Month: September 2017

Kristen Bell says she’s “singing in a hurricane” while riding out Irma in Florida.

The “Frozen” star is in Orlando filming a movie and staying at a hotel at the Walt Disney World resort. She stopped by an Orlando middle school that was serving as a shelter and belted out songs from “Frozen.” Back at the hotel, Bell posted pictures on Instagram of her singing with one guest and dining with a group of seniors .

Bell also helped out the parents of “Frozen” co-star Josh Gad by securing them a room at the hotel .

Bell tells Sacramento, California, station KMAX-TV, where her father is news director, that the experience is her version of one of her favorite movies, “Singin’ in the Rain.”

 
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Miss North Dakota, a 23-year-old who said President Donald Trump was wrong to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord, was named Miss America 2018 Sunday night in Atlantic City.

Cara Mund topped a field of 51 contestants to win the crowd in the New Jersey seaside resort, where most of the 97 Miss Americas have been selected.

In one of her onstage interviews, Mund said Trump, a Republican, was wrong to withdraw the U.S. from the climate accord aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.

“It’s a bad decision,” she said. “There is evidence that climate change is existing and we need to be at that table.”

In an interview with The Associated Press before preliminary competition began, Mund, who lives in Bismarck, North Dakota, said her goal is to be the first woman elected governor of her state.

She said she wants to see more women elected to all levels of government.

“It’s important to have a woman’s perspective,” Mund, who had an internship in the U.S. Senate, told the AP. “In health care and on reproductive rights, it’s predominantly men making those decisions.”

The first runner up was Miss Missouri Jennifer Davis; second runner up was Miss New Jersey Kaitlyn Schoeffel; third runner up was Miss District of Columbia Briana Kinsey, and fourth runner up was Miss Texas Margana Wood.

Earlier Sunday, as a deadly hurricane was slamming her home state, Miss Florida Sara Zeng sent a message of support to those in harm’s way _ and was then eliminated from the competition.

As judges were narrowing the field of 51 contestants (each state plus the District of Columbia), they interviewed Zeng, a 22-year-old from Palm Coast, Florida, who noted that her family is safe.

But she expressed concern and support for friends and strangers endangered by Hurricane Irma, which was tearing its way up the Florida gulf coast on Sunday.

“I’m thinking about everyone in Florida every single day, but I know that regardless what happens, we’ll all get through this together,” Zeng said.

Shortly after her speech, judges read the names of the remaining Top 15 finalists, which did not include her.

Earlier in the week, Miss Texas Margana Wood gave a shout-out to her flooded hometown, Houston; she won Wednesday night’s swimsuit preliminary.

Zeng won Friday’s swimsuit prelim, and promised she’d be part of the post-Irma cleanup and recovery effort, whether as Miss America or not.

The competition took place at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall, where it originated as a way to extend summer tourism to the weekend after Labor Day.

They were vying to succeed the outgoing Miss America Savvy Shields, who won the title last September as Miss Arkansas.
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The kind of breakthrough performance where it’s immediately apparent that an actor is going to be a star for years to come is a rarity in movies. Think of Emma Stone in “Easy A” or Jessica Chastain in “The Tree of Life.”

But that kind of thunderbolt moment is striking now for 21-year-old Timothee Chalamet, a New Yorker with the talent to speak multiple languages, play numerous instruments and take the festival circuit by storm with a handful of performances  — including one assured of ranking among the finest performances of the year.

The Toronto International Film Festival has been a coming out party for Chalamet, who has three films at the festival. He stars in Luca Guadagnino’s coming-of-age, coming-out tale “Call Me By Your Name,” he’s a supporting player in Greta Gerwig’s equally lauded coming-of-age tale “Lady Bird,” and he co-stars in the Christian Bale-led Western “Hostiles.” A Cape Cod thriller in which he stars, “Hot Summer Nights,” was also acquired here by A24.

But the headliner is his performance in “Call Me By Your Name,” which Sony Pictures Classics will release Nov. 24. In the film, adapted by James Ivory from André Aciman’s novel, Chalamet plays Elio, a headstrong 17-year-old living with his parents in 1980s northern Italy. When a handsome academic (Armie Hammer) comes to stay with them, Elio has a self-discovery that mingles love with art, language and natural beauty.

In the film, he plays piano and guitar, speaks fluent French and Italian, and indelibly captures the experience of first love. The film and its cast are considered likely Academy Awards contenders, partly because of Chalamet’s uncommon poise and wide-ranging intelligence in a deeply sensual movie.

“It feels like a real seminal moment,” said Chalamet in an interview. “I feel like the luckiest guy in the world that I get to share it with Luca and Armie and Michaels Stuhlbarg. I’m obviously very young and I’ve had a short career, but I’ve never been a part of anything like this.”

“He’s being excessively humble,” Hammer cuts in. “He’s the man of the year here at TIFF and we’re just riding his coattails.”

Though the two are separated by a decade in age and experience, they’ve become close friends, drawn closer by the intimacy of making “Call Me By Your Name” in the meadows, cafes and villas of Crema, Italy, where Guadagnino lives.

“He’s a very difficult dude to hate,” Hammer said.

What Chalamet lacks in vanity, those around him make up for in their praise for him.

“Not to sound pompous, but the guy is kind of a genius,” said Guadagnino, the Italian filmmaker of “I Am Love.” “He has a capacity for understanding human nature instinctively that’s astonishing. It’s also naive in a way, because he’s young, but also very focused. The cinema is at its best when it can present a new personality in the world.”

Chalamet doesn’t come out of nowhere. He’s appeared on stage, earning a Drama League Award nomination for John Patrick Stanley’s “Prodigal Son.” He was a regular on “Homeland” and played smaller roles in films like Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” and Jason Reitman’s “Men, Women and Children” — his screen debut.

“I have been working for a number of years,” says Chalamet. “I just graduated from theater high school in New York. I went to LaGuardia so I’m very close to the reality that lot of actors work rarely.”

Chalamet’s mother was a Broadway dancer and his French father works for UNICEF. He credits them for pushing him into piano lessons and taking him on trips to France.

He recently shot a father-son drama, “Beautiful Boy,” in which he plays a methamphetamine-addicted son to Steve Carell. After making “Call Me By Your Name,” he shot his scenes for “Lady Bird,” in which he plays the alluring love interest of Saorsie Ronan’s high-school senior.

“To have those films back-to-back, and they contrast so heavily, it helps you understand filmmaking,” said Chalamet. “There’s the truth to every moment that you have to bring to every scene, but you have to understand the tonality the film before you begin, which isn’t something that’s instinctual to me.”

Chalamet will have plenty of practice to get accustom to that adjustment. He’s also to star in Woody Allen’s next, untitled film. But whatever lies ahead for Chalamet, making “Call Me By Your Name” will remain an experience he long treasures.

“I miss the sense of belonging somewhere,” he says. “I miss the sense of belonging on a film as much as I did on ‘Call Me By Your Name.”’
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Rafael Nadal overwhelmed first-time major finalist Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to win his third U.S. Open championship.

It is Nadal’s second Grand Slam title of the year and 16th of his career. Only his longtime rival Roger Federer has more, with 19.

At No. 32, Anderson was the lowest-ranked U.S. Open men’s finalist since the ATP computer rankings began 44 years ago. He had never before been past the quarterfinals at any major tournament in 33 tries.

So the matchup shaped up as a mismatch and that’s exactly what it was.

The No. 1-ranked Nadal dominated every facet of the 2{-hour final. He broke the 6-foot-8 (1.98-meter) Anderson’s big serve four times and never faced a break point himself.

Nadal improved to 16-7 in Grand Slam finals. For the first time since 2013, he appeared in three in a single season, losing to Federer at the Australian Open in January, then beating Stan Wawrinka for his record 10th French Open trophy in June.

Stephens wins women’s title

Sloane Stephens never looked shaken by the setting or the stakes in her first Grand Slam final. Her opponent, Madison Keys, most definitely did.

Stephens easily beat her close friend Keys 6-3, 6-0 to win the U.S. Open on Saturday, capping a remarkably rapid rise after sitting out 11 months because of foot surgery.

“I should just retire now,” Stephens joked. “I told Maddie I’m never going to be able to top this. I mean, talk about a comeback.”

The 83rd-ranked Stephens, who beat Venus Williams in the semifinals, is only the second unseeded woman to win the tournament in the Open era, which began in 1968.

A year ago, she sat out the U.S. Open altogether because of what turned out to be a stress fracture in her left foot. She had an operation in January, and made her season debut at Wimbledon in July, exiting in the first round. Lost her next match, too, in Washington.

Since then, she has gone 15-2, and her ranking has soared from outside the top 900 to what will be around No. 20 as of Monday. Oh, and, don’t forget: She is now, and forever will be, a Grand Slam champion.

“I mean, things just have to come together,” Stephens said, “and the last six weeks, five weeks, they really have.”

This was only the second time in the Open era that two women were making their Grand Slam final debuts against each other in New York. Stephens most certainly handled the occasion better, claiming the last eight games and making only six unforced errors _ Keys had 30 _ in the entire 61-minute mismatch.

Keys, 22, and Stephens, 24, have known each other for years. They texted and spoke on the phone early in 2017 , when both sat out the Australian Open because of operations _ Keys on her left wrist, Stephens on her left foot.

When the match ended, they met at the net for a long hug. While waiting for the trophy ceremony to begin, Stephens walked over and plopped herself down in a courtside chair next to Keys, so they could chat side-by-side.

“Sloane is truly one of my favorite people and to get to play her was really special. Obviously I didn’t play my best tennis today and was disappointed,” Keys said. “But Sloane, being the great friend that she is, was very supportive. And if there’s someone I have to lose to today, I’m glad it’s her.”
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Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, a dark fairy tale in which a mute cleaning lady falls in love with an aquatic creature, won the Golden Lion award for best film at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

The film beat contenders including George Clooney’s Suburbicon and Alexander Payne’s Downsizing at the end of a 10-day, high-quality and star-studded movie marathon that critics said showed Venice was now on an equal footing with the widely revered Cannes film festival.

“As a Mexican, I want to say this is a first for a Mexican storyteller, so I want to dedicate and give the prize to every young Mexican filmmaker or Latin American filmmaker that is dreaming to do something in the fantastic genre, as a fairy tale, as a parable, and is faced with a lot of people saying it can’t be done. It can,” del Toro said.

The runner-up Grand Jury prize went to family tragedy Foxtrot by Israel’s Samuel Maoz, while France’s Xavier Legrand was picked as best director for his divorce drama Jusqu’a la Garde (Custody).

Charlotte Rampling received the best actress award for her performance in Italian film Hannah, while Palestinian Kamel El Basha took the best actor prize for his role in The Insult.

The award ceremony brought down the curtain on the Venice festival, the world’s oldest, which is seen as a launching pad for the industry’s awards season.

Moviemakers will be hoping for a replay of the success of films such as musical La La Land, clergy sex-abuse drama Spotlight, space movie Gravity and backstage comedy Birdman, which all won Academy Awards after premiering in Venice.

‘Incredible day’

“This is an incredible day for Mexican film, for Mexican storytellers. The three amigos have now conquered the Lido, with Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) and Alejandro Inarritu (Birdman) both going on to Oscar gold after dominating Venice,” said Ariston Anderson, a film critic at Hollywood Reporter.

“While there’s no sure bet at this stage, there couldn’t be a better start for del Toro’s road to Oscar gold. And it will be very interesting to see what happens in March at the Academy Awards if he can continue the trend of Venice picking Oscar winners,” she said.

The big disappointment of the night was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, starring Frances McDormand, which won only the award for best screenplay. The film, a portrayal of vengeance in small-town America, was acclaimed by critics in Venice as a prime Oscar contender.

For all the quality of the Venice film fest, this year in its 74th edition, critics said there was no clear outstanding movie.

“My thoughts after having viewed the lineup are the same — a lot of strong Oscar contenders but no clear-cut winner, unfortunately, as we had in previous years at the festival,” Anderson said.

Still, she said Venice — which not too long ago was seen as being doomed in the face of strong competition from Cannes and Toronto — had once again shown its appeal.

“Because of recent successes, we’re seeing more big studio films shift over to Venice for their international launches, so it will be interesting to see if this trend will continue over the next few years.”
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