02.18.2014 | By Mariana Dussan |
Journalism is all about getting the full story, but what happens when this practice pushes the boundaries to the point of insensitivity?
Right after winning bronze medal in the super-G race in Sochi on Sunday, U.S. skier Bode Miller spoke with NBC’s Christian Copper, who wanted to get an emotional story out of the athlete, but instead set him to tears on national television. Read More
01.8.2009 | By Mack Chico |
“The Dark Knight” took home top honors at the People’s Choice Awards Wednesday night, walking away with five awards.
The movie, which won high praise and acclaim from critics and fans, won the award for favorite movie, favorite action movie, favorite cast, favorite on screen match-up (Christian Bale and Heath Ledger) and favorite superhero (Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman).
“Here’s to Heath,” Bale said after accepting the award, referring to his co-star, who died of an accidental drug overdose in January 2008.
Host Queen Latifah introduced the movie at the end of the ceremony and all five awards were presented at the same time.
“American Idol” lost to “Dancing With the Stars” for favorite reality TV show, but two of their alums — Jordin Sparks and Carrie Underwood — picked up their own awards.
Underwood, who performed earlier during the show, nabbed two wins early on — one for “Last Name” (favorite country song) and also for favorite female singer.
Sparks and Chris Brown both took home the award for “Favorite Combined Forces,” for their collaboration on “No Air.” The pair beat out “4 Minutes” by Madonna and Justin Timberlake and “Love Like This” by Natasha Bedingfield and Sean Kingston.
“I think this is the first awards show where they actually aired my award,” Sparks jokingly said as she accepted the award. Brown, who was in Dublin, accepted the award via satellite.
Ellen DeGeneres took home the award for best talk show host.
“I wish I could share this with you,” DeGeneres said. “I could throw it on the ground and smash it into a million pieces, and give each one of you a little piece of it, but that’s violent, and that’s probably why you voted for me, because I’m not violent.”
Other early winners included: “27 Dresses” (favorite comedy movie), Hugh Laurie (favorite male TV star) and Robin Williams (favorite scene stealing guest star for his role on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”). EW review: You showed up? Here’s a trophy!
The People’s Choice Awards celebrated its 35th ceremony this year.
For most of their run, the People’s Choice Awards were based on Gallup polls. In the last few years, online voting has decided the winners, and this year’s categories included tech-friendly slots for favorite user-generated video and favorite online sensation.
12.18.2008 | By Mack Chico |
The movie version of John Patrick Shanley’s Tony Award-winning drama about sexual and religious power struggles at a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, led the nominations for the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards with five, including nods for each major member of its cast and an overall pick for outstanding performance by a cast.
Meryl Streep, who plays a suspicious school principal, Sister Aloysius, in the film, was nominated in the lead actress category. Her co-stars, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis, earned nominations in supporting categories.
Also doing well at the SAG nominations were “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Milk,” both of which earned three nominations. The films are up for outstanding cast, lead actor (Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, respectively) and a supporting performance.
Kate Winslet was nominated for her performances in two films. The actress earned a lead actress nomination for “Revolutionary Road” and a supporting nod for “The Reader.”
The late Heath Ledger, who earned critical and mass praise for his performance as the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” was nominated for supporting actor.
The outstanding cast nominations went to “Button,” “Doubt,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Milk” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”
The SAGs also shined a light on a handful of lower-profile performances. Richard Jenkins, who received plaudits for his performance in the little-seen “The Visitor,” received a best actor nomination. Melissa Leo, who plays a struggling single mother who turns to smuggling in “Frozen River,” earned a best actress nomination.
The SAGs also honor TV series, and among the top nominees are “Boston Legal,” which earned nominations for stars William Shatner, James Spader and its ensemble; “Mad Men,” which picked up nods for Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and its ensemble; and “30 Rock,” which received nominations for Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and its ensemble.
For Academy Award watchers, the SAG Awards nominations are considered a bellwether of Oscar acting nominations. The actors’ branch is the largest Academy voting bloc and is responsible for creating the short lists for the various Oscar acting categories.
However, a SAG win is by no means a guarantee of an Oscar. Though last year’s SAG lead actor winner, Daniel Day-Lewis, won the best acting Oscar for his performance in “There Will Be Blood,” the SAG lead actress winner, Julie Christie, didn’t duplicate the feat. Christie, who was nominated for “Away From Her,” lost to Marion Cotillard, who played Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose.”
Moreover, SAG Award nominees for casts sometimes have little overlap with the Oscar nominees for best picture. Last year, the SAG list had just one film — eventual winner “No Country for Old Men” — that was also nominated for best picture.
SAG Award nominations are decided by about 4,000 randomly selected members of the actors’ union. The full membership is allowed to vote on the winners.
The 15th annual SAG Awards are scheduled to air on January 25 on TNT and TBS. Both networks are units of Time Warner, as is CNN.
12.11.2008 | By Mack Chico |
This is what the Oscar’s might look like as the nominations for the Golden Globes were unveiled:
“Doubt,” which tied with “Frost/Nixon” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” for the most nominations with five, earned nods for all four of its main actors — Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis — but none for either best director or best drama. “Milk’s” Sean Penn received a best actor nomination, but the film — which the New York Film Critics Circle named the year’s best — was shut out of the best director and best drama categories as well.
“Frost/Nixon” earned a nomination for Nixon (Frank Langella) but not Frost (Michael Sheen). Both Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. earned supporting actor nominations for “Tropic Thunder,” but the film itself couldn’t find its way onto the best comedy or musical list. “Gran Torino,” the just-out Clint Eastwood flick that’s again earning the director critical plaudits, received its sole nomination for best song, which he co-wrote. (Eastwood also received a nomination for his “Changeling” score.)
“The Dark Knight,” the year’s top box-office success and the runner-up for best picture among the Los Angeles Film Critics, earned just one nomination, a supporting actor nod for Heath Ledger‘s performance as the Joker.
Then again, the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the Globes, showed some love toward movies that were generally overlooked by the general public.
“In Bruges,” a comedy that earned mixed reviews and had a quiet box-office run in late winter, earned nominations for best comedy or musical and actors Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. And Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” cleaned up — the film earned nominations for best comedy or musical and its stars Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall and Penelope Cruz. Allen, however, didn’t get a nomination for either screenplay or director.
The nominees for best drama are “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “The Reader,” “Revolutionary Road” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”
The nominees for best comedy or musical are “Burn After Reading,” “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “In Bruges,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
The nominees for best director are Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), Stephen Daldry (“The Reader”), David Fincher (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Ron Howard (“Frost/Nixon”) and Sam Mendes (“Revolutionary Road”).
The nominees for best actor in a drama are Leonardo DiCaprio (“Revolutionary Road”), Langella (“Frost/Nixon”), Penn (“Milk”), Brad Pitt (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) and Mickey Rourke (“The Wrestler”).
The nominees for best actress in a drama are Anne Hathaway (“Rachel Getting Married”), Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”), Streep (“Doubt”), Kristin Scott Thomas (“I’ve Loved You So Long”) and Kate Winslet (“Revolutionary Road”).
The nominees for best actor in a comedy or musical are Bardem (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), Farrell (“In Bruges”), James Franco (“Pineapple Express”), Gleeson (“In Bruges”) and Dustin Hoffman (“Last Chance Harvey”).
The nominees for best actress in a comedy or musical are Hall (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), Sally Hawkins (“Happy-Go-Lucky”), Frances McDormand (“Burn After Reading”), Streep (“Mamma Mia!”) and Emma Thompson (“Last Chance Harvey”).
The nominees for best supporting actor are Cruise (“Tropic Thunder”), Downey (“Tropic Thunder”), Ralph Fiennes (“The Duchess”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Doubt”) and Ledger (“The Dark Knight”).
The nominees for best supporting actress are Adams (“Doubt”), Cruz (“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”), Davis (“Doubt”), Marisa Tomei (“The Wrestler”) and Winslet (“The Reader”).
Screenplay nominations went to Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”), David Hare (“The Reader”), Peter Morgan (“Frost/Nixon”), Eric Roth (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) and John Patrick Shanley (“Doubt”).
The nominees for best animated film are “Bolt,” “Kung Fu Panda” and “Wall-E.”
The Globes also give out awards for TV series. Nominees for best comedy series are “30 Rock,” “Californication,” “Entourage,” “The Office” and “Weeds.”
Nominees for best drama series are “Dexter,” “House,” “In Treatment,” “Mad Men” and “True Blood.”
The awards will be presented on January 11. The show will air on NBC.
