Tag Archives: Clint Eastwood

Gallegos’ “American Sniper” Breaks All-Time Christmas Day Record at the Box Office

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a very Merry Christmas for Reynaldo Gallegos…

The Latino actor’s latest film project, American Sniper, has launched impressively in its Christmas Day debut.

Reynaldo Gallegos

Warner Bros.’ “Sniper,” starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, has a stellar performance with $240,212 at four venues — breaking the all-time record for a limited release under 10 screens on Christmas Day.

It played in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York.

Clint Eastwood directed the R-rated American Sniper from a script by Jason Hall, based on Chris Kyle’s autobiography about his tour of duty in Iraq and his struggles as a father and husband.

Warner Bros. will expand American Sniper into a nationwide release on January 16 — the day after Oscar nominations are announced.

Gallegos stars as Tony in the film.

His previous credits include Gang Related, Sons of Anarchy, 24, Prison Break, NYPD Blue, Castle, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and NCIS: Los Angeles.

 

His feature film credits include Bad Boys II, Rambo 4 and  Spider-Man 3.

Isaac Named This Season’s Best Actor by the National Board of Review

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a most memorable year for Oscar Isaac…

The National Board of Review has bestowed its Best Actor honors to the 33-year-old Guatemalan and Cuban American actor for his performance in J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year.

Oscar Isaac in A Most Violent Year

The crime drama about thuggish New Jersey-New York oil cartels was also chosen as the Best Film of 2014.

Isaac tied with Birdman star Michael Keaton for the Best Actor honors.

Clint Eastwood was named Best Director for American Sniper, his biopic of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle.

In all, A Most Violent Year grabbed three awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Jessica Chastain.

“A Most Violent Year is an exhilarating crime drama with a compelling story, outstanding performances and an elegant cinematic style,” National Board of Review president Annie Schulhof said in a statement. “J.C. Chandor has given us a new and provocative perspective on the American Dream.”

Established in 1909, the National Board of Review is a nonprofit organization comprising knowledgeable film enthusiasts, professionals, academics, young filmmakers and students. The group’s awards will be handed out January 6 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. Lara Spencer will host the event.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Best Film: A Most Violent Year
Best Director: Clint Eastwood, American Sniper
Best Actor (TIE): Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year; Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton, Birdman
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Best Original Screenplay: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Best Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Breakthrough Performance:  Jack O’Connell, Starred Up & Unbroken
Best Directorial Debut:  Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child
Best Foreign Language Film: Wild Tales
Best Documentary: Life Itself
William K. Everson Film History Award: Scott Eyman
Best Ensemble: Fury
Spotlight Award: Chris Rock for writing, directing and starring in Top Five
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Rosewater
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Selma

Top Films
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Fury
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Lego Movie
Nightcrawler
Unbroken 

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem
Leviathan
Two Days, One Night
We Are the Best!

 Top 5 Documentaries
Art and Craft
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Keep On Keepin’ On
The Kill Team
Last Days in Vietnam

Top 10 Independent Films
Blue Ruin
Locke
A Most Wanted Man
Mr. Turner
Obvious Child
The Skeleton Twins
Snowpiercer
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Starred Up
Still Alice

Almodovar Receives France’s Prix Lumiere for His Lifetime Filmmaking Achievements

Posted on by
1

Pedro Almodóvar is beloved in France… And he has the prize to prove it!

The 65-year-old Spanish filmmaker has received the country’s Prix Lumiere for his lifetime filmmaking career.

Pedro Almodovar

Almodóvar was overcome by emotion during the tribute ceremony over the weekend, which was attended by members of the French film industry, as well as some of the actresses closest to him like Marisa Paredes, Rossy de Palma and Elena Anaya.

The ceremony ended with the 3,000 attendees packed into the Lyon Congress Center showing their devotion to the director, and at one point singing and dancing to “Resistire” by the Duo Dinamico.

Almodóvar closed the night’s moving festivities, which went on for more than two and a half hours, with a speech that, he said, he had prepared as if it were for a Nobel Prize and which he dedicated entirely to his mother.

Almodóvar, known for such films as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother and Talk to Her, said that his use of “explosive and saturated” colors is his act of revenge for the more than 30 years his mother spent in the “imposed” black of mourning.

Among the film icons who came to honor him were Isabella Rossellini, Paolo Sorrentino, Berenice Bejo and Keanu Reeves.

French actress Juliette Binoche presented him with the prize while shouting “Merci!” which recalled Penelope Cruz’s famous cry of “Peeeedro!” when she announced that the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film went to All About My Mother in 2000.

The prize offered by the Lumiere Institute has paid tribute every year since 2009 to an international film personality. Previous recipients include Clint Eastwood, Milos Forman, Gerard Depardieu, Ken Loach and Quentin Tarantino.

The next day, on Saturday, Almodovar announced that he has begun pre-production for his next film and that on Monday he will begin finding locations for the shoot, but specified it will take place “in various points around Spain’s geography, as well as in Madrid.”

“About the rest, the actors and other details, we’ll have time to talk about that in the coming months,” Almodovar said, after confessing that his visit to the Lumiere Festival has been a “delightful pause” in his new moviemaking project.

Gloria & Emilio Estefan to Appear at This Year’s Tony Awards

Posted on by
Reply

Emilio and Gloria Estefan may be bringing their life story to The Great White Way in the near future… But first they’ll be appearing as part of Broadway’s biggest night.

The Estefans will be appearing at this year’s Tony Awards.

Gloria Estefan Emilio Estefan

In addition to the multi-Grammy winning musicians and producers, the upcoming ceremony, honoring the best of Broadway will also feature appearances by Bradley Cooper, Kevin Bacon, Carole King, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Will Ferrell, Liev Schreiber, Emmy Rossum, Kate Mara, Zachary Quinto, Zachary Levi, Lucy Liu, Clint Eastwood, Patricia Clarkson, Leighton Meester, Ethan Hawke, Zach Braff, Matt Bomer, Anna Gunn, Tony nominee Audra McDonald, Fran Drescher, Wayne Brady, Kenneth Branagh, Tony Goldwyn, Vera Farmiga and Alessandro Nivola, it was announced Tuesday.

Hugh Jackman will hosted this year’s show.

The 68th annual Tony Awards, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will broadcast live from New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on June 8 on CBS.

Gallegos to Star in Clint Eastwood’s New Film “American Sniper”

Posted on by
Reply

Rey Gallegos is getting Clint Eastwood’s SEAL of approval…

The Latino actor, one of the stars of Fox’s upcoming action-drama Gang Related, has joined the cast of the legendary actor-turned-director’s latest film American Sniper.

Rey Gallegos

Starring Bradley Cooper as decorated marksman Chris Kyle, the film is based on Kyle’s memoir American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.

Gallegos will portray Tony, chief of a U.S. Navy SEALs team and one of the instructors during Kyle’s training.

In addition to Cooper and Gallegos, the film also stars Navid Negahban, Eric Close and Eric Ladin.

Filming on the Warner Bros. project is set to start at the end of March in Morocco.

Gallegos’ previous credits include appearances on Sons of Anarchy, Castle, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Saving Grace, Cold Case, 24 and Prison Break.

Bardem to Portray Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes on the Big Screen?

Posted on by
Reply

Javier Bardem could soon be experiencing Montezuma’s revenge…

The 44-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actor has reportedly expressed interest in starring as Spanish explorer and conquistador Hernan Cortes, the man who caused the fall of the Aztec Empire, in the film Montezuma.

Javier Bardem

The film, one of Hollywood’s fabled projects that Steven Spielberg hopes to direct, will be rewritten and produced by Steve Zaillian, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Montezuma, explores the complicated relationship between Cortes and the Aztec emperor Montezuma.

Hernan Cortes

The original script was written in the 1960s by Dalton Trumbo, the screenwriter who was part of the Hollywood Ten and was blacklisted in the 1950s. It was intended to reteam the writer with star Kirk Douglas, who starred in Trumbo’s classic Spartacus.

The project fell by the wayside but now has found a home, decades later, with DreamWorks.

Spielberg has been looking for a project to direct since shelving Robopocalypse last year. He had intended to direct Bradley Cooper in American Sniper but parted ways with Warner Bros. over budgetary differences. (Clint Eastwood is now on board to direct that project, which should shoot this year.)

Spielberg is notorious for developing, some might even say overdeveloping, projects but not pulling the trigger. But Zaillian and Spielberg have a long history, and the two made Schindler’s List into a Oscar-winning hit. It is, however, unclear what other projects Spielberg is developing in addition to Montezuma that might vie for his attention.

Also unclear is where the project will ultimately land. DreamWorks has a first-look deal with Disney and its movies are released under the Touchstone label. Disney will get first crack at the project and if it passes, Fox could be a possible home as Zaillian and his shingle, Film Rites, have their first-look there.

Spalding to Replace Beyoncé in “A Star Is Born” Remake?

Posted on by
1

She beat out Justin Bieber for the Best New Artist award at the 53rd Grammy Awards… And, now Esperanza Spalding could be replacing Beyoncé on a highly anticipated big screen project.

Following Beyoncé’s recent exit as the lead in the Clint Eastwood-helmed remake of A Star Is Born, the Hollywood legendary actor/director is reportedly looking at the 27-year-old part-Mexican jazz singer to fill in the female lead role.

Esperanza Spalding

Beyoncé quit the project due to scheduling issues, which has opened the door to Spalding to sign on for her first-ever big screen role.

However, sources say that until a male lead is signed, no discussions or offers will be made with the female lead.

In the remake to the 1976 musical film, Beyoncé was set to tackle the character which was originally played by Barbra Streisand. When the “Crazy In Love” singer was pregnant with her first child, Warner Bros. Pictures postponed the production, which was expected to begin this past February.

The delay was seen as an opportunity to give the studio more time to find the lead actor. Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Will Smith and most recently Bradley Cooper have been mentioned as the contenders, but no deal has been firmed up  of now.

The A Star Is Born remake promises an updated version of a romantic relationship between an alcoholic star on his way out and a young female artist on the rise.

Earlier this year, Spalding, who performed a moving rendition of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” released her follow up album entitled, Radio Music Society.

 

Hayek to be Knighted in France…

Posted on by
Reply

She’s an Oscar nominee, successful businesswoman and proud mother… And, Salma Hayek will soon be getting another title: knight.

The 45-year-old Mexican actress has been added to the list of recipients to be honored with France’s grade of Chevalier or “Knight” by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Salma Hayek

 

The Frida actress will receive a formal induction at the Élysées Palace within the next couple of months, according to People.com.

Called the Legion of Honor, the merit award dates back to 1802 when it was founded by Napoleon. It is bestowed upon military personnel and civilians for service to France, but isn’t reserved exclusively for the French. Previous honorees include Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis and Robert Redford.

Hayek, who is  married François-Henri Pinault, will share the honor with her father-in-law, Francois Pinault who appears on the same list as the Legion’s rank of Grand Officer.