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Check out Kate Winslet’s “Titanic” screentest

By Kate Torgovnick

Earlier this year, when Titanic 3D arrived in theaters, Kate Winslet said of her star turn in the ’90s classic, “I’m sure I wasn’t really a very good actress.” Now, we get to judge for ourselves.

With the release of the Blu-ray version of the flick this week, we get a first look at Winslet’s screentest for the movie. Notice that it’s not Leonardo DiCaprio at her side. Nope, in this one she’s paired with Jeremy Sisto. If Sisto had landed the part, would there have been, as Winslet put it early this year, a “whole new generation of young men and women who, perhaps … may have been conceived after the first date night of a couple going to see Titanic”?

Tagged celeb news, kate winslet, the movies, titanic 3d

Jul 26 2012

Kate Flashback: Barbra Streisand as Katie Morosky in “The Way We Were”

I would normally write “spoiler alert” before showing you the ending of a film, even if it’s one that came out in 1973. But I feel no such qualms about posting the final six minutes of the classic “The Way We Were,” which tells the story of ill-fated couple Hubbell Gardner (Robert Redford) and Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand). Why? Because, please, even if you haven’t seen the original movie, you remember this from the “Sex and the City” episode “Ex and the City,” when Carrie finally concedes Mr. Big to Natasha.

Tagged barbra streisand, kate flashback, the movies, the way we were

Jul 19 2012

Entertainment, Gossip

Kate Beckinsale almost played the three-breasted hooker in “Total Recall,” but another Kate got the part instead

Len Wiseman had a strange strategy for convincing his wife, the lovely Kate Beckinsale, to sign on for a major part in his remake of “Total Recall” when she said she could only make a cameo. No, Wiseman didn’t just beg her. Nor did he slyly challenge her to an arm wrestling match with the stakes being her participation. No, he asked the head of Sony Pictures to call her instead.

“When my husband first signed on to the project, he was like, ‘Oh my god, I really want you to play this bitch-psycho wife.’ I was totally offended and didn’t think any more of it for a while,” Beckinsale told MTV at Comic-Con last week. “We’d had a conversation about the fact that I wasn’t available and we were both being very grown-up about it and he said, ‘Well, maybe, will you play the three-breasted hooker just so that you’re in the movie?’ And I was like, ‘OK.’”

While Beckinsale was happy with her part, a role that made a big splash when the original movie come out in 1990, that’s not how things ended up.

Tagged kaitlyn leeb, kate beckinsale, len wiseman, the movies, total recall

Jun 26 2012

Cait on Culture: Take me to the movies

By Caitlin Abber

In my very first column, I was complaining about how all the good shows were on the same night. “Game of Thrones,” “Mad Men,” “Girls”—Sunday had become an overwhelming evening! But now all of those goodies have ended for the season, and I am left with a Sunday night as quiet as a sleeping kitten.

I don’t mind this necessarily, but I do miss my standard Sunday ritual of making a big dinner, having a couple friends over, and staring at the TV for almost four hours. So I’ve decided that this summer, I am going to carry on the tradition by catching up on all the movies I’ve never seen but should have. Since, you know, I am really into culture and all.

Last week, with much influence from my boyfriend, I settled into the first disc of “The Lord of The Rings” (the extended version, duh). I somehow avoided these Hobbit tales my entire life (I never even read the books!) so I had no idea what to expect. I thought they were all going to be woodsy tales of tomfoolery, but I was wrong. They are super intense! Don’t tempt me Frodo!

Tagged cait on culture, caitlin abber, the movies, video rentals

Jun 14 2012

Entertainment, Gossip

Tom Cruise wears codpiece for Katie Holmes, while Catherine Zeta-Jones channels Pat Benatar

By Kate Torgovnick

Tom Cruise kept an unusual memento from the set of “Rock of Ages”—the jewel-encrusted, dragon-shaped, codpiece that he wears as rock star lothario Stacee Jaxx in the film. And in the TMI department, Cruise has shared that he still wears the bit of costuming—which he sports in the movie during a love scene with two groupies—for his wife of five years, Katie Holmes. “Yeah, I wear it,” Cruise told E! News at the premiere of the film earlier this week. “[Katie] laughed [when she first saw it]. It’s hilarious.”

But apparently, Suri Cruise was more disturbed than amused by her dad’s flamboyant costuming in the musical, which opens in theaters tomorrow. “When I had the eyeliner on and the painted nails, she was a little taken aback by that,” Cruise told “On-Air with Ryan Seacrest” on Monday. “She was like, ‘What is happening to my daddy?’”

Another star getting a very new look for “Rock of Ages?” Catherine Zeta-Jones. The normally sultry star plays a no-fun, Bible-thumping, please-do-stop-the-music type in the film. But hey, at least she gets to sing some Pat Benatar. Hear her version of “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” after the jump.
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Tagged cathere zeta-jones, celeb gossip, katie holmes, pat benatar, rock of ages, the movies, tom cruise

Jun 13 2012

Classic Kates: the lovely Catherine Deneuve

One of the most classic Kates of all time: Catherine Deneuve. The French beauty shot her first film at the ripe age of 11 in 1957, and become a star six years later with Jacques Demy’s musical “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg.” But Denueve is still acting decades later. In 1993, she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in “Indochine,” and in 2008, she shot her 100th movie, “Un conte de Noël.” Of them, only seven are in English.

Here Deneuve is, in the classic “Belle de jour.”

Tagged catherine deneuve, classic kates, kate flashback, the movies

Jun 06 2012

2 Comments

Kate Flashback: Remember Penny Lane in “Almost Famous”?

Even though Kate Hudson is Goldie Hawn’s daughter, she wasn’t a star in her own right until 2000, when she appeared in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous.” Hudson was so freaking charming in the role that it wasn’t just teenage music journalist William Miller who fell in love with her—pretty much all of America did. Hudson took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the part, and was nominated for an Oscar.

But interestingly, the role wasn’t supposed to be hers. As movie legend has it, Crowe originally cast Canadian actress Sarah Polley as Penny Lane, and Brad Pitt as rocker Russell Hammond.

Tagged almost famous, kate flashback, kate hudson, the movies

May 29 2012

Kate Amend, documentary film editor

Of all the movies that screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, zero were directed by women. However, a third were apparently edited by women. The New York Times ran an interesting article over the weekend about why film editing has always welcomed women with open arms. One of the leading theories: that back in the day it was considered akin to sewing and therefore was seen as potential women’s work. But some of the theories in the article are more flattering, too.

Mary Lampson, who edited “Harlan County U.S.A” explains, “Many good editors are sort of introverted, shy people, observers of life. They’re very funny. They’re ironic. And all those traits are what you need to be a good editor. I don’t think women have a monopoly on those traits, of course. But women tend to be more like that than men.”

Dr. Michael Mills, an associate professor of psychology at Loyola-Marymount University agreed.

“To be a good film editor,” he said, “you need to select the best takes, and women are better at reading and interpreting facial expressions of emotions than are men. My guess is that perhaps high levels of both systematizing and empathizing are characteristic of the best film editors.”

I, of course, was most interested in the part of the article though that talked about Kate Amend (that’s her on the right above), a documentary film editor who cut the Academy Award-winning film “The Long Way Home” as well 2006′s “Thin.”

Tagged editing, feminism, kate amend, the movies

May 22 2012

Cate Blanchett soon to become ‘Carol’

Woo hoo! Cate Blanchett has signed off for a new movie. Her new project, which will co-star Mia Wasikowska, is called “Carol,” and it’s a big-screen adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novella “The Prince of Salt.” So what is this movie about? Why, it’s a lesbian love story set in the 1950s, of course.

“The Prince of Salt” tells the tale of Therese (presumably Wasikowska), a young woman in New York working in a department store. She finds herself bizarrely drawn to Carol (presumably Blanchett), a 30-something customer in an unhappy marriage.

Tagged carol, cate blanchett, mia wasikowska, the movies

May 16 2012

Gossip

Kate Beckinsale shares her favorite prank to pull on her husband

Kate Beckinsale loves a good prank. And not just sneaking sex toys into her poor mother’s luggage as she is on her way to the airport. During an appearance on “Ellen” on Monday, Beckinsale revealed that she also loves pranking her husband, Len Wiseman, who directed the actress’ new flick, “Total Recall.” (Beckinsale has already discussed how odd it was filming sex scenes with co-star Colin Farrell in front of her hubby.)

Apparently, Wiseman is such a deep sleeper that Beckinsale discovered years ago that she could apply makeup, and much more, to his face while he was asleep, without waking him up.

“Once I found out that I could do the make-up, then it got really crazy and I’d start gluing a proper ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ beard on … and then a bullet hole, all this stuff you can get in any Halloween store,” said Beckinsale. “It’s hours of fun for me.”

Tagged celeb news, celebrity couples, kate beckinsale, len wiseman, pranks, relationships, the movies, total recall

May 09 2012

Kate Hudson gets the most scathing reviews ever in “A Little Bit of Heaven”

Kate Hudson is in a serious romantic comedy rut. I stuck with her through “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days,” and “Bride Wars,” and “You, Me and Dupree” which—admit it—isn’t all that terrible to watch when it comes on USA on a Sunday afternoon. But when I saw the above preview for Hudson’s latest, “A Little Bit of Heaven,” I was concerned. I mean, the woman once nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Penny Lane has sunk to the level of a flick about a mean girl who gets cancer, but falls in love with her doctor as she gets treatment?

However, I couldn’t have imagined just how bad the reviews for this film would be. I mean, every review I’ve read so far has been scathing. Here is a sampling.