Frida Pinto is Gorgeous on film and simply stunning in person, She has both style and class 2 traits that Young Hollywood could certainly take a lesson on.

CH:  Frida how was it working with Mickey? Was it scary?

FP:  I love Mickey, I love Mickey I am not scared of him.

CH: You take on An interesting role that of Phaedra  a mystical virgin? Does she lose her mystical powers when she loses her virginity?  Why did you want to do this part?

FP: That was the whole thing, it’s a conflict for Phaedra as well between keeping her vision and falling in love, Basically having one or the other would mean the loss of the other thing.  So I guess the whole conflict through the entire thing. Through the entire process she decides this is what she wants, she wants  to be with Theseus, it renders a very human quality as well to Phaedra so she is not only mystical, which was very nice for Tarsem(Director Tarsem Singh) to include. She has those, she wants to feel those human feelings of being touched and feeling real joy.

CH: Why did you want to do a film like this?

FP: I had done 3 very good independent films and I had a lot of fun working on those and I wanted to try something different. I enjoy watching big budget films and am completely enthralled and entertained by them, so why t not be part of it as well and entertain other people, being in a film like that. That was my idea of behind wanting to be in this

CH: Wasn’t planet of the apes your first big but

FP: I shot this before planet of the apes. This was my first initiation into big budget films

CH: Will there be a sequel to planet of the apes

FP: I don’t know on that you will have to ask the producers and the director

CH: Do you believe in Oracles?

FP: I believe in some kind of a supernatural energy, a super power, I am not necessarily saying its religion or god or anything like that but I do believe that somewhere. I don’t believe in someone being able to see the future so powerfully but I do believe in powers.

CH: Did you use a body double for the nude scene?

FP: Yes I did

CH: How did this compare to roles like in Slumdog and Planet of the Apes?

FP: I can’t compare this to planet of the apes but I can compare it to Slumdog Millionaire. We are talking about an independent film and a big studio film, your talking about working with a studio involved and the other where a director has a say in everything, what was amazing about immortals was that Tarsem had the first word and the last word on everything and that for me felt great. At the end of the day, you enter a film as an actor knowing that your director is the captain of the ship and yes the producers put in the money, but you want the Directors vision to be carried out in the film. So in that sense it didn’t feel like I was going to just be put in front of a green screen , there were a lot of things that helped as an actor having a more organic set and a living set and real cliffs and a real shrine. So this was my first big budget film so from there going to planet of the apes was easier. This was the bigger challenge learning a whole new system to work in.

CH: How do you feel playing someone with powers?

FP: As an actor that’s what you live for to be in an imaginary world, if you’re going to be playing  yourself day in and day out it tends to get boring after a while. When you’re a kid and you watch TV or you read, you watch GIJOE  and you think of yourself as the Baroness or Scarlett, there is a lot of imagination that comes into play. It’s the same thing, its reminding yourself, going back into childhood where there were no barriers and let your imagination take over, so when I was asked to play the priestess I felt I was born to do that. I don’t think for an actor it should be a difficult thing at all

CH: What was it like working with Henry Cavil

FP: So inspirational is the only way to put it, he had a lot of things going on, he had to train himself to look a certain way. He had an amazing speech he had to give, so he had to work on that to come across as the convincing leader he is made up to be from the very beginning.  The whole thing rested on his shoulders. To work with someone who had a lot going on but was so giving as a performer is very rare. I was very lucky to have that with Henry. Especially my very first scene which Tarsem decided to put me in. (the sex scene)

CH: Do you do use mouthwash first?

FP: Those are secrets we can’t tell

CH:  What has been your biggest struggle so far?

FP:  The biggest struggle is getting your foot in the door, once you get there you have to be brave enough to embrace all the challenges that come your way and make it happen for yourself. But the biggest struggle is how to get there in the first place. Not having any connections in the film industry whatsoever makes it very difficult. The one thing that keeps you going is the belief that it will happen

CH: How did you get your break?

FP: I auditioned for my first film and I got it, my very first film. I waited for a very long time. And it happened with the right director and the right reasons.

CH: What are you up to next?

 FP: No idea. Sometimes you need space to recharge your batteries.

CH:  Where are you currently living?

FP:  BA (British Airways), I don’t have a home base but Mumbai is always home.

Los Angeles, CA, November 29, 2011 –The International Press Academy today announced
that acclaimed director Peter Bogdanovich will receive the 2011 Auteur Award at this year’s 16th
Annual Satellite Awards™ on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Best known for classics “The Last Picture Show,” “Paper Moon,” and “Mask,” Bogdanovich
began his career as a teenager studying acting with Stella Adler. He transitioned to directing
Off-Broadway plays and summer theatre by age 20. His writing for “Esquire” included in-depth
looks at some of Hollywood’s most popular icons, including Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart,
Jerry Lewis, and John Ford.
Bogdanovich made his move into feature films in the mid-60’s as Roger Corman’s first assistant
on “The Wild Angels,” starring Peter Fonda, Nancy Sinatra, Bruce Dern, and Diane Ladd. Under
Corman’s tutelage, the budding director had financing for his next film, “Targets,” with Boris
Karloff. During his early career, Bogdanovich began a creative partnership with writer/producer
Polly Platt (“Pretty Baby”), who was his first wife. (Platt passed away in July of this year.)
With “The Last Picture Show” in 1971, Bogdanovich began to express visual story elements in a
distinctive style that captured a brilliant look at small-town Texan-American life in the early
1950’s. This film launched the careers of then-unknowns Jeff Bridges and Cybill Shepherd, and
starred Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, and other newcomers like Timothy Bottoms and Randy
Quaid. It won the New York Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Screenplay (which Bogdanovich
co-wrote with novelist Larry McMurtry), and received a total of eight Academy Award
nominations, including three for Bogdanovich; Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman won for Best
Supporting Actor and Actress. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® celebrated
the 40th Anniversary of this film on November 17 with the “Definitive Director’s Cut,”
underscoring its place in cinema history.

Schooled in Hollywood classics, Bogdanovich made madcap comedy “What’s Up Doc?,”
starring Ryan O’Neal and Barbara Streisand, the following year (1972) as an homage to the
“screwball comedy” genre made famous by legendary directors like Howard Hawks.
Shot in black-and-white, 1973’s “Paper Moon” catapulted the director into the record books.
Again starring Ryan O’Neal, and his 9-year-old daughter Tatum as a Depression Era con artists,
the film earned four Academy Award nominations. Then 10-year-old Tatum O’Neal picked up a
Best Supporting Actress Oscar, which still stands as the youngest actress to ever receive a
golden statue in that category.
Notable films “Daisy Miller” and “Saint Jack” were followed by “They All Laughed” with Audrey
Hepburn. But it was 1985’s “Mask” that reaffirmed the director’s status as a singular talent.
Starring Cher and Eric Stolz, the movie chronicles the true story of Roy L. “Rocky” Dennis,
whose intense social isolation from a facial disfigurement is overcome with his mother’s
unconditional love and encouragement.

The director’s other credits include the film adaptation of stage comedy “Noises Off,”
“Texasville” (which was a sequel to “Last Picture Show”), and “The Cat’s Meow,” about a
mysterious death aboard William Randolph Hearst’s yacht while Marion Davies, Charlie
Chaplin, and legendary gossip columnist Louella Parsons were among the passengers.
With numerous books to his credit on the inner workings of filmmaking and filmmakers, Peter
Bogdanovich continues to be on the vanguard with his “Blogdanovich” for Indiewire and many
new projects in development. He will be present to accept the 2011 Auteur Award on Dec. 18th
at The Beverly Hills Hotel.

IPA defines “Auteur” as a filmmaker whose singular vision and unique artistic control over the
elements of production give a personal and signature style to their films. This award was first
presented to George Clooney for “Good Night, and Good Luck” in 2005.
Past recipients of the International Press Academy’s Auteur Award include: Alex Gibney, Roger
Corman, Baz Luhrmann, Robert Altman, Julian Schnabel, and George Clooney.
The International Press Academy (IPA) is among the largest and most diverse associations of
professional entertainment journalists representing both domestic and foreign markets in print,
television, radio, cable, new media outlets. See www.pressacademy.com for more information.
# # #

New All-Star Behind-the-Scenes Star Wars™ Video Tribute Featuring

Outtakes Debuts

Iconic Darth Vader Design Joins Exclusive Line of

SU2C Star Wars T-Shirts Available at SU2C.org

LOS ANGELES, CA, NOVEMBER 28, 2011— Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and Lucasfilm will continue their collaboration this holiday season when they release never-before-seen outtakes from the highly popular star-studded video clip that urges fans to Use the Force for Good.  The campaign continues to raise funds for groundbreaking cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives.  Just in time for holiday shopping and due to popular demand, SU2C and Lucasfilm have added a fourth design incorporating the iconic image of Darth Vader to their line of co-branded tees, which feature Star Wars™ artwork alongside SU2C’s signature upward arrows and slogans such as “Blast Cancer” and “Use the Force for Good.” This new exclusive Darth Vader t-shirt bears the slogan “Do Not Underestimate the Power of SU2C,” and will be available for purchase in late November.  The full line of  tees is available for purchase at store.standup2cancer.org/shop with proceeds benefiting SU2C.

In addition, a new behind-the-scenes look at the Star Wars video tribute featuring celebrity Star Wars enthusiasts and SU2C Ambassadors— Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone—who were joined by Star Wars alum Samuel L. Jackson, can currently be viewed on the Star Wars YouTube channel, youtube.com/starwars, alongside the original video tribute.  This new behind-the-scenes video not only captures funny outtakes from the all-star cast, it highlights candid moments where the cast members express why they participated in the original Star Wars video tribute. With approximately 800,000 hits on YouTube so far, the original Star Wars video tribute encourages fans to Use the Force for Good and join Lucasfilm in donating to Stand Up To Cancer.

“To build a grassroots movement of people determined to end this disease, cancer and references to it have to become part of the pop culture zeitgeist,” said Sue Schwartz, SU2C co-founder and partner at Robertson Schwartz Agency. “Lucasfilm’s willingness to highlight the fight against cancer with an icon like Star Wars is a huge boon to our efforts.  Everyone at Stand Up To Cancer is eternally grateful to Lucasfilm and our celebrity ambassadors for ‘Using the Force for Good.’ We look forward to continuing this campaign through the end of the year to raise funds for life-saving cancer research.”

About Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray

Relive the unforgettable moments and experience the spectacular adventure of STAR WARS The Complete Saga in a way only Blu-ray can deliver. This incredible collection unites all six Episodes together for the first time in stunning high definition with the purest digital sound in the galaxy. With over 40 hours of thrilling special features, including all-new content created exclusively for this release, you can journey deeper into the Star Wars universe and discover more than ever before. This month, feel the Force of STAR WARS The Complete Saga on Blu-ray!

About Stand Up To Cancer

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)—a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization—raises funds to accelerate the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. SU2C facilitates collaboration among the best and the brightest in the cancer research community. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and a Scientific Advisory Committee led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., conduct rigorous, competitive review processes through which SU2C’s grantees are selected. By galvanizing the entertainment industry, SU2C generates awareness and builds grassroots support for this new approach to ending cancer.

Lucasfilm, STAR WARS™ and related properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd.  All rights reserved.  All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

December 7, 1969 – November 28, 2011

Thanks for the laughs and your brilliant and inventive insight.

The AFI Festival 2011 presented by Audi rolled out Nov 3^rd thru Nov 10^th for its 25^th Anniversary, taking over the Historic Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The festival includes World Premier Screenings, Special Screening, Tributes, and Red Carpet events, In addition the Fest partners up with the AFM the largest North American Market for Film distribution. Together they combine to form an unparalleled combination of both arts and Commerce. This year included a slate of films that kicked off with the world premier of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, and ended with the North American premiere of the of the Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson collaboration The Adventures of Tintin

Melancholia

Starring : Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgard, Kiefer Sutherland, Stellan Skarsgard,

Director: Lars Von Trier

Two sisters with a strained relationship deal with depression and a wedding right before the end of the world.

Melancholia is most likely going to be referred in the same conversation as Tree of Life for its use of Classical music, and striking visuals, in a way Melancholia is the book end to tree of life where one focused on the creation of man and dealing with family relationships, Melancholia focuses on the end of the world and the relationship of two sisters; that is where the parallels end. While Tree of Life is the type of film to garner deeper thinking while challenging the viewer, Melancholia only requires an extreme amount of patience to tolerate a film ploddingly slow and lacking in any form of enjoyment.

Kristen Dunst is being hailed in the role of Justine, It takes more than acting like an insufferable bitch and showing a complete void of emotion to demonstrate depression, the only compliment I can give her is the courage to show any form of nudity with translucent skin so pale it makes Nosferatu look like he suffered a sunburn.  Von Triers sad attempt at being clever naming the Planet that crashes into earth Melancholia while focusing on a completely unlikable character who suffers from Depression AKA Melancholia is weak minded and cloyingly pathetic.

Melancholia is perhaps the worst film I have seen the entire year, with the entire first half consisting of a wedding reception. People don’t like attending weddings in person let alone seeing it for this length  for absolutely no reason, Melancholia could just have easily been a half hour short consisting of the last half hour of the film. The only saving grace of the entire film is that you know everyone dies. The real tragedy is that it takes so long for the apocalypse to happen.

Grade- 23

Jeff, Who Lives at Home

Starring: Jason Segal, Ed Helms, Judy Greer and Susan Surandon

Director: Jay and Mark Duplas

Jay and Mark (Pete Eckhart from the genius semi-improvised FX comedy the League) Duplas the Writing/ Directing/Brother team who brought us the underrated Cyrus are back this time teaming funny men Jason Segal(Jeff) and Ed Helms (Pat). When slacker Jeff leaves the house to get some wood glue he finds himself in the midst of a quest for signs from the universe and helping his brother Pat stake out his wife who he suspects is cheating on him. Jeff is everything that Melancholia wasn’t, a warm funny life affirming film that is laugh out loud funny. Segal and Helms are a perfect pair, playing well off each other while having conversations that feel real. It’s take on the grand scale of life is quirky as soon through the eyes of Jeff but it’s a view not to be missed.

Grade – 88

The Adventures of Tintin

Starring: Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig and Andy Serkis

Director: Steven Spielberg

Spielberg and Jackson team up to bring Herge’s classic French comic to the big screen utilizing Motion Capture. Tintin is a character that has been around since the 20’s in many forms be it comic or cartoon, Finally making his way to the big screen, This is material that is in Spielbergs wheelhouse Tintin is an investigative reporter who teams up with Ship Captain/ Drunk, Captain Haddock to find 3 model ships built by Haddocks ancestors that can find a treasure. Tintin feels like the film Spielberg wished he made for the fourth Indiana Jones before he got talked into the Alien nonsense by George Lucas. It’s a lavish globetrotting action adventure that in 3D is surely not to be missed. The only real issue I had was that Haddock looks just like Peter Jackson and the villain Ivanovich Sakharine is a spitting image of Spielberg which is a bit distracting.

Grade-82

While AFI was screening films over 8,000 industry leaders converge in Santa Monica for eight days of deal-making, screenings, conferences, premieres, networking and parties.  With participants coming from more than 70 countries.

The 8 day AFM included the new five-day AFM Conference Series showcasing sessions on financing, production, marketing, distribution and pitching attracting sold-out audiences of 600-700. With Overall growth of over 4%, and 800 million dollars worth of deals being closed in just 8 days, making this year’s AFM a huge success

Overall the 25^th Anniversary of the AFI Fest presented by Audi had a strong showing of films that ran the gamut and proved why it has thrived for the past 25 years.

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Hugo
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Christopher Lee
Rated: PG
Directed by: Martin Scorsese

A young boy who’s lives in a train station teams up with a young girl for an adventure that will help the boy find a message from his deceased father, and change the life of her grandfather.

Based off the 2007 Caldecott Medal winning the Adventures of Hugo Cabret, Hugo is being billed as Martin Scorcese’s first foray into children’s films. In reality this is a far more mature work than you are lead to believe.

Set in 1930’s Paris, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) is a young boy who’s father (Jude Law) dies and is forced to live in a train station with his Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) taking care of the station clocks, When Uncle Claude disappears, Hugo continues living in the station walls, maintaining the clocks as not to alert anyone to his presence for fear of being sent to an orphanage. Surviving by shoplifting from the local merchants, while avoiding the eye of the Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) who is hell bent on capturing every lone child wandering his stations halls. When a shoplifting jaunt at the toyshop goes bad by, Hugo finds himself working of his debt to the shopkeeper Grandpa George (Ben Kingsley). Soon Hugo is developing a relationship with the Shopkeepers Granddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz), a young girl who loves to read and longs for adventure. Together Hugo and Isabelle set out to solve a mystery that involves a broken robot, a message from his father, A Key in Issabelles possession and famed Film Director Georges Melies.
Visually Scorsese captures the look of the much lauded book to a tee, Sacha Barron Cohen as the Train Inspector channels his inner Peter Sellers (In a way that should make Steve Martin put himself down like an old dog for his Pink Panther blasphemy) Kingsley as Georges Melies truly captures the essence of a man who wants to be remembered for his past achievements, while Asa and Chloe shine as the wide eyed children

The rundown makes the movie sound like an elaborate adventure(If that’s what you’re looking for, its best to wait for Tintin), with a vast mystery to solve, in reality the movie is pretty straightforward dealing with themes of overcoming and embracing your past while simultaneously a love letter by Scorsese Romanticizing Cinema, while simultaneously highlighting the unique power the medium beholds to create dreams.

Hugo is the type of movie geared towards the child inside an adult. If you have the perspective to look back at your life’s achievements you will truly appreciate it.

Gade – 83