Top Stories:
"Film Awards, Fests, Follies & Fables!"
by Mario & Daniela  Brunetti

(Weblog entry 2008-158 -25 January 2008)








 MICHELLE PFEIFFER: "FORGET 'GREASE 2'"! BUT SHE'S EAGER TO STAR IN THE ORIGINAL'S REMAKE!

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Michelle Pfeiffer w / AB "Grease" Poster

Michelle Pfeiffer , who is riding high in the popularity polls with her performance in the musical “Hairspray”, is a self declared prime candidate to star in a remake of the 1978 classic movie musical ‘Grease’ - and she is recommending Jessica Simpson to play Sandy. Michelle admits that she is highly embarrassed about her performance in the totally forgettable ‘Grease 2’, and wants to make amends by starring a new version of the original film. Michelle is looking at the role of the comical Principal McGee played by the late Eve Arden in the original film. Regarding her own her association with the second “Grease” movie, Michelle states, "I hated that film (‘Grease 2’) with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was. At the time, I was young and didn't know better... I hear it's a cult movie now." So far no word on who will play the ‘John Travolta’ role in the remake. Of course, Zac Efron is waiting with his fingers crossed for the studios to call!                                                           

        
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FRANKENSTEIN THE MONSTER, REBORN!


Boris Karloff as the 'Monster' Guillermo del Toro

Some Hollywood insiders are calling Guillermo Del Toro today’s most visionary director. Therefore when the news came out that he is planning his unique version of the classic horror story of Frankenstein caught many Hollywood producers with dollar signs dancing in their eyes. Mary Shelley's monster will not be filmed literally by Guillermo. He says,” The only way to do the Shelley novel is to actually do a four-hour miniseries. But I think there permutations in which you can tell the myth in a different way.” Guillermo's new project will now join the ranks of resurgence of the ‘post WWII Universal Studio monsters’. The first film of this type out of the gate will be “The Wolf Man” which has been delayed due to the writers strike. Now what about a new ‘Dracula’ ?
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OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED IN SPITE OF POSSIBLE WRITERS GUILD GALA BOYCOTT!
Daniel Day Lewis
Marion Cotillard
   

Regardless of a gala or no Gala due to the Writers Guild possible boycott, the show must go on and so on schedule as promised the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released their nominations for the year 2007.  This year they were more high tech than usual with live streaming video on line at their web site of the official nomination presentations. Our bet is that the 80th  Annual Oscar Gala will go on as scheduled, as the writers and major studio heads seem to be engaged in meaningful consultations and it would be in no one’s interest at this point to scuttle the most important awards event in filmland. And the nomination results…… "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" led with eight Academy Awards nominations each. Our Oscar bet for best actor: Daniel Day-Lewis: best supporting actor: Javier Bardem ('No Country for Old Men').Best Actress: Marion Cottilard ('La Vie en Rose'); Best supporting actress: Cate Blanchett ('I’m Not There')  - Best picture: “No Country for Old Men”.  Click here for live streaming video of all Oscar nominations:

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ARTISTIC LIFESTYLES CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!
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James Dean
Jimi Hendrix

If you want to live a long life, then stay away from the artistic way of life.  According to the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, a study involving 1050 musicians and singers from the USA and Europe who achieved fame between 1956 and 1999, 100 died during this period.  The average mean age for all participants of the study was 42 for Americans and only 35 for the Europeans. This study when compared with average life spans of European and American normal citizens in general during the test period indicates that the “stars” only lived one half the normal average life span. Particularly hazardous were the first five years after the test subjects achieved fame. At this time the death rate was extremely high. Most probably because of an inability to manage their new found fame and fortune, which led them to  take on destructive life styles.  Britney and Lindsay this study should be recommended reading for both of you, not to mention Paris Hilton.