Holly to Bolly: Salma Hayek says new film addresses division in the United States, AR Rahman misses out on Oscars, and more

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Salma Hayek says new film addresses division in the United States

Actress Salma Hayek says Beatriz at Dinner, her new politically-charged film, "speaks to the division of perspective in America".

“You know - two completely different perspectives that are not able to communicate very well right now. And this is what the movie is about,” says Hayek of the dark comedy, which premiered on Monday at the Sundance Film Festival.

Beatriz at Dinner is directed by Sundance regular Miguel Arteta. Hayek, who was born in Mexico, plays a massage therapist who finds herself at a dinner party hosted by a Donald Trump-like businessman character played by John Lithgow. They clash over empathy, greed and politics.

She says she was looking to see what President Trump will do when it comes to immigration and other issues.

“He says that he wants to be the president for America and we just have to see what is his definition of America. That’s what we need to see. And he says he wants to be the president for everybody in America. Let’s see if he’s open to the conversation like I was talking - to really hear what is the majority of America expecting for the president?” she says. - Associated Press

AR Rahman misses out on Oscars

India's Oscar-winning music maestro A.R. Rahman on Tuesday was out of the race for the 89th Academy Awards. His name did not feature as part of the final nomination list for the gala. The Mozart of Madras, who won two Oscars in 2009, stood a chance at two nominations for his work for Pele: Birth of a Legend, a biographical film about the early life of Brazilian footballer Pelé. Rahman's name featured in an initial list of 145 scores in contention for a nomination in the Original Score category.

Also, Ginga, his acclaimed number from the same film, was part of a long list of 91 songs competing for a spot in the final nominations for the Original Song category. - IANS

New delay in Prince probate case

The Minnesota probate judge overseeing the estate of Prince has refused to appoint either of two lawyers vying to represent the late music star’s likely heirs in managing his legacy, citing disagreement among the siblings over whom they prefer.

The two men - CNN contributor and onetime White House adviser Van Jones, and an entertainment attorney already working as a consultant to the Prince estate, L Londell McMillan - appeared before the judge at a hearing earlier this month to essentially interview for the job.

The musician, born Prince Rogers Nelson, left behind a fortune believed to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars when he died unexpectedly, and apparently without a will, last April at age 57, suffering a fatal prescription drug overdose at his Paisley Park home and studio in Minnesota.

Under Minnesota law, his assets are expected to pass equally to Prince’s younger sister, Tyka Nelson, and five surviving half-siblings, as he had no offspring or spouse and his parents were both deceased.

But the judge has said he would not formally validate the inheritance of the six siblings until court appeals from various other claims denied last year have run their course. - Reuters

Naomie Harris found Moonlight ‘liberating’

Actress Naomie Harris felt liberated working on Moonlight as no one from the cast or crew was working for the money.

The 40-year-old actress shot to fame when she starred in big budget Bond movie Spectre, but she says working on her latest film was amazing as the cast and crew were more focused on doing their job than being paid lots, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"It was fantastic, I absolutely loved it. It was so liberating because it was all about the work - nobody was there for the pay cheque, and nobody expected this movie to do as well as it has done. It was this experiment for us, we were just so passionate about telling this story," Harris said on TV show Lorraine. Moonlight tells the story of the life of a young man who struggles to find his place in the world whilst growing up in a rough neighbourhood of Miami. Harris spent just three days filming her scenes, as at the time she was busy on a month-long promotion tour for Spectre. "I came from the glamour of Bond and then this is the lowest budget movie I have ever been a part of - it's a tiny budget, normally on a film set everybody has trailers... There was one rickety wooden make-up stall which all of us actors used to line up in the morning and wait for our turn on this stall that's how low budget it was," she said. - IANS

Alternative truth era sees spike in book sales

After incorrect or unprovable statements made by Republican President Donald Trump and some White House aides, one truth is undeniable: Sales of George Orwell's 1984 are soaring. First published in 1949, Orwell's classic dystopian tale of a society in which facts are distorted and suppressed in a cloud of "newspeak" topped the best-seller list of Amazon.com as of Tuesday evening. The sales bump comes after the Trump administration's assertions his inauguration had record attendance and his unfounded allegation that millions of illegal votes were cast against him last fall. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway coined an instant catchphrase Sunday when she called his claims about crowd size "alternative facts," bringing comparisons on social media to 1984. Orwell's book isn't the only cautionary tale on the Amazon list. Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel about the election of an authoritarian president, It Can't Happen Here, was at No. 46. Aldous Huxley's Brave New World was at No. 71. Sales also were up for Hannah Arendt's seminal nonfiction analysis The Origins of Totalitarianism.