Angelina Jolie met Pope Francis on Thursday, January 8, after a screening of the film Unbroken, which she directed, for officials and ambassadors at the Vatican. The reverend Federicoo Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, said the film – which tells the true-life story of Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini, whose bomber crashed in the Pacific during the Second World War and who survived on a raft for 47 days, only to be captured by the Japanese – showed "positive human and spiritual values, in particular forgiveness". The Pope didn't watch the film but chatted to Jolie afterward. – AP
Grand Budapest Hotel heads Bafta list
Wes Anderson's comedy The Grand Budapest Hotel is the surprise front-runner for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, while Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch will compete for best actor. Anderson's film received 11 Bafta nominations, including best picture and best director. It's star, Ralph Fiennes, was nominated for best actor. The acting nominees also included Michael Keaton for his role in Birdman, which is up for 10 awards, as is James Marsh's The Theory of Everything, which stars Redmayne as the physicist Stephen Hawking. Cumberbatch was nominated for playing mathematician Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. Jake Gyllenhaal was also nominated for his role as a sleazy journalist in Nightcrawler. The best-actress contenders are Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything, Amy Adams for Big Eyes, Julianne Moore for Still Alice, Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl and Reese Witherspoon for Wild. Richard Linklater's decade-spanning Boyhood, and Damien Chazelle's music-school drama Whiplash, got five nominations each. The winners will be announced at London's Royal Opera House on February 8. – AP
Broadway debut for Jennifer Hudson
The actress and singer Jennifer Hudson will make her Broadway debut in the autumn in the a new version of the musical The Color Purple. The Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe winner will play Shug Avery, a sultry blues singer, in the production directed and designed by John Doyle, who received a Tony in 2006 for his Broadway debut, Sweeney Todd. It will be Hudson's first musical-theatre role since her award-winning performance in the 2006 film Dreamgirls. – AP
Hollywood star Rod Taylor dies
Rod Taylor, the suave Australian film and television actor whose brawny good looks helped him find fame as a leading man in Hollywood movies – including Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and the 1960 version of The Time Machine – has died at the age of 84, said his daughter, Felicia Taylor. He also appeared in The Train Robbers with John Wayne and provided the voice of Pongo in Disney's animated version of 101 Dalmatians. His final film role was in 2009 as Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. He died on Wednesday, January 7, in Los Angeles. – AP
Star Trek pair to unveil Oscar hopefuls
Star Trek actor Chris Pine, directors J J Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron, and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Cheryl Boone Isaacs will announce the Oscar nominees on Thursday, January 15. In a break with tradition, all 24 categories will be unveiled during a news conference in Beverly Hills, California, that will be broadcast live on Oscars.org. In the past, only the most popular categories were revealed live, with the rest revealed in a news release. The Oscar ceremony is at the Dolby Theatre on February 22. – AP
Nicole Kidman speaks about date with Jimmy Fallon
Nicole Kidman says she wasn’t exactly trying to “seduce” Jimmy Fallon when the two went on a date years ago.
The actress reminisced with The Tonight Show host about their encounter at Fallon’s New York apartment in an “awkward” interview.
“Um, was I trying to seduce him? I don’t know if seduction is part of my repertoire. I think I was more just kind of open to the idea, which never eventuated, so ...” Kidman said on Thursday, January 8, while promoting her new movie Paddington, which opens on January 16.
The two were set up by a mutual friend when both were single, a bit before Kidman starred in 2005’s Bewitched. Both are now married with children. Fallon said in the interview that he hadn’t realised the meeting was a date. He blushed and dove under his desk at one point in embarrassment.
Kidman was apparently also embarrassed while telling the story.
“So not planned. I mean, that should be apparent because it was so, I mean. Anyway, he’ll kill me. As I said, I’ll probably never be asked – I’ll never go back on the show. No, just joking,” she said. “Yeah, it was awkward. The whole thing was awkward. But anyway.” – AP
Allen Hughes to direct remake of TV mini-series Roots
The History channel is moving closer to a remake of the groundbreaking TV mini-series Roots.
The channel said Allen Hughes, whose credits include Menace II Society and The Book of Eli, has been hired to direct the project. Hughes will also serve as an executive producer with Mark Wolper and Marc Toberoff.
The new mini-series, announced in 2013, remains in development and has yet to be greenlighted. But the progress makes it likely the new Roots will end up on television.
Mark Wolper’s father, David, produced the original 1977 mini-series that was based on Alex Haley’s historical novel. It was an Emmy-winner and television sensation.
The original Roots, the story of an enslaved African-American family, starred Ben Vereen, LeVar Burton and Olivia Cole. Casting for the remake has yet to be announced. - AP
Jackie Chan’s son pleads guilty
A Chinese court says the son of actor Jackie Chan has pleaded guilty to providing a venue for drug users and has been sentenced to six months in jail.
The Dongcheng District People’s Court in Beijing says on its microblog account that 32-year-old Jaycee Chan also was ordered to pay 2,000 yuan (Dh1,180) during the January 9 hearing.
Police detained Chan, the Taiwanese movie star Ko Kai and several others in August in Chan’s Beijing apartment. The official Xinhua News Agency said Chan and Ko tested positive for marijuana and police seized more than 100 grams of marijuana from Chan’s home.
The agency says the maximum sentence for the charge was three years in prison.
Chinese authorities named actor Jackie Chan an anti-drug ambassador in 2009. – AP