On September 21, 2008, The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Mad Men became the first basic cable series to win the prestigious Emmy Award in outstanding miniseries category. Overall, the series won 6 Emmy awards. NBC TVs 30 Rock won seven Emmy Awards including the awards for outstanding comedy series. Alec Baldwin won the Emmy Awards in the category of outstanding lead actor in a comedy series. Tina Fey of the same series won two Emmy awards as comedy series lead actress and outstanding writing. After winning the award, Tina Fey said:
"We're all so very grateful to have jobs in this turkey-burger economy. . . . I thank my parents for somehow raising me to have confidence that is disproportionate with my looks and abilities. Well done. That is what all parents should do,"
Alec Baldwin who portrayed the character of a network executive in
30 Rock said that this is the greatest job of his life.
This year, the highest Emmy winner is HBO’s John Adams. It is a seven part miniseries set in the background of the first fifty years of USA. The series won 13 Emmy Awards including: Outstanding miniseries, Outstanding lead actor (Paul Giamatti), Outstanding male supporting actor (Tom Wilkinson), Outstanding writing, Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Sound Mixing, Outstanding Sound Editing,Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, Outstanding Costumes,Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Casting, Outstanding Art Direction, and Outstanding lead actress (Laura Linney).
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are two of the top directors in Hollywood. Over the years, they produced great movies like Lord of the Rings trilogy, Indiana Jones, King Kong etc. Now, they are working together on popular European comic character, Tintin. It is going to be a 3-D animated movie. Surprisingly, when they submitted the project budget of $130 million to Universal Studios, it backed off. People like Spielberg and Jackson are not used to hear “No” from big studio executives but the rising cost and rough economic conditions has changed the climate.
Peter Jackson’s digital workshop, WETA, already spent $30 million, on developing performance capture technology, script, and character designing. A large portion of the money was funded by Paramount Pictures Corporation.
The main problem is, Spielberg and Jackson, want a share of the revenue. In this case, it was a whopping $100 million. The two directors will receive 30 percent of all types of revenue including ticket sales, DVD, TV and ancillary sales. The studio will reach break even point if the movie crosses $425 million in global ticket sales. Hit 3-D movies like The Polar Express, Beowulf, and Monster House did not cross that mark. Moreover, Tintin is very popular in Europe but not in USA. Seeing no other option, Spielberg has asked Paramount Pictures Corporation to bear all the expenses of the movie.
Because of Lindsay Lohan’s reputation, US presidential candidate, Barack Obama, refused her offer to do fundraiser for him. This made Lindsay Lohan’s father, Michael Lohan, very unhappy. He said that Barack Obama is a pot that is calling the kettle black. On September 17, 2008, Michael Lohan wrote an email to Fox News in which he wrote:
"His visions of a positive future for this country should be representative of a positive future for people as well. It is looking beyond the difficult times and letting go of the past. Obviously, Obama can do this for himself and not others, when in fact a good president should have hope for all."
Michael Lohan also wrote that Barack Obama condemned his daughter for ‘past indiscretions’ but he also admitted of taking drugs and alcohol in his teenage years. This shows what kind of president he would be.
Famous newspaper, Chicago Sun-Times reported that Lindsay Lohan’s Hollywood party girl reputation made Obama refuse her offer.
On September 18, 2008, picketers staged a protest in front of a theatre where Tom Cruise’s wife, Katie Holmes, was performing. On the opening night of the Broadway drama, All My Sons, twenty picketers from Anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, gathered in front of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York city. They were wearing masks and shouting:
“We are not boycotting Katie, we are not boycotting the play, we are protesting Scientology. It is evil. Scientology kills people. It follows you home at night. It is perverted.”
All My Sons is Katie Holmes’ first Broadway performance. Her husband, Tom Cruise, is one of the major figures promoting Scientology. He got involved in Scientology by his first wife, Mimi Rogers. After he and Katie Holmes started dating, Katie Holmes also joined the Church of Scientology.
A spokes person for Anonymous said that their protest is not only against Scientology, they want Katie Holmes get out from the ‘evil cult’ before it is too late.
Brad Pitt, a supporter of same-sex marriage, donated $100,000 to fight ‘Proposition 8,’ a bill that would ban “same-sex marriage.” Brad Pitt said:
"Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,"
So far, this is the largest donation ever made by any top Hollywood celebrity. Brad Pitt also said that he would not get married to Angelina Jolie until the right to “same-sex marriage” is not established. He said that he and Angelina will think of getting married after everyone else in the country will be able get-married legally. Earlier this week, the couple said that they donated $2 million for H.I.V/ AIDS campaign and tuberculosis in Ethiopia. In 2007, the couple was ranked sixth on the list of most generous Hollywood celebrities. They donated $8.4 milion.
Hollywood actress, singer, song writer, Miley Cyrus is going to act in a movie for Disney which will highlight her as an actress. The movie is going to be based on an upcoming novel of author Nicholas Spark who also wrote Mandy Moore’s, A Walk To Remember.
The title of the movie has not been decided yet. During her meeting with Disney executives, Miley Cyrus said that she wanted to do a movie like A Walk to Remember. Nicholas Spark is going to write a novel that will be released in 2009 and the movie will be adopted from the novel. Miley Cyrus’ mother, Tish Cyrus, will be the executive producer of the movie. Rumor spread out that Miley Cyrus is following Mandy Moore’s strategy. In this movie, she will not sing but act. latimesblogs reports:
Sparks told Variety that Miley Cyrus and her family "were familiar with his past work, including “The Notebook, “Message in a Bottle,” and his new “Nights in Rodanthe,” starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere, due out on Sept 26.
Miley Cyrus became successful for her performance in the famous Disney Channel series, Hannah Montana. The series tells the story of a teenage school girl who leads a double life as a famous pop-singer at night and a school going girl named Miley Stewart by day.
DareDevil star Ben Affleck is now going to act and direct another movie. The Town is a “dark heist-romance” movie. Graham King is going to produce the movie. Affleck will re-write a script by Peter Craig which was revised by Chuck Hogan, author of the novel, “Prince of Thieves.” Indecent Proposal director Adrian Lyne was supposed to direct the movie but he stepped down.
Along with acting, Ben Affleck has proved his skills in script writing and directing. Last year, he debuted as a director with Gone Baby Gone. The movie was a critical and commercial success. He also co-wrote the script of the drama with Aaron Stockard. In 1998, Ben Affleck won Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon.
The Town tells the story of a career thief who involves in a relationship with a bank manager in Charlestown, Massachusetts. An FBI agent, who is also in love with this bank manager, tries to bust the thief and his gang.
