Sean Penn pushed for more gay sex in ‘Milk’
London, Dec 3 (IANS) Actor James Franco says his co-star Sean Penn urged writers to pen more raunchy gay sex scenes for their new film “Milk”.Franco, who plays an important role in the biopic of Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official, was surprised to find more same-sex sex scenes in the script. Thesun.co.uk quotes him as saying: “In the original script I read, there was only one real kissing scene. A month after the director Gus Van Sant asked me to do it, the

MILK Doesn’t Quench Thirst
LYNN: Where was the nudity? ALEX: MILK makes you thirsty for justice and leaves you in awe of Harvey. DAVID: I was a little disappointed, it was a little Liftime-ish but I liked it. We loved it buuuuut…..where’s all the sex that Sean Penn and James Franco went around promising on the late night talk shows? still worth your [...]

iW BOT UPDATE | "Duchess," "August," "Dead Fish" Top Chart
Saul Gibb's "The Duchess," from Paramount Vantage is high atop the weekly iW BOT box office chart, which was published this afternoon. The film earned a huge $190,426 from just 7 runs. Maya Releasing's "August Evening," Variance Films' "Walking On Dead Fish," Balcony Releasing's "Enlighten Up!" and Redwood Palm's "Battle in Seattle" rounded out the top 5. More in this week's box office column, which was published last night.   [permalink]   [ filed under Box Office ]

James Franco Says: Sean Penn Requested More Gay Sex Scenes For ‘Milk’
Sean Penn asked for more gay sex scenes to be written into the script of his latest motion picture, Milk. James Franco, who stars with the actor in the biopic, which depicts the life of California’s first openly gay elected official Harvey Milk, was surprised when he found that the script had been rewritten to include [...]

Film Awards get into the 'Spirit' of things
'Rachel Getting Married,' the dysfunctional-family drama starring Anne Hathaway, is one of three movies to earn six nominations for the 2009 Spirit Awards BY GREG HERNANDEZ >STAFF WRITER "Rachel Getting Married," the dysfunctional-family drama starring Anne Hathaway, is one of three movies to earn six nominations for the 2009 Spirit Awards - among the most coveted of honors for independent films during the jam-pa

Bitch-Back! Act Up, Not Gay!
While I have no arguments over who can play what role artistically, I have a big problem as a gay man with Hollywood refusing to cast openly gay men in films such as Milk for leading roles. Harvey Milk was all about visibility in real life. Therefore, once my company begins filming, gay men will be playing gay roles. This was where Prop 8 failed. We counted on other people to "represent" us instead of ourselves. So simple, yet nobody, gay or straight, in Hollywood, wants to get it. By the way, you "represen

Penn, Washingtons to receive honors; charity effort unleashed
USA TODAY's Lorena Blas here, checking in with some late notes. Actor/director Sean Penn will be honored  with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film at the Nov. 6 Britannia Awards, given out by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles. Previous winners include Clint Eastwood and Denzel Washington. ... Washington and his wife, Pauletta, will be recognized for their philanthropic efforts and receive the Brass Ring Award on Oct. 25 at the 30th anniversary Carous

iW NEWS | Penn To Be Honored By BAFTA/LA
Sean Penn will be honored by the The British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles (BAFTA/LA) with its Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film. Penn will receive the award at the 2008 BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards on Thursday, November 6, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. "As a celebrated actor, director and producer, Sean has become a film icon over the past three decades," said BAFTA/LA Chairman Peter Morris in a statement. "The roles and subject matter he chooses to ta

iW NEWS | BAFTA to Fete Penn
Actor/director Sean Penn will receive the "Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film" from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles (BAFTA/LA) during the 2008 BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards on Thursday, November 6 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. "As a celebrated actor, director and producer, Sean has become a film icon over the past three decades," says BAFTA/LA chairman Peter Morris. "The roles and subject matter he chooses to tackle as a filmmaker are both challenging

Madonna Wows 'Em With A Concert For The Ages
Madonna has been known for many different things over the years. Her marriage to Sean Penn, her relationship with Warren Beatty, her amazing string of hot ... <a href="http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212178256.shtml"><b>More</b>

2009 INDIE SPIRIT AWARDS Nominations
I didn’t get to watch most of the independent movies that are nominated this year for THE 2009 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD but if I were to have my pick, I’d say FROZEN RIVER for Best Picture, Courtney River (Frozen River) for Best Director, Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) for Best Male Lead, Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) for Best Female Lead, James Franco (Milk) for Best Supporting Male, Debra Winger (Rachel Getting Married) for Best Supporting Female, Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

2009 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
It’s impossible to pay attention to all the movie awards announcements each year, because there are just so many of them. But the Independent Spirit Awards is one of the second tier (read: non-Academy/Globe) Awards shows that I actually respect and pa attention to. Today the 2009 Indie Spirit nominations were announced. Frozen River and Ballast lead with six nominations each, followed by Rachel Getting Married with five nominations, The Wrestler, Milk, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Visitor with thr

Indie Spirit noms
The nominations for the 2009 Independent Spirit Awards were announced yesterday and one of the big winners was Oscar favorite RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. The Anne Hathaway film scored six nominations tying it with BALLAST and FROZEN RIVER for the most nominations. To all the bat-fanboys out there, The Dark Knight wasn't nominated for anything so you might want to start a petition or something. Strangely enough, while MILK did very well in the acting categories, the film itself and director Gus Van Sant were

Robin Thicke Debuts New CD ‘Something Else’
Robin Thick performs live at the Virgin Music Megastore in New York’s Times Square on Wednesday.  The performance was to help promote his new album ‘Something Else.’  The album was released on Tuesday and includes 12 new tracks including one with rapper Lil’ Wayne. [image: WENN] EMail This Post Posted under Music, Celebrities Hot Posts This Week Related Posts Quote of the Day: Robin WilliamsAuthor Robin Moore Dies in Ke

`Rachel,' `River,' lead Spirit Award nominees
LOS ANGELES - Anne Hathaway's family drama "Rachel Getting Married," the border-smuggling tale "Frozen River" and the Deep South saga "Ballast" led nominees Tuesday for the Spirit Awards with six nominations each, including best picture. In this image released by Sony Pictures Classics, Anne Hathaway is shown in a scene from "Rachel Getting Married." (AP Photo/Sony Pictures Classics, Bob Vergara) Other best-picture nominees for the awards,

‘Ballast,’‘River,’‘Rachel’ lead the Indie Spirit nods
I’m late to the table on today’s Independent Spirit Award nominations because I’ve been toiling away on the latest Oscar column (which should be up shortly).  Obviously, Sony Pictures Classics dominated the scene but I’m glad to see that this year’s crop is more “independent” than in years past. One nomination that stuck out to me was James Franco in the supporting actor category for “Milk” (a film good enough for four nominations but not for Best Pict

Wednesday's Early Buzz: Anne Hathaway, Patrick Dempsey, Battlestar Galactica and more
The Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced yesterday, with predictable results: Anne Hathaway got a nod for Rachel Getting Married, Michelle Williams was nominated for Wendy & Lucy and Sean Penn received his first of what will probably be many nominations for Milk. -- Patrick Dempsey was named the No. 1 sexiest TV hunk, beating out George Clooney. We love McDreamy, but we're calling shenanigans - nobody beats Clooney at anything. -- Speaking of Dempsey and Grey's Anatomy, this blind item an

A couple ‘What Just Happened’ Film Clips
Venkman here with a couple of film clips from Robert DeNiros new film ‘What Just Happened’. I recently got to see this movie and I though it was great! The closest thing I can compare it to is Entourage, but with a bit more class. The movie has an amazing cast with Robert DeNiro, Robin Wright Penn, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, and John Turturro. If you want you can read my review for it RIGHT HERE. Thanks to Ign for the clips. ‘What Just Happened’ comes out Oct. 17th. Enjoy the clips!

iW NEWS | BAFTA/LA To Honor Cheadle, Swinton, Frears
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts/Los Angeles (BAFTA/LA) has announced additional honorees for its 17th Annual BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards on Thursday, November 6, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. The 2008 honorees include actor and producer Don Cheadle with the BAFTA/LA Humanitarian Award Presented by Volvo; actress Tilda Swinton with the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year; and BAFTA award-winning television and film director Stephen Frears with the John Schlesinger B

Hathaway's "Rachel" Among Top Spirit Noms
Anne Hathaway's family drama "Rachel Getting Married," the border-smuggling tale "Frozen River" and the Deep South saga "Ballast" lead the nominees for the Spirit Awards with six nominations each, including best picture. Other best-picture nominees announced Tuesday: Michelle Williams' down-on-her-luck drama, "Wendy and Lucy," and Mickey Rourke's broken-down athlete tale "The Wrestler." Hathaway and Williams have lead-actress nominations, along with Melissa Leo for "Frozen River," Summer Bishil for "Towel

Fanning happy to miss out on 'normal' childhood
Dakota Fanning is glad she sacrificed a normal childhood to pursue her movie career - as the teenage actress always wanted to be different from her peers. The 14-year-old shot to stardom in 2001's I Am Sam, alongside Sean Penn, and has since starred on the big screen with Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts. And Fanning is adamant that she has learnt more from her movie

Fanning happy to miss out on 'normal' childhood
Dakota Fanning is glad she sacrificed a normal childhood to pursue her movie career - as the teenage actress always wanted to be different from her peers. The 14-year-old shot to stardom in 2001's I Am Sam, alongside Sean Penn, and has since starred on the big screen with Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts. And Fanning is adamant that she has learnt more from her movie

Rourke vs NYT: Who Was Conning Whom?
One of the most time-honored traditions of the Oscars is the redemptive quality of its nominations process. Talent who've hit the the skids over the years through their own bad decisions personally and/or professionally can suddenly find their careers revived because of Academy Award attention from their peers. Such is the situation this year with Mickey Rourke and Fox Searchlight's The Wrestler. Which is why that recent New York Times Magazine profile of him was so unfair. For a newspaper that rarely exami

The New Regime: Kristen Stewart
The New Vamp: Bookish babe Kristen Stewart sinks her teeth into the lead role of the bestselling, bloodthirsty 'Twilight'. By Alison Powell December 03, 2008 A passionate lover of literature, Kristen Stewart’s version of High School Musical would find her in AP English parsing John Steinbeck and Kurt Vonnegut. Between takes, she reads Charles Bu

Dakota Fanning Happy to Miss out on 'Normal' Childhood
Dakota Fanning is glad she sacrificed a normal childhood to pursue her movie career - as the teenage actress always wanted to be different from her peers.The 14-year-old shot to stardom in 2001's I Am Sam, alongside Sean Penn, and has since starred on the big screen with Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts.And Fanning is adamant that she has learnt more from her movie experiences than she would have done as an ordinary schoolgirl. Comment on this Article She says, "I don't want to be normal. This is my childh