Big B in remake of Belgian film

The hunt is on for a 17-year old newcomer to play the Big B’s daughter in a remake of a Belgian film. The mega-star’s first official remake of a foreign film this untitled Hindi version of the Belgian director Dominique Deruddre’s Oscar-nominated film Iedereen Beroemd (Everybody’s Famous) is special because of its theme.
The Big B loves the idea of doing a father-daughter film.
Amitabh Bachchan who has done innumerable father-son films, both as the son (Trishul, Shakti) and as the father (Sarkar, Waqt) is now all set to embark on a unique emotional father-daughter film. A theme that the Big B has been eager to explore. The Belgian film is about a father who dreams of making his daughter a singer.
It’s also his first bona fide remake of a foreign film.
Says the film’s producer, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, “When I saw the Belgian film I was completely bowled over. The father-daughter story is so Indian. We immediately sought out the rights and purchased it. Only Amitji can play the father. The hunt is on for a 17-year old girl to play his daughter.”

Chicago ST Patrick s day parade 2010

The Taoiseach has begun a five-day official visit to the US. The visit will culminate with a St Patrick’s Day meeting in the Oval Office at the White House with US President Barack Obama.

Yesterday evening, Brian Cowen arrived in Chicago where he attended the Irish Fellowship annual St Patrick’s dinner.

Today, he will be one of the main guests at Chicago’s St Patrick’s Day parade, traditionally one of the biggest held in the US.

Naomi Watts Pics

Naomi Watts Born in England, raised in Australia and — after 15 years of hard work — an “overnight” Hollywood success, this actress is as brilliant as she is gorgeous. Watts began studying acting Down Under and befriended Nicole Kidman at a commercial audition when the two were just teens.

In their twenties they both appeared in the boarding-school drama Flirting, but Kidman’s star rose much more quickly than Watts’. Throughout the ’90s, Watts languished in supporting parts that failed to showcase her incredible versatility and knack for accents. Yet, with a lot of encouragement from Kidman, she stuck it out and finally got her big break in 2001’s Mulholland Dr. Originally conceived as a TV series, this offbeat chronicle of an L.A. starlet was released as a movie that featured Watts in two powerhouse parts. Audiences and critics immediately took notice of her talent, and the next year she finally hit the big time with the horror flick The Ring and made the tabloids because of her romance with hunk Heath Ledger, 10 years her junior.

Watts continued her hot streak with an Oscar-nominated turn in 2003’s 21 Grams and soon signed on to play an ape’s best gal in the remake of King Kong. After her relationship with Ledger ended in 2004, she found new love in the arms of the more mature Liev Schreiber, her costar in The Painted Veil.  Source ( hollywood.com )

Oscar-nominated Dolphin film gets Japan screening

TOKYO: An Oscar-nominated documentary on the grisly business of dolphin hunting in Japan is set to be screened at cinemas nationwide for the first time later this year, but with some modifications, its distributor said.

“The Cove”, which has been shown in 15 countries and already won several awards, follows a group of activists who struggle with Japanese police and fishermen to gain access to a secluded cove in Taiji, southern Japan, where dolphins are hunted. It features shocking footage of the slaughter.

The film is little known in Japan, where the government says the hunting of dolphins and whales is an important cultural tradition.

“It’s about Japan, but this has been the only place where it couldn’t be seen,” Takeshi Kato of distribution company Unplugged said on Thursday, just ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Kato has arranged for the film to be shown at five cinemas in major Japanese cities in May or June and hopes to expand the number to about 20.

“They are not dolphin protectionists, nor are they on the side of the hunt,” he said of the cinemas that have chosen to show the film. “They want to show it without taking sides.”

After receiving complaints from Taiji, Kato is in the process of altering the film for the Japanese market. He has agreed to blur the faces of the fishermen and add a note about disagreement over mercury levels in dolphin meat, which is sold as food and served for lunch at schools in the area.

Taiji’s association of fishermen declined to comment on the movie’s screening and no one was available to comment at the local government office.

The town’s mayor has, however, said in the past that the film will not affect the tradition of dolphin hunting.

The documentary was shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year, but a university in Tokyo abandoned a planned screening of the film this month after objections from Taiji, the Sankei newspaper said on Wednesday.

Directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos and featuring a former dolphin trainer from the “Flipper” television series, the film could be shown more widely if it picks up an Oscar, Kato said.

It has been nominated for the prize for best documentary feature.

Amy Adams Pregnant

Amy Adams is pregnant, PEOPLE has confirmed. The baby will be the first child for the Oscar-nominated actress and fiance Darren Le Gallo, who announced their engagement in July 2008.

The couple, who have been together seven years, met in acting class in 2001 and became engaged in July 2008.

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Amy Adams Pregnant was first posted on December 5, 2009 at 9:09 am.