Lucy Punch replaces Nicole Kidman

UK heroine Lucy Punch is going to replace Nicole Kidman in Woody Allen’s upcoming untitled film. She acted in the films like ‘The Class’ and ‘Hot Fuzz’. Punch will be next seen in the film “Young Americans,” starring Anna Faris and Topher Grace.

Currently, the script work of Woody’s film is under progress. The other cast includes Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Josh Brolin. The shooting of the film will be started in London. Mediapro, a Spain-based company responsible for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” is producing this flick.

Lucy Punch will play the role of a high-priced call girl similar to Ashley Dupre, who was at the center of the scandal that brought down New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. Kidman moved out of this film because she is busy with another film “The Rabbit Hole”. The film is directed by John Cameron Mitchell and Kidman is acting in lead roles as well as s making this movie.

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The Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Jai Ho’ English Song

The Pussycat Doll‘s music video for the English version of Hindi song ‘Jai Ho‘ of Oscar winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire‘ is going to thrill music lovers. The video has been shot at a Vienna trainyard, will capture scenes “from every point of people around the world and represent from every place.”

Music maestro A.R. Rahman will be making his cameo appearance. Highlighting a crowded market scene, it shows all the members of The Pussycat Dolls sporting Bollywood-themed costumes and performing a dance sequence, which is similar to the one seen in movie “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Jai Ho is originally a Hindi song performed by Indian singers Sukhwinder Singh and A. R. Rahman for the soundtrack of “Slumdog Millionaire” starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto. AR Rahman won two Oscar awards for Best Original Score for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and Best Original Song for ‘Jai Ho’ along side Gulzar also for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The track is then re-recorded by The Pussycat Dolls with English lyrics and Nicole Scherzinger’s vocals leading the lines.

Nicole Scherzinger said: “It’s an honor to be able to collaborate with A.R. Rahman and be a part of the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ project in any way. The movie, the story and the music were a gift and very spiritually uplifting for me. I can only hope and pray

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And the Oscar goes to ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ wins 8 Oscars

And the Oscars popular award of Best Motion Picture of the Year goes to “Slumdog Millionaire“. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ swept the 81st Academy Awards by winning 8 major awards including Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

Christian Colson said on the acceptance speech, “As you can see, our film was a collaboration of hundreds of people and I’m glad that so many of them could make it here tonight.” “Slumdog” had virtually no money but a story that inspired “mad love” and a genius director.

Indian music maestro A R Rahman won two awards for Best Original Score for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and Best Original Song for ‘Jai Ho’ along side Gulzar also for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Rahman nominated for three awards in total. 36-year-old Resul Pookutty created history by becoming the first Indian to bag the Oscar for Best Sound mixing. Pookutty shared the Oscar with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke for their collaborative work for the film

“I want to thank everyone. The essence of the film is optimism and hope. All through my life I had the choice of love and hate…I chose love and I am here,” an elated Rahman said.

AR Rehman’s speech:
I am excited. There is a dialogue in Hindi film – ‘mere pass maa hain’. Which means that I have nothing, but my mother. My mother is here. Her blessings are with me. God is Great”

AR Rehman’s speech about Jai Ho song:
This song belongs to the people of Mumbai. This song is about optimism and power of hope. We have a choice to choose hate or love. I choose love.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Oscars:

1. Best Picture: ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. “It has been collaboration between hundreds of people. All of us are here to share this moment. This was an extraordinary journey,” says the Slumdog… team.

2. Best Direction: Danny Boyle for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

3. Best Original Song: A R Rahman for ‘Jai Ho…’ (Slumdog Millionarie)

The Indian music maestro, Rahman wooed the audience with ‘O Saya’ and ‘Jai Ho…’ the nominated songs from ‘Slumdog…’, as the nominees for Best Original Song were being announced.

4. Best Original Score: A R Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire . “I have nothing but my mother and she is there with me. I thank her for making me coming all this way with her blessings,” said a proud Rahman.

5. Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire

6. Best Sound Mixing: Ian Tapp, Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke for Slumdog Millionaire. “This is just not a sound award, but a history being handed over,” said Indian receiver Pookutty.

7. Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire

8. Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. “The cast and crew of the film told me so much about India and writing,” said a proud Beaufoy.

In a great night for Britain, Kate Winslet won the best actress Oscar for The Reader, finally clinching the award on her sixth nomination.

The big surprise of the night was Sean Penn, winning best actor for his role as gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for supporting actor for The Dark Knight.

In total

Slumdog Millionaire – 8
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – 3
Milk – 2
The Dark Knight – 2

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‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Dev Patel in M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Last Airbender’

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Dev Patel has joined M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming film ‘The Last Airbender’. Patel replaces Jesse McCartney, who is busy with a music career and doesn’t have time for movies. Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films are producing the film. Shyamalan is still planning to develop a trilogy of Airbender films, with this first film is set to release on July 2nd, 2010.

The movie is also starring Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone and Jessica Jade Andres. Noah Ringer of Texas is likely to play the lead role as Aang. Twilight star Jackson Rathbone will play Aang’s friend Sokka, while Nicola Peltz will star as his sister Katara. Jessica Jade Andres will play the Earth Kingdom’s rep named Suki. The film is going to start its production in March in Greenland.

Shyamalan said: “Patel was already one of the guys I was interested in. Then I saw Slumdog Millionaire, and the kid just grew in my eyes”.

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‘Slumdog Millionaire’s Simon Beaufoy to write ‘Leap Year’

Simon Beaufoy is set to write Spyglass Entertainment’s upcoming comedy film “Leap Year”. Recently, Beaufoy won a Golden Globe award and got nominated for an Oscar for his acclaimed screenplay for “Slumdog Millionaire”. His writing credits include “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day” and “The Full Monty,” for which he also received an Oscar nomination in 1998.

The film ‘Leap Year’ stars Amy Adams in the lead role. Anand Tucker of “And When Did You Last See Your Father?” is going to direct the film.

The film ‘Leap Year’ is about a young woman who travels to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day, Feb. 29. Tradition says men have to say yes on that day. But when bad weather threatens to ruin her plan, she embarks on a turbulent trip with an Irish innkeeper to pull off her proposal before it’s too late.

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“SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE” bags 10 Oscar nominations

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has bagged 10 (Academy Awards) Oscar nominations while ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ leads Oscars with 13 nominations. ‘Slumdog’ film was directed by Danny Boyle and is an adaptation of Indian diplomat Vikas Swarups’s novel ‘Q&A’. Christian Colson has produced the film on Celador Films Production banner.

AR Rahman and Resul Pookutty have won a total of four nominations. Rahman has won total three nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Songs, Resul has bagged one in the Sound Mixing category for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Bollywood’s well-known lyricist Gulzar has been jointly nominated with Rahman for the song ‘Jai Ho’. And it was a dream come true for another Indian lyricist Maya Arulpragasam who won a joint nomination with Rahman for ‘O saya’.

Nominations (10)
Achievement in Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
Achievement in Directing: Danny Boyle
Achievement in Film Editing: Chris Dickens
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): AR Rahman
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song): ‘Jai Ho
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) ‘O Saya’
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Christian Colson (Producer)
Achievement in Sound Editing: Tom Sayers
Achievement in Sound Mixing: Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty
Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is about an eighteen-year-old from the slums of Mumbai finds himself competing on the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, where the questions he must answer offer a look back at his earlier life. The show’s host, however, insists that he must be cheating and takes steps to force young Jamal to admit that a boy from such an impoverished background could not possibly possess the knowledge necessary to win the show’s top prize.
The flick stars Dev Patel (Jamal Malik), Freida Pinto (Latika), Anil Kapoor (Prem Kumar), Irrfan Khan (Police Inspector) and Madhur Mittal (Salim).

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The 81st Academy Awards Nominees List

On Thursday morning, January 22, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced the nominees for the 81st Annual Academy Awards (Oscar),. Declared by Academy president Sid Ganis and Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the nominations were dominated by “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.

The 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony will be held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on Sunday, 22nd February, 2009. The ceremony will be aired live on ABC starting at 8 PM. Hugh Jackman will be seen hosting the awards and the same will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide. The show will be produced by Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, the men behind the Oscar-winning musical “Dreamgirls”.

The nominations were dominated by David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson and Best Leading Actor for Brad Pitt. It was followed by “Slumdog Millionaire”, “The Dark Knight” and “Milk”. Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog” has bagged 10 nominations by the Academy.

Full Nominees List of The 81st Annual Academy Awards:

Best picture:

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
FROST/NIXON
MILK
THE READER
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Actor in a Leading Role:
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

Actress in a Leading Role:
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

Actor in a Supporting Role:
Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

Actress in a Supporting Role:
Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

Achievement in Directing:
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon”, Ron Howard
“Milk”, Gus Van Sant
“The Reader”, Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Danny Boyle

Film Editing:
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight”, Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon”, Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
“Milk”, Elliot Graham
“Slumdog Millionaire”, Chris Dickens

ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
James Newton Howard – Defiance
Danny Elfman – Milk
A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire
Thomas Newman – Wall-E

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song):
“Down to Earth” from “Wall-E”, Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”, Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tom Stern – Changeling
Claudio Miranda – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Wally Pfister – The Dark Knight
Chris Menges & Roger Deakins – The Reader
Anthony Dod Mantle – Slumdog Millionaire

SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

For full list of nominees and complete details of Oscar visit-http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

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