Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman have attended the world premiere of period epic Australia in a rainy Sydney.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge! fame, the film - reported to have cost $120m (£80m) - is the most expensive ever made on the continent.

Speaking at a press conference earlier, Kidman expressed her delight at being "part of the Australian cinema".

"Rarely do you get to make a film that you’ve dreamed of doing since you were little," said the 41-year-old.

Kidman plays an English aristocrat who falls in love with Jackman’s rugged cattleman against the backdrop of World War II.

It is hoped the film - mostly shot in the north-west of Australia - will boost local tourism.

"We have amazing landscapes and historical events," Luhrmann said of his homeland. "Epics are made of these things."

"This is a celebration for me, and hopefully for this country," added Hawaii-born Kidman, who was raised in Australia from the age of three.

‘Stolen generation’

Part of the film, which clocks in at two hours and 40 minutes, focuses on the Japanese bombing of the city of Darwin in 1942.

The story also deals with the so-called "stolen generation" of Aboriginal children who were taken away from their families to be raised by white foster parents.

Hugh Jackman (left) plays Kidman’s romantic interest in the film

Brandon Walters, a 13-year-old Aboriginal from Broome in Western Australia, was hand-picked by Luhrmann to play a leading role.

The boy, who had not left his home state prior to making the film, said he did not know of Kidman before he was cast.

Kidman said she felt "very protective" towards her co-star, who also appears in a £17m tourism campaign linked to the film.

"If the film does really well he is going to need a lot of protection," she told reporters ahead of the Australia premiere in downtown Sydney.

Australian critics have given a mixed reception to the film, with one saying it was "good but way, way too long".

"There is a lot of narrative flab and longueurs," wrote Jim Schembri in the Canberra Times, adding the film "often has the pace of a steamroller with engine trouble".

Source:BBC

The King of Bahrain’s son planned to revive Michael Jackson’s career with songs he had written himself, London’s High Court has heard.

Sheikh Abdulla Bin Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa also gave the pop star financial support, his lawyer said.

The royal is suing Mr Jackson for £4.7m for reneging on a music contract which would have paid back the loans.

Mr Jackson contests the claim, saying there was no valid agreement and that the payments were "gifts".

An application has been made for the star to give evidence from the US via a video link during the 12-day hearing.

Sheikh’s invitation

The sheikh and Mr Jackson had a "close personal relationship" during his six-month stay in Bahrain three years ago, the royal’s lawyer Bankim Thanki told the court.

The singer travelled to the country, with his children and personal staff, at the sheikh’s invitation "to relax" shortly after being cleared of child abuse charges in the US.

Prior to his stay, Sheikh Abdulla set up Mr Jackson with a recording studio on his Neverland ranch and sent him his own musical compositions.

A recording of a finished song will be played in court, Mr Thanki said.

Sheikh Abdulla helped Jackson settle his bills, the court heard

The court heard that under the agreement, an album, autobiography and stage play were to be produced.

In 2006, plans were announced for the star to release a new album on a label based in the Gulf state and owned by Sheikh Abdulla.

The sheikh claims that despite having paid the $2.2m (£1.5m) cost for Mr Jackson to record a song intended to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, the singer failed to attend the studio for the final recording and the song was never released.

He also says he paid for and built a recording studio in Bahrain for Mr Jackson and himself to make recordings together.

‘Gifts’

In addition, he paid all the singer’s living, travel and other expenses until his departure from Bahrain in May 2006, and advanced funds to retain legal and financial advisers.

Mr Jackson has contested the claim, saying there was no valid agreement, adding the sheikh’s case is based on "mistake, misrepresentation and undue influence".

He has also said no project was ever finalised and payments were "gifts".

The singer has admitted that he signed a document which he understood gave him a substantial shareholding in the 2 Seas recording company.

But he challenges the sheikh’s description of him as "an experienced businessman" and says he never read the terms of the document and was never advised to take independent legal advice.

He also claims that the sheikh, a powerful and influential public figure, exercised "undue influence" over him when he was emotionally exhausted after his highly-publicised criminal trial.

The dispute comes just days after the singer had to give up his Neverland ranch due to financial problems.

The hearing will continue on Tuesday.

Source:BBC

A busboy who worked at the restaurant for a year from June 2007 filed the suit on behalf of 50 other employees. It accuses Timberlake, two of his business partners and managers of Southern Hospitality BBQ restaurant in Manhattan of stealing tips and not paying the minimum wage or overtime.

It was the latest suit to be filed by workers over wages against New York restaurants and clubs, with businesses owned by actor Robert De Niro and hip hop star Jay Z also hit by legal action.

The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks unspecified damages. It also names Timberlake’s business partners Eytan Sugarman and Trace Ayala as fellow owners and as running the operations of the BBQ eatery.

Among those named in other suits are celebrity haunt Pastis; three New York restaurants co-owned by actor Robert De Niro in the global Nobu chain; Jean Georges — which has three Michelin stars — and other restaurants owned by French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten; and Jay Z’s 40/40 Club.

Earlier this year, Vongerichten agreed to pay $1.75 million to eight waiters who filed suit on behalf of all staff at Jean Georges and four of his other New York restaurants.

Southern Hospitality did not return a call seeking comment.

Source:Reuters

Oscar-winning South African-born actress Charlize Theron was named a United Nations messenger of peace on Friday, with a special focus on ending violence against women.

 Messengers of peace, of which there will now be 10, are celebrities mainly from the fields of film, music, literature and sport who are charged with promoting U.N. activities and ideals through public appearances and media contacts.

 Theron, 33, won an Academy Award for her role in the 2003 movie "Monster," in which she played serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who came from a background of violence and abuse and was executed in Florida in 2002.

 In the 2005 film, "North Country" she played a woman who fights back against sexual harassment. She has been in dramas like "The Cider House Rules," thrillers such as "The Italian Job" and the special-effects filled "AEon Flux."

 Theron, named by Esquire magazine last year as its "Sexiest Woman Alive," has also been involved in charitable causes such as putting mobile health clinics in rural areas of her native South Africa where access to care is limited.

 She had her own experience of domestic violence at the age of 15 when her mother fatally shot her alcoholic father as he threatened the family in a drunken rage.

 Designating her a messenger of peace, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "You have used your voice, compassion and special relationship with the public to create a better world."

 The other messengers of peace are actors George Clooney and Michael Douglas, musicians Daniel Barenboim, Midori Goto and Yo-Yo Ma, authors Paulo Coelho and Elie Wiesel, equestrian Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein and naturalist Jane Goodall.

Source:Reuters

"I don’t plan to keep acting very long, I’m ready to do a few things now and fade away and get ready to be a grandma one day," Jolie told the British broadcaster in an interview posted on the BBC website on Thursday.

Jolie and her partner actor Brad Pitt have emerged as a Hollywood power couple, and together they have three biological children and three adopted children.

 In response to a question about whether she will give herself a "cutoff point" for acting, Jolie, 33, said she would make no pledge to completely stop acting.

 Jolie, who stars in the movie "Changeling" from director Clint Eastwood, said she has not worked on a movie for a year. Apart from starting a project in February, she said that she will probably not work again for another year.

 "So maybe it will be once a year and then maybe it will be once every three years, and then just naturally — I like being home a lot these days," Jolie told the BBC.

 Jolie, who earned an Oscar for her supporting role in the 1999 movie "Girl, Interrupted," would not be the first actor to talk of walking away from it all at a young age. Last month, "We Own the Night" star Joaquin Phoenix, 34, said that he was retiring from acting to focus on making music.

 Sean Penn, 48, has also talked about retiring from acting over the years, but his career continues and he stars in the movie "Milk," which opens on December 5.

Source:Reuters

Pop star Beyonce has said she wants to play Wonder Woman in a film of the comic book heroine.

The singer has met DC Comics and film studio Warner Bros to express her interest in future superhero roles on the big screen.

"I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman?" she told the Los Angeles Times.

"And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?"

Madonna was joined on stage by Britney Spears during her show at the Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Dressed in a white shirt and black wide-leg trousers, Spears walked on stage to rapturous applause during Madonna’s song Human Nature.

She sang a few lines before Madonna spun her around and kissed her hand.

Later on in the show, Spears’ former boyfriend Justin Timberlake joined Madonna on stage to sing 4 Minutes with the 50-year-old pop star.

Hollywood’s year-end boxoffice smorgasbord tends to be equal parts HomeTown Buffet and Four Seasons champagne brunch.

From the animated sequel "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," which opens Friday, to the Christmas prestige film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," diverse releases crowd the final two months of 2008.

Data service Nielsen EDI defines the holiday season — one of five on the box office calendar — as running from the weekend before Thanksgiving through the frame after New Year’s, i.e. November 21 to January 4. But three sessions before Turkey Day, distributors are already lining up their most prized releases.

To wit: DreamWorks Animation’s "Madagascar" sequel, which is getting a head start now rather than waiting for the holiday.

"It’s a movie that feels like it should play strongly all the way through Thanksgiving vacation," says Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore, whose studio distributes DreamWorks Animation releases.

Next Friday boasts what will likely be one of the fourth quarter’s biggest releases: the James Bond thriller "Quantum of Solace," from Sony and MGM. The Daniel Craig starrer is considered a lock to play strongly well into December, especially considering its huge U.K. opening, much like Sony’s November 2006 Bond opener "Casino Royale."

Two weeks from now, over the November 21 frame, wide openers will include the season’s biggest teens-and-tweens title, "Twilight," from newbie distributor Summit. Based on a series of high school vampire novels, the potential franchise-starter could sink its teeth into some serious business if the marketplace matches its prerelease Internet hype.

The target audience for Disney’s 3-D animated feature "Bolt" (November 26) will overlap a bit with that for "Twilight." But the holiday weekend should allow both to play strongly through their first 10 days. It also could bode well for Warner Bros.’ Reese Witherspoon-Vince Vaughn comedy "Four Christmases" (November 26).

"Our second weekend will be propped up by the nature of holiday moviegoing habits," Summit chief Rob Friedman says. "Once you start approaching November, it’s always gotten more competitive, and this Christmas is even a bit more crowded than in the past. So it’s definitely is going to be very competitive, but I think we have a unique movie."

After Thanksgiving, the holiday release schedule takes on an awards-oriented flavor. Such films as Universal’s "Frost/Nixon," Focus Features’ "Milk" and the Weinstein Co.’s "The Reader" will launch platforming campaigns to capitalize on kudos considerations, setting up theatrical runs well into January.

Yet Fox’s remake of the sci-fi classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still" is a pure commercial play, with some suggesting that the Keanu Reeves starrer will prove one of the holiday season’s top grossers.

"Day" breaks on December 12, or just 16 days after Fox unspools director Baz Luhrmann’s period drama "Australia" (November 26), starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. The studio is looking to make enough holiday loot to compensate for its skimpy summer tally at the box office.

"I will not hide from the fact that we had a poor summer," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder says. "The pictures didn’t work as well as we had hoped, but it looks like we should have a strong holiday period."

That’s not to suggest that the period won’t be extremely competitive. Two films boasting particularly top-notch talent open over the December 19 frame, just before Christmas.

Sony offers Will Smith in "Seven Pounds," in which the can’t-miss box office darling plays a depressed IRS agent who falls in love. And Jim Carrey toplines Warners’ comedy "Yes Man," perhaps the studio’s best shot at a big holiday haul after its move to postpone "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" until July.

As for awards-season prestige, Warners has high hopes for Clint Eastwood’s gang-themed "Gran Torino," set for limited release December 17.

"His performance is outstanding, and the story is very topical and heartwarming," Warners distribution boss Dan Fellman says.

Like "Torino," Paramount’s DreamWorks-produced "Benjamin Button" — which Warners will distribute overseas — is arguably one of those rare films with potential to score big with both critics and moviegoers. An adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story directed by David Fincher ("Zodiac"), "Button" is one of an eye-popping five films set to unspool domestically on Christmas Day.

Laden with marquee-worthy talent, Yuletide wide openers include Disney’s Adam Sandler starrer "Bedtime Stories"; Fox’s romantic comedy "Marley and Me," starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson; Lionsgate’s Samuel L. Jackson-toplined "The Spirit"; and MGM’s basketball drama "Hurricane Season," starring Forest Whitaker. A day later, MGM/UA debuts the Tom Cruise Nazi thriller "Valkyrie"; Paramount Vantage unspools the literary adaptation "Revolutionary Road," pairing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet for the first time since "Titanic"; and Overture sends out its Dustin Hoffman-Emma Thompson starrer "Last Chance Harvey."

Throw in a number of notable market expansions for glossy artpics, including the Ron Howard-directed "Frost/Nixon" and the Weinstein Co.’s "Shanghai" with John Cusack, and the moviegoing public should be shouting "Ho, ho, ho!" — or perhaps simply calling "Enough!"

Holiday tallies form a relatively small slice of annual sales, with grosses from the seven-week box office season representing an average 16% of 12-month totals over the past three years in EDI data. But the figure is a bit deceiving, as the Yuletide season serves as a launchpad for so many films playing strongly into the winter season.

A robust period of moviegoing would be welcome news for those keeping an eye on year-over-year comparisons. So far, 2008 is tracking roughly even with last year’s industry grosses over a similar span of time, and there’s broad optimism over prospects of a 12-month uptick in box office, if not admissions.

But it could be a photo finish.

"Last year’s October and November numbers were so weak, it would be hard not to beat them," National Association of Theater Owners chief John Fithian says. "But December may be tougher."

Source:Reuters

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt almost certainly are strong contenders in the best actor category — shining, word has it, in their respective upcoming movies, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Revolutionary Road."

But they and others might be up against a subtle force they can do little about in the best actor race: Oscar voters tend to favor actors playing real people.

In the past six best actor races, there were three years in which an actor playing a real person was nominated alongside actors portraying fictional characters, and each time the actor playing a true-life person won. You have to go all the way back to the awards for 2001 to find a counter-example: Denzel Washington’s victory for playing Alonzo Harris in "Training Day," which bested Will Smith as Muhammad Ali and Russell Crowe as John Nash. Otherwise, it was actors playing real-life figures — Ray Charles, Idi Amin, Truman Capote — who took the statue.

This year that means if even one from among the stellar group that includes Frank Langella (as Richard Nixon), Sean Penn (as Harvey Milk) and Josh Brolin (as George W. Bush) lands a best actor nomination, everyone else will have to weigh that added factor.

Best actress favors real personnages even more; the statuette has gone to women playing real people six of the eight years this decade. But with frontrunners such as Meryl Steep, Nicole Kidman and Sally Hawkins taking on fictional roles this go-round, this year may break form.

It’s hard to pinpoint what makes Oscar voters tilt this way. But one likely factor is a frame of reference: Philip Seymour Hoffman acting and sounding like Capote probably will move the voter more than Terrence Howard’s acting and sounding like Djay from "Hustle & Flow," a person the Academy member has never seen outside the movie (and hasn’t seen at all if they’ve never seen the movie).

Plus, there’s the impersonation factor: How could a voter not think Jamie Foxx is good; he even looks like Charles.

It wasn’t always this way. In the 1990s, fictional characters bested real people in the best actor category seven out of nine times they went up against one another. And an actress playing a real person won only twice in the 1990s.

So what’s changed?

For one thing, the rise of celebrity culture. The TMZs of the world have made it harder to separate actors from their roles since we now know them as real people — unless they’re playing other real people, in which case voters can identify with the person they’re playing.

Even if DiCaprio and Pitt are unable to buck the recent trend favoring real-life portrayals, they can take solace in the likelihood they’ll have other shots at the top prize. But the seeming voter bias toward real-life bios could also impact a few once-in-a-lifetime performances. Those include the comeback for Mickey Rourke, whose Randy the Ram in "The Wrestler" is a tragic figure to rival Willy Loman; Richard Jenkins, whose understated Walter Vale in "The Visitor" is exquisitely subtle; and Christian Bale, whose Batman in "The Dark Knight" is so darkly evocative.

Source:Reuters

Michael Jackson is to take part in a Jackson 5 reunion tour, his brother Jermaine has said.

Jermaine told the Australian Associated Press it would be "a family affair", with sister Janet the opening act.

"And of course, the original Jackson 5… Michael, Randy and the whole family… we’re in the studio, we’re planning on being out there next year."

But Jermaine has said similar things before, in 2003 and again last year, and a tour has so far failed to happen.