Tag Archives: Hollywood Reporter

Candice Glover Covers Drake’s ‘Find Your Love’ On ‘American Idol’

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By Sowmya Krishnamurthy

The “American Idol” finals on Wednesday night (April 24) got a hip-hop twist when singer Candice Glover performed her own version of Drake’s “Find Your Love.” Candice, who met Drake last year and told him she would eventually be on the singing competition, gave the love song a down-tempo makeover with piano accompaniment.

Despite Candice‘s attempts, the judges were not feeling her remix and felt that it aged her too much. Randy Jackson criticized Candice for being too much of a so-called “church singer.” Drake’s friend and YMCMB colleague Nicki Minaj said she would ask Drake’s feedback to share during the next show but then asked Candice who her audience was. Only Mariah Carey seemed to like it. “You can sing everything… This was risky but you still did it,” she said.

Fans on Twitter were more supportive. “Loving Candice‘s version of Find Your Love. Who would have thought of singing Drake’s Find Your Love on American Idol? Love her musicality!,” said one. Another threw in, “This girl singing Find Your Love by Drake on American Idol is killin it right nowww.”

Drake himself did not tweet about the performance.

Off-stage, American Idol is having its own drama. This week it was reported that Mariah Carey might be replaced by Jennifer Lopez as a judge…again. According to the Hollywood Reporter, AI producers are so desperate for better ratings than this season has brought in that they are considering J. Lo. They claimed that unnamed “knowledgeable” sources say Carey’s team responded with the threat of legal action, but producers are still thinking of inviting J. Lo back for the show’s May finale.

Daft Punk’s New Album Due In Spring

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It’s been almost 8 years since we got a new studio album from electronic dance icons Daft Punk. But that long spell will reportedly end in the spring, when French duo Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo drop their fourth studio album on their new label, Columbia Records.

Details are sketchy at this point about the disc, but Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers has recently said the album is imminent. A number of others are also reportedly contributing to the project, including Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, disco icon Giorgio Moroder and Chilly Gonzales. A spokesperson for Columbia deferred requests for comment to the pair’s independent publicist, who could not be reached for comment at press time.

German electronic producer Boys Noize recently told MTV News that he was not at liberty to say much, but that he knows that “some good friends” worked with DF and that the effort will be “amazing.”

“Daft Punk has always been a big influence,” he said. “Not because of the songs, but about that sound and production. To this day … no one got on that level … No one sounds like Daft Punk and I’m very, very excited to hear their new stuff.” Even though he’s not heard any of the new music, BN said he can imagine what it will sound like and expects it will blow minds.

One of the most unlikely collaborators is Oscar-winning songwriter Paul Williams (author of the Muppets’ “Rainbow Connection”), the subject of the 2011 documentary “Paul Williams is Still Alive.” Williams told the Hollywood Reporter last year that he was “working with another composer writing lyrics,” declining to give details on the “couple” of tunes he was working on at the time, but adding “I just think they’re amazingly brilliant. The way they explore the possibilities of sound. And I’m also totally attracted to the fact that they choose to do it anonymously. I think that’s fantastic.”

Before scoring the “TRON: Legacy” reboot in 2010, the group released the studio album Human After All in 2005.

Joaquin Phoenix Is Your New Robert Downey Jr. In Casting Call

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4b698 Master Joaqin Phoenix Joaquin Phoenix Is Your New Robert Downey Jr. In Casting Call

By Hannah Soo Park

Joaquin Phoenix and Paul Thomas Anderson might be the next big actor-director duo, Kate Winslet is eyeing Vernoica Roth’s “Divergent,” Reese Witherspoon might be lining up a Sudan drama, and Chris Hemsworth could be headed to the seas—all in today’s casting call!

Joaquin Phoenix and Paul Thomas Anderson Together Again?
Following their work together on “The Master,” Joaquin Phoenix and Paul Thomas Anderson are looking to team up again for the director’s film adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice.” The Hollywood Reporter says that the actor is reportedly in negotiations to star as a private “pot-smoking detective” following a kidnapping case in Los Angeles during the late ’60s and early ’70s. According to previous rumors, Robert Downey Jr. had once been rumored offered the leading role, but ultimately turned it down.

Kate Winslet Shows Interest In YA Territory
Variety has the news that Kate Winslet could be dipping her toes in potential franchise material for the first time, now that she’s rumored to be joining “Divergent.” The movie, based on the YA novel by Veronica Roth and directed by Neil Burger, takes place in Chicago during the dystopian future where citizens, at the age of 16, must choose an ideological “faction” to permanently identify with. Winslet’s role hasn’t been fleshed out, but she’d be joining Shailene Woodley, who’s already been cast as the lead. “Divergent” will play in theaters on March 21, 2014.

Reese Witherspoon In Talks To Tell ‘The Good Lie’
Reese Witherspoon might be joining Philippe Falardeau’s “The Good Lie.” Written by “Boardwalk Empire” writer Margaret Nagle, the based-on-a-true-story film follows a “young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War” who wins a lottery that allows him to move to the U.S. with three other boys. Witherspoon would presumably play the “brash” American woman who’s assigned to help the group.

Chris Hemsworth Might Star In Another Ron Howard Film
Ahoy! Ron Howard already has plenty on movies on his plate right now, but now, the uber-busy director has his sights set on making Nathaniel Philbrick’s “In the Heart of the Sea,” with Chris Hemsworth as his lead. Hemsworth, who worked with Howard on “Rush,” would play a sea captain whose experiences on the waters are said to have inspired Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick.” So there you have it—another potential swashbuckling role for the “Thor” actor’s resume.

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Adele To Perform ‘Skyfall’ At Oscars

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We told you she might
 do it, and now it’s confirmed.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Adele is slated to perform her Oscar-nominated James Bond theme song “Skyfall”
 at the 85th Academy Awards on February 23.
Adele appeared at the Golden Globes
 recently to accept an award for the tune, but Oscar spokespeople said that the February performance will be the first time she sings the tune live anywhere and her first U.S. TV appearance since last year’s Grammy awards.

The Oscars will feature a tribute to the Bond film franchise, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. The British songbird could have a command performance if “Skyfall” ends up winning the Best Original Song Oscar, since she co-wrote the tune with frequent collaborator producer Paul Epworth.

“It’s an honor to be nominated and terrifyingly wonderful to be singing in front of people who have captured my imagination over and over again,” Adele said after nominations were announced. “It’s something I’ve never experienced and probably only ever will once!”

To date, in addition to the Best Original Song award at the Globes, “Skyfall” has won trophies at the Critics’ Choice Awards, Houston, Phoenix and Las Vegas Film Critics Society awards and it is nominated for British Single of the Year at the February 20 2013 Brit Awards. “Skyfall” is the first Bond song to be nominated for an Oscar since Sheena Easton‘s 1981 track “For Your Eyes Only,” and, according to the Reporter, the first Bond theme to ever debut in Billboard‘s top 10 chart.

Adele has taken an extended break from live performance over the past year after an extended recovery from vocal cord surgery, followed by her pregnancy and the birth
 of her first child in October with partner Simon Konecki.

Zack Snyder Denies Parallel ‘Star Wars’ Movie

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“Star Wars” fans might have to settle for just one universe for now. Just hours after a report emerged on Monday that controversial director developing
 his own “Star Wars” movie that has nothing to do with the “Episode VII” reboot, the “Man of Steel” helmer’s reps denied the Vulture blog story.

“While he is super-flattered because he is a huge fan, Zack is not involved in any way with the new ‘Star Wars.’” His rep told the Hollywood Reporter. “He is currently in post on his two films, ‘Man of Steel’ and ’300: Battle of Artemisia.’”

The original story claimed that Snyder’s phantom flick would be “loosely based on Akira Kurosawa‘s 1954 classic ‘Seven Samurai,’ with the ronin and katana being replaced by the Force-wielding knights and their iconic lightsabers.”

For those unfamiliar with the Kurosawa classic, “Seven Samurai” tells the story of a small farming village that hires a group of sword-wielding warriors to defend their homes from bandits. If that plot seems familiar to you, it’s because the film has been remade as “The Magnificent Seven,” and Pixar borrowed some elements for “A Bug’s Life.” Additionally, George Lucas has often cited Kurosawa as one of his greatest sources of inspiration.

When Disney first announced its acquisition of Lucasfilm, CEO Bob Iger said that the plan for the series was first and foremost a new trilogy, but also a new film set in the universe every two to three years. Vulture’s sources said that Snyder’s film would go into production after “Episode VII,” which could mean that “Episode VIII” would not be the immediate follow-up to the new trilogy’s first installment.

Given the roulette wheel of speculation that has been turning for the past month about which director might take the helm of the first movie in the new trilogy,
 it’s not out of the question that Snyder’s name made it into the mix. Everyone from J.J. Abrams to Jon Favreau and Joseph Kosinski (“Oblivion”).

David R. Ellis, ‘Snakes On A Plane’ Director, Dead At 60

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You probably never knew it, but long time Hollywood stuntman David R. Ellis appeared in or coordinated many of the wildest scenes in some of your favorite movies from the 1990s. From “Patriot Games” to “Days of Thunder,” “The Addams Family” and “Misery,” Ellis made things go bang and bodies fly through the air for more than 35 years in Hollywood.

But it wasn’t until he got behind the camera in 2006 to direct the famously schlocky Samuel L. Jackson drama “Snakes on a Plane” that the world really got to know the veteran risk-taker. Ellis died on Monday in Johannesburg, South Africa, of unknown causes at the age of 60, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Ellis died in the midst of pre-production on a new film starring Jackson, “Kite,” a remake of the 1988 Japanese anime film.

Born in Hollywood on September 8, 1952, former surfer Ellis broke into the movie business as a teen in a number of small roles, making his debut in 1975 on the Kurt Russell movie “The Strongest Man in the World.” He spent the next decade working as a stuntman and stunt coordinator on movies ranging from “Smokey and the Bandit” to “Scarface,” “Fatal Attraction” and “The Beastmaster,” graduating to second unit directing on such major movies as “Waterworld,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “The Matrix Reloaded.” Ellis made his directorial debut in 1996 with “Homeward Bound 2: Lost in San Francisco.”

He continued working behind the scenes, not taking the director’s chair again until 2003′s “Final Destination 2,” which got him wider attention for his directing skills. The Chris Evans-starring “Cellular” was next in 2004, though it was the high/low-concept “Snakes” that really made his name. The infamously viral film, whose legend got kick-started online thanks to the ridiculousness of its title, was, according to the Hollywood Reporter, a classic example of Ellis’ moviemaking style, “simple, fun entertainment with a wink or two.”

On Monday, Jackson paid homage to the director on Twitter, writing, “So sad to hear of David R Ellis passing! So talented, so kind, such a Good Friend. He’ll be missed. Gone too soon!”

Tate Stevens: Can Oldest Reality Singing Winner Save ‘X Factor’?

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Simon Cowell has known wild success. From his run on “American Idol” when that show ruled the ratings to the global phenomenons of Susan Boyle and One Direction, the music man with the Midas touch is used to coming out on top.

But with the second, ratings-challenged season of “X Factor” in the books, the judge’s panel once again up in the air and a newly crowned victor who’s also the oldest winner in major U.S. singing show history (and whose commercial prospects are unknown), the question becomes, “Why hasn’t Cowell been able to make ‘Factor’ click with American audiences?”

“One problem for Cowell is that ‘Idol’ launched 10 years ago and it’s a different environment now,” said Michael Slezak, senior editor at TVLine.com. “What worked 10 years ago might not work now.”

Slezak believes that Cowell and the “Factor” team have fundamentally misjudged the audience for these types of shows, which he said have become more sophisticated and know that there are lots of things going on behind the curtain that we don’t see that have a big effect on the show. “We know the ‘contestant’s choice’ is not really the contestant’s choice,” he said. “I don’t think he understands that and likes to think he’s somehow the Wizard of Oz and we’re not looking behind the curtain.”

The decision to hire Britney Spears and Demi Lovato to lure eyeballs also seems to have fizzled. With uncertainty about whether Spears will be back and a hard choice facing producers who paid her a reported $15 million in an effort to juice ratings, as well as the departure of mentor L.A. Reid, 
the judging panel appears likely to get blown up again for the third time in as many seasons.

That has been the M.O. of the original British “Factor,” where change has kept the show fresh. But so far Cowell has struggled to find the right mix of personalities for the U.S. version.

“Britney had the hint of stunt casting and ultimately putting a big name on these panels does more for the names than the show,” said Hollywood Reporter music editor Shirley Halperin. “For Britney it keeps her out there for a year without touring or making a video … but without a meltdown or her being really awesome, was it worth the [reported] $15 million? Probably not.”

To be sure, the reality singing show playing field is crowded these days, with “American Idol” still chugging along in the winter and “The Voice” grabbing headlines, and ratings, twice a year with a formula that audiences seem to think is fresher and more exciting. Halperin said ratings are down around 20 percent across the format, so the “Factor” struggles are not unique.

But add in the schedule shuffling that took place because of the baseball playoffs on Fox and other jumps around the schedule due to pre-empting (not to mention cheeky counter-programming from “The Voice”) and it was sometimes hard to know when “Factor” was on this year.

Even Cowell admitted this week
 that there’s just too many shows out there, saying, “We were expecting there was going to be a problem with the ratings this year, not just with us but with everything, because it’s overkill, there are way too many talent shows on,” offering up some choice words for his rivals at “The Voice.”

He said he’s not concerned about numbers— the show has been renewed for a third season— but rather the “Factor” legacy. So far, though, season one winner Melanie Amaro has floated a handful of singles that have not caught on, and not yet finished work on her debut, and a trio of top finishers from last year have failed to break through in their respective genres.

And what about this year’s top finishers? From Halperin’s perspective, they all seemed like B-team talent at best. “Something was missing in all of them,” she said of winner Tate Stevens
 (“capable, but a wet rag”), Carly Rose Sonenclar (“a Broadway girl, which is her calling”) and Fifth Harmony (“just okay, but don’t have the personalities to pull off a Spice Girls or chops to be a Destiny’s Child”).

On Thursday night, the act with the most commercial potential, Fifth Harmony, was sent home first. Then Sonenclar, whose extensive Broadway background was omitted from her backstory by producers, was sent packing, leaving 37-year-old Stevens standing.

In the annals of modern popular music history, country or otherwise, the record of launching a multi-platinum career at that age is, well, thin, if not non-existent. In fact, one of the only recent examples is “Britain’s Got Talent” star Boyle, who was 47 when she rose to fame, mostly because of the YouTube factor of her mismatched voice/image.

“One thing that could save ‘X Factor’ is if it produced a legitimate pop star,” said Slezak, who saw Harmony as one of the few acts with a shot at doing that. “If the winner of this dubious second season produces a great single very soon and has a viable career and you hear them on radio it could re-energize the show … Stevens could sell some albums, but I don’t see him being a cultural phenomenon.”

Halperin also wondered if after a decade of searches by “Idol” whether the talent pool has been drained a bit and if “Factor” is having to go with second- or third-string singers, with the A-listers saving their shot for a spot on “Idol.”

What do our experts suggest for season three?

“They need to hit control-alt-delete and reboot,” said Slezak. “Rethink every aspect of the show. You can’t be a cut-rate ‘Idol’ or ‘Voice’ and be successful. The whole approach should be to create the next big pop star, in which case, let us see the machinery that goes into that, because that’s a story that’s never been told on one of these shows.”

Halperin agreed, saying there needs to be less staged and more natural, spontaneous interactions between the mentors and contestants. “And the auditions rounds are too long,” she said. “While the live shows are too short. They need to rethink how they’re hooking people into the show.”

Quentin Tarantino Isn’t Fazed By ‘Django Unchained’ N-Word Controversy

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It should come as no surprise that Quentin Tarantino‘s latest film — which we’ll remind you is a slavery-era tale told in Spaghetti Western style — has stirred up some controversy. What is slightly shocking, however, is that much of the controversy is coming from media coverage of “Django Unchained” as opposed to the movie itself.

Last week the Drudge Report posted a splash image of Tarantino across the top of its front pages with the N-word written below it seven times. The censored words linked to the Hollywood Reporter‘s review of “Django Unchained,” without any further context.

The stunt seemingly stems from the use of the controversial word in the film, which does not shy away from showing the horrors of slavery. So when MTV News caught up with Tarantino, we asked about similar reactions to his work and whether they had upset him.

“Well, it’s just ridiculous,” the director said, referring to the provocative headline. “I can’t really take it seriously. Again, consider the source, the Drudge Report. They’re going to say anything that’s going to offend me, bother me. They are who they are.”

When approaching the sensitive topic of slavery and invoking such a racially charged word as often as he does, Tarantino had one major factor on his side of the argument: history. “I think it’s kind of ridiculous, because no one can actually say with a straight face that we use the word more than it was used in 1858 in Mississippi. So since they can’t say that, what they’re basically [saying] is I should lie,” he argued. “I should pretty it up. I should lie, and I don’t lie when it comes to my characters and the stories I tell.”

“Django Unchained” stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson. It opens everywhere on Christmas Day.

Check out everything we’ve got on “Django Unchained.”

Angelina Jolie To Direct World War II Drama ‘Unbroken’

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Angelina Jolie is ready to get behind the camera again. The actress is finalizing a deal to direct her second film, the World War II drama “Unbroken,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The movie is an adaptation of the 2010 best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand, which spent 108 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, including 14 weeks at #1. It focuses on Olympic athlete and war veteran Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash during the war, clinging to life on a raft for 47 days before being captured by the Japanese and sentenced to a prisoner of war camp.

“I read Laura Hillenbrand‘s brilliant book, and I was so moved by Louie Zamperini‘s heroic story, I immediately began to fight for the opportunity to make this film,” Jolie said in a statement announcing the movie. “Louie is a true hero and a man of immense humanity, faith and courage. I am deeply honored to have the chance to tell his inspiring story.”

The subject matter is right up Jolie’s alley. She made her directorial debut in 2011 with “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” which chronicled a love story in the midst of the 1990s Bosnian war. The latest draft of the script is by “Gladiator” and “Les Misérables” co-writer William Nicholson.

Zamperini was a track prodigy who traveled to Berlin in 1936 for the Olympics at age 19 and though he didn’t medal, his speedy final lap in the 5,000 meter race so impressed Adolf Hitler that the German dictator requested a personal meeting with the runner. He enlisted in the Air Force in September 1941 and in April 1942 his plane went down in the ocean, killing eight of the 11 men onboard.

The survivors lived on rainwater and raw fish and survived a bombing by a Japanese airplane before Zamperini, now 96, and another man, Russell Phillips, reached the Marshall Islands and were captured by the Japanese Navy and held in captivity until August 1945.