Tag Archives: Sudan

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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George Clooney Arrested During Protest

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George Clooney was arrested on Friday (March 16) in Washington, D.C., after participating in a protest. The Oscar nominee was taken into custody outside the Sudanese embassy.

According to MSNBC, the group was protesting Sudan’s blockage of food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains and aimed to bring attention to the treatment of the people in that area of Sudan. His father, journalist Nick Clooney, was also arrested, according to MSNBC, as well as Martin Luther King III, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Rep. Jim McGovern and Rep. Jim Moran and former Rep. Tom Andrews.

Clooney and the other protesters knew that, because the embassy is private property, they would be arrested if they refused to move. MSNBC reports that the protesters were warned three times before police moved in.
The group reportedly held a sign that read, “Sudan: Stop Weapons of Mass Starvation.” He told the large crowd at the protest, “We need immediate humanitarian aid into Sudan before it becomes the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.”

He asked “the [Sudanese] government in Khartoum to stop randomly killing its own innocent men, women and children. Stop raping them, and stop starving them.”

According to People.com, the group was then taken to a Secret Service van.

“He’s being charged currently with disorderly crossing of a police line, which is a misdemeanor and he will be transported to the second district of the Metropolitan Police Department for processing,” Max Milien, spokesman for the Secret Service, told the site, noting that Clooney was being cooperative.

“They were protesting the violence committed by the government of Sudan on its own innocent men, women and children,” Clooney’s rep said in a statement. “They were demanding they allow humanitarian aid into the country before it becomes the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.”

The actor has been trying to bring change to the area, even meeting with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Secretary Hillary Clinton and President Obama in the Oval Office on Thursday. One day before, he attended the White House state dinner for British Prime Minister David Cameron. He is expected to appear on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on Friday.