Mariah Carey has her hands full this time of year! Her new Christmas album, “Merry Christmas II You,” comes out November 2nd and just yesterday, her and hubby Nick Canon made their exciting baby announcement. The bundle of joy is due sometime this Spring. This new album was inspired by her love of the holidays and festive cheer. We actually suggested that her next album be specifically dedicated to baby, except she pointed out that this new Christmas album was very much that. It was inspired by her unborn child. We asked her to give us an inside look into “Merry Christmas II You.” (Click on audio player to hear Mariah Carey)
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This is a very special time in her life and she couldn’t be more ecstatic. We asked Mariah what she’s most thankful for in her life right this very minute. (Click on audio player to hear Mariah Carey)
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Tyler Perry is Hollywood’s modern-day version of a renaissance man, because for each of his movies so far, he’s been the writer, director, and producer. (Not to mention, of course, acting in them.) But his streak of wearing all the hats is about to come to an end. His next movie, “For Colored Girls,” is the first he’s ever taken from somebody else’s source material: Ntozake Shange’s 1975 play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” And although Perry ultimately wrote the screenplay for the film, he found that working on an adaptation for the first time was a challenging, significant project for him.(Click on the audio player to hear Tyler Perry)
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“For Colored Girls” will be released on November 5, and there’s already talk about the movie getting recognition come awards season.
Last week, rumors were flying that Mel Gibson was being hired to play the role of a Bangkok tattoo artist in “The Hangover 2,” but just as quickly, word spread that he’d been fired from the movie. (It’s now been confirmed that Liam Neeson will play the part.) After hearing all of the swirling rumors and allegations, “Hangover 2″ director Todd Phillips, while promoting his new movie, “Due Date,” decided to clarify that Gibson was not fired from the film. (Click on the audio player to hear Todd Phillips)
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While medicine’s top researchers continue in their quest to find a new cure for Bieber Fever (so far, the only known remedy is the end of puberty), those who are afflicted will get a chance to see Justin Bieber on the big screen next year. A concert movie, “Never Say Never,” has been shot and will roll out into theaters on February 11, 2011.
Do you think it’ll be a box office hit, like Miley Cyrus’ concert movie? Or a bomb, like the Jonas Brothers’? Are you looking forward to seeing it? Or has your Bieber Fever subsided? Let us know what you think!
Thanks to the “Saw” series, Tobin Bell has become very familiar to horror fans, and in turn, he’s become very familiar with them. And while we advocate the creation of a national police database of people who have seen every “Saw” movie, Bell has great admiration for those dedicated fans, and says they’re the reason why he’s back for another film. (Click on the audio player to hear Tobin Bell)
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The latest movie in the franchise, “Saw 3D,” is also being billed as the last, and it opens in theaters this Friday.
In its third season, Fox’s Monday night drama “Lie To Me” is pushing its characters and storylines in new and unexpected ways. The first few episodes of this season have been interesting, and the show seems to be getting better as the season moves along.
Kelli Williams, who stars in “Lie To Me” alongside Tim Roth, told us the show is grittier than it’s ever been before, which should create a good season of television. (Click on the audio player to hear Kelli Williams)
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Paranormal Activity 2 scared the living daylights out of the competition this weekend. The movie is at the top of the box office, earning $41,500,000. The film did very little marketing, with the exception of commercials, and beats the earnings of the first Paranormal Activity. However the first Paranormal Activity is considered the most profitable movie in history, having grossed $107,918,810, while it cost only $15,0000 to make. Paranormal Activity 2 cost more to make, but will make its money back and more. You can already bet that there will be a Paranormal Activity 3.
Jackass 3D, which was last week’s #1 movie, fell to #2 this weekend earning another $21,600,000. This brings the film’s total earnings to $87,147,00, an unbelievable figure!
Most are questioning why Jackass 3D has grossed so much money. Is it that the intelligence of the audience is at an all time low, or do audiences just like watching these guys make fools out of themselves?
The Bruce Willis action movie Red came in at #3 earning $15,000,000. There were much higher expectations for Red. The film didn’t receive bad reviews, but obviously didn’t find its audience. This raises the question whether Bruce Willis is still a viable Hollywood Star.
The Clint Eastwood/ Matt Damon drama, Hereafter, landed at #4 making $12,005,000. The film received mixed reviews, however Clint Eastwood films have a history of not opening at the top of the box office, yet still earning their money back.
The Social Network rounded it up at #5 taking in $7,300,000. The Social Network is considered one of the top movies of the year, and most likely will be in contention for several awards when award season rolls around in a few months.
Last week, we reported that a sequel to the 1986 Tom Cruise hit, Top Gun, was likely in the works. Well today we confirmed the rumor. We caught up with Tony Scott, who directed the hit film 24 years ago, and told us that the sequel is going to be much different than the original. (Click on the audio player below to hear Tony Scott)
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Are you looking forward to seeing Top Gun 2? Let us know!
Next Tuesday night, “Glee” tackles one of the most twistedly beloved movies ever made: “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” In the “Rocky Horror Glee Show” episode, the New Directions kids stage their own production of the show, which first came to life as a London stage production. Befitting the story’s gender-bending theme, Amber Riley’s character, Mercedes, takes on the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter (played in the original stage show and movie by Tim Curry).
We talked to Amber about her experiences filming the “Rocky Horror Glee Show” episode.
When did you first learn about “Rocky Horror”?
“The first time I ever heard about Rocky Horror was actually from one of my favorite TV shows which was Cold Case and in Cold Case they were at a Rocky Horror Picture Show and I didn’t really understand it, like, they were throwing stuff at the screen. I was like this is so weird, what is this about, and I was in the studio one day watching Thieves and it came on and I was like well, maybe I should sit down and watch it because, you know, people were talking about it, whatever; they talk about it and make reference to it a lot. So I tried to watch it. It was very bizarre, it’s really a bizarre movie, way before its time; probably was really risqué back then, but it’s really interesting. So yeah, I heard about it and kind of watched it a little bit.”
How does Mercedes wind up playing the role of Frank-N-Furter?
Mike Chang volunteers to play Frank-N-Furter which is a lead male role in Rocky Horror, and his parents don’t approve of the script because Mr. Chu gives us permission slips to send to our parents to make sure that it’s okay for them, for us to do it. And his parents say no so Mercedes really wants to play a lead role in a play, so she volunteers herself to do it, and she does it.”
What did it feel like to do a “show within a show”?
“I think this is the first time that Mercedes’ character, as well as me, gets to be theatrical, really theatrical, besides GaGa. GaGa was very theatrical, but we get to do a little bit of theater in the show and of course it was amazing. I mean, besides that outfit being absolutely horrifying, it was so tight, but when I was in it, I was in it and it kind of just made me become like, you know; I felt like a man in a dress. It kind of made me feel like ferocious and I wanted to be like; I wanted to, you know, come at it from all angles and just like attack that song and attack the dance and I think I really felt like I did a good job. I was very, very happy with it and I can’t wait to see it.”
What was your favorite part of the “Rocky Horror” wardrobe?
“All that hair. A nice big old wig. It was fun. We had a really quick rehearsal. We learned that like the day before and it was just like, you know, be sexy and be drag and we loved being drag. I love drag queens, so being drag queen was easy.”
Adam Shankman directs the “Rocky Horror Glee Show” episode. What was it like to work with him?
I love Adam. He’s really sweet and you never know what you’re going to get when you get a new director and we’ve been very lucky. We love all of our directors, all of the directors that we’ve had, but he was so much fun and being that he’s a choreographer also and a dancer and there’s so much music in this episode, it was a lot easier and he’s just so much fun. He is, he really is.”
And he helped you figure out how to do Frank-N-Furter’s signature tune, “Sweet Transvestite”?
“I never heard of Sweet Transvestite before and when I went into the studio, they were like well, Adam Shankman wants to come in, you know, kind of help you out, which I was very thankful for because I didn’t; when I finally had heard it when I got to the studio, I was like I don’t really know how I’m going to do this because they’re telling me they want me to sing it, but he kind of talk sings it. But we kind of think we found a way. When I finally heard it, I kind of felt like I want to do like this Tina Turner type vibe to it because it kind of has like this, this like kind of rocking kind of music, kind of background to it, so I ended up doing that and he liked it, thank God. The director approved, but it was interesting.”
Matt Damon stars in the movie Hereafter, opening in theatres this Friday. The film, which is receiving excellent reviews, re-teams Damon with Clint Eastwood who Damon worked with last year on Invictus. Invictus earned Damon an Oscar nomination for best actor in a supporting role. Damon was already working on a few different movies at the time Eastwood offered him a role in Hereafter. Damon tells us that he really wanted the role, so some bargaining had to be done to fit the movie into his schedule. (Click on the audio bar below to hear Matt Damon)
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Mariah Carey has her hands full this time of year! Her new Christmas album, “Merry Christmas II You,” comes out November 2nd and just yesterday, her and hubby Nick Canon made their exciting baby announcement. The bundle of joy is due sometime this Spring. This new album was inspired by her love of the holidays and festive cheer. We actually suggested that her next album be specifically dedicated to baby, except she pointed out that this new Christmas album was very much that. It was inspired by her unborn child. We asked her to give us an inside look into “Merry Christmas II You.” (Click on audio player to hear Mariah Carey)
