LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Landing a blockbuster is every actor’s dream. Especially when an actor hasn’t established himself as a marquee movie star. But like many things in Hollywood, one person’s opportunity is another’s downfall. Take the stars of the Oscar-winning global blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings,” several of whom boast new fall movies. Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) is earning critical raves for his role as a family man with a violent past in David Cronenberg’s smart-house draw, “A History of Violence.” Elijah Wood (Frodo) embraces his quirky side in Liev Schreiber’s Ukrainian odyssey, “Everything Is Illuminated.” Orlando Bloom (Legolas) goes mainstream as Kirsten Dunst’s love interest in Cameron Crowe’s darkly romantic comedy “Elizabethtown,” which opens October 14. And Andy Serkis (Gollum) squeezes back into his white-dotted blue body suit in order to perform the title role in Peter Jackson’s remake of “King Kong,” which hits screens worldwide December 14. [More]
Day: October 7, 2005
Mafgrl writes: Last night at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Downtown Los Angeles a very unique and inspiring event took place. Entitled “Voices of a People’s History of the United States”, the event sampled speeches, letters and more by the likes of Susan B. Anthony, abolishionist John Brown, Mark Twain and Cindy Sheehan. These excerpts read by many of Hollywood’s great actors and political advocates, including Viggo Mortensen. [More]
Mafgrl writes: Last night at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Downtown Los Angeles a very unique and inspiring event took place. Entitled “Voices of a People’s History of the United States”, the event sampled speeches, letters and more by the likes of Susan B. Anthony, abolishionist John Brown, Mark Twain and Cindy Sheehan. These excerpts read by many of Hollywood’s great actors and political advocates, including Viggo Mortensen(History of Violence), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Josh Brolin (Into the Blue), Kerry Washington (Ray) and Danny Glover(Lethal Weapon). The material was both moving and funny in turn. One reading by Oh was written by a Japanese American woman who was removed from her home in San Pedro in 1941 and sent to a concentration camp during the war. Another piece told of a factory worker in Chicago who was one of the first women to organize unions in that state for better conditions and rights. A very moving rendition of Cindy Sheehan’s speech about her son being killed in the Iraq war and her subsequent trip to try to talk to President Bush in Crawford, Tx was given by Tomei.
Each of the readers for the evening was clearly passionate about the material both Mortensen and Vanessa Martinez (Lone Star) read their passages both in Spanish and English to the delight of the mixed crowd. Danny Glover had flown in from Florida and arrived midway through right off of the plane to participate. Mortensen made one of his now famous antiwar/anti Bush shirts which stated “Impeach, Remove, Jail”. He was still sporting the red and blue paint on his hands!
The panel was moderated by Howard Zinn who wrote the book that this reading was based on “A People’s History of the United States” and Anthony Arnove who is the writer of “Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of Sanctions”.
It was very interesting and enjoyable to hear these words of many people in history who are not as famous and often overlooked for their views. If you have an opportunity to pick up a copy of Zinn’s book, please check it out, I think you will find it fascinating. [More]
Tom writes: There is a special on the food network (Channel 231 on directv) about Paula Deens part in Elizabethtown and if the commercials are any indication Orlando Bloom will be in several parts of the show. It airs this saturday Oct 8th at 9:00pm Eastern and will be repeated on Sunday at 1:00am, it also airs 2 more times later in the month.
Dominic Monaghan will be on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ tonight at 11:35PM. He is most likely there to promote his show ‘Lost’, you may have heard about it, the TV sensation of last season? ‘The Tonight Show’ airs on NBC at 11:35PM…stay up late and watch!
Were Legolas, Gimli, Merry and Pippin essential to the quest?
This is the question we will be posing in the Hall of Fire this weekend.
Gimli, the stought-hearted dwarf of Erebor. What is the sum of his contribution to the quest? Is it any more than being Legolas’s passenger on the back of Hasufel and helping Gandalf thread a path through the dark depths of Moria? [More]