. His competitor: “Figting” man with killer physique Channing Tatum. Yes. The former model, who had worked for clients such as Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch, is being seriously considered by “Twilight” screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg who says that she “desperately” wants Tatum for the part of vampire “Rile” in the third Twilight movie “Eclipse.”

Pattinson, with his iconic good looks, has become one of Hollywood’s hottest rising stars after he landed the role of vampire Edward Cullen in the mega hit “Twilight.” He has become a heartthrob of millions worldwide, and being the competitor of this young Brit will not be easy. However, like Rob, 29-year old Tatum too has his career rocketing with the lead role in “Fighting,” “Dear John,” and this summer’s big-budget movie “G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.” Besides, he plays Pretty Boy Floyd in Johnny Depp’s 1930s gangster drama “Public Enemies.”

Tatum’s acting experiences till date make him a good fit for the role of the nasty vampire in “Eclipse.” Rosenberg said “There’s a very big battle at the end with Riley, and I think Channing would do that so well,”  adding “And there are some complexities to that character. He really is tragic. He’s a puppet for Victoria. So he has to break your heart a little bit at the end when he realizes that she doesn’t want him. Channing could do that beautifully.”

If Tatum accepts the role of Rile, he will be joining Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Michael Sheen, Peter Facinelli, and Dakota Fanning who make up the core cast of the Twilight saga.

Twilight' cast

Though possible on screen rivals, Tatum and Rob share a few common traits. They are both quiet, introspective and unassuming. And both are basking in stardom. But “Eclipse” may pit these two against each other in a screen fight both dramatic and dangerous.

Daniel Radcliffe, who has given life to J.K Rowling’s wizard Harry Potter, has more to his credit than the Potter fame. The actor has gone beyond big screen to express his impressive acting skills on the stage. And he has shown his magic once again. He has been nominated for the Drama Desk Awards in New York Monday.

Radcliffe has been shortlisted for outstanding actor in a play for his intense and bold performance as Alan Strang in the play “Equus.” Others actors nominated in this category include Bill Irwin for “Waiting for Godot,”Simon Russell Beale for “The Winter’s Tale,” Reed Birney for “Blasted,” Raul Esparza for “Speed-The-Plow,” Geoffrey Rush for “Exit the King” and Thomas Sadoski for “Reasons to be Pretty.”

Daniel Radcliff in "Equus"

Nominated for the Drama Desk Award for outstanding actress in a play are Jane Fonda for “33 Variations,” Saidah Arrika Ekulona for “Ruined,” Marcia Gay Harden for “God of Carnage,” Elizabeth Marvel for “Fifty Words,” Jan Maxwell for “Scenes From an Execution” and Janet McTeer for “Mary Stuart.”

In the list for outstanding actor in a musical are James Barbour from “A Tale of Two Cities,” Daniel Breaker and Brian d’Arcy James from “Shrek The Musical,” Josh Grisetti from “Enter Laughing The Musical,” Sahr Ngaujah from “Fela!” and Will Swenson from “Hair.”

Shortlisted for outstanding actress in a musical are Stockard Channing for “Pal Joey,” Janney, Megan Hilty and Stephanie J. Block for “9 to 5,” Sutton Foster for “Shrek the Musical” and Karen Murphy for “My Vaudeville Man!”

The Harry Potter wizard made his Broadway debut in the revival Broadway production of Peter Shaffer play “Equus” in September 2008. Daniel Radcliffe in “Equus” has proved his acting talent which has placed him alongside popular stage actors. “Equus” also received two other nominations: David Hersey, for Outstanding Lighting Design in a Play, and Gregory Clarke, for Outstanding Sound Design.

The Drama Desk is an organization made up of professional theater critics, and it gives awards to Broadway production and off-Broadway productions competing in the same categories. Awards ceremony will be held on May 17 at F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center.