Academy Ranks Expand; Spielberg Supports Clinton; Father of Senegalese Cinema Dies
July 2007 News
Joining the club: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last month offered membership to 115 artists and executives. Among those who will soon having voting privileges: actors Christopher Plummer, Steve Carell, Eddie Murphy, and Jennifer Aniston; directors Paul Greengrass and Peter Berg; and writer J.J. Abrams. Visit the Movie Help Web blog for the full list.
Spielberg endorses Hillary: Speaking of votes, Hillary Clinton will have the support of at least one director-producer. Steven Spielberg (left) announced June 13 that he has decided to support Clinton for president. Spielberg's Dreamworks co-founders, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, are backing Barack Obama.
"Knocked Up" director hit by lawsuit: Judd Apatow has been sued by a Canadian author for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed by Rebecca Eckler in January against Apatow and NBC Universal, claims that Apatow's recent release, Knocked Up, bears many similarities to her 2004 book of the same title; she also that she learned about the film project while pitching her book, and that the film screenplay even had the same picture as the book's cover. Apatow said, in a statement released to a celebrity site, that the book and film were "two different stories about a common experience."
No Indy for Connery: Sean Connery, who in my opinion was one of the best things in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, won't be back for the series' fourth installment. "I thought long and hard about it," the actor said, "and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement it would have been an 'Indiana Jones' film." At least Harrison Ford will have Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf to keep him company.
Other casting/development updates: Russell Crowe will team up with Leonardo DiCaprio for Body of Lies, about a CIA exec (Crowe) and an operative (DiCaprio) trying to trap an Al Qaeda leader. Crowe's favorite director, Ridley Scott, will helm the picture. Meanwhile, Fear of Gold Films, Crowe's production company, has optioned Dolce's Inferno; Crowe will produce.
Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany, who starred in A Beautiful Mind, are on board for Born, a psychological thriller, about a husband and wife threatened by his claymation creations. And Spike Lee has signed on to direct the adaptation of Miracle of St. Anna, set in World War II. The novel's author, James McBridge, will also write the screenplay.
In memoriam: African cinema lost a major figure June 9 with the death of Sembene Ousmane. Widely acknowledged as the father of Senegalese cinema, Ousmane directed his first feature (La Noire de...,) in 1966. He made 11 features in all; the last one, Moolaadé, won the Un Certain Regard award and a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival. Ousmane was 94.
Movie critic Joel Siegel died June 29 after what WABC-TV called a battle with colon cancer. Siegel, who got his start writing book reviews for the Los Angeles Times, began his TV career as a reporter for WCBS-TV in 1972. Nine years later, he joined Good Morning America, eventually becoming the show's entertainment critic. Siegel was 63.
