LAS VEGAS (AP) — Like most people who receive lifetime-achievement awards, Jerry Bruckheimer wants everyone to know he’s not finished yet. “Hopefully, there’s more to come,” said Bruckheimer, the producer of such franchises as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “National Treasure” and “Beverly Hills Cop,” who received a career prize Thursday night at closing ceremonies of the ShoWest convention for theater owners. Before the awards, ShoWest crowds got their first look at Bruckheimer’s next potential franchise – “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” an action adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal that opens May 28. Bruckheimer follows with another summer offering July 16, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” an action comedy with “National Treasure” star Nicolas Cage. Bruckheimer is developing a third installment in the “National Treasure” series, which stars Cage as an unorthodox history scholar racing to unlock hidden secrets that lead to vanished riches. Filming begins in June on “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the fourth installment in the franchise starring Johnny Depp as woozy buccaneer Capt. Jack Sparrow. Due in theaters in May 2011, the film picks up where the last one left off, as Sparrow embarks on a new quest with a map to the fountain of youth in hand. Penelope Cruz co-stars, with Geoffrey Rush reprising his role as pirate Barbossa and Ian McShane signing on as Blackbeard. “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” earned Depp a best-actor nomination at the Academy Awards and launched a trilogy as the story continued with two sequels. With Depp’s Sparrow sailing off on a fresh voyage, Bruckheimer said he did not yet know if “On Stranger Tides” might lead to more films in the series. “When we made the first one, it was only going to be one movie,” Bruckheimer said. “So you never know. If Johnny stays in love with the character, hopefully we could continue it.” Bruckheimer, 62, said he knew he wanted to go into show business by the time he was 5 or 6. It was just a matter of figuring out the right job. “I knew that acting wasn’t something I would be good at. I’m not the kind of person who likes to stand in front of the crowd and pound my chest,” Bruckheimer said. “I’m more the person who likes to be behind the scenes and make sure everything goes right.” Bruckheimer started out making commercials and moved into films in the early 1970s, earning his first producer credit on Robert Mitchum’s 1975 crime thriller, “Farewell, My Lovely.” In the 1980s and ’90s, Bruckheimer established himself as a Hollywood powerhouse with such hits as “Flashdance,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Con Air” and Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” and “Days of Thunder.” Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay teamed on a string of movies that included “Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II,” “Armageddon,” “The Rock” and “Pearl Harbor.” Bruckheimer’s television credits include the “CSI” franchise, “Without a Trace” and “The Amazing Race.” While he has made more serious movies such as Cate Blanchett’s Irish drama “Veronica Guerin” and Denzel Washington’s racial-integration football story “Remember the Titans,” Bruckheimer aims his movies for mainstream audiences, not critics or awards voters. “I think when you do that, you fail. I’ve got to make pictures that I want to see,” Bruckheimer said. “I don’t know what critics like, I don’t know what reviewers like. Maybe someday, they’ll match up.”
March 19, 2010 | Posted in
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fess Parker, a baby-boomer idol in the 1950s who launched a craze for coonskin caps as television’s Davy Crockett, died Thursday of natural causes. He was 85. Family spokeswoman Sao Anash said Parker, who was also TV’s Daniel Boone and later a major California winemaker and developer, died at his Santa Ynez Valley home. His death comes on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella. “She’s a wreck,” Anash said, adding Parker was coherent and speaking with family just minutes before his death. Funeral arrangements will be announced later. The first installment of “Davy Crockett,” with Buddy Ebsen as Crockett’s sidekick, debuted in December 1954 as part of the “Disneyland” TV show. The 6-foot, 6-inch Parker was quickly embraced by youngsters as the man in a coonskin cap who stood for the spirit of the American frontier. Boomers gripped by the Crockett craze scooped up Davy lunch boxes, toy Old Betsy rifles, buckskin shirts and trademark fur caps. “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” (”Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee…”) was a No. 1 hit for singer Bill Hayes while Parker’s own version reached No. 5. The first three television episodes were turned into a theatrical film, “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier,” in 1955. True to history, Disney killed off its hero in the third episode, “Davy Crockett at the Alamo,” where the real-life Crockett died in 1836 at age 49. But spurred by popular demand, Disney brought back the Crockett character for some episodes in the 1955-56 season, including “Davy Crockett’s Keelboat Race.” In reporting this development, Hedda Hopper wrote: “Take off those black armbands, kids, and put on your coonskin caps, for Davy Crockett will hit the trail again.” But just as suddenly it had taken the country by storm, the craze died down. Parker’s career then leveled off before he made a TV comeback from 1964-1970 in the title role of the TV adventure series “Daniel Boone” – also based on a real-life American frontiersman. Actor-singer Ed Ames, formerly of the Ames Brothers, played Boone’s Indian friend, Mingo. After “Daniel Boone,” Parker largely retired from show business, except for guest appearances, and went into real estate. “I left the business after 22 years,” Parker told The Associated Press in 2001. “It was time to leave Hollywood. I came along at a time when I’m starting out with Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Sterling Hayden and Gregory Peck.” “Who needed a guy running around in a coonskin cap?” he said. Parker had made his motion picture debut in “Springfield Rifle” in 1952. His other movies included “No Room for the Groom” (1952), “The Kid From Left Field” (1953), “Them!” (1954), “The Great Locomotive Chase” (1956), “Westward Ho, the Wagons!” (1956), “Old Yeller” (1957) and “The Light in the Forest” (1958). Several of Parker’s films, including “The Great Locomotive Chase” and “Old Yeller,” came from the Disney studio. It was Parker’s scene as a terrified witness in the horror classic “Them!” that caught the attention of Walt Disney when he was looking for a “Davy Crockett” star. He chose Parker over another “Them!” actor, James Arness – who became a TV superstar in the long-running “Gunsmoke.” After departing Hollywood, Parker got into real estate with his wife, Marcella, whom he had married in 1960. He bought and sold property, built hotels (including the elegant Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn & Spa in Los Olivos and Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort Santa Barbara) and grew wine grapes on a 2,200-acre vineyard on California’s Central Coast, where he was dubbed King of the Wine Frontier and coonskin caps enjoyed brisk sales. After its inaugural harvest in 1989, Parker’s vineyard won dozens of medals and awards. The Parkers’ son, Eli, became director of winemaking and their daughter, Ashley, also worked at the winery. Parker was a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan, whose Western White House was not far from the Parker vineyards. Reagan sent Parker to Australia in 1985 to represent him during an event, and when Parker returned he was asked by White House aide Michael Deaver if he was interested in being ambassador to that country. “In the end, I decided I’d better take myself out of it. But I was flattered,” Parker said. Parker also once considered a U.S. Senate bid, challenging Alan Cranston. But Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt said it would be a rough campaign, and a key dissenter lived under the same roof. “My wife was not in favor,” Parker said. “I’m so happy with what evolved.” Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was born Aug. 16, 1924, in Fort Worth, Texas – Parker loved to point out Crockett’s birthday was Aug. 17. He played football at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene but was injured in a nearly fatal road-rage knifing in 1946. “There went my football career,” Parker had said. He later earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas. Parker was discovered by actor Adolphe Menjou, who was Oscar-nominated for “The Front Page” in 1931 and who was a guest artist at the University of Texas. Menjou urged him to go to Hollywood and introduced Parker to his agent.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is buying a fantasy sports company co-founded by an MIT graduate whose card-counting skills helped him win millions of dollars in blackjack and spawned a film and a best-selling book. Citizen Sports offers fantasy leagues for sports such as football, soccer and basketball that fans can manage online at social-networking sites and through mobile applications for Apple’s iPhone and smart phones running Google Inc.’s Android operating software. With Citizen Sports, Yahoo is looking to boost its social-networking offerings, an area the company has struggled in even though, according to comScore, it commands the largest U.S. Internet audience in news, sports and finance. Yahoo did not release financial details of its purchase, which it expects to close by June. Millions of people participate in fantasy leagues. Participants rack up points based on the performance of the sports players they pick to be on their make-believe teams. Jeff Ma, whose antics in Las Vegas and Atlantic City inspired “Bringing Down the House” and, more recently, the movie “21,” started Citizen Sports with business partner Mike Kerns in 2004. Yahoo said Wednesday that Citizen Sports will be integrated with content from its sports news and information site, Yahoo Sports, and vice versa. Citizen Sports, which is privately held, now has 39 million unique visitors in the U.S. each month.
March 17, 2010 | Posted in
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LONDON (AP) — O Beckham, where art thou? David Beckham has become an unlikely muse to Britain’s poet laureate, who has written a verse about the soccer star’s career-threatening injury. The former England captain tore his Achilles’ tendon in a game on Sunday and will miss the World Cup in June as he recovers from surgery. Carol Ann Duffy’s poem imagines Beckham as the ancient Greek hero Achilles, who according to myth was dipped as a baby in the River Styx, making him invulnerable – except for his exposed heel, the origin of the modern terms Achilles’ tendon, and Achilles’ heel. The poem weaves the mythical story together with references to Beckham’s life, including his marriage to former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and his experimental fashion sense. It speaks of the hero concealed “in girls’ sarongs; days of sweetmeats, spices, silver songs.” It describes him on the field, “his charmed foot on the ball.” “But then his heel, his heel, his heel…” Duffy told the BBC Tuesday she was inspired because Beckham “is almost a mythical figure himself, in popular culture.” Beckham’s injury shattered his hopes of becoming the first English player to appear in four World Cups and put the 34-year-old player’s future on the national team in doubt. Duffy, a soccer fan, said she had been moved by the image of Beckham in tears at the side of the pitch after his injury. “You just thought how all the money in the world and private planes can’t sort this. It was a very moving moment.” But she said she doubted she would be hearing from Beckham. “I’m a lot more likely to watch football than he is to read poetry,” Duffy said. Duffy, 54, is one of Britain’s most widely read poets, whose work mixes traditional forms such as the sonnet with accessible modern language, sly humor and social commentary. She was appointed Britain’s national poet last year, the first woman to hold a post previously occupied by John Dryden, William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and Ted Hughes. Duffy said she would not be bound by the expectation to write about royal weddings, birthdays and other state occasions unless she felt inspired to do so. So far her compositions have reflected national talking points, including the passing of the last British veterans of World War I and the scandal over lawmakers’ inflated expenses.
March 17, 2010 | Posted in
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Pro Football Hall of Famer and former television actor Merlin Olsen has died. He was 69. Utah State University assistant athletic media relations director Zach Fisher says Olsen died Wednesday night at a Los Angeles hospital. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma last year. Olsen was an All-American at Utah State and a first-round draft pick of the Los Angles Rams in 1962. The burley giant from northern Utah joined Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy and Rosey Grier on the Rams’ storied “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line known for either stopping or knocking backward whatever offenses it faced. The Rams set an NFL record for the fewest yards allowed during a 14-game season in 1968. Olsen was rookie of the year for the Rams in 1962 and is still the Rams’ all-time leader in career tackles with 915. He was named to 14 consecutive Pro Bowls, a string that started his rookie year. Olsen was also an established television actor with a role on “Little House on the Prairie,” then starring in his own series, “Father Murphy,” from 1981 to 1983 and the short-lived “Aaron’s Way” in 1988. Olsen was a consensus All-American at Utah State and won the 1961 Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman. The Rams drafted Olsen third overall in 1962 and he spent the next 15 years with the team before retiring in 1976. Utah State honored Olsen in December by naming the football field at Romney Stadium “Merlin Olsen Field.” Because of his illness, Olsen’s alma mater didn’t want to wait until football season and made the announcement during halftime of a basketball game. Olsen was well enough to attend, but did not speak at the event. He stood and smiled as he waved to fans during a standing ovation and chants of “Merlin Olsen!” and “Aggie Legend!” Utah State is also planning a statue of Olsen at the southeast corner of the stadium. The Rams also honored Olsen during a game Dec. 20, with a video tribute narrated by Dick Enberg, Olsen’s longtime broadcast partner. Olsen did not attend because of his health. His name was already part of the Ring of Fame inside the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis along with other franchise standouts. He was voted NFC defensive lineman of the year in 1973 and the NFL MVP in 1974, and was voted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1982.
March 11, 2010 | Posted in
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Donovan McNabb will be throwing passes to Terrell Owens again. McNabb and Owens are teaming up on a basketball court instead of a football field in the new season of Spike TV’s “Pros vs. Joes.” The episode features NFL players that played college basketball against former NBA stars. McNabb (Syracuse), Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga) and Antonio Gates (Kent St.) will face Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith and Rick Fox. T.O. helped McNabb and the Philadelphia Eagles reach the Super Bowl in 2004, but a feud ended their relationship and Owens was cut midway through the ‘05 season. Owens is a free agent after spending last year with Buffalo. He caught 55 passes for 829 yards and five touchdowns in his only season with the Bills. Owens played three seasons with Dallas after he was released by Philadelphia. McNabb has been the subject of trade rumors since the Eagles lost to the Cowboys in the first round of the playoffs. He’s led Philadelphia to five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl in 11 seasons. After the Eagles lost their third straight conference title game in 2003, McNabb lobbied hard to bring Owens to Philadelphia. The duo combined for an electrifying season. McNabb had a career year and Owens put up prolific numbers before he broke his ankle in late December. Owens returned to play in Philadelphia’s loss to New England in the Super Bowl. Shortly afterward, Owens demanded a new contract, criticized management and ripped McNabb. They’ve spoken a few times since and have seemingly patched up their differences.
March 8, 2010 | Posted in
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sandra Bullock paid her dues in Hollywood for more than 20 years. She was rewarded Sunday, winning the best-actress Oscar for playing a tough white Southern woman who adopted a black child in “The Blind Side.” Bullock had repeatedly said she didn’t think she was going to win, although the 45-year-old actress was a heavy favorite. “Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?” she said after accepting the golden statue from Sean Penn. In the closest race of the acting categories, Bullock was up against Meryl Steep in “Julie & Julia,” former winner Helen Mirren in “The Last Station,” and breakout stars Gabourey Sidibe of “Precious” and Carey Mulligan of “An Education” for their first-time leading roles. Bullock had already won the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, and tied Streep at the Broadcast Film Critics awards. Streep also won at the Globes. At 60, Streep is the most nominated actor, male or female, of all time with 16 nods, but she’s gone home empty-handed since her last best-actress win for “Sophie’s Choice” in 1983. Her other victory was as supporting actress for “Kramer vs. Kramer” in 1980. Bullock’s Oscar triumph came a night after she won worst actress at the Razzies on Saturday for “All About Steve,” a romantic comedy flop that quickly vanished at theaters in between her 2009 hits, “The Proposal” and “The Blind Side.” Bullock’s breakout role came in the 1994 film “Speed.” She went on to score box office successes in “While You Were Sleeping” and “Miss Congeniality.” But she also appeared in a string of duds before a supporting role in the 2004 movie “Crash” earned Bullock some of the best reviews of her career. Bullock became the first person to win an Oscar and a Razzie on the same weekend. She was the rare A-list star who attended the show that pokes fun at the Oscars by giving out prizes for Hollywood box office failures. In “The Blind Side,” Bullock donned a frosted blond wig and a Tennessee twang to play Leigh Anne Tuohy, the real-life adoptive mother of Baltimore Ravens football player Michael Oher.
March 8, 2010 | Posted in
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A “Baywatch” babe, an astronaut and a gold medal figure skater are among those who will compete on the spring season of “Dancing With the Stars.” Host Tom Bergeron and former finalist Melissa Rycroft revealed the cast Monday. It includes Pamela Anderson, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and reality stars Kate Gosselin and Jake Pavelka. Also competing for the mirrorball trophy will be: gold medal figure skater Evan Lysacek, sportscaster Erin Andrews, singer Nicole Scherzinger, football star Chad Ochocinco and actors Shannen Doherty, Aiden Turner and Niecy Nash. “It’s definitely one of our strongest cast lineups ever,” said executive producer Conrad Green. “Pound for pound, it should be really fascinating watching.” “Dancing With the Stars” returns on March 22. Green said the recipe for a great cast is “part hope, part luck, part skill, part research.” The show’s staff has been courting many of the newly announced contestants for months, he said. The new dancers will train for three weeks before making their primetime premiere. Green said his staff is enforcing limits on training time to avoid the spate of injuries that plagued last year’s cast and caused two stars to drop out before the competition began. — On the Net: http://abc.go.com/shows/dancing-with-the-stars
March 2, 2010 | Posted in
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. on Monday began warning Cablevision subscribers in New York that the local ABC television station signal may go dark this weekend in a dispute over how much it is paid by the cable operator. If the fee fight isn’t resolved, the station could go dark after midnight Saturday, meaning Cablevision’s 3.1 million customers could lose the ability to watch the Academy Awards on Sunday on ABC. The signal, however, can still be pulled from the air for free with an antenna and a new TV or digital converter box. Disney is seeking an additional $40 million a year in new fees, Cablevision Systems Corp. spokesman Charles Schueler said in a statement. Cablevision pays more than $200 million a year to Disney. “It is not fair for ABC Disney to hold Cablevision customers hostage by forcing them to pay what amounts to a new TV tax,” Schueler said. Disney said Cablevision charges customers $18 per month for basic broadcast signals, but does not pass on any payment for ABC to Disney. The dispute involving WABC-TV is similar to the standoff at the end of last year between News Corp. and Time Warner Cable over how much Fox television station signals were worth. That tussle, which threatened the college football bowl season and new episodes of “The Simpsons,” was resolved without a signal interruption. Disney said it began alerting Cablevision watchers of the impasse in on-air spot advertisements Monday night. It plans on taking out ads in local newspapers, radio stations and online to inform viewers of the situation, and set up a Web site, http://www.saveabc7.com , to plead its case. The company’s previous contract with Cablevision expired more than two years ago, but the companies extended it month by month as talks continued. Under previous arrangements, Disney was paid for cable channels such as ESPN and Disney Channel, but gave its ABC broadcast signal away for free, a situation that most broadcasters are now trying to change. “We can no longer sit back and allow Cablevision to use our shows for free while they continue to charge their customers for them,” said Rebecca Campbell, the president and general manager of WABC-TV in a statement. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger foreshadowed recently that a fight was coming after News Corp. succeeded in its campaign to be paid in cash for its stations’ broadcast signals. WABC-TV is the most watched TV station in the country, said Disney, which is based in Burbank. “It’s time to recognize the value that they provide to distributors, and their importance to local communities,” Iger said on a conference call with analysts last month.
March 2, 2010 | Posted in
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LONDON (AP) — British singer and TV personality Cheryl Cole says she is separating from her husband, football (soccer) player Ashley Cole. The 26-year-old Girls Aloud pop singer is a judge for the British reality talent show “The X Factor” along with Simon Cowell. She asked the media to respect her privacy “during this difficult time” in a statement issued Tuesday by her publicist. Ashley Cole plays left back for Chelsea and the England national team. British media had speculated the marriage was in trouble after tabloids published front-page stories reportedly linking Ashley Cole to other women. Cheryl Cole’s song “Fight for This Love” was nominated for a 2010 Brit award.
February 23, 2010 | Posted in
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